Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

[tom_b]

Hi folks. I hope youve all had a very Happy Christmas. Anyway, as I promised, the F1 2006 thread is open before the year is out however now other motorsports such as A1GP, GP2, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and other motorracing series will be allowed in this topic.

Ill be providing results and championship coverage mainly on F1, GP2 and the World Rally Championship. Here are the driver line-ups for F1 and the World Rally Championship.

F1 2006 Driver Line-ups (Super Aguri have yet to confirm their drivers but I have put in their possible line-up)
Renault: Fernando Alonso & Giancarlo Fisichella
McLaren Mercedes: Kimi Raikkonen & Juan Pablo Montoya
Ferrari: Michael Schumacher & Felipe Massa
Toyota: Ralf Schumacher & Jarno Trulli
Williams BMW: Mark Webber & Nico Rosberg
BAR Honda: Jenson Button & Rubens Barrichello
Red Bull: David Coulthard & Christian Klien
BMW: Nick Heidfeld & Jacques Villeneuve
Midland: Tiago Monteiro & Christijan Albers
Scuderia Toro Rosso: Vitantonio Liuzzi & Scott Speed
Super Aguri: ?Takuma Sato? & ?Kosukke Matsuura?

WRC 2006 Driver Line-ups (Citroen, Peugeot, Skoda and Mitsubishi have withdrawn their works support however new rules state privateers can compete for the manufacturers title and works teams can run a 2nd outfit if they wish)
Kronos (Citroen): Sebastien Loeb & Xavier Pons
BP Ford: Marcus Gronholm & Mikko Hirvonen
Subaru: Petter Solberg & Chris Atkinson/Stephane Sarrazin (Atkinson will run the gravel rounds with Sarrazin running on asphalt)
OMV Norway (Peugeot): Manfred Stohl & Henning Solberg (Stohl will participate in every round while Solberg will skip Germany, France, Spain and Japan)
Stobart VK M-Sport (Ford): Matthew Wilson & ?Peter Tsjoen/Kosta Katajamaki/Luis Perez Companc/Jari Matti Latvala?
Red Bull (Skoda): Andreas Aigers & Gilles Panizzi/Mattias Ekstrom (Panizzi & Ekstrom are each expected to participate the 1st 2 rounds respectively with no regular no.2 confirmed yet)

Calendars (The 2006 World Cup and Commonwealth Games sees the order for most motorsport calendars rejigged to avoid clashing)

F1 2006
March 12 Bahrain
March 19 Malaysia
April 02 Australia
April 23 San Marino
May 07 Europe
May 14 Spain
May 28 Monaco
June 11 Great Britain
June 25 Canada
July 02 United States
July 16 France
July 30 Germany
August 06 Hungary
August 27 Turkey
September 10 Italy
September 17 Belgium
October 01 China
October 08 Japan
October 22 Brazil

WRC 2006
January 22 Monte Carlo
February 5 Sweden
March 5 Mexico
March 26 Spain
April 9 France
April 30 Argentina
May 21 Italy
June 4 Greece
August 13 Germany
August 20 Finland
September 3 Japan
September 24 Cyprus
October 15 Turkey
October 29 Australia (Last run in the WRC)
November 12 New Zealand
December 3 Wales Rally GB (I hope to be there, fingers crossed)

GP2 driver line-up will be brought up later but the calendar will follow the European season of the F1 championship and like this year, is likely to end with a stand-alone in Bahrain.

If anyone wishes to cover any other event, then do as you wish. Have a Happy New Year, folks.

[tom_b]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

GP2 calendar is in, I was wrong about the stand-alone though, its in Valencia.

GP2 2006
April 8-9 Valencia
April 21-23 Imola
May 5-7 Nurburgring
May 12-14 Barcelona
May 26-27 Monaco
June 9-11 Silverstone
July 14-16 Magny Cours
July 28-30 Hockenheim
August 4-6 Hungaroring
August 25-27 Istanbul Park
September 8-10 Monza
September 15-17 Spa Francorchamps

Any takers on other motorsport coverage? Well Im covering F1, WRC and GP2. Anyway Im off to the Autosport show on Sunday so Ill bring back a report for that and publish it here.

