The 2010 Formula One Season

[rixalex]

So, another season upon us!

I think like most people, i have high hopes for this year.

Going to be great to see what Schumi can do. Exciting also to see Alonso in a Ferrari. Then we have the battle between Button and Hamilton.

It's been a long wait... thank goodness the wait is over!

[rixalex]

Here's the top ten from the first practice of the first race of the season:

1 Germany A Sutil Force India

2 Spain F Alonso Ferrari

3 Poland R Kubica Renault

4 Brazil F Massa Ferrari

5 Great Britain J Button McLaren

6 Great Britain L Hamilton McLaren

7 Italy V Liuzzi Force India

8 Germany N Rosberg Mercedes GP

9 Australia M Webber Red Bull

10 Germany M Schumacher Mercedes GP

Wonder if Force India will be the new Brawn GP? Strong start anyway.

[TBWG]

Sometime I wonder about the powers that be in F1.

They invite applications for new teams, apply unequal terms i.e. can only run Cosworth engines, use a dubious method of selection and then as an afterthought say we might apply the 107% rule.

I appreciate the saftey implications but motor racing is a dangerous sport. To make the new teams run the least powerfull engine and then expect them to be on the pace is unrealistic and contibutes to the danger factor, why did they not anticipate this?

Apologies to Cosworth but they have been out of F1 for sometime and it will take them time to produce a front running engine.

TBWG

[rixalex]

Sometime I wonder about the powers that be in F1.

Only sometimes?

F1 powers that be should have their next Christmas party together with the football powers that be - they'd get along great. Useless bunch of out-of-touch old farts the lot of them.

And this year we have to suffer Jean Todt. Will it be a step up from Max?

[nickjam]

I agree with you all in that rule makers sometimes get it wrong in their seemingly never ending quest to make the sport more interesting. Hopefully with the introduction of the new points system and the no refueling laws we should see some good action. Whats the odds that we'll have a whole new set of guidelines in 2011, please just leave it alone for a bit Ecclestone! Already got some scandal with the new Mclaren wing, it will be interesting to see if they spank the opposition and begin a technology catch up race ala double diffuser in 09. I read today that the McLarens' drivers leg movement in the cockpit can increase/reduce down force, Id like to know how that works!

[Mosha]

Lewis is complaining the car's a bit of a dog again.

[Donnyboy]

Vettel gets pole

Massa 2nd

Alonso 3rd

Sebastian Vettel takes Bahrain Grand Prix pole in style

[TBWG]

Well if the intention of the new rules is to increase overtaking then we are in for plenty of that, lapping backmarkers!

Last year the entire grid was covered by less than 1.5 secs, this year that will get you down to about 7th or 8th and the entire grid spans 10 secs. Thats progress.

Although I do feel for the aptly named HRT who must surely be in need of a dose! Chandhock is in the uneviable postion of staring a GP with about 25 kms of F1 experience under his belt that just can't be fair on him or the other competitors.

But since when was anything fair or logical applied to F1?

TBWG

Edit ..typo

[WarpSpeed]

Good on Massa, glad to see it, he has come back as good as ever and is leading a former Champ in pace and equal equipment, I wish him good success this season, I feel he's earned it..

[goldmine]

I agree with you all in that rule makers sometimes get it wrong in their seemingly never ending quest to make the sport more interesting.-yes

[rixalex]

Good on Massa, glad to see it, he has come back as good as ever and is leading a former Champ in pace and equal equipment, I wish him good success this season, I feel he's earned it..

Massa needs to set down a marker very quickly to stamp his authority in the team. He's done the first part of the job, now he has to beat Alonso in the race which will be trickier. Promising start though.

Same goes for Rosberg and Button. If they don't come out of the blocks flying they will find Schumi and Lewis respectively taking control of the team. The pressue is on for all these guys. Bring it on....

[Mosha]

The gap in the field, ok we will see over taking of the back markers. The potential for a pile up is pretty high I reckon. Getting ready to watch a dry race, dry as in no beer not the race. Bloody medecine.

[b19bry]

Good on Massa, glad to see it, he has come back as good as ever and is leading a former Champ in pace and equal equipment, I wish him good success this season, I feel he's earned it..

Massa needs to set down a marker very quickly to stamp his authority in the team. He's done the first part of the job, now he has to beat Alonso in the race which will be trickier. Promising start though.

