Formula 1 07

FIA has announced that Traction control will be banned from 2008 onwards.

So hopefully we we'll more races decided by driver talent instead of software engineering talent.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (teomolca @ Mar 30 2007, 02:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>FIA has announced that Traction control will be banned from 2008 onwards.

So hopefully we we'll more races decided by driver talent instead of software engineering talent.

That is good news for sure as driver mistakes will be more common and this will allow us to actually see who is the best driver. Also, car setup will have to be more precise as there will no longer be traction control to save the driver from a spin.

The one problem may be if a driver (like Michael Schumacher) manages to use traction control without the FIA doing anything about it. If Ralf Schumacher suddenley becomes a title contender be very suspicious...

^ indeed!

I welcome the changes shows who will have the talent.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Valentino Is God @ Mar 30 2007, 03:04 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>That is good news for sure as driver mistakes will be more common and this will allow us to actually see who is the best driver. Also, car setup will have to be more precise as there will no longer be traction control to save the driver from a spin.

The one problem may be if a driver (like Michael Schumacher) manages to use traction control without the FIA doing anything about it. If Ralf Schumacher suddenley becomes a title contender be very suspicious...
I don't know whether it's such a good idea to be honest. They're always trying to make it more safe...is this really making it safer? Sure, it'll make it more fun but this could have bad implications too if things go wrong!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Alex @ Mar 30 2007, 03:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I don't know whether it's such a good idea to be honest. They're always trying to make it more safe...is this really making it safer? Sure, it'll make it more fun but this could have bad implications too if things go wrong!

Good point about the safety but will it make it more unsafe though?

firstly these guys are highly skilled drivers and secondly teams will be more conscious of car setup and safety which should help reduce dangers of accidents.

Also, most accidents with bad implications are caused by mechanical failure rather than driver error and removing the TC means one less thing to go wrong and theoretically less mechanical failures of that nature.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Valentino Is God @ Mar 30 2007, 03:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Good point about the safety but will it make it more unsafe though?

firstly these guys are highly skilled drivers and secondly teams will be more conscious of car setup and safety which should help reduce dangers of accidents.

Also, most accidents with bad implications are caused by mechanical failure rather than driver error and removing the TC means one less thing to go wrong and theoretically less mechanical failures of that nature.
Drivers are going to find it hard to apart to this though, so it could be basically like driving with a damaged rear wing...fighting a losing battle. I'm sure it doesn't matter how skilled you are, you will spin if you go into a corner wrong without traction control...which could be horrendous around places like Monaco. On the other hand, the drivers may adapt to it fine.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Alex @ Mar 30 2007, 03:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Drivers are going to find it hard to apart to this though, so it could be basically like driving with a damaged rear wing...fighting a losing battle. I'm sure it doesn't matter how skilled you are, you will spin if you go into a corner wrong without traction control...which could be horrendous around places like Monaco. On the other hand, the drivers may adapt to it fine.

Lets hope that!

Without traction control, speeds will be lower. Surely this will make it safer, and a heck of a lot more exciting.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (teomolca @ Mar 30 2007, 01:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>FIA has announced that Traction control will be banned from 2008 onwards.

So hopefully we we'll more races decided by driver talent instead of software engineering talent.




New tyre marks

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (memento @ Mar 31 2007, 09:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>

New tyre marks
Is it just me or is F1 getting uglier and uglier by the season?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/57725

<div align="center<u>Q & A With Heikki Kovalainen</u>

Q: Are you slightly happier after this test?
Heikki Kovalainen: I am much better today. We had the first day, which I guess was pretty bad for Nelson. Then on my first day we did 86 laps, and yesterday all I did was waiting! Obviously we waited the whole day and then came the rain. Today we managed to do all the work and we did pretty much what we wanted to do. So in the end it was good. And today we have made some good progress.

Q: Did you manage to do a good tyre evaluation?

HK: Not only the tyre evaluation but good setup work as well. I think we are clearly working well with the tyres now. I think the pace is better. It is not easy to say what other people are doing, but we had a good day.

Q: What do you think of the difference between the two tyres?

HK: There is a little bit of the difference but it is something we can cope with. The performance and the balance change is not so big. We can live with it.

Q: Do you still need more work on the qualifying setup?

HK: That has been the main issue. I think today we made a good progress. We made a significant change to the balance and we found a good direction. We can be more confident going into the race than before, but still we need to keep pushing.

I am happy today though. Even though it was a difficult test, everyone was so focused and yes, the weather spoilt a bit yesterday.

Q: You did learn how the track changes over time from wet to dry, though, didn't you?

HK: Yes, absolutely. We did a bit of running in the wet too, which I have not had a lot of this winter with these tyres. So it was good in that way.

Q: It dries quickly here too, doesn't it?

HK: If the conditions are going to be like this here for the race, then you have to be very accurate with the strategy. I think we have some reference now. It is still not 100% accurate, but if it rains and then it becomes sunny, we have some data we can look at. Hopefully that will help us.

