No title sponsor, a new chief engineer who has been guilty of cheating in the past, 1 driver paid for by Venezuelan oil money and (if the rumours are to be believed) another paid for by Brazilian sponsors.... such a shame to see them fall so far.
Bit of (possibly) good news for anyone with Virgin TV; they've confirmed that Sky F1 will be coming to service, although it sounds like it'll be part of the sports pack. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97040
As far as I can tell, you don't have to subscribe to the rest of the Sky Sports package, you should be able to opt for just Sky F1. I'm going to ring Virgin later to clarify when I get home. But good news though as up until as late as last Friday, Virgin couldn't confirm if the deal was going ahead and said if anything was going to be announced, it would be sometime in February. This news coupled with the doublespeed broadband and my Tivo box being installed on Friday, I'm a very happy Virgin Media customer!
So: Ferrari's Chassis passes crash tesing on attempt 2. DRS Rules are to stay, though the zones are going to be adjusted. McLaren have revealed that Jenson will spend the first two days in their new car, the Lewis will spend the next 2 days. Testing obviously starts on February 7th. Also, James Allen has a good piece on patents in F1, and why there are only very few...
Have lotus been a bit rubbish at hiding this system or did they have to announce it for technical safety reasons? They look to have played their cards a bit early.
I think it's one of those systems they couldn't really hide - it was spotted at the young driver test iirc, but being on the back of the hub, once the covers are off and the 'togs are around it's going to get into the open sooner or later. Something hidden down the back of the car is easier to hide, but innovation on the front wheels/wing is always going to be found out.
Yeah... once the wheels are around, the media finds things like that. ESPECIALLY at events like the Young Drivers' tests and Friday Practice, where there's a good chance of teams running new parts, photographers are good at finding things. It kinda reminds me of the time that Darren Heath (IIRC... might be wrong) stuck a camera inside the cockpit of a McLaren (my memory is a bit shady on this one, but I seem to recall it being a McLaren) only to discover more pedals than there should be...
Damon Hill joins the Sky F1 commentary team. http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12433/7438312/Damon-Hill-joins-Sky-team
According to @Jamesallenonf1 - Senna says that the family's reaction to Williams news is 'ecstatic', including his grandparents, Ayrton's Mother and Father. I'm glad that his Family accept that Williams were not to blame for Senna's fatal accident.
Good to see Bruno has got a race drive this year, hopefully we'll see him at least spanking Maldonado. That leaves Barichello out in the cold, and with just one seat left open (at HRT), this might be the first season in 20 without Rubinho on the grid.
Senna at Williams is good news. I was holding thumbs for him to get the Williams drive (over, say, Barichello). He's scored points last year, and if what Williams says is true about his learning ability, then we might just see him go places. Would be nice... In other news, Red Bull announced that their car will launch at 13:00 on February 6th, one day before testing. Pics will be visible on their website. re-edit: Abotu the HRT seat... I know the rumormill (a.k.a. PlanetF1) suggests that he turned it down already, I reckon that seat belongs to Alguersuari...
Force India have also announced details of their Silverstone launch on February 3rd, added both to OP. Spanish newspaper Marca is claiming that the second HRT seat will cost a driver at least €6m...that's obviously the best way to get a quality driver http://www.f1zone.net/news/second-hrt-driver-to-pay-eur-6-million/11578/
Nightmare! Never take a laptop apart on wooden floor, drop one screw and you're FUBAR! They say F1 Drivers are just high speed engineers/technicians these days, so wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them are techies.
Kubica's new profession... sorry. Autosport International vids It's great to hear from the old boys, and Jake, DC and EJ are funny too.