F1 2004

Starts this weekend in Mebourne, my pick for the overall season is Montoya 1st, Raikonen 2nd and M Schuey 3rd. Alonso though could upset any of those three.

Williams for contructors.

This weekends race will be Montoya, Ralf, Coulthard.

Mmmm, Kimi Raikonen...

I mean, Formula 1 - hurray!

I really wanted to go to melbourne this year for it but unfortunately things have conspired against me this year, hopefully next year.

Bring on the tired monday mornings.

You know my trick Bob - go to bed really early and get up for the race

It wouldn't surprise me if the mighty red team don't dominate again at least Schumacher any way.

Hmmmm... silly single seaters that sound like grumpy wasps playing follw the leader at 350km/hr...

Golly. What. Fun. I. Can't. Wait.

Nix is over there for it...

Would be a wicked holiday idea.


I think I would be good a F1 driving, do you think I could talk them into letting me have a bash?

Yeah I'm sure you could for the small fee of 30 million pounds or so.

As much as I want to see Kimi take it out who knows what will happen come race day.

Oh and anyone who doesn't support Mcren is a traitor to NZ and should be stripped of their citzenship (hey if L&P can mke similar claims when they are owned by Coke then I can too).

results as follows:
1. M Schumacher
2. Barrichello
3. Alonso

looks like another Ferrari year kids

classic

However I do watch it on the odd occasion !!

Stupid ferrari and their fast red cars

I almost cried when Kimi Raikkonen dropped out - his car didn't last 10 rounds!

And hush fishy: it doesn't matter when the cars are so sexy...

McLaren looks pretty crappy this year...

Ferrari do look bloody good again, but I'd like to see another couple of races before I stop bothering to watch....

McLaren wasn't looking too sharp at all

I'm so sick of the ferrari ascendancy...

On a side note, is Scott Dixon really joining F1 next year? Which team?

He'll most likely get to test with a team... but it'll most likely be a minor team...

he is currently with toyota so would make sense if he joined with them.. however there is rumours of him joining williams in 2005


rumour stuff here

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns12538.html

Ooooh...

Cheers

Ferrari will be bhard to beat again! Shame on the Shumacher doubters too!

I've never doubted him...

I just wish someone could push that little popinjay of the pedestal...

Yeah I suppose sport does become a tad boring if one person continues to dominate but my other favourite driver Ayrton Senna isn't around any more .....

Who gives a... he wasn't even nearly competitive before he crapped out anyway.

McLaren will win races this year for sure.. Adrian Newey is too smart a guy to design a car like theirs (twin keel and radical nose configuration) without knowing for sure that it will be a quicker set up for them. Once they get thier engine up to speed (no pun intended).. and their (again) radical gearbox working properly they will own some races this year.

The thing that looks worrying is the tire battle.. Bridgestone are looking pretty good on tracks that haven't typically favoured them in the past two years.

BH!
Rob W

what does everyone think of the one engine rule?

Def a good idea... it is the one rule that can help the back-runners have a chance.. because, as the rules state, if you replace an engine you must drop ten places on the grid at the next race. So if you're at the back already like Minardi, it's not really any penalty so you can run special qualifying engines and have a chance of competing.. as long as the thing holds together.

Appart from that not really much difference to last year.. there weren't that many engine failures last year compared with previous years.

BH!
Rob W
BH!
Rob W

whats the point in a special qualifying engine if when you change it youre straight back to the back of the field? It doesnt benefit anyone and will mean that the front runners are going to be less likely to drop a race meaning they will be consistently at the front again.

Nothing will stop the top three teams from dominating. Rule changes can only go so far.

Because they're already at the back of the field anyway. If they use a special qualifying engine and get an atificially high position it's news and tv time for the team, which equals more sponsorship potential and talk about the team. The smaller teams aren't at the back because they have worse engineers/drivers but because they don't have the money to blow on huge testing/design schedules.

BH!
Rob W

One engine is good because it cuts costs, the more affordable F1 is the better. It was only ten odd years ago when we had 35+ plus cars competing for 26 grid places... Now they struggle to fill 20. The less costs the better for smaller teams.

Not liking the outlook for this season though, but I'll wait till we get some hotter weather racing before I make a final judgement. McLarens engine is a piece of shit, they can't even practice properly for fear of a failure. The Renault is very good though, awesome chassis but that's an area Renault have always excelled. With Alonso driving for them it could be a huge year for them (even bigger than last year).

As for Dixon, it's all hearsay, but Montoya is expected to move to McLaren (I don't know why looking at the present car, maybe it's cause the Williams is so damn ugly) next year opening a spot and Frank Williams seems to like Indy drivers.

McLaren always has trouble on the travelling races.. the ones out of Europe for some reason. They will not suffer for long.. now that Ilmor has recovered from the death of Paul Morgan they will no doubt have a tight package in the very near future. Remember Paul Morgan was the head of their engine programme and they have replaced him the guy who got Ferrari's engine power back on track.

Dixon... As I've said before, there are dozens of drivers more suited to taking any available place at Williams than Dixon. What is said in the Herald is pure and simply PR from Kenny Smith to keep his boy at the front of everyones minds. Kenny has always done this and is about as reliable in his PR as David Tua's PR guys... Frank Williams ALWAYS picks his drivers himself and said last week that he had not spoken to Scott or his management, but maybe someone else in the team had. I.E. - no.

Not many Indy drivers have ever done well in F1 for the simple reason they race on ovals so forget how to drive on street curcuits with curbs etc.. Remember how crap Alex Zanardi was? They also have a lot of trouble learning how to brake again as F1 cars have a much more 'snatchy' styleas they use carbon rotors and calipers.. (Indy uses steel rotors)

Renault has got Alonso.. cool. But I'd rather have Fisichella.

BH!
Rob W

Zanardi was bad, but Michael Andretti was worse... He didn't even last a season.

Yet his father Mario won the world title..

The days of CART/IRL drivers coming to F1 I thought were over but it seems that, as IRL becomes a bit more modern in it's approach to technology (eg Carbon brake rotors etc), drivers may be considered for F1 more..

But then again, the level of driving skill needed for a street track/circuit compared to oval racing is infinitely higher..

Interestingly, most F1 drivers who can't cut it or were in poor teams (like Satoro Nakajiima etc) who move to IRL usually get bored after one or two seasons and move to Europe to race in sportcar series like Le Mans etc..


BH!
Rob W