http://www.bmw-sauber-f1.com/en/index.html
IMO, Jacques Villeneuve is a wasted seat. I really can't understand how this guy keeps hanging around. Is there really that much of a lack of available talent? He may have won a Driver's Championship, but he had the best car and team under him at the time. His tenure at BAR was a disaster, and he'll probably never be anything but a mid-to-back-of-the-pack talent for the remainder of his career. I would have much preferred to see the BMW folks go into their deep pockets and spring for a top-notch driver to ensure that the car is good and then they could focus on developing their promising up and comers. Frustrating. CW
They mighta figured that the first year is going to be an off year for the team anyway, and would cost less to keep him than to get rid of him.
IIRC, they didn't want to buy out his contract for a large amount. I think it's just one more year and then they'll probably replace him. As far as the livery, I don't like it that much. I thought they were going for the M-power tri color with white background (i.e. http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6871/a4mv.jpg), but they didn't. I don't know why they picked the colors that they did.
Heidfeld will be competitive. This will be the best F1 season in the last 25 years. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
That's also what I thought. The nose/front looks too much like the old Williams. M Power livery has a history in autoracing and would have looked much better.
Other BMW Motorsport cars have just the red/white/blue colors, but I still don't know why they dropped the teal/light blue color. The Williams nose was made to look like the front of a BMW with the kidney grills so I wasn't surpised to see it like that on the new F1.06. Other than that, the car is just too plain. http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_gallery_display.php?fes_gal_id=555
Not a bad car all in all, but with the hunchback engine cover it should be renamed Quasimoto.06. The longer chassis of the V10s were kind of pleasing to the eye; the V8s seem to be a bit stocky. I guess I'll get used to it over time.
I'm not a big fan of white, but I think the car looks great. To me it seems very classy looking. Mark
The colour scheme is okay. Big change ....front suspension is zero keel. -no box wing at the front -sidepods look a bit smaller. -the nose is wider (looks like the McLaren) Heidfeld did 29 laps with the F1.06 without no major problems. (just radio and telemetry) Best lap: 1:13.430. Villeneuve covered 50 laps with a best time of 1:14.037. His C24B car got stuck in first gear and his engine overheated in the pitlane.
I was looking at some pics from the launch on f1-live and saw this amazing building... what and where is it? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I am finding it pretty interesting how some of these teams like toyota and bmw have sacrificed the suspension geometry to gain an aero advantage. Before the teams were going with a traditional single keel or some went with a double keel to free up airflow beneath the chassis but at the cost of weight and stiffness. Now they are going with keel-less designs at the cost of the suspension geometry. The roll center will also be very high with these sort of designs and might give the driver less feel in the corners as to the level of grip there is. But I'm sure it's good enough to be implimented.
It's the city of Arts and Sciences building in Valencia, Espania (the site of the unveilling). Designed by architect Santiago Calatrava (who hails from Valencia)
i can;t help but noticed that the new BMW has that 'chin' on its front wing, similiar to the scuderia. is this considered as copying?
I'm not sure, but considering BMW bought Sauber and last years Sauber was kind of a close copy to the F2005, maybe the 'chin' wing is considered "inherited"?
