F1 links: November 21st

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FOTA to discuss new qualifying format

“The new idea to be looked at consists of all cars jumping onto the track at the same time and with the same amount of fuel, with the slowest driver being eliminated after each lap. After 14 laps, the six fastest drivers would then fight for pole position, fitting new tyres but still using the same amount of fuel.” Once again it seems FOTA is wasting its energy trying to fix something that isn’t broken. Qualifying has had more than enough changes in the last five years. The only further change that is needed is to get rid of the race fuel element in Q3. Otherwise, leave it alone.

Looking ahead to 2009

Paddy Lowe: "The launch car package was finished in the windtunnel several weeks ago. The pattern has become that you significantly re-clothe the car between launch and first race in any case – that’s without such drastic changes to regulations. And the launch cars will bear little resemblance to how they appear in Melbourne."

Overtaking is easier!

"The first impressions from the drivers are that the new aerodynamic rules that have been devised by the Overtaking Working Group will make it easy for them to race. BMW Sauber test driver Christian Klien says that it is now easier to get closer to the car in front because of the reduction in turbulence created by the smaller rear wings. In addition the wider front wings mean that the front end of the following car is more stable and so a driver has more confidence that he can make a move."

Formula 1 boss faces divorce case

'Simon Bethel, a family law specialist with law firm Mills & Reeve, said: "Given Mr and Mrs Ecclestone were reputed to be worth £2.4bn in the 2008 Rich List, this case may see the highest award to a wife in legal history."'

Eyes on Barcelona

"It will be at the race starts that the KERS system is most apparent early in 2009, with the power boost likely to give a couple or three car lengths advantage over a non KERS car, once the car reaches 100km/h.

Ecclestone divorce is confirmed

"Slavica Ecclestone has confirmed that she is starting divorce proceedings against her husband, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone."

The art of reading financial returns in F1

"The Daily Telegraph's reports suggesting that the Honda Racing F1 team is the biggest spender in F1, having reported a vast $218m spend in 2007, are not quite as they seem. Our sources say that the stories fail to take into account a rather important fact which was overlooked as the authors."

These are articles I’ve found and bookmarked using Delicious. View my Delicious profile to see what else I’m reading and recommend other links to me.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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5 comments on “F1 links: November 21st”

  1. The proposed new qualifying format sounds extremely messy. How is the director going to keep up? It’s hard enough at the moment when you have 3 focal points, i.e. the ends of Q1, Q2 and Q3, with drivers on the bubble/going for pole at each juncture.

    But this would have 15 of those sort of moments, as far as I can tell.

    Maybe they should do this on Friday, winner gets….something (I don’t know what), and keep quali as it is with the exception of removing race fuel.

  2. What’s wrong with FOTA, why all these piddly little changes to things (that aren’t very good ideas anyway) surely they should be worrying about bigger things, I can think of a few without any effort:

    * Losing GP’s such as Canada, France and possibly China from the calendar.
    * The god ugly 2009 cars
    * Overly restrictive regulations on car design which gives very little competitive advantage (so they’re forced to chase hundredths/tenths in areas that hurt the sport)
    * The flip-flopping of the FIA on regulations (e.g. engine freeze, engine un-freeze — just for now though you understand until everyone’s equal – hah)
    * Losing smaller teams

    I think most people would agree that the qualifying format we’ve had for the past two years has been one of the more entertaining ones out of the myriad of versions we’ve had over recent seasons. The only change most people seem to be asking for is dropping the race fuel in Q3 so we get a representative battle for the purest, fastest one lap.

    FOTA should concentrate on the bigger issues right now as there are so many that are much more damaging to the sport than the not-quite-perfect qualifying format.

  3. all this stuff about the quali format is getting ridiculous!
    if they really want race fuel etc then make the teams lock in the strategy before qualifying, let them quali on low fuel then refuel to the strategy afterwards!
    either give us back the old 12 lap 1 hr format or keep it as it and drop the bloody fuel in q3 ********!

  4. I’ve got a new proposition for the qualifying format: To stop screwing around with it! Apart from the race fuel aspect, our present format is good. Don’t change it yet again!!!

  5. NOOOOO… dont change qualifying!! its a lot of fun to watch right now. These changes sound like they would make qualifying considerably less exciting.

    Seriously.. 14 little one lap qualifying stints seems like a huge step backward.

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