OK, I think I read somewhere that the teams have got until 3rd March to finalise their teams, but what do you think of the new provisional 2005 F1 teams?

FERRARI
Michael Schumacher
Rubens Barrichello

BAR
Jenson Button
Takuma Sato

RENAULT
Fernando Alonso
Giancarlo Fisichella

WILLIAMS
Mark Webber
Nick Heidfeld

McLAREN
Kimi Raikkonen
Juan Pablo Montoya

SAUBER
Jacques Villeneuve
Felipe Massa

RED BULL RACING
David Coulthard
Christian Klien

TOYOTA
Ralf Schumacher
Jarno Trulli

JORDAN
Narain Karthikeyan
Tiago Monteiro

MINARDI
Christijan Albers
Patrick Friesacher

Personally I can't wait to see Montoya and Raikkonen racing each other!

Don't know what happened with Button since I thought he was going to Williams but he's staying at BAR.

Villeneuve makes a return to F1 with Sauber.

How do you think Webber and Heidfeld will do at Williams?

I think R Schumacher and Trulli is a strong driver combination for Toyota. I'm interested to see how well they do.

And Fisichella in a decent car should do well.

And Jordan and Minardi go for F1 newbies again.

Bring on the new season!

I think Schumacher should step out of his comfort zone and go and drive for Minardi. :D

For free :D :D

Who are the 6 teams that have signed the breakaway document? This might be the shake up that Bernie needs.

Do you mean the GPWC thing? According to this (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4270067.stm) story, the GPWC "comprises DaimlerChrysler, Renault, BMW, Honda and Toyota". I can't see a breakaway series happening myself but at least it gives Bernie something to think about.

Originally posted by Ginner
I think Schumacher should step out of his comfort zone and go and drive for Minardi. :D

For free :D :D
:clap: :clap: :clap:
personally i think he should just **** off!!!

Let's make all the drivers wear blindfolds and maybe make F1 at least a little bit exciting.

15 minutes of Touring Cars contains more drama and excitement than a whole season of F1 :(

I cant wait for the start this season.

I think it will be the best for years, especially now you can`t have team orders that allow one to pass the other. I feel Schumacher might not get the title this year.

I am glad Button is staying at BAR as Williams might destroy his talent, as they have with other britans in the past.

I think the underdogs will come out quite well.

It`s so exciting, can`t wait.

Should definitely be an interesting one to watch. I'm hoping BAR will have at least as good a car as last season, and Jenson can really start to challenge Schumacher.

BTW, Jenson was prevented from going to Williams by the governing body, expect he'll be going next year though. And Villeneuve made his comeback a couple of races before the end of the last season, driving for Renault. He was crap.

I didn't know that about scrapping team orders. So Barrichello will be allowed to properly race Schumacher then... Hopefully he'll beat him a few times!

I've just been reading that tyre changes are no longer allowed during a race (except if it starts raining). I can't believe this, I hope it doesn't end up making some of the drivers have to compromise their driving style to protect their tyres for the whole race. When the Michelins started blistering last year they were pants, but the Bridgestones were better. I hope the Michelin cars don't end up driving as if they're on rollerskates at the end of each race... I hope they've developed a decent compound for the new season.

I reckon the expectations for Button have definitely been raised for this coming season. After getting his first podium finishes last season, everyone (well, the Brits!) will be hoping he can do as well or better this year. I think BAR improved a lot last year and I hope Jenson has a decent car again this year. Although I still reckon Ferrari will be ahead of the rest again.

Every time I think about Raikkonen and Montoya racing each other I get so excited! The Iceman vs the Fiery Columbian! Fantastic! I just hope McLaren have got a decent car this year so that we can watch some great racing between Raikkonen and Montoya.

To make F1 more exciting the rules should be changed.
All cars should have the same type of tyres.
All cars should be on the same chassis and running gear.
The only difference should be the aerodynamics and the driver.

Originally posted by rosie
.....I think it will be the best for years, especially now you can`t have team orders that allow one to pass the other.....

I thought they tried to introduce this a few years ago, after the debacle at Austria(?) when someone virtually stopped on the finish line to let someone else through (memory's going?!?!).

How is it going to be enforced? Surely a team can instruct their 'weaker' leading driver to slow down sufficiently to let the other driver through, without making it obvious. And then, if necessary, claim the 'slower' driver had a technical problem with his car.

At present the race controller can monitor the car telematry and the driver intercom so that teams cannot tell one of their drivers to let the other through. they can also tell if there is a change in performance of each car, so teams cannot say the leading car had a fault.

What teams can do is arrange with their drivers before the race starts that if certain circumstances arise then they carry out certain actions.
e.g. If Shumaker is in second place behind Barricelo, Barricelo will take a few bends a bit wide thus slowing him down so that his team mate can get close and pass.

Easy isn't it.

At least the news rules should make

1 - adding drivers times together in qualfying to get track spot.

2 - Tyre conversation has to be better.

3 - Front wing is higher and the rear wing is further forward.

4 - Engine will have to last the 2 days weekend as opposed to the 1 day last year.

My top teams are BAR, McLAREN and RENAULT

I didn't understand most of your post Rosie (do you mean at least the rules will make the news?) but I loved this:

Originally posted by rosie
2 - Tyre conversation has to be better.


I can just imagine it, down at the Ferrari garage, "OK, we've got the two front tyres chatting to each other really nicely, but whenever they the back tyres join in, all they do is talk about the weather"

:D

Actually, I realise now you mean "tyre conservation" - I knew there was another word a bit like conversation that would actually be relevant in this context, but it took me ages to remember what it was.

At least I made you laugh.

