Lemonade Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 2 months to go until the red lights go off in Bahrain and we've had the first team launch, with this rather sweet looking Mercedes-Benz. What a beautiful car.Theoretically, there could be as many as 8 drivers fighting for wins this season, as McLaren and Ferrari are going to be back with a vengeance, and Mercedes and Red Bull should hopefully be able to carry on the momentum from last season. All things point towards this season being an absolute blinder...The 2010 field:McLaren Mercedes1 Jenson Button 2 Lewis HamiltonMercedes3 Michael Schumacher 4 Nico RosbergRed Bull Racing5 Sebastian Vettel 6 Mark WebberFerrari 7 Felipe Massa 8 Fernando AlonsoWilliams Cosworth 9 Rubens Barrichello 10 Nico HlkenbergRenault11 Robert Kubica 12 TBA Force India Mercedes 14 Adrian Sutil 15 Vitantonio LiuzziToro Rosso Ferrari 16 Sbastien Buemi 17 Jaime AlguersuariLotus Cosworth 18 Jarno Trulli 19 Heikki KovalainenCampos Cosworth 20 TBA 21 Bruno SennaUS F1 Cosworth22 Jos Mara Lpez 23 TBA Virgin Cosworth 24 Timo Glock 25 Lucas di GrassiSauber Ferrari26 Pedro de la Rosa 27 Kamui KobayashiWho's your money on, and who are you excited about seeing? I'm really looking forward to seeing how Button does in the McLaren, however I fancy Lewis for the championship. And I'm stupidly excited about Kamui Kobayashi racing full time, he was just absolutely mental in the Toyota last year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scootray Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 I can't wait for this season. It's shaping up to be very competitive with a number of teams in the running. Ferrari and McLaren both upped their game at the end of last season, so I think they'll be strong, especially considering Ferrari began concentrating on their 2010 car in the middle of last season.Having Schumacher back is going to give F1 a buzz I think, and as much as I hated the guy, I'm excited to see him back. Not sure if he's up to winning the title, I think it'll come down to how the car performs for him, if it goes well, then he'll definitely be in the running.Looking forward to seeing the British partnership of Button and Hamilton, two world champions battling it out should make for some entertaining races, but I do think Hamilton has that edge over Button. He's younger and he seems to have a bit more aggression in his driving style compared to Button. Saying that, Button pulled off some good overtakes at Brazil(?) last season to do enough to win the World title from a poor qualifying position. With a better car, who knows what he can do.Kobayashi in those two races last season was a hoot. Brilliant defensive manouvres to keep Button at bay, so I'm glad he got a race for this year.I've heard Lotus are looking strong for this season, but with Kovalainen at the wheel, I'm not sure they can expect much to be honest. He doesn't seem to have the same energy as the likes of Hamilton and Button. He coasted along at McLaren and never really produced anything special, so he really needs to use this season to prove he's not shit.I'm glad Rubens is still driving. Don't think he do much compared to 2009, but he seems like a good guy to have in the line-up. One of the old school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsby Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 On paper it looks like a cracker, lets hope it delivers. Can't remember the last time all the top drivers were in top cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted January 26, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 I keep reading about how "motivated" Schumacher is, but I can't help but think that if that Merc turns out to be a stinker, we might see a recurrence of that "neck injury" halfway through the season... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattJimF Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 I keep reading about how "motivated" Schumacher is, but I can't help but think that if that Merc turns out to be a stinker, we might see a recurrence of that "neck injury" halfway through the season...I don't blame you, you do have to wonder how much of this is for the "love" of the sport, and how much is for the huge wad of cash Mercedes is throwing at him.This season is going to be very interesting in what happens with the new teams, how the new drivers fit in. It's also going to be interesting to see how well this no refuelling rule works, and how the teams use the tire changes to gain an advantage over their rivals.I am worried about the final results of certain races matching the starting grid due to lack of overtaking opportunities on some circuits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsby Posted January 27, 2010 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 I don't blame you, you do have to wonder how much of this is for the "love" of the sport, and how much is for the huge wad of cash Mercedes is throwing at him.I don't believe Schumacher is short of cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest droid Posted January 27, 2010 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 2 months to go until the red lights go off in Bahrain and we've had the first team launch, with this rather sweet looking Mercedes-Benz. What a beautiful car.!I think it is a re-liveried 2009 car,according to press reports 2010's car is"still firmly under wraps". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scootray Posted January 27, 2010 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 I don't blame you, you do have to wonder how much of this is for the "love" of the sport, and how much is for the huge wad of cash Mercedes is throwing at him.This season is going to be very interesting in what happens with the new teams, how the new drivers fit in. It's also going to be interesting to see how well this no refuelling rule works, and how the teams use the tire changes to gain an advantage over their rivals.I am worried about the final results of certain races matching the starting grid due to lack of overtaking opportunities on some circuits.Almost forgot about the no refuelling this year! It's going to be a bit strange and I'm not convinced I'm going to like it. I'll wait and see though. The thing that concerns me is that refuelling is a big part of the pitstop and to take it away means it's just a