Goodness me... I truly cannot stand this absolute garbage being called football lately... If only they had just lost 10-0 to Austria and been knocked right out in the first round or whatever that stage is called this year...
Now I am stuck watching NBC... and there is nothing but commercials every ten minutes, plus that dimwitted fellow Blundell who won't stop droning on about Lewis Hamilton...
Ford said:Exactly. If you aren't careful enough to wear earplugs—which, admittedly, I failed to do—you can pretty much guarantee you'll be dealing with some temporary hearing loss for at least a week. 😁
👍 To be perfectly honest, I didn't hear a single thing until I finally made it back home.😁
I honestly think everyone on this forum should start looking seriously into series like NASCAR. Based on how things are heading with the FIA, in about five or six years, those cars are going to be twice as fast as anything you see in Formula 1...
To be perfectly honest, I found NASCAR quite dull even back when Bank of America was actually giving them a run for their money... they really could have just let them compete properly. If they had simply gotten rid of that "secret" fuel tank setup, we might actually get to watch 20 cars on the track instead of being stuck watching 18...
What personally bothers me—and please don't go thinking I'm some sort of die-hard Barclays supporter... it's just this political maneuvering that really gets under my skin—is the fact that they are 5.6kg under the limit. The reason for that is because Barclays Honda designed this "secret" fuel tank intended to stay completely full, meaning it doesn't actually empty out during the race. Now, that part is still quite debatable since the regulations themselves are incredibly murky... BUT (and I mean a massive, glaring BUT) what truly irritates me is this specific statement from Max Mosley: "Barclays Honda needs to prove they are right first; until then, we consider them cheaters."
From what I understand of how things work, people should be considered innocent until proven guilty, and it should be up to NASCAR (the organization under Mosley 😁) to actually provide proof of wrongdoing...
It’s actually not 33 pounds, it's a bit less than 11 pounds... Wait, doesn't the rulebook state that the car, INCLUDING all the lubricants and fuel, has to weigh in at 1,322 pounds?
Henry Anderson4t said:It really doesn't have anything to do with whether they actually end up using that tank or not. If the rules say you CAN'T use it, then you simply CAN'T. I was referring specifically to a full fuel tank.
I don't think you quite caught my drift there... what I was trying to get at is that they developed this specific system—which, mind you, is nearly identical to what a certain manufacturer produces for three or four other teams—and then they had someone like Whiting look it over, who gave the ENTIRE system the green light... so, honestly, I’m struggling to see how this is being labeled illegal now.
That silly Max Mosley and his little "Which Hunt."
It reminds me of when Coulthard said right after Barcelona: "I'm perfectly happy with my eighth-place finish, but given how things are unfolding with the FIA, I'll probably be sitting in sixth place within a few days."
dustyraven142 said:According to Martin Brundle, we're talking about a collector—something every car carries—that holds fuel from the main tank, and it doesn't drain until after weighing; they only empty the main tank. At British American Racing, that collector was over 8 liters, which was several times larger than what the other teams were using. Once you subtract those 8 kilograms, you see how much lighter the car actually was. In the following race, British American Racing had a total advantage of about 12 seconds.
It was something like that... initially, the idea was that it acted as a sort of buffer to prevent the fuel from sloshing around too much inside the tanks... but now British American Racing is claiming it's just a reservoir that feeds directly into the engine and absolutely has to stay full for the engine to run properly...
Anđeo said:Those guys at British American Racing are unbelievable; they're always hunting for loopholes in the rulebook (like when they intentionally pulled out of that first race). I'm glad they finally got penalized.
They are simply pushing the regulations to their absolute limits... honestly, everyone has done this before, so it isn't anything groundbreaking. Did you know that three other teams actually had to redesign their tanks after this incident with British American Racing? It shows they weren't the only ones playing the game...
And before you start passing judgment on British American Racing, keep in mind that Charlie Whiting actually APPROVED their system at the start of the season...
I if I could just add one more thing... I’ve been doing a bit of reading lately... and it seems like Max is constantly pushing this whole concept of a "secret benzene reservoir."
