Comments on: 2009 F1 cars quicker than in 2008

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:38:24 +0000

Maybe they’re faster in the straights, but definitely not in the corners. Pity.

By: crossomotive

crossomotive — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:34:15 +0000

I bet there be some better drivers too in the prix to handle these cars.

By: elfboy

elfboy — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 18:33:06 +0000

I caught A1 racing a couple of weeks (3 weeks maybe) back on TV and it was about some of the best motor racing I’ve seen in years — and those guys are not even F1 racers. There might be something in forcing all the teams to use the same (primitive/basic) aero-packages (though that takes out a lot of fun in seeing what the F1 tech-wizards conjure up).

Next year’s rules of allowing a team to have unlimited budget to develop this year’s car or 30 million to build a totally new car would make things interesting (if FIA doesn’t chicken **** and bow to whatever Ferrari demands next — am Ferrari fan btw).

Personally, I just wish that the FIA had a fuel cap instead of a budget cap. Each team has a fuel budget of 150 liters to fuel both cars on race day (not entire weekend). That’ll see some real car innovation (and speed downgrade).

By: PJA

PJA — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:21:21 +0000

I thought the main argument for a single tyre supplier was that it would be easier to control speeds in F1. So surely if the FIA think speeds are getting too fast they just need to tell Bridgestone to make harder tyres.

Also is it still planned that tyre warmers are banned next year, and if so how do Bridgestone intend to solve the problem of the performance difference between new cold tyres and fully up to temperature tyres?

By: DGR-F1

DGR-F1 — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:34:52 +0000

I agree K – Jackie Stewart etc started the ball rolling with the safety aspects, since at the time the cars really were death traps (and the drivers were supermen).
But I also remember after the Turbo era, the switch back to non-turbo did not see any slowing down of the cars for long, and even the more recent switches to less powerful engines and groovy tyres didn’t stop the designers and engineers working their way round it to stay competitive.
As far as I am concerned, if its F1 it should be fast and innovative, and with the modern use of carbon fibre, speeds should only be limited by what the drivers and tracks can take.
Otherwise whats the point?

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:53:23 +0000

Thanks CD

By: Raceaddict

Raceaddict — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:49:01 +0000

What about spec pistons and rods (read heavy)? That would keep the revs down, keep some of the costs contained and have an overall lowering of horsepower. These engines are hardly relevant to showroom engines anymore anyway. Let the development happen in the other areas.

(Anti KERS)

(Pro tyre war)

By: A Singh

A Singh — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:15:08 +0000

The fact that the lap times are close to those of 2008 doesn’t necessarily mean that the speeds are out of control. The 2008 times were still a long way of 2006 times (when we had ultra grippy Michelin and Bridgestone tyres). Even the 2006 times were a couple of seconds of the 2004 times as well.

It’s all irrelevant anyway, because if refuelling is introduced next year then the lap times will stutter by 3 seconds.

By: Macca

Macca — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:09:21 +0000

Banning refuelling is a terrible idea. Pit stops are the most dramatic part of the race because anything can go wrong. And in this age of motorsport it is almost the only way of over taking. If you ban refuelling the fast cars will be at the front and slow cars at the back and overtaking will be dead forever.

By: kimi

kimi — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 06:38:25 +0000

no way FIA, FOTA,GPDA would be up for steel discs. Braking points would be longer, and they wouldn’t take up that idea on the grounds of safety.
i agree with higher minimum weight, but the best way of making F1 safe and slow is to make rules that do not allow for different interpretations that gives you half a second advantage or more. non KERS designed car+DDD is clearly a far better solution than a KERS designed car. It is just stupid of FIA to allow someone to build a car without KERS and all the weight problems that come with it.
there should be a rule, that all cars must be designed for KERS, no matter if they use it during races or not.

Brawn GP clearly has an advantage, the FIA should increase the power of KERS to make things more even.