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[mblitek]

Maybe they'll turn their sprinkler system on...

/runs

Haha, half way through supersofts..."Surprise!"

An F1 season without Spa just won't be the same. Such a highlight of the calendar every year and one of those races, like Monza and Monaco, that I feel should always be there no matter what. There's nothing else like it and it will be missed on the alternating years.

I have no idea what the French track is like, but I find it hard to imagine it will be a suitable replacement on those years.

[...]

It's the polar opposite of any old school track. Just horrible. It's like a giant parking lot and then someone took blue & red sandy paint and outlined a "track."



On another note, I'm going to register greaseandgears.com . That way I can do motorsports and things outside of cars/bikes like planes...boats? Cool mechanical stuff?

Any opinions?

 

[Psychotext]

Nice new ad for Sky Sports F1

http://www.skysports.com/video/inline/0,26691,12870_7415542,00.html

Fair play, I didn't see tits, beer, fighter jets or a burnout... that's already far better than I expected from Sky.

 

[Dead Man]

On a different note, hello to all (first post in here), and a quick question, if I may: does anyone know what the broadcast arrangements for Australia are as yet? Whose feed/commentary will One use?

No clue, but I haven't seen any announcement of a deal with Sky, so I presume they will use BBC commentary for the races on BBC, and local commentary for the Sky races.

On another note, I'm going to register greaseandgears.com . That way I can do motorsports and things outside of cars/bikes like planes...boats? Cool mechanical stuff?

Any opinions?

Sounds good.

*runs off to register greaseandgears.com*

 

[oipic]

I presume they will use BBC commentary for the races on BBC, and local commentary for the Sky races.

Heavens above, I'm fearing that, too. It was painful enough enduring Rust and co as things were, but full race commentary would be a nightmare. Fingers crossed a deal gets done elsewhere...

 

[Dead Man]

Heavens above, I'm fearing that, too. It was painful enough enduring Rust and co as things were, but full race commentary would be a nightmare. Fingers crossed a deal gets done elsewhere...

Indeed. I normally mute them and have a stream going for commentary while they yabber on either side of ads.

 

[Septimius]

how was it gonna be this year? Does BBC have half the races?

I really, really want to hear Brundle, though, and I was finally set up to enjoy him on BBC from Norway when they took that away from me :'(

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

Force India on schedule with 2012 Formula 1 car after passing crash tests

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

Button has built strong team around him, says Hamilton

 

[Gor@n]

Hopefully the new sky deal means better f1 coverage for Aus, can't stand the Australian version of the pre race show on One-HD, just give me the actual feed and be done with it. I'm over watching ads for hair regrowth and vitamin supplements. I wish they would show F1 practice, if not live at least delayed. It beats watching some of the stuff they air.

 

[Shaneus]

Hopefully the new sky deal means better f1 coverage for Aus, can't stand the Australian version of the pre race show on One-HD, just give me the actual feed and be done with it. I'm over watching ads for hair regrowth and vitamin supplements. I wish they would show F1 practice, if not live at least delayed. It beats watching some of the stuff they air.

I don't think it makes any difference who takes care of the broadcast as it'd all go through FIA anyway. No matter what happens, one thing I'm sure of is we'll at least be stuck with the same tripe intros and outros AND ads every three minutes, Sky OR beeb.

 

[Dead Man]

Hopefully the new sky deal means better f1 coverage for Aus, can't stand the Australian version of the pre race show on One-HD, just give me the actual feed and be done with it. I'm over watching ads for hair regrowth and vitamin supplements. I wish they would show F1 practice, if not live at least delayed. It beats watching some of the stuff they air.

Never gonna happen. They paid BBC and only used some of their stuff, I can't see them paying BBC and Sky. Don't know if their BBC deal is multiyear though, maybe they will just pay Sky. They still won't show an overseas prerace or practise, much as I wish they would.

 

[amar212]

Bernie himself owns Paul Ricard, nice move B.

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

Allen to head BBC radio coverage

 

[Dead Man]

Bernie himself owns Paul Ricard, nice move B.

Yeah :/

 

[Ark]

Bernie also owns McLaren.

 

[ANDY_098]

Pretty sure Bernie owns Istanbul Park as well, didn't stop him from raising their hosting fee.

 

[Seanspeed]

Bernie also owns McLaren.

What? :/ No?

 

[Ark]

What? :/ No?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnXDEw3gqhk&feature=youtu.be&t=31s

 

[Seanspeed]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnXDEw3gqhk&feature=youtu.be&t=31s

lol, I forgot about that.

God Murray was such a buffoon. I know people will hate me for this, but the guy was simply incompetent and should have been fired a long time ago.

 

[Adamm]

Rumours has it that Alguersuari turned down a drive with HRT as it was too much of a step down.

Personally i think not racing at all is a bigger step down, but he probabaly thinks sitting at the back of the grid all season will hurt his chances of getting a decent seat in 2013.

 

[Ark]

Well, if Liuzzi was anything to go by..

