Fight for rank 6 and the numerous cars being out - only 10 finished - made the race interesting (of course not the top 3 teams, they were boring as hell). So, the relevant race outcome: 3 Raikkonen 4 Montoya 5 Sato 6 Button Sato was the only Honda driver who saw the flag in their home race. This meant his first F1 points ever and maybe a new chance for a spot in Jordan's second car next season. Meeting with eventual decisions on new rules (rumors say that it's only tactics to calm the fans down) is on Monday 28th btw. FINAL STANDINGS 2002: DRIVER 1 M Schumacher 144 pts 2 Barrichello 77 3 Montoya 50 4 R Schumacher 42 5 Coulthard 41 6 Raikkonen 24 7 Button 14 8 Trulli 9 9 Irvine 8 10 Heidfeld 7 11 Fisichella 7 12 Villeneuve 4 13 Massa 4 14 Panis 3 15 Sato 2 16 Webber 2 17 Salo 2 18 Frentzen 2 19 McNish 0 20 Yoong 0 21 de la Rosa 0 22 Bernoldi 0 CONSTRUCTORS 1 Ferrari 221 pts 2 Williams BMW 92 3 McLaren Mercedes 65 4 Renault 23 5 Sauber Petronas 11 6 Jordan Honda 9 7 Jaguar Cosworth 8 8 BAR Honda 7 9 Minardi Asiatech 2 10 Toyota 2 11 Arrows Cosworth 2 NEXT SEASON FERRARI: 1 M Schumacher, 2 Barrichello WILLIAMS BMW: 3 Montoya, 4 R Schumacher McLAREN MERCEDES: 5 Coulthard, 6 Raikkonen RENAULT: 7 Trulli, 8 ? [I assume Trulli stays, but I don't know who replaces Button] SAUBER PETRONAS: 9 Heidfeld, 10 Frentzen JORDAN COSWORTH: 11 Fisichella, 12 (open, maybe Sato again) JAGUAR COSWORTH: 14 (open, Irvine is willing to stay for half of this year's salary - which still would be 6M), 15 (open, de la Rosa still has a contract, but he's not confessed yet) BAR HONDA: 16 Villeneuve (though still speculation exist whether he leaves), 17 Button MINARDI, either ASIATECH or COSWORTH: 18 open, 19 open TOYOTA: 20 Panis, 21 di Matta (very probable, but not certain) Arrows won't start again; if a new team wants to take part they'll have to pay a security of 48 M until the end of this month.
I thought they had confirmed Alonso and Trulli as their lineup for 2003. Alonso was their test driver. Basically, he forced Button to sign with BAR.
I got a reliable source with confirmed spots for next season now: 1 M Schumacher – Ferrari 2 Barrichello – Ferrari 3 R Schumacher – Williams BMW 4 Montoya – Willams BMW 5 Coulthard – McLaren Mercedes 6 Räikkönen – McLaren Mercedes 7 Trulli – Renault 8 Alonso – Renault 9 Heidfeld – Sauber Petronas 10 Frentzen – Sauber Petronas 11 Fisichella – Jordan Cosworth 16 Villeneuve – BAR Honda 17 Button – BAR Honda 20 Panis - Toyota Open spots, rumors: 12 Jordan Cosworth: Sato, Irvine or McNish. Sato improved and collected his first two points in the last race. Eddie Jordan was mentioning that he wants to keep him, but there’s no official confirm for that. Main sponsor Benson & Hedges prefers to see a British driver – which would be Irvine or McNish 14 Jaguar Cosworth: Irvine or de la Rosa. De la Rosa still got a contract, but he had no point last year and the no 1 driver situation will be decided between him and Irvine. Irvine would love to stay for 6M, but the valid contract with de la Rosa is stopping him. 15 Jaguar Cosworth: Webber or Pizzonia. Niki Lauda had them for some test laps and was impressed with both of them, that’s why one of them will get this car. For Antonio Pizzonia (Brazil) is speaking that he’s Williams test driver at the moment and Frank Williams wants to have him driving races as soon as possible. In other words: he’ll probably drive for Jaguar and will be paid by Williams. 18 Minardi Asiatech or Cosworth: it seems secure that Alex Yoong will be demoted to a test driver. Dutch veteran Jos Verstappen will replace him. 19 Minardi Asiatech or Cosworth: given that Jaguar gives no. 15 to Pizzonia, it’ll be Webber to drive for Minardi also next season. Otherwise ??? 21 Toyota: also very probable that Cristiano da Matta already signed. Yesterday I heard him denying, but due to contract reasons with his current employer in the USA they may not confess prior to next week.
I thought that I have seen the last of McNish. eddie Irvine was Eddie Jordan's driver since F-3. So it was logical to see him driving for Jordan again just liked Alesi did last year. I see a two-horse race between Irvine and Sato for the seat. Sato has yet to show his potential.
