The true cost of Formula One

F1 Racing is widely reported to be the world’s most expensive sports. It’s easy to see how this sport could gain that distinction—after all, each Grand Prix is an event that spans a few days, which can certainly take a toll on the racing vehicles. And, of course, much money is likely spent on mechanics, car maintenance, and car and engine parts.

Figures were published in F1 Racing magazine to give fans an idea of just how expensive this sport really is—and indeed, these figures are rather high. For example, it was estimated that all eleven Grand Prix racing teams spent about $2.9 million dollars during one recent year. The magazine noted that costs varied from between teams—Toyota spent over $418 million, whereas Super Aguri spent only $57 million.

Looking at these figures, one this is apparent—F1 racing is rather expensive. Whether is it the world’s most expensive sport, though, may still be up for debate.

New countries in F1 2008

F1 racing is truly a global sport. Grand Prix races have, over the years, been held in numerous countries throughout the world, including the United States and many in Europe. Europe is really the center of F1 racing, but more and more countries are getting involved, wanting to host their own Grand Prix races.

In fact, some countries are participating for the first time in 2008. Bahrain, China, Malaysia, and Turkey are holding Grand Prix races in their countries during the year of 2008. Singapore is scheduled to hold a Grand Prix event in 2010. Now, these are not additional races to the F1 series; instead, these events have replaced other Grand Prix races. In order for these new events to take place, F1 organizers decided to drop certain races in Europe and in North and South America.

Many fans are excited about these new Grand Prix races. Others aren’t too happy about certain races being canceled. But, fans will certainly be there, watching these exciting races.

McLaren can catch up to Ferrari, says Fittipaldi

 former driver for F1’s McLaren team, Emerson Fittipaldi insists that his former team are still in the running for the title even with the reality of Ferrari’s recent good run. Fittipaldi, who won one of his two F1 titles with Mclaren team, says McLaren has it in them to fight back.

“Ferrari are very strong,” said fittipaldi to the Press Association.

“But McLaren could bring out new suspension, down force, brake balance and weight distribution that could change the car and gain three-tenths of a second – and suddenly again their car is competitive. McLaren is very capable of coming back very strong again.” he added.

Ferrari’s 3 victories have allowed Raikkonen to establish a gap of  nine-points over Hamilton in the driver standings. He had a very good finish a little off the pace, but he could come back strong.

New rules will increase overtaking on the circuit

Honda team boss Ross Brawn has said that the new rules for 2009 which include banning tyre warmers, slick tyres, and aerodynamic modifications will make it much more challenging on the track.

“The cars will have a lot less down force than they do now so it’s definitely going to go back the other way, The feeling is if we can have a higher ratio of tyre and mechanical grip and a lower ratio of aero grip then intuitively you think that would be much better for one car to follow another.” said brawn in a recent issue of auto trader.

Brawn went on to say; “The tyre of car we’re trying to have should mean that cars can follow each other easier, There are a lot of reasons why it should be better, but whether theres a second or third effect we haven’t anticipated we’ll have to wait and see.” he added.
Only time will tell what these changes will mean, if any to the F1 scene. But I for one am looking forward to seeing more action.

Dieter Mateschitz says Let Red Bull race four cars

Red Bull Tycoon Dietrich Mateschitz has prompted debate that each Formula One team should be allowed to sport ‘four cars’ per grand prix in the future. The billionaire born in austria has recently and openly put his 50 per cent share in ‘Toro Rosso’ up for sale, as Formula One prepares to not accept ‘customer cars’ in formula one from 2010.

But in an effort to maintain the same number of Red Bull branded cars on the grid, Mateschitz told an Austrian newspaper that an alternative solution would be to allow four red bull branded cars to be entered into each race.

“My proposal is to allow four cars per team, If the regulations mean Toro Rosso can no longer utilise Red Bull technologies, then it makes no sense,” he is quoted by Salzburger Nachrichten. “We can not build a second Milton Keynes in Faenza,” Mateschitz added.

Raikkonen’s change paid off

Kimi Raikkonen was altogether happy after scoring his first 2008 pole position at Barcelona on Saturday. The current champion responded well to a late challenge from Fernando Alonso to grab pole position in, get this..less than a tenth of a second.

“It’s been a long time since my last pole last year, so it was a nice experience, We’ve been trying to get it and have always made mistakes so we haven’t been able to do it.” he said.

“We’ve been trying to get it and have always made mistakes so we haven’t been able to do it.

