F1 Fanatic round-up: 10/3/2010

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Two days to go two our first F1 action of 2010. Here’s today’s round-up:

Links

Top Formula One drivers facing slow-motion hazards in Hispania, Virgin and Lotus (The Times)

“Formula One’s top teams fear their best drivers could be driven out of the World Championship by hopelessly slow cars forming dangerous roadblocks.” A tad over-the-top, no?

Lewis Hamilton will be defined by this F1 season (Daily Mirror)

“Against Schumacher, who is statistically the best there has ever been, Hamilton can still be termed a pretender. But if he is crowned world champion this season, no one will be able to question his ability again.”

Comment of the day

HRT have got their first fan – it’s it’s Steph:

I have to say I really like this team and they may well just survive based on the spirit they’ve shown already. The odds are against them and they need sponsors but just a few weeks back they were in an awful situation but then suddenly there was a deal, there was a car revealed and am line up confirmed. It took them a while but then they got moving and found a solution. I like that and I hope it stands them in good stead.
Steph

Site updates

I’m looking into a few technical problems with the site which are causing it to generate some errors. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Fred Schechter!

On this day in F1

Mika Hakkinen made his F1 debut for Lotus on this day in 1991.

By the end of 1992 he had made 30 appearances for them before joining his second and final F1 team – McLaren – as a test driver.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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83 comments on “F1 Fanatic round-up: 10/3/2010”

  1. could make close race finishes if the leader gets slowedd down by a back marker…

  2. Lewis Hamilton will be defined by this F1 season (Daily Mirror)

    “Against Schumacher, who is statistically the best there has ever been, Hamilton can still be termed a pretender. But if he is crowned world champion this season, no one will be able to question his ability again.”

    Sorry, but beating Nigel Mansell TODAY doesn’t mean you are better than him.

    Who writes that kind of stupidity??… no one questions Hamilton ability, he’s very good and extremely talented. It’s just annoying they try to make him look like the best driver ever seen in Formula One with just 3 seasons under his belt. British press are saying that since he debuted in 2007.

    1. That’s the thing! It’s so annoying! How could he be judged the best driver, let alone ever, when we have a certain Mr. Alonso on the grid?
      He’s very very talented and one of the best in recent times but certainly not THE best. Certain patches of the British press were too overwhelmed at his arrival as there were hardly any stellar British drivers in F1 at that point of time.
      Then, Vettel came along, who imo, is equally talented.
      I would think Lewis is really special if he can beat Alonso this year. Schumacher is a different chapter altogether. Alonso is currently the best as he has all the credits to support that claim, 2 WDC titles and defeating the 7 time champion twice.

      1. If Hamilton wins this year, he will push Jesus out of the #1 spot

        1. Well from what we heard after Silverstone 2008, he already walks on water…

      2. Whatever said is 100% true….

        Hamilton has always had the backing by the media….

        1. He didn’t after Australia last year. To borrow Dane’s Jesus reference, they crucified him.

          1. I’ll take your word for it. I tend to avoid the mainstream media on all things F1 because the specialist media is, understandably, much better at reporting about it! But the specialists seemed to have a little more sympathy for Lewis than was strictly deserved. I even saw some people suggesting it was the stewards’ fault for not rumbling him and McLaren first time around! I mean, I know we should expect a certain standard of competence from the stewards, but surely we can’t expect clairvoyance…

      3. Hamilton beat Alonso already …

        Even when he was a rookie and the whole team was prepared to make Alonso the WDC.

        Imagine that!

        1. Oh really? Look, I’m not really an Alonso fan but I can’t stand stupid statements like these! Why can’t I remember Ham beating Alonso and when was McLaren (I suppose you’re referring to them here) prepared to make Alonso the WDC? They both scored equal points that season, if you didn’t know.
          Hamilton is a very talented driver but Alonso is no less. A two time WDC is not a joke! The people who really understand the sport saw Alonso’s talent last year when he wrenched out every bit of performance (there was virtually none) from that dog of a car that the R29 was! Lewis did the same in the 1st half of the season when the MP4-24 was a turtle. They’re both very good drivers, and its unfair to taint one or the other.

      4. Alonso vs Hamilton : remember Canada 2007?
        Alonso was so rattled and spun so many times that surely, he can never be considered as anywhere as good a driver as Ham. He made more mistakes in one race than several World Champion in their entire F1 career, like Lauda or Prost. That race only relegates him to below the hstorical greats in terms of ability.

