In the round-up: F1 teams want the FIA to contain costs by enforcing the Resource Restriction Agreement.
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Links
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Australian GP Conference 2 (FIA)
Eric Boullier: “We have many correspondences with the FIA on many subjects and one of the subjects was the RRA and trying to find a way to make the FIA involved in the process of reinforcing the RRA through an idea like sporting regs. So we contacted the FIA and Jean Todt to try and set up a group to discuss the matter.”
Pastor Maldonado leads the F1 drivers who bring money to the cockpit (The Guardian)
“Of the 24 competitors who line up on the grid for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix one quarter will be what are called pay drivers, six men who have won their seats after pouring millions of pounds into the coffers of their respective teams”
Sebastian Vettel: “I wasn’t happy at all in the car…” (Adam Cooper)
“This morning it wasn’t very good, I wasn’t happy at all in the car. This afternoon I think it was a bit better. Obviously with the conditions it was difficult to get a lot of running. It was more or less the same for all of us, but with the little time we had in the afternoon it was quite OK.”
F1 globetrotting drives revenue rise-report (Reuters)
“Revenue for the current 20-race season, which begins at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, will reach $2 billion for the first time, said industry monitor Formula Money.”
Vettel, Massa remain on GPDA board (Autosport)
“The move was officially ratified at Friday night’s meeting of the GPDA in Melbourne, where it was also agreed that Vettel and Massa would be continuing in the roles that they assumed at the start of last year.”
Q&A with McLaren’s Jenson Button (F1)
“This race-track is rather unusual, so it is difficult to compare it with all the information we have gained in Barcelona. The layout is completely different – and the average speed of the corners is much lower. The car feels good for me – but we also know that we have to improve the car for the race.”
F1 rookie Daniel Ricciardo enjoys life in fast lane (The Australian)
“I think there is some time to be gained but the good news is I knew where it can be gained. On paper it doesn’t look as good as what it can. This morning I think we found some positives. I think tomorrow we will be nice and far up the grid.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “The base setup we have is working well” (Lotus)
“In the first session we had to change the steering. We have a number of different steering racks and unfortunately we didn’t have time to try all of them during testing. We need to try them all at some stage, and Friday is the best time to do that as it takes quite a while to change.”
Alonso still hopeful of title challenge (BBC)
“Maybe it takes time to maximise the potential of the car, but definitely we are in a good direction. We want to be world champions in November.”
Comment of the day
Theoddkiwi reckons we’re in for a close qualifying session:
I really don’t get the feeling that Red Bull are going to dominate qualifying. Remember they were using different engine maps for qualifying for periods last year. That’s gone.
I think it is not only going to be closer amongst the top three or four teams but also amongst the team drivers to.
I think all the drivers are quite genuine in saying they have no idea where they will qualify as in they have no funny tricks up their sleeves.
Theoddkiwi
From the forum
- Codemasters confirm F1 2012 for September release
- Details on the Australian Grand Prix F1 Fanatic Meet-up
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On this day in F1
Ralf Schumacher won the 2002 Malaysian Grand Prix for Williams.
His team mate Juan Pablo Montoya finished second despite receiving a controversial penalty following this first-corner collision with Michael Schumacher:
Image © Marussia
plutoniumhunter (@plutoniumhunter)
17th March 2012, 0:08
Paymen can become legends indeed.
snowman (@snowman)
17th March 2012, 0:16
I miss Montoya!
“F1 teams want the FIA to contain costs by enforcing the Resource Restriction Agreement”
All but two who don’t care about the future of the sport as long as they can spend and do what they want without punishment like last year. Red Bull and they’re junior team.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
17th March 2012, 1:06
@snowman – Right now, there is no proof that Red Bull have actually done anything wrong. When Max Mosely first started talking about a budget cap, one of the real sticking points was his plans for auditing the teams to make sure they were sticking to it. The teams didn’t like the idea because it involved letting someone from outside the sport having unfettered access to their books, and they weren’t satisfied that that information would remain confidential. If one of the other teams got their hands on someone’s accounting, then they could use it as a guide to see who was spending what and where, and from there, they could start to figure out development windows.
So while it’s possible that Red Bull are opposing this move because they have something to hide, it’s also possible that they dislike the way mandatory auditing is to be introduced rather than the concept of mandatory auditing itself. Their refusal to agree is not evidence of their guilt.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
17th March 2012, 1:55
Codemasters really need to pull out all the stops for F1 2012. The game needs something that its predecessors do not. It will have an updated team roster, three circuits that were not in F1 2011 (though Bahrain and Hockenheim appeared in F1 2010) and the cars will no doubt be trickier to handle because of te OTBD ban.
But why should I buy F1 2012 when I can wait for F1 2013? It will have updated rules, prettier cars, no Valencia and the addition of Port Imperial and possibly Mar del Plata and Paul Ricard? Or why not wait for 2014 when the regulations get a total overhaul and Sochi joins the calendar? Or 2015, when the sport will no doubt change again? Likewise, the features like the AI and handling and tyre simulations will no doubt be improved with every passing year.
This is the dilemma faced by every sports game that is released on a yearly basis – why should the customer spend $80 on a game when next year’s edition will feature more content, but not so much as to justify spending the extra money?
Scary Terry (@hatebreeder)
17th March 2012, 2:23
Get the PC edition. Works out much cheaper.
