http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...05143133.shtml

East coast or West coast preferences 05/11/08 14:31

F1 manufacturers and sponsors pushing for North American destinations
Formula One officials are in discussions to return the category to North America, according to Honda team principal Nick Fry.

Indianapolis hosted its last US Grand Prix in 2007, and the continent has now slipped off the calendar altogether with the recent demise of the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal.

But according to the US financial news service Bloomberg, talks are ongoing to reinstate American races by 2010.

"I know that discussions are proceeding at pace on other venues in America and all the teams are extremely hopeful those come to fruition as early as possible," said Fry.

The Briton said North America is a "vital market" for the car manufacturers and many of the sponsors involved in F1.

Fry hinted that one venue has been slated near one of the biggest cities in the United States.


"Going back to Indianapolis is one option," he admitted. "But from a brand point of view, to be on the East coast in New York or somewhere on the West coast would be better."

It has also been said that the reinstatement and future of the Canadian Grand Prix would be helped by pairing it with a race in the United States.

 

nice find alnielsen.

one track that i like watching alot is the Daytona track (road track versio). would be cool to see them on that track. but just dont know how the cars would react on the oval part of the track. but would be cool to see them on that oval to straight then chicane off to the left of the track and back on to oval.

 

Yeah except Max felt it was better to screw the fans rather than adapt to the tire limitation problemin '05 at Indy.

I think they need to really prove that they want to be in the US and not pull some BS stunt like last time with only 3 teams racing.

And the brand image crap. Left coast/right coast. You're not selling shoes and handbags your selling racing and cars. Indy is the mecca in the US with Daytona as the second. Also Indy already knows how to handle the crowds it would draw.

But seriously I don't think Tony George would take a call from Bernie after the way Indy was handled so maybe Daytona would pan out.

 

I can't think of any east coast tracks that are currently up to F1 standards. I don't know what he is thinking of. Daytona has tha facilities, but the track would be a problem. The F1 cars were having a problem with the banking at Indy. Just think what kind of problems they would have with 30 degree banking there.

 

This is all stuff I predicted in January. It's on page 1 or 2.

Piquet sucks SO much! And yet they renew his contract:
http://www.f1technical.net/news/11019
Shows you how much new talent there is in the lower formulae.

Either that, or their car REALLY sucked at the beginning and Alonso was, and is, REALLY good.

Massa has the heart AND is faster than Kimi...for now.

Kovalainen...what happened, man? It shouldn't take a season to get used to the car. This may be just me, but I think he could have been on team orders to make finishing in the points his top priority, which could mean dialing back the engine.

Step his game up, he did. Heidfeld still does NOT suck, but Kubica is clearly faster now.

Maybe I should put more importance on pre-season testing, . Vettel is a future king. Toro Rosso finished ahead of Red Bull a lot, but mainly because of the Ferrari engine. Webber is still faster than Coulthard.

Rosberg is still the ****. It's just too bad that Williams ran out of money to develop their car. If it wasn't for these cost cutting measures, they would be out of F1 pretty soon. Nakajima gave a solid performance this season, I think. Not amazing, but not bad.

Wow, how did they fall so low. Didn't they finish in third just a few years ago? We haven't seen the cars yet, but I do think they will be a lot closer than they are now next season.

Decent season. Renault made them their b1tch at the end of the season though. Glock is pretty good.

Didn't even have the budget to finish the season. That's too bad. Sato has improved greatly and Davidson is good but just has bad luck (the new Mark Webber?).

They were in the back the whole season. That will change eventually. Although Sutil was the closest to scoring points, I think Fisichella outperformed him this season. I was kind of surprised.

I didn't expect BMW to be that strong in the beginning. Renault was faster in the end though. Toyota also did better than I expected.

 

Barbers Motorsport Park in Birmingham, AL was FIA approved from day one, and is relatively brand-new.

 

That may be but the pit lane, paddock & spectator facilities are not. It would require more updates than Donnington.

 

Yeah. FIA approval does not equal Bernie approval.

 

@TT: Nice witeup of comparisons between your predictions and results.

I will write my own predictions once alnielsen starts the 2009 thread ;-)

 

50% DNF!!!

Also the Sebastians sucked in the beginning, DNFs in almost every single race. I agree Vettel will be interesting to watch next season!
________
Petite Webcam

 

Schumacher forgives Massa for drunken insult
No bad feelings at all 08/11/08 13:48

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...08134825.shtml

It's all a bit fuzzy...
Michael Schumacher has dismissed as the result of too much alcohol a controversy that brought into doubt his relationship with Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

It emerged this week that, at a season-ending party in Sao Paulo following the Brazilian Grand Prix, Massa joined in an insulting song about Schumacher with the former Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello.

But after experiencing plenty of end-of-season parties himself, the seven-time World Champion told the German newspaper Express: "There is always plenty to drink!"

He said the incident poses no threat to his mentor-style bond with Brazilian Massa, the 2008 championship runner-up.


"Felipe is my friend," Schumacher said.