        1. Eje Gustafsson
          10th March 2010, 14:47

          Every driver has a bad race now and then. Even a WDC. The press wants to see Ham vs Schu to see who is best. But they seem to forgotten that Alonso is a 2x WDC and he got those titles against Schu. Granted he then lost a WDC to Ham under what could be considered preferential treatment to Ham. When McLaren spews crap about equal treatment I can only shake my head. Last year Ham got all the latest upgrades first always got the last new set of tires during Qualifications etc over Kovalainen. How is that equal treatment? That team has lied and cheated so many times that it’s hard to take anything they say seriously.

          1. @Eje – Bang on.. except that Alonso didn’t lose the WDC to Hamilton when they had the same car.
            Hamilton won when Alonso was back with the seriously sick on performance R28.

            @ NICK – “Alonso was so rattled and spun so many times that surely, he can never be considered as anywhere as good a driver as Ham.”
            – You must be really retarded to say that!

            I mean, why’s there so much hate for such a brilliant driver like Alonso? The guys beat Schumacher twice, isn’t that proof enough?
            Now someone would come up and say Schumacher was no good and beating him doesn’t mean Alonso’s that good. Well then, you should stop watching F1 really!

            Even Button’s WDC got questioned by Hamilton fanboys.. ‘Did he deserve it?’
            Oh, he very f***ing well deserved it, cuz he just won it you nutjobs!
            All argument and opinion aside, no one but no one imho has ever won a WDC without being deserving of it! Maybe a race or two, but a WDC, no, never! How difficult is that to get?

          2. Oh eje come on…
            If at the start of the season you had 2 cheryl coles in your cars then slowly throughout the season on of them started turning into vanessa feltz. I’m pretty sure where YOUR attention would lie. It’s only a normal thing that every team on the grid would do.

            At the end of the day. I really liked Kovy but towards the end of last season he had a good car but no Stella perfs came.

    2. You can ignore most of the supposed ‘motor racing journalists’ in british papers, most of them are just generic sports journos shoehorned into the job, and they just spout patriotic crap because it’s what the plebs want to hear. The only thing newspapers are occasionally useful for is getting quotes, but then they get picked up online anyway.

      1. Like them or not, the very reason you can’t ignore them is because this is how a lot of people get their information about F1.

        1. Not that many people get their F1 info from Tabloids, TV news is far more significant. A high selling tabloid might sell 3 million copies a month where as BBC news at ten might get closer to 5 million viewers for a single show.

    3. As much as it pains me to defend something written in that garbage trash mag “newspaper”, there’s nothing in the article about Hamilton being the best driver ever.

      It merely suggests that if Hamilton wins the title then he deserves credit for that and not just being a flash in the pan who had the best car for a season.

      The 4 best drivers on the grid (in my opinion) – Schumacher, Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton will hopefully be in well matched cars and all have competitive team mates. So whoever comes out on top deserves some hype.

    4. IF he gets 6 more world titles maybe. He fired his dad finally so he just got instantly cooler… maybe he’s on the right path now.

      And yes, Alonso should do very very well this year. Just looking at the lineup and the test times I truly think that at any given race we have Hamilton, Alonso, Massa, Vettel, Schumacher, Rosberg, Webber and maybe Button all in the hunt for a win. Bah(it never)rains should be a great opener!

  3. ebeneezer sanchez
    10th March 2010, 1:49

    even though hamilton is a good driver, schumi is still the best

    1. No he’s never been the best. He just had the best car (designed by RB) with tires that were specifically taylored to its needs, and a team that revolved around him. Hence the “statistically the best” qualification. Nothing can ever change that fact. Perhaps that’s why he had to come back!

      1. Isn’t that at least slightly the case with all driver’s though? At the first test this year Jenson couldn’t even fit properly into the car because it was designed for the man across the garage who is almost 4 inches shorter.

        1. Yeah, that’s something that’s always amazed me….you would think that every top team would arrive at the first test venue of a new season with things like driver seat/ seat height/pedal setting/wheel/etc already set up perfectlyso that they could concentrate on car set up and all the other million things they have to worry about.

          1. I think teams will try to get the seat and everything else set up for the driver before the test, but it is one thing being comfortable in the car went it is back at the factory and another when it is going full speed around a race track with all the associated g-forces.

      2. Schuey is an amazing driver, stop ignoring his first two titles, who says he had the best car for those.

        However he has also secured for himself massive advantages, an these had a lot to do with some of his Ferrari titles.

      3. Schumacher was vever the best? Who was then? Montoya? Coulthard? Esteban Tuero?

      4. His 1994 title was certainly won in an inferior package.

        Three of his titles were won with a car that was the best only as a matter of opinion: 1995 , 2000, and 2001 – which was won much more clearly by a lack of other drivers, rather than teams, to compete with him.