“For sure starting from pole should give us a better chance tomorrow. It’s only qualifying but it’s still a good place to be.” he said during the official press briefing on ITV Sport.

Raikkonen also mentioned Ferrari had taken a different road with the set-up of his F2008 in Spain, giving him more confidence in the car from the start of the weekend.

Raikkonen is leading the drivers’ standings by three points from BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld.

Renault F1 Techical Chief Demands Major Changes

Renault’s chief technician Bob Wells has said that he wants major changes to the Renault formula 1 racing car.  His aim is to bring the Renault R28 in line with other competitors by the end of the season, he wants major improvements on the car to give Renault back the competitive edge it enjoyed three season ago with Fernando Alonso.

“I think just needing to improve is a bit of an understatement,” Bell said. “We need a tidal wave of change to move us back where we want to be, but that’s what we’re here to do.”

“Our biggest issue is the car’s aerodynamics, but there are also mechanical improvements we can make,” he added.

Renault are addressing the aerodynamics issue with a new aero package for Barcelona, they will be testing the new package over the next two weeks that could give the car .5 of a second extra. This will be the first step in improving the R28, Bell added Renault that the aero package is only the first stage of improvements and promised more will follow after Barcelona.

Michael Schumacher to Test Slicks In Barcelona

Michael Schumacher is set to return next week to test slick tyres on the Ferrari F2008 at Catalunya.  The German driver was invited to test the returning Bridgestone slicks next week on the Barcelona racing circuit.

A Ferrari representative said “Michael Schumacher will be testing with our team on Wednesday. He will mainly focus on the development of slick tyres - the tyres that will be used in 2009. Felipe Massa will be testing on Monday and Tuesday while Kimi Raikkonen will be in the car on Thursday.”

Ferrari have already used Schumacher for testing during pre season and I feel it is good that they have not forgotten the skills that he has, they can obviously see the benefit of having a racing veteran on the team.

Bahrain Finishes With A Ferrari 1 And 2 | See Results Here

Felipe Massa gained a much needed 10 points by recording his first win (and finish) of the 2008 formula 1 racing season. Felipe stormed off the line to overtake Robert Kubica and lead from the front for the entire race - this really was his race.

BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica lost second place to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in the third lap.  He also had an excellent race and finished in third place behind Raikkonen.

The start of the race did not go well for Lewis Hamilton who had a slow start off of the line and lost seven places on the run up to the first corner.  Things went from bad to worse when Hamilton collided into the back of rival Fernando Alonso’s Renault causing major damage to his front wing.  When Hamilton emerged from the pits he was in 17 th place and after a hard fought race finished out of the points in 13 th place.

Alonso finished in 10th place after a hard fought battle with Rubens Barrichello who finished in 11th. Here are the full results from today’s race:

1  Felipe Massa
    
2  Kimi Räikkönen
    
3  Robert Kubica
    
4  Nick Heidfeld
    
5  Heikki Kovalainen
    
6  Jarno Trulli
    
7  Mark Webber
    
8  Nico Rosberg
    
9  Timo Glock
    
10  Fernando Alonso
    
11  Rubens Barrichello
    
12  Giancarlo Fisichella
    
13  Lewis Hamilton
    
14  Kazuki Nakajima
    
15  Sebastien Bourdais
    
16  Anthony Davidson
    
17  Takuma Sato
    
18  David Coulthard
    
19  Adrian Sutil
    
Ret  Nelsinho Piquet
    
Ret  Jenson Button
    
Ret  Sebastian Vettel
    

Lewis Hamilton Has A Nightmare In Bahrain

Lewis Hamilton will be glad that today’s race is over after a nightmare race that resulted in him gaining zero points.  The race started badly with Lewis getting an extremely slow start off of the line, drivers overtook and swerved to avoid Hamilton which resulted in him dropping to tenth place behind arch rival Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton fought frantically to try and regain places and pushed hard until he crashed into the back of an unusually slow Fernando Alonso.  The crash resulted in Lewis losing his front wing which meant he had to nurse his Mclaren back to the pits for a new one.  Unfortunately by the time he had rejoined the race he was in 17 th place.

To make matters worse Hamilton’s car seemed to have taken on damage as he fought to control a slow Mclaren for the remainder of the race. Hamilton eventually finished in 13th place which is a far cry from the podium he was hoping for.  Mclaren will be working hard with Hamilton and his car to make sure he is right back on form for Barcelona in three weeks time.

One question that many people are asking is: Did Alonso break or slow down to cause the accident in lap 2?  We will keep you posted on that!

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