Retro_Link Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/16528921.stm Ferrari's Fernando Alonso is excited by F1 golden era With the return of Kimi Raikkonen, there will be six world champions racing in 2012, more than ever before. "It is great and it puts the level of the championship higher than ever," said double-champion Alonso. "We will enjoy the championship, the spectators will enjoy it. We can have some good races with good emotion." Drivers and Teams Red Bull - Sebastian Vettel/Mark Webber McLaren - Jenson Button/Lewis Hamilton Ferrari - Fernando Alonso/Felipe Massa Mercedes - Nico Rosberg/Michael Schumacher Lotus - Kimi Raikkonen/Romain Grosjean Force India - Paul di Resta/Nico Hulkenberg Sauber - Kamui Kobayashi/Sergio Perez Toro Rosso - Daniel Ricciardo/Jean-Eric Vergne Williams - Pastor Maldonado/Bruno Senna Caterham - Heikki Kovalainen/Jarno Trulli HRT - Pedro de la Rosa/Narain Karthikeyan Marussia - Timo Glock/Charles Pic 2012 Race Calender Green = LIVE BBC Races Australia - 18th March Malaysia - 25th March China - 15th April Bahrain - 22nd April Spain - 13th May Monaco - 27th May Canada - 10th June Europe/Valencia - 24th June Britain- 8th July Germany - 22nd July Hungary - 29th July Belgium - 2nd September Italy - 9th September Singapore - 23rd September Japan - 7th October Korea - 14th October India - 28th October Abu Dhabi - 4th November USA - 18th November Brazil - 25th November 2012 Car Launches Jan 26th - Caterham Feb 1st - McLaren Feb 3rd - Ferrari, Force India Feb 5th - Lotus Feb 6th - Red Bull, Sauber Feb 7th - Toro Rosso Feb 21st - Mercedes, Marussia BBC/SKY aside, I'm REALLY looking forward to this year!! Edited February 25, 2012 by Retro_Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaggle64 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Nice choice of image there Retro. Six world champs on the grid next year is gonna be epic! Also, here are the car launch dates so far confirmed - McLaren, 1 February, Woking Ferrari, 3 February, Maranello Force India, 3 February, Silverstone Sauber, 6 February, Jerez Red Bull, 6 February, Online Can't wait just to see what they've cooked up for this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Link Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 Thanks for those launch dates @gaggle64! Didn't realise some were launching earlier than the first test. Lotus are launching on the 6th too I believe. Yeah the new cars are always really exciting to see!! Anyone thinking of going to any races or anything this year? I know @Goron3 has said he's going to Silverstone. I'm thinking of looking into Hungary this year. Pretty cheap tickets, good view of the track and a great city! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Nice work! Love the F1 thread Definitely looking forward to this season, hoping Alonso can have a better year and it would be nice to see Lewis on form. I hope some of the teams at the back can start to make their way up the grid too, nice to see some progress over a few years. If they have the US Grand Prix then I will definitely go to it. I'd like to go to more, if I happen to be in roughly the right area at the right time I will try to get to another. If my money is looking good later in the year I'll try to go to the Japanese race. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murr Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Agree with @will&\#39; with regards to back runner team's making strides through the grid. Would like to see Caterham climb higher, and would like to see Sauber progress again this season, they did fantastic to finish ahead of Toro Rosso, would like to see them contest a higher constructors finish, pipping force India is a definite possibility. Can't wait to see the cars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald Emblem Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) I'm torn really, whilst I look forward to the championship battle, I have no driver to support now. However looks like he won't hang his helmet up for good, if Barrichello does go to another motor sport series I will try and follow him on that. http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2012/1/12937.html Any grid would be lucky to have him Edited January 19, 2012 by Emerald Emblem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Link Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 lol, The FIA are such a joke! http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97127 FIA bans reactive ride height system for 2012 Formula 1 teams have been told that the reactive suspension system pioneered by Lotus has been banned for the 2012 season. Sources have confirmed that a note was sent from the FIA to all teams on Friday evening indicating that the governing body was no longer satisfied the concept - which regulates ride height under braking - was still legal. It is not clear why the FIA has decided now that the reactive systems should be outlawed, after AUTOSPORT revealed last week that it had given the green light to the Lotus idea as long ago as last January. Rival teams are likely, however, to have made an effort to prove to the FIA that the Lotus system was in contravention of the regulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald Emblem Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Politics, politics, politics! That's all it's been about the past few seasons, it's become very tiresome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Link Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 Couldn't agree more! It's the inconsistancy of F1 that gets me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaggle64 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 (edited) That darn kid's at it again. Also, the new Caterham will be revealed in F1 Magazine on January 26th. Lotus will launch online on February 5th and Torro Rosso confirmed it will be running it's new model at the first test on the 7th. Marussia & Mercedes will run theirs at the 2nd test, with the Merc to be revealed on the 21st of February. Not long to go! Here's the Test calender too if you want it. 7 Feb Circuito Permanente de Jerez 8 Feb Circuito Permanente de Jerez 9 Feb Circuito Permanente de Jerez 10 Feb Circuito Permanente de Jerez 21 Feb Circuit de Catalunya 22 Feb Circuit de Catalunya 23 Feb Circuit de Catalunya 24 Feb Circuit de Catalunya 1 Mar Circuit de Catalunya 2 Mar Circuit de Catalunya 3 Mar Circuit de Catalunya 4 Mar Circuit de Catalunya 1 May Mugello Circuit 2 May Mugello Circuit 3 May Mugello Circuit Edited January 22, 2012 by gaggle64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Link Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 Cheers @gaggle64, I've added the Car Launch dates to the opening post. So no word from Williams on a car launch yet. I think it's incredibly lame that HRT are once again struggling to get ready for the new season and have said again that they'll be ready to run for the first race. Kimi's getting back in an F1 car tomorrow! Two days of Practice in an old 2010 Renault running on some test tyres or something. Lotus Renault GP: "Kimi will be completing a few hours of driving each day (in Valencia), and we will be providing both video and pictures! Stay tuned!