F1 2010: Like sand through the hourglass...

[top_dog]

Yeah, I think it's some sort of contractual issue to do with the hush-hush secret-squirrel-club Concorde Agreement -which is bizarre when Renault are technically still under a suspended 2 year ban. It's similar to why Sauber still had to be known as BMW Sauber this season despite BMW f***ing off from the sport completely!

As for the Group Lotus/Team Lotus/Lotus Racing/Lotus Garden authentic cantonese restaurant and take-away legal battle I thought it had been resolved with the FIA admitting them to next season's list under the name Team Lotus. I could be wrong though...

Not true about BMW disappearing completely. They still provided 3/4 of Sauber's budget this year.

 

[wombat]

Not true about BMW disappearing completely. They still provided 3/4 of Sauber's budget this year.

Was it actually BMW money though? Or is that just the money that BMW were entitled to as an existing team under the rights agreement?

I thought that Pete kept BMW in the name because otherwise he would have been treated as a new team, and would have forfeited all the entitlements from TV rights etc.?

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

Not true about BMW disappearing completely. They still provided 3/4 of Sauber's budget this year.

Not sure about that. Sauber ran with a completely blank car this year. You'd think if BMW were providing that much of their operating costs they'd get a spot of ad space.

 

[top_dog]

Not sure about that. Sauber ran with a completely blank car this year. You'd think if BMW were providing that much of their operating costs they'd get a spot of ad space.

There is very subtle BMW branding/stripe things on the nose of the car.

And from James Allen's site:

Rocked by the withdrawal of BMW in 2009, Sauber was forced almost exactly a year ago to take the team back to save the jobs of his workforce. The team continued as BMW Sauber F1 team this year with money and branding from BMW taking the team through the season.

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

There is very subtle BMW branding/stripe things on the nose of the car.

And from James Allen's site:

Na, not buying it.

It's been widely reported that Sauber only kept the BMW name to benefit from the TV Rights cash. BMW haven't contributed anything this season other than the costs of the design and build of the car (incurred last year)- James Allen might be mistaken and it wouldn't be the first time an F1 commentator has made a mistake (Murray Walker was legendary for them!),

I do realise that BMW's investment the year before in the design and build of the car helped out a great deal but when they walked away at the end of last season, all ties were effectively cut. It was exactly the same with Honda and Brawn the previous year

As for subtle branding? I'm not sure I can see any. There is a B on the nose but I think that may stand for Bridgestone...

;-)

 

[top_dog]

The red and navy blue stripes on the nose. They are very M, especially from lower down.

And yeah he may have made a mistake, but when I read that the other day it wasn't the first time I'd read it.

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

The red and navy blue stripes on the nose. They are very M, especially from lower down.

And yeah he may have made a mistake, but when I read that the other day it wasn't the first time I'd read it.

What Red and Blue stripes? That's Black! And besides, they remind me more of Brawn GP than BMW. Ferrari have a horse on their cars, does that mean they are advertising for Porsche?

If BMW had actually contributed financially this season (other than paying to build the car the precious year) there would still be BMW logos plastered on the car. That's how advertising works! Any talk of a multi-billion dollar car company paying good money to advertise in a conservative financial environment then not advertising AT ALL, is ludicrous.

 

[stoff]

BMW Motorsport's colours are 3 stripes in Light Blue, Royal(ish) Blue and Red.

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

Further update on the big rule changes for the next few seasons:

courtesy of the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9307861.stm

Exclusive by Andrew Benson

Formula 1 cars are set for more radical changes in time for 2013 as bosses look to make the sport more efficient and potentially more exciting.

Cars will have much smaller wings and specially-shaped underfloors designed to generate downforce differently.

They will use 35% less fuel and be a little slower but more challenging to drive, although passing may be easier.

Drawn up by respected engineers Patrick Head and Rory Byrne, the rules would be the biggest design change since 1983.

The draft regulations are to be sent to teams this week ahead of a meeting in January of F1's Technical Working Group (TWG), which scopes out rule changes.


The TWG, which includes the design heads of each team, will discuss the proposals and suggest any changes they feel might need to be made.

But the fundamental philosophy that has been created is expected to remain intact.

The major changes will be:

* Much smaller front and rear wings;

* A far greater proportion of the total downforce of the cars will be created by the underfloor, compared to the wings;

* A major reduction in the amount of total downforce created by the car;

* To achieve this, the underfloor of the cars will be shaped along its length to generate downforce for the first time since the 1982 season - currently cars have bottoms that are flat between the wheels;

* The average proportion of a lap that a driver is able to spend on full throttle to be cut from 70% in 2010 to 50% in 2013;

* Tyres will remain large and chunky to ensure cornering speeds remain high.

Head, director of engineering for Williams, and Byrne, a former chief designer for Ferrari, have between them been involved in the design of cars that have won 17 constructors' titles for Williams, Benetton and Ferrari.


The pair started work on the new rules in March and have now presented a set of draft regulations to FIA race director Charlie Whiting, who will finalise them before sending them off to the teams.

"We are only going to have roughly 65% of the amount of fuel and a [limited] fuel [flow] rate - that was a given," said Head, talking exclusively to BBC Sport.

"We were just told 'That's what it will be, you've got to come up with a car spec that is not going to be more than five seconds a lap slower than a current F1 car'.

"So some circuit simulation was done by Rory at Ferrari and when we'd come up with some numbers in terms of drag and downforce it was then to try to come up with a geometry of a car that could try to achieve that."

Head and Byrne were charged with ensuring the new rules did not make overtaking any harder and, as it turns out, they could actually make passing easier.

That is because a car should lose less downforce when it is following another car if more of its total downforce is created by its underfloor rather than its wings.

This makes it easier for drivers to follow closely behind cars they are racing and therefore easier to pass.

Shaped undersides were banned in F1 at the end of the 1982 season because it was felt cornering speeds had got too fast and the cars too dangerous.

But back then they were used with skirts that touched the ground and sealed the low-pressure area, vastly increasing its efficiency.

This will be made impossible in 2013 by making the centre of the car lower than the sides.

If the changes are going to be as massive as they're making out, this could turn the whole sport on it's head and we could be back to proper mad-arsed balls to the wall racing like in the olden days. Whether this will include tobacco sponsorship, six-wheeled cars and alcoholic budgerigar-breeding playboys like James Hunt remains to be seen