Triple-H

I did that in the middle of the winter...

Triple-H

What? Schumacher crashed and then needed help to get started again. Ferrari had no choice to come in. They were out of the race, they did not decide to be out, they were out due to Michael and Kimi comig together.

enlightenment

correction: It was Klein in the Williams who made contact with Schumi, not Kimi.

jvils

LOL, actually, it was Heidfeld. Klein finished 7th and drives for Red Bull.

330R

I think people forget that the new car had long been designed before Richards left BAR.


EDIT: btw the contract with Prodrive was ended because Honda came in and bought 45% of the team.

rloewy

The devil, as they say, is in the details. I am sure that the design is more than sound - but ensuring the process is there for making all the small decisions to keep it at the fore-front of the pack might not be.

The days of huge technological design breakthroughs are probably more likely to be a thing of the past - because the technical regulations are so detailed and precise.

I honesty doubt that we will see the same kind of radical thinking we used to see from the likes of Cooper, Colin Chapman or Gordon Murray - things that will change the entire face of the sport, or to lesser degree the "Turbo revolution" of the late 70/early 80, the move to pneumatic valves, sequential gearboxes etc... - but ... what do I know?

So - I think it will take BAR a season or two to overcome the shock of the new management, the new processes and the input that Prodrive provided - time will tell.

enlightenment

yep your right. At least i was right on the Williams part.

bkw

uhoh
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BAR face penalty on engine rule

BAR retired both cars in Australia two weeks ago because they thought the rule saying engines must last for two races did not apply if cars failed to finish.

But governing body the FIA said on Wednesday that teams would have to explain why they failed to finish.

"A distinction will be made between failing to finish and choosing not to finish," a statement said.

"The former is normally accidental or beyond the control of the driver while the latter is not."

The statement made it clear that the change had come about because of BAR's decision to try to benefit from a "free" engine change by deliberately retiring their cars.

Team boss Nick Fry admitted they had ordered Jenson Button and Takuma Sato into the pits on the last lap because they were not in points-scoring positions. They were classified 11th and 14th.

A BAR spokeswoman said the team would be "continuing as planned" with the new Honda engines they had fitted for Malaysia, and believed they would "not incur a penalty".

She said this decision had been made because "as stated by the FIA, 'such moves as BAR's will not be allowed in the future'".

An FIA spokesman said the Malaysian Grand Prix stewards would have to decide what action to take against BAR if the team only had the fresh engines at Sepang.

It is not expected that the new interpretation will cause any problems for Michael Schumacher, who drove back to the pits to retire on lap 42 after a collision with Williams driver Nick Heidfeld.

vroom

How long before someone jumps in and says they're favoring MS?

330R

That can't apply to BAR for the Melbourne race. The FIA states that going forward, from the Malaysia race on, the loophole is closed. Last night when I saw the same article you quoted I was like that a journalist can't read before writing his next sensationalist story.