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goron_3 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Completely ignored this thread as revision has taken priority but good lord, this season is going to be incredible! New race in the states will help spice things up alongside 6 world champions driving across 5 different teams..sensational. Massa will be fighting for his seat, Alonso will be pushing as hard as ever and you've got an amazing interteam battle at Mclaren. Add that to Schumacher back on form and a quick Rosberg and you've got many drivers capable of podiums. Also, so hyped for Kimi to be back I'm going to Silverstone this year, bare hyped. Trying to go to Hungary as well but it's not certain. Either way, an N-Europe meet is defo needed. I'm tempted by testing in Mugello, anyone know if it's free to gain access to the place or how expensive it is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaggle64 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Guess who's back, back again. Guess who's back, tell a friend. Audio This is also now Kimi's official theme song, by decree of me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Link Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 (edited) Edited January 23, 2012 by Retro_Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Link Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Even I'll admit the 'Return of a Legend' is a bit much... but here's a video Lotus put together from today... The helmet looks lovely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramar Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 I'm struggling to find interest this year knowing half the races aren't live on crap man's tv. Bloody Sky ruin everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 I think I'd be super pissed were I in the UK. As it is I'll do the same as I did this year, watch the iPlayer coverage when I wake up in the morning and then have the forum on while I potter about. Just thank the lord you don't have to watch any of it on Speed TV, not only do you have to pay, it's utter utter crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald Emblem Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I'm struggling to find interest this year knowing half the races aren't live on crap man's tv. Bloody Sky ruin everything. I think the blame should largely be placed on Bernie Ecclestone, money grabber that he is. The one weekend my family goes on holiday and the race won't be on the BBC, such rotten luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Link Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 (edited) THERE ARE NO WORDS... The Caterham CT01... Just reading on Autosports, apparently this nose design is probably standard across all cars!!! Nice one FIA! In 4 years you've gone from some of the prettiest to the ugliest F1 cars ever! God I hope the top teams find a way around the raised nose height design... F1 can't look like this! Edited January 25, 2012 by Retro_Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaggle64 Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Everyone's complaining how "ugly" it is but a race car's beauty is directly proportional to success as a race car, because race car. Let it compete first, then we'll find out exactly how beautiful it is. Besides, odder things have happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Link Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 Is that really how you see it though? The Red Bull 10/11 has been one of the most successful F1 cars ever... but I wouldn't call it a beautiful F1 car. I don't mind the F1 cars we've had since '09, and I might say I like certain ones, but that's only because I've come to accept them as standard over the last few years. Put an 2005/6 McLaren MP4-20/21 on the track amongst them, and there's no comparison! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murr Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Put an 2005/6 McLaren MP4-20/21 on the track amongst them, and there's no comparison! See I prefer this.... to this.. Also while looking for the pictures on Google Images this caught my eye.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Link Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 (edited) @Murr... OK that's a bad angle, that and the late 2006 cars had too many stick on parts. And importantly for me, they look like a step up from the other Formula's, the pinacle of car design. But OK, everyone's gonna have their favourites... I think we can all agree it won't be the 2012 cars though! :p Edited January 25, 2012 by Retro_Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaggle64 Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 (edited) Is that really how you see it though? The Red Bull 10/11 has been one of the most successful F1 cars ever... but I wouldn't call it a beautiful F1 car. I don't mind the F1 cars we've had since '09, and I might say I like certain ones, but that's only because I've come to accept them as standard over the last few years. Put an 2005/6 McLaren MP4-20/21 on the track amongst them, and there's no comparison! But decades from now it'll be the Red Bull with pride of place in the museum, splashed across sports books and ogled in wistful sports articles and blog posts. So will the 2008 Mclaren '23, which looks like an Airfix kit threw up on it but it won the championship, and so it sits on it's own pedestal. The disastrous 2009 entry looked like a smooth sci-fi arrow but can't be forgotten quickly enough. Aesthetics are all very well but beautiful looks and beautiful engineering aren't the same thing. You can appreciate form but in F1 function is the be-all and end-all. Your car can be sculpted like a lithe Greek goddess but if it's waddling around the back of the pack like an obese hippo it'll never look uglier. Conversely a car can have a bulbous nose, obtuse sidepods or obscene fin tail but if it wins it'll be the one everyone wants to get to know, to study, to pin on the wall and stare at. It'll be the car that people associate with victory, triumph and glory - a wonky nose won't change that. Edited January 25, 2012 by gaggle64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Link Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 That may all be true, but a cars success doesn't make it a beautiful car, it makes it just that... a successful one. People remember the winning cars, but the fans also remember the beautiful cars... which is why discussions like these come up around car launches. People will always have a favourite era of design, or favourite cars, a favourite livery, a favourite helmet. They don't have to be winning ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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