The 39-year-old German's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm added: "Michael will meet with Felipe at the Ferrari World Finals in Mugello."

"It will be a great reunion," she said.
-----------------------------------------------
http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html...opic=1&catid=1

F1: Did Barrichello Sing Song That Suggested Schumacher Was Gay ?

A controversy has erupted in Brazil and Germany, as the health of the relationship between Felipe Massa and his Ferrari mentor Michael Schumacher is called into doubt.

According to the Brazilian newspaper Lance, Schumacher's former Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello - after a few too many caipirinhas - leapt onto a stage at the Sao Paulo nightclub 'Disco' last Sunday night and began singing.



Reportedly, the song consisted of the puerile claim that Schumacher is "viado" -- a derogatory term meaning gay in Brazilian Portuguese.

Lance reports that Massa, an open admirer of the seven time world champion and recipient of the Ferrari advisor's guidance, initially disapproved but ultimately joined in the chorus when Barrichello threw his arm around the 2008 championship runner-up.

"That Rubens does something like this does not surprise me," Schumacher's long time manager Willi Weber told Bild newspaper.

"But as for Felipe, I am surprised, because the two have a really good understanding with each other and are close friends."

A Ferrari spokesman, Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm, and Schumacher himself declined to comment.

Schumacher, 39, has been married to wife Corinna since 1995, and they have two children.

 

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=36540

New FIA Deputy President for Sport elected

07/11/2008

Nick Craw, President of the Automobile Competition Committee for the US,
has been elected as the new FIA Deputy President for Sport. At its
annual meeting in Paris today, the FIA General Assembly, the supreme
executive body of the FIA, voted unanimously for Craw?s election.

Craw has been involved in motor sport for over 30 years. As a driver, he
raced touring cars as well as single-seat formula cars and was twice
IMSA National Champion. Following a two-year stint as Director of the US
Peace Corps in the early 1970s, he joined the Sports Car Club of America
(SCCA), the largest amateur motor sports club in the US.

Craw, who has an MBA from Harvard Business School, was President and CEO
of SCCA for 17 years and was pivotal in organising Formula One races and
sanctioning motor racing events throughout the US.

Through his role at the SCCA, Craw became a board member of ACCUS, which
serves as the interface between the national racing bodies in the US and
the FIA. He left the SCCA in 2001 to become Executive Director of US
Sailing, the national governing body for sailing. But he always retained
his strong links with motor sport and was elected as ACCUS President in
2005.

As well as serving as FIA Deputy President for Sport, Craw will continue
to sit on the management committee for the FIA Motor Sport Safety
Development Fund.

The FIA General Assembly, which consists of the presidents of each of
the FIA's member clubs and national organisations, also elected the
following to fill vacated positions.

*Vice President of the FIA for Sport *

Mohammed Ben Sulayem ATCUAE (United Arab Emirates)

*Member of World Motor Sport Council*

Enrico Gelpi ACI (Italy)

*Vice President of the FIA for Mobility and the Automobile*

Jorge Rosales ACA (Argentina)

*Member of World Council for Mobility and the Automobile*

Karen Bryden AASA (South Africa), Tim Shearman CAA (Canada), Rudolph
Zumbühl TCS (Switzerland) and Augusto Lagman AAP (Phillipines)

*FIA Honorary Deputy President*

Marco Piccinini ACM (Monaco

*President of the FIA Academy*

Rosario Alessi ACI (Italy)

The FIA General Assembly unanimously approved the appointment of Carlos
Barbosa, President of ACP (Portugal), as the FIA Representative to the
European Commission for the interests of motor sport.
____________________________________

I raced against Nick Craw once at Road America while he was president of the SCCA. I in my RX7. He in a Porsche 944. I was not as fast.

 

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2008/...ed-television/

10 November 2008

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo smashed his television when Lewis Hamilton overtook Timo Glock in the final corner to finish the Brazilian Grand Prix in fifth position and win the Formula 1 championship title.

"I broke the television, I must tell the truth," Montezemolo said at this weekend's Ferrari finals in Mugello. "When a television breaks it makes a terrible bang. My daughter in the other room was given an awful fright. Luckily we had another television so I was able to watch the podium ceremony, which I enjoyed.

"I reckon that in the history of F1, we have never seen a world championship decided on the last bend of the last lap of the last grand prix. Miracles, when they happen, usually only happen once. I say that because last year was a miracle. A repeat is usually impossible. In Brazil, with Massa, we were in the process of producing another miracle."

 

^^ awesome news. love seeing Ferrari getting what they deserve lol

 

I knew you would.

 

^^ lol

i promise for my new's year resolution, that ill start liking ferrar F1 team.

 

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...18091013.shtml

Ernie is trying to scrap the point system in F1. I'm not certain what I think about it. I kind of like the tactical play of getting good points consistently. The new system as I understand it will be that the driver with most gold medals win the championship.

To drag that to an extreme: a driver who has gotten second place in every race and all the other driver having won one race each. The 2nd place driver would not win even if he has been driving far more consistently.

 

A new thread has been started for the 2009 season.