        He won 2003, when the Ferrari was still considered a sublime package, but Michelin bridged the gap in that year.

        Only in 2002 and in 2004 has he had the best in every department.

        Then there’s 2005, which was a disaster for anyone on Bridgestones, 2006, where he was playign catch-up all year and nearly won, and let’s not forget 1996 and 1997, when he had dogs but nearly won in the latter year, and challenged in 1998 and 1999 with inferior equipment, in the latter year probably robbed only because of his accident.

        1. The 1994 car with traction control? Inferior?

  4. I still think Hamilton is a good driver & he don’t need to prove that by going wheel to wheel with Schumacher. But their battle this year will be awesome to watch.

  5. Mark Hitchcock
    10th March 2010, 1:59

    Not very relevant, a little disturbing and probably not the sort of music (dubstep) most F1 Fanatics are into but I found this today and found it quite amusing: 16Bit – M Dot Mosley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIV_iybtDlI

    1. Lol at the whiplash soundeffect. I do worry about what you were searching for to find that!

      1. Mark Hitchcock
        10th March 2010, 14:49

        haha, I was just looking for more songs by 16Bit and that one caught my attention. Honest!

    2. Hmmm… I never would have thought that dubstep producers take an interest in F1 politics, but clearly some do!

      Also it seemed to be an evil themed CD. The first two songs were named after a chainsaw and a ‘death car’, the third after a creepy F1 dictator

      1. I think the dub-step and max mixs well. Pretty dark lol. Hope to hear it in a set someday but i think it would be pretty small niche of people who would enjoy it

      2. Mark Hitchcock
        10th March 2010, 17:37

        “I never would have thought that dubstep producers take an interest in F1 politics, but clearly some do!”

        Sadly I suspect the Mosley scandal is the only reason a lot of people have heard of F1 though.

        In The Death Car is actually a surprisingly summery sounding track to begin with. It’s got a nice reggae sound running through it!

        Chainsaw Calligraphy scares the hell out of me though. It’s dark, evil and full of chainsaw revving!

  6. schumacher,alonso,hamilton – all of them are rightful good drivers in their own. Just cant declare any particular driver as the best in f1.

    1. “schumacher,alonso,hamilton – all of them are rightful good drivers in their own. Just cant declare any particular driver as the best in f1.”

      Perveze7, This kind of fence sitting will keep you in middle management. Executives need to be able to make decisions. Clearly a Senna/Schumacher test tube baby will be the greatest driver of all time!

      1. Why not Senna/Shumacher/Skywalker? Triploid mayhem. Feel the force!

        Apologies for lowering the tone even farther. Sometimes I feel quite embarressed how pointless some of my posts are.

      2. every has his weakness & stengths.S chris
        still u cant have a greatest driver of all time.

      3. chris , may be only a senna/schuey/speedracer combo will a explosive one.

  7. I’m with Steph, HRT are true underdogs and have done a fantastic job to even be on the grid. They fought and fought to get ready in time, and they have done it. I’m so looking forward to following their progress this year.

    Go HRT!

    1. I think it’s pretty sad that Adrian Campos had to sell his team to ensure it’s survival, entering F1 basically finished him for now, and whist HRT are still the same people he employed they’re not really the team that were originally given a place on the grid.

  8. “A tad over-the-top, no?”

    Yes, but we may well have a “Jean-Louis Schlesser” type moment this season.

    1. Well if it benefits Ferrari again then I’m ok with it ;)

      Seriously though, 15 years ago we had Jean-Denis Deletraz and Johnny Carwash pondering around at the back 10 seconds off the pace, Minardi rarely got within 3-4 seconds of the leaders pace and a few years ago Ide was barely within five seconds.

      All of a sudden there’s a ridiculous mentality that it’s going to cause hundreds of accidents every weekend, even though in the past they’ve all dealt with it just fine.

      1. I remember a brilliant quote by Gerhard Berger. Something like: “Now I know why they call them Forti’s, ’cause you seem to come across them fourty times a lap!”

      2. Agreed. This notion that there have never been cars driving around 4 seconds off the pace is just nonsense.

        HRT, Lotus and Virgin will all be quicker than Forti, Simtek, Pacific, Scuderia Italia etc etc etc etc were.

    2. Christian Horner’s in no position to criticise the new teams. What would he know about starting an F1 team from nothing? All he did was take over from Jaguar, which, conveniently, had just designed its best car yet!