 

[Adam Scott Aukerman]

Rumours has it that Alguersuari turned down a drive with HRT as it was too much of a step down.

Personally i think not racing at all is a bigger step down, but he probabaly thinks sitting at the back of the grid all season will hurt his chances of getting a decent seat in 2013.

He's right. For example, Hulkenberg vs Glock.

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

Bernie also owns McLaren.

umm..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnXDEw3gqhk&feature=youtu.be&t=31s

I LOLed

Rumours has it that Alguersuari turned down a drive with HRT as it was too much of a step down.

Personally i think not racing at all is a bigger step down, but he probabaly thinks sitting at the back of the grid all season will hurt his chances of getting a decent seat in 2013.

To prove himself in a bad car is very difficult he's better off stopping at a high (relatively) note. If he drives for HRT he'll be forgotten

He's right. For example, Hulkenberg vs Glock.

exactly

 

[kharma45]

Sorry, I know this isn't the F1 2011 thread so I'll make this my last post, but since we're halfway through and some people haven't made one race if you want to join us for the second half of the season permanently just pop in to the thread and say.

It's off-season so I don't think it's gonna be too frowned upon (hopefully!).

When is it you guys do your races, or am I best just to head straight over to the thread for this craic?

 

[ANDY_098]

He's right. For example, Hulkenberg vs Glock.

Hulkenberg had a test driver role at FIF1 though, at the moment Alguersuari has nothing. Unless he has something lined up (test driver somewhere or move to another series) then it would be beneficial for him to stay in F1, even at HRT.

 

[moojito]

Hulkenberg had a test driver role at FIF1 though, at the moment Alguersuari has nothing. Unless he has something lined up (test driver somewhere or move to another series) then it would be beneficial for him to stay in F1, even at HRT.

I don't know. A lot of drivers have done well going to another series for a season. Martin Brundle was well known for that and did it like 3 or 4 times. Not to mention Grosjean.

 

[ANDY_098]

I don't know. A lot of drivers have done well going to another series for a season. Martin Brundle was well known for that and did it like 3 or 4 times. Not to mention Grosjean.

Without doing the research though I'd imagine that once a driver leaves F1 after being dropped they usually don't come back, so from that aspect staying in F1 should be his priority.

Although I do think he has more chance of success away from F1 anyway so if he doesn't find a test driver role for 2012 then I wouldn't be surprised if he made a permanent move away from F1 into something like DTM, Le Mans, IndyCar etc. i.e. not back down the ladder to GP2 as Grosjean did hoping for another shot at F1.

 

[Seanspeed]

I don't know. A lot of drivers have done well going to another series for a season. Martin Brundle was well known for that and did it like 3 or 4 times. Not to mention Grosjean.

Not in the modern era. Grosjean is an exception rather than the rule. Even he came very close to giving up on his F1 hopes.

I agree that it would be better for Alguersuari to have taken a race seat at HRT. He wouldn't be forgotten at all. He'd get a little publicity every single weekend rather than the ZERO amount of coverage he'd get pretty much anywhere else.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

lol, I forgot about that.

God Murray was such a buffoon. I know people will hate me for this, but the guy was simply incompetent and should have been fired a long time ago.

That would have been like sacking Sir David Attenborough, the fuore that would have caused would have been too much for the BEEB to handle. They're both stalwarts of British tv along with Sir Patrick Moore.

 

[mblitek]

Not in the modern era. Grosjean is an exception rather than the rule. Even he came very close to giving up on his F1 hopes.

I agree that it would be better for Alguersuari to have taken a race seat at HRT. He wouldn't be forgotten at all. He'd get a little publicity every single weekend rather than the ZERO amount of coverage he'd get pretty much anywhere else.

Grosjean himself admitted that if he didn't hear this year he'd give up on F1. I could see Alguersuari taking a test drive role with Scuderia Toro Rosso or with Williams as they have the Latino link with PDVSA & Maldonado

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

Marko says Buemi and ALG are not winners

Verstappen denies attempted murder charges

 

[Leunam]

Yeah, the STR chassis was going to win against the likes of Red Bull proper, nevermind Ferrari and McLaren. 2008 this is not.

 

[Ark]

They were solid mid-field drivers, but they didn't show any sparks or real hope of future winners. They had a few 'wow' moments each, but that's not enough when the Red Bull young driver's programme has dozens of plausible world champions.

Red Bull really don't care about who is in or out at STR, they're the only team on the grid with the luxury of having a feeder team, they might as well make the most of it before the FIA finds a way to ban it entirely.

 

[Adamm]

Grosjean first season, he didnt really seem like a proper f1 driver to me. It was like they just stuck him in there to fill in for piquet for the last few months of the season & had no intention of keeping him on like a reserve driver.
Its like they fired piquet without any though of who would replace him & just got whoever they could find to fill the seat.

 

[ANDY_098]

Alguersuari is instead looking to become a third driver with one of the top teams with McLaren-Mercedes named in the article.