case of a change of tyres and away again. Not having the refuelling problems we've seen in recent years takes away a bit of the excitement if you ask me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted January 27, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Cars all being on the same fuel load will almost certainly reduce overtaking, as you won't have people on lighter fuel loads scything through the field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsby Posted January 27, 2010 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Yeah, why exactly have they done away with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 27, 2010 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 You won't get people catching on fire in the pit lane either.But expect to see a few cars run out of fuel on the last laps as each team will want to put as little fuel in the tank for the race as they can possibly get away with. This means you will get some slower cars towards the end as they valiently try and conserve fuel while the cars who did it right steam up behind them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scootray Posted January 27, 2010 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 You won't get people catching on fire in the pit lane either.But expect to see a few cars run out of fuel on the last laps as each team will want to put as little fuel in the tank for the race as they can possibly get away with. This means you will get some slower cars towards the end as they valiently try and conserve fuel while the cars who did it right steam up behind them.Aye, but they were wearing full on fire retardant suits, helmets, shoes, etc, so they wouldn't actually be burning as they've got fire extinguishers right there.If it is just a safety thing it'd be pretty pish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 27, 2010 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Aye, but they were wearing full on fire retardant suits, helmets, shoes, etc, so they wouldn't actually be burning as they've got fire extinguishers right there.If it is just a safety thing it'd be pretty pish.I guess the racing reason is that a lot of teams were relying on strategy to get places rather than racing. Now while a bit of that is to be valued, I'd much rather see people gaining places by overtaking on the track rather than having a better pit strategy.Having said that with mandatory tyre changes I'm sure pit strategy will still play a big part of the race. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ghost Of Fudge Posted January 27, 2010 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 it turns out we're driving through germany the weekend they hold their grand prix. that could be fun. return of M.S. etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted January 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2010 The 2010 Ferrari has been unveiiled...This is the one they've been working on since mid-2009 so you'd expect it to be good.I assume Santander is one of Alonso's sponsors, being Spanish, si? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted January 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2010 There's a good article on the BBC about how the racing is going to be totally different this year since they've done away with refeulling. Seemingly there will still be a lot of pit-lane tactics and the likes.BBC Sport - F1 - How Formula 1 race strategy will be different in 2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattJimF Posted January 31, 2010 Report Share Posted January 31, 2010 Renault sign first Russian F1 driver also first Chinese driver (although just a test driver)BBC Sport - F1 - Russian Vitaly Petrov signed by Renault for 2010 season Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scootray Posted January 31, 2010 Report Share Posted January 31, 2010 Renault are going to be god-awful this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scootray Posted January 31, 2010 Report Share Posted January 31, 2010 And what's with these weird rear wings? Are they a regulation this year?I just find it weird that all the teams (or the ones I've seen so far) seem to be incorporating them. The aerodynamic thinkers don't come up with the same ideas at the same time so is there a bit of spying and skulduggery, which then becomes a shared idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattJimF Posted January 31, 2010 Report Share Posted January 31, 2010 Probably due to having to increase the size of the fuel tank, can only go two ways width or length, and they would still have to ensure it was aerodynamic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scootray Posted January 31, 2010 Report Share Posted January 31, 2010 Saying that, Mercedes and Ferrari don't seem to have it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted February 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2010 Some more new cars unveiled at Valencia today. Renault seem to have raised the ghost of Jordan GP.RenaultMercedesToro RossoSauber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodsinho Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 What do you guys make of the change to the point scoring system that's coming in this year? Moving to something more akin to motorbike championships with the following:1st - 25 points2nd - 183rd - 154th - 125th - 106th - 87th - 68th - 49th - 210th - 1Obviously trying to give a much greater reward for pushing to win a race instead of settling for losing out on 2 extra points for second place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Hmph - in my opinion all it achieves is bigger, more studly looking numbers at the end of the season and more teams picking up points just for turning up. The win incentive angle is nothing new - the old 10 6 4 3 2 1 system did that quite effectively and meant less points achieved through attrition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted February 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 I quite like it actually, when there was only 20 cars on the grid top 6 or top 8 getting points was sufficient reward, but there's 26 cars this season so it will be much much harder for smaller teams to pick up points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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