F1 2009 Season discussion/development thread

It would appear that Honda is backing it's team after all to the tune of £100m this year. Ross Brawn will lead the team and the car shall be Mercedes powered. looks like Button and Barrichello have been saved although just how competetive a car can be that has'nt turned a whell is another matter.

Source.

Button has also took a massive pay cut to "help out" the team.

Source.
 
pastymuncher said:
Button has also took a massive pay cut to "help out" the team.

Source.
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I'm not so impressed by Button's wage cut, as I feel that his new salary reflects his true worth. What I am gobsmacked by is his epic orginal salary and it makes sense why he stuck to Honda like glue (even though they were going nowhere), as no other team would come close to paying him that sort of money - Toyota, accepted.

Given that Honda have had so many troubles behind the scenes, I honestly can't see them in any place other than at the back of the grid, battling with the likes of Force India. It should be interesting to see what they come up with.

There are a lot of variables that have been thrown into the 2009 F1 season and it should be an unpredictable season. Melbourne couldn't come soon enough.
 
Alibaba99 said:
You mean the mass damper that Ferrari successfully had banned by claiming it was a moveable aero device.
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Yawn.
Briatore has said that it wasn't Ferrari that complained to the FIA, that is was 'the other team'.
The J-damper is part of the suspension, the mass damper wasn't. Both these have the same goal and both are aero devices. Movable aero devices were banned, but as the J-damper is part of the suspension it's exempt as anything that moves in the suspension has a huge aero effect.

But go ahead and keep believing all big bad wolf stories.
 
Just got back from the test, started raining fairly hard just as we left.

Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, BMW, Toyota, Renault, Red Bull and Force India all did 20+ laps.

Unofficial timing (me and the lads with watches ;)) quickest was Red Bull with 1:21.2 with Toyota not far behind. Force India were in the mid 1:22's so could be promising.......although I think we should wait for the official times :D

Massa put it in the gravel trap at the top corner of the circuit (Curva Sito Pons). Didn't see what happened (its over the other side of the circuit from the public stands) but we climbed over the barriers to see over the main pit building and saw him out the car in the gravel trap. Car looked undamaged.

The BMW sounds great on the overrun. The Williams has gained some vertical vanes either side of the cockpit that i've not seen before, i'll see if anyone caught them in a picture.
 
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sunama said:
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Personally, I think £8m a year was about the right figure to flog that recalcitrant POS around racetracks. Now he's on £3m plus paying his own travel and accommodation costs for himself and anyone that he takes along....the team are getting a bloody good deal, 'cause he could quite easily have held them to the contract that he had.

So much for him just being in it for the massive amount of money, huh? ;)
 
1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) - 1:19.055, 87 laps
2. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) - 1:20.330, 63 laps
3. Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota) - 1:20.699, 79 laps
4. Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) - 1:21.171, 71 laps
5. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber-BMW) - 1:21.292, 47 laps
6. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) - 1:21.584, 31 laps
7. Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren-Mercedes) - 1:21.831, 94 laps
8. Nelson Piquet jr. (Renault) - 1:22.011, 52 laps
 
Not sure how much we can read in to that testing :)
I doubt Red Bull would be so far ahead of the rest of the teams at this stage. Signs are encouraging though for it to be a good season and not dominated by Ferrari & McLaren
 
I guess it was predictable that Button gets **** for sticking with a team no matter what - he cant seem to win with some people

Maybe the Williams fiasco was bad management maybe it was his call - no one actually knows apart from him, but with a 100% Brawn engineered car at last (and a good engine) he has a good chance during 09
 
FrankJH said:
I guess it was predictable that Button gets **** for sticking with a team no matter what - he cant seem to win with some people

Maybe the Williams fiasco was bad management maybe it was his call - no one actually knows apart from him, but with a 100% Brawn engineered car at last (and a good engine) he has a good chance during 09
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With Willaims doing it with all their British drivers, I still have my faith in Jenson and I would prefer him to go all the way as opposed to Hamilton because I love his true British personality and delicate driving style. Hamilton is great, no doubt about it, but I hate things centered with hype.
 
Dup said:
With Willaims doing it with all their British drivers, I still have my faith in Jenson and I would prefer him to go all the way as opposed to Hamilton because I love his true British personality and delicate driving style. Hamilton is great, no doubt about it, but I hate things centered with hype.
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Couldn't agree more.
 
I was also at the test today, was a good day with most cars doing plenty of laps. Could definately tell the redbull was the fastest on track, Vettel was driving it hard and it just looked so much faster on the track compared to the rest. The Mclaren was struggling for rear end grip especially coming out of the slower corners, but i've since read that they were testing 2010 tire options.

Quite a few cars stopping out on track also... must be the most red flags in a testing session so far this year.

MTA99 said:
The BMW sounds great on the overrun.
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Yup it was the best sounding car no doubt :cool:, although the toyota also sounds pretty good with deeper sound to the rest. :)
 
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