[jamesb]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

word on the street.... (well, in the industry anyway...)

mclaren are annoyed... their merc engine is WAY behind the others, in power and revs (ie it blows up). Cosworth are the furthest ahead with almost 800bhp at 20,000rpm (only 120bhp down, not the expected 200+ loss on renaults V10 last year)

Toyota are fast, very fast, expect in the top 4 this year.

Super Aguri are planning to run all Japaneese drivers, so Anthony Davidson is back at BAR (now Honda)

Finally, this is Micheal Schumaches last season.

Thats what people are saying anyway.

[ewan]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Hows the Honda car development?

[jamesb]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

not heard anything about the car itself, but rumours are the rubens is much quicker than people expected. Jenson is in trouble this year. the car suits jenson more, but rubens is quick in it.

[tom_b]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Hi guys, well Autosport International 2006 was a blast . I was going on Sunday and after a rowdy stag night the night before, I was feeling off colour till we got there before 9am. We collected our paddock passes and toured the show. My mates went to the 10:30 show, unfortunately I couldnt go in till 13:30 so I took the time to spend buying DVD reviews of the 2003 World Rally Championship and 2005 British Rally Championship, 2 books of Jim Bambers The Pits 9 & The Pits 13 & a cartoon print with my name in it drawn by Jim Bamber. After touring the F1 grid, I got lunch and headed for the Live Action Arena where I saw tributes to British rally greats, co-driver Michael Park & 2001 WRC champ Richard Burns, Terry Grant doing 10 donuts in under 16 seconds, races between the 2005 Autosport Young Drivers, British Rallycross competitors and Scuderia Ecosses 2 driver teams. After browsing through the paddock claiming 1 autograph (more on that in a moment) and through the careers in motorsport section trying to think my life beyond college, we left at 15:45. The autographs I claimed through the day were (in no particular order):

Models Lucy Pinder & Michelle Marsh
Red Bull F1 driver Christian Klien (he jokingly suggesting giving his autograph on the pic of Lucy & Michelle, cheeky Austrian )
BTCC 2005 champ Matt Neal (He didnt sound confident when I asked his hopes for 2006 . Good luck anyway, Matt)
VXR Racings latest BTCC signing Tom Chilton
BTCC driver Luke Hines
Pickup truck racing driver Kelly Jayne Wells (she was the only one in the paddock willing to give an autograph)
Autosport cartoonist Jim Bamber

Fantastic show it was & I hope to be there next year. Either that or Wales Rally GB this year. Anyone else go to the show?

[codename_47]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Oh, he achieved the donut world record then, he failed in ours though....

Our live show on the Saturday (I went to the show with other members of a notorious motorsport forum ) was highlighted by the young drivers crashing into each other on the final lap and one car very nearly flipping!!
Oh, and the pitstop thing went a bit wrong too, one ferrari got stuck up in the air for ages and consequently lost the race by about two laps!

Still, a fantastic time had by me....I managed to get my hands on quite a lot of Champcar merchendise, even though there was next to no Champcar presence at the show, sadly.

My predictions for F1 2006?
Well, Tyre changes are back, therefore Bridgestone will be back, therefore Ferrari will be back to crushing dominance.

I always remember the crushing feeling after free practice on Friday of Melbourne, 2004.
Wed just come off a fantastic 2003 season and the media were pumping out everywhere saying 2004 would be better yet.
Then I remember seeing Ferrari were something like over two seconds faster than anyone else, and I knew immediatley we were in for another season of boring dominance.

Well, look for that to be repeated in 2006 Im afriad! (Though Id love to be wrong!)

Autosport are also going with the question Win or Quit for Schuey in 2006.....I think hell do both.

