TDekker wrote:
The most importend is, who will get the best car setup, the drivers isn't very importend anymore..

Addy291 wrote:
Honda should have a pretty good car this year, hopefully

Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson will continue to race for the Super Aguri F1 Team in 2008. The news was confirmed by the issuing of a press release from the FIA, giving the official entry list for 2008. The only drive left available is the second Force India although it is common knowledge in F1 circle sthat this has gone to Giancarlo Fisichella.

CrueTrue wrote:
You seem very pleased, isso

LEWIS Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have renewed their rivalry, with the Briton edging his former teammate on the first day of Formula One testing in Barcelona.

Hamilton led the way for McLaren Mercedes with a best lap of 1min 22.263sec, 0.6 seconds clear of Alonso, who has returned to Renault, where he won his two world titles, after a disastrous year alongside the Briton in 2007.

Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld were third and fifth fastest respectively for BMW Sauber, while Giancarlo Fisichella was a surprise fourth fastest in the Force India car.

The Italian veteran ended the first day less than 0.8 seconds off Hamilton.

Australian driver Mark Webber was 11th fastest for Red Bull.

The Williams team had a shortened day after Kazuki Nakajima suffered an accident in the morning session, caused by a front wing failure that sent the young Japanese spearing off the circuit.

Teammate Nico Rosberg put in just 12 laps to record the ninth-best time, with Nakajima 13th.

Honda, with former Ferrari technical guru Ross Brawn at the helm as team principal, were rooted at the bottom of the timesheets with Rubens Barrichello and test driver Alex Wurz hopelessly off the pace.

Who is where in the F1 pecking order in 2008?

The Formula 1 teams were testing again over the weekend in Barcelona and although times are still an unreliable guide - the two Toro Rossos were fastest on Saturday - the Formula 1 teams are now beginning to get a clearer idea of who is where in terms of overall speed, as the engineers in the different team have had a chance to digest the data that was created at the tests to date.

What is emerging from this is that everyone agrees that while some teams can set good times with low fuel loads, there is no-one close to the pace of Ferrari when the cars are running with normal fuel loads. We hear that the advantage currently enjoyed by the Italian team is in the region of 0.4sec, which is a big gap in Formula 1 terms. This may change as teams bring on new developments in the weeks before Melbourne, but Ferrari may also have some new parts waiting in the wings.

The McLaren team seems to be in a solid position in second place but from what we are hearing BMW is no longer confident that it will be third with the new F1.08 proving to be rather more difficult to drive than its predecessor.

The new Renault seems to be at around the same pace as the new Williams but what is not clear at the moment is whether this is ahead or behind the BMWs and it is not yet clear where Red Bull, Toyota and Honda fit into the picture.

It may be a while before there are any further indications of relative performance as Ferrari did not take part in the Barcelona test and the team's major rivals are not going to Bahrain.

Crommy wrote:

There is no place in the world for racism

Alonso

"Perhaps Renault won't be my last team in F1"

"I really hope Ferrari can beat McLaren this year to the title"

One of the so-called fans at the centre of the
Lewis Hamilton
racism row insists that the Briton was not targeted because of his skin colour.

Instead, Toni Calderon told the Spanish press that he and his cohorts were merely intending to celebrate 'Carnival', and had picked Hamilton as the subject of their costumes because of his rivalry with Spanish hero
Fernando Alonso
in 2007.

"I would like to apologise to Lewis Hamilton and his family if our actions caused any offence," he was quoted by Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper, "I'm not racist, and we never intended to offend anyone. Lewis is a fantastic driver and I have the utmost respect for him."


Calderon also revealed that his party was allowed to enter the circuit wearing the outfits, which saw their faces blackened and with T-shirts bearing the slogan 'Hamilton's familly' [sic]

"We wanted to give a touch of humour to Montmelo and have a laugh at the father of Hamilton, who is seen at all the races," he explained to Spain's Publico newspaper, "We didn't have the slightest intention to laugh at the British driver for the colour of his skin or to offend anyone. The people on security at the gate started laughing and let us pass - in fact, half the people who saw us thought we were fans of Hamilton. Lots of people took pictures of us."