F1 Winter Testing / Driver Line-Ups for 2007

Good to see Spa back

Massa will give Raikkonen a run for his money

Gonna be the most open season for a while unless McLaren have a stonking car.

Only 4 months to go
 
Chabsy said:
Massa will give Raikkonen a run for his money
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Agree with that, Massa really has matured as a driver over the last 12 months. When he started you knew it was just a matter of time before he threw the car at the scenery but now he's a lot smoother, a lot less hot headed and a lot lot quicker. If Kimi doesn't grab the team by the scruff of the neck and put one over on Massa quickly then I think Fillipe could build up a lead over Kimi which could be difficult to overcome.

McLaren are the real unknown quantity for next year, it's all going to come down to Mercedes (again....). There are two things the team needs to do: out of the box the car needs to be quick and Mercedes need to give them a reliable engine package. The former is only to be expected, last year's car was hampered by the late change to the tyre rules so the MP4/22 shouldn't be a slouch. The reliability is still suspect but I'll take initial pace over solidity - it's far easier to make a fast car reliable than a reliable one fast.

Duke said:
Great news having two more brits on the grid
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Indeed, it's been a while since we've had 4, late 90s with Hill, Herbert, DC & Irv the Swerve I think.
 
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JRS said:
Thought it was 1986? The only Ford engine in the field that year wasn't a Cosworth build IIRC (the turbo motor in the back of the Haas Lola). The following year, Cosworth brought back a DFV derivative for the new 'atmo' rules that were coming soon.
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Regarding my earlier quote here - guess I was wrong. Cosworth did build the Ford GBA-series turbo motor for Haas-Lola in '86.
 
I'm so hungover it really isn't very funny.

We had our double championship winning celebration last night in a manor house just outside Oxford. It was pretty cool :D

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The sharp eyed of you will see that this is an early R25

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The manufacturer's trophy

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Me and Fisi
 
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Me and Heikki

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Me and Rod Nelson (Alonson's engineer) + random woman in background

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Me, Bob Bell (Technical Director) and Dino Toso (Head of Aero) - both my bosses!
 
The official entry list for 2007 has been published by the FIA, it doesn't tell us anything we don't know other than confirming the race numbers for next year.

Code: 
# Driver                    Team                   Constructor
 1 Fernando Alonso (E)       Vodafone McLaren       McLaren
 2 Lewis Hamilton (GB)       Mercedes               Mercedes 

 3 Giancarlo Fisichella (I)  ING Renault F1 Team    Renault
 4 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)

 5 Felipe Massa (BR)         Scuderia Ferrari       Ferrari
 6 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN)      Marlboro

 7 Jenson Button (GB)        Honda Racing F1 Team   Honda 
 8 Rubens Barrichello (BR)

 9 Nick Heidfeld (D)         BMW Sauber F1 Team     BMW
10 Robert Kubica (PL)

11 Ralf Schumacher (D)       Panasonic Toyota       Toyota
12 Jarno Trulli (I)          Racing 

14 David Coulthard (GB)      Red Bull Racing        Red Bull
15 Mark Webber (AUS)                                Renault

16 Nico Rosberg (D)          AT&T Williams          Williams Toyota
17 Alex Wurz (A) 

18 TBA                       Scuderia Toro Rosso    STR Ferrari
19 TBA

20 Christijan Albers (NL)    Spyker F1 Team         Spyker Ferrari
21 TBA

22 Takuma Sato (J)           TBA Super Aguri        Super Aguri 
23 Anthony Davidson (GB)     F1 Team                Honda
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6161285.stm

Looks like the stupid CDG rear wing has been given the heave-ho at least 2009 and hopefully forever if the teams can come up with a different solution.

On the testing front, Lewis Hamiltion recorded the fastest time at Jerez yesterday although the 1s gap to Fisi suggests he was doing low fuel runs at the time.

The World Motorsport Council has also released a draft of how it sees the rules evolving through 2011..

2007
Regualtions already published

2008
Possible elimination of aero devices between the axle lines so no bargeboards, flip ups, chimneys etc
Possible reduction in the use of wind tunnels and models

2009
50% reduction in downforce
Energy recovery devices
Changes to enhance overtaking (CDG wing replacement)
Possible 4 race engine/gearbox

2010
Energy recovery from waste heat and exhaust gases :confused:
Wholly or partially standardised aero parts

2011
All new 4 race engine featuring high efficiency turbocharging, fuel flow limits & bio fuels
Further downforce reductions
Possible removal of driver aid restrictions
Possible limits on material types to be more road relevant
 
Takes them this long to realise what we all knew.. remove the gizmos and downforce and let the drivers do the work!!
 
rpstewart said:
2011
All new 4 race engine featuring high efficiency turbocharging, fuel flow limits & bio fuels
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Liking the sound of that. Fuel flow limits could (and probably should) have come in before now, as a way of controlling the engine power and fuel consumption. Makes far more sense than, for instance, making every engine manufacturer scrap their existing designs and build entirely new ones because someone at the FIA thought that it'd be a great idea to change the engine size and cylinder number regulations....
 
Duke said:
Takes them this long to realise what we all knew.. remove the gizmos and downforce and let the drivers do the work!!
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Ehh 2011 Possible removal of driver aid restrictions. Thats the exact opposite
 
First post can be updated with confirmed drivers now? Lewis Hamilton.. cant wait to see what he's got.. damn im excited about 2007 already..
 
gord said:
First post can be updated with confirmed drivers now? Lewis Hamilton.. cant wait to see what he's got.. damn im excited about 2007 already..
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Yeah meant to do that last night actually.. will do it now ;)
 
Coulthard and Webber in a Newey designed car, thats could be very successful for red bull.

If Kimi doesnt win this year, im going to be very very surprised. IMO hes easily the best driver on track, he just didnt have the reliability last year.
 
Stellios said:
If Kimi doesnt win this year, im going to be very very surprised. IMO hes easily the best driver on track, he just didnt have the reliability last year.
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Been saying this since he signed the contract for Ferrari. 2/1 for the title next year he is, if i had £1,000 spare i know where it'd be going.. on him to win the title! :p
 
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