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/7417877/-Alguersuari-turned-down-HRT-role-

Really can't see that happening, although they may have decided they need a new test driver after Pedro left a while ago and Gary Paffett has to split his time with DTM.

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

They were solid mid-field drivers, but they didn't show any sparks or real hope of future winners. They had a few 'wow' moments each, but that's not enough when the Red Bull young driver's programme has dozens of plausible world champions.

Red Bull really don't care about who is in or out at STR, they're the only team on the grid with the luxury of having a feeder team, they might as well make the most of it before the FIA finds a way to ban it entirely.

not really.. Sauber and Ferrari? Honda and Super Aguri? *lols*

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/7417877/-Alguersuari-turned-down-HRT-role-

Really can't see that happening, although they may have decided they need a new test driver after Pedro left a while ago and Gary Paffett has to split his time with DTM.

why not? the guy is young and soon Santander will look for a successor for Alonso and they would sponsor him to be in a good team until he's ready for a top team

 

[ANDY_098]

why not? the guy is young and soon Santander will look for a successor for Alonso and they would sponsor him to be in a good team until he's ready for a top team

He's never likely to get a seat at McLaren and being a TD there doesn't really put him in the shop window to other teams. If he is going to go for a TD role he should do so in a team which is likely to promote him to a race seat.

Being the test driver at a top team doesn't make them any more likely to get a race seat elsewhere. Look at Badoer and Paffet, both test drivers for years, one was awful when he got his chance and the other couldn't get a seat when he wanted one so had to stay in DTM.

 

[Ark]

not really.. Sauber and Ferrari? Honda and Super Aguri? *lols*

When was the last time a winning driver went through Sauber into Ferrari?

 

[brotkasten]

When was the last time a winning driver went through Sauber into Ferrari?

Massa.

 

[NihonTiger90]

Since someone asked upthread about Circuit Paul Ricard:

Link to full map

Yeah. Should be interesting to see what they do as far as layout goes if they go to Paul Ricard (and since Bernie owns it, they probably will) and where, exactly, they're putting the stands here. Paul Ricard does not really have many permanent stands, as it is primarily a test track.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Since someone asked upthread about Circuit Paul Ricard:

Link to full map

Yeah. Should be interesting to see what they do and where, exactly, they're putting the stands here. Paul Ricard does not really have many permanent stands, as it is primarily a test track.

It was quite a nice track before Bernie got his mits on it.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

Those colours just gave me a seizure.

 

[Xun]

It was quite a nice track before Bernie got his mits on it.

Yeah, no kidding.

 

[Burai]

Grosjean first season, he didnt really seem like a proper f1 driver to me. It was like they just stuck him in there to fill in for piquet for the last few months of the season & had no intention of keeping him on like a reserve driver.
Its like they fired piquet without any though of who would replace him & just got whoever they could find to fill the seat.

Grosjean was already third driver and was being groomed to be Renault's French poster child. The idea was for him to do those last few races to get him ready for 2010. He certainly wasn't ready for F1, but without any testing he was never going to be.

But, of course, crashgate and the economic downturn happened and Renault wanted away from the embarrassment and expense so they sold the majority of the team to Genii. They needed a pay driver to make up the shortfall in manufacturer funding and Petrov fit the bill.

I'm glad he's back. He never got a fair crack of the whip and the GP2 title, a year as development driver and proper pre-season testing will give him a whole ton of confidence to make a proper go of it.

 

[Ark]

Massa.

I would have counted Massa three years ago, but not any more.

 

[mblitek]

So I bought greaseandgears.com

I figure it gives me/us/those involved to write about other motorsports or outside of motorsports into planes, tranes and...autowatches

 

[Edmond Dantès]

So I bought greaseandgears.com

I figure it gives me/us/those involved to write about other motorsports or outside of motorsports into planes, tranes and...autowatches

That's very apt name, I like it.

 

[Dead Man]

When was the last time a winning driver went through Sauber into Ferrari?

Not directly, but Kimi started at Sauber, and eventually ended up at Ferrari

Since someone asked upthread about Circuit Paul Ricard:

Link to full map

Yeah. Should be interesting to see what they do as far as layout goes if they go to Paul Ricard (and since Bernie owns it, they probably will) and where, exactly, they're putting the stands here. Paul Ricard does not really have many permanent stands, as it is primarily a test track.

God, it used to be not bad, what the hell have they done to it?

So I bought greaseandgears.com

I figure it gives me/us/those involved to write about other motorsports or outside of motorsports into planes, tranes and...autowatches

Nice one, good name.

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

I would have counted Massa three years ago, but not any more.

The point is that it happened, and Ferrari always look at Sauber first for drivers, they wanted Kimi back in 2001 and they put Massa there to groom him, and now LdM is looking at Perez closely

Its not as obvious as Redbull-STR thing, but its been there for ages

If Honda was successful it had a Honda-B team as well in Super Aguri, even the car was the same