But Ill probably be watching some decent racing in Champcar instead

[jamesb]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

ill be down the track with my new gokart then

[armadrillo]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

According to reports from Belgium the Grand Prix at Spa has been cancelled for 2006 after Bernie Ecclestone pulled out of negotiations to promote the race after the original promotors went backrupt.

The race calendar would be trimmed down to 18 races for 2006.

Hope this can be sorted out as Spa is in the top 2 GP of the season.
Would be a major blow to F1 to lose Spa! :sad:

[jamesb]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

probably blackmail, bernie likes that sort of tactic.

anyone taking advantage of early ticket discounts at silverstone for this years gp?

[tom_b]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

I hope we dont lose Spa, it is a ultimate race track (after the Norschliefer or however its pronounced).

Na, Ive been to last years British GP but Im setting myself up for my next motorsport event, Wales Rally GB in December (go to http://www.walesrallygb.comwww.walesrallygb.com for more details). Speaking of which, yesterday saw the conclusion of the WRC season-opener in Monte Carlo. Heres the top 8 (& their co-drivers), retirements plus the best of the Brits.

Monte Carlo results
1: Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautainen (Ford) 4h11m43.9s(A brilliant way to kick-start your debut with a new team. 1st asphalt win for Gronholm
2: Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Kronos Citroen) +1m1.8s (A mistake on Fridays final stage cost Seb a 4th consecutive Monte Carlo)
3: Toni Gardemeister/Jakke Honkkanen (Astra Peugeot) +1m23.1s (Good start to the season, shame Toni doesnt have a full season he deserved after last year)
4: Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor +1m42.3s (OMV Peugeot) (Promising start, winning the final 2 stages)
5: Stephane Sarrazin/Stephane Prevot (Subaru) +3m20.2s (Better Monte Carlo then last year)
6: Chris Atkinson/Glenn Macneall (Subaru Australia) +5m2.4s (1st points on asphalt and showing good adaptation to the surface)
7: Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford) +6m19.5s (Good effort but experienced problems that Ford were fearing could happen)
8: Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Kronos Citroen) +7m15.2s (Excellent World Rally Car debut)

Best Brits
15: Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr (VK Stobart Ford) 21m1.3s (Faced with a steep learning curve, he achieved his goal of a finish)
21: David Higgins/Ross Butler (Mitsubishi Lancer) +32m47s (21st overall, yes, but 2nd in the Production Cup)

Retirements (mainly front-runners & PWRC drivers)
1: Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru) (Out at the end of day 1 with oil leak, Monte Carlo has never been good for Petter)
2: Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini (Mitsubishi) (Crashed on Stage 4, rejoined but out with mechanical problems on Stage 9)
3: Francois Duval/Patrick Pivato (Skoda) (Performing well till he crashed on Stage 9)
4: Jasen Popov (Mitsubishi) (Off the road on Stage 12)
5: Henning Solberg (OMV Peugeot) (Out on final stage with mechanical problems)

Drivers Championship (Round 1/16)
1: Gronholm (10)
2: Loeb (
3: Gardemeister (6)
4: Stohl (5)
5: Sarrazin (4)
6: Atkinson (3)
7: Hirvonen (2)
8: Sordo (1)

Manufacturers Championship (Round 1/16)
1: Ford (14)
2: Citroen (11)
3: Peugeot (6)
4: Subaru (5)
5: Skoda (3)

Production Cup
1: Fumio Nutahara (10)
2: David Higgins (
3: Nasser Al Attiyah (6)
4: Stefano Marrini (5)
5: Jari Matti Latvala (4)

Next round of the WRC is 3-5 Febuary which also sees the start of the Junior WRC.

[tom_b]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Well guys, Sweden was a good rally though Im tiring of the boring, cheesy jokes. scripted commentary :sad: Save that for the DVDs. Anyway another win for Gronholm & Rautainen, a 3rd world title on the cards perhaps? Mitsubishi shouldve had a works team this year after the pace of the Lancer in Sweden. Heres the top 8, standings and JWRC standings plus best of British.