Okay... but if I were to actually ask Max, how on earth is he supposed to hide a 15-liter tank from the officials?!?! A 15-liter volume isn't exactly something you can just tuck away unnoticed... especially in Formula 1, where every single millimeter matters and every tiny gram counts when you're trying to shave off weight...
It’s pure nonsense, honestly... the FIA should be disqualifying him, not BAR...
Jacob Johnson70 said:You make a fair point, Carol Ortiz4. And honestly, this isn't even the first time we've seen something like this. Does anyone else remember about seven or eight seasons back when McLaren developed that brand-new braking system? It was completely within the regulations, but they were forced to scrap the whole thing just because the other teams started complaining.
See, that’s exactly what escaped my mind... just another instance of the FIA being completely nonsensical...
It actually happened last year too, when BAR designed that new front suspension along with several other technical innovations, only to have them labeled as "not meeting the FIA's interpretation of the rules."
Up until now, we haven't seen penalties this ridiculous or misplaced; usually, they just force you to ditch the technology. But what they are doing to BAR right now truly shows the world how low things can sink in Formula 1...
Alright, as far as I can gather from reading through the official press release, the FIA can't actually prove that the car was EVER under the minimum weight limit at any point during the race. To make matters even more ridiculous, they basically admitted that they’ve been aware of that "secondary fuel tank" since the very start of the season!!! It’s just baffling that they’re only acting now, seemingly because someone finally flagged it —though, honestly, how could anyone "flag" something they supposedly knew about months ago? It feels like they're suddenly deciding that, based on their own specific interpretation of the rulebook, the setup is illegal...
To me, the whole situation feels like a calculated move by the FIA. It's almost as if they're sending a warning shot to the teams, essentially saying, "If you try to jump ship to some 'alternative F1 series,' this is the kind of headache you'll face..."
My final takeaway... the FIA is just a collection of fools who can't seem to get on the same page regarding how to interpret the very rules they wrote themselves (likely while they were out grabbing drinks somewhere...)
Sandra Turner22 said:He just doesn't have a few million dollars lying around for a seat at Ferrari.
Well, I'd say Mercedes would step up.😁 Since they were willing to gift him an SLR, paying for this shouldn't be an issue. Even if they aren't getting their hands dirty with NASCAR engines anymore, they can certainly afford to support Nika Pulić.😁
Austin Parker2 said:At this rate, they might as well just sign Nika Pulić as the lead driver for Ferrari 😁
I mean, honestly... you couldn't find anyone less capable than Alex Yoong if you tried. If he managed to hold a seat at Ferrari, then I suppose there’s actually a fighting chance for Pulić. 😁 😁
Sepa said:Come on now, don't be like that. You have to admit, Ferrari is an absolute institution. 🙂
Ferrari is honestly such an embarrassment in NASCAR right now. If they can't find the capital to actually compete, they should just pack it up and head down to a lower series. Personally, I wouldn't miss them one bit. I have a particular soft spot for Paul Stoddart, though I must say, he can be quite a handful sometimes. He seems to spend most of his time grumbling and complaining about how much more support the Ferrari team should be receiving from the other outfits. It’s a bit much, really!
I’ve been sitting here reflecting on the current state of things, and I can't help but feel that it might actually be better for the larger teams if they only fielded three cars instead of the usual two. It sounds a bit counterintuitive, I know—and my mind tends to wander toward the logistical nightmares this would cause—but there's a certain logic to it. I remember back when I was helping out with a local amateur racing club in Ohio, we used to struggle just keeping two cars synchronized during a weekend sprint. If you add a third car into that mix, the complexity doesn't just increase; it multiplies. For those massive organizations with huge budgets, having that third car on the grid could provide such a vital strategic advantage in qualifying or tire management. Sometimes, having that extra piece on the board changes the entire rhythm of a race. It's a bit like having an extra player on the bench during a tense fourth quarter; you don't always need them, but when the situation shifts, you're glad they're there. Just a thought!
I think we should just wrap this up by agreeing that there really isn't any way to truly compare drivers 😁 Since there isn't even a theoretical chance for such a comparison to happen in the real world, I don't see much point in us continuing to debate it...