F1 pre-season discussion

pinkhelmets

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This year, F1 motorsport promises more action and interest. New points system, no refuelling (affecting brakes, tyres, race distance strategies), reduced width tyres (slower cornering better for overtaking action), plus new teams and other rules, should bring improvements to fans & viewers of the sport.
Last season's changes showed closer struggles between all teams, with lower performers gaining more success. This tight-fought competition is set to get closer. Lets review the teams this year:

McLaren - Mercedes
Jenson Button + Lewis Hamilton
-Talented Brits representing the UK-
Current world champion in the same team as the previous world champion. These two are true racers and the big question may be answered, when we see who finishes this season with the most points.

Mercedes GP (Brawn Team)
Michael Schumacher + Nico Rosberg
-Representing Germany's F1 challenge-
Last season's winning team has morphed into Mercedes GP, with the return of Schumacher! Ross Brawn & Michael Schumacher working together once more..... "sport domination" must be the phrase in the minds of other teams.

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso + Felipe Massa
-Italy's true Latin force of the World-
When the Italians join forces with the Spanish and Hispanic, the fear must emerge. Ferrari want their place back at the top, and this Latin team promises to be very tough to beat.

Red Bull - Renault
Sebastian Vettel + Mark Webber
-Powerful team full of pedigree-
Vettel & Webber have proven their pure abilities for driving. Add Christian Honer, Adrian Newey, plus financial dedication from Red Bull, and you can see why in 2009 this team had more points than Ferrari & Mclaren added together!

------------------------then we have the mid-league challengers:

Renault
Robert Kubica + Vitaly Petrov
-Representing the French-
If Red Bull can do so much with their Renault engine, then Renault themselves must prove they have a team of F1 winning capability. Many changes have been made for this season, setting a stable base to challenge from.

Sauber - Ferrari
Kamui Kobayashi + Pedro de la Rosa
-The Alemannic European team-
Based in Swiss-German central Europe, this team was known as BMW last year. Even with their new Ferrari engine they may not yet be a serious challenge for the top 4, but they certainly aim to be very close behind.

Force India - Mercedes
Adrian Sutil + Vitantonio Liuzzi
-The Indian team; dark horse success story-
Driving from the back, this team has taken huge strides and the second half of last year showed why they are a real Force! Sutil seems unbeatable in the wet, proving he has ability but must avoid those re-occurring unlucky incidents.

Torro Rosso - Ferrari
Jaime Alguersuari + Sebastien Buemi
-The Romans-
Another Ferrari Engine, another Red Bull car. This team may not have the finances but certainly have the prospects to fight hard. Young drivers with passion will push this team ahead of other low budget entries.

Williams - Cosworth
Rubens Barrichello + Nico Hulkenberg
-Pedigree and Experience reaching overflow-
Don't be fooled, maturity and F1 experience is not parallel to visiting grandads care home. These guys know how to get the most from very little, and certainly have no intention of being left at the back.

Lotus - Cosworth
Jarno Trulli + Heikki Kovalainen
-Malaysian Proton Company, big plans-
Trulli, Kovalainen, Lotus, Proton, Cosworth... these are names and brands attached to a team that has big ambition, not a team that intends to be at the back. For sure, these guys will be giving 100% at every opportunity.

Virgin - Cosworth
Timo Glock + Lucas di Grassi
-Familiar brand begins its motorsport challenge-
We are all familiar with Bransons 'gold-touch' and his unique methods. This car has been designed purely by computer, without the use of a wind-tunnel. Huge expense and time saved, but will it work? Testing shows positive so far.

------------------------the low budget teams:

Campos - Cosworth
Bruno Senna .....
-Spanish/Hispanic team to represent Spain-
'Mañana' meaning 'tomorrow' means they are suddenly in desperation to get a working team and car for the start of the season.

US F1 - Cosworth
Jose Maria Lopez .....
-America's entry to F1-
They now seem unlikely to be ready for this seasons start. Reportedly, they want to miss the first 4 races, which is not acceptable to FIA.

## A deal is being discussed to allow US F1 to skip this season altogether. Driver Jose Maria Lopez may be signed to drive for the Campos team. This may also allow an alternative team to join this season ##

Stefan GP - The new owners of the Toyota chassis, engines & gearboxes
Jacques Villeneuve .....
-Currently do not have permission to race this season-
Stefan GP bought last years Toyota F1 team, but do not have agreement to race this year. They are ahead of both Campos and US F1, in that they have a working team and have a tested working car. Talks are in place, but not finalised, which may allow Stefan GP to take place of one of the other teams above, should they fail to be ready.

==============================================================
Thought I'd write this for those who want to join our fantasy league, who may not know much about the sport. Also, for those interested in replying and chatting about their thoughts on this season :)
I think it's going to be very close.
 
