DEVO

Ok... I was watching practise last night hoping to see a real tight field... and there is except Ferrari is way ahead of everybody else! I guess qualifications tonight will answer how good of a season we are going to have... McLaren needs to get their act together... BAR might not have been telling the whole truth but who knows. First race will tell.

kurt_bradley

I'm also anxious to see how it all goes down. Nothing like Ferrari overcoming the adversity of Eccelstone rule changes every season in an attempt to take them out of the championship. I do like that there was a tight race for the championship last season, but Bernie's gone a bit mad. Though Ferrari won a dozen or so races a couple seasons ago with it in place, I like the old qualifying sessions where you'd run all out in a session with about 10 or so laps under your belt. I also thought that a team's true ability and teamwork could truly be displayed when in the overnight sessions of tuning grabbed the podium in glorious fashion. That's something that rule changes shouldn't interfere with. If Williams and McLaren can't keep up on that one, sorry, that's also part of racing.

Dan Martin

BMW is going to be strong this year but I'm still a big Ferrari fan. I missed the practice session last night but I'm staying up to watch qualifying today. I still don't know when the race is. Does anyone know?

Dan Martin

Kurt, I totally agree.

The best part about F1 is the strategy and the team behind the racers. The way that Ferrari has always been able to work with the new rules designed to handicap them has been amazing to watch.

dom

I think its going to be an exciting year. Ferrari's apparent early dominance I think will dissapear a few races in.

The interesting thing to watch for this season will be to see who actually finishes the race. Teams have to use the same engine the entire weekend or face a 10 spot penalty on the grid. If teams find themselves breaking down often, will they begin changing their engines before the race, accept the 10 spot penalty, in the hopes of the competition blowing their engine?

Engine designers were asked to develope an engne that essentially lasted 2 hours. This year that engine has to last alot longer. I wonder if that will hurt performance and wonder if the engineers even got it right. We'll see.

Can't wait for the return of the fully manual tranny. Anyone know when thats happening?

DEVO

if you think eccelstone had anything to do with this rule change... you are mistaken. ferrari wanted this change because they knew they had the most reliable and most powerful engine out there. a single engine rule favored them the most.

DEVO

I would like to hear a single rule that handicapped Ferrari?

The only thing that handicapped Ferrari was the "new" point system introduced last year. All rules for the car have only helped Ferrari... with the exception of the Tire change rule that allowed for bespoke tires for all teams.

Bridgestone suffered on that one because Michelin was allowed to make custom tires per team requirements. Bridgestone could really care less about everybody but Ferrari. So Michelin no longer had to create a compromised compound (remember one compound for teams). Again... that rule was introduced last year. Ferrari was against the change because they had bespoke tires were as everybody else didn't.

Dan Martin

Devo we could argue each individual rule but it certainly is the intention of FIA to slow down Ferrari. Here's a good article (a little old, yes, but still good) from the BBC about last years rule changes: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/2304135.stm

DEVO

Ferrari are kings of deceiving (a brilliant move) the public and the F1 circus. When Ferrari tried to use Beryllium unsuccessfully they got the material ban from the sport without tarnishing their image. They tried to use the material but could not master it as McLaren did... the end result was a ban the material on grounds that it's dangerous (carcinogen). McLaren had to play catch up and no longer had the best engine.... Ferrari goes on to win the championship. The truth is that the material is only dangerous in it's raw powder form (mining it, etc)... Not when the part is formed.... nor is it dangerous in a race.

Ferrari will pretend not to like the 1 engine rule but they were the biggest supporters of it... knowing that they in fact had the most reliable engine. The got it through because it is a cost cutting measure... and teams want to save money where they can.

I just want one rule that doesn't favor Ferrari.

Dan Martin

I'm all for having a very competitive field but asside from assessing weight penalties to winning teams I don't think they'll be successful in penalizing any given team. Ferrari will always come out on top with any rule change because they have the best team. If FIA decided that next year all F1 cars would be human powered pedal cars I bet Ferrrari would still be on top.

DEVO

I won't disagree with that but let's not pretend that Ferrari is going against rules designed to slow them down.

tsXgtp

I hope Renault can make it into the top 3 this year. Jarno is my favorite driver and its really nice to see the young Alonso do well.
Other than that, I'd like to see Jaguar win some, as well as Ralf.
Anyone going to Indy this year? I cant wait to go.

Dan Martin

So who's watching qualifying tonight?

Dan Martin

Ferrari does it again. The race is going to be great though. I think BMW has a few tricks up their sleeves.

Honda had a fantastic showing. I think they'll be real contenders this year.

fdl

AHhh..i missed it. Did it just end.?

fdl

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Michael Schumacher made a flying start to the 2004 Formula One season, setting a lap record around the Albert Park circuit in practice Friday for the Australian Grand Prix.

Driving the new generation F2004 -- Ferrari's 50th F1 car -- the six-time series champion's best lap was 1 minute, 24.718 seconds, faster than the time he set to take pole position in Melbourne last season.