      The big teams always go crying to the stewards these days when their driver makes a mistake behind a slower car. Wait till you hear them after first qualifying at Monaco.

  9. The realy good drivers (Alonso, Hamilton, Schumacher, Massa, Vettel) are allways good in overtaking.
    The slow teams should pay attention and warn their drivers actively to go out of the way. Normally their is no problem.

    1. You think Massa and Vettel are good at overtaking?

      1. I’m tired of the overtaking argument, if they’re in F1 particularly at the top then they will have had to overtake at some point.
        The RBR wasn’t good in dirty air last year and Vettel started at the back in Brazil but still ended up ahead of Button.
        Massa won the overtake of the year award last year on this blog for Canada, had a brilliant overtake on Hamilton at Hungary and at China this year started 13th and before he retired was fighting for a podium.
        There’s a general lack of overtaking in F1 anyway so it’s hard to blame specific drivers in my opinion.

        1. Don’t forget Silverstone 2007, where Massa came from the back to 5th.

          1. Oh yeah thanks Dan…*shakes head* and I call myself a Massa fan! :P
            And Aus 07 he thought back up to 6th I think

      2. No sire, I think only Hamilton knows what overtaking means, how could anyone else possibly be good at it?
        Mr. Patrickl, I just left a reply to ur mindless blabber above and again doing it here!
        I’m sorry mate, but could you just stop shoving your terrible understanding of F1 on this forum?
        What is wrong with you, or are you just like that, stupid & annoying?

  10. It’s certainly over the top considering that backmarkers have to get out of the way these days – as opposed to when the front runner actually had to make an effort to lap them.

  11. The way some people are going on you would have thought that F1 had never had cars which were quite a bit off the pace of the top teams.

    With regards to the quote about Hamilton from the Daily Mirror, if reading forums on the internet has shown me anything it is that no matter what a driver may achieve there will always be some who think they are totally overrated and just had a lucky career and some who think they are one of the best ever but never got the chance.

    1. The way some people are going on you would have thought that F1 had never had cars which were quite a bit off the pace of the top teams.

      I couldn’t agree more. It’s not as if Williamses and Benettons were forever running into Pacifics and Simteks in 1994 is it?

      1. I’m all for new teams and higher car counts, but this last-minute, no-testing, push-it-onto-the-grid scenario hasn’t worked out as well as it should have.

  12. What’s up with all this hamilton/schumacher talk. I get so sick of it. All we hear from everybody is wanting to see how they compare, and all we hear from hamilton is how he is honored blablabla to race against “a legend”. Sure, I believe you Lewis, but doesn’t every f1 driver want to see how he does against Schumacher? Why do you have to talk about it every opportunity you get? I realy dislike him for it.

    1. Why do you have to talk about it every opportunity you get?

      Because he always gets asked about it. I’ve been in half-a-dozen group media interviews with Hamilton this year and every time without fail there was at least one question about Schumacher.

      And that’s because if you want people to click on a headline names like “Schumacher” and “Hamilton” are more likely to do the trick than “de la Rosa” or “Glock”. Fact of life.

      1. Accidental Mick
        10th March 2010, 14:50

        There is also the point that their driving styles are so similar. Both set their cars up like karts and both drive like they are in karts. Comparison is inevitable and I for one am really looking forward to seeing them race.

      2. lol Very true. F1 Racing done a pretty good job of vilifying Michael Schumacher and generally putting him down yet he’s the driver they’ve featured on their cover more than any other. I always disrespected that, on the outside they would use him to sell their magazine and on the inside they would slate him, especially Matt Bishop.

        1. Under Bishop’s tenure F1 Racing was little more than a shameless McLaren fanzine. And which team did he go to work for when he left….?

          1. I stopped buying when they gave Moseley a column, it was became an FIA propaganda rag which supported every ridiculous rule change they farted out.

          2. True true…lol.. I’d almost forgotten that fella!

  13. Ahh finally… photos and information are starting to trickle through from the Bahrain Paddock.

    Autosport’s photo gallery has lots of photos of car bodywork, the new section of track, which appears very narrow and doesn’t have a white line painted down either side of it (I thought that was a rule?), and Karun Chandhok has appeared to have shaved the bridge of his nose.

    http://www.autosport.com/gallery/index.php/id/1958

    1. There are some nice details in these pictures. And an Indian driver enjoying to be there!

      This is an interesting wing detail at Lotus:
      http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/13246463

    2. Allso a lot of different wheel nut designs (Virgin, McLaren, Mercedes, and some others)

  14. Last couple of week I have been thinking about the four top teams and possible outcomes. But looking again at the test times I maybe mistaken. Seeing the gaps in testing is within 1 second where both top and bootom is McLaren, this must mean all others are in the same pace more or less.
    But that means Williams, Sauber, Toro Rosso and Force India are also possible candidates for top spot.
    Proof is below table while rounding at 0.1 secs.

