Iceman

Yep.

Ricracing

The rumors say, that Honda's F1 engineers came up with the idea of the double diffuser,
and that one Honda engineer that went to Toyota took the idea with him.

And from Toyota the Williams (Toyota) got the hint...

So now, all the rest of the teams has some catching up to do.

Too much politics in the background, though.

BetterMakeWay

Oky to each of it's own! I still think that in the pinnacle of motor-sports rules and especially rules should not make room for any interpretation. Rules and laws are to be interpreted by lawyers in Court not by engineers in Sport. So more Sport more driver battle on the track and less Court. Less Court can be achieved by a stricter rule management not prone to much or any interpretations.

PS: I am very well aware that in F1 there has always been contestations during it's years of history, and it is ok to be so for quite small things that may allow one team or the other to get a slightly upper edge, but when such an interpretation leads to cars being 0.5 seconds faster than others on track, and we all know that 0.5 seconds per lap is eternity in F1, then for sure those are not small interpretations, and there isn't a sport anymore. And with this i end my replies to the subject.

Iceman

This "sport" has a strong technical side.
And therefore there need to be rules, that need to be interpreted... not by lawyers, by engineers who build the cars.
Small or not... The rules were written down and given to every team... if one team is reading and interpreting them correctly and the others aren't... it's not FIA's fault, no the fault of those that did an outstanding job in the intrpretion of the rules. If this leads to an advantage of .5 seconds per lap or even more... fine! Every team had the same chance. It would be unfair to tell three teams: yes, you are right, but we can't allow it, because the other teams did not understand the rules this way. Three teams have done their job. The others failed. FIA did everything correctly. In this sport a HUGE part is rules and interpretion of them. If you don't like it, don't watch it.

pigapumbu

+1.. thats what I suspected too. Honda basically was designing this car for much longer than all other teams. They put all their research resources into this new car and not one they were racing last year. Which brings me to my view about Honda. What a bunch of PL0NKERS!!!! hahaha.. affer all the milions spent in F1, hours and money spent on this 2009 car, they go and pull out of it right at the very end. Stupid or what??

The biggest joke is, they sold it for nominal sum of ONE pound,... so the rumours say. ONE POUND???? If anything, I would NEVER EVER BUY a honda cause if I did, I know I am buying a car from what must be the stupidest car manufacturer I have come across. Talk about business accumen...!!! or lack of it.

cheers

pigapumbu

I read what you are saying and agree on some bits. However I disagree on the part about having the rules. Its way over their own expertise to understant what they are trying to do with the rules. Lets face it, rules for safety,... YES. Rules which are not so clear but trying to waffle around some concept of slowing the cars down or save costs,... well thats a big NO.

And FIA are contradicting their own strategy on cost cutting, etc. Why insist teams use different tyre choices per race? That means more development for each type of tyre. Forget it, just bring one type to suit the track. Hard or soft and one rain tyre. Thats it.

Why have compulsary fuel stops? All that extra rig for fuel, handling, cargo can be binned and money saved.

Why have underfloor panels, and aero bits. Just look at the cars senna was in when he won the championship for Mclaren. Simple, great looking and those cars made racing exciting. Compare that with the 2009 cars. UGLY, too complex, and no fun. ban all the extra bits that hang out on the body work for a start. Just allow a simple front and rear wing. No barge boards, no side fins, blah blah blah. Writing rules for that can be so much simpler and straight forward asopposed to what they are doing now.

Why did FIA bring in KERS? More wasted money, more complex for the cars, more complex for us to watch and again, not all cars on a similar playing field. KERS needs to be banned, and if FIA are commited to saving the planet, then impose everyone to use a better fuel for the cars to race with or better still, improve on the fuel economy of these F1 cars. Now that will benefit us if they can improve our petrol cars to use much less petrol. Then I can be back in a 550i BMW instead of this 535d.

Come on, lets face it. Half,.. no,.. almost all the problem with F1 today has been the meddling of FIA into a sport that really wasn't broken in the first place.

cheers

ps: and FIA need to remove all the rules placed on the drivers on how to race. I want to see reall racing and not drivers allow other cars to pass just because they aren't allowed to block and weave. Do you remember how senna kept Mansel behind in Monaco despite the Mclaren being the slower car? If you did watch that race, try and remember how exciting it was to watch those last few laps. I nearly fell off my chair despite not liking both drivers. BUT that race is one thats etched in my memory. Can't say any race over the past few years have been worth shouting about.

swajames

Honda's decision was based on anticipated future spend, not historic spend. Honda did F1 a great service by making sure the team survived, hence the sale for a nominal value. Frankly, anyone with even the most limited intelligence knows that the 2009 car is largely a Honda design. So let me ask you a question. Who is more "stupid" (to use your phrase) - Honda, or the teams like Ferrari, McLaren and BMW who sunk millions into building uncompetitive cars?

MiamiPhill

It appears that McLaren is running a NEW diffuser on LH's car...?
...and now most wins not most points wins the championship?

MiamiPhill

2009 FORMULA 1 CHINESE GRAND PRIX FRIDAY PRACTICE 1

Pos No Driver Team Time Gap

1 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren- 1:37.334
2 22 Jenson Button Brawn 1:37.450 0.116
3 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn 1:37.566 0.232
4 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren 1:37.672 0.338
5 14 Mark Webber RBR 1:37.752 0.418
6 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:37.764 0.430
7 16 Nico Rosberg Williams 1:37.860 0.526
8 10 Timo Glock Toyota 1:37.894 0.560
9 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:38.089 0.755
10 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR 1:38.195 0.861
11 4 Kimi R?ikk?nen Ferrari 1:38.223 0.889
12 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR 1:38.274 0.940
13 12 Sebastien Buemi STR 1:38.307 0.973
14 20 Adrian Sutil Force India1:38.319 0.985
15 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:38.418 1.084
16 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:38.456 1.122
17 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India1:38.460 1.126
18 5 Robert Kubica BMW 1:38.463 1.129
19 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1:38.730 1.396
20 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:38.825 1.491

Iceman

+1