Honestly, I just hope I don’t get bored of the game like I got bored of the previous two games. There isn’t any freedom in the game either. At least they should have a gallery system with all the old tracks which will be fun to drive on.
And maybe some sort of a story line. Like how GRID had. One gets to drive exhibition races etc.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
17th March 2012, 2:36
@hatebreeder
I did. Even on the lowest graphics settings, my computer couldn’t handle it.
Storylines are difficult with racing games – it’s hard to tell a decent story about what essentially amounts to driving around in (elaborate) circles. Codemasters actually did experiment with the player taking on the role of a character in the TOCA Race Driver games, but it was the usual melodramatic nonsense about a young driver trying to cut it in the world of motorsports, where he must step out from the shadow of his successful older brother and the death of his father in a racing accident. A million monkeys working a million typewriters could probably come up with something better in half an hour.
The only really interesting stories that you could tell in the racing world would probably be shot down by Bernie and/or the teams, and if it did get approved, then it would likely distract from the actual racing. For example, an under-performing racing driver discovers that there is a conspiracy within his team. His car has been designed with CFD, and the entire project supported by the government and/or military because CFD could be used to rapidly develop next-generation fighter jets, and the highly-competitive nature of Formula 1 means that the technology will be developed faster and cheaper than the military (since one F-22 Raptor costs more than most teams spend in an entire year). However, CFD is not powerful enough to properly develop a racing car (and certainly not powerful enough for a fighter jet), and so the investors are trying to cover it up and/or manipulate the outcome of races so that the car appears to perform better than it normally would, all the while leaking details o CFD development to a foreign power in the hopes that they will take over the project and unwittingly compromise their own military capacity.
A story like that might be interesting, and it might have a lot of potential, but it would just distract from the game. Not that it would ever be included in the game, since Bernie and the teams would refuse to allow it.
Scary Terry (@hatebreeder)
17th March 2012, 7:41
@prisoner-monkeys
its neither proper arcade nor proper sim. its somewhere in the middle and not fun in either directions. And sadly it feels monotonous after like 5 or 6 races.
I bought myself a Thrustmaster steering wheel to play the game and now I dont feel like playing the game. :P
Dev (@dev)
17th March 2012, 2:36
instead what they should do is make one game and provide upgrade to it over the years with some cost attached like $25 and make a 5 year series.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
17th March 2012, 8:27
@prisoner-monkeys As far as the actual cars go, I was happy with the improvement between 2010 and 2011. It seemed more immersive on last years edition. I think where they really need to improve is on the off-track stuff.
It strikes me that there doesn’t seem to be an awful lot of processing power to play with. On the Xbox the cars always stutter and the graphics glitch as you exit the pits. It doesn’t feel particularly seamless.
ivz (@ivz)
17th March 2012, 2:25
Miss the sound of those V10’s
SouthAussie94 (@mpj1994)
17th March 2012, 4:15
The Channel 10 telecast of the GP has reached an all time low here in Australia.
FP3 finishes and instead of the commentators analysing the session, they cut to an interview of Australian Model, Lara Bingle about her personal life…
Oh how I wish I had SKY…
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
17th March 2012, 5:25
@mpj1994 – Why do you think I turned it off as soon as the last driver set a timed lap?
They did the whole human-interest angle at the end of FP1 and FP2 as well. Channel Ten don’t seem to realise that since nothing really happens in free practice, and nothing can really be read into it, the only people who watch it are the dedicated fans – the people who aren’t interested in human-interest stories, or listening to Angela Bishop give her opinion on the lack of female racing drivers (which she probably didn’t have until about two minutes before she was on camera). It’s a bit like the lead-up to FP1 yesterday. Ten minutes beforehand, we weren’t getting interviews with racing personalities. We weren’t getting explanations of the rules and analysis of the way they will impact the racing. No, we got Nicole Livingstone (who somehow managed to find time in her busy schedule of hyping up Ian Thorpe) interviewing the guy who designed the outfits for the waiters at the Paddock Club.
I’m still at a loss to explain their general programming decisions. Sky (and before them, the BBC) has a world-class commentary line-up: actual experts with detailed analysis, and real relationships with people in the paddock. And yet the station insists on handing the reins over to Rust, Baird and Beattie. You know it’s a bad sign when none of your “expert” commentators on open-wheel racing have ever actually driven an open-wheel racing car. To me, it makes far more sense for Ten to simply let the people wo know what they are talking about do the actual talking.
As for the human-interest angle, I suppose that the Grand Prix is treated as a social event first and a race second. There are dozens of celebrities at Albert Park this weekend, and while they don’t care about racing, it is very important that they are seen at the race. The unfortunate net effect is that in six hours of coverage, we get maybe two and a half of actual racing, and the rest is just filler. I’d much rather they cut to “Dr. Phil” or “The Ellen Degeneres Show” between races.
Still, it’s a damn sight better than that time when Eddie McGuire was the anchor for Channel Nine …
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
17th March 2012, 8:24
Having the FIA police the RRA does sound like a good idea in principal. I kno wwe’ve been here before with budget caps proposed by Mosley, but the teams are being forthcoming about this and will of course make sure their voices are heard.
No team wants to spend an excessive amount of money if they can get away with spending less. If the RRA can be structured in such a way that it is policed effectively then I don’t see why there would be a problem.
Ricciardo was spot on with his prediction.