So we are just a few days away until one of the greatest days of the year....the start of the 2005 Formula 1 series. Who will win it this year? Ferrari is back with the same ol' crew while other teams switched drivers around hoping to come up with the right car/driver formula. Let's hear it folks. I say Ferrari does it all over again.
italcarguy
Well of course Ferrari does it again. Bernie wouldn't have it any other way! (Sorry - I'm bitter)
Too bad Ferrari seems to be afraid of Minardi! It really sucks that they appear to be playing the big bully role>
It's all become a bit of a farce IMO. FIA/Bernie/Max/Ferrari vs The Others. Fixed, if you will.
Sniff.....sniff - I think I smell Don King!
Sniff.....sniff - I think I smell Don King!
But one of the reasons they have more to spend is Bernie pays them a lot more than he pays any of the other teams.
Those of you who are bitter about Ferrari winning as often as they do should examine why Ferrari wins and why Ferrari keeps so many really top people.
Ferrari people are the reason Ferrari wins.
Di Montezemolo who empowered the team to operate as a team and utilize each team member to his or her fullest.
Todt who is not only a great organizer and systems creator but is the real key behind the team environment at Maranello. Everyone who works on the Ferrari team inside the factory or at the track will readily tell you that they would not consider working else where because the see the discontent in the other teams. Todt works hard to insure that each person is happy at his or her job.
Martinelli the engine man who believes that if it is the best way, we must do it that way. Outstanding reliability and maximum power are the the only acceptable outcomes of engine design and build. The present V10 is built like 5 Vtwins and has 5 sumps becuase that is the best way to insure regidity. It means that it must have 10 oil pumps to scavenge and circulate oil (plus two others for other parts of the engine) but there can be no compromise where lubrication is concerned. Martinelli and his people have olved some long time engine puzzles in the last 10 years.
Brawn part engineer, part strategy genius, seer of the future whether the future is the next 5 laps or the next decade of technology. A simply amazing person who despite his massive responsibilties is considered by the factory workers to be a fantastic boss.
Byrne quietly goes about his job of working next years car starting the day after this years car hits the track. This man understands all aspects of race cars and racing and winning. He works 24/7 and has had more success than anyone in the business right now.
Barrichello the "Perfect team mate" the best man in the sport at doing the job that he has. There is simply no one better.
Schumacher, among the greatest drivers ever! He never lets go of the goal of winning. He is intelligent tireless, physically more than up to the task, dedicated to the team and a master of the high technology of todays cars. Mechanics who work close to Michael's car tell of how he has learned to figur out the best brake bias (front to rear) for each corner and he will adjust his for each corner when he needs to record a few good laps. His performance under the gun has always been exceptional. Does he have his faults yes probably so but one of them is not a lack of drive to win.
If you are not a Ferrari fan, pick your team and cheer for it and weep for it and above all respect the people who can put so much technical and emotional power together that they win. Isn't that what they are all trying to do?
Ferrari people are the reason Ferrari wins.
Di Montezemolo who empowered the team to operate as a team and utilize each team member to his or her fullest.
Todt who is not only a great organizer and systems creator but is the real key behind the team environment at Maranello. Everyone who works on the Ferrari team inside the factory or at the track will readily tell you that they would not consider working else where because the see the discontent in the other teams. Todt works hard to insure that each person is happy at his or her job.
Martinelli the engine man who believes that if it is the best way, we must do it that way. Outstanding reliability and maximum power are the the only acceptable outcomes of engine design and build. The present V10 is built like 5 Vtwins and has 5 sumps becuase that is the best way to insure regidity. It means that it must have 10 oil pumps to scavenge and circulate oil (plus two others for other parts of the engine) but there can be no compromise where lubrication is concerned. Martinelli and his people have olved some long time engine puzzles in the last 10 years.
Brawn part engineer, part strategy genius, seer of the future whether the future is the next 5 laps or the next decade of technology. A simply amazing person who despite his massive responsibilties is considered by the factory workers to be a fantastic boss.
Byrne quietly goes about his job of working next years car starting the day after this years car hits the track. This man understands all aspects of race cars and racing and winning. He works 24/7 and has had more success than anyone in the business right now.
Barrichello the "Perfect team mate" the best man in the sport at doing the job that he has. There is simply no one better.
Schumacher, among the greatest drivers ever! He never lets go of the goal of winning. He is intelligent tireless, physically more than up to the task, dedicated to the team and a master of the high technology of todays cars. Mechanics who work close to Michael's car tell of how he has learned to figur out the best brake bias (front to rear) for each corner and he will adjust his for each corner when he needs to record a few good laps. His performance under the gun has always been exceptional. Does he have his faults yes probably so but one of them is not a lack of drive to win.
If you are not a Ferrari fan, pick your team and cheer for it and weep for it and above all respect the people who can put so much technical and emotional power together that they win. Isn't that what they are all trying to do?
