F1 Fanatic round-up: 24/4/2010

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The second “Why you should watch…” will be up later today and, for the first time, a guest writer will be picking one of their favourite racing series and urging us all to watch it.

Some time after that the next part in the “Making F1 better” series will be on the site. In the meantime’s here’s your Saturday round-up:

Links

Stefan GP

Stefan GP have re-launched their website, and now they want their own Grand Prix too!

Ask the Expert April 23: On Buddy Lazier and Tony George (IndyStar)

More on Bernie Ecclestone’s meeting with Tony George at Indianapolis.

An F1 car for the next generation (MotorSport)

“As [Stefano] Domenicali says, the F1 car is too efficient. You only have to see how good the racing becomes when it is less efficient, when the track is damp and grip levels are reduced, to appreciate that. Next year the controversial ‘double diffuser’ is to be banned (as it was originally intended to be from 2009 on), and that is good, but much more needs to be done. As the powers that be contemplate the future, let them concentrate not on tricks and artifices – a minimum number of pitstops and the like – but on tailoring the next generation of Grand Prix car so that it can race more effectively.” (requires free registration)

Mercedes to increase W01 wheelbase (Autosport)

Ross Brawn: “The problem is not actually the wheelbase per se, it is the weight distribution. We got the weight distribution wrong. When we got to test these tyres we realised we didn’t have the correct weight distribution and we went to the limit with what we could achieve with this car. It is not the wheelbase as such, it is the weight distribution that is not what we wanted it.”

Race of Champions in Germany (Michael Schumacher)

Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel to defend their Race of Championships Nations Cup at home in D?â??sseldorf at the end of the year. The event has moved from Beijing in China, where it was last year, having been in London before that.

Comment thread of the day

Not for the first time, I’m going to break with tradition and pick an entire comment thread for Comment of the Day.

The first part of the “Making F1 better” series has attracted a diverse array of opinions from many commenters and it would be wrong to narrow it down to just one. If you’ve got a few minutes to spare and fancy a good read, get over there now:

When was F1 at its best? The rose-tinted spectacles problem

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Pete Walker and Tim!

On this day in F1

Fernando Alonso won the San Marino Grand Prix for Renault five year sago today. He endured lap after lap of fearsome pressure from Michael Schumacher in the closing stages

But here in Britain viewers missed much of the action in the dying stages as then-F1 broadcaster ITV switched to a series of poorly-timed advert breaks.

Read more: San Marino Grand Prix 2005 Review

Author information

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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33 comments on “F1 Fanatic round-up: 24/4/2010”

  1. Ned Flanders
    24th April 2010, 0:41

    Wow I love Stefan GP, they have real Reject potential. The English in their statements has improved but it’s still a bit dodgy! I hope they make the grid next season, though with Coughlan on board I can’t see it happening.

    It says on the website they tried to sign Sebastien Loeb… that would’ve been great, but somehow I doubt he would ever want to drive for them

    1. Prisoner Monkeys
      24th April 2010, 2:08

      You say reject with a capital R. You wouldn’t happen to be a regular over at F1 Rejects, would you?

      1. Haha yep, the capital R was deliberate! I’m a big F1 Rejects fan. I don’t use the Forum yet but in the absence of the F1 Fanatic Forum I might sign up soon

    2. Give Loeb, Rossi, and Schumacher 6 months of testing in the same F1 car, then race them against each other.

      *Drools*

      1. They say they are going to build their own circuit for a grand prix. Absolutly barmy this team is, like Andrea Moda MK2, but if they do build a circuit,it might actually be better than the Tilkedromes!

      2. I love that they included Sebastian Loeb, an what it says, Sebastian Loeb was an option for SGP….

        No he wasn’t, an I’d like to see his face reading that, but nice attempt

  2. I think Stefan GP is trying to make a comeback in 2011.
    We Asian fan face the same problem of advert breaks from espnstar.They shows 9 breaks each lasting for over two minutes.They made us missed the overtaking move of Button on Roseberg when he took the race lead.

    1. The overtaking move of the Chinese Grand Prix.

    2. no one saw that live anyway. we only saw it on a replay.

