I don’t want to rake up the espionage scandal of 2007 where McLaren were caught red-handed with Ferrari’s data but still nothing major was done about it but I don’t know what is with McLaren’s obsession with Ferrari? Seriously if they are soo good or atleast like they assume they are, this would have never happened.
Has it stopped? Hell no! Well recently Force India which ran Ferrari engines for the 2008 season and still with a year’s contract left decided to switch to McLaren for technical partnership and also Mercedes will supply them engines. The irony is that now McLaren will have all off 2008’s data on Ferrari engine.
This does not stop here, off late some reports have being coming in that Honda, well I still don’t see the point of calling the team with that name as the Japanese auto major pulled off and left the team high and dry! McLaren is now ready to step in and offer them engines for the good of F1. With money being an issue and money can buy anything, all McLaren will want is rake the brains of Ross Brawn and well get more Ferrari data. Well I guess McLaren winning is no more a big deal as well even if they win, it is like using a pirated copy of Ferrari’s technical data!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
What’s in store for 2009!
The last 2 seasons of Formula one has been the best in recent time and with Kimi pulling off an impossible win in 2007 and while Massa nearly pulled off a miracle in 2008 and eventually lost the title by just one point even though he won more races than anyone else on the grid. Also 2008 saw the “Next Big Thing” Vettel showing his immense potential and even managed to win in Monza with his underdog Toro Rosso powered by the Ferrari. It was nice to see both the Italian and German anthems played together once again.
2009 may be the most unpredictable season in F1 not only because of various rule changes but with a global economic recession, no one is sure if at all every team will actually start the grid in Melbourne and if apart from the bigwigs if the others can survive a whole season. Well one good thing is that major budget cuts are in for 2010 and this could level the playing field and it could see Red Bull and Williams (If they can survive)challenging the manufacturers team for the title.
My prediction for 2009 is that I assume that the driver’s race would be between Massa, Kimi (if his head is right), Hamilton and Kubica. But I would throw in Alonso and Vettel as the surprise package and I would not even be shocked if both these 2 drivers would challenge the others for the championships. As far the teams, Ferrari, McLaren and BMW will be pushed by Red Bull and Renault. Well Toyota would once again have a mixed season and I assume this could be the last year for them. Williams should also pull off atleast what STR did last season or they are well on their way on becoming the next Jordan F1 team! (On the way out). Honda would be lucky to start while Force India just adds in the numbers. Oh yeah STR would pull off a STR if Buemi pulls off a Vettel.
Honda and Toyota are two teams who managed to burn a lot of money and never did actually produced results. Well Honda did managed one runner-up position in the constructor’s championship but never did once they challenged the top cars while Button managed to pull off a win thanks mainly to the rains in Hungary. Ideally Honda instead of backing BAR had it made Jordan a works team, well things would have been different and they would be one of the top 3 teams while Toyota still has a chance as they can pull off their program and would rather back Williams which would definitely produce some amazing results for the team.
Well I just cannot wait for the 2009 season to begin and watch Vettel and Alonso challenge the Ferrari’s and McLaren’s while Kimi if he manages to do what he does in 2008 well he is on his way out of F1 and Ferrari would land in either Alonso or Vettel or even both. Buemi is quick and if the STR managed to be as good as it was in 2008 well he could even manage to pull off a Vettel. Force India will score points if they are lucky while Rosberg will once again drive well but will not have a car to back him.
2009 may be the most unpredictable season in F1 not only because of various rule changes but with a global economic recession, no one is sure if at all every team will actually start the grid in Melbourne and if apart from the bigwigs if the others can survive a whole season. Well one good thing is that major budget cuts are in for 2010 and this could level the playing field and it could see Red Bull and Williams (If they can survive)challenging the manufacturers team for the title.
My prediction for 2009 is that I assume that the driver’s race would be between Massa, Kimi (if his head is right), Hamilton and Kubica. But I would throw in Alonso and Vettel as the surprise package and I would not even be shocked if both these 2 drivers would challenge the others for the championships. As far the teams, Ferrari, McLaren and BMW will be pushed by Red Bull and Renault. Well Toyota would once again have a mixed season and I assume this could be the last year for them. Williams should also pull off atleast what STR did last season or they are well on their way on becoming the next Jordan F1 team! (On the way out). Honda would be lucky to start while Force India just adds in the numbers. Oh yeah STR would pull off a STR if Buemi pulls off a Vettel.
