The Flying Nerd

Formula 1 testing resumed this week after the end of season break — except for Ferrari which has been testing during the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ break period. But that’s another story, and you already know my feelings about Ferrari…

Freed from the shackles of BMW’s dud engine and whining F1 project director, the WilliamsF1 team has begun testing with a new and striking ‘interim’ livery:

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The mighty (if slightly fallen) WiliamsF1 Formula 1 team has signed GP2 champ Nico Rosberg (son of former F1 World Champ and also Williams driver, Keke Rosberg) to partner ‘our Mark’ Webber in 2006.
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The FIA (Federation International de l’Automobile), motorsport’s world governing body, has released a proposal to increase the ease of overtaking in Formula 1. The proposed Centreline Downwash Generating (CDG) rear wing detailed here looks radically different from what we are used to, and is supposed to provide cleaner air onto the front wing of a car closely following behind another. The idea is that the following car doesn’t suffer the grip reduction that currently inhibits its ability to overtake.

Sounds like a great idea to me.

Better still, the FIA is pushing to introduce the new CDG rear wing for 2007, rather than 2008 (when even more changes are planned).

In other news, 2006 will see a new (and hopefully more interesting and fairer) qualifying system, and a return to mid-race tyre changes. See here for more details.

This latter change should be welcome news for my beloved WilliamsF1 team, which is moving to Bridgestone tyres for 2006. Bridgestone suffered greatly under the one-tyre-per-race rule in 2005, and can be expected to be more competitive in 2006.

I’m flabbegasted! For the last race of the 2005 Formula 1 season, Channel 10 ditched the experienced ITV commentators (who were at the track) and provided commentary from the Australian team at Philip Island for the Moto GP.

Now, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Neil Crompton (in particular) and the Channel 10 crew in general. The technical and production values of the programming they originate is superb (just look at any recent Bathurst telecast for an example).

But you just can’t commentate from thousands of kilometres away. Can’t.

You can’t hear and report the latest track-side gossip.

You can’t watch the cars entering and leaving the pits.

You can’t listen for a failing engine.

You can’t see all the timing monitor information (there’s a lot more available on track than you can see at f1.com).

You can’t send someone running around in the pits to find out why the safety car has been deployed (the drain incident).

Channel 10 — what were you thinking? Please don’t do this again. Please.

If anybody knows why Channel 10 made this extraordinary move, please let me know. Maybe I fast forwarded through some explanatory comments.

Not happy, Bill and Neil.

You have probably read that I am less than impressed by the Ferrari Formula 1 team’s poor spirit in terms of observing gentlemen’s agreements regarding testing limitations. Maybe this gives a ray of hope for 2006.

Ron Dennis claims here: itv.com/f1 – Dennis ambivalent about Alonso that it’s not sour grapes when he says newly crowned World Champion Fernando ALonso isn’t as good as his drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Ron, you’ve got it wrong this time, son.

Fernando has driven a great year. He won when he needed to win, and he stayed on the track all year (Canada excepted). He is a truly worthy champ.

As for Montoya… let’s see…
* ‘tennis injury’
* ‘brake test’ incident at Monaco
* ‘red light’ incident in Canada
* qualifying incident in Germany
* etc.

Raikkonen dosen’t do as many ‘silly’ things, but his lack of composure when the chips are down and poor PR performances don’t point to a superior overall package.

What do YOU think?

Over the last few days, details have been emerging about the arrangements for F1 driver Jenson Button in 2006 and beyond.

Jenson is getting what he wanted: he has been released from his contract with WilliamsF1 and will drive for BAR Honda. This isn’t Frank Williams being magnanimous, mind you. Some serious lucre is changing hands to make this deal happen. Rumours suggest that Jenson (backed by BAR Honda) is paying WilliamsF1 somewhere between GBP10 milliion and GBP20 million in compensation.

I’ve updated the Buttongate II information page (see the column on the right) with the latest comments from the various players in this saga.

Check this out.

Not much more to say, really.

Speculation (see this) in the press suggests that Buttongate II, the wrangling over which team British Formula 1 driver Jenson Button will be part of in 2006, is over. It’s been suggested that a financial settlement between Jenson Button, WilliamsF1 (the team which holds a contract for his services in 2006) and BAR (his current team, where he wants to stay in 2006) has been reached. It’s suggested that BAR is providing funds for Jenson to use to buy his way out of the WilliamsF1 contract.
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It was announced overnight that WilliamsF1 will switch from Michelin to Bridgestone tyres for 2006 and beyond.
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Mighty Monza — home of the Italian GP. A wonderful, fast circuit — steeped in history. Great aerial photo after the jump.
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What is that odd-looking structure on the top of Nick Heidfeld’s Williams racer at the recent Monza tests?

More pictures, and my guess after the jump.
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The news is out — check any F1 web site for the official press release — WilliamsF1 is using Cosworth V8 engines in 2006.
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Once we got past the first lap dramas (both RBR cars out, one of them having completed a barrel roll), the race was a pretty ho-hum affair — as is usually the case on the Hungarian go-kart track.
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Back in 1999, your correspondent with nerd-ish tendencies had the opportunity to meet and spend a day with Formula 1 driver Jenson Button. This photo proves it:

Of course, neither of us really looks much like that any more…

But I stray.

Buttongate (the saga about Formula 1 driver Jenson Button’s contracts) is on again.
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Regular readers of the this site’s caustic Formula 1 commentary will know that the Flying Nerd does not think highly of Ferrari’s arrogant practices, especially regarding testing.
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Not much to rant about here.

Last night’s race results reflected the practice and qualifying form, save for those who suffered misfortunes.
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(Actually more of a meander than a rant)

Well, well, well.

What a stunning drive by Fernando Alonso. The guy is a metronome.

Great performance also by Kimi Raikkonen. 13th to 2nd is a tremendous result. And running third fastest in qualifying with SOOO much fuel on board was impressive. Maybe he could have challenged Fernando if not for the engine failure on Friday — but I doubt it.

But what of the others?
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Short rant this week. Still too angry to say a lot — and in any case there’s nothing to say about the decent teams and drivers.

I’d like to say that Sunday’s fiasco was an absolute blight on Formula 1 — a disgusting exhibition of greed and self centredness. There are no innocent parties. Not one!
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Well, three interesting races to comment on: Monaco, European and Canadian Grands Prix.

I won’t make quite such extensive comments as in previous emails — very busy at the moment. So here goes:
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