yes, i know that, the grid is comprised of 24 cars this year and f1 allows a max of 26 cars.

Edit: Never mind.

i must be confused then. thx for the clarification.

:thumbsup

try watching the two races one more time, you might notice that the big difference between the two types of racing is that in f1 they actually race the entire time, them there nascar boys are SAVING the car 470 miles of a 500 miles race. so if you watch the entire race you will see 15 minutes of real racing right before the end. the f1 boys race from the minute they leave the line, they either crash, blow up or finish the race.
i have been to indy to watch the f1 races and it is a shitty place to watch an f1 race for sure. i have also watched the f1 races in long beach ca where they run on a street course, the way god intended. holy shit was it awesome watching them in the streets, you can move around the track to get different views of the corners or straight away, you can get really close to the track for a much better view, its a whole different experience on a street course way more entertaining. its kind of like a block party with a race in the middle. indy was so boring and the cars were so far away even with binoculars it was hard to see the race. i think the average american is clueless as to the technology of the f1 cars, 20,000 rpms is too much to grasp. i dont think the americans understand how good you really need to be to drive an f1 car, the nascar guys couldn't hold their head up straight as the g forces would mash their heads into the side of the car. micheal andretti went from cart to f1 and got his ass kicked so badly he was humiliated, the first handful of races he couldn't even get out of the other drivers way and was hit on the starting grid...race over in 3 seconds. i don't think he scored a single point all year...unlike nascar you do not get points just for making it to the track and running a few practice laps, in f1 you have to actually earn points by being faster than the other drivers and finish ahead of them in the race to earn points. on the other hand mansell won a f1 championship then the next year won the cart championship, no one has ever gone from cart to be a f1 champ.

it' really not about nascar vs. f1, both have their positives and negatives.

I love the chase idea in Nascar but hate the wait till the end when the race often starts.

usf1 was a disaster from the start

nothing spectacular about the race today, was quite a bore, even if i do say so myself.

but bruno senna... DAMN!! its great to see the senna name!

i was watching the race when ayrton senna died it really sucked. another driver died on the opposite side of that s curve the day before and the track people did nothing, a pile of tires in each corner would have prevented both deaths. f1 wasn't the same for along time, senna was one of the few drivers that could carry an inferior car to win.

i know there is no vs. but it's such a shame that f1 never caught on here in the states. it's so much better racing in every respect. the old saying "racing improves the breed" holds true every where but nascar as no new technology trickle down from nascar...it's like racing harleys for christ sakes, push rod engines with carbs...yet americans love it. guess we really have become a nation of idiots :(

umm, i own a harley, fyi, harley are raced primarily in europe, not america.

Roland rateznberger I think also reubens barrichello was involved in a smash the same weekend
senna was the greatest driver ever. Even if statistically it's Schumacher

:upsidedow:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

oops, i didn't write this right. harleys are raced in europe, they are raced flat track in u.s. primarily in the south and they dominate NHRA.

forumla one definitely kicks ass!

I clicked your sig, but it's too big, no? :)

the early form:
Red Bull
Ferrari
Mercedes
Mclaren

What are your thoughts?

Raw pace wise, i have to think that the red bull is quicker than the ferrari, slightly

I have a feeling that this season is already won.
1st Alonso
2nd Massa
3rd Hamilton
4th SCHUMIIIIIII!

Hmm you forgot Vettel :winkwink:, he was by far the fastest in the race. He just had big trouble with his car (broken exhaust?), thats why he lost three places in the last few laps.

i think vettel have the fastest car at the moment, i think the title will go to alonso, but we shall see after a few more races and it aint over till its over !

Thought the race was boring as hell yesterday. Was really looking forward to the new F1 season, yet i didn't enjoy the race at all. Bring back the old pit stops!


The new points system is just crazy aswell!