Same goes for Rosberg and Button. If they don't come out of the blocks flying they will find Schumi and Lewis respectively taking control of the team. The pressue is on for all these guys. Bring it on....

Well Alonso certainly pissed on your parades today and well done to him

Though the Hamilton fans are willing Massa to stuff Alonso I just don't see it happening. Alonso's got too much class and today he showed it. Over the course of the season he will outpace and outscore Massa.

Shame about Vettel but there's little doubt who his main rival will be.

Rosberg / Schumacher still up in the air, but Mclaren was and is Hamilton's team, it will only get tougher for Button.

[WarpSpeed]

Good on Massa, glad to see it, he has come back as good as ever and is leading a former Champ in pace and equal equipment, I wish him good success this season, I feel he's earned it..

Massa needs to set down a marker very quickly to stamp his authority in the team. He's done the first part of the job, now he has to beat Alonso in the race which will be trickier. Promising start though.

Same goes for Rosberg and Button. If they don't come out of the blocks flying they will find Schumi and Lewis respectively taking control of the team. The pressue is on for all these guys. Bring it on....

Well Alonso certainly pissed on your parades today and well done to him

Though the Hamilton fans are willing Massa to stuff Alonso I just don't see it happening. Alonso's got too much class and today he showed it. Over the course of the season he will outpace and outscore Massa.

Shame about Vettel but there's little doubt who his main rival will be.

Rosberg / Schumacher still up in the air, but Mclaren was and is Hamilton's team, it will only get tougher for Button.

What? By passing a Red Bull car with a broken header like it was anchored on the straight?? He had no answer for Vettel until that happened and Massa nor anyone else could pass if they wanted to. There is no longer any strategy and nothing to do but hope for crashes or breakdowns.. It was more like the parade of retired F1 cars prior to the race then an actual race.. I feel for Vettel he did everything right and was taken down by a design flaw..

JFYI I've no real favorites out there except a few loyal and faithful underdogs who deserve some good result one of whom is Massa the other ironically is Rubens who more deserved the championship last year then did his luckier team mate (note I didn't say more talented as is being demonstrated this year) as Rubens was taken out of the game more then once last season by his team and others beyond his control. But if you can't respect the come back that Massa has made from his near death accident last season which would have retired a lot of lesser drivers then........... Well there's nothing to be said honestly..

It's one race and besides I have to congratulate Bernie and now Jon Todt for their devolution of the series, so much for the "anyone can win on any given weekend" racing we saw last year.. I went and cleaned up my boys for bedtime and came back only a few laps from the end and didn't miss a thing except maybe 2 position changes :boring:zzzzzzzzzzzzz .. We've returned back to the millennium when it was Shumacher et al out front with no challenge and no passing, the actors are different but the plot is the same..

[H2oDunc]

For me they have finished F1 for good this time. What a joke of a race. When you think that the cars were going round " racing " over 7 seconds slower than they went round in qualifying then something is amiss. For years now they have tried to slow the cars down and they have finally done it. What next ? dual fuel green cars ? And Alonso didn't win anything. Vettel lost it. I dread to think what the likes of Monaco is going to be like.

[Mosha]

I hear next season they are going to pedal power.

[H2oDunc]

It would probably make for a more exciting race

[Donnyboy]

gees that was boring alright

i actually dosed off in the middle stages

wasnt a good sport weekend as i thought it was gonna be, Pacquiao won but only coz he was the only one wanting to fight

[bkkjames]

I turned it off half way..zzzz

This no fueling thing is stupid - no strategy anymore- just fill up the tanks and round and round. At least in the past the mid table teams could choose to go heavy and do a one stopper gamble.

Wake me when it's over.

[b19bry]

What? By passing a Red Bull car with a broken header like it was anchored on the straight??

No, by disposing of his teammate early on, recording fastest laps when it counted (his best over a second quicker than anyone else and almost 1.5 to Massa) closing in on Vettel and being in a position to take over when he had his problem.

I already acknowledged Vettel was unlucky, but hey shit happens even in F1 racing.

As for "no longer any strategy" so you reckon all races without refueling are won on luck then ?

JFYI I've no real favorites out there except a few loyal and faithful underdogs who deserve some good result one of whom is Massa the other ironically is Rubens who more deserved the championship last year then did his luckier team mate (note I didn't say more talented as is being demonstrated this year) as Rubens was taken out of the game more then once last season by his team and others beyond his control. But if you can't respect the come back that Massa has made from his near death accident last season which would have retired a lot of lesser drivers then........... Well there's nothing to be said honestly..

