The Official 2008 F1 Series Thread

[Hick]

haha. Flavio keeps claiming the renault is down 25hp to everyone else. maybe...

[TDE30]

Flavio is by far and away the coolest member of the Renault team.



I hate that prick Alonso got on the front row of his home Gran Prix. Hopefully BMW will pick up the pace tomorrow, I still don't know why Heidfeld was sticking to those hard-compounds for most of the quali sessions, he was quite closer than usual to being knocked out in Q1 and Q2. I sort of hate to hear about Super Aguri, they held the rear of the pack up like nobody else in the business. I shall have a cold one tonight for their efforts through the oast year or so.

[Hick]

I hope some of the ex cart teams [maybe even minardi] buy super aguri. best moment of last season was watching Sato pass Alonso at Canada. LMFAO

[TDE30]

best moment of last season was watching Sato pass Alonso at Canada. LMFAO

QFT.

Well, 17 laps in, I'd have to guess it may be a Ferrari 1-2. Third will be up for grabs though with Renault's so-so reliability and Alonso's potentially hot-head. I did notice that Sebastian Bourdias' kewl glasses gave him crap peripheral vision.

[Jon325i]

Heikki Kovalainen's crash on YouTube. Quick - watch it before Formula 1 management yanks it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO2ix9EEcg8

[Oofie_SD]

Yeah, I was hoping he wouldn't injure his legs on that one. very scary.

[TDE30]

I just hope my basketweaves don't degrade like Heikki's did.

Hopefully he'll be okay to race at Istanbul.

http://Alonso.justgotowned.com/

[Hick]

awwww. another ferrari one-two. damn, whoda thunk it?

suprised at Alonso's pace through the first stint, he even seemed to catch up Massa after the first round of stops. Might make for an interesting season after this past weekends race.

So now we have Ferrari as the top team. Then [in no order] Mclaren, Renault, BMW on the same level then Toyota, RBR, and Williams on the same level but not very far behind the top cars.

[TDE30]

awwww. another ferrari one-two. damn, whoda thunk it?

suprised at Alonso's pace through the first stint, he even seemed to catch up Massa after the first round of stops. Might make for an interesting season after this past weekends race.

So now we have Ferrari as the top team. Then [in no order] Mclaren, Renault, BMW on the same level then Toyota, RBR, and Williams on the same level but not very far behind the top cars.

It remains to be seen, but my guess is that this weekend's performance from Renault was a hiccup. I doubt they'll be that strong for the rest of the year. Ordinarily they don't push that much and make it to the end, but this weekend, they pushed way too hard and neither car made it to the end.

[E-Thirty]

Super Aguri denied access to Istanbul

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67142

Super Aguri's trucks and motorhome have been refused access to the paddock at Istanbul ahead of next week's Turkish Grand Prix, autosport.com has learned, as the saga surrounding their future took a fresh twist on Sunday.

With the team hoping that a meeting with the Honda board this week will see a rescue package put forward by German automotive company the Weigl Group accepted, the outfit have been left baffled by events developing in Turkey.

Although the team's cars are currently in Britain pending the outcome of the talks with Honda, they had dispatched their spares trucks and motorhome to Turkey to prepare for the next race.

However, sources have revealed to autosport.com that neither the motorhome nor the trucks were allowed into the paddock where teams have begun setting up ahead of the next round of the world championship.

When asked for an explanation from officials about why they were not allowed access to the paddock, sources claim the reason was that Honda Racing CEO Nick Fry had informed Formula One management that Super Aguri would not be racing in Turkey.

The development comes just 24 hours after Fry made it clear that he did not believe the rescue package from Weigl was good enough to secure Super Aguri's future.

He said "It would appear unlikely that a company the size of Weigl is able to support a competitive Formula One team, unless of course there are other partners of which we have not been made aware."

Weigl himself hit back at those claims, revealing to autosport.com on Saturday that he did indeed have investment partners and a long-term plan for the team, and that he was confident of a positive outcome from the Honda board meeting.

Fry has made no secret of the fact that he does not want Super Aguri to continue being a drain on the resources of the Honda Racing F1 team. Speaking to autosport.com at the Spanish Grand Prix, Fry said he believed Honda had already supported Super Aguri far beyond what was originally intended.

"Our position is that Honda have given Super Aguri every available bit of support over and above what was anticipated," said Fry in Barcelona. "We tried to help as much as possible and Honda never intended to fund two F1 teams. We've gone way beyond what was ever originally anticipated. Now Aguri has got to find some money."

With no access to the paddock, Super Aguri's trucks and motorhome are parked outside the track waiting for further news from the team management. Team personnel have already begun travelling to the race.

[Jon325i]

Super Aguri - Shut Down

Recently hit the newswire - the team has run out of money and efforts to find more financial backing has been elusive at best. A shame because they were the underdog team I always cheered for. Hopefully they can make a return someday.

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-super-aguri-withdraws-from-formula-1/

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jJdR4tv5aXjnICz-DomC4F5W0sdQ

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hhr8PnFvexZPV54lB88b9hEc1n8w

Jon

[Dave]

Sato has got to resurface somewhere eventually.

He's not a bad driver - no front runner in F1, but he has some skill.

[TDE30]

Super Best Friends R.I.P.
March 2006 - May 2008

Sato has got to resurface somewhere eventually.

He's not a bad driver - no front runner in F1, but he has some skill.

QFT. Nowhere was this more true than 2004, when his teammate was Button. But since then, he has been the posterboy for SAF1. It's sad to see the team go, but I can see Sato coming back as a test driver for, say, Honda perhaps.

[Hick]

Sato wont race in F1 again, period. Hes good but no one will pick him up as they have seen what he can do. Davidson, on the other hand, will replace a crappy driver at some point [read; DC]

[Jon325i]

Sato wont race in F1 again, period. Hes good but no one will pick him up as they have seen what he can do. Davidson, on the other hand, will replace a crappy driver at some point [read; DC]

I'd have to agree with you on this. Davidson has several years as a test driver with Honda and I can recall how his lap times weren't very far off the teams regular drivers....or drivers from other teams for that matter. I could see him replacing DC or even Rubens Barachello at Honda. Both of those chaps are getting up there in the years (by F1 standards at least).

Jon