Heh, your annual GAD winning post is waiting...

I'll be happy to read it.  Actually, a lot to talk about with F1 even at this early stage, with Ferrari offering Honda engines (which it looks like they're not going to now), Alonso's dangerous flight and Honda's ongoing search for someone to take the company over before March.

Not to mention the change of coverage in the UK and all the other things going on before the season starts on 29th March...

Ferrari unveiled their new car yesterday and I know Toyota is unveiling theirs this week.

Yeah, the rear wing is thinner and higher to improve overtaking. I'm no aerodynamisist but I guess the theory behind it is the wider front wing will catch the less disturbed air from the car in front, as the rear wing is thinner and there are no appendages hanging off the cars, so that the car behind can run closer through corners. The slight adjustments that the drivers are allowed to make on the front wing during the race and the KERS system should help overtaking. Slick tyres will do a fair amount too.

The problem with the front wings is that it will take longer to replace because the front wings are now adjustable in the cockpit, which means certain connections will have to be severed and then reattached.

2 new cars released today. That's half the field on the track with their new cars. We know Honda is still up in the air and Force India are going to be a little late so that's both Red Bull cars and BMW left.

YH wrote:
> That Renault looks horrible. I know I'm going to sound like a
> girl when I say this, but the paint job is rank.


No, you have a valid point.  In F1 it's as much about the spectacle as anything, for fans and for the all important sponsors.  They want the car to look nice so people associate it with their adverts plastered all over it.

Anyway, aside from the asthetics, I think Alonso now has a chance to run for World Champion again with things levelled out a bit more.  Will be interesting to see 2009 as we have so many drivers who are ready to win the Championship:

Massa - Lost by a whisker and wants to prove himself
Hamilton - Wants to prove he can win again to show it wasn't a fluke at the end of the last race.
Alonso - Not being picked up by Ferrari, he wants to show them he can win without them and also for his Renault team.
Raikkonen - Wants to prove to Ferrari that he can still do it after a poor year last year.
Vettel - An outside chance given the car, but the new boy is keen and certainly has the talent.

It's been no secret that Toyota have been looking for a way out seeing as they've not really threatened the front of the field on a consistent basis. That could be put down to hiring an uninspired Ralf Schumacher, Trulli that seems to disappear in races and a car with poor race pace.

Another poor season and with the economic crisis rumbling on, I can see them pulling out and, to be honest, they only have themselves to blame.

The new regs, in theory, should balance the teams out but, in reality, you really only get 1 or 2 teams that make a good job of it and everyone plays catch up. I'd love to be proved wrong though just to have a crazy season where it's anyones title to win.

New safety car rules announced. When the safety car is dispatched, the drivers press a button and a minimum lap time is displayed.

And if the changes aren't hard enough to keep up with, there are reports of the French wanting to get back into F1 by fasttracking a Paris track and someone wants an F1 track around the streets of Rome.

Also, Renault has questioned the legality of the Williams and Toyota cars on the back of Toyota's questioning of the Ferrari car.

World champion Lewis Hamilton set the pace for McLaren as Formula One's teams continued pre-season testing at the Jerez circuit in Spain.

The MP4-24 was the fastest of the 2009 specification cars as Hamilton completed 93 laps, setting a fastest time of one minute 20.737 seconds.

"I'm very encouraged by what I felt," said Hamilton. "The car feels strong, very similar to last year's car."

Certainly welcome to the sport.  I'd back a Virgin branded team.

Well, looks like some interesting developments over at Honda.

Rumours of who will take the team forward seem to have settled on Brawn and Button to carry the team forward, with Button losing most of his pay and even paying for his own physio team.

Virgin were very interested but it seems like Honda have turned them down.

After rumours of Barrichello being replaced by Senna, it may be that the long time Honda driver is still going to be driving for his team after all.  Ross Brawn had cancelled a meeting with Senna and Barrichello has been talking to the press about promises made by the team.

Well, it's official.  Brawn racing is go.  Should be testing their car soon in Silverstone.  So that's another one to add to the track.

Now I can't wait till the end of the month when we hear that familiar Fleetwood Mac theme tune again.  That'll bring back memories for a lot of people.

"BrawnGP"?

Please....


Still, it's got that the team is still in existance and will be taking part in this years Championship!

Toro Rosso released their car today so that's all the cars released now.

I think you're being a tad opimistic there pb....

I'm still in two minds about the decision, but I'll see how it goes.

It was a bit odd for them to come up with a new system so quickly, and seemingly without approaching the teams as well. I'm not surprised that there was a backlash from the drivers and teams.

If you think about it, it would feel like ignoring this might lead to other last minute changes that the FIA could sneak in before asking the teams.  For the teams to turn around and say 'not this year' it's just sending a message to the FIA that they can't make up new rules without the proper process being followed.

Nice thought pb, but i think thats all it is, Button has been going great in testing but sadly pre season testing aint normally a realiable benchmark due to the top teams sandbagging etc as i'm sure you know.

Would be great to see it though, having a wizard like Ross Brawn behind the car will help greatly towards making it happen, plus it would give Jenson the chance to justify why he's been the 3rd highest paid driver in F1 for the past few years.

The BBC's red button interactive TV service will broadcast live coverage of all on-track sessions - Friday and Saturday practice, qualifying and race.

There will be an additional interactive analysis programme following on from the end of the BBC One coverage of each race.

On race day, viewers will be able to choose from three different video streams.

These will be: the main network feed with a choice of commentary from BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live; a split screen comprising the main network feed; an in-car camera feed and leaderboard; rolling highlights.

We will not be able to provide F1 coverage in high definition this year. The BBC relies on Formula 1 Management (FOM) for the provision of all of its live pictures and as such the broadcasting of high definition pictures is dependent upon whether FOM uses HD cameras or not.