    1 Hamilton McLaren 01:20.5 227
    2 Webber Red Bull 01:20.5 168
    3 Massa Ferrari 01:20.5 228
    4 Sutil Force India 01:20.6 160
    5 Hulkenberg Williams 01:20.6 180
    6 Alonso Ferrari 01:20.6 208
    7 Vettel Red Bull 01:20.7 252
    8 Rosberg Mercedes 01:20.7 235
    9 Schumacher Mercedes 01:20.7 207
    10 Barrichello Williams 01:20.9 184
    11 Kobayashi Sauber 01:20.9 172
    12 de la Rosa Sauber 01:21.0 187
    13 Liuzzi Force India 01:21.1 154
    14 Buemi Toro Rosso 01:21.4 193
    15 Button McLaren 01:21.5 205

    The wait between even free practise and qualifation is too long now.

  15. This may have been been discussed earlier but during the 90’s to combat the mobile chicane issues (ie slow Forti Ford and other cars), there was a 107% qualifing cut off, whereby if pole was 1’40”, to run on Sunday drivers needed to be no slower than 1’47”. I don’t know if this is still in the rules or whether it could be adapted for the future if slow cars become a hazard.

    1. Four seconds is nothing though. These cars will be no more dangerous than Massa was when he drove for Sauber.

      Oh wait, look out everyone.

      1. And just as dangerous as a Luca Badouer last year!

    2. The 107% rule was only introduced in 1996, specifically because of Forti being so slow in 1995. It was scrapped with the introduction of single-lap qualifying in 2003 (hence why drivers can now start the race even if they don’t turn a wheel in qualifying, such as Webber managed at Suzuka last year). I suppose the rule (or something similar) could be reintroduced if the new teams were thought to be dangerously slow, but they’d probably have to consistently be six or seven seconds off the pace for it even to be considered.

      1. With the 107% rule cars could run even if they hadn’t run in qualifying too. If they’d shown performance during practice they would still be allowed to race.

        The rule was scrapped when the drivers had to qualify with race fuel on board. Not much sense on looking at laptimes when a big chunk of it is determined by fuel loads.

  16. Hey Guys,

    on what site can i watch formula 1 telecast live?

    1. The BBC Sport website (if you’re in the UK).

  17. McLaren has its redesigned website online (http://mclaren.com/home?utm_source=NL&utm_medium=NL20100310&utm_campaign=NL2010 ). One interesting feature is the “Race 1. OB”:

    “displaying live data and commentary during all of our races, plus practice and qualifying sessions …
    With a GPS-enabled circuit map, detailed telemetry from both our cars and exclusive comments from our pit-wall and Mission Control”

    That could be a real nice source of information! I hope they consulted this with FOM – it would be typical, if they would be penalized for giving information outside official media!

  18. The BBC F1 team have posted a video on their website about their thoughts for 2010.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8549772.stm

    1. By the way, sorry if already posted.

  19. In the Pitpass Bahrein preview, i read that the engine filters are now considered part of the homologated engine. Therefore the teams/engine manufacturers are not allowed to add aditional filters against the sand getting into the intakes!

    Nice take, possibly bringing several teams/drivers closer to having to take engine penalties at the end of the year.

    Does any of you have some details on this?

  20. Fred Schechter
    10th March 2010, 23:29

    Thanks Keith!
    Here’s to a great race weekend, (And the hopes that I’ll get to catch some of it for my birthday!)
    Cheers!
    -Fred

  21. You can assume whatever you like, just keep it to yourself!

    So, your TV set or rather you being at the race in Canada justifies your opinion “he can never be considered as anywhere as good a driver as Ham.”? Is that what you’re trying to say…? He spun alright but where does your opinion of him not being anywhere as good a driver as Ham come from?….
    Exactly, from your retarded head! You get it now, NO? Well, try a little bit harder and you might just be able to understand F1, let alone good driver/bad driver.

    Oh, how old are you btw, ‘cos you sound like a not-so-bright 5 year old to me OR maybe just a NASCAR fan!
    You watch NASCAR too, hmm NICK?

  22. “slow motion hazards” is a bit mean spirited but thats freedom of speech…

Comments are closed.