Massa: BMW is the team to beat

[m7ammed]

read article here


I find this a good sign hopefully teh will carry this into the first races , but I don't wanna get my hopes up

 

[Appie]

you never know, its only winter testing. Lets watch and see

 

[daan]

Ferrari won the winter championship, we want to win the real championship!

I believe that was in 1990. Winter testing times don't really mean much.

 

[Lee]

BMW do seem to have wet pace but the reliability needs sorting. If they do prove Massa right however, then Heidfeld FTW!

 

[Diego440]

What the hell does Massa now?

Who is he, again?

The current logic in F1 circles is that the McLaren will be the car to beat this year, although Ferrari is also looking pretty good. Renault is supposed to have dropped off the pace a little. Williams is supposed to be a bit between Ferrari and Renault.

Also, Button's Honda was only about 4 tenths off de la Rosa's best.

 

[Blake]

BMW do seem to have wet pace but the reliability needs sorting. If they do prove Massa right however, then Heidfeld FTW!

Kubica is faster than Heidfeld. Just needs to lose a bit of the ragged edge and he’ll easily outscore Heidfeld IMO.

It’s hard to tell anything from winter testing, anyway. Unless we got a print out of every one of every single drivers laps and a description of the program they were running we wouldn’t have a clue.

 

[Lee]

The current logic in F1 circles is that the McLaren will be the car to beat this year, although Ferrari is also looking pretty good. Renault is supposed to have dropped off the pace a little. Williams is supposed to be a bit between Ferrari and Renault.

The Bee logic however is:

McLaren,
Ferrari,
BMW,
Renault,
Williams,
Honda,
Super Aguri*,
Red Bull,
Toyota,
Spyker,
Toro Rosso*.

*Both teams have yet to release their 2007 cars.

 

[m7ammed]

What the hell does Massa now?

Who is he, again?

Ummm... He is may I say experinced F1 driver , and I bet he has got data about other teams work . I'm not getting my hopes up but he says that the BMW is good over a race distance when the McMerc is fast over a singal lap

 

[Sureboss]

Am I the only one expecting a really competitive F1 season?

 

[Blake]

Well at the start of last year the word was that Renault, Ferrari, McLaren, Honda, and Williams were all very capable of winning races.

I expect Ferrari and McLaren to be the cars to have. Renault will have a good (the best?) car early on but the drivers won’t be able to exploit it. As usual they won’t develop their cars properly. BMW? Maybe Kubica can pull off a lucky win. Ditto Honda with Button.

 

[Poverty]

Bmw are still using what is basically the old car. A real BMW F1 car comes next year, and so they arent top dog yet, and I doubt they will be in 2008/9 either.

 

[Bram Turismo]

It's far too soon for BMW to win. Especially with the ugliest drivers of the field. I'd say give 'em 2 more seasons before they can battle with Ferrari, Mclaren and Renault and Heidfeld, get that damn ugly beard of your face!

 

[Lee]

I think the beard rocks but you know.. I can see BMW nabbing a win or two, Kubica for Monza anyone? Heidfeld for Hungray anyone?

(The latter being in extreme circumstances I suppose, but I can always hope.)

 

[m7ammed]

Especially with the ugliest drivers of the field.

Whats that got to do with winning .

I'm hoping for one win this season, although Mario has said that there goals remain unchnaged they are aiming for points and poduims only this season as the team is not at full capacity , there are more staff to be hired and I think they still have to open a 3rd shift for teh wind tunnle .

 

[XGT Taipan]

My expectations are:

Ferrari,
McLaren,
Renault,
BMW Sauber,
Red Bull,
Honda,
Toyota,
Williams,
Scuderia Torro Rosso,
Super Aguri,
Spiker

As for BMW winning races, I will agree with Kubica for a Monza win (if Kimi DNF's), but Heildfeld's best hopes I personally think will lie in Luxemburg.

 

[Sureboss]

Luxembourg?

 

[Roo]

The Nurburgring. F1 has been there under a number of names - the German GP (at the Nordschleife up to 1976 and again this year), the European GP (as it has been most recently), and in 1997 it was called the Luxemburg GP, to accomidate the German GP at Hockenheim, the European GP at Jerez (in Spain), and the Spanish GP at Barcelona.

 

[MustangSVT]

I don't see BMW winning anything anytime soon. They managed to get like 2 podiums and now they're so special. Well I'm gonna disagree. They've been doing well, but they've still got a long way to go. As far as I'm concerned, Renault will probably have the best car and McLaren and Ferrari somewhere around there too.

Let's hope for a competitive season.

 

[XGT Taipan]

I don't see BMW winning anything anytime soon. They managed to get like 2 podiums and now they're so special. Well I'm gonna disagree. They've been doing well, but they've still got a long way to go. As far as I'm concerned, Renault will probably have the best car and McLaren and Ferrari somewhere around there too.

Let's hope for a competitive season.

The same can almost be said about Renault in 2004, a few podiums and a win and then they win the next 2 seasons in a row.

 

[liam2maps]

They did really well to come 5th last year in their first full year, remember they aren't really new to this, Sauber have a new wind tunnel to fall back on and they have built engines for Williams recently but still a great achievement. However look at the points gap last season between 4th and 5th.

4 Honda 86
5 Sauber-BMW 36

50 points. That's a long gap, it would be very hard to close that gap in just 2 years let alone 1 off season. I'm very happy as they are a team going in the right direction, and this is good because I'm all for competition.

 

[Roo]

They did really well to come 5th last year in their first full year, remember they aren't really new to this, Sauber have a new wind tunnel to fall back on and they have built engines for Williams recently but still a great achievement. However look at the points gap last season between 4th and 5th.

4 Honda 86
5 Sauber-BMW 36

50 points. That's a long gap, it would be very hard to close that gap in just 2 years let alone 1 off season. I'm very happy as they are a team going in the right direction, and this is good because I'm all for competition.

BAR managed it from 2003 (26 points, to Renault's 88) to 2004 (119 to Renault's 105).

Of course, then 2005 arrived, and they scored 38.

 

[liam2maps]

BAR managed it from 2003 (26 points, to Renault's 88) to 2004 (119 to Renault's 105).

Of course, then 2005 arrived, and they scored 38.

^ There's a reason for that. In 2004 BAR did quite well partly due to the fact it had an engine delivering one of the highest if not the highest power (Suzuka Special?), but also towards the end of the season BAR made the decision to continue on developing the 04 car in a way (perhaps to chase a win, or publicity) than to start on the 05 car. Hence why the next year, they were far behind. When you think of Renault, they played it smart, came top 3, and then next year, well, you know what happened

It's all about balance, rarely do I see publicity stunts workout.

 

[Blake]

As far as I know, Honda still don’t understand why their 2004 car was so fast. That is a major problem for them, if they don’t understand their own cars properly then it’s hard to make a consistently good car season after season.

 

[Roo]

^ There's a reason for that. In 2004 BAR did quite well partly due to the fact it had an engine delivering one of the highest if not the highest power (Suzuka Special?), but also towards the end of the season BAR made the decision to continue on developing the 04 car in a way (perhaps to chase a win, or publicity) than to start on the 05 car. Hence why the next year, they were far behind. When you think of Renault, they played it smart, came top 3, and then next year, well, you know what happened

It's all about balance, rarely do I see publicity stunts workout.

Ah. Didn't know that

 

[MustangSVT]

I thought it was 2005 that they had the car pushing the most horsepower. I remember that at China GP 2005, their car was supposedly doing 1000HP.

On the other hand, 2005 wasn't that great to them. And as far as I know (or at least BAR has proven this to me), they still don't have a clue why their 2004 car was so fast.