The Motorsport Thread (was the F1 thread)

Visitor13 wrote: JJLehto wrote: Though to be fair Indy was dying before the split thanks to surge of NASCAR in the early 90's I think it was more due to the skyrocketing costs of running an Indycar. Most local teams simply did not have that kind of money, whether they were rooted in road racing or its oval equivalent. Plus you had team owners choosing to employ road course specialists from overseas in lieu of local drivers. The latter either wound up in NASCAR, where their skills were in greater demand, or stayed in regional racing. Obviously their fans followed them wherever they wound up, and it wasn't Indycar. The early IRL looked like it could rectify this, but unfortunately it got a bad reputation, not entirely undeservedly. Too bad. The days when it was IRL vs CART (as opposed to IRL vs Champ Car) were truly fun.

A lot of the problem was that the teams mismanaged the series themselves, they couldnt agree on anything and were always fighting with each other trying to gain the upper hand on track. Plus they were highly dismissive of the then new boss of the IMS, Tony George, and there attempts to freeze him out of envolvment in CART helped lead him to start up the IRL. NASCAR was gaining a lot of ground in the early 90's but CART was shooting itself in both feet at the same time.

Anyone see Peugeot win the Le Mans 24 Hour race?

PROGMAN wrote: Anyone see Peugeot win the Le Mans 24 Hour race?

Sure did. It was bound to happen eventually.

Kudos to the Peugeot team for winning, and for not giving in to the temptation of handing the victory to the all-French car, the eventual second place finishers.

Well the guitar thing didn't piss me off. It actually didn't even phase me. Like I said it was his trophy....
I was just like, "LOL that crazy busch". But seriously not a big deal.
Like I also said, his whole act is an....act. I mean who in their right mind thinks Kyle Busch is a bad boy. He STILL looks like he's 13 years old But whatever, there has to be some controversy and since fights are no longer acceptable guess that's the best we got.

Even though I hated Jimmy Spencer he did punch Kurt Busch, looking back on it... man I wish that fat, dumb ba*tard was still around.

Man With Hat wrote: JJLehto wrote: Well the guitar thing didn't piss me off. It actually didn't even phase me. Like I said it was his trophy.... I was just like, "LOL that crazy busch". But seriously not a big deal. Like I also said, his whole act is an....act. I mean who in their right mind thinks Kyle Busch is a bad boy. He STILL looks like he's 13 years old But whatever, there has to be some controversy and since fights are no longer acceptable guess that's the best we got. Even though I hated Jimmy Spencer he did punch Kurt Busch, looking back on it... man I wish that fat, dumb ba*tard was still around.   Spencer all over Speed's Nascar converage (Like Race Day and Victory Lane) offering his asinine thoughts on everything and anything.

Actually saw him in person, technically. When some friends and I went to Dover they were doing the pre-race thing and we went into the crowd. SO, we were on TV in nascar pre-race! But yea, that Spencer is HUGE. I mean we know, but not until you see him in real life. Also, he fell asleep! I sh*t you not.

Anyway, F1 this weekend gents

sleeper wrote: Silverstone this weekend, but the big news is that the FOTA teams (all but Williams and Force India) WILL break away next year and form a rival championship! The sh*t has officially hit the fan.

I'll believe it when I see it. I still think a compromise is possible - though now Ecclestone and Moseley will have to be prepared to make a truckload of concessions.

If it happens, it'll be only for the good. FOTA will practically be the F1 of a few years ago, plus the traditional tracks, minus Ecclestone and Moseley. Positives only.

On the other hand, the other series will draw some new names and see the return of a few old ones.

It's a win-win situation. I actually don't believe the split will end in catastrophe like the IRL/CART one, despite what I said earlier.  

Politics has always been a big part of F1, in the past 10 years whenever Max and Bernie wanted something they would propose something ludicrus and then when the teams tried to work together they would run their usual "divide and conquere" technique to brake them down and get a slightly more sensible compromise which was what they were after in the first place. However, since the Formula One Teams Association was formed last year, they have remained reolutely united in trying to have a say in the direction of the sport. And thats what this all comes down too, a huge power play. When the World Motor Sport Council met in April to decide on whether to punish McLaren for lying in Melbourne, they just happened to take the time to push through a radicul list of rule changes for next year without talking to the teams. This also include a point stating that the FIA will be the sole authority on deciding rules, freezing out the teams from any desision making in the future, something the teams really arent happy about, the budget cap row is more of a sideshow that the press have latched onto.

In effect, the teams arent happy with spending large amounts of money in the sport and not having any say in the direction it takes or the unilateral dictatorship that Mosely is imposing on them. They also arent happy with the fact that half of the revenue generated by F1 is taken out of the sport by a company that has never done anything for the sport so that they can pay of their debts (CVC, who own the comercial rights, take about £450m per year out of the sport).

Though the FIA and Ferrari have been very close over the last decade, since Jean Todt steped down the relationship got a bit cooler and since Ferrari president Luca di Montazemalo is the FOTA president he's been getting into some direct spats with the Max Mosely.

I expect this split will happen as the FIA are seuing FOTA, particularly Ferrari and the Red Bull teams who they say have a binding contract with the FIA until 2012. Not exactly an attempt at compromise and who wants to race for someone thats trying to sue you!

When the split happens I expect it will be the FOTA series that survives because it has all the big names in there (Ferrari, McLaren, Mass, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Button, Alonso, BMW etc) and those are the ones that Monaco and the TV companies will follow. Its not like the Indycar split in America were you had the race on one side and the big teams on the other, FOTA seem to hold all the cards.

Qualifying for the British GP

Pos	No	Name	Constructor	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Grid
1	15	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:18.685	1:18.119	1:19.509	1
2	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	1:19.325	1:18.335	1:19.856	2
3	14	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:18.674	1:18.209	1:19.868	3
4	9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:18.886	1:18.240	1:20.091	4
5	17	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:18.530	1:18.575	1:20.216	5
6	22	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	1:18.957	1:18.663	1:20.289	6
7	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:19.228	1:18.591	1:20.361	7
8	10	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:19.198	1:18.791	1:20.490	8
9	4‡	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:19.010	1:18.566	1:20.715	9
10	7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:19.167	1:18.761	1:20.741	10
11	3‡	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:19.148	1:18.927		11
12	5	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:19.730	1:19.308		12
13	2	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.732	1:19.353		13
14	8	Nelson Piquet, Jr.	Renault	1:19.555	1:19.392		14
15	6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:19.559	1:19.448		15
16	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes	1:19.802			16
17	11	Sébastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:19.898			17
18	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:19.909			18
19	1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.917			19
20	12	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:20.236			20

Interesting to see Kaz take fastest in the first stint. And I'm almost getting used to seeing Hami down near last....

Well, another fairly boring British GP.
I know this is one of the classic tracks but good riddance, I can't wait for Donnington.

2009 Champion Jenson Button had his worst finish thus far, 6th place...
Will Button EVER win his home GP?
Anyway, I have liked Vettel since he entered and he is continuing to showcase his skill. Dominating race!
Congrats to Webber and Rubino for their podium finishes.

With a 16th place finish Hami is now in 11th place, with only 9 points. As quickly as he exploded on the British is how is now kicked aside for the vet Button!! 


On a different note: I was unaware India was on the 2011 schedule. Hmmm......the "BRIC" countries are the fastest growing, upcoming economies and what races recently, (or will be getting) a grand prix? China and India. With Russia in the talks for getting one.
Also Singapore and especially Dubai are 2 cities growing extremely quickly, becoing major centers......
While Europe is losing tracks and even grand prix's and North America now has NONE.
I guess that's progress for ya....