I think Jaguar doesn't get rid off de la Rosa due to the contract. To save money they'll send Irvine to Jordan instead of Sato. Second Jaguar driver will be Pizzonia; Webber stays with Minardi and McNish's F1 career is over.
Kind of too bad for the little guy. He finally got the chance at F1, and it only lasted one year. But the results speak for themselves. He didn't get a single point, did he? I'm sure he's still got a good career ahead of him in other classes of racing. I just saw he's testing for Penske. Perhaps he'll have an IRL ride next season.
A Brazilian news source quotes Da Matta as a done deal for Toyota next season and in an interview from his website www.damatta.com.br, he talks about it like he signed a contract.
I don't feel too bad for him. There are only limited numbers of drivers who ever made it to F-1. Anyone who made it to F-1 for more than a few races is something special. Plus, McNish did not do much in the junior ranks to get himself a seat earlier in his career. So his chance was very accidental. Gil de Ferran has done more(winning the British F-3 and CART series), but could not break into F-1. McNish will be testing for Penske. Giancarlo Fisichella is the guy I felt sorry. He obviously has the talents to become a great driver. he is at the wrong team at the wrong team. He was at Jordan when it was weak.... went to Benetton whne it went downhill and left when it started to omprove.... then headed back to Jordan when it is going downhill. Meanwhile, Jan Magnussen is rumored to be heading to the CART series. When he was in British F-3, he was known as the "lad" who broke Senna's records. He did not live to his expectations when he was in F-3. I hoped that he will get something going in the CART series. -- Pedro de la Rosa started a war of words with Irvine. So Jaguar would have at least one new driver. I think Irvine has raced his last race with the team. Let's see whether Eddie Jordan will gibe Irvine a drive next season. De la Rosa would stay in Jaguar.
Massa signed with Ferrari as test driver. He's also available for Sauber if Heidfeld or Frentzen are injured. Rumors say that BMW constructs an own F1 car for 2005 when the engine deal with Williams is over.
New round of rumors: Jaguar: not confessed yet, but insiders say that Niki Lauda already signed Mark Webber. This would make a race for the second car, mainly between Pizzonia and de la Rosa. Pizzonia had great times in test laps and is the favourite, while de la Rosa might be demoted to a test driver. Jordan: would probably be the last chance for Eddie Irvine if the rumors about Jaguar are true. Problem: Takuma Sato brings lots of Japanese sponsor money and because of that has the team officials on his side. Toyota: wants a US Cart driver. Decision will be dropped between Cristiano da Matta and Helio Castroneves. Minardi: has to be patient as usual and wait until all others signed. Jos Verstappen still is the favourite and a second driver not in sight if Webber signed with Jaguar
You do realize that none of this makes any difference to the championship. Unless the Ferrari is forced to use only three wheels next year or (God forbid!) Schumi injures himself for the season in the first race, he is already the 2003 World Champ. Even on three wheels, I wouldn't bet against him.... Oh, and Barichello is already your 2003 runner up. Everyone else is racing for third place.
I would doubt that Pizzonia would leave testing duties with a top-flight team to go race for a bottom tier team. That just doesn't make sense. Only if Jaguar continues this progress they've shown lately.
F1 driver himself cares for new rumors. Felipe Massa told to have several offers and to prefer a driver spot to a test driving position for Ferrari. He said that Jordan would be the most probable opportunity - in this case Sato would be out. But for him the rumors are saying that Toyota wants a Japanese driver and no US Cart driver as they told until now. Anway, tomorrow is the important meeting that'll decide on the rule changes.
I don't get it. Toyota makes a point in being in Central Europe, hire a Swedish team principal and now they're wanting jap drivers? They should know better. For the Toyo position, whomever has the most sponsorship coming in will take the seat.
Well, the opportunities to race in F-1 are very rare. If he stays as a test driver, people might forget him. Many test drivers never got their opportunities. Even Montoya was not offered a seat in F-1 when he was recognized as a very talented driver. He only got his break in CART. Pizzonia had done 2 years(?) at Williams. i don't think he wants a third year. As for Massa... I do not recall when was the last Ferrari test driver to make it as a regular drivers other than individual replacements. For example..... Larini and Morbidelli raced a few races for the injuried Alesi. The careers of Morbidelli, Larini, Badoer and Lehto did not benefit much from testing for Ferrari.
Rules changes announced for next season: - Qualifying will be done based on two "flying laps" per driver, one in a Friday session and one on Saturday (this sucks - to me, the current method of qualifying was almost more exciting than the races, but maybe that's why they're doing it). - Top 8 finishers will receive points instead of top 6. - Ban on "team orders" - Something about teams agreeing to restrict their days of testing will have more practice time at each track. - No race at Spa There will probably be only 16 races next year, and another GP will almost certainly replace the Belgian GP the following season. More radical changes had been proposed by BE to improve the "spectacle" and excitement of the championship, but the teams rejected all but the above.
