Gosh, is that the sound of 2.5 litre V8s revving up I hear?

[Ian]

The 2010 F1 season is only two weekends away.

F1 must be be back as Ferrari and Red Bull have been moaning about McLaren's new car and the possible illegality of its new rear wing

2 more teams on the grid, a lot of the drivers have changed teams, Schumacher is back, Brawn is now Mercedes, no more refuelling, narrower front tyres, a new points system, a new qualifying/grid system - wow, it's going to be a fascinating season!

Ian

[coupekid]

Re: Gosh, is that the sound of 2.5 litre V8s revving up I hear?

yup!

definately going to be an awesome season, hopefully with a little less 'off track' issues!

[Ian]

Re: Gosh, is that the sound of 2.5 litre V8s revving up I hear?

yup!

definately going to be an awesome season, hopefully with a little less 'off track' issues!

Ben who do you think has the edge this year? I don't think one team is going to run away with it like Brawn did last year.

Ferrari, Brawn, and Red Bull look like the cream of the crop. Mercedes seems to be an unknown quantity, but I wouldn't be surprised if they round off the top teams to start with.

Of the new teams I really like the look of the Virgin car. The Lotus looks a bit too conservative, but I like the paint job

Ian

[peter]

Re: Gosh, is that the sound of 2.5 litre V8s revving up I hear?

Well this time next week we will know. Looking at the testing times the Ferrari does look like it will hit the track running this year which for me is good . Looking forward to see how Lewis and Jenson get on together. Oh and Mr Schumacher is back . Ok so it's not in a red car but still looking forward to see how he gets on. I have taken Friday off so I watch all the warm ups live which I looking forward to.

[JSR]

Re: Gosh, is that the sound of 2.5 litre V8s revving up I hear?

So many world champs in so many fast cars is sure to shake everything up this year. I just hope everyone gets the same chance as everyone else to go for it.

What do people think of the new points system?

[devilgas]

Re: Gosh, is that the sound of 2.5 litre V8s revving up I hear?

What do people think of the new points system?

the only real difference is that 2nd place has been devalued slightly, 6-8 are worth (relatively) a bit more and that 9 & 10 now score.

deffo a good idea giving points to lower finishers, although i think i'd prefer it if it went as far as points for the top 12 finishers to give those racing further down the field a bit more incentive. still the current change is a move in the right direction.

the gap between 1 & 2 should also provide more incentive to go for 1st place, however if one team dominates, and maintains that domination, then the season could be pretty short.

at least we haven't got that poxy medals system

[Ian]

Re: Gosh, is that the sound of 2.5 litre V8s revving up I hear?

the only real difference is that 2nd place has been devalued slightly, 6-8 are worth (relatively) a bit more and that 9 & 10 now score.

deffo a good idea giving points to lower finishers, although i think i'd prefer it if it went as far as points for the top 12 finishers to give those racing further down the field a bit more incentive. still the current change is a move in the right direction.

the gap between 1 & 2 should also provide more incentive to go for 1st place, however if one team dominates, and maintains that domination, then the season could be pretty short.

at least we haven't got that poxy medals system

There should a a reward for fastest lap and pole position in my book.

What do you all think of the new teams? I really like the look of the Virgin car.

Ian

[JSR]

Re: Gosh, is that the sound of 2.5 litre V8s revving up I hear?

the gap between 1 & 2 should also provide more incentive to go for 1st place, however if one team dominates, and maintains that domination, then the season could be pretty short.

I think that's my only concern. If one team starts the season with a rabbit in their hat like the double-diffuser of last year and wins eight races, they'll be on 200 points while other teams build their own. Then the other teams start catching up, but they'll all be fighting each other and, if there's no "new" consistent winner (especially with all these WDCs this year), whoever steals the early march will be the winner.

There should a a reward for fastest lap and pole position in my book.

I'd certainly agree on the fastest lap because it's something that could be under challenge over the whole race and would go right down to the wire as the cars' fuel tanks get emptier - and it's something else the viewers can watch during the race. It would also encourage drivers to hold onto a fresh set of tyres until right near the end when their tanks are low so they can put in snappy laps right up to the end. Instead of cars taking their place and being happy with it, everyone would forever be trying to go faster and faster to get the fastest lap. Likewise, no one would be happy sitting behind another car until the next tyre-stop because to do so would steal the opportunity for a fastest lap. A reward for fastest lap would be a very good thing.

I'm not so sure about a reward for pole position. On the one hand it would push drivers to go all out for pole (risking them starting the race on shredded tyres for the benefit of pole position: 25.4d) but, on the other hand, if one driver constantly gets pole (like pulling off a single super-lap at the most opportune and lucky moment), then they'd be forever increasing the gap. The guy on pole already has the best chance of winning the race, so I'm not sure if any further reward is required.

Perhaps they should give points to the first 20 finishers (starting at 20 points for 1st place, down to 1pt for 20th place). That way, even the slow guys have something to prove by beating those they're most level with.

[devilgas]

Re: Gosh, is that the sound of 2.5 litre V8s revving up I hear?

point for pole - don't want this. potentially you could have the championship decided in quali rather than during the race itself.

point for fastest lap - again, not too keen on this as you could be in the situation where a driver needs 1 or 2 points from the last few races. to win the championship they could potentially do the following: qualify last, put new soft rubber on the car, put a few laps of fuel in the car, let the field disappear from the green light then sling in 4 or 5 traffic free quali laps and retire.

so, i personally think it's better to only score points from finishing in the top 10.