The 2011 Formula One Season

Gutted, but my needs of f1 are slightly (if only just :p) less important than a countries security/future.

The thing was, bernie/bahrain crown prince had to make the decision today. Bernies plan was to wait till wednesday and see how things were. Its been cancelled, not on the assumption that things will get worse, but primarily because the guys in the decision making process can not predict the future. Essentially worst case scenario has been assumed. So dont take it as a thought that things are going to get worse.

Hey, least it means getting up early/staying up and that awesome feeling of unknown at 3am :p

Kirk summed it up well about Mclaren... Im abit worried that they are still testing exhaust solutions. They tested them at Jerez, and I would have thought 4 days at Jerez would have bene enough to validate their simulation readings... I persume of the next test at Barca they will have a finalized solution. They cant afford the 2+hours switch over time with the last 4 days running.

The more winter testing goes on, the more i worry for Mclaren, but the more Williams looks good so a bad Mclaren car is certainly worth it if Williams rock up to Aus with a strong top 6 finish car.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

I'm intregued to see where Toro Rosso, Lotus (Flaming Heikki Trulli Train variety) and Williams stand. All emphasis is on how good Red Bull and Ferrari will be - well - kinda clear really.

But I think theres a lot of progress in the midfield. It's a shame Toro Rosso is wasting their drivers - both are pretty useless and unspectacular - I do wonder what the likes of Kobyashi would do in a car better than the Sauber.


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

The final test is in Barcelona on March 8-11. So then we'll see the new Minardi *cough*...sorry, Hispania.

And of course, teams get extra preparation time.

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

Incident 2k9 Wrote:
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> So
> then we'll see the new Minardi *cough*...sorry,
> Hispania.

Nah, Minardis were always better than that. HRT are the new Osella. :P

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well so far the minardi has looked pretty impressive :p

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

How do we know that the political issues in Africa / Middle East won't cancel at least one more race this year, e.g. Turkey or Abu Dhabi because of their proximity to the "trouble zone"?

trouble zone - where all the protests are occuring, no offense intended.

It was only matter of time before one of these races was cancelled due to problems, there are another 3 or 4 that could well have problems.

China, Turkey, Korea, Abu Dhabi, India. But I think Abu Dhabi is ok just depends if people wanted to make a protest.

no no guys, they're safe... that they're close to each other doesn't mean they're gonna do the same, is not a plague

people are protesting against dictatorships
China, Turkey, Korea, India.. they all have working governments

Abu Dhabi is a monarchy, such as in Bahrain, but there are far less reasons to protest anything there, they're one of the richiest country in the world

in fact i dare to say is more probable that people protest in Cuba or Venezuela, which are far from close than in those countries



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2011 02:37PM by Slash.

Slash, the protests IMO are not about money. The muslims in Bahrain earn a hell of alot of money!! For the same job an indian/asian worker will earn less than half of that what the muslim/bahrain native will. Protesting about money? Nah imo its more about religious factions between the muslims.

Not for 1 second can I believe they would protest about money when they have these indians and asians working for much less, and actually being treated 2nd class by both alot of muslims and alot british/american expats. The worst part is, in these countries these indian/asian workers are earning more than they would at home.

I dont mean any offense by my post but if money is the reason then for the protests then id be supprised. I admit I have no clue about the true story, in fact I dont think many people really do (The British media especially, as ever?) but i would find it hard to believe it is all money. It seems to be about a spread of power between muslim factions... All seems very complicated.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Actually Slash a couple of articles I've read have said that "the plague" as you colourfully said it wasn't has already spread to some areas of China, just on a much smaller scale.

@ Chet: with regards to Bahrain at least, you're wrong - A LOT of the inhabitants of Bahrain are living on an income not too far above the poverty line. The money is in the monarchy and the government, not in the Shi'a occupied areas.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2011 07:36PM by loque.

But I believe most of them to be the asian and indian workers, not the people protesting?? Again if wrong then feel free to correct. I am about as confused about the situation as many of us!

edit - mods, fancy moving the last few posts to the bahrain thread as they are not really related to the 2011 season?

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2011 07:54PM by chet.

It's the Suni (sp?) part of the Bahraini people that's protesting, because they feel they have been structurally disfavoured.

Slash Wrote:
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> in fact i dare to say is more probable that people
> protest in Cuba or Venezuela, which are far from
> close than in those countries

I live in Latin America and didn't know Venezuela was under a ditactorship? (if that's what you meant)

With the current situation in the UK and the plans to reform the benefits system amongst other things, maybe Silverstone should go on the "danger list" as well :P

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Nickv Wrote:
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> It's the Suni (sp?) part of the Bahraini people
> that's protesting, because they feel they have
> been structurally disfavoured.