The rest of the season will have to pick up a lot from the first race. Completely boring. They need to get the tyres and aero package sorted to make the racing interesting.

i hope ecclestone does something to make the racing more exciting, although i find him to be an idiot. it was basically a procession of cars going around the track after the start. with no refueling, tires, etc. it boils down to qualifying and the start, imo.

i have to admit: it was a tad boring. but i am sure after a few races they will get closer together when everyone is putting in improvements

:2 cents:

yup a tad boring, found it went really quick as well, but still, its only the first race, hopefully it will pick up, monaco will be fun! 24 cars all fighting for track position!

You think Ecclestone is an idiot?

i do. i find him to act like a egomaniacal puppet master. for example, at bahrain, there was a shortage of pit passes, so ecclestone revoked the passes of the all the driver's physical trainers, so guess what, all the drivers were not available pre-race on the grid for last minute interviews, photographs etc as they were all in their pits working with their trainers.

combine that with his comments re: hitler, saying senna's tragic death was good for f1 and various other retarded statements make him an idiot imo.

Bernie has a motor mouth but he knows his stuff!

yeah, perhaps idiot is too harsh, he has certainly been successful in his endeavours. and i am glad to see that he is wanting to stop the engineers' and scientists' making the rules.

i've never really understood the need to change the rules so much from season to season anyhoo, imagine if football rules where changed year to year.

Bernie is one of the smartest people the world has ever seen.

Rules need to be changed as the rate of development is so fast in F1 + there is a need to keep costs down and hopefully get the entertainment level up.

well, i believe that to be the opposite extreme from my idiot comment, while a savvy business man, i don't find him to be one of the smartest men mankind has ever seen.

i don't see the correlation between rule changes and cost-cutting/entertainment, i.e. no refueling clearly removed much entertainment and the cars all had to be redesigned to hold more fuel, certainly not cheap to do that.
having the top 10 run on their qualifying tires? why handicap the top 10 AND make overtaking virtually impossible? nothing entertaining about that. why would they change the point system for entertainment purposes or cost-cutting.

technology in F1 is insane, there was ana rticle after discussions with engineers, that within the next 20 years they will have the technology to create an engine by pouring a powder into a machine and after a few hours it churns out a full engine!


http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2009/1...ls-and-safety/

Even Richard Branson has said that he is one of the sharpest men he has ever met. Very very far from being a fool.

Unless you follow F1 it's pretty difficult to understand as it can change on a week to week basis.

in gp2 they handicap the top 10 by reversing the grid, so the man on pole starts 10th instead of first, to increase overtaking

They thought about that for F1 too but realised that they would cheat.

even richard branson? lolz. that's cool but that's still far from being one of the smartest people the world has ever seen. and where did i say anyone was a fool? i initially said *idiot* due to comments made, etc. and revised my words.



i do follow f1, how else would i know enough to form my opinion and while i don't try and portray myself as an expert on the subject, i do understand what's going on.

was f1 sucky when Senna, Clark, Cevert, Villeneuve, Pryce… were racing? of course not. yet the rules are beign changed yearly simply because fia wants to change them.

i'm not the only one who feels that these are needless changes.
fia risks alienating viewers due to rule changes every year without much foresight.

there's not another professional sport on the planet that handicaps the best so the worst can have a chance, instead the worst goes home and better get their shit together so they CAN compete with the best.

bahrain is a textbook example too, due to the rule changes guess what- we got a boring race and a 1-2 finish by ferrari- mission accomplished fia.

start the race on the qualifying tires, great, what if the weather changes from sat. to sunday, the top cars are going to be on dry tires in the rain or vice-versa? that sounds like a thought out rules change.

in the meantime, the most technologically advanced sport the world has ever seen is still broadcast in standard definition.

It's becoming more clear to me as to why the US has very little interest in F1 :thumbsup

f1 could learn a lot from nascar in regards to delivering more entertainment to fans.

:thumbsup

regardless, the teams/cars will adapt to the rules changes. they always do, and i don't doubt this season will be any different. but then the rules will be hastily changed again. diffusers are another classic example- double diffusers, then triple diffusers now guess what, double/triple diffusers are banned.

lol......

I think a mixture of the two would be good.