Q: Looking back on Melbourne, do you just want to forget about it and move on?

HK: No, I just learned from it. It sounded a bigger disaster than it really was. It was not the result that I wanted, and on my part there were lots of mistakes in the race. It all started from the practice and I did not do a good enough lap in qualifying.

It is behind me now. I have to learn from the mistakes and we just move forward. It did not go well as a debut, but at the end of the day I still finished the race. There were some positive things about the race. I did learn many things during the race.

I have to make sure the same mistakes do not happen again. We want a different kind of start next weekend, so that we can get a momentum being carried through to Saturday and Sunday. That is all...


Link to Article

What do you lot expect from Heikki at Malaysia then?

He needs to get some points on the board, he is driving a renault which is the 3rd or 4th best car after Ferrari, McLaren and maybe BMW and 2 no scores would not please Briatore who i think has already said he was not happy with Heikki at Melbourne. I know he is new but he helped make that car and tested it and Hamilton showed that it is possible to do very well right from your first race and unfortunately for Heikki i think people will continue to compare him to Hamilton until he puts in a simarlily impressive performance.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Valentino Is God @ Apr 2 2007, 02:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>What do you lot expect from Heikki at Malaysia then?

He needs to get some points on the board, he is driving a renault which is the 3rd or 4th best car after Ferrari, McLaren and maybe BMW and 2 no scores would not please Briatore who i think has already said he was not happy with Heikki at Melbourne. I know he is new but he helped make that car and tested it and Hamilton showed that it is possible to do very well right from your first race and unfortunately for Heikki i think people will continue to compare him to Hamilton until he puts in a simarlily impressive performance.
Agreed, Heikki indeed should get some points! That's really necessary. Fact is, he's driving the Renault, and that's definitely a top 4 car, so Heikki should be able to score at least a point (or more). I think Australia was just a bad race, people should give him some time, after all he's a rookie (of course Lewis is too, but I think we should give Heikki a few more races). IF he's still doing a ''bad'' job after 4 or 5 races people have reason to say he's doing a bad job. At the moment we should just cut him some slack. Imho Briatore shouldn't start blaming Heikki. That's not good for the guy's confidence, and besides that, Flavio wanted him to be Fisi's teammate, so he shouldn't bash him after only one race!!

I presume all europeans will be getting up at 7am or whenever to watch the race (and the qualifying possibly) !

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Valentino Is God @ Apr 4 2007, 06:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I presume all europeans will be getting up at 7am or whenever to watch the race (and the qualifying possibly) !
Of course!!!!!
Gotta watch it live..that's the only way!!!
I really can't wait for the quali. Hopefully Kimi will do a good job!!
Also hoping to see Lewis challenge for the win!!
I think Massa will win the race, Kimi seems to be having some problem with his engine, so they might have to replace it and then he will get a 10 place penalty.

Ferrari will have to replace the engine on Kimi's car and give him a 10 place penalty because by the sounds of it it will break. With the temperatures in Malaysia also, if the engine is as damaged as they are suggesting, they won't risk it.

Massa should win with Kimi at best 11th on the grid if the engine is changed. Hopefully McLaren will be able to compete for the win this time and Alonso and Hamilton will have good races.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Valentino Is God @ Apr 4 2007, 07:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Ferrari will have to replace the engine on Kimi's car and give him a 10 place penalty because by the sounds of it it will break. With the temperatures in Malaysia also, if the engine is as damaged as they are suggesting, they won't risk it.

Massa should win with Kimi at best 11th on the grid if the engine is changed. Hopefully McLaren will be able to compete for the win this time and Alonso and Hamilton will have good races.
I think Ferrari should replace Kimi's engine. Would be fed up if he had a blown engine during the race!!! I've seen that too often already!! Don't need to see it again. Anyway, I'm curious about the gap between Ferrari and McLaren. IF Ferrari will be much stronger again I think Felipe should win and Kimi should have a good race as well. But who knows, maybe McLaren will win??? Fernando will either way drive a very solid race again and finish on the podium.

Even if Kimi's given a 10 place penalty, I reckon he'd still have a brilliant race. We'd seen him barge through the pack coming from almost the last place and grab a podium so it's not impossible.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (somedamnwriter @ Apr 5 2007, 01:29 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Even if Kimi's given a 10 place penalty, I reckon he'd still have a brilliant race. We'd seen him barge through the pack coming from almost the last place and grab a podium so it's not impossible.

Assuming Kimi was to start 11th or 12th if he takes the 10 place penalty engine change he should get on the podium, probably 2nd or 3rd behind Massa and possibly Alonso depending on the difference in pace of the ferrari and the mclaren. Malaysia is one of the better tracks for overtaking and the ferrari is very quick in a straight line which is obviously useful on the 2 long straights. I think Massa will win the race provided nothing bad happens for him in qualifying! Alonso will be on the podium i think and hopefully Hamilton will put in another strong performance although i doubt he will be on the podium again.

No engine change for Kimi!