Sweden results
1: Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautainen (Ford) 3h9m1.9s (Had hydraulics problems on final morning, but top job by Ford and Marcus. Happy 38th, Marcus)
2: Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Kronos Citroen) +30.9s (Kept Gronholm on his toes despite finishing half a minute back)
3: Daniel Carlsson/Bo Holmstrand (Mitsubishi) +2m56.8s (Fought with Galli for that last podium spot. Eclipses career of 6th from 12 months before here)
4: Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini (Mitsubishi) +3m3.8s (Lost 3rd gear on final stage ending hope of a possible podium. Shame but still its a career best)
5: Thomas Radstrom/Jorgen Skallman (Olsbergs Subaru) +5m53.3s (Scores well on 1st outing since the 2002 Rally GB)
6: Kosti Katajamaki/Timo Alanne (VK Stobart Ford) +7m34.8s (A brilliant drive from Gronholms protege, Kostis finish bags 6 manufacturers points for VK Stobart Ford)
7: Xavier Pons/Carlos del Barrio (Kronos Citroen) +8m35.6s (Xavier eclipses his best Sweden finish of 38th overall last year)
8: Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud (OMV Peugeot) +9m1.5s (Made it to the finish despite rolling and breaking his windows on day 2 and a puncture on day 3)

Best Brits
14: Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr (VK Stobart Ford) +14m40.4s (Lost 3 minutes on day 2 after getting stuck in a snow bank but fights back to clinch another manufacturers point for VK Stobart Ford)
38: Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Suzuki Swift) +52m17.6s (Driveshaft problems on day 2 results in 9th place in the JWRC and no points)

Retirements (front-runners)
1: Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru) (Excluded after start violation on Stage 18. Another unlucky rally for Petter)
2: Kristian Sohlberg/Kaj Lindstrom (Red Devil Subaru) (Engine problems on final stage of day 2 force Kristian into retirement)
3: Mattias Ekstrom/Stefan Bergman (Red Bull Skoda) (Crashed after a jump on stage 13. But with a brilliant performance in the rally, he should be in the WRC and not wasting his time in the German tin-tops with Audi)
4: Andreas Aigner/Timo Gottschalk (Red Bull Skoda) (Suffered a similar incident to his team-mate on stage 16)

Drivers Championship (Round 2/16)
1: Gronholm (20)
2: Loeb (16)
3=: Carlsson & Gardemeister (6)
5=: Galli & Stohl (5)
7=: Radstrom & Sarrazin (4)
9=: Atkinson & Katajamaki (3)
11=: Hirvonen & Pons (2)
13=: H. Solberg & Sordo (1)

Manufacturers Championship (Round 2/16)
1: BP Ford (26)
2: Kronos Citroen (24)
3: OMV Peugeot (10)
4: Subaru (
5: VK Stobart Ford (7)
6: Red Bull Skoda (3)

JWRC Standings (Round 1/9)
1: PG Andersson (10)
2: Patrik Sandell (
3: Urmo Aava (6)
4: Pavel Valousek (5)
5: Kalle Pinomaki (4)
6: Jozef Beres (3)
7: Peter Zachrisson (2)
8: Michal Kosciuszko (1)

Next month brings the 3rd round of the WRC & the 2nd round of the Production Cup from Mexico. Can Petter Solberg start his comeback here? I hope so. What does everyone think of the WRC coverage? Because Im already fed up of the scripted commentary by anonymous commentators who cover WRC footage on the DVD reviews, Eurosport and Men & Motors. Bring back Jon Desborough & Robbie Head, thats what I say. Anyone else have any thoughts about the WRC footage?

[jamesb]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

cosworth with 1000 rpm and 50bhp more than anyone else in F1?
surely not!

(info, not always 100% acurate, filters down to me now and again)

[tom_b]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Yup, i cant bereave it either Itll be interesting to see how Williams-Cosworth will do this year

[jamesb]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

i do not, in any way want to say anything that may offend our oriental friends but.....
you dont bereave it

lol