The Official 2008 F1 Series Thread

**z31maniac** · 11-05-2008, 07:09 AM

^Precisely. If the engine goes spec and so does KERS, that means the transmission will have to as well.

Originally posted by Ray Smoodiver

The pinnacle of motorsport governed by a budget cap?

Oh please, it's not A1 for gods sakes

So you think it would be more exciting to see only McMerc, Ferrari, Toyota and Honda competing because no one else can afford to?

So a spec drivetrain in the pinnacle of motorsport, and they have also suggested spec suspension pieces and the like as well, is somehow better than a cost cap with minimal restrictions?

That would be super exciting to see 8 cars on track, then everyone would finish in the points!

**Jon325i** · 11-05-2008, 07:45 AM

Originally posted by z31maniac

^IMHO that is the best way to deal with rising costs.

Lift many of the technical regulations and say, "You have this much money, get after it"

Now that's how controlling costs should be approached in F1 - forcing new regulations and technologies on the teams only drives up the costs because it forces the teams to re-invent, re-engineer, re-fabricate a component or system and that whole process costs money, often big money.

Bernie & Max's efforts to make F1 more spec-like just flies in the face of what made Formula 1 what it is - each team creating a car (and often times engine) of its own design and engineering, not everyone running the same hardware with the only distiguishing difference being the paint and sponsor logos. Steve Matchett was going on about this during the Fuji or Shanghai race. Loosely quoting him, "you want to bring costs under control, stop changing the rules every season." So simple yet so obvious too.

Our saving grace is that Max and Bernie are getting up there in the years and won't be in their positions of power/authority for too much longer.

Jon

**E30Kaiser** · 11-05-2008, 11:47 AM

Alonso and Piquet are confirmed for next year with Renault: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin...8/11/8652.html

I am more surprised by the fact that Piquet was confirmed than Alonso. They made it sound like he was getting the axe leading up to the end of the season. Plus I wouldn't have thought crashing in the last race would increase his chances of staying. Oh well, I hope he does a lot better next year since the car will be better.

**TDE30** · 11-05-2008, 12:10 PM

Yeah, Piquet's performance this year has been startlingly under par. I would have picked him as a test driver for Renault maybe.

Along similar lines, I heard somewhere that DC will be the RBR test driver next year. After his last real race, I'm kind of glad he'll be in the seat for test/practice sessions.

**Jon325i** · 11-05-2008, 12:12 PM

I was just cruising Speed's website and saw the same story. I too am a bit surprised that Pee-kay-joon-yer was retained after his less than stellar season. Granted he did pick up on consistancy in the latter half of the year - but I remember during the British GP things were looking really bad for the young Brazilian. Renault keeping Alonso is a no-brainer. He's fast, fearless and great at extracting the most performance out of his car. He has that technical understanding to the sport which helps the engineers improve the car.

Jon

Edit: Shanghai is moved to April in 2009. Preliminary calendar for next season also mentioned.

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-china-gp-moves-to-april/

**z31maniac** · 11-05-2008, 12:48 PM

Originally posted by Jon325i

Now that's how controlling costs should be approached in F1 - forcing new regulations and technologies on the teams only drives up the costs because it forces the teams to re-invent, re-engineer, re-fabricate a component or system and that whole process costs money, often big money.

Bernie & Max's efforts to make F1 more spec-like just flies in the face of what made Formula 1 what it is - each team creating a car (and often times engine) of its own design and engineering, not everyone running the same hardware with the only distiguishing difference being the paint and sponsor logos. Steve Matchett was going on about this during the Fuji or Shanghai race. Loosely quoting him, "you want to bring costs under control, stop changing the rules every season." So simple yet so obvious too.

Our saving grace is that Max and Bernie are getting up there in the years and won't be in their positions of power/authority for too much longer.

Jon

Precisely. I was just sitting here at my desk thinking about this.

When they did away with V-10s, how much did that cost? Why not just use an xxxx diameter inlet restrictor as a way to decrease HP much like WRC, instead of spending tens of millions (probably hundreds of millions between all the teams)to design, test and build new engines.

**e30bmw** · 11-05-2008, 07:32 PM

Originally posted by Jon325i

Edit: Shanghai is moved to April in 2009. Preliminary calendar for next season also mentioned.

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/artic...oves-to-april/

Still no Canada? I heard during the broadcast of the last race that they were trying to get them to put that Canadian Grand Prix in.

**Jon325i** · 11-05-2008, 08:32 PM

Originally posted by e30bmw

Still no Canada? I heard during the broadcast of the last race that they were trying to get them to put that Canadian Grand Prix in.

Still trying - but nothing concrete yet. There was also a story on Speed's F1 page about the USGP returning to the calendar by 2010. I'm not going to get worked up on that one - Bernie and his doublespeak will lead you to believe something good is coming then he suddenly yanks the rug out from under your feet.

Jon

**z31maniac** · 11-06-2008, 03:54 AM

Originally posted by Jon325i

Still trying - but nothing concrete yet. There was also a story on Speed's F1 page about the USGP returning to the calendar by 2010. I'm not going to get worked up on that one - Bernie and his doublespeak will lead you to believe something good is coming then he suddenly yanks the rug out from under your feet.

Jon

I also like that they said it would most likely NOT be at Indianapolis. But close to a major city on the east or west coast.

Street venue in NYC or San Fransico? That would be fucking amazing.

**devonjordan** · 11-06-2008, 08:12 AM

Originally posted by z31maniac

I also like that they said it would most likely NOT be at Indianapolis. But close to a major city on the east or west coast.

Street venue in NYC or San Fransico? That would be fucking amazing.

Oh Hell yessssss! Make those cars go down Lombard Street (between hyde and leavenworth), LOL.

**hugh jass** · 11-06-2008, 08:14 AM

the street circuits are a good spectacle but don't make for very good racing on track.
did any of you guys watch the world superbike race from portimao in portugal this last weekend? that is an amazing track. i would love to see f1 there.