F1 is back!!!

[jgredline]

Being and avid F1 fan, How many other gears heads are here?

[Hoffy]

I used to be a F1 fan.....but that kinda lost its thrill when the took the Gran Prix away from my home town, Adelaide.

Now I have totally lost interest in the Bernie Money show. You do know why its called Formula 1....Ferrari 1st...

BUT....they are fantastic things to photograph. As you know, they are on this weekend in Melbourne. I have seen some really good images thus far (hint, click the link below. I wont post them here, as they are not mine)

[brmill26]

I'm definitely a huge gearhead, F1 included. Watching Practice 2 last night was very interesting indeed. It looks like the drivers are finally back to driving again. Did you see that massive slide Hamilton laid down? Wow. That's the visual excitement F1 has been missing. Looking forward to qualifying tonight...

And the 12hrs of Sebring is Saturday as well. It should be some of the best competition that's been there in a while. In P1, it'll be the Audi R10 vs. a new closed-cockpit Peugot that's been very fast. In P2 (smaller prototypes), it'll be Porsche vs. Acura, who fought hard all last year. In GT1, it'll be the Corvette vs. the Aston Martin, and in GT2, it'll be Porsche 911 vs. Ferrari 430, which you may remember from last year they banged doors all the way down the back straight to the line, Ferrari winning by like 1sec after 12hrs. I'm looking forward to that as well.

[retroactiv]

I love F1 even though my driver came to nascar (JPM), I'm an avid hater of Ferrari so bring it on, and bring it back to Indy....

[SmartWombat]

Yep.
Been there, done that.
I'd love to do more.
But I don't like what Bernie is doing to the sport - making it business first, fans last.

Did you know practice was on the internet?
ITV F1 was putting the feed through their website and posted the link.
http://itv-ht.rd.llnw.net/broadband/itvf1/default.html
I don't know if it is limited to the UK or not.

[Lori11]

I love racing, I shoot mostly racing photography, Motorcycles, Grand Am and IRL came to our track for practice so I got to shoot the Indy cars. Sheesh they fly!

[jgredline]

SW, I agree with you and since JPM left, I pretty had left with him...Still curiosity keeps drawing me back. I have been into F1 for a very long time...I had the importunity to see Senna, Mansel, Prost, Piquet, etc all in their prime...I remeber Michale Schumacher's incredible start with Jordan...I also remember SENNAS death ....So yes, I agree Bernie is doing his best to kill the sport....On a second note, it is good to see Traction control gone and the drivers having to drive the cars again, almost like ti old days....

[jgredline]

Lori
Lets see some pics .

[SmartWombat]

I remember Michael's test with Jordan where he shaved a second off the lap times of the other drivers in the same car. Thought at the time Eddie wouldn't hang on to him.

Another Jordan driver Timo Glock (or Tim O'Glock as we called him) is replacing Ralf Schumacher in Toyota.

And Fisi is back again, Giancarlo Fisichella is now driving for Jordan/Midland/Spyker/Force India ... the name may change but the car stays the same. OK a new paint job but it's still a Jordan

F1 does not stand for Ferrari 1st - at least not last week. Long may that continue.

Yes, bring on the wet races !
Maybe Jenson Button might win another one
OK pigs may fly too, but he might in the rain.

[JSPhoto]

You would mention "gears" ..... the rearend just went out in my Jeep and before I get the racing season rolling full bore I'll be replacing that, myself of course. Good thing I have spare parts!
Anyway, it does sound as if F1 is heading back to the Yard of Bricks in a year or two. I guess Tony caved in to F1's demands for more $$..... oh well. I can't say I'm too impressed with the way F1 runs things. They want to build a fan base in the Sates but do not want the media coverage except to a limited number of people, that isn't how it works here, until Bernie pulls the limits I won't bother with F1, I'll stick with NASCAR, IRL and the local tracks, and I will see plenty of all of them this year

JS

[retroactiv]

I agree with you John, it is time if F1 wants a base here in the states that they have to allow all media from local to ESPN into the events not just the ones that they want to be involved most people here don't even know what F1 stands for (maybe that would be a good question for Leno to ask on the street, to bad most people wouldn't get the joke).

To sum up how much Americans know about F1, the first race that I went to the year after JPM won the Indy 500 and made the switch to F1 I was in the stands with one of my friends the people sitting beside us also Americans were wearing nascar stuff, I asked them why they were wearing this. "Because we are here to see (some nascar driver)." I told them that F1 had nothing to do with nascar then they replied atleast there will be some great local drivers, I informed them that there wasn't an American driving in the race. They in turn got up and left I didn't see them when the race started, nor when it ended.