'08 F1 Season Starts Sunday!

Yup, it's starting fresh again. This will actually be the first time in years I've watched the first race live as I'm usually in a cheap motel without Speed....oh the sacrifices we make

So, we've got some new rules such as...no more launch control or traction control, both to be replaced with *driver control* that should be a lot more fun ECUs with standardized FIA software which means big brother will be watching more closely...gearboxes must last four consecutive races...Q3 will go from 15 minutes to 10 minutes, bummer I think that is way too short. On longer tracks they'll get a shot at what...three flying laps at the most?

Then there's Heikki and Fernando swapping rides. Good for Heikki, I hope he does well

Fernando and Louis on opposing teams. I can't wait for the first pass between the two, there could be some fireworks from this rivalry.

Ross Braun to Honda. Will they finally have a competitive car?..... next season?

No USGP. Bernie passes wind in our general direction Maybe if Tony tells him it smells really good we can get a race next year:



I'll be up Sunday at midnight for the season opener, how about you?

Snacks on hand.
Mr TC is salivating and waiting for the exact moment when he can hear the engines. There's nothing quite like an F1 sound.

You said that right. For any that have not seen it. Notice the headers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSHToyGIxWE

Hey I started this thread last year!

I don't own a TV. Benefit is that I'll be watching ITV coverage instead of Speed. Downside is I have to wait for someone to share...
Plus they haven't taken away the incentive in Q3 to save fuel on in/out laps, so there will be annoying and dangerous blocking going on...confirmed that watching today.

I think Honda might be "competitive" even sooner, maybe four races in this year. Or maybe not. For anyone who hasn't seen the qualifying, it was worth watching...I won't spoil anything but there were plenty of twists and turns.

I've been going through withdrawal all winter. Just watching practice the other night was fantastic. Actually seeing F1 cars in full opposite lock around a turn is a beautiful thing. I'm curious to see if Alonso can bring Renault a little closer to the front than they were last year. This should be a great season.

Well that ended up being a bit of an untruth as it turns out. I was sleeping before the roll off. Of course I DVRed it though. Pretty entertaining race. Too bad for Sebastian Bordais. It was pretty cool seeing the younger drivers having the advantage of not missing the traction control so much. It's about time they got rid of it. Can't wait 'til they get rid of most of the aero next year too. I've been saying for years that they should rely a lot more on mechanical grip.

Only a week to wait for the next one although I'll most likely miss it

I was late to the party last year

Lots of broken Ferrari engines over the weekend. Three on race day and several more on Friday and Saturday.

Come on guys, F1 is just about as bad as professional wrestling as far as orchestration is concerned...

I can't stand to watch it. Really, it's the worst "racing" out there. Seriously.

Oh by the way, the guy that won the poll won the race. SHOCKER! :

Er, no you have that backwards. Certain forms of racing, such as NASCAR, are like pro wrestling. Green-white-checker rules, "free pass" caution rules, mysterious cautions appearing out of nowhere for "debris" on the track, the list goes on. The FIA does a pretty good job of not taking part in those shenanigans.

The winner Sunday qualified well and drove a very solid race. The whole point of qualifying well is to avoid the shitshow in T1. Mission accomplished.

Garrett,

How many passes for the lead were there in Sunday's F1 race and Sunday's Nascar race? How many f1 cars were running at the end of the race, five or six? Sorry, that's just not exciting to me.

How's JPM doing in a stock car these days???

Lonnie, I agree with above quote, I don't find F1 very attractive anymore, not for a number of years now. I prefer to watch MotoGP that has a lot of passes and overtaking all through the race! :

However, I don't believe F1 is staged and I have to agree with Garrett that I would prefer a race with fewer passes but with no interference of the governing body during the race than a number of tricks out of the hat to keep it exiting.

from the f1 site...

Uh, every series has rules. Breaking the rules may result in a DSQ. Entering and exiting pits at the wrong time is a good way to get a DSQ in myriad series, including NASCAR. Barrichello got unlucky with fuel load when the safety car came out then broke the rules on purpose because he needed fuel. Then he didn't see the light on the exit from pit lane. His team is really to blame for dropping the lollipop too early, which nearly resulted in catastrophe and did injure a couple guys. Honda needed to get their head in the game.

Taking TV time outs with cautions is pro wrestling BS, and that doesn't happen in F1.

I haven't watched NASCAR in a couple years. The pro-wrestling aspect finally got too annoying. Couldn't tell you who won Sunday, or how many passes there were..

:

Garrett,

if you guys like watching high speed parade laps, don't let me stop you. I'll watch racing where the outcome is in doubt until the checkered (green?) flag flies...

And before you play the "pro wrestling" card on nascar, shall I even mention "team orders" or the '05 US grand prix?

Just forget about cars all together and both switch to motorcycle racing!

You think "team orders" don't exist in certain NASCAR garages? Seriously? That is your argument?

I sure enjoyed that parade lap with just over one to go where Kovalainen passed Alonso in the penultimate corner, only to get passed again on the pit straight.

Yes. The only "team order" in nascar is "Try not to wreck your teamates."

