F1 Racing Thread

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by Stig_Of_The_Dump

I have to admit, the jobs did sometimes take quite a while depending on what was going on at the time.

Haha, love it. I don't think I'll be able to get away with that if I take the job to be honest. I think whether I'm working from home, in the office or at the races, I'll be flat out most of the time, but hey ho....it's what I thrive on!

Sounds like you really got to have a good vantage point from though to view the sport from the inside, which is always incredibly interesting......especially watchin pit stop practice.....I bet that's quite a 5p 50p moment for the any new crew members....lol

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by Kinvig

Wow!!!!

Anyone know Ferrari's budget?

I'd say it's a fair bit more than that. They are in a state of panic at the moment because they know full well that it's their money that has enabled them to influence f1 to their advantage historically and to bring a cap in would put paid to that level of influence. I'm not saying they do or have done anything illegalor fraudulent....but when you bring as much money to a sport as Ferrari do, you carry a lot of weight with your suggestions and opinions.

Honda could not continue comfortably financially. Their decision was a good one for the company as a whole as much as they regret having to leave the sport and I think Brawn buying them out and creating his own team has done wonders for the sport in general and for f1 in britain, getting another of our drivers up to the top. Fantastic stuff!

Ferrari are too heavily associated and it's too much theflagship for their company to let it go so they won't do so unless they really are backed into a corner and throw their toys out of the preverbial pram. It would be a crying shame, but not a death sentence for the sport. Also, Max Mosley has just lost his son so is not having full involvement for the next couple of weeks, so nothing will be announced or happen just yet!

2008 budgets;

Toyota: $445.6m
McLaren: $433.3m
Ferrari: $414.9m
Honda: $398.1m
Renault: $393.8m
BMW Sauber: $366.8m
Red Bull Racing: $164.7m
Williams: $160.6m
Toro Rosso: $128.2m
Force India: $121.85m
Super Aguri: $45.6m
Total: $3,073.45m


That kinda shows the point. 120 million dollars is 80 million pounds at the moment? I'm not sure. The figure above includes salaries and things though.

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by Thingus

2008 budgets;

Toyota: $445.6m
McLaren: $433.3m
Ferrari: $414.9m
Honda: $398.1m
Renault: $393.8m
BMW Sauber: $366.8m
Red Bull Racing: $164.7m
Williams: $160.6m
Toro Rosso: $128.2m
Force India: $121.85m
Super Aguri: $45.6m
Total: $3,073.45m


That kinda shows the point. 120 million dollars is 80 million pounds at the moment? I'm not sure. The figure above includes salaries and things though.

I'm quite suprised at the ferarri budget not being higher than toyotas, but McLaren was bound to be up there. I also think you'll find that the forma Honda budget of $398.1 is now significantly lower after Brawns buyout and the subsequesnt 270 jobs being cut!

It's going to be so interesting if the cap comes into place!

Originally Posted by gruntygiggles

I'm quite suprised at the ferarri budget not being higher than toyotas

Toyota are the biggest car builder in the world. Ferrari are part timers by comparison. It doesn't surprise me one bit that they have the highest budget in the sport.

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by Woz

Toyota are the biggest car builder in the world. Ferrari are part timers by comparison. It doesn't surprise me one bit that they have the highest budget in the sport.

I see that..........I've just never been interested in their budgets before so have never thought about it, but I did think Ferrari were the most cash rich team and so I guess assumed that they would have the bigger budget.

I'm sure if I take the job, I'll have to discuss it every day, so if the cap comes into play it could make my life a lot easier!

Yah Brawn will be much less i understand, but even Super Aguri spending more than the budget cap (not sure what limitations are within the cap and which ones aren't)... so 40m is really not a lot compared to what the teams are used to.

[fizzwheel]

Would it really harm Ferrari or Toyota though to cut back on how much they spend.

Toyota are not and have never been that competative.

Ferrari have got themselves in a mess but it has nothing to do with how much money they have or havent spent.

I wander what Ferrari or Toyota would consider an acceptable budget ?

Or is it acceptable to let a team pound around its own private test track racking up thousands of miles, just because they can afford to ? when other teams cant.

Its hardly a level playing field is it... or wasnt until the testing bans for this year.

I think a lot of teams just want steady, slow improvments, not to be told to divide their budgets by 10 and get cracking. It all seems very sudden... i personally don't think the top teams would even be able to get into that budget if they tried, depending on what it covers that is.

Right now in F1 there's only one back of the grid team, Force India, all of the rest have proven they have the ability to race and win, which i would say is pretty level there are more frequent winners no doubt, but the racing is exciting and relatively close at times so why such drastic changes?

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Thingus

I think a lot of teams just want steady, slow improvments

I tihnk thats fair, the FIA do seem to like to keep fiddling with the regs dont they...

Originally Posted by Thingus

but the racing is exciting and relatively close at times so why such drastic changes?

Dunno, Knee jerk reaction to the economic climate. Or the desire to see fuller grids ? 4 cars got wiped out at the first corner at the weekend. Then Kimi broke down so there was 15 cars circulating. On TV you dont notice it, but i bet you do if you are actually at the circuit.

I think alot of it is Max Mosley fiddling all the time TBH.

I like the idea of the cap. It should promote more innovation if they are allowed more freedom to experiement and the unlimited testing surely has to be good from a reliability point of view to.

Perhaps the issue with the budget cap is that its to small. Especially if Force Indiana are currently spending more than the current proposed limit...

Thing is the two tier formula isnt new.. its been done before IIRC when they switched from Turbo cars to non turbo cars..there was a split grid then...