Honda and Toyota are two teams who managed to burn a lot of money and never did actually produced results. Well Honda did managed one runner-up position in the constructor’s championship but never did once they challenged the top cars while Button managed to pull off a win thanks mainly to the rains in Hungary. Ideally Honda instead of backing BAR had it made Jordan a works team, well things would have been different and they would be one of the top 3 teams while Toyota still has a chance as they can pull off their program and would rather back Williams which would definitely produce some amazing results for the team.
Well I just cannot wait for the 2009 season to begin and watch Vettel and Alonso challenge the Ferrari’s and McLaren’s while Kimi if he manages to do what he does in 2008 well he is on his way out of F1 and Ferrari would land in either Alonso or Vettel or even both. Buemi is quick and if the STR managed to be as good as it was in 2008 well he could even manage to pull off a Vettel. Force India will score points if they are lucky while Rosberg will once again drive well but will not have a car to back him.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
R.I.P Honda
It has been sometime since I did post here but thanks to a crazy work schedule, I have not been able to comment on the recent things which have rocked the F1 world. Honda pulling out of F1 was a shocker as Honda was just not another independent team which has run out of money, but Honda has been on and off in F1 and well we just cannot forget the 80’s when Honda powered Williams and McLaren’s dominated for close to a decade. Then Honda took off and well instead of making Jordan the works team they decided to back BAR and eventually bought the team. Wonder what would have happened had Honda made Jordan their works team or just even Williams as now things would have been different. For the amount of money they drained in F1, which led to them finishing runner-up in the constructor’s championship in 2004 and of course Jenson Button winning the Hungarian grand prix thanks to the rain.
Honda is not a big loss to F1 as the last few years Honda has hardly inspired anyone. Even their sister team with 1/10th of their budgets managed to outperform them in 2007. I guess had Honda finished in the top 4 this season maybe they may not have pulled the plug but when you keep finishing at the tail end of the grid, the company lost their patience and just pulled the plug. Though they had high hopes for 2009 with Ross Brawn and KERS, well I am sure they may have not win the title but they could have given Toyota and Red Bull a run for their money. Now looking at the operations, still it is not clear if Honda will supply engine for 2009, if not it is not at all an attractive option for the possible buyer. Well Ferrari will have the stock of engines as Force India has switched to Mercedes-Benz while Mercedes could also support another thing. But it would be great to see Prodrive take over the operations and run the team as they have a racing heritage.
On the whole, the whole F1 experiment as a constructor was a disaster for Honda and well I just hope that once the recession is over they do make a comeback atleast as an engine supplier maybe to Williams to relive the old glorious days of F1.
Honda is not a big loss to F1 as the last few years Honda has hardly inspired anyone. Even their sister team with 1/10th of their budgets managed to outperform them in 2007. I guess had Honda finished in the top 4 this season maybe they may not have pulled the plug but when you keep finishing at the tail end of the grid, the company lost their patience and just pulled the plug. Though they had high hopes for 2009 with Ross Brawn and KERS, well I am sure they may have not win the title but they could have given Toyota and Red Bull a run for their money. Now looking at the operations, still it is not clear if Honda will supply engine for 2009, if not it is not at all an attractive option for the possible buyer. Well Ferrari will have the stock of engines as Force India has switched to Mercedes-Benz while Mercedes could also support another thing. But it would be great to see Prodrive take over the operations and run the team as they have a racing heritage.
On the whole, the whole F1 experiment as a constructor was a disaster for Honda and well I just hope that once the recession is over they do make a comeback atleast as an engine supplier maybe to Williams to relive the old glorious days of F1.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Road to 2010
While the 2009 line-up is almost done except for Honda, STR and Force India not confirming their driver line-ups, but 2010 could be the most interesting season as apart from Hamilton, no other driver on track is actually sure on the team he will be starting for. Well theoretically Massa and Kimi also have seats but it all depends on what happens in 2009. Another person who has a deal till 2010 is Alonso but again it also depends on what Renault can provide him.
Well as far as Alonso is concerned he is in a very dicey situation. If Renault is not able to offer him a competitive package for the whole season, he well may not have too many options on the grid. McLaren is a sure No No, while Ferrari is only possible if they lose the driver’s championship again to Lewis in 2009. As far as their team is concerned for 2009, they have one of the best with Kimi the 2008 World Champion and though Massa may not have won the 2009 Championship but he is according to many people the real Champion of the season. BMW is a good team to go but again if BMW does not have a car which can challenge the McLaren and Ferrari the whole season, then it may not be a great option to go there. I am sure even Kubica would leave them if he does not get a car which can help him win the title. What else is there? Honda and Toyota are there while RBR by then will emerge as the strongest independent team out there while STR’s future after 2009 is still not too clear. Williams is living in its past glory and well it may face the same fate as Brabham, Tyrrell and Lotus.