Its hard to write when your 11 year old daughter is banging on the window asking you stupid questions.

The new rules it should be and I won`t bother to change the other cause I don`t care if it makes you laugh good.

Yes, I know what you mean about daughters making it hard to write. Got two of them here, and they both specialise in stupid questions :)

Thanks for the Sunday morning laugh, much appreciated. And I won't be able to watch a tyre change without a little chuckle from now on.

Actually, if they have to keep the same tyres all weekend, I won't be able to watch a tyre change at all. Hmm, I wonder how this'll affect pit-stop strategies: if they don't need to change tyres, perhaps they'll make the petrol tanks bigger so they don't need to refuel so often either. Although carrying more fuel will mean that tyres degrade faster (as well as making the cars slower). Though Ferrari at least say that they have a lighter car this year, and as there is a minimum weight requirement perhaps they'll make some of it up with fuel. Although that's probably not allowed as it's only temporary weight. Hmmm, so many variables.

Oh, and I'm a fine one to talk about typos: every time I typed "fuel" in this post, it came out as "fule". How fule-ish is that?

One other thing... I bought some new Merrell boots recently. The bloke in Millett's said that the soles were made out of "old formula one tyres". Now it could be that he was talking nonsense, but if he wasn't then aren't Merrell going to be hard pushed to find rubber for their soles now, what with far less used formula one tyres about?

I would not mind some of the boots if they were from Nigel Mansell`s car.

I will always remember when I went to Austria and saw him win.

Going to the German GP next year, hope it is as good as when I last went.

It looks (on paper anyway) that we could be in for a good season with all the car,rule and driver changes.
But we'll have to wait another week till Melbourne to find out to see if its going to be as close as people are expecting.

Amazing!! can't wait now I'm so excited!! My mum lives down in brackley so Ill be supporting BAR this yr (not just because they turned it all around last yr either lol!). yeah i thought Button was off too!

Originally posted by Moonraker
What teams can do is arrange with their drivers before the race starts that if certain circumstances arise then they carry out certain actions.
e.g. If Shumaker is in second place behind Barricelo, Barricelo will take a few bends a bit wide thus slowing him down so that his team mate can get close and pass.

Easy isn't it.
I hate this part of F1, that teams can be sneaky to find a way to bend (or break) the rules to their advantage. The history books show who won the race and championship but it gets forgotten HOW it actually was won. (Apart from Austria when Rubens slowed down to let Schumacher through to win. Urgh).

I have a query about the new rules.

It states that they have to use the same set of tyres for qualifying and the entire race and can only change if they are damaged or punctured.

How does this affect wet tyres then?

Are they allowed a set of wet tyres also that they must use in practise as well as the race?

With these rules drivers will certainly have to be more careful and it will benefit the careful drivers.

According to F1 Racing magazine the teams have been confused about the new tyre rules this season as well!

See the F1 website for info on the new rules: http://www.formula1.com/insight/rulesandregs/13/995.html. Sounds overly complicated. But it sounds like they only use wet tyres when the track is declared wet by the race director.

The engine change rules sound like a right faff too...

after the first race, i am not convinced that not having pit stops to change tyres is going to do much for F1.
i thought itwas pants, imo, some of the best bits of the races from last season were the stops. its getting tedious and rather boring, i think F1 is going in the wrong direction imho that is.

The tyre rule and engine ruling has got to be the most stupid idea they have had yet how are they going to check whether the engine has been temperated with between races. And maybe they might just put tyres on with more tread now or just let them wear down to slicks. And maybe put in gas tanks to last the race.:rant: F1 is just stupid now.:loopy:

totally agree , Mick. unless it rains, you cant change tyres, all you can do is check the pressure, adjust it, and hope its ok, without the "proper" pit stops, like we used to have, its going to be a very boring and dull season.

I'm starting to think that the one set of tyres rule is cr*p idea too. I just think that having to preserve the tyres and also reducing the downforce on the cars is going to prevent drivers really going for it. I want to see the drivers going flat out and having a go at outbraking someone into a corner. If they're worried about locking up and wearing their tyres I think we're going to see more conservative driving.

I think Martin Brundle made a comment in the Australian GP that he thinks we're going to get a phase of the race where everyone is just going round at a steady pace to preserve their tyres. Then if the tyres have held out they'll push at the end. I fail to see how this is going to make the races more interesting. The "steady" phase is going to be as boring as hell.

I know they have to consider the safety side of the races but if the racing is dull then viewers are going to be switching off in numbers... :(

Originally posted by Lou
I'm starting to think that the one set of tyres rule is cr*p idea too. I just think that having to preserve the tyres and also reducing the downforce on the cars is going to prevent drivers really going for it. I want to see the drivers going flat out and having a go at outbraking someone into a corner. If they're worried about locking up and wearing their tyres I think we're going to see more conservative driving.

I think Martin Brundle made a comment in the Australian GP that he thinks we're going to get a phase of the race where everyone is just going round at a steady pace to preserve their tyres. Then if the tyres have held out they'll push at the end. I fail to see how this is going to make the races more interesting. The "steady" phase is going to be as boring as hell.

I know they have to consider the safety side of the races but if the racing is dull then viewers are going to be switching off in numbers... :(
especially now that overtaking is nigh on impossible on some particular circuits, so i guess it will be like sat watching the traffic on the M25!

It seems the Schumacher brothers are going to try and win on Sunday.

This should be intresting, perhaps they will take each other out. That would be better for all, much more intresting race then.

Hi, just found this forum and pleased to see that there are other F1 fans in and around Sheffield.

Sad to see though that the thread seems to have died down since February 2005?

Kind rgds
HH