I see what you mean but the season goes from March to October and they still have some time off. Without a doubt their best tour is the European Tour where they have a few races and don't have to travel too far. Most of the drivers are European so I guess isn't too bad for them either.


I can see your point about the money, yeah, they just make silly money and I can see them making the decision of why to keep racing and risking my life when I already have $$$$$$$.

Carlos

 

x838nwy,


I like your feedback about the team. I think Honda has the good car and mediocre drivers. On the beginning of the year they had the fastest cars but their drivers were just not that competitive.

As far is BMW, I wouldn't even count on them at all , honestly, they haven't done anything special this year nor I think they will.

I have been following even the training sesions for seasons and what calls my attention is that Mclaren has a Jewel within their team. I am refering to the Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa, this 35 year old guy from Barcelona, Spain pulled many fastest times last year on the training sesions for Mclaren. It makes you wonder sometime a spare driver could be the solutions to some teams.

I am not saying that Kimi is slower than Pedro de la Rosa but I am confident you know exactly what I mean.

As far is this race, I agree with you, the pole position is very important. Alonso already says that this circuit offers a good oportunity to overtake(unlike circuits like San Marino, Monaco).

You can never rule out Raikonnen, when he has a good day he can overtake anyone on the track. Shummy longevity on formula one gives him an advantage on any track, he knows all the track in the world better than anyone, you can never rule him out..
my .2c

Carlos

 

Well, I think it was all done really when Renault and Michelin were indecisive on whether or not they will stay in F1 beyond 2007. At the time also, I think the whole world - and probably Alonso himself - probably wasn't entirely sure where the success actually came from. I mean, it was entirely possible at the time that his 2006 season would turn out to be a bit of a flop and if that's the case then having a firm deal at McLaren would be a good insurance for him. And as mentioned, McLaren has been in F1 since all this was corn fields and looks to stay till we have hover cars in F1 and beyond...

I know if's don't mean a lot in motorsport but by the end of 2005 there was some doubt about how good Alonso is really, in comparison to Kimi and Michael. Kimi has had more cars failed under him probably than the rest of the grid put together last year and Michael's form can largely be blamed on the Bridgestone (mostly anyway).

Now that the picture is a littel clearer, I think Fernando probably has reasons to reget his decision. It's likely that next year, Kovaleinen - who I rate very highly - would be in a Renault and will be giving Alonso a good run for his money.

 

Yea, the racing part of the season goes from March to October, but you have off-season testing, and other stuff. I think I saw once where M. Schumacher gets like 1 month then has to report back for duty. Like the NASCAR guys here in the states, there isn't much of an off season.

I saw a quote once from one of the engineers who had quit F1 and gone to work in CART, they asked him why and he said, "I got sick of waking up and wondering what continent I was on."

Jon

 

Oh no, I'm not saying BMW will win!! They'll probably be higher up the grid that they 'should' that's all.

And yes, there are drivers out there who I really don't understand why they seem destined to be test drivers seemingly forever while doing even better times than the real ones. de ld Rosa, Wurz, and Davidson to name a few. They're a class above from people like Luca Bodoer who seem to be contracted to test Ferraris till he falls over dead. Perhaps it has something to do with who manages who. I believe Massa's manager is Jean Todt's son or something like that and Flavio Biratore manages a number of drivers (such as Webber) which just complicates the whole issue. Plus, and I really don't like this, some drivers actually pay to drive for some teams... that's just ghay. You shouldn't be allowed to pay for your drive at this level...

About Honda, I think Jenson is a very good driver, but to me it's the car that's not really doing what it should. Well, not for many laps anyway. And the whole team seems to be undergoing a bit of a nightmare internally. They've just replaced Jeff Willis and seem to be so occupied with looking at other people's wings that it's becoming an obsession. The fact that other teams are doing relatively well probably has put the powers that be at Honda to start shouting at people and that never helps either. Like JV put it (about their complaints about the wing) "it's not something you do if you're on the way up."

 

One thing to remember about the test drivers on Friday... They odn't follow the two-race engine rule, and they get to turn the revs up and such. The teams use some kind of correction factor, and they can tell if they would be faster or slower than the primary drivers.

Sometimes if you listen to interviews you can hear a test driver say, "that time would have put us xx behind Mr Main Driver.. etc even though they were "faster"

As far as Paying.. it's supply and demand. More people wanting to drive than seats available, and it happens in each and every form and level of motorsport on earth. It becomes a business for the teams to make $ on selling seats. (Pro roadracing teams are 95% this way.)

Jon K

 

According to my schedule, the Formula BMW race on Sat should finish around 5:15pm.

If anyone is interested in an informal EVO get together Sat afternoon, following that last race, let's try to meet in parking Lot 2 (right near the paddock on Georgetown Rd.).