      1. We even didn’t saw that on reply, it was after the race the broadcaster showed us the highlights of the race that was the time I saw it.

    3. Us Brits are definately lucky to have the BBC. As for ad breaks, I can’t remember how many ITV used to do but an hour allocated to a show only has about 40mins of the actual show and the rest are adverts so I’m hugely, hugely grateful the BBC have F1 now.

      1. bbc forum = B) ;)

  3. Love the “Drivers of 2010” bit has a 13-years-old pic of Jacques haha!

    Stefan GP is pretty hillarious, but the car that appears behind looks pretty good!

    1. yeah its just a 2009 ferrari! ha.

      1. wow, it actually is. and i don’t think they’ve quite realised that chandhok got a drive.

      2. I guess their own car’s still in a container somewhere in Bahrain, so they couldn’t use that…

  4. I would love to see ROC at the MCG in Melbourne. My Team Australia would be Mark Webber and Ryan Briscoe.

  5. I’m pretty sure the photo of the Stefan GP team is in-fact a photo of the McLaren chaps!

    1. It definitely is, if you zoom in you can see the Vodafone logo.

  6. Gareth Jordan
    24th April 2010, 9:45

    …and the partners tab has a picture of a Ferrari pitting!
    This “team” is really starting to annoy me now. They say they had bought a job lot from Toyota. If this is the case, how hard would it be just to show us pictures of that, and show how serious they really are? Instead of ripping off other teams, and infringing on their copyrights?
    I noticed they want fans to take pictures of themselves holding signs saying “WE WANT SGP” in weird places. I might go to the local amenity tip or sewage works with my sign!

  7. If Stefan GP are the best of the new entrants I imagine they will get the slot for 2011. I can’t see how they will be better prepared than the likes of Epsilon, however.

    I also wonder where all the money is coming from. Investigations in the wake of their rejection last time around seemed to show that AMCO is nothing like the company it claims to be….

  8. With regards to Stefan GP’s website, they are using a photo of Villeneuve from the official F1 site, naughty if they didn’t get Bernie’s permission.

    Oh and its hilarious.

  9. I wonder what will Zoran will do next year if Stefan don’t get the slot. Which is quite likely considering they took the FIA to court, have Coughlan and other antics.

  10. 2.500 pounds funding the project… web template at 45$ cost… some pics taken from internet… a not very imaginative logo printed on a t-shirt… one pic with the major (seems to be the village’s butcher) of a 18.600 population village…

    …and there you have it: Stefan project!

    I’m thinking in sending them 50€ for appearing in their “partners” section:

    IDR Technologies Corporation, Inc. (well I’ll need to design a fancy logo)

  11. That website is fantastic. I like how to work for SGP it comes with a warning that you have to have “nerves of steel” :-P

  12. BMW pulled out of F1 giving a reason that they wanted to concentrate on competing in other motorsport series. They are now close to signing a deal that will see them going into DTM alongside Audi and Mercedes Benz teams.

  13. Bigbadderboom
    24th April 2010, 15:30

    You have to admire the style and professionalism of the SGP website, i’m always visiting Mclaren, Ferrari and all other leading teams sites, but wow! this one blew me away.
    Perhaps they are trying to create a perception of incompetence and try and fool everyone! well they got me convinced!!

    1. I’m not too keen on Mclaren’s page, they have modified it since last year and it looks bit “cheap” rather than “slick and formal.

  14. I was at that Grand Prix! A huge Alonso fan in the middle of the screaming Tifosi. You could see Schumi getting closer every lap and the crowd were going crazy. I was at Tosa, the corner Schumi was closest each time.

    The race was on the red button last time and you can even see our flag at the corner amongst the screaming Ferrari fans going crazy. An unbelievable Grand Prix that I will never forget.

  15. The Sunday Times Rich List 2010 is being published tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if a certain Mr. E has gone up or down…

  16. My birthday is May 24th :P

    Jus’ sayin’ ;)

  17. I’m quite surprised and encouraged to see Ross Brawn’s comments regarding extending the Mercedes wheelbase…

  18. Hey may I reference some of the insight found in this site if I provide a link back to your site?

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