The Official 2013 F1 Thread. Spoilers possible!

[g®eg]

winter testing schedule released....

not too long until we see cars now I guess

The unofficial winter test schedule has been released. The venues and dates mimic those of last pre-season and are relatively as expected.

Expect the 2013 car launches to commence around the mid to late January time frame. As per usual, what we see on launch date and perhaps even at the tests will look starkly different that what we will see in Melbourne for the season opener.

Mark your calendars:

Venue	Start Date	End Date
Jerez Circuit	Feb. 05	Feb. 08
Circuit de Catalunya	Feb. 19	Feb. 22
Circuit de Catalunya	Feb. 28	Mar. 03

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by JNRobert

They've figured out how to stop the camera bouncing around but nothing looks quite as terrifying as Senna at the begining. A narrow track like Australia also brings out the speed. Very cool.

Yeah, looks like around 1994 they managed to stop the camera from moving independently of the car. If you watch TV shows in which they attach a camera to a walking person, pointed at their face, you see the same kind of eerie steadiness. Because camera and subject/car move at the same time, things appear to be steady when they're not. They're just bouncing at the same time.

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by hockeygoon

Watching that vid makes me wonder why TV directors even show shots of people in the pit lane looking at a monitor flashing up telemetry--which sometimes seems to happen during a critical part of the race.

They're trying to show the human face of F1. You can't see the driver's faces, so this is the next best thing. I agree, most of the time you see no emotion from the bench. The pit crews are better.

[wxwax]

Alonso was a perfect gentleman all season, never once complained about the illegal parts etc. on the Red Bull and McLaren.

This week he finally broke his silence. He says Ferrari need to test the rules boundaries as well. If you can't beat them...

[g®eg]

the Red Bull Racing story:

[g®eg]

farewell to Lewis




(I still think he's making a mistake....)

[g®eg]

Big John is back for 2013...

[g®eg]

Merry Christmas to all!

[wxwax]

Joyeux Noel, M. Greg. And to all of you a Happy New Year!

[wxwax]

I tend to think of Luca di Montezemulo as a bit of a camera-whore boob.

But he reiterated some good proposals in his Christmas speech.

* Top teams sell a third car to the weaker teams, thus reducing costs for weak teams and increasing their competitiveness.

* More testing. Good for teams, good for sponsors, good for young drivers.

* He wants F1 to become more of a test bed for road car technology. Not sure how that would work.

Also, interesting that Ferrari are appointing different development bosses for the 2013 and 2014 cars. Is it McLaren who do this as a matter of course?

That damned wind tunnel came up again. Put that to rest, Ferrari.

And finally, he reiterated that he'd like to push the rules more, since that's how the competition has been winning.

[Moronic]

Originally Posted by g®eg

the Red Bull Racing story:

Amazing vid, can't imagine any other team doing that (but I am not well informed, so for all I know they all do it every year ).

I loved it that they did not gloss over Turkey in whatever year it was that their drivers crashed out of the lead. They gave that everything it deserved, in the context of the story overall. (Although I'd have liked to see a comment on it from Marko )

Thanks for posting this.

[g®eg]

quote from Jackie Stewart: "

If the Silver Arrows are not successful, it’s a 5-min board decision [to cancel the program]"

that can't make Lewis feel too good....

of course Sir Jackie talks out his ass a lot too at times....

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by g®eg

quote from Jackie Stewart: "that can't make Lewis feel too good....

of course Sir Jackie talks out his ass a lot too at times....

True, but he's right. Lots of precedent.

Alex Zanardi not so sure he wants his legs back.

“And to tell the truth, the things that I’ve done in the 11 years since I nearly died have been so fascinating and so enjoyable that it would be really hard if tomorrow morning God appeared and said: ‘I can grant you a normal life again’ – that is with legs – because that would mean I would have to give up my life which I feel very comfortable with.”

[anotherguy]

Zanardi is one of the very few actually worthy of the overused word awesome. Because when I watch him I am awestruck.

[g®eg]

happy New Year?

end of the poison dwarf?

LINK

Bernie Ecclestone admits action by German courts could end F1 reign



Bernie Ecclestone has admitted that he would likely be removed from his role as Formula 1 supremo if he faces further action over the Gerhard Gribkowsky bribery case.
Ecclestone is still awaiting news from German prosecutors over whether or not they intend to charge him amid allegations that he paid a bribe to Gribkoswky over the sale of F1 to CVC in 2006.
Gribkowsky has already been jailed for his part in the affair.
Although Ecclestone is adamant that a 45 million Euro payment he made to Gribkowsky was not bribery, German prosecutors are still investigating if there are corruption charges to answer.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Ecclestone has conceded for the first time that if further action is taken against him then his running of F1 would likely come to an end.
Speaking about what CVC would do if he was charged, Ecclestone said: "[It] will probably be forced to get rid of me if the Germans come after me. It's pretty obvious, if I'm locked up."
CVC has already been pondering a succession plan for what happens when Ecclestone is no longer in charge, but the man himself does not believe its actions are cause to feel that it is looking to ease him out.
"They said they had hired a head-hunter to find somebody in the event that I was not going to be there - if I was going to die or something. It is the normal thing they do to keep people happy," he said.
Ecclestone's comments about his future come just a few weeks after Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo suggested that change would be needed if German prosecutors acted.
"First of all, I hope for Bernie and F1 that nothing will happen," said di Montezemolo during a pre-Christmas media lunch. "If Bernie is accused under process I think he will be the first to give a step back in the interests of Formula 1. This could be bad for F1."
Di Montezemolo reckoned that the time had come for new younger management to take over the running of F1, so it could build a stronger future.
"We need people with a more modern view. It is the same in my company. In a couple of years I will no longer be the person for Ferrari. Someone else will come.
"What I always say to Bernie is that the one-man show in life is finished. You need a team around you. We have to ask these questions in a positive way and look ahead. Sooner or later it will happen to Bernie as to me."