Mclaren

[Yeldarb]

Am not entirely convinced they've thought this through!

Indeed they haven't...........like i said b4 its to help Ferrari in case they have a season like the last one.

FIA= Ferrari Internationl Assistance

Not so sure, Michael Schumacher has spoken out AGAINST the new points system along with Fernando Alonso.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73778

[Steviewevie]

Looks like there might be a change of plan about the new scoring system ! Story here.

[Steviewevie]

The FIA have confirmed that the new system for determining the world champion will be deferred till 2010 ! Plenty of time to argue about that some more and maybe come up with something better.

[Scorps01]

The FIA have confirmed that the new system for determining the world champion will be deferred till 2010 ! Plenty of time to argue about that some more and maybe come up with something better.

Why try and fix something that isn't broke?

You win you get more points and the one with the most points wins the championship. :D

[Parthiban]

The FIA have confirmed that the new system for determining the world champion will be deferred till 2010 ! Plenty of time to argue about that some more and maybe come up with something better.

Thank god, not really surprising as none of the teams were happy about it (Ferrari boss being the most annoyed).

They should just give first place more points, like it was in the first place........

[Steviewevie]

Not looking too good for Maclaren based on times for Friday practise in Oz !

[Parthiban]

Not looking too good for Maclaren based on times for Friday practise in Oz !

Yep, they're too far down the order to be just putting on a show, looks like they haven't got things sorted yet.

Also think Williams position at the top isn't truly representative (the speed appears to come from nowhere) so maybe they're running light. It really does look though that Brawn's speed is still there, I can't wait for the weekend! :D

[Steviewevie]

Indeed, the qualifying session should be interesting, we'll be able to see the proper pace of all the cars.

I can't wait to see KERS in action, if some teams are actually running it (BMW ?) - i.e. the "boost" button in full effect ! :D

[Parthiban]

Yep it should be cool, it would be pretty awesome if they did just pull along side on the straight, hit the boost and storm past! Can't see it actually going down like that though :P

Do you know how many teams are actually running KERS? Is it most of them or just a few?

[Steviewevie]

Yep it should be cool, it would be pretty awesome if they did just pull along side on the straight, hit the boost and storm past! Can't see it actually going down like that though :P

Do you know how many teams are actually running KERS? Is it most of them or just a few?

Yeah, I'd love to see that sort of thing.

BMW seem to be the only team who have really finished developing their system properly, but then it was still unclear whether they're going to run it.

I do hope that they tell us before/during the race if anyone is running KERS. Maybe the teams will stay quiet on it and hope to suprise their opponents as they blast past ?!

[Steviewevie]

Found this article, which seems to confirm that Ferrari and Renault are going to race with KERS this weekend. As for the others it seems unclear.

[Yeldarb]

I heard that the FIA will post the weight of each car after qualifying, surely this will not be good, I love the second guessing aspect about not knowing how much fuel the front row cars have on board.

[Steviewevie]

This article seems to imply that BMW will race with KERS on Heidfeld's car, but not on Kubica's.

After their severe lack of testing, surely Brawn won't be ready with KERS, will they ?

[Yeldarb]

This article seems to imply that BMW will race with KERS on Heidfeld's car, but not on Kubica's.

After their severe lack of testing, surely Brawn won't be ready with KERS, will they ?

Don't forget Honda sacrificed last years season to start on this years car very early, I think they will have a bit of a jump on the rest of the field.

[Parthiban]

Yep as with BMW, Honda did start developing early on, so there's a good chance they've got it ready.

Agree about the weight, it will take a lot of the excitement about who's going to stop first away.........

[Steviewevie]

It's funny you mention the weight thing, earlier on I was thinking that I was sure I had read somewhere that the weights/fuel loads would be published. I had a look around and all I could find, however, was a mention by James Allen that the FIA might bring that in. I can't see anything to see that they are going to do it, although I could of course just have missed it.

[Scorps01]

The BBC commentating team is: Martin Brundle and David Coulthard on the bill - but no James Allen, Steve Rider or Mark Blundell.

:D

[Parthiban]

but no James Allen

And thank god for that!

[Scorps01]

I'll be up at 5am to watch the qualifying in the morning :D

Cant wait.

[Gord]

I'll be up at 5am to watch the qualifying in the morning :D

Cant wait.

So will i..........but then im off to work :D

[Scorps01]

Well done team Brawn.....1st and 2nd

Hamilton in 15th and lost drive so if they have to change g/box he will drop another 5 places :o

Kubica in 4th and running without Kers, personally they should ditch Kers as its an eco exercise and adds nothing to F1 as Kubicas position echoes that. They seem to be going backwards as i think they have come as far as they can with the development of the cars were now back to slicks, narrow wings, no bargeboards or tracton control smoother bodies all we need now is a 2ltr engine with a turbo on it and were back into the 80's.....happy days :D :D

[Steviewevie]

The one good thing about KERS is that it could/should help overtaking, i.e. giving a boost to overtake at critical moments (though of course the other driver could in theory respond and use his own KERS to defend, but that'll depend if it's charged up, if he reacts quickly enough etc).

For anyone who missed the quali, apparently both Ferraris, both Mclarens, both Renaults and Heidfeld's BMW are the ones running KERS this weekend, no-one else is. At one point there was a graphic to accompany the on-board footage which, as well as showing the traditional revs/brake/throttle graphs, also had a KERS bar which showed how much charge there was in it, and you could also see (Raikkonen I think ?) using it at several points in the quali.

Fantastic news that Brawn do seem to have real pace, after all their problems. Though of course it remains to be seen how much fuel they're carrying into the race.

[Parthiban]

At one point there was a graphic to accompany the on-board footage which, as well as showing the traditional revs/brake/throttle graphs, also had a KERS bar which showed how much charge there was in it, and you could also see (Raikkonen I think ?) using it at several points in the quali.

Not sure if it shows the amount of charge, as once it's used up it doesn't then start charging up again, I think it's actually that you can only use 6.7s worth each lap, and it's that countdown that that bar is showing.

Yep totally amazing with Brawn on the front row, a great result for a brand new team. Can't decide who I'd prefer to win between them, Jenson's great, but Rubens is really showing his stuff for a guy who was almost forced into retirement.........(and can't help thinking he may have had a shot at being champ if he'd been allowed to race Michael Schumacher)

[Parthiban]

Also for anyone who saw it in the morning, Lewis has now had to replace his gearbox so starts in 18th, and the two Toyotas were disqualified for their rear diffusers and will start at the back.

[Scorps01]

Fantastic result....Brawn GP 1st and 2nd (under appeal for the diffuser) you couldn't have wrote a better story for an F1 team, this team wasn't even born a month ago over 700 peoples jobs were at stake and RB and NF took over the Honda team and dont forget this car was geared up for the chassis to take a Honda engine but now running Mercedes.........brilliant what a start to the season.

Lewis finished in the points (unlike Ferrari......ha ha) so how bad was the Mclaren? Lewis drove well and loked after the car and what was going on with Vettel and Kubica :o the red mist certainly descended on those two.

So looking forward to the season :D