Alonso to McLaren.

[Motu]

The F1 world is in shock at the moment - Fernando Alonso has signed for McLaren in 2007....but McLaren already has 2 top drivers,fueling debate as to who will leave.McLaren has cost Kimi Raikonen 2 WDC with poor reliability and he can't be a happy boy,rumours abound about him going to Ferrari....Schumacher could retire.And with all the tests that Rossi is doing for Ferrari - could we have a Kimi/Rossi pairing for 2007?

Just thought I'd toss it in for debate here....

[bugjuice]

it'd be a shame to loose Rossi to the dark side. But I'm sure he'd quickly clean up a season before long. Schuey is an arse. I might start watching F1 again actually, see if he's got any better since the rules changed a while ago. It'd be better if he just left. Rumor has it, there's not enough CF to cover that big melon of his

[SimJen]

Debatable wether bigboy montoya is a top driver. McLaren and him have had words over the years.....so perhaps he will be the one leaving?
I can't see Rossi going to F1, he's said as much himself.....if Ferrari offered anyone the chance to test they'd take it in a heartbeat.
Either way its car racing and its far too boring for us Kiwibiker people.......

[k14]

Yeah I saw that in the news, very very strange I thought. Its only f1 after all, who cares bout that anyway.

[steved]

There is no way in hell that Montoya would beat out Kimi for the McLaren seat. It will be a return to one dominant team with two dominant drivers. It should be a very, very interesting season in 2007.

Personally I think Kimi is the superior driver to Alonso and will win the championship the next two years with a solid car. The major changes in the offseason (engine going from V10 to V8) could upset the normal hierachy though.

[SimJen]

Kimi is a good driver no doubt, but he's lacking one thing......personality.
Alonso has some but not much, at least they both have more than Schooey but then so has fungus.

[GSVR]

I don't think highly of Montoya at all. Raikonen is totally boring in the after race interviews but is possibly the best driver. Alonso is also a great driver and so young he's only going to get better after having won a Championship.

Do cars blow up and have mech problems by themselves or is it the driving styles that cause this?

[GSVR]

Vodafone will sponsor McLaren from start of 2007 season.

Maybe they are onto a winner as well.

[Motu]

McLaren have scored 3 of the best drivers in F1,Vodaphone have jumped camp from Ferrari to McLaren....Ferrari has no comment...Michelin pull out for 2007...the game is afoot! There are some more cards in the deck that haven't been played yet.

Half the fun of F1 is the soap opera....

[thealmightytaco]

Do cars blow up and have mech problems by themselves or is it the driving styles that cause this?

Driving styles can totally cause it, but with all the electronics they're allowed now matching gear speeds and smoothing the brakes out and reducing almost any impact loading possible on the car, there isn't alot of room for sudden downshifts etc.

Schumy's a fantastic driver, who gives a flying one about his personality, and unless you've actually met him I dunno that you can say too much about it. Alonso is coo', can't tell if Raikonnen is better, you never can till they're in the same car really. We'll see.

But why is this thread in Biker News?!

[TwoSeven]

Do cars blow up and have mech problems by themselves or is it the driving styles that cause this?

Yes, they blow up all by themsevles. Its actually designed into them [life span]. Each part has a very short lifespan. Friction parts are only designed to run about 500km or so. Things like clutches are only designed to last a couple of hours.

Under the new rules, the core of the engines have to last two races, which, including testing and qualifying can run to nearly 1000km - things like clutches and other consumables can be changed.

During the race the cars are limited in the number of revs the engines can pull by the team. This is done to stop excessive wear on the engine and to conserve fuel. If an important overtaking maneuver is required, the driver will often be instructed to increase the max revs in order to get the extra power to pass (the new A1GP cars have a boost button as well, but F1 cars is more technical). Usually, later on in the race if cars are not racing for position against another car (ie. a gap), the driver will be instructed to drop the max revs in order to extend the life of the car. Often their may be a fuel mixture adjustment made as well.

New qualifying rules will apply in 2006 with 3 session using the new knock out format (which means all drivers have to compete in the first qual session or end up at the back of the grid) and also the engine will be reduced from a 3 litre v10 to a 2.5 litre V8 (some teams will be able to use rev limited v10s but I dont know who). Tire changes are back again as well.

[SimJen]

Schumy's a fantastic driver, who gives a flying one about his personality, and unless you've actually met him I dunno that you can say too much about it. Alonso is coo', can't tell if Raikonnen is better, you never can till they're in the same car really. We'll see.

But why is this thread in Biker News?!

Yes Schumies a great driver but he did F1 no favours by dominating like he has. His lack of media personallity didn't exactly endear the public to him.
At least when Rossi dominates he makes it a bit more of a race.

[Motu]

But why is this thread in Biker News?!

Where would you want I put it? It's motor racing,and that makes it interesting to me - I don't give a fuck what you think,and I thought the Rossi connection was enough to qualify it as interest for motorcyclists.

It's almost impossible for a driver to blow up an engine through driving style - you could flap those paddles as much as you like,they change gear when it's within certain parameters.They banned full auto boxes,the new manual gearbox is sort of a fudge compromise.As 2/7 says,engine performance is in a way controled by the driver,the choice to keep pushing,or save the engine for a later surge.

[Bob]

Sorry to have to put my foot down... but a comment like "don't give a fuck what you think" is how flame wars and fights start... and I don't want a fight starting in here!

So... going to close this one off.

From my own perspective, I have to say initially (having literally just logged in and read through the thread) I couldn't see why it was in here. But then the Rossi connection ("Will he, won't he join the F1 dance?" to paraphrase Alice in Wonderland) was a fair question.

However this has gone away from that... and has the potential for a fight to start... so I'm closing it.

If you would like to continue this conversation, then perhaps the best place for this would be "Rant or Rave" as it is non-motorbike?