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2008 Formula One Thread

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djellison said:
Not really. F1 had a grid of about 27 DFV's and 3 BRM engines once. Might as well have called that spec-engines at the time.

Doug
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At that time there were far fewer teams with a vested interest in building their own engines. Why would Toyota, Honda, BMW or Ferrari continue racing if they had to do it with a competitors engine in the back of their car?

Now the argument that will be made is that this will reduce costs to the level that non-manufacturer teams are more likely to race but I don't think so. You still need enormous resources to even get on the grid (Force India are spending something like $100 Million to be last). Removing part of the engine cost from this will not remove the need for a wind tunnel (or two), a factory with very high-end CF construction ability, budgets for flying everything round the world etc.

Personally I'd rather see a reduction in the rules that ensure the similarity of the cars. Allow other engine configurations (V10s, V12s etc). Allow the return of turbo charging with a reduction in capacity....
 
bartelby said:
...Ferrari supplies all the engines, followed in 2011 by Ferrari supplied chassis then the transformation from the Formula 1 Championship to the Ferrari 1 championship will be complete.
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And then the FIA will abruptly poof out of existence since they will no longer be needed to intervene on Ferrari's behalf. They don't really exist for any other reason, right?
 
Well Magny-Cours was on life-support to begin with, so I am not surprised it has been dropped. Maybe this will allow Montreal to come back or offer a temporary circuit in the US (Vegas).

As for the French GP, I know Bernie wanted it in Paris or Paris Disneyland. Maybe they need an extra year to make it happen.

Abu Dhabi looks like it could become the new Monaco.

As for a spec engine, it actually worked well for Champ Car when they all went to the Cosworth 2.65 liter turbo V8. However, I just can't see modern F1 staying "modern" if they go to a single manufacturer. The manufacturers are in Formula One to showcase their talent (well, Honda excepted. :p ).

I suppose the FIA is worried that Formula One will go the way of FIA Group C Sportscar racing with the manufacturers pulling out due to costs, but then the FIA directly helped bring that result about when they forced the teams to use F1-spec engines. At that point, the manufacturers decided to just go to F1.

But hey, Ferrari builds the chassis and engines for A1GP, so bartelby's idea may not be that far-fetched. :D
 
If he wants to keep it cheap and relevant to road cars: limit them to production blocks with a rev and power limit. The road car manufacturers would love to be able to advertise their road engines.
 
CWallace said:
As for the French GP, I know Bernie wanted it in Paris or Paris Disneyland. Maybe they need an extra year to make it happen.
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If they filmed all the drivers going on the rides at Disneyland
it'd be more interesting than the GP at Magny-Cours
 
alphaod said:
If that happened, I'd see a lot of spectators calling it quits, not just manufacturers!
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+1
My wife and I have already grown tired of all the B.S. in F1. We still watch quali and the race, but have stopped watching supplementary programming like F1 Debrief and Inside Grand Prix. We're loosing interest. We've already decided if the USGP comes back we won't attend if it means giving up one of the ALMS races we attend (we went to the USGP 2003-2007). If F1 goes to a spec engine, I don't have much hope for F1.
 
robbieduncan said:
At that time there were far fewer teams with a vested interest in building their own engines. Why would Toyota, Honda, BMW or Ferrari continue racing if they had to do it with a competitors engine in the back of their car? .
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Oh - I'm not defending the idea - it's utter crap. Just it's not entirely different to how things were 30-40 years ago.

Doug
 
robbieduncan said:
Well, they just did it. Clear team orders: they should be penalised but won't be.
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It's a stupid rule anyway. Team orders have always been a part, because it's a team sport. Ferrari just happened to do it one time when it wasn't necessary, and a bunch of people got their panties in a bunch.

I guess it should be mentioned that the lap after he was passed, Kimi turned a 1:40 to Massa's 1:38.
 
Counterfit said:
It's a stupid rule anyway. Team orders have always been a part, because it's a team sport.
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Yes, but they're not meant to influence the drivers championship. There's no team need for 2 cars to swap places. They'd still get the same points.
 
robbieduncan said:
Well, they just did it. Clear team orders: they should be penalised but won't be.
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At least Ferrari only applied team orders once one of their drivers was mathematically out of the championship. Unlike McLaren of course. ;)

Counterfit said:
Ferrari just happened to do it one time when it wasn't necessary, and a bunch of people got their panties in a bunch
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Just like McLaren in Melbourne 1998. Or Williams and McLaren in Jerez 1997. Or Renault in 2005 and 2006.

bartelby said:
Yes, but they're not meant to influence the drivers championship. There's no team need for 2 cars to swap places. They'd still get the same points.
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Do you honestly believe that? :rolleyes: You must really hate McLaren then. :p

Textbook by Hamilton today, stark contrast to last weekend though... :confused: One can't help but think Kubica would've polished the WDC off months ago had he been behind the wheel of either the Ferrari or McLaren. Neither Hamilton or Massa have been especially consistent or outstanding this year IMO.
 
Just saw the race...yawn...very boring.

Looking forward to seeing ALMS at Laguna Seca this afternoon. Even with NBC butchering the coverage it has a better chance for interesting racing.
 
Counterfit said:
It's a stupid rule anyway. Team orders have always been a part, because it's a team sport. Ferrari just happened to do it one time when it wasn't necessary, and a bunch of people got their panties in a bunch.
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Not to mention you know Formula One Group (and, by extension, Bernie) would much rather have the Championship go to the last round of the season because it means more commercial revenues for them. When Schumacher secured the championship in France at roughly half-season a few years back, that had to have impacted both television viewerships and race attendance.

Plus the monies involved for the team alone make team orders a necessity if it will influence a Driving championship. Being the Formula One Constructor champion brings plenty of cash to a team, but having #1 on the car's nose brings a lot more then having #3.

And as David Hobbes keeps pointing out, in the past drivers would give up their cars if that is what it meant to win a championship.
 
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