The Official F1 2009 Thread

[TDE30]

and as for the penalties, why did kimi not get anything? can anyone answer that?

Well, the stewards were going to review it post-race because they needed to "review different views of the start." They were trying to see if Räikkönen made the violent move to avoid a collision with someone on his left. I guess that was the case, and the violent move in LH's direction was because Räikkönen was trying to avoid said collision.

Harsh move against Renault though, it was a sloppy and amateur pit-in, but was it really worthy of suspension from the next race? I expect to see Renault appeal that one. I also expect to hear that either the wheel man on that corner of the lollipop man (since he oversees the completion of the car at each pitstop) have been fired.

[Dave]

Bernie wants Alonso in Massa's seat. Very classy, Bernie.

[Hick]

Alonso's contract states that he MUST have a ride for every race on the calender. this may clear him to be with Ferrari next year

[tg318is]

About Massa's helmet...

http://momento24.com/en/2009/07/28/%E2%80%9Crf-1-7-is-the-helmet-that-saved-felipe-massa/

[z31maniac]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77400

And BMW is done. They are no longer participating in F1 after the end of the season.

One bad season and they throw out all the hard work?

[YAN-3]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77400

And BMW is done. They are no longer participating in F1 after the end of the season.

One bad season and they throw out all the hard work?

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooo

[tjts1]

Good. I hope the rest of the teams quit too in disgust.

[quickervicar]

This news saddens me greatly. However, I believe that this decision is due to the tight regs of F1, not the financial state of the company. Why stay in F1 when you gain nothing in engine development and are very limited in transmission technology, too? Get rid of the engine freeze & I believe that they'll be back.

[TDE30]

^ Good point. I think it's a two-part problem, one being the current douchenozzlery with the FIA and the other being BMW's economic state. They pour $230M into their Formula One efforts only to be third from the last in the constructor's standings, as well as experiencing a 13% decline in global sales in June alone. I think those two things make staying in Formula One a very poor idea for the company. It sucks to see them not want to stay and tough it out a bit, but if they're hurting, they're hurting; and as history shows, the first thing to usually go are company's motorsport efforts (big or small.) I can see them returning (when their company's economic situation improves) perhaps as an engine supplier to someone else. It's a damn shame, but in business terms it make some sense.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aJB5bfNAHhys

Edit: ...to add to that, hopefully this will have a semi-happy ending like the (now defunct) Honda situation, where Brawn purchased Honda and the employees went along with Brawn GP. Hopefully there will be a buyer for BMW so the crew can still have something to do. No matter how off the car was, the crew was always 10/10ths, I very rarely saw any hiccups with any of their stops. With the four or five new teams coming into Formula One, this could be a distinct possibility.

[elsabor67]

Dissapointed BMW is done. They had the potential to get better.

On another note, Just in from CNN International, Michael Schumacher, pending medicals and physicals will return to race for Ferrari for the remainder of the season. Speculation has that he will be back for the GP in Valencia, Spain. Saw this 15 min. ago.

[TDE30]

^ Fuckin' whoa! I heard loads of internet rumors about him possibly being up for it, I figured Luca Badoer or Marc Gené would fill in his vacancy. That should be awesome.

[Charlie]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77418

Yep, Schumi.

-Charlie

[Hick]

this news has me so fucking excited

[z31maniac]

I bet they will have him testing 2010 spec parts......

[TDE30]

Schumacher racing alongside Räikkönen, all when Ferrari is doing a lot better than earlier this season; this should be awesome.