Yes and no. The last minutes were exciting, but the first at least thirty to fifty minutes were boring. This method clearly has the advantage that you cannot risk as much as before as otherwise you'll have either a bad time or - in case of a crash - no time at all. What I find negative: if it's only one lap, then it should be done on one day in one session. If I understand it right, then there is always just one car on the track, which would require either a certain qualifiying starting order, or - hopefully - a draw as this could help the smaller teams e.g. in bad weather if Ferrari or Williams had to drive first and not always Minardi & Co preparing the track for them. That's good for me, could also be top 10. What's very important and right is that rank 2 is getting more valuable. Points now will be 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 instead of 10-6-4-3-2-1 That's a giant idea, but I don't see how you can control it. There's hardly a team as stupid as Ferrari and doing the team order that obvious (okay, Ferrari even repeated their stupidity, so you'll never know...) Spa also was one of my favourites, but the team bosses didn't want to drive there anymore. Reason is that the tabac advertising is forbidden in Belgium (but if I'm not mistaken it is in the whole EU). For me Spa really was one of the most exciting tracks, while I could name about eight where I wouldn't shed a single tear for not seeing these tracks again Some ideas were really nuts. I just would have loved to get rid of at least the start control if not the whole traction control.
I got some further details: Qualifying sessions will be Friday and Saturday from 1 to 2 pm. There'll be one free lap for every car on the track. Friday starting order: WC leader starts first, then 2nd, etc. Saturday starting order: fastest Friday driver starts last, second starts second but last, etc. The details on the test: who is just having ten test days between March and November is allowed to have two test hours on the Friday before the race on the racing track. Everything still has to be confessed by the World Council on December 13, but usually they accept everything.
I believe I read that the Friday qualifying runs will start in order of the current championship standings (first goes first) with the driver pulling the fastest lap from Friday going last on Saturday. ... you beat me to it
Formula 1 is probably broken beyond repair by its current bosses. No Spa? That was one of the few non-Mickey Mouse tracks left. Considering all the F1 tracks that might as well be only eight feet wide for the complete lack of places to pass, why not just have the race be one lap long and then bring the cars into the pits, line them up in the order they finished the first lap and then run the engines for two hours to see if any of them break. Then declare the the top six cars whose engines are still running the winners. Afterwards, have Michael Schumacher drive around the track at speed for as long as he likes so the fans can see a top driver. You'd have the typical F1 race without all the tedium and danger. Anyway, Bernie is trying to solve F1's many ontrack problems piecemeal instead of overhauling the wohle thing and starting from scratch as he should do because the current formula is completely FUBAR. Also, something has to be done to make the little teams more competitive. For example, everyone knows Minardi had one of the best chassis last season but solely because they have no factory engine deal, they were nowhere and even Schumi couldn't get the car into the top ten. The first step to evening the playing field is to require every engine manufacturer to supply at least three teams with its top line engine. An exception may be made for new engine manufactureres for their first two years in F1. After that, it's three teams minimum. Also, the tire companies are must supply only one hard, one soft and one rain tire for all its teams for the whole season. No more making tires just of rthe Ferrari team and then forcing all other teams to use 'Ferrari's' tire. And no more track-specific tires beyond one hard and one soft compound that are fixed before the season unless there are safety concerns. As for the lack of racing, F1 should adopt the latest safety features on tracks even if they weren't originally invented for F1. Hopefully, this will help rid the world of all these chicane-ridden Mickey Mouse tracks where it is impossible to pass. Carbon fiber brakes should be banned to increase braking distances. Also, the tires should be made thinner. If necessary, eliminate wings. These things will not guarantee decent racing but they and other technical and financial measures should help narrow the gap between the perennial top three teams and the no hopers that make up the rest of the field.
One rumor can be ended (and cause new ones): Cristiano da Matta definitely has an offer of Toyota. They set a deadline until November 4. Until then da Matta has to agree, otherweise they'll sign a different driver.
All of this because Ferrari dominated...why does everyone have to pay because Ferrari had their shit together all year long. When Williams and BMW were bickering while Michelin slacked off, Bridgestone and Ferrari had assigned one test driver to test tyre compounds only, while the other tested racing setups. While McLaren was sitting around using the same chassis, Ferrari had improved the F2002 to perfection halfway through the season. I don't see why everyone's wanting to change rules because one team dominated while others slacked off at their very own expense. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: THERE ARE ALWAYS PERIODS OF DOMINANCE IN THIS SPORT. Observe pattern: 88-91: McLaren won all those four titles 92-93: Williams totally in control 94-95 Benneton rules under Schumi 96-97 Williams takes the cake again 98-99 McLaren prances around, while Ferrari edges closer 00-? Ferrari has their stuff lined up 24/7 while everyone whines how good they are History is boring sometimes, but I felt I had to visually represent it to get my point across.