I stopped watching f1 in 2002 when Ferrari ordered Rubens Barrichello to pull over and Schumacher let pass him. If you think that kind of crap is good racing, good for you. I don't, never will and won't watch or support a series where that kind of thing can happen. No matter what you claim, that sort of thing would NEVER happen in Nascar.

I got some video over the weekend of a full lap of the Snaefell mountain course during the Isle of Mann TT with David Jefferies riding the bike and doing the commentary. Absolutely mind blowing. Makes even WRC racing seem like driving around cones in a parking lot by comparison. He hit oil that wasn't flagged in 2003...I guess you can only lap 37 miles of public road in 18 minutes so many times before luck catches up.
LOL, you really believe that? There have been team orders in NASCAR for a long time. The "chase" BS only increased their prevalence.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/column...d=2&id=3067103

The only difference between NASCAR and F1 is that its a lot easier to make a "team ordered" pass look legit when you are turning left on a five lane wide track all day long.
"A few weeks ago at Dover, he got the order from team owner Rick Hendrick via crew chief Darian Grubb to let teammate Kyle Busch pass for fifth place and the five extra points that would go to him in the championship standings."

Or are the podium spots the only ones that matter to you?

So your trying to say Hendrick Motorsports sucks? Tell us something we don't know.

But keep reading that article. Every other team interviewed, said "No orders, no way..."

Another boring parade lap

1 lap from 1 race from 2 years ago? Meh. Is that the best you can do?

Nascar. Yesterday.



Edit:
Here are the final 2 laps...

So screwing up and crashing people is awesome, eh? I hear Vince McMahon just got a star in Hollywood.

There were many exciting and clean passes in the race yesterday, but you'd have to watch it to know that.

Well it is exciting anyway. Four passes for the lead among 3 cars in the final 6 laps of green flag racing. I'll take that and day of the week. How many passes for the lead were there in F1 race that weren't the result of pit stops? Come on we're all dying to know. That's so awesome!!!

If I'm going to watch any f1, it will be qualifying. After that, why bother?

And at least I could DRIVE to a nascar race if I wanted too.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I would much rather listen to Bob Varsha, David Hobbs and Steve Machett.

Than that southern fella.:

I like Bob Varsha. David Hobbs reminds me of Madden in his extraordinary talent at stating the obvious.

For now I've switched to the ITV coverage...the commentary has the usual pitfalls but the access to the drivers before, during, and after the race is very nice.
There is one held three hours from where I grew up. I'm always up for going...it's a damn good time in a great city. Let me know if you feel like going...

Lonnie, is someone trying to make you watch F1? Why do you care if we do?

PS - the "car of tomorrow" is really ugly.

Reread this and noticed I left it far too ambiguous. I was speaking about an F1 race, but interestingly enough there is also a NASCAR road race four hours in the other direction. Been to both. Both are worth going to.

What tracks are you speaking of. My guess is Montreal(F1 now) & Watkins Glen(nascar now)

Lonnie, Garrett et al,

Fun to watch you guys rehash this age old argument. Really I'd say it boils down to finding what entertains you and going with it.... even if what entertains you is 'debating' in an internet forum.

My take on the two series is... they're both corrupt. Too much $$ at stake not to be. They both have sanctioning bodies that enjoy wielding too much control.

The passing issue really gets me. Yes, I wish there was more passing in F1, and I'm really hoping that eliminating a lot of the aero next year will go a long way towards accomplishing this. But really.... all the passing in NASCAR makes it exciting? I don't get that at all. In F1 the value of a pass is really high because it's so difficult. Yeah you might only see a half a dozen quality passes in any given race but these passes take tremendous skill and courage. In NASCAR it's so easy to pass that I don't see it as exciting at all. The first time I rolled my eyes at NASCAR was in the seventies when the 'slingshot' was so unstoppable that the competition was to see who could get themselves into second place before the final set of turns. I agree that team orders in F1 are frustrating, but what about seeing the leader of a NASCAR race slow down to let his competition pass? I'll take a few passes that leave you aghast, wondering 'did he really try that? and it worked??' over a ton of passes that any decent driver in a strong car could have pulled off.

I find the broadcast team on Speed to be very entertaining and often very insightful. Bob Varsha has come soooo far. I think he does a good job of calling the race and when he offers insight it's usually spot on. I remember when he seemed like another stick and ball guy covering a race. Oh, and the English accents do sound intelligent, don't they? Not to disparage the intellect or skill of the NASCAR announcers.... I guess they're just not my cup of tea

I also think the skill of the drivers is superior in F1. Certainly this could be debated but jeez, just watch the NASCAR guys when they have to turn right, brake and shift. A few of them seem to have had some training, but most of them are nothing more than an embarrassment to themselves and the sport.

But hey, if you want to see some real racing, take a trip to a local road course and watch them run what they brung. Pick a series where the typical owner/driver has less than 50k wrapped up in the car and a win pays less than 2k. Now that's racing for the love of racing.

As far as F1 vs. NASCAR, I think it's really which circus do you prefer to watch.