I also have no particular favourite and have absolute respect for the courage Massa has shown. On top of that he is one of the nicest guys in F1, I simply don't think he's overall in the same class as Alonso as a driver, but I guess time will tell.

Rubens is a lovely guy too and he had a fine run last year but sorry can't agree with your conspiracy theories, Button won the championship fair and square.

[H2oDunc]

Ive got a case of Chang says that Massa will finish ahead of Alonso He knows and is liked by the team whereas Alonso for all he is a good driver is not a team player. He was beaten in qualifying and the first corner was just luck and Massa being a little too cautious. I do think they have killed the sport though. They have been trying to slow the cars down for years and have now succeeded big time. For me its not racing anymore. I wonder if they forced the cars to go slower so you can more easily read the sponsors logo's ?

[b19bry]

Ive got a case of Chang says that Massa will finish ahead of Alonso

You're on !

[skydiver77]

zzzzzzzzzzz...jeez, that was boring. Great for snoozing though.

Looks like a season of road trains coming up.

F1 is a bloody shambles after just one 'race.'

Retract the new rules now, before an oversize nail is hammered into the F1 coffin.

[F1fanatic]

I was sooo looking forward to the new season and the first race turned out to be excrutiatingly boring.

Just praying that the drivers were being v cautious to protect their tyres and will be confident enough to 'have a go' in future races, and that other circuits will provide more opportunity for overtaking. (I seem to recall Bahrain is normally a dull circuit)

Its not looking good though as both Schumi and Hamilton have said that its impossible to overtake.

[Mosha]

F1fanatic, you might have to change your username this season.

[WarpSpeed]

For me they have finished F1 for good this time. What a joke of a race. When you think that the cars were going round " racing " over 7 seconds slower than they went round in qualifying then something is amiss. For years now they have tried to slow the cars down and they have finally done it. What next ? dual fuel green cars ? And Alonso didn't win anything. Vettel lost it. I dread to think what the likes of Monaco is going to be like.

The timing is pretty crap as it was just beginning to get PR traction again and now they may have dealt it a death blow without serious reconsideration during the season..

Not to be pedantic but it is a massive amount of time in terms of racing, they were actually 9 seconds off of qualifying pace, that's horrendous, the entire field was not separated by that same 2 seconds difference last year...And it looked it too...It was nothing but parade laps.. The cars aren't quick enough to overtake and the fact that they are all on the same fuel strategy? makes them all too equal throughout the race so no lighter versus heavier etc. except the same few teams who will always be at the top...Not a good time to be a new up and comer like Braun was last year...

[WarpSpeed]

I hear next season they are going to pedal power.

I heard solar...

[WarpSpeed]

Button won the championship fair and square.

I can't/won't argue your points they're way too far off base and uninformed but they're your views, as for the above quote taking a wild guess..................... You're British right with the usual blinders and inability to be neutral or objective?? BTW there was no conspiracy theories just the fact that he got second rate service over his team mate on several critical occasions from a crew I suspect was predominantly British..

[b19bry]

Its not looking good though as both Schumi and Hamilton have said that its impossible to overtake.

That didn't seem to bother them when they were the car in front

Seriously though the problem is less to to with re-fueling or not than with a too heavy dependence on aerodynamics.

The difficulty of overtaking has been around for some time, is getting worse and is inversely related to the use of aerodynamics. This where the rules need changing to get the cars sliding more and allowing cars to follow more closely into the braking area.

I seem to recall Bahrain is normally a dull circuit

Yes that's true and races there have mostly been boring, but everyone seems to be writing off the season already

[TBWG]

F1fanatic, you might have to change your username this season.

Oh dear

I finally find somewhere which shows it with BBC coverage and what happens a mind numbingly boring race. If it wasn't for a bit of interest created by how long the new boys could keep running then I might have dozed off!

Really it is difficult to see what can be done in the short term to liven things up, short of arranging for a downpour at every race! But that is beyond the scope of the poison dwarf!

Will I continue to watch ... well after following GP's since the Clarke/Hill era I don't suppose i'll stop now that my all time favourite Lotus Team is back albeit in a different guise..

TBWG