"It doesn't look like a big revolution from the outside of the new car, but it's quite a good step forward and we're very happy straight out of the box the first time,'' Schumacher said.

Teammate Rubens Barrichello was second, a tenth of a second behind on the 3.295-mile street circuit.

Dan Martin

That didn't take long to hit the net. Is that from f1.com?

It was a really interesting qualifying session. Don't miss the race tomorrow fdl. Pre-race starts at 9:30 and roll off starts at 10:00.

fdl

Thats part of the write-up at espn.com. They are uually up to the second with their news.

And ya I will be sure to catch the race tomorrow. These Australian races always mess me up with their times...or should I say..days.

Dan Martin

Well that was quite the school put on by Ferrari. They looked so solid in every section of the track. They'll be hard to catch this year.

Congrats to Renault for a 3rd place finish. Their car looks fantastic this year.

DEVO

Like I said... this is going to be a long season. Ferrari 1-2 with MS cruising in for the win.

I guess it will be fun to see the best of the rest.

Dan Martin

Well I'm a Ferrari fan so this season is off to a good start....

dom

Sorry to get off topic but fdl, Dan whats with the ring/Avatar thing?

BTW, that race was boring.

And it also looks like that dumb new qualifying procdure will be history by the next race.

Dan Martin

The battle of the rings all started here: http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...=ignition+ring

dom

Thanks Dan. I really have to start checking this place out on weekends.

BTW, I'm a greenie.

DEVO

Dan, you are probably a Yankee fan as well? It's easy to be the fan of the most dominating team in history. Not to take anything away from Ferrari. They are doing a great job but at the expense of making the sport mundane.

I guess time will tell... hopefully some other team will step up to the plate... and hopefully within the next race or 2.

Dan Martin

Don't watch baseball Devo but I do cheer on the Leafs!

So who are you rooting for this season?

kurt_bradley

I'm a greenie too....#196.

DEVO

Well I have soft spot for any Honda team. So BAR for one but I can't stand the team principal. I'm also a fan of JPM since his CART days (same with JV but he's out). I've followed MS for a while and loved the days when he battled Mika... but now I root for anybody that can give him a challenge.

DEVO

this just in... Ralf is going to Renault. That leaves 2 open spots for williams next year. Maybe a JV comeback?

dom

I hope so. One of those seats has to go to JV. Maybe the other to DC? Their good friends, but I'd be skeptical of Williams wanting to have 2 older drivers.

duugk

Next years rule change:

If your car is red or the manufacturer's name begins with F, you must attach a standard army issue parachute to the rear engine mounts.

(Maybe then BMW will be up to the challenge...:P)

Go BAR!

fdl

Barrichello fastest in the desert

DEVO

McLaren... big thumbs down. I guess they can exploit a loophole in the rule book. What they can do is put in a racing engine designed to last one day instead of the race weekend, since they already droped 10 positions regardless of where they qualify. Due to an engine letting go.

BAR is still pretty impressive.

ilitig8

The Sakhir circuit is gonna be fun. New, dusty, hot, possible rain and marshalls that show up 3 minutes after a skid!

British American Racing has shown up with the big boys this year, a lot of that has to be attributed to the Michelins this year, thank goodness for Bridgestone, although I have been a Ferrari Scuderia fan since the Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni days (back when there were 2 American drivers on the grid! Andretti/Donohue) I prefer a close race instead of a 2002 run away.

The question for BAR at the Sakhir track is how long will it take Sato to go rallying in the sand when everyone else prefers asphalt. TS would gather a decent number of points IF he could just keep it on the track. Jenson is showing he is actually a capable driver with his first podium now its time for him to get the top tier.

Vandy

fdl

Ferrari does it again

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?id=1775198

Looks like this year will be a repeat of 2 year ago if the other teams dont step it up soon.

Mokijoki

Very nice to see BAR Honda do so well this year. Another podium for Button and also Takuma was well in the points finishing in 5th. Pretty good drive considering the fact he had to come in for a new nose (the car's nose that is )

kurt_bradley

I'm loving this. Ferrari and BAR are killing everyone the last 2 races, and Mclaren is sucking balls. Williams isn't doing too well either. I do find it funny that McLaren thought that they'd have an advantage having 3 separate teams working on testing different projects. Maybe they should put all their eggs in one basket and also just go back to last year's engine. Nothing like being #5 in the points with the 2nd highest payroll. Ha!

fdl

McLaren sure knows how to build a good fireball.

Dan Martin

I'm really pleased with BAR's performance so far. Certainly a lot better than when JV was behind the wheel.

Mokijoki

Can't go back to last year's engine, because they were build to keep going for racedistance. This year the engine is build to last longer because the teams are only allowed 1 engine per weekend (without penalty anyway). But I guess your point is that the new ones blow up anyway... Honda seems to have sorted out the engine problems they had last year. I hope they can improve a bit more for next season and we can have some nice years like back in 88/89/90/91 when McLaren Honda was the team to beat. I was a big Senna and Honda fan.