Spa-Francorchamps - BELGIUM Grand Prix 2009 - Race 12/17

Man of Honour
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Quick heads up, there is some Brawn GP profile programme on at 10am on Channel Five this morning.

Thanks didn't know anything about this.
Here's the info

MOTORING: Mobil 1 The Grid
On: five (105)
Date: Saturday 5th September 2009 (starting in 15 minutes)
Time: 10:00 to 10:30 (30 minutes long)

Motor sport action from the biggest racing series around the world. This instalment visits the Brawn Formula One team and explores the extraordinary success of drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello in this year's championship. Also featured is an exclusive interview with IndyCar star Ryan Briscoe.
(Subtitles)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from http://www.getdigiguide.com/?p=1&r=158980

Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.
 
Soldato
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Thanks for the headsup! Shame they didn't do more time based on Brawn though. Only seemed like a few mins,

Fairplay to Ryan Briscoe to come back, race and be competetive again. A Crash like that which nearly cost him his life might have just stopped me from ever racing again!
 
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Fisi is a good No.2 driver. He is slightly better than Heikki. But he certainly isnt as good as Massa or Kimi.

In Heikki's first season in Formula 1, in the same car as Fisi (who'd already been with the team for the last two seasons), he beat Fisi by 9 world championship points scoring 30 to Fisi's 21, and coming 7th to Fisi's 8th.

Seems pretty clear cut to me. As I've said before, Heikki hasn't prospered at McLaren but he deserved his seat on the basis of his first season's performance at Renault.
 
Soldato
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So, did anyone watch the channel 5 show on BrawnGP? Was it any good?

See Post #763 ;)

It basically was a show about 'motorsport' it did about 5-7 different little stories on different racing classes,

F1 , Indie Cars, GP2 , the rest I can't remember. The Brawn bit seemed rather short though.. Ross Brawn was sitting there saying how it would be his most memorable year of F1 racing.
 
Soldato
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ive not been able to to see what news is over last few days, im gathering fisi is off to ferrari then? good news that is

what else has happened, would read all way through but would prefer someone to just sum it all up for me :) thanks
 
Soldato
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  • Fisi's off to Ferrari for the rest of the season and will become their reserve for next year.
  • Renault have been summoned to appear before the WMSC on 21st Sep with suspicions regarding the deliberate crashing of Piquet during the Singapore GP
  • Toyota have no plans to leave F1 - but will be significantly cutting back their budget
  • Host of Malaysian firms (Petronas etc) are looking to back Peter Sauber/Mike Gascoigne in taking over BMW Sauber and probably renaming it Lotus Sauber

That is all.

Ah nice one mate, thanks a lot

i can remember someone saying they think it would be best for ferrari to get fisi for rest of season then have him as a reserve for next season (think it was martin brundel?). so very good prediction who ever said it.

im not to much up to date with the renault incident, but if it comes out that it is true i hope FIA throw everything they've got at them.

good news about the last 2 :)

thanks dude.
 
Soldato
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  • Toyota have no plans to leave F1 - but will be significantly cutting back their budget


  • LOL.

    Even after the budget cut (believed to be by around 33%), Toyota will still enjoy one of the biggest budgets ever seen in F1.

    The shocking thing is that although they spend so much money, they continue to get poor results. If I was top boss there, I wouldn't pull out of F1, but I would certainly demand better results or instigate a major shake up, to ensure better results.

    Toyota really do need a top line driver to focus all their efforts on. The problem being that with the way the current Toyota team is run, which top line driver would want to goto Toyota, given the team's poor record, with so many resources?

    At what point will Toyota either pull out of F1 or seriously shake-up their F1 team to revitalise a team that is treading water?
 
Capodecina
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... If I was top boss [at Toyota], I wouldn't pull out of F1 ...
Why on earth not?

I can't see that Toyota are getting much kudos for being in F1 and yet they do seem to be doing better than many motor manufacturers in terms of sales. For the life of me, I can't see what benefit they get out of their involvement in F1.
 
