2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bull!!

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Everyone saw the rumors about F1 and Long Beach? Turns out not to be rumors- I just read a thing that has Indy Car renewing their contract until 2018, but Pook was interested in possibly adding an F1 date. The original note mentioned F1 waiting until 2018 officiall, but had more information.

Hmm, that's interesting.

I had no doubt F1 was poking around. But then, Bernie pokes around at a LOT of opportunities to see which ones stick (i.e., can make him a LOT of money).

[MattS]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

It looks like Kobayashi was right about GP2 cars being faster than F1 cars. Per Will Buxton:

Top Caterham in FP1: 1:42:417
Top Caterham in GP2: 1:42.388

Even though its FP1 that is still very, very sad. I'm OK with slowing down cars and making them be fuel efficient. But then the top feeder series needs to slow down their cars too.

[manurespreader]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

http://news.yahoo.com/schumacher-mom...100920735.html

[solovsfett]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

This is a fantastic race! Hamilton vs. Rosberg putting on a great show!

Ricciardo has outshone Vettel through 3 races and the kid never struck me as being that great. I wonder what's up w/the Vettel? AKA Punk

[MattS]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

That was the best F1 race I have watched in a long long time. Battles from 1st through 12th. Mercedes is the class of the field but unlike the RB of recent years there is actual battling between the teammates. And I am completely shocked by Perez in the Force India! Both by the FI finishing 3rd and that it was Perez and not Hulkenberg.

I am happy I am not working for Ferrari. I don't think they are going to have a pleasant couple of weeks in Maranello.

With Riccardo so far being the better drive in the RB is really makes me wonder if what is up with Vettel. Was Webber really that bad? Or is Riccardo that good? Or is the car just not to Vettel's liking? Interesting.....

[Runsub5]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

That was the best F1 race I have watched in a long long time. Battles from 1st through 12th. Mercedes is the class of the field but unlike the RB of recent years there is actual battling between the teammates. And I am completely shocked by Perez in the Force India! Both by the FI finishing 3rd and that it was Perez and not Hulkenberg.

I am happy I am not working for Ferrari. I don't think they are going to have a pleasant couple of weeks in Maranello.

With Riccardo so far being the better drive in the RB is really makes me wonder if what is up with Vettel. Was Webber really that bad? Or is Riccardo that good? Or is the car just not to Vettel's liking? Interesting.....

Vettle had issues with his car. At one point he had no DRS and was complaining about no power down the straight. In my opinion it's not the drivers who are inferior, it's the cars. One of the most competitive races in quite some time. Ferrari is in a bad way.

[joecct]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Reportedly Carl Haas has been granted an F1 license. Expected to field a team next year according to El Supremo.

[Timothy A]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Reportedly Carl Haas has been granted an F1 license. Expected to field a team next year according to El Supremo.

I wonder if he's got an engine supplier lined up already? He'd almost have to, I can't imagine one could get to this point without having a handshake agreement with someone. Are the regs for next year pretty much established to the point he could get a jump on next year's car this summer?

Paganaud and Bourdias are at the top of the practice time sheets, something we might have expected at the first race where they were both slower than expected.

I see Dragon Racing is listed as a Formula E team now, I had wondered if they had just given up racing or what the deal was. That series still has me very interested yet.

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Reportedly Carl Haas has been granted an F1 license. Expected to field a team next year according to El Supremo.

Umm, wrong Haas. Carl Haas has Alzheimer’s and would be in no condition to run an F1 team. Not to mention, been that, done that for Carl. And not very successfully once Beatrice realized they were p*ss*ng away truck loads of money...

It's Gene Haas, current owner of a NASCAR team as well as the most sophisticated wind tunnel in the world which many F1 teams use. And, I don't think it's official, yet. Just Bernie speculation. Though, Bernie speculation is usually spot on.

[MattS]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Umm, wrong Haas. Carl Haas has Alzheimer’s and would be in no condition to run an F1 team. Not to mention, been that, done that for Carl. And not very successfully once Beatrice realized they were p*ss*ng away truck loads of money...

It's Gene Haas, current owner of a NASCAR team as well as the most sophisticated wind tunnel in the world which many F1 teams use. And, I don't think it's official, yet. Just Bernie speculation. Though, Bernie speculation is usually spot on.

I think it's a done deal. At least Haas has announced it is and there is a press conference today about it.

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

I think it's a done deal. At least Haas has announced it is and there is a press conference today about it.

I have a good excuse not keeping up with racing news this past weekend. I was in Philly getting drunk ... I mean watching hockey games.

[alfablue]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

I have a good excuse not keeping up with racing news this past weekend. I was in Philly getting drunk ... I mean watching hockey games.

So we could have met in Philly? Shoot...

Anyway, the Haas deal is official- http://msn.foxsports.com/speed/formu...ngine-partner/

Could be Mercedes or Ferrari power, could be 2015 ("too soon") or 2016 ("too late") but it sounds like much of that will be wrapped up in the next four weeks. Mentioned Dallara as a chassis, and they had an interesting article last year about the HRT chassis, where they didn't get to do enough development before being turned away....

It does sound a lot like Haas will be a major sponsor to the team. His stated goal is to double sales.... interesting.

I wish him a lot of luck, and hope for success!

[MattS]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

I decided to watch Long beach this evening. It was a decent race until RHR decided to pull a boner and try to pass Newgarden when there just wasn't enough room. Even though I do not like Ed Carpenter I was pleased to see Conway win. It's a smart move for Ed to put him in the car on the non-ovals. Good move on him.

And the axe falls at Ferrari. Domencelli (sp?) got the boot today. I don't know if it was his fault Ferrari is not performing or not but sense they seem to be down on both engine power and their aero is bad again, something had to give. Hopefully this move will help turn around Ferrari's fortunes.

[Timothy A]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

I decided to watch Long beach this evening. It was a decent race until RHR decided to pull a boner and try to pass Newgarden when there just wasn't enough room. Even though I do not like Ed Carpenter I was pleased to see Conway win. It's a smart move for Ed to put him in the car on the non-ovals. Good move on him.

And the axe falls at Ferrari. Domencelli (sp?) got the boot today. I don't know if it was his fault Ferrari is not performing or not but sense they seem to be down on both engine power and their aero is bad again, something had to give. Hopefully this move will help turn around Ferrari's fortunes.

The Indycar race was a good one. PT was a little underwhelming in the booth, I was expecting a little more fire out of him, but he's got to get comfy with the booth to really let his personality shine. The actual racing coverage was bad, again so many passes left unshown. For instance, Andretti had a great start, then fell back and they didn't show a lick of it.

Do I smell Mr Braun coming back to Ferarri?

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

And the axe falls at Ferrari. Domencelli (sp?) got the boot today. I don't know if it was his fault Ferrari is not performing or not but sense they seem to be down on both engine power and their aero is bad again, something had to give. Hopefully this move will help turn around Ferrari's fortunes.

He wasn't fired. He quit. LOL