I understand that Ferrari is a heck of a racing organization that spends a mint on the sport, but I don't think that excuses the fix. Bernie shows obvious favoritism to Ferrari and so does the FIA. All the new rules play to Ferrari's strengths. Then there are the constant rules changes in Ferrari's favor. For example the "quick-shift" gearboxes that Renault and BAR (IIRC) spent millions to develop this off season. These gearboxes could have given them a real advantage. They showed the concept to the FIA and the FIA said OK. So they spent a considerable amount of resources to develop it. But when it comes time to start racing it, Ferrari complains to the FIA. So the FIA arbitrarily says "anything that shifts faster than 50ms (in other words, faster than Ferrari) will be considered a CVT". That sucks. McLaren was similarly victimized two years ago on their torque-biasing diff. Again. totally within the rules at the time, got initial OK, spent millions to develop it, then shot down by Ferrari.
Similarly, it's pretty obvious where Ferrari is going excluding Minardi. It's hard for small teams to survive missing GPs. If the grid gets small enough, the teams will be forced to run 3 cars. That soaks up resources. Since Ferrari has the most resources, that hurts them the least.
So yeah, if you want to see it as a business contest, then you gotta hand it to Ferrari and their dominance should run until someone can outspend them and utilize that spending as good or better. But I like car racing as a sport, and outspending your rivals, buying influence and leveraging your brand awareness to win is just simply not sport.
Plus the sport has gotten just dead boring. As I said on another thread, I used to be a huge F1 fan. I doubt I'll watch a single race this season.
Chris
Similarly, it's pretty obvious where Ferrari is going excluding Minardi. It's hard for small teams to survive missing GPs. If the grid gets small enough, the teams will be forced to run 3 cars. That soaks up resources. Since Ferrari has the most resources, that hurts them the least.
So yeah, if you want to see it as a business contest, then you gotta hand it to Ferrari and their dominance should run until someone can outspend them and utilize that spending as good or better. But I like car racing as a sport, and outspending your rivals, buying influence and leveraging your brand awareness to win is just simply not sport.
Plus the sport has gotten just dead boring. As I said on another thread, I used to be a huge F1 fan. I doubt I'll watch a single race this season.
Chris
I remember when McLaren was the constant winner and it seemed that no one would catch them. A lot of people were starting to claim that they cheated and they had all that Honda money behind them. Now Ferrari is king and that must mean they cheat.
Auto racing has always been a sport of spending as in Penske. Part of the "sport" is finding the deep pockets to fund you. Outspending your rivals is almost a must in sport and the more technical the sport, the more important money is. Toyota have more money than Ferrari, McLaren spent a kings ransom on their tech center, Renault spends plenty of money and who do you think Michelin would like to see win the whole deal ??
What counts is who puts the fastest most reliable car on the track and drives the H out of it to win.
Auto racing has always been a sport of spending as in Penske. Part of the "sport" is finding the deep pockets to fund you. Outspending your rivals is almost a must in sport and the more technical the sport, the more important money is. Toyota have more money than Ferrari, McLaren spent a kings ransom on their tech center, Renault spends plenty of money and who do you think Michelin would like to see win the whole deal ??
What counts is who puts the fastest most reliable car on the track and drives the H out of it to win.
I would be surprised if they don't, but we shall see.italcarguy said:
I think Williams will have a terrible season, McLaren will be even worse, BAR will win a couple of races and Renault won't be far behind. Red Bull and Toyota will pick up the rest of the points that Ferrari don't get.
Also the two-races-per-engine rule looks like it'll be exploited pretty heavily unless it's reworded somehow. AIUI, if a car retires before the end of the race, they can replace their engine without penalty before the next race. But if it blows on qualifying/practice, and they replace it, there's a 10 place penalty, and if another one blows, they're not allowed to replace it. So if you're not going to score points, you can retire, and therefore have a new engine for the next weekend, whereas the finishers will have to continue to use the same engine or risk losing places.
RtbRacer said:
Actually, Toyota and McLaren have the biggest budgets in the sport. Ferrari run 3 or 4 depending on where each of BMW and Honda fund Williams and BAR.
We are enjoying an un-precedented era in F1 history where the best team in the sport has created the best cars which are driven by the best driver in F1 history. Enjoy the history we are so lucky to witness. This is an incredible time in the history of F1....you'll be telling stories from the last 8 years to your great grand children!!!
We should also recall that it took Ferrari nearly 20 years since Jody Schekters last Drivers Title to Schumi's first with the Scuderia in 2000.
Yes, Ferrari gets the biggest split of the ad $'s...isn't it the same in most sports leagues - (Euro football, county cricket, NFL etc......) where the most successful/popular teams draw the most split?
I'm still cheering on Williams. Been doing it since the Mansell/Prost/Senna days. But Ferrari will probably win a lot this year. I want to see how the new tire & engine rules come into play, and if it will actually change anything.
By cracky, back in ought-5 I used to watch F1 to fall asleep! Not like it is now, kids - one guy won all the races with no competition year after year. Heck, nowadays you whipper-snappers don't know who might win the next race! What's the world coming to?Alfa_Tiv said:
I'm with Hit an Apex - psyched for Champ Car!
Ferrari takes the money it receives in subsidies from the italian government to sell street cars and dumps it into the racing program. thats where the money comes from and thats how ferrari ends up in the winners' circe over and over. There should be a limit to the amount of money a team can spend and then finally we'll see the best driver win rather than the richest team. Same thing in sailing by the way.
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