Is it not the other way around? The Royals are Sunni Muslims, they hold the power (and the money) - but the vast majority of the population are Shi'a and are poor, do not live in the capital, are shunned politically etc etc. That's why they're demonstrating. Maybe the Sunnis are involved now too. Although I wouldn't be surprised if I were wrong, as Chet says it's confusing and stuff seems to be changing every day.

Can't we "do an Eygpt" and overthrow that utter cxxt Cameron?

alexf1man Wrote:
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> How do we know that the political issues in Africa
> / Middle East won't cancel at least one more race
> this year, e.g. Turkey or Abu Dhabi because of
> their proximity to the "trouble zone"?

Agree. I don't think Turkey has a problem (it is a democracy after all), but definetely, Abu Dhabi could be also another focus in a few weeks. The problem on these countries is that they have a lot of money, but the money is in the hands of only a few. And the fact that the police shoots to the people in the strike shows the level of freedom that the country has. But I think that a lot of different ethnic conflict is also behind the scenes...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2011 09:22AM by Ali.

chet Wrote:
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> Slash, the protests IMO are not about money. The
> muslims in Bahrain earn a hell of alot of money!!
> For the same job an indian/asian worker will earn
> less than half of that what the muslim/bahrain
> native will. Protesting about money? Nah imo its
> more about religious factions between the
> muslims.
>
> Not for 1 second can I believe they would protest
> about money when they have these indians and
> asians working for much less, and actually being
> treated 2nd class by both alot of muslims and
> alot british/american expats. The worst part is,
> in these countries these indian/asian workers are
> earning more than they would at home.
>
> I dont mean any offense by my post but if money is
> the reason then for the protests then id be
> supprised. I admit I have no clue about the true
> story, in fact I dont think many people really do
> (The British media especially, as ever?) but i
> would find it hard to believe it is all money. It
> seems to be about a spread of power between muslim
> factions... All seems very complicated.


you're right chet, they're not, but what i meant was that the better style of life people have, and by people i mean the majority (not everybody is rich) the less they complain about the people that governs? them.. true there's poor in abu dhabi, but the richier the country, the more the powers that governs them have to share with them..
like the old say, if it's not broken, why fix it?

RonnyF1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Slash Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > in fact i dare to say is more probable that
> people
> > protest in Cuba or Venezuela, which are far
> from
> > close than in those countries
>
> I live in Latin America and didn't know Venezuela
> was under a ditactorship? (if that's what you
> meant)

no not at all, i meant that is more probable for people to protest against their governements in Venezuela and Cuba, than it is in China and the other countries mentioned

having said that, venezuela is far from a democracy...

loque Schreef:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nickv Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It's the Suni (sp?) part of the Bahraini people
> > that's protesting, because they feel they have
> > been structurally disfavoured.
>
> Is it not the other way around? The Royals are
> Sunni Muslims, they hold the power (and the money)
> - but the vast majority of the population are
> Shi'a and are poor, do not live in the capital,
> are shunned politically etc etc. That's why
> they're demonstrating. Maybe the Sunnis are
> involved now too. Although I wouldn't be
> surprised if I were wrong, as Chet says it's
> confusing and stuff seems to be changing every
> day.
>
> Can't we "do an Eygpt" and overthrow that utter
> cxxt Cameron?

Oh it could well be the other way round.

Want a problem with Turkey? It's been under continuous threat of Kurd terrorists striking deep inside the country for years and years. But (well, maybe bombing the Grand Prix is not within the Kurd's MO, which would help) with enough security, F1 doesn't have a problem going there.
Look at where we're going in a few years time. After what happened at Domodedovo, I think blowing up the Russian Grand Prix/Olympics/World Cup would be in the MO for terrorists from the Caucasus - that might actually succeed in putting F1 off from going to Russia. Numerous human/civil/political rights abuses in Turkey and Russia? No problem. I think the only problem would arise if suddenly the whole world saw just how bad things were in any given Grand Prix destination, and/or security couldn't be guaranteed. That's it, IMO.

Slash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> no not at all, i meant that is more probable for
> people to protest against their governements in
> Venezuela and Cuba, than it is in China and the
> other countries mentioned
>
> having said that, venezuela is far from a
> democracy...

I'm well informed about the situation in Venezuela and let me tell you mate... it's extactly the opposite.