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The shocking thing is that although they spend so much money, they continue to get poor results. If I was top boss there, I wouldn't pull out of F1, but I would certainly demand better results or instigate a major shake up, to ensure better results.
Haven't they done that already several times? Even with probably the second quickest car in the opening races, they couldn't grasp a win and dropped off the pace after 3-4 races.
 
Associate
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Why on earth not?

I can't see that Toyota are getting much kudos for being in F1 and yet they do seem to be doing better than many motor manufacturers in terms of sales. For the life of me, I can't see what benefit they get out of their involvement in F1.

Completely agreed. Toyota doesn't actually make any performance/sporty cars anymore so I don't understand why they still bother with the expense of F1. In fact they have arguably the blandest current car range out of all the major manufacturers - I doubt your average diesel Avensis punter cares how well Toyota do in F1.

They've been average for far too long now and don't show signs of improvement anytime soon. The team doesn't really gain anything from being in F1, and conversely, they don't really add anything to the sport either IMO.
 
Soldato
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they don't really add anything to the sport either IMO.
Toyota as a brand/F1 team don't add anything to the sport. But as a team they add two cars to the grid. I'd hate to see them leave and F1 lose two cars from the grid. If they stay then fine, if they leave then hopefully they'd be a bit more Honda than BMW and make sure the team gets taken over by a capable management team. :)
 
Soldato
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Completely agreed. Toyota doesn't actually make any performance/sporty cars anymore so I don't understand why they still bother with the expense of F1. In fact they have arguably the blandest current car range out of all the major manufacturers - I doubt your average diesel Avensis punter cares how well Toyota do in F1.

They've been average for far too long now and don't show signs of improvement anytime soon. The team doesn't really gain anything from being in F1, and conversely, they don't really add anything to the sport either IMO.

Improvement?! Ha, Toyota are the world's number one car company in the world, in no small part because they have better judged the world market than other manufactures. Making inefficient sports cars like they used to just isn't as profitable as it used to be.
 
Soldato
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Improvement?! Ha, Toyota are the world's number one car company in the world, in no small part because they have better judged the world market than other manufactures. Making inefficient sports cars like they used to just isn't as profitable as it used to be.
Thought he meant average as an F1 team not as a global car maker.
 
Soldato
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One such secret is Alonso to Ferrari. The people in the know, all know the deal has already been done.

Another one was Fisi to Ferrari. We all knew that the deal was all but done. Yet the team boss of FIndia refused to admit that he was losing his driver, until Ferrari chose to make it public.

Maybe a "secret" - but hardly industrial espionage, apart from anything else it doesnt hurt Renault (Im sure they already knew the moment pen went to paper if not before ), it benefits Ferrari (being able to plan ahead) - and only benefits everyone else in the pitlane by knowing this is going to happen.

Its completely different to a "third foot pedal", a different compound for the breaks, double / triple diffuser etc imo where ideas / knowledge is being stolen and therefore investment in time and money is lost

edit - in regards to Toyota, I wouldnt be that surprised that if the F1 team develops 1 idea every few years that can be used on road cars in the future, the sheer number of cars Toyota sell could fund the race team (at least with their new scaled down budget) - if you think how much R & D costs, a more efficient braking system or spark plugs that are more efficient / run for longer may be vastly expensive now but in 2 or 3 years could easily be put in every single model of car Toyota sell...therefore saving money in the long run (or at least not losing money)

ok admittedly the ideas where pretty terrible - no wonder I dont work for the motor industry in r & d lol - but the theory could work given the sheer quantity of cars Toyota sell (and it wouldnt work for any other companies in the same way)
 
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Soldato
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Maybe a "secret" - but hardly industrial espionage, ...

Unfortunately, I am not in possession of top secret data from any of the F1 teams, hence, I am unable to give you specifics of current industrial esponionage.

The example, of secrets I stated in my post are just that...examples. The exposure of some secrets can have a devastating effect on teams. Other secrets may not have any effect at all.

I still stand by my original statement that industrial espionage in F1, is part of the way F1 works. What happened at McLaren, Ferrari and Bennetton is not out of the ordinary. Unless of course you are really naive and believe that all teams have morals and would shut their eyes if opposition team data were to fall into their hands.
 
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