time to dust off those good old red hats :D

Sorry Dave :(

MSC has decided against racing again, citing his neck injury from earlier this year. Luca Badoer will take Massa's place.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.a...46577&PO=46577
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.a...46578&PO=46578

I was really looking forward to watching Schumi driving again. :(

Sigh.

I wonder if those people that rushed to buy Valencia tickets to see Schumi are going to ask for refunds?

SON OF A BITCH

Don't cry little fella.... you'll be alright.

Time to go get a handful of dust to throw back on your recently dusted off Red hats.

they are already back in the closet :(

So, it's a week to go before Valencia... has Renault mentioned who's going to drive Piquet's car if they happen to win their appeal? Is Grosjean going to get the ride?

Loeb!

M. Schumacher.

R Schumacher

Renault Valencia ban was overturned. No word on who will replace Piquet though.

Grosjean is still the most likely suspect.


http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.a...46604&PO=46604

That sounds about right to me. Shit happens w/ lug nuts sometimes... no need for a race ban. The ban was just an over-reaction to Massa and Surtee's accidents. A reprimand and fine is the correct punishment IMO.

Good to see that Alonso will get to run in Spain #2.

Yeah, if I remember correctly, this happened to Alonso a few years ago too in Hungary, and there was just a fine and move on with life (after surrendering a spectacular win).

Grosjean officially announced as the replacement.
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/...so-at-renault/

I didn't know Loeb had a SuperLicense... but that report says he's "tested" F1 cars in the past. By "tested" are they referring to promotional stunts where he trades cars w/ an F1 driver like Gordon did a few years back?

I'm sure Loeb would be a pretty good driver for developing a new car due to all of his massive experience, but in an era of drivers that have been karting since age 10, I just don't see him as a race winner even with all his rally background.

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/151811/...rce_india.html

Fisichella move official. Badoer is out. Other outlets are reporting that Liuzzi is the most likely replacement as he is FI's reserve driver.

Sweet. Fisi, in a Ferrari in Italy. That's kinda badass.

In fact... thinking long term, a Massa #1, Fisichella #2 driver lineup at Ferrari makes more sense to me than Massa & Alonso having to duke it out for the rights to be the #1 driver at Ferrari in 2010. But I still think we'll see Alonso at Ferrari next year.

Edit: looks like Fisi is going to be the Ferrari test driver in 2010... so I'm going to predict Massa/Alonso w/ Fisi #3.

There is a rumor that Renault is courting Raikonen and Nokia as a sponsor for next year, in what could be a "even" trade. That is, if this whole 'crash-gate' doesn't force Renault out of the sport.

And as cool as the Fisi drive sounds, I was thinking it might be the end of his racing career. FI isn't going to want to take him back after this, and I can't see too many other people beating down his door, even though he is a very accomplished driver. In all honesty, becoming Ferrari's test and reserve driver for next year is probably a very good move for him in the long term.

Liuzzi confirmed in the Force India car for Monza. Another Itallian for the race.

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/...dia-race-role/

F1 is a fucking circus.

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...16131922.shtml
So basically, Flav told Piquet to crash to give Alonso the win last year. Now Renault has canned Flav and Symonds to appease the FIA, and has all but admitted their unsporting actions. Renault better get excluded from the championship. That bullshit move cost Massa a championship last season... it's a way bigger deal than that nonsense w/ McLaren getting Ferrari's pre-season tech info that resulted in McLaren's exclusion.

Didn't McLaren get an exclusion and a $100 million (or was it euros) fine? It will be interesting to see whether the punishment is more or less than that.

It looks like Lotus will be back in 2010.


http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2009/9/9939.html

I'm kinda fired up about that! I'm just wondering though how "lotus-like" they're really be, since they're technically Proton (a Malaysian automaker).

The other good news is that Sauber got bought from BMW by Qadbak which is some Swiss and Middle Eastern investment conglomerate. The only problem is that the rules only allow 13 teams in 2010, and Sauber is now technically the 14th team. Hopefully they'll make a change to allow 14 teams. 28 cars on grid will be impressive!

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...17180609.shtml

If this whole thing ends with Flavio getting caned in a public square, I'm all for it. :lol:

If I were Massa, I'd be getting my laywers warmed up.