Now for Ferrari an ideal line-up would be Vettel and Alonso. As Vettel is the next Schumacher while Alonso can possibly win another title or so and also groom Vettel. Kimi well I don’t see him lasting on F1 beyond 2010 and if he wins the title in 2009, he is sure to retire and if he has a similar season to 2008, I am sure Ferrari may just kick him out. Massa well it would be tough to drop him but again well he has proved himself and he has many other teams as options. McLaren more or less will revolve around Hamilton and the only surprise could be if Rosberg will join them and if it does it sure will be a disaster but more or less but Glock will be the guy who most likely will join the team with his German connections.
So these are my predictions for the driver line-up for 2010:
Ferrari – Vettel and Alonso/Massa/Kubica
McLaren – Hamilton and Rosberg/Glock/Kovalainen/Massa
BMW – Kubica/Alonso/Massa/Heidfeld
Renault – Massa/ Heidfeld/ Piquet/ Di Grassi/ Grosjean/Bourdais
Williams – Nakajima/ Hülkenberg/Sutil
Red Bull – Webber/ Buemi/Massa
STR – Buemi/Sato/Bourdais/ Chandhok/Ammermüller/Hartley
Toyota – Trulli/Glock/Heidfeld/Kobayashi/ Nakajima/Massa
Honda – Button/Senna/Di Grassi/Davidson/Massa
Force India – Who ever McLaren decides!
As far as I can see well Massa even if he gets fired by Ferrari sure has lots of options and he does not have to worry much but Alonso well, he just needs to pray that Ferrari does badly as right now, he needs them more than they need him and with the likes of Vettel and Kubica, well Alonso may just not win anymore World Championships and could retire early from the sport like what Mika did.
Well as far as Alonso is concerned he is in a very dicey situation. If Renault is not able to offer him a competitive package for the whole season, he well may not have too many options on the grid. McLaren is a sure No No, while Ferrari is only possible if they lose the driver’s championship again to Lewis in 2009. As far as their team is concerned for 2009, they have one of the best with Kimi the 2008 World Champion and though Massa may not have won the 2009 Championship but he is according to many people the real Champion of the season. BMW is a good team to go but again if BMW does not have a car which can challenge the McLaren and Ferrari the whole season, then it may not be a great option to go there. I am sure even Kubica would leave them if he does not get a car which can help him win the title. What else is there? Honda and Toyota are there while RBR by then will emerge as the strongest independent team out there while STR’s future after 2009 is still not too clear. Williams is living in its past glory and well it may face the same fate as Brabham, Tyrrell and Lotus.
Now for Ferrari an ideal line-up would be Vettel and Alonso. As Vettel is the next Schumacher while Alonso can possibly win another title or so and also groom Vettel. Kimi well I don’t see him lasting on F1 beyond 2010 and if he wins the title in 2009, he is sure to retire and if he has a similar season to 2008, I am sure Ferrari may just kick him out. Massa well it would be tough to drop him but again well he has proved himself and he has many other teams as options. McLaren more or less will revolve around Hamilton and the only surprise could be if Rosberg will join them and if it does it sure will be a disaster but more or less but Glock will be the guy who most likely will join the team with his German connections.
So these are my predictions for the driver line-up for 2010:
Ferrari – Vettel and Alonso/Massa/Kubica
McLaren – Hamilton and Rosberg/Glock/Kovalainen/Massa
BMW – Kubica/Alonso/Massa/Heidfeld
Renault – Massa/ Heidfeld/ Piquet/ Di Grassi/ Grosjean/Bourdais
Williams – Nakajima/ Hülkenberg/Sutil
Red Bull – Webber/ Buemi/Massa
STR – Buemi/Sato/Bourdais/ Chandhok/Ammermüller/Hartley
Toyota – Trulli/Glock/Heidfeld/Kobayashi/ Nakajima/Massa
Honda – Button/Senna/Di Grassi/Davidson/Massa
Force India – Who ever McLaren decides!
