New Format?

[Cameron]

With all the talk of scrapping either Friday Practice or pre-testing is their mileage in a change of format?

We have at the moment a constructors championship which has a 99% bearing in the outcome of the Drivers championship. Where no matter how good (or bad) you are there is always the comment he's not that good it is the car, etc., etc.

What about leaving pre-testing as it is have practices and qualifying on the Sat. the GP as we know it on the Sun BUT on the Fri have a one design F1 race the outcome of which is the Drivers championship.

That way the Teams and the fans would really know who is the best driver and which is the best car. Also it would increase attendances on the Friday.

Don't abuse me to loudly!

[Valve Bounce]

Yeah!! We'll stick them all in Minardis. That way, Minardi gets to come first, second and third.

[Cameron]

Very sensible, you need a car like that so the drivers don't act as spies taking info back to the garage. Preferably last seasons version.

Joking aside you might even find the Minardi drivers are quicker than we think.

Well it is silly season.

[Minardi fan]

The Minardi is, along with the Ferrari and McLaren, THE most spied-on car actually. It's the car JT himself snoops around. It's a known pit-lane fact...

Shove them all in Minardis and you'd find Gene comfortably in the top ten.

[Cameron]

I fully and unreservedly retract any slurs I might have implied against the Minardi.

The Minardi is well recognized as being one of the most technically advaced cars on the circuit, it is just umfortunate that a lot of the pace setting adaptions have not been adopted by other teams.

I did hear a rumour, probably quite unfounded, that close study was made of the design principles when the F1 where looking at proposed rule changes.

[MichaelC]

Surely the Minardi is only the most spied-on car because it's designed by Gustav Brunner, who used to be designer for Ferrari, so he ought to be good.

He has said that he will leave if there's no sign of an engine deal within 18 months, and it's not looking too good for them at the moment. Then what will they do??

[Peter Mallett]

Brunner has been around for a long time. He was responsible for turning the Lotus 83(?) turbo into a useful car. He was with ATS for some years as well.

[Valve Bounce]

OK Guys, I was only joking. I suppose if Minardi had enough sponsorship money, they could get a decent motor. How about the Renault? Otherwise they could sell out to Toyota. I don't really know what is in the future for Minardi - you guys seem pretty upbeat about this team, but sooner than later, they must run out of funds if they stay at the back of the grid all the time. Unless they can get sponsorship for a miracle cure for arthritis or Parkinsons.

[Minardi fan]

The future looks good on the engine front - either ATM's (Peugeots) or Ferrari's (Petronas) for 2001. Whatever, it will mean improved performance, which in turn gets them more sponsorship and more money to play with.

[MichaelC]

Ferrari engines - OK, now you're going somewhere. But would you actually willingly take a Peugeot engine??

[Neil C]

Yes, MichaelC. I chose Peugeot as my engine for my Fantasy F1 team, and my last place standing reflects it.

"Some people are born stupid, others have stupidity thrust upon them"-SNAFU Racing Team motto.

[Valve Bounce]

Maybe they could get a Skoda engine - just think: 20 guys pushing the Minardi around the circuit!!! Great attention getter, and the publicity!!!! Good for the Arthritis also.