2005/2006 F1 News and Testing.

[Alibaba99]

ITV have four channels under their direct name. Why cant they use one of them to provide us with more indepth coverage and show us the entire race weekend?

Come on ITV, three of your channels are constantly showing repeats, give us something that is of genuine interest and will get you viewers.

I would just be happy if ITV used one of their other channels to show the qualifying live when it clashes with their desire to show a repeat of Inspector Morse or something.

 

[J1nxy]

Very few teams will let the cars go. What happens if you damage it?

He managed it with Jordan 4 years ago iirc... showed understeer and oversteer - but that was only round Silverstone in a private test session.

He'd probably have the most success with McLaren - but there's also the safety factor to include. The fact that driving a F1 car required your upmost concentration doesn't help either - whereas that V8 Car doesn't.

Simon/~Flibster

One other small or should that be large problem would be getting him into the thing to start with.

 

[Glaucus]

dang it i missed the it Preview show... Anyone now if its repeated this week some time?

 

[Type_R]

dang it i missed the it Preview show... Anyone now if its repeated this week some time?

Nope no reapeats that I can find at all!

 

[Glaucus]

Nope no reapeats that I can find at all!

ITV sucks so bad. But then again all 5 channel sucks..

 

[Flibster]

Hollywood to film Hailwood movie

The life of former Grand Prix driver Mike Hailwood, who is regarded as one of the best motorbike racers of all time, is to be turned into a Hollywood film.

American company Infinity Media have obtained the rights to Hailwood's life story from his widow Pauline. No release schedule has been announced, but the film will be produced by Michael Ohoven and written by Paul Pender.

Hailwood won nine World Championships on bikes, but failed to achieve the same success on four wheels.

After dabbling in car racing in the early 1960's, he returned to four wheels full-time at the end of the decade and went on to win the 1972 European Formula Two championship for fellow bike racer John Surtees' team.

That same season he came close to grabbing a maiden Grand Prix win, after pressuring Jackie Stewart for the lead in South Africa before his suspension broke and then appearing well on his way at Monza before the airbox blew off his car.

Hailwood suffered a more difficult 1973 campaign, with his only memorable moment being when he rescued Clay Regazzoni from his burning car in South Africa to earn the George Medal.

He switched to McLaren in 1974 and ran competitively before he suffered leg injuries in a crash at the German Grand Prix. It ended his F1 career, although he returned briefly to bikes before being killed in a car crash near his home in 1981.

Could be an interesting thing...if they don't screw it up typical American style..

 

[rpstewart]

Could be an interesting thing...if they don't screw it up typical American style..

Yeah, I still have nightmares after watching that Sly Stallone CART movie

 

[Flibster]

Yeah, I still have nightmares after watching that Sly Stallone CART movie

You mean - Driver...

Watched it on Sky recently...possible one of the worst films in existance ever,

Thank god it wasn't about F1 though...was good to see Montoya in it though.

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

the files needed for the 2006 F1 season are now uploading...

Going to take a while but should be worth is as I think I've gone a lot more in-depth *and complicated* than last year.

Hopefully it works.

Any suggestions before I finalise the layout for the coming season?

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

The thread is now officially delayed until Red Bull and Toro Rosso reveal their colourshemes - so Thursday evening then.

However - I'm in need of a bit of help..

If anyone can find decent sized versions of the following logo's/images I'd be very happy. My mate has let me down bigtime this year.

The red and white Scuderia Ferrari SpA logo *it's on all the trucks etc...* - Now sorted - dug out Paintshop Pro and made one...

A large McLaren logo
Large Red Bull Racing logo
Large Toro Rosso Logo

Think I've got all the others.

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

Aguri: I want results in the near future.

Super Aguri have formally unveiled the team that will make its Formula One debut at Bahrain, insisting that they have what it takes to become a force to be reckoned with.

Starting the year with ex-Arrows cars that were last raced in 2002, Super Aguri have proved to be off the pace in early testing but with a new chassis due by the fourth round of the championship at San Marino, team owner Aguri Suzuki has told news agency Reuters that he expects to be proving competitive soon.

