F1 2007 Season

[Kevin Slegg]

I see Red Bull have got their hands on Renualt engines

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/5348848.stm

[BigFoot]

Those will probably go to Toro Rosso given Red Bull still have one year's contract with Ferrari.

[73GTVJim]

Very interesting. I wonder if they'll dump the Cosworth and keep Ferrari in the Scuderia cars? If they run similar chassis it will be very interesting to see how RBR fares against the TR cars in that case.

[73GTVJim]

Originally Posted by BigFoot

Those will probably go to Toro Rosso given Red Bull still have one year's contract with Ferrari.

Maybe the Group deal will allow it the other way around? (Does it matter? I suppose I was thinking along Latin lines ).

[Kevin Slegg]

Yeah. given that Toro Rosso is Italian for Red Bull I would have thought they'd keep the Ferrari engines in them?

Then again I suppose it depends on what they think the best engine is?

[BigFoot]

Not sure if the rules allow it but it'd be good to have split cars One RB with a Ferrari engine, and one with the Renault and likewise for the Toros

Ok, I'll stop the blabbering here...

[Kevin Slegg]

Originally Posted by BigFoot

Not sure if the rules allow it but it'd be good to have split cars One RB with a Ferrari engine, and one with the Renault and likewise for the Toros

Ok, I'll stop the blabbering here...

Actually I was thinking the same - but I think you're right the rules wouldn't allow it

[Gary Slegg]

It would also be impossible to desing a competitive car that would accept both engines as the cooling etc would be different, as would the suspension.

Its interesting that RBR are so keen to ue the Renault engine instead of the Ferrari...

[BigFoot]

Maybe Ferrari didn't want to service them anymore.

RBR's results haven't been particularly exciting, though old Squarejaw has been driving rather well.

[BigFoot]

That's it, teams agree the engine homologation for 2007

The homologation change means that whatever engines teams use at next month’s Japanese Grand Prix must also be used for the 2007 season. The engines will be limited to 19,000 rpm next year and full details of their consequent retuning must be submitted to the FIA by the middle of December.

[Ralf S.]

The issues are;

a) Adrian Newey is designing next year's Red Bull

b) Next year's Toro is going to be based on the RB2 (this year's car).

Newey always designed his cars to be tightly packaged. He is "credited" with the general unreliability of the 2005 McLaren, as in a tightly packaged configuration, everything is more vulnerable. By all accounts the Macca ran very hot and servicing it was fiddly at best, though they did put the entire engine and gearbox on a subframe (allowed an engine change in 20 minutes).

Anyway, the Renoort donkey has tighter packaging for its ancillaries and has better heat rejection figures (i.e. it runs cooler than the Ferrari engine). If you were Newey, designing your typical car like you're famous for, then these characteristics would give you an easier time of it.

By comparison, next year's Toro will be a recycled RB2. The engine bay has already been designed for the Ferrari engine. You'd want to just transfer the power plant straight in there.

From Ferrari's perspective, you would not want Red Bull to "dump" your motor for the Renort. Quite obvious inference, from a typical punter's point of view is that Renaort engine is better.

Add to this that the Red Bull is a new car, designed by Newey and that the "Toro is last year's Red Bull" and that the Red Bull will run Coulthard and Webber, while Toro have Liuzi and Speed, then you can see that in theory a Renaout Red Bull will thrash the pants off the Ferrari Toro. If you were Ferrari why would you want that?

It'll be interesting to see what happens ... but my money is on the RB3 being the most unreliable of the mid-table teams next year, whichever engine it ends up with. Newey and Reliable seems to not always go together (though he did okay at Williams Renault, so who knows...?) That Renault engine would seem to be quite important to Newey/Red Bull.

Ralf S.

[andbur]

His Cart chassis' were very good, one of his won the Indy 500, and the Cart titles in 85 and 86.

I think he can still surprise a few people.

[JasonGT]

The rules are only an issue in terms of chassis design as I understand it.

