OT: Formula 1 Grand Prix of Bahrain

[Dutch]

I wanted to see what time the Bristol race was today, and then starting thinking an IRL race was on today. So I checked the channels, and couldn't find anything out. I then checked the SPEED channel and amazingly, there is a F1 race in Bahrain on today at 1130 central time.

I haven't watched an F1 race in a while, and with a new venue (at least to me), I'll have to check it out. I had no clue F1 was racing in Bahrain these days.

EDIT: And unless it's under the lights, I will assume this is a taped event.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by Dutch

EDIT: And unless it's under the lights, I will assume this is a taped event.

It is a taped event, the race actually happened earlier this morning. So avoid any website that may have the winner on the front page. Like the BBC one, for example. No need for me to catch the race later now.

Speed has pretty decent F1 coverage, covers all the races and also some practice sessions too.

[Critch]

dola - somebody needs to do a good text sim for F1.

[vtbub]

www.f1time.com

[Dutch]

Renault has really come on this year. And is this the end of the Ferrari dynasty in F1??? They are hurting big time.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by vtbub

www.f1time.com

Or

http://www.f1cm.co.uk/

It's still being worked on and looks to be in it's final stages.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Or

http://www.f1cm.co.uk/

It's still being worked on and looks to be in it's final stages.

It has been in development for ages but i realy hope it will see the light one day, i really miss a F1 manager sim. I ejoyed a lot the Grand Prix Manager games even with all the bugs they had.

[I. J. Reilly]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Renault has really come on this year. And is this the end of the Ferrari dynasty in F1??? They are hurting big time.

Do you know if Ferrari is still running their 2004 car? I heard earlier this year that once they get the 2005 version on the track they will be unbeatable. Let's hope not.

[Crapshoot]

They ran the new 2005 car this time - and it didn't look so hot yet./

[TLK]

I'm enjoying this season, more than any in recent memory.... it's almost bizarre to look at the standings and see that Christan Klien has more points than Schmacher.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

They ran the new 2005 car this time - and it didn't look so hot yet./

The Schumacher car pulled off a couple of fast laps early on. Of course, the engine died shortly afterwards.

[TLK]

Gil to BAR
Written by: Robin Miller

Indianapolis, IN – 4/5/2005 Last Sunday, Gil de Ferran called the Indy Racing League event as color analyst for ESPN. In a few days, the employees of the BAR-Honda Formula One team will start calling the 37-year-old Brazilian their boss.

SPEEDTV.com has learned that in the next few days de Ferran will be named sporting director of the English-based team that has failed to finish a race so far in 2005.

de Ferran was in Indianapolis Tuesday but flying back home to Fort Lauderdale and unavailable for comment.

Alan Henry, the longtime F-1 corrrespondent for The Guardian newspaper, also confirmed this unlikely, if not shocking, promotion in Wednesday's editions.

It's not a surprise that current CEO Nick Fry is under fire since this season has been a disaster for Jensen Button and Takuma Sato. After finishing third and eighth in the 2004 point standings, neither has made it to the end of a race and both have been off pace. And Toyota has scored a pair of podiums and pretty much humilated their arch rival.

Fry replaced David Richards, who was credited with turning this team around but got left by the side of the road when Honda acquired the controlling interest last winter.

de Ferran is an accomplished race driver -- owner of the 2000 and 2001 CART championships, 2003 Indianapolis 500 and 1992 British Formula 3 title -- yet has never managed a team.

Bobby Rahal, who had a short term running the Jaguar F-1 program in 2000, was happy for his old rival in CART but also pragmatic.

"Good for Gil," said Rahal from his shop in Columbus, Ohio. "I know he's never led a team but you know he's there because of Honda. Obviously, they think very highly of him and he's a sharp guy.

"Of course it's going to be a big challenge. It's seven days a week, 18 hours a day and it's going to be very demanding."

But Rahal, who was replaced by Niki Lauda after only six months when there was a change in upper management at Ford, believes that Gil has a better chance of sticking.

"Honda is not Ford and I think it's a relatively patient organization," continued the 1986 Indy winner who also made two starts in F-1 before becoming a three-time CART champ. "What undermined me at Jaguar weren't the people who brought me in. It was the next chain of command and I think Gil will have a good guy working with him named Outmore Szafnauer.

"I hired Outmore at Jaguar to be my COO but Lauda never allowed him to do his job so, after being paid by Ford for three years to do nothing, Honda hired him. He's good."

Still, Rahal has this advice for de Ferran.

"Ultimately, he still has to watch his back. It's a whole different world over there."

Since retiring from open wheel racing after the 2003 season, the personable de Ferran has worked as an IRL analyst for ABC and ESPN. He spent several seasons racing in England and his wife, Angela, is a native of Great Britain. BAR-Honda is located in Brackley, a suburb of London.

Wow..... this is surprising. Even with the IRL connection, I've always admired DeFerran. He was a hell of a racer and didn't have a bad word to say about CART/CC after he left. Having said that, I don't think he has ever held a management role with any racing team, let alone even drive in F1. At least Rahal was a team owner, when he was hired at Jag. I wish him the best.... but wow....

[TLK]

as a reminder or a heads-up....

this weeks race from San Marino will be on CBS, not Speed. I believe it will be shown on tape-delay at 1 PM (EST). Hopefully CBS can break ABC's tradition of awful F1 coverage.