"My team might be small but I want to quickly turn it into one that is competitive at the highest level," Suzuki said. "I want results in the near future."

His optimistic attitude was mirrored by Takuma Sato, although he admits that the early races will be difficult for himself and rookie team mate Yuji Ide.

 

[Flibster]

Irvine still aiming for F1

According to reports in the Irish media, Eddie Irvine has not given up on the idea of running his own F1 team, far from it.

The Irish Independent reports that Irvine, with the financial backing of Russian billionaire Roustam Tariko, Irvine hopes to have a team on the grid in 2008.

"We are looking at starting a team from scratch as there are no teams for sale at the minute," Irvine told the Irish newspaper. "It will be a great challenge, but Roustam wants to do it and we've got the money.

"Roustam needs the branding that F1 can bring him," added the Ulsterman. "He wants a Russian team and he wants to take his brand and turn them into world brands.

"It's not going to be easy," he admitted. "It is going to be very, very difficult. But if I go back into F1 I am going to be married to it for a long time. It is definitely a challenge I want to go with."

Though Tariko might well "want to do it", our sources tell us that there are certain obstacles in the way.

At the time that Minardi was up for grabs in late 2005, Irvine and Tariko looked set to buy the Italian team, and it is believed that the money available. However, so we hear, a certain F1 person - small in stature but big when it comes to clout - didn't particularly fancy the idea of Irvine back in the pitlane.

Consequently, even though Dietrich Mateschitz already owned an F1 team (Red Bull) and was offering less money than Irvine's 'consortium, it was the Austrian who got the nod.

In addition to having made a good living out of F1, Irvine has made a fortune out of property, however the Ulsterman is not known for his generosity, his sizeable wallet rumoured to be home to a colony of rare moths.

Tariko is a wealthy man, and still in his early-forties.

As a student, the Russian made a living by finding hotel rooms for visiting Italian businessmen, subsequently going into the import business, first with candy and then alcoholic drinks such as Martini.

He then founded his own vodka company, Russian Standard Vodka, which soon became one of the country's best selling brands, and then, in 2000, formed a bank which he named after the vodka, Russian Standard Bank. Within four years the bank was reporting profits in excess of £20m.

 

[Flibster]

Privateer F1 team builds 5409 cars

Ferrari SpA has revealed its financial figures for 2005 which prove conclusively that it is an automobile manufacturer and not a small private racing team. The company said that it sold 5409 cars in 2005 (up 8.7% from the previous year) and had a turnover of $1.5bn.

It made a pre-tax profit of $189m. The most interesting thing was the reduction in the company's R&D budget which dropped from $313m in 2004 to $263m in 2005. The F1 budget is separate from this.

The company said that the profits would have been stronger if the dollar had not been as weak against the Euro.

The company continues to expand its branding exercises with new stores opening in Las Vegas, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Milan. The company says that merchandise now represents "a significant source of income" for the company.

It seems incidentally that Ferrari has now agreed to a testing limitation of 36 days, bringing to an end the unbalanced arrangement last year.

 

[Flibster]

Schumacher dismisses Rossi Ferrari link

Seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher says it is very unlikely that Italy's motorcycling World Champion Valentino Rossi would be joining him in the Ferrari cockpit for the 2007 season.

"To be honest I would say that it is pretty unlikely," Schumacher said in an interview with Bild newspaper.

The 26-year-old Rossi, winner of the motorcycling world title for the past five seasons, has had private testing sessions with Ferrari for two years but spun out in wet conditions in his first public outing in the Italian car.

Rossi's contract with Yahama expires at the end of the 2006 season and that has led to speculation that he will switch over to Formula One with the Ferrari team in 2007.

At 37 Schumacher is nearing retirement but the German driver has not set an exact date and believes he is still capable of competing with his younger rivals.