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...18153532.shtml

If the FIA knew about the race fix before the end of last season, Massa may have a good case he was screwed out of a championship by Renault's cheating.

Well then...

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...21143847.shtml

Flavio just got banned from the FIA forever. Symonds got a 5 year ban. Renault is banned from F1 forever, but their ban is postponed until 2011 because they took the preemptive measures of canning Flav and Pat. If Renault keeps its nose clean thru 2011, their ban will be lifted. Alonso was found uninvolved, and Piquet got immunity for providing evidence.

The weird problem is that as part of Flavio's ban, the FIA is also banning anyone that does business with him... and since he's a manager for several drivers, all those drivers have to find a new manager ASAP or they're banned from racing!

beat me to it :p

Is my Renault F1 Alsonso Team shirt a collector's item now?

I highly doubt Renault will actually get banned. As long as they don't participate in any shenanigans for the next 2.5 years, they'll be off probation w/o being excluded.

What I'm disappointed about is that there was no financial penalty (remember McLaren got burned for 100M) and there was no discussion about how the race fixing affected the championship last season. It sounds like Alonso gets to keep his win?

I read somewhere that due to the sporting regs they cant actually change the results beacuse its to far in the past

Interesting though that for Crash-gate & Spy-gate who has been in the center of both controversies......Alonso

Oh and in the middle of all that......

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...20103457.shtml

Looks like Raikonnen is headed back to Mclaren which I'm assuming means Alonso would be in a ferrari next year. I'm torn I love Ferrari but fucking hate Fernando Alonso.

To be honest, I'd be fired up if Massa came back and Fisichella kept his seat there. And if Alonso went and raced boats or something.

How much you wanna bet Ferrari gets Alonso, and then hires Schumacher out of retirement to replace Massa w/ some BS excuse that Massa isn't healthy enough to drive in 2010? :unamused:

I've grown to like Massa, at first I thought he was a douche it would be sad to seem him get the boot but with Montezemelo in charge it could happen.

If Alonso thought they were favoring hamilton at mclaren just wait and see what happens if they bring MSC out of retirement to race alongside him :lol:

:lol:

And I agree about Massa. I thought he was kind of a hot headed kid... but now he's by far my favorite driver. He's took all that passion and really developed under Schumacher's wing, and has really become a championship capable driver. I really felt like he deserved the championship last season.

In fact, I always seem to root for the guy that doesn't win it... and the guy I hate wins instead. Alonso over Schumacher in '06, Raikkonen over Hamilton in '07, Hamilton over Massa in '08. I bet this season Reubens will threaten to win it all then get beat out at the last race by Button, just to keep w/ my record of being disappointed at the end of the season. :unamused:

Button will win this year if he doesnt he should just retire because this will probably be his last chance

BTW your sig......you have Massa's name spelled wrong its Felipe :lol:

:lol: Oops. "Filipe" is the normal Portuguese spelling though... if anyone spelled it wrong, he did. :P

and you call yourself a "fan"

You think that's bad... Massa's name has been spelled wrong the last three seasons of fantasy F1. :lol:

:lol::lol:

And now Flav is thinking of suing the FIA for basically ruining his reputation and his livelihood.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.a...46934&PO=46934

I'm SHOCKED :eek:

Well he won't win because he's a cheater. My guess is the FIA can prove it in court via radio transmissions or something, or they wouldn't have made such a big deal about him being responsible.

Decent article about why Renault got off easy:

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...22152350.shtml

Once again the FIA reeks of back-room deals. McLaren getting walloped in '07, Ferrari getting paid extra participation money, and now Renault getting a slap on the wrist for the worst incident of cheating in F1. The inconsistency lends all sorts of legitimacy to why the FOTA was starting their own series... and the reason they didn't was because FIA promised to get their shit together... clearly that's not happening. :unamused:

I think Ari has it right.

Can I vote for him?

I hope he wins. Jean Todt would destroy the sport

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...29132233.shtml

Looks like we will see Loeb in an F1 car. Citroen has agreed to let him race abu dhabi if he wants

Good to hear Massa is back behind the wheel

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...29131931.shtml