Race Skipping

Well here’s a new one for ya. Did you know that any F1 team this season can sit out up to three races without being penalized? This was confirmed by Jean Todt, FIA president, after Bernie Ecclestone came out saying that he believed both Campos and USF1 may miss races this season. Frankly, I’m a little shocked that this rule exists, but when I stop to actually think about it, it makes more and more sense to do it this way. Not only does this allow some of the smaller teams to be able to run for an entire year without completely abandoning the sport, but it lets them save money in the process. Also, if they know they have that safety net, they don’t have to travel to the really really far away races and can concentrate on getting to the major ones that they want to. For instance, they can sit out of China and Malaysia or even Australia to keep flight and team costs to a minimum. As much as I would still love to see all of the teams competing at every race, I know that not everyone has the funds to make the grid all the time.

The New Cars

This is only the first of a couple of posts. Basically, it is just a collection of some pictures of the first batch of new cars. Let’s get down to it then.

The Mercedes GP car with Michael Schumacher

The McLaren MP4/25 with Lewis Hamilton

The Ferrari F10 with Fernando Alonso

New Renault R30 with Robert Kubica

Sauber with Kamui Kobayashi

Newly designed STR with Sebastian Buemi

New Virgin Racing machine

Williams with Nico Hulkenberg

What strikes me most about these cars so far is that they don’t look as bad as they did last year. Maybe I’m getting used to the new design, or maybe it’s because I haven’t had a chance to really see them in motion, but they are not all that bad. However, I will caution that some of these cars from the side – especially the new Sauber – are horrifying. It looks like a giant Killer Whale on the track. There are still a few more manufacturers to go before we see the whole grid, but this is what we have for now.

Testing Times

The times are starting to roll in finally as testing is officially under way and at the top of the time sheets is none other than Felipe Massa. Now, I know that this testing stuff doesn’t really mean a whole lot right now, but it is good to see that he can compete and that the Ferrari is easy to drive. Or I guess I should say that the car is easier to drive than last year’s car, which was notorious for being a beast to handle for the drivers filling in for an injured Massa. He has been consistently at the top of the time sheets for the past two days and has said that the car has much more grip than last year’s, and that is probably down to the fact that the wheelbase of these cars has been increased to accommodate the larger fuel tanks (no refueling the car during pit stops this season). This is encouraging to see because as Felipe becomes more familiar with this car, he will only get faster. Fernando Alonso will take over testing duties for Felipe on Wednesday.

Speaking of getting faster, it seems the competition is up to the challenge thrown down by Massa. On Monday, Michael Schumacher was third fastest in the Mercedes, while today it was Lewis Hamilton in third position. Both of the drivers were very positive about their cars and are sure to be right on the pace at the start of the season. At this point, I am not too concerned about the pace of all the competitors, but I am interested to see what sort of times Alonso puts down on Wednesday with regards to the times that Massa did. If Massa is anything to go by, this new car should be a whole lot easier to adapt to and Alonso should be able to do that in no time.