F1 2011

[HibbyScott]

So thats us got Team Lotus Renault, and Lotus Renault GP both confirmed for next year. How on earth is the permenantly confused Jonathon Legard going to work this one out? :dizzy:

[shagpile]

So thats us got Team Lotus Renault, and Lotus Renault GP both confirmed for next year. How on earth is the permenantly confused Jonathon Legard going to work this one out? :dizzy:

He isn't.
I don't know why ,but F1 commentators seem to be in this state permanently. Muddley had a few bloopers every race. James Allen was worse than Walker & Legard has inherited their fuddliness[may not be a word but you know what i mean!]
Thank god for Brundle. His knowledge & calm handling of the situation is spot on.

[shagpile]

Saved! Legard out! Now in the commentary box----Brundle & Coulthard.

Both with fantastic knowledge of F1 so hopefully no messing up.:aok:

[Gatecrasher]

Saved! Legard out! Now in the commentary box----Brundle & Coulthard.

Both with fantastic knowledge of F1 so hopefully no messing up.:aok:

iv not been paying attention to the f1 in the close season, has there been any driver changes etc?

[James.]

iv not been paying attention to the f1 in the close season, has there been any driver changes etc?

There's been a few, the top 5 teams have retained the same line ups.

The biggest has probably been Pastor Maldanado (GP2champion) who has replaced Nico Hulkenberg at Williams.

Hopefully Paul di Resta will be confirmed at Force India in the next week or so. Think they are trying to buy out Luizzi from his contract for this year so they can partner di Resta with Adrian Sutil. Fingers crossed it happens as it would be cracking to have a Scot back on the grid, he was superb last year in DTM and deserves a shot.

[HibbyScott]

Jan 28 Ferrari
Jan 31 Renault
Jan 31 Sauber
Feb 1 Mercedes
Feb 1 Red Bull
Feb 1 Toro Rosso
Feb 1 Williams
Feb 4 McLaren

Thats the list of car launches which have been confirmed so far. Testing starts in Bahrain on the 1st of February. Still waiting for Team Lotus, HRT, Virgin and Force India to confirm their launch dates now.

It will be interesting to see if anything comes out of the Red Bull and RRA thing - and what sanctions FOTA can issue as this is the first time that this "rule" may have been broken.

[HibbyScott]

Jan 28 Ferrari
Jan 31 Renault
Jan 31 Sauber
Feb 1 Mercedes
Feb 1 Red Bull
Feb 1 Toro Rosso
Feb 1 Williams
Feb 4 McLaren

Thats the list of car launches which have been confirmed so far. Testing starts in Bahrain on the 1st of February. Still waiting for Team Lotus, HRT, Virgin and Force India to confirm their launch dates now.

It will be interesting to see if anything comes out of the Red Bull and RRA thing - and what sanctions FOTA can issue as this is the first time that this "rule" may have been broken.

Team Lotus now also confirmed for a 1st of February launch

[Gatecrasher]

Ferrari are always first :greengrin

I think it could be quite good this season

[James.]

Paul di Resta confirmed at Force India for the upcoming season. This guy has looked the real deal in every series he's competed in and actually beat Vettel to the championship when they were team mates in F3. I think if he has a good season he is in line to replace Schumacher; apparently Mercedes are giving FI their KERS system for free in return for di Resta getting a race seat.

[HibbyScott]

Ferrari claim that they've found an extreme solution which is allowing their push-rod suspension system to give the same more optimal aerodynamic packaging as the pull-rod system used by Red Bull last year. Will be interesting to see what they've done and if their wind tunnel and CFD results are right!

[Sylar]

Paul di Resta confirmed at Force India for the upcoming season. This guy has looked the real deal in every series he's competed in and actually beat Vettel to the championship when they were team mates in F3. I think if he has a good season he is in line to replace Schumacher; apparently Mercedes are giving FI their KERS system for free in return for di Resta getting a race seat.

Can't believe he's going to be a key driver for a team in F1 this season - I went to school with the guy and he was always off racing.

Still, he cannae be that good - I managed to beat him at go-karting once...:greengrin

[(((Fergus)))]

Saved! Legard out! Now in the commentary box----Brundle & Coulthard.

Both with fantastic knowledge of F1 so hopefully no messing up.:aok:

Thank God for that. Legard was such a contrived commentator yet constantly on the back foot.

[HibbyScott]

Pre season testing is underway! High noses are very much in fashion this season it seems. Hulkenberg is currently fastest, followd by Vettel and Alonso. It is notoriously difficult to judge form from pre season testing though, as we saw from Sauber looking very fast last season during testing and then not so fast during the races :greengrin

Williams are providing live timing from the test via here (http://www.attwilliams.com/test-timings)

[Gatecrasher]

Mclarens new car - WOW

Sorry I can't post a link on my mobile

[HibbyScott]

Mclarens new car - WOW

Sorry I can't post a link on my mobile

I'm in love!

Also even better...they had the inside of the car all done out fake in plastic so that no-one could see any of the other innovative stuff they had inside. The best bit about the sidepods, if they're found to work, then the teams other teams will have to do their side impact and cockpit intrusion tests again before they can copy it...and developing the parts, testing them and getting them passed and put on the car doesn't happen over night. Could be a huge advantage to McLaren for the first few weeks. Also not ruling out forward exhausts. I think they'll be the big thing this year

[James.]

Really horrible news coming out of Andorra this morning about Robert Kubica in a serious crash at a rally event. Possibly career ending if the worst is to be believed and he needs to have his hand amputated; not a big Lotus Renault fan with the way they've acted this pre-season but always enjoyed watching Kubica. Hope we see him racing again in the future.

[Walter]

I'll second that. I was really looking forward to the day of him becoming World Champion. Hope its not a worst case scenario and we see him on track sooner rather than later. Get well soon Kubi

[ScottB]

Kubica is out of surgery but it's starting to sound like his hand was almost totally severed. Luckily one of the worlds best hand surgeons was based nearby, so now we play a waiting game.

Even worse luck is that it's the same arm he'd badly damaged in a crash in 2003, but hopefully we see him back in an F1 car soon.