Looking forward - both titles still wide open

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by Glen

Ah yes - unlike all the other teams. If you believe that, you'll believe anything.

Haha, I should have seen that one coming. The two biggest dissapointment for me this year (until this weekend) have been:
1.) Ferrari agreeing to a new contract with Bernie, having a claus in this piece of paper stating Ferrari will receive most money from broadcast incomes.
2.) Ferrari not agreeing to the maximum of 30 days of testing, while all other nine teams (including the 2 other bridgestone teams) did! You could say it has been a dissapointment that it has taken Ferrari so long to get back with some speed after all the testing they have done.

I just think this is a bit selfish...

[Glen]

This is totally off topic - but can you not see that the other teams were in their turn trying to engineer the testing restrictions to corner Bridgestone? Make no mistake about it, this is multi-billion dollar business, and NONE of the big teams will agree to a single thing if it isn't in their own interests.

By the way, I'm very impressed that you have seen the Ferrari/FIA contract that gives them the most money - could you share it with us? Or are you dreaming?

[alfasud]

Originally Posted by N I Tram

If Ferrari win the title now it will be nothing short of scanadalous. They've exploited the situation for their own ends.

Bahrain - Bridgestone get it wrong - Michelin teams score maximum points.
Indy - Michelin get it wrong - Bridgestone teams score max points.

Why do people have a problem with that?

To be honest, I think the race has been a good one for Fernando Alonso.... my guess is that in the long run, any race where Kimi is scoring no points is a good race for Alonso and Renault.

Michael can still win, but he is going to have to race extremely well to catch up this gap. And if he does, we will probably get to see some amazing races and it will have been an amazing comeback. Hopefully people will be able to congratulate him if he does.

[kdr]

Originally Posted by alfasud

Michael can still win, but he is going to have to race extremely well to catch up this gap. And if he does, we will probably get to see some amazing races and it will have been an amazing comeback. Hopefully people will be able to congratulate him if he does.

i wouldn't hold your breath on that one...

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by Glen

This is totally off topic - but can you not see that the other teams were in their turn trying to engineer the testing restrictions to corner Bridgestone? Make no mistake about it, this is multi-billion dollar business, and NONE of the big teams will agree to a single thing if it isn't in their own interests.

Apologies to stay off topic, but I'm looking at this matter from a different angle. At the time this agreement was made, Bridgestone still had an advantage over Michelin. I know there are more teams testing for Michelin then there are for Bridgestone and therefore Michelin receives more data, but it also means Michelin has to produce a tyre that can be used by all those teams. As we have seen the Mclaren uses its tyres completely different than the Renault. Bridgestone on the other hand only makes a tyre that suits Ferrari and tries to help out Minardi and Jordan as well as they can during a race weekend. Therefore they do not need to test as much. Once Bridgestone has sorted out their problem over a one-lap qualifying (and I believe they are almost there), they will have a big advantage.

Do you think it was in the best interest of Toyota or Mclaren to agree to this testing limit at the time they made this agreement? Especially Toyota (it has been said this is the team with the biggest budget) was not in a form that they were going to win races...

Originally Posted by Glen

By the way, I'm very impressed that you have seen the Ferrari/FIA contract that gives them the most money - could you share it with us? Or are you dreaming?

I believe this was in a press-release on F1-live.com where it said Ferrari will have a financial advantage over the other teams...

[Glen]

What makes you think Bridgestone had an advantage to begin with?

Toyota and McLaren gain a different kind of advantage by trying to swing opinion against Ferrari. In any case testing limits are only a small part of the situation - what about simulations?

Since only Red Bull have signed as well as Ferrari I fail to see how anyone can know how the deals match-up.

[Don K]

Originally Posted by Gerben24

2.) Ferrari not agreeing to the maximum of 30 days of testing, while all other nine teams (including the 2 other bridgestone teams) did!

This was an "agreement" made on a meeting to which Ferrari was not invited.

To be more precise:
Nine teams got together trying to make that kind of agreement.
They failed, and decided to had more meetings to get to that agreement.
Finally they came up with something that was acceptable for those nine teams.

And than they assume that some miraclulous way this would turn out to be acceptable for the team that was banned from those meetings?

[Don K]

Originally Posted by Gerben24

I believe this was in a press-release on F1-live.com where it said Ferrari will have a financial advantage over the other teams...

That doesn't say anything.

For instance, under the current agreement, long-standing teams (like Ferrarie and Minardi) also have a financial advantage over the other teams.

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by Don K

This was an "agreement" made on a meeting to which Ferrari was not invited.

To be more precise:
Nine teams got together trying to make that kind of agreement.
They failed, and decided to had more meetings to get to that agreement.
Finally they came up with something that was acceptable for those nine teams.

And than they assume that some miraclulous way this would turn out to be acceptable for the team that was banned from those meetings?

Ferrari say they weren't invited. However, all other NINE teams say Ferrari was invited but decided not to attend.

Ferrari always say they weren't invited when there is a meeting regarding a subject which might not favour them...

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by Don K

That doesn't say anything.

For instance, under the current agreement, long-standing teams (like Ferrarie and Minardi) also have a financial advantage over the other teams.

It does say something. It says that one of the richest teams in the world is becoming even more rich!

[Don K]

Originally Posted by Gerben24

It does say something. It says that one of the richest teams in the world is becoming even more rich!

Since when is Minardi one of the richest teams in the world???

[Dutton]

Although I do think that the task ahead of Ferrari to win the titles is something of a challenge, and certainly not highly probably, there is something rumbling in the backgorund that just make me wonder.....is it now going to turn around, with Ferrari claiming both titles AGAIN?

Just to **** people off, you know.

[kdr]

if ferrari do win it now they/we can thank the point system put in a few years ago to stop them running away with it. that said..i don't think they will. but if michael notched up another say 3-4 wins and was running kimi/alonso close into the closing races, i don't see how some(and i've seen it said)can say its a travesty. kimi running michael close with 1 win(?)to his many was more a travesty...imho of course!

[chunterer]

Good summary kdr, my thoughts are almost the same.

But points set up aside, and based purely on form, i would take a long shot on Montoya rather than Schu coming from behind to put up a challenge.

Whilst we will never know, although Ferrari were 'on the pace' in qualy at Indy and set what appears to be strong lap times in the race we must still assume the McCedes would have won and is very much the form car.

However i still think that at the cooler races, and probably wet ones we might see vintage Schumacher...ie him running off into the distance with no opposition! But unless we have at least 4 of those, he doesn't stand a chance for the title...