F1 2011 thread

And, in other news... Williams announced yesterday that they have signed the deal and will be running Renault engines in their cars... The V8 for 2012 and 2013 and it looks like the V6 turbo from 2014.
 
Laughable this

July 6 (SAPA) -- Motorsport South Africa (MSA) said on
Wednesday it would only support the hosting of a Formula One
(F1) Grand Prix event in Cape Town if the organisers met a
number of conditions.
One of the provisions, MSA said in a statement, would be
that South African drivers should either be included in the grid
or given the opportunity to do so.

"F1 enjoys very little support in countries where there is
no representation," said MSA chairman George Nyabadza.
"Only when we can wave our rainbow flag will there be
public interest and national unity."
MSA, the controlling body for motorsport in South Africa,
said it was aware of a bid from Cape Town, but had no knowledge
that a contract was being finalised.
Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 chief, told South African media
this week that he was in the final stages of negotiations to
bring a leg of the event to the country.
"Mr Ecclestone is notorious for making off the cuff
statements to elicit reaction," MSA said.
The national body said other conditions revolved around the
impact the event would have on South Africa's economy and the
amount of money generated for motorsport development,
particularly among the "female and black youth segments" of the
country.
It would be irresponsible, Nyabadza said, to host an F1
race without investing a portion of the proceeds in these
segments.
"There would be no legacy for the sport," he said.
A South African F1 race, MSA said, could not go ahead
without its support, as the national federation would need to
inscribe the event onto the calendar of the FIA, the global
governing body for the sport.
"The MSA board's current position is that it would only
support the hosting of such an event in South Africa if it
provided concrete benefits to the grassroots development of
motorsport, which would happen under the auspices of MSA," the
statement read.
South Africa has not hosted an F1 event in 18 years.
The country first held an F1 race in Port Elizabeth in
1934, and the coastal city hosted a leg of the World
Championship a further 11 times until 1966.
South Africa's F1 event was then held uninterrupted at
Kyalami until 1985.
After a break between 1986 and 1991, the race returned to
Kyalami in 1992, when it was won by British driver Nigel
Mansell, and was held again in 1993 when Frenchman Alain Prost
secured victory.
 
Facepalm moment.

4118002405_39e27afb1e.jpg
 
MSA have no interest in F1. The two are mutually exclusive since SA just isn't up to it politically. Will has left.
 
It might yes, but I'm not convinced McLaren weren't one of the teams benefitting from the tech. They were the best of the rest in that department IMO (hence their points). The Q is whether the gap to the top will be bigger for McLaren and less for Ferrari after the call... I suspect Ferrari were the biggest instigators in having the rules changed.

In one of the BBC articles they talked about the blown defusers and quoted Chris Horner saying that they only use "cold blow" (something along those lines) while most of the other teams use hot blown. The difference being that cold blown doesn't dump fuel into the exhaust like hot blowing with hot blowing giving an extra advantage as more gasses are released. The reason they don't use the latter is that it burned their body work. So when red-bull says that it wont effect them as much I'm inclined to believe them, the gap between them and the other teams is just going to increase.

As for red-bull cheating, from the other teams perspective Id also be thinking they cheat :P. Their KERS lack 20kw compared to the McLaren's 60kw (if the BBC cometary team is to be believed) and their DRS is not as efficient as other cars. So that leaves them with some fancy plastic bits making them faster than the other teams ;)

They still have 16 Constructors Championships. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Formula_One_World_Constructors'_Champions
If you are that good, then what's the point in B1tching about it?
They just get on with it...

Last wins in 2007 and 2008, seems hardly "The Last few years"

Seems Newey is claiming Redbull is going to struggle and now insinuating that he thinks Ferrari could have spearheaded the Blown Diffuser ban...
"The obvious parallel is when active suspension was banned at the end of '93, where there was no regulation change. Ferrari couldn't get their active to work and suddenly it was illegal for the next year.

"It's easy to fall into the Machiavellian conspiracy theories. Whether that's true or not, I don't know and I can't comment. My read of it would be that, of our main competitors, which are clearly McLaren and Ferrari, then Ferrari probably haven't got their exhaust to work that well so they are quite happy to see the back of it.
 
