Formula One 2009

[hackerjack]

If he'd worked his way up in F1 like just about everyone else

Would you please like to clarify that ? According to Wikipedia this is Lewis's path to F1 (which took 7 years in the junior ranks):

2000 World Formula A Championship / European Formula A Championship / Formula A World Cup

2001 Formula Super A World Championship

2002 Formula Renault UK

2003 Formula Renault UK

2004 Formula Three Euroseries

2005 Formula Three Euroseries

2006 GP2 Series

2007 Formula One

Now compare that to some of the other top drivers and we'll see how long they "worked their way up" shall we?

Massa (4 years):

1998 Formula Chevrolet Brazil

1999 Formula Chevrolet Brazil

2000 Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup / Formula Renault 2000 Italy

2001 Euro Formula 3000 / European Supertouring Championship

2002 Formula One

Raikkonnen (2 years):

1999 European Formula Ford / Formula Ford Festival / Formula Renault 2000 UK

2000 Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup / Formula Renault 2000 UK

2001 Formula One

Kubica (6 years):

2000 Formula Renault 2000

2001 Formula Renault 2000

2002 Formula Renault 2000

2003 Formula Three Euroseries / British Formula Three

2004 Formula Three Euroseries

2005 World Series by Renault

2006 Formula One

Alonso (2 years):

1999 Euro Open by Nissan

2000 International Formula 3000

2001 Formula One

Button (2 years):

1998 British Formula Ford / European Formula Ford

1999 British Formula Three

2000 Formula One

Schumacher (3 years):

1998 European Formula Ford 1600 / German Formula Ford 1600

1989 German Formula Three / European Formula Three

1990 World Sportscar Championship / German Formula Three / European Formula Three

1991 Formula One

7 years is pretty much paying your dues if you ask me.

[Katsuya]

In fairness, Lewis went through most of those ranks because

A: He was too young for F1

B: McLaren were supervising him through them.

He always had the McLaren drive for some point in his career. Furthermore, I don't really think it's fair to compare him with Massa or Kimi, since they were both "fuck it, let's randomly pick someone and hope" picks by Peter Sauber. Kimi got the McLaren drive thanks to the fact that he drove extremely well in a car that, arguably, wasn't even in the top half of the grid in terms of performance, but managed to help give Sauber 4th place in the Constructors thanks to the 4th places he nabbed in Canada and Austria.

Alonso joined F1 in 2001, yes, but that was in a Minardi that was woeful - but then he got the Renault test driver job, and did well enough in 2003 (especially with the Hungary win) to secure his ride. Button impressed enough to get the Williams ride, but then had to pay his dues with that AWFUL Benneton car before he started entering the Williams/BAR/Honda war. Michael Schumacher, meanwhile, is Michael Schumacher.

So, yes, Lewis did have to work to get in to F1, but so did a lot of others. If you want to talk about people having to pay their dues, then look at Heidfeld.

[Matt]

I think he meant that he got to drive a McLaren straight away rather than have to drive for Torro Rosa or Force India.

[Katsuya]

Hmmm...the top five teams all seem rather matched so far in Qualifying.

[Adam]

It just gets better and better for Lewis Hamilton doesn't it. I also think Piquet is on his last legs now, he can't even get round the circuit in qualifying now!

I think Massa or Vettel will be on pole, but then again I'm sure Button will come in out of nowhere and snatch it at the end again!

[Matt]

Just turned on, what happened to Hamilton?

[Adam]

He's still shit, basically.

Into the Top 10 shoot-out are Button, Barrichello, Vettel, Webber, Massa, Raikkonen, Trulli, Kubica ( ), Rosberg and Alonso.

[hugobomb]

Vettel on pole!

[maninblack]

Whoa, Webber on 2nd.

[Zaz]

Vettel closing in though, he better not overtake! :@

[Matt]

Barrichello is 6 laps behind, why is he still driving?

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Huzzah for Button! 6 wins out of 7...He's dominating! It's glorious!

Great to see Webber get second too...My favourite 1-2 possibility in F1!

[Slogger]

Is Webber going to get a win this year? As Much as I love to see the rookie team win, I want Webber to nab himself a win damn it.

[Adam]

Yeah, I really hope he can get a win this year, he's been my favourite driver since the Jaguar days.

As much as I want Button to win the title, and I'm so happy for him and glad Hamilton is doing poorly, I don't want him to keep winning every race. A more competitive title race would be more welcome as it is more exciting, rather than Button winning every week and the title being over by the end of July. Ah well, at least it isn't like it's Ferrari and Schumacher, at least it is somebody different at the top.

Oh, and Litespeed, headed up by Mike Gascoyne, have bought the rights to the Team Lotus name for their F1 bid next year

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Well there you go:

BBC:

Button's feat of winning six of the season's first seven races has only ever been matched by Formula 1 legends Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark and Michael Schumacher - all of whom went on to win the world title.

It was Button's fourth consecutive Grand Prix win and the last Englishman to win four races in a row was Nigel Mansell in his 1992 championship-winning season.

[Katsuya]

They've revealed the teams for 2010: All ten current F1 teams, albeit five of them (McLaren, Toyota, Renault, BMW & Brawn) need to accept unconditional offers by this time next week. Also in are Campos Racing, Manor (???) and USF1 - so no Prodrive, Lotus or Brabham.

ETA: Manor it seems were an F3 Euroseries team that Lewis and Kimi have both driven for in the past. All three of the new teams appear to be using the budget cap, as they've all got Cosworth engines.

Edited June 12, 2009 by Katsuya

[Sam]

It is worth pointing out that Red Bull, Torro Rosso and Ferrari also submitted conditional offers to join next years grid just Mosley has decided to overlook that because of some agreement. This one could roll on and on.

[Adam]

I really wanted to see Team Lotus on the grid Maybe they'll still get in if one of the other teams doesn't actually join up. I think it was obvious that the USFI team would get in, but I've never even heard of Manor.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Prodrive, Lotus and Brabham were the three teams I wanted in

Of course the US team weere always going to get in though because of the potential huge US market.

[Katsuya]

Hmmm...well, the deadline's tomorrow and nothing looks like it's going to happen yet in terms of the five joining. I would be interested to see what happens if they don't join - if all eight FOTA teams pull out as a result, and don't re-join then...well, it looks like there very well might be a rival championship.

In the case of this rival championship appearing, I wonder what the calendar will look like. I don't know what the situation is with the FIA and how far they can go to block races from being held at circuits that F1 would be going to, but the FOTA championship might end up having to go to considerably more random circuits (although that might be for the better - personally, I'd love to see Silverstone, Montreal, Imola and others make an appearance).

So...yeah. Should be very interesting to see what happens tomorrow. The only deal so far on the table is upping the budget cap to 100 million for 2010 and then down to 45 million in 2011.