"It has not reached the stage where I think 'hey I am not as good as these youngsters'," Schumacher said. "I want to be competing at the top and not just a run of the mill driver."

The Formula One season starts in Bahrain on March 12 with Spain's Fernando Alonso defending the title.

 

[Flibster]

Ralf still optimistic for 2006

Despite being the first team to run its 2006 car, the Toyota package has not been setting the kind of lap times that rivals McLaren, Renault, Honda and Ferrari have over the winter. However, the team recently introduced a major aerodynamic upgrade and driver Ralf Schumacher is optimistic.

"At the moment everything is running positively and as planned," said Ralf. "We can be happy with the achievement that we have made until now. The car is performing well and we will see in Bahrain if we really are heading in the right direction. After all this testing in winter, I feel that we are ready and I am rather optimistic, but as I have said before it is difficult to see where we stand in comparison to everyone else."

"The car is consistent and reliable, I feel good driving it, and now I will head to Bahrain on Wednesday, where the season will finally get underway," he added. "Just like everyone else in Formula 1, our aim is to win races and I think we will have quite an interesting year in 2006."

 

[Flibster]

A1 race at Laguna Seca cancelled for safety reasons

Next weekend's penultimate round of the A1 Grand Prix series, scheduled to take place at Laguna Seca in California, has been cancelled for safety reasons.

Although the announcement has not been officially confirmed by series organizers, A1 GP co-founder, Tony Teixera, on Sunday afternoon confirmed that due to constant rain in recent weeks the run-off areas have been washed away, with the result that track officials are concerned that the track is unsafe.

Hopes of making the track 'safe' in time for the race were dashed by officials, who declared that the circuit will take several weeks to repair.

Much of the A1 equipment is already in California, however, late on Saturday night team bosses were advised that the event was unlikely to happen.

The final round, scheduled to take place in Shanghai on March 19 will be going ahead, and race organizers report that ticket sales have been very, very good.

Sadly, the cancellation of next week's race means that the championship has already been decided, with France taking the inaugural title.

Damn....was looking forward to seeing the A1GP cars going through the Corkscrew
Also....France wins the 2005-2006 Championship then.

This could kill off A1GP after the 2007-2008 season.

 

[olv]

I was at silverstone for the test day on tuesday, with a uni society. due to links with Midland F1 we were lucky enough to be allowed in the pit garage whilst the car was being prepared, witnessed a fire up (a first for me ) sounded loud but apparantly only 2/3 as loud as the v10s. sounded nice out on track, but not as nice as the honda engine that was also running.

Had a tour of the midland factory aswell across the road from the marketing director. really interesting to see where and how it all gets made.

Rounded off the afternoon with a chat with Tiago Montiero, really nice guy, and appreciated him taking the time out to answer our questions.

Excellent day all in, looking forward to the race next weekend

 

[Duke]

Damn....was looking forward to seeing the A1GP cars going through the Corkscrew

ffs me too

 

[6thElement]

The company continues to expand its branding exercises with new stores opening in Las Vegas, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Milan.

I meant to post my pics up from the Milan store, I was there a couple of weeks ago. I'll dig them out.

 

[Flibster]

I was at silverstone for the test day on tuesday, with a uni society. due to links with Midland F1 we were lucky enough to be allowed in the pit garage whilst the car was being prepared, witnessed a fire up (a first for me ) sounded loud but apparantly only 2/3 as loud as the v10s. sounded nice out on track, but not as nice as the honda engine that was also running.

Had a tour of the midland factory aswell across the road from the marketing director. really interesting to see where and how it all gets made.

Rounded off the afternoon with a chat with Tiago Montiero, really nice guy, and appreciated him taking the time out to answer our questions.

Excellent day all in, looking forward to the race next weekend

Cool. Always nice to spend time with a team.

Yet to hear a V8 in the flesh - got an invite for later in the year though for a test session.

Monteiro seems really nice guy - thats his problem...He's too nice, doesn't seem to have the racers attitude and also doesn't seem to be as quick as he could be.

Simon/~Flibster