Those interested can PM me and I'll give you my cell.

 

Agree with testing times, but to if we look back to when Montoya fell off his mountainbike or whatever, Pedro wsa doing okay during those races.... I'm not entirely sure why Wurz in confined to the realms of testing. He seemed quite quick in his days. I'd rate him over Ralf any day for example.

About paying, it does go on all over the place, you're right. But what I'm saying is that this is F1 and surely there are enough companies out there to sponsor these teams without throwing in a driver preferrence wiht it? Well, I guess there are probably marketing reasons behind that as well. I guess that' just how it works, but it really should not exist at the very top level of the sport. It's like getting a place in the US Olympics team cos you're sponosored by Microsoft or whatever...

 

Alonzo is almost unstoppable this year. the way he has been running he will own F1 for the next few years

 

Yea the test drivers do well and go fast, but often what makes the main drivers the main drivers is also racecraft, thy have the championships and wins to prove they race well, and not just drive well, which is probably most of why one is picked over another.

(We can discuss lack of racing in F1 later )

The top F1 teams spend 400-500 million a year, most of that right now is factory $ (Mercedes, Fiat, Honda, Toyota, BMW) Full sponsorships seem to be around $100 million for a year (rumored cost of the Marlboro sinage on the Ferrari) The thing is.. that is a lot of $ for many companies, especially when you consider TV ads, etc. Tabacco is such a huge part of it because their advertising is limited elsewhere (where someone like Pepsi who would have the budget, can get to more people with a good TV ad campaign)

The fact is it is hard to find a company with that type of budget that can make it work. Racing sponsorships are not just about the name on the side of the car, but hospitality/corporate programs, promotion of said race team ("We want to race the truck") etc. There is a lot of depth to a working motorsports sponsorship.

As far as buying rides.. I wish it didn't happen either, and remember many of the Sponsors you see on the cars are brought by the drivers, so it might look "sponsored" but it is still the driver bringing $. So some of the sponsors that do come in since they are not found by the team, go to drivers who would not otherwise be paid to be in a car.

The drivers bringing $ is part of the deal, and becuase of the supply and demand I don't think that we are going to see it go away, what I wish is that you had to win in the one level before moving up. (Think IRL/Champcar where there are guys that have nothing but a few SCCA races under their belt driving at 200 mph)

Jon K

 

A friend of mine racing in Europe had to sit out last season to drum up enough sponsorship to be able to afford to race this year in the series he wanted to. This was after two reasonably successful years in the lower Formula series. It's unfortunate that it's become such a big business requiring the drivers to pay their way. Someone with great talent would have little chance of 'making it' without big dollars behind them, and big dollars are very hard to come by.

And Jon is right, conversely you have drivers that have the big sponsorship but aren't the best drivers filling up the grids of IRL and CART races every weekend. Where was that big crash at this spring where the driver was killed after running into a wrecked car (Indy)? That is a perfect (but very sad and tragic) example of the state of pro racing these days. He really didn't belong out there.

 

That was Paul Dana at Miami, he hit the already crashed and stopped car of Ed Carpenter (who has had less than stellar results himself) Paul had driven in a veriety of levels, but wil mixed results in terms of success.

He did however have great marketing skill, and combined with a passion for alternative fuels, sold Ethanol on IndyCar racing both as a sponsor and supplier. He brought the sponsorship money, which ment the ride.

I saw him drive for the first time at Rookie Orientation Practice at Indy last year, and after watching him for a few laps turned to my dad and said "I hope they don't pass him, he is going to kill someone, and he will be lucky if it isn't himself."

The day he was killed was his 6th or so day in an IndyCar, and his 3rd crash.

I hate being right, but that is a product of the buy-a-ride system. (F1 is better because even the buy-a-ride drivers have to go through super licensing which is pretty dang stringent) Personally, I think the IRL should have current top drivers evaluate rookies, because they are the guys who have to be on track with them. (I would respect the decision of Kanaan/Dixon/Hornish when it came ot who gets to be side by side with them at 225mph)

There are more though, Marty Roth is a hazard to himself and others, and still able to drive in the IRL (though I was told after he spun 3 different times and then crashed at Indy, the IRL officials told him to stay home from Texas)

(Last post, leaving for Indy now.. 600 mile drive ahead of me)

Jon K

 

Alonso takes it by at least 10 seconds IMO.

 

Right. My memory is so bad. It's hell getting old.

 

Well, qualifying sure makes me look like a retard....

They probably added another fuel tank to Alonso's car...

Anyway, what do you guys over in the US think of Montoya? I never really heard of him before he got into F1. Seems quick at times, but crude - almost like JV but a more delicate. Somehow I rekon he'd make a great rally driver.