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Seems Newey is claiming Redbull is going to struggle and now insinuating that he thinks Ferrari could have spearheaded the Blown Diffuser ban...

not sure he is insinuating that they will struglle. more that the rule change may be targeted at them to make ferrari more competitive.
 
not sure he is insinuating that they will struglle. more that the rule change may be targeted at them to make ferrari more competitive.

Not just ferrari but also mclaren, they are trying to stop redbull running away with it but i get the feeling redbull are always one step ahead and they have known about this rule change for a few months, i highly doubt redbull have left it to the last minute :D. They will be ready and vettel will be fast. Not sure about webber he doesn't have the pace to challenge for wins at the moment.
 
Psssh, Bernie will tell the MSA to take a hike. The MSA dictating the terms of hosting a Grand Prix to Formula One? Clearly those in charge at MSA know very little about the sport.
 
VIVA Lewis VIVA
and sucks to those who think he should wait for space to pass a barge through before he overtakes! Vettel fans can be thankful he's mostly out of the racing...

Yes, and if his brain fades result in a driver being seriously injured?
 
Yes, and if his brain fades result in a driver being seriously injured?

Let's not get to dramatic, lewis races and while he cannot complete the move he still tries. If senna and prost never injured each other then there is hope for bumper cars in f1 :D

Could be a wet race so that whole diffuser issue may be moot.

Well it looks like mclaren have lost out big time. Redbull well maybe they should enforce a new rule and only allow redbull to have 3 wheels or something because no matter what they do redbull have the answer.

I guess hamilton was lying, it was mclaren cheating with the diffuser and not redbull :D.
 
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So it seems Williams spearheaded the blown diffuser clampdown, but they may have seen sense in the nonsense it has caused...

The FIA messed up though. Renault asked for 50% concession on their diffuser ban and Mercedes has a concession for reliability reasons. Renault was turned down with the FIA saying they 'asked too late'. So one car can run it for Silverstone... I wonder if Force India has it too? Diresta was awesome in quali. Perhaps they have never had it and just have had their car setup for no blown diffuser?

Either way, the FIA fiddles with the championship yet again. McLaren should write off this race as a bad joke and Redbull are closer to Ferrari but clearly still in front. Race pace may prove otherwise though, good for Ferrari fans.

The real bos-up though is that the FIA is possibly bringing it (blown diffusers) back next race. This championship feels like an experiment with Redbull all but having won it now. Roll on 2012.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92987
Teams to consider diffuser rule offer on Sunday morning
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92986
McLaren admits it has failed to respond well to rule changes
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92980
FIA backtracks on diffuser clampdown if all F1 teams agree
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92959
Red Bull accepts Silverstone 'disadvantage' but wants future compromise solution

Charlie Whiting put his foot in it here though
FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting had said last month that the clampdown was simply a way to stop teams from breaking the rules.

"We haven't made any changes to the rules; all we are doing is stopping people breaking the rules," he said.
So were blown diffusers illegal then? Why bring them back? Crikey, this season is a mess - the FIA and it's rules that it can't enforce. They're more a vehicle for manipulation than anything useful IMO.
 
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14:00 it starts so have your snacks read by about 13:55 unless you enjoy listening to sasha and co then be ready by 13:30

What an epic!!!!!!!

Awesome drive by the ham and alonso. Wow pity mclaren have to fill their car less than their rivals. Hamilton really needs to move to a team capable of winning because f1 needs his excitement. Hamilton vettel partnership FTW. Massa is also looking very good the last couple races.
 
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Last laps were epic.

Other than Webber not being allowed to take Vettel. What were they thinking? Surely they want Webber to do well too? It's not like a few points out of Seb's hat are going to make that much diffs at this stage.

Awesome race though, who would have guessed McLaren could be that competitive... weird that at such an iconic race for Ferrari (60th anniversary of their first win), they manage to trump the bulls for the first time this season. somehow a wheelnut gets uncharacteristically stuck on the bull and they're both not as fast as they have been in the past... very odd... blown diffusers out for one race. Bernie been calling favours? :D

I feel for Webber tho, that was rather unnecessary.

Hamilton was where it all happened though IMO. What fun to watch.
 
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