Red Bull Racing are going to run with the Renault engines and Scuderia Torro Rosso will run with the Ferrari engine.

I understand that the contract with Ferrari was with Red Bull, the parent company, not Red Bull Racing and therefore they managed to get out of the stipulation that their top team must use Ferrari engines.

Throughout this year the Red Bull team have been pretty frustrated by the comparable lack of power and reliability issues up against the Ferrari team regarding the engines. I think the were being a bit niave if they thought that they would be getting the exact engine that the Ferrari team were going to be using!

There is also a rumour that the newly named Spyker team will be running Ferrari engines next season as the main backer behind the Spyker consortium is also a major shareholder in Ferrari....

The sad part of all this could be the demise of Cosworth which would be a huge shame.

[BigFoot]

Originally Posted by JasonGT

There is also a rumour that the newly named Spyker team will be running Ferrari engines next season as the main backer behind the Spyker consortium is also a major shareholder in Ferrari....

The Mubadala Development Company?

It certainly isn't FIAT or Mediobanca, the other shareholders...

[JasonGT]

Not sure Big Foot but I think you may be right on that one!

[BigFoot]

By the way, those are the same guys who are setting up a Ferrari theme park in the UAE.

[BigFoot]

FYI: German GP in 2007

The Nurburgring will get the race in 2007 and 2009, and Hockenheim in 2008 and 2010, after which the arrangement will presumably be revisited.

[BigFoot]

Another update: Spyker to get Ferrari engines in 2007

Ferrari do love their backmarkers don't they

[Gilbertr14]

[QUOTE=JasonGT]

There is also a rumour that the newly named Spyker team will be running Ferrari engines next season as the main backer behind the Spyker consortium is also a major shareholder in Ferrari....

/[QUOTE]

Here it is

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns17544.html

and here

http://www.formula1.com/news/5035.html

So I take it is Official

There is also the superstition in F1 that no Ferrari backed team apart from Ferrari have ever won a constructors.

[BigFoot]

FYI, South Korea is to host a Formula One grand prix from 2010...

[BigFoot]

So also Jacques makes it to Nascar. Maybe they'll let him play his tunes during the commercial breaks?

[BigFoot]

Some new rules for 2007 (released yesterday by FIA)

- Teams will not be allowed to run three cars at Grand Prix practice sessions
- Friday's two free practice sessions are being extended by half-an-hour each from 60 to 90 minutes
- The team's third driver will still be able to drive in these sessions but not in a separate vehicle
- Friday practice will also gain exemption from the two-engine rules
- Teams will have 14 sets per driver available each weekend, double the current amount.
- Any lapped vehicle lying between cars running on the lead lap will now have to pass the safety car, complete a full circuit to catch up with the pack, and take up a position at the back of the line of cars behind the safety car.

[Gramat]

F1 regulations changes for 2007

The FIA’s World Motorsport Council met in Barcelona on Wednesday and subsequently confirmed a number of changes to Formula One racing’s sporting regulations for 2007 and beyond.

Among the key changes for next season are alterations to the Grand Prix weekend format. Fridays will now feature two 90-minute sessions, with teams allowed to use a third driver, but only two cars. The two-race engine rule will no longer apply on Friday, so anyone experiencing an early failure will not be penalised with a grid penalty.

Under next year’s move to a single tyre supplier, each team will receive only two specifications of tyre per event. However, they will get more sets - four per driver on the Friday and ten for the remainder of the weekend.

Safety car regulations have also been modified to prevent drivers diving for the pits the minute the safety car comes onto the circuit, and to stop backmarkers interfering with the leaders during a race restart.

And in a move to further improve safety in the sport, a GPS marshalling system, involving a cockpit light display of flag signals, will be introduced for next season.

[Formula1.com]

[Kevin Slegg]

Thanks for that gramat - sorry there's no 'thankyou' button in this forum

[BigFoot]

It appears that Hyundai are looking to enter F1 in 2010






Wait for it