As far as I can see well Massa even if he gets fired by Ferrari sure has lots of options and he does not have to worry much but Alonso well, he just needs to pray that Ferrari does badly as right now, he needs them more than they need him and with the likes of Vettel and Kubica, well Alonso may just not win anymore World Championships and could retire early from the sport like what Mika did.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Vettel on top in Barca
Vettel proved that he is no flash in the pan and he is the next big thing of F1 by clearly coming on top of testing in Barcelona. Adrian Newey designed car was more than handful and even with a Renault powered car, he was clearly on top of testing. Just imagine if Red Bull just swaps engines with STR, well they could be well on top and even the big guns will be thinking twice about the team.
Another important thing which came out of the weekend was Force India signing a deal with McLaren. Effectively they have become the “b” team of McLaren and well now McLaren can get its hands on a years worth of data on Ferrari engines and also have 2 other cars to do its bidding. With a freeze on testing this would benefit McLaren a great deal. Poor Fisi and Sutil now will be praying that they get a drive for next season.
Honda and STR are yet to confirm their drivers. While Jenson Button is all set to take one seat, the other seat would be a shoot out between Rubens, Senna and Di Grassi. I guess even if Senna and Grassi are of similar pace, I would go with Senna if I was Honda and having a famous last name could do wonders for you career even if you are not that good. Just ask Ralf about it, as without it he would have not been in F1 this long. It is good to see Sato testing for STR along with Bourdais and Buemi plus you can add Senna and Rubens to the possible drivers would could race for them.
I guess I would predict Button and Senna will drive for Honda for 2009 while STR is still tough to predict and well I would put Sato (lucrative Japanese market for Red Bull) and Buemi in STR. And if Senna fails to get into Honda well thanks to Berger, he will surely land a seat in STR.
Another important thing which came out of the weekend was Force India signing a deal with McLaren. Effectively they have become the “b” team of McLaren and well now McLaren can get its hands on a years worth of data on Ferrari engines and also have 2 other cars to do its bidding. With a freeze on testing this would benefit McLaren a great deal. Poor Fisi and Sutil now will be praying that they get a drive for next season.
Honda and STR are yet to confirm their drivers. While Jenson Button is all set to take one seat, the other seat would be a shoot out between Rubens, Senna and Di Grassi. I guess even if Senna and Grassi are of similar pace, I would go with Senna if I was Honda and having a famous last name could do wonders for you career even if you are not that good. Just ask Ralf about it, as without it he would have not been in F1 this long. It is good to see Sato testing for STR along with Bourdais and Buemi plus you can add Senna and Rubens to the possible drivers would could race for them.
I guess I would predict Button and Senna will drive for Honda for 2009 while STR is still tough to predict and well I would put Sato (lucrative Japanese market for Red Bull) and Buemi in STR. And if Senna fails to get into Honda well thanks to Berger, he will surely land a seat in STR.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Farce India
During the 90’s Jordan and his team were well known for a "rock and roll" attitude which added colour and character to F1. Then in early 2005, the team was sold to Midland Group, who competed for one final season as 'Jordan', before renaming the team as MF1 Racing for the 2006 season, before being sold later in 2006 to Dutch car manufacturer Spyker Cars to become Spyker F1 for 2007, and then sold again to become Force India in 2008.
It was during these years that Jordan racing died and well after going thru various avatars within such a short span of time, Vijay Mallya bought the team then known as Spyker and he launched Force India, the first team from India to race under its flag. Shahrukh Khan was chosen as its brand ambassador and the car and the drivers were launched with much fanfare in Mumbai. They had a veteran in Giancarlo Fisichella and they had a young driver with enough talents to give the best a run for their money in Adrian Sutil (Atleast we thought so last year!).
Kingfisher is my favourite brand of beer and it is owned by UB group which is also owned by one Vijay Mallya. I do drink a lot of beer and it is sad that the money which people from all walks of life is wasted on the so-called pet project of Mallya. He may want to be a Richard Branson and maybe his parties may even be better than Branson but Branson yes has wasted money down the toilet but Force India project was a disaster and it sure did wasted a lot of beer money!
It may never reach the heights that Jordan was in the 90’s but then now luckily Ferrari engines is off this stupid car and I am sure Ferrari does not need that money it makes out of these engines and can rather supply Red Bull and ensure future driver Vettel has a good enough car. Force India now is officially McLaren’s B team and this is sad especially for Sutil as he nearly scored points in Monaco if not for Kimi’s last minute bump while Fisi did enjoy a full ride in F1 and he can either become a tester or just join CART or NASCAR.