FULL CHANGES TO 2010 SEASON :

2010 season changes


Though not as dramatic as the rule changes introduced for the 2009 season, the revisions for 2010 could still have a significant impact on the teams’ relative performance…

Refuelling
The biggest change for the 2010 season is the banning of refuelling during races for the first time since 1993. Pit stops will not become a thing of the past, however, as drivers still have to use both dry-weather tyre compounds during a Grand Prix. Of course, those stops will now be much quicker, quite possibly under four seconds.

The change requires cars to possess a much larger fuel tank - up from around 80 litres to something nearer 250 - and has a major effect on race strategy, with drivers having to pay more attention to tyre and brake conservation. To accommodate the bigger tank, the cars are likely to feature wider rear bodywork and a longer wheelbase. As a result, the weight distribution will be quite different to that of a 2009 car.

Points system
In place of the previous structure, which saw the top eight drivers scoring 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point respectively, from 2010 the top ten finishers in a Grand Prix score points. The change has been introduced as a result of the expanded grid of 13 teams. Under the new system, the race winner takes 25 points, with 18 and 15 being awarded for second and third places respectively. The next seven finishers will score 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point respectively.

Weight
The minimum weight of the car has been raised from 605kg to 620kg. The initial thinking behind this was to offset the disadvantage faced by taller, heavier drivers in KERS-equipped cars (the additional weight of the KERS system meant they were left with less flexibility in terms of weight distribution than their lighter rivals). By mutual agreement, however, teams are now not expected to run KERS in 2010.

Narrower front tyres
When slick tyres returned to Formula One racing in 2009, the tyre size remained unchanged. In terms of contact area, this meant that the fronts gained proportionally more grip than the rears. This has been addressed for 2010, with front tyre width reduced from 270mm to 245mm, thus helping to bring back a better grip balance. Also, the ban on refuelling means cars will be around 100kg heavier at the start of a race than in 2009, so Bridgestone will use slightly harder tyre compounds to compensate.

The number of dry tyres available to each driver has been decreased from 14 to 11 sets per weekend and any driver who participates in Q3 must start the race on the same tyres he used to set his grid time.

No wheel fairings
Teams are no longer allowed to use the wheel rim covers that became so commonplace in 2009. Their removal means one less thing to go wrong when pit crews are trying to change of set of tyres in less than four seconds, and could also aid overtaking by making the airflow immediately behind cars less turbulent.

More teams
Thirteen teams - 26 cars - will feature on the grid in 2010. This means a slight alteration to the knockout qualifying session, which will now see eight drivers (as opposed to five) eliminated in Q1 and Q2, leaving ten to fight it out for pole in Q3. The ban on refuelling means that cars will qualify on low fuel in all three phases of the session.

Testing
If a team declares that one of their current race drivers is to be substituted by a driver who has not participated in an F1 race in the two previous calendar years, one day of track testing will now be permitted, on an approved circuit not being used for a Grand Prix in the current season. This is to avoid scenarios such as that seen in 2009 when Jaime Alguersuari made his Formula One debut with Toro Rosso having only previously driven an F1 car in straight-line testing.

In another minor change, teams will be allowed six rather than eight days of straight-line aero testing per season. They will also have the option of substituting any of these days for four hours of wind tunnel testing with a full-scale (rather than the normal 60 percent-scale) model.

SOURCE : Formula 1? - The Official F1? Website


Looks like a good season with the points difference for 1st & 2nd alone
 
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Following the progress with testing, both Mclaren and the Mercedes teams have said they dont feel they will be fighting for wins at the start of the season.
However, Hamilton tops the overall time sheets for the final 4 days of testing, perhaps showing Mclaren are just being modest, whilst Massa states that he doesn't believe Ferrari have an advantage. Ferrari believe wins will be tough, and that any of eight drivers could be getting the early race results. Ferrari's comments seem to be confirmed as late test 'qualifying lap simulations' resulted in Hamilton, Massa, Vettel, Schumacher (in that order) all within a single tenth.

Overall, Red Bull have performed well throughout testing, they seem to be the ones other teams are concerned about. Red Bull boss confirms "only the title will suffice in 2010".
Williams have been very impressive though, often with quickest laps of the day at test tracks, they put themselves in the mix with Mercedes and Mclaren for race distance. Renault, with the same engine as Red Bull, also claim they will be fighting alongside Mclarens and Mercedes at the finishes and believe they have more than Williams have.

With all that said, the rumoured team to have kept its true pace quiet through testing, is Sauber. Jenson Button, the current champ, has also made the statement "Sauber will surprise people as they're quicker than most of us think".

Pre-season testing simply doesn't really have clear pointers this year, its all too close to call. :)
 
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