Hopefully Force India can atleast challenge the likes of Honda next year as the way I see it if STR can get good drivers, they would be tough to catch and with RBR most likely to get Ferrari engines and with Vettel behind the wheels, it would be next to impossible to catch them. Which leaves us with Williams as the only team which is going down every year and hope Force India with Mercedes engines should be able to catch up with them and score atleast a point the next season.
It was during these years that Jordan racing died and well after going thru various avatars within such a short span of time, Vijay Mallya bought the team then known as Spyker and he launched Force India, the first team from India to race under its flag. Shahrukh Khan was chosen as its brand ambassador and the car and the drivers were launched with much fanfare in Mumbai. They had a veteran in Giancarlo Fisichella and they had a young driver with enough talents to give the best a run for their money in Adrian Sutil (Atleast we thought so last year!).
Kingfisher is my favourite brand of beer and it is owned by UB group which is also owned by one Vijay Mallya. I do drink a lot of beer and it is sad that the money which people from all walks of life is wasted on the so-called pet project of Mallya. He may want to be a Richard Branson and maybe his parties may even be better than Branson but Branson yes has wasted money down the toilet but Force India project was a disaster and it sure did wasted a lot of beer money!
It may never reach the heights that Jordan was in the 90’s but then now luckily Ferrari engines is off this stupid car and I am sure Ferrari does not need that money it makes out of these engines and can rather supply Red Bull and ensure future driver Vettel has a good enough car. Force India now is officially McLaren’s B team and this is sad especially for Sutil as he nearly scored points in Monaco if not for Kimi’s last minute bump while Fisi did enjoy a full ride in F1 and he can either become a tester or just join CART or NASCAR.
Hopefully Force India can atleast challenge the likes of Honda next year as the way I see it if STR can get good drivers, they would be tough to catch and with RBR most likely to get Ferrari engines and with Vettel behind the wheels, it would be next to impossible to catch them. Which leaves us with Williams as the only team which is going down every year and hope Force India with Mercedes engines should be able to catch up with them and score atleast a point the next season.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Over the Curbs Awards
I decided to give my own F1 awards to the drivers and the teams for the 2008 season. Also, this would be strictly based on the driving skills and though I am a faithful Tifosi, I would be neutral to the hilt and though the FIA has its own championships and ofcourse congratulations to the winners, I have some interesting categories and these are the winners of the first ever Over the Curbs awards:
Driver of the Season - Fernando Alonso
Team of the Season - Scuderia Ferrari
The Next Big Thing - Sebastian Vettel
Most Improved Driver - Sebastian Vettel
Most Improved Team - Scuderia Toro Rosso
Best Grand Prix - Brazilian Grand Prix
Worst Grand Prix - European Grand Prix (Valencia)
Rookie of the season - Timo Glock
(Technically Vettel can also be considered as this was his first full season but he had raced 8 races during the 2007 season for BMW and STR, while Glock raced once for Jordan in 2004.)
Most disappointing driver of the Season - Kimi Räikkönen
Most disappointing team of the Season - Honda
Lucky to be in F1 - Nelson Piquet Jr
Veteran of the Season - Jarno Trulli
(Should have been in F1 for over 10 years and should be over 30 years)
JV of the Season - Lewis Hamilton
(For the driver who talks utter nonsense like how JV used to do it in his racing days)
Most missed Driver - Takuma Sato
Least missed Driver - Ralf Schumacher
Friday Driver of the Season - Nicolas Hülkenberg
Driver of the Season - Fernando Alonso
Team of the Season - Scuderia Ferrari
The Next Big Thing - Sebastian Vettel
Most Improved Driver - Sebastian Vettel
Most Improved Team - Scuderia Toro Rosso
Best Grand Prix - Brazilian Grand Prix
Worst Grand Prix - European Grand Prix (Valencia)
Rookie of the season - Timo Glock
(Technically Vettel can also be considered as this was his first full season but he had raced 8 races during the 2007 season for BMW and STR, while Glock raced once for Jordan in 2004.)
Most disappointing driver of the Season - Kimi Räikkönen
Most disappointing team of the Season - Honda
Lucky to be in F1 - Nelson Piquet Jr
Veteran of the Season - Jarno Trulli
(Should have been in F1 for over 10 years and should be over 30 years)
JV of the Season - Lewis Hamilton
(For the driver who talks utter nonsense like how JV used to do it in his racing days)
Most missed Driver - Takuma Sato
Least missed Driver - Ralf Schumacher
Friday Driver of the Season - Nicolas Hülkenberg
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