Tuesday, 6 January 2009
As an avid fan of F1 I have been looking forward to the launches of the new 2009 cars. The new rules that come into force this year will make the cars look radically different although as yet I'm not sure how different as the teams are all still to unveil their new cars. So I read with interest the BBC news article entitled Ferrari first to launch 2009 car in the hope of some clues.
It seems that Ferrari will unveil a car on the 12th of January, however, it certainly won't be their 2009 F1 car. Buried towards the bottom of the article is the sentence: When Ferrari present their 2009 car in Maranello next week it will not meet race specifications for the opening Grand Prix in Australia on 29 March. Now as far as I'm concerned a car that won't be eligible to enter the first race of the season can't really be a 2009 F1 car and so the entire article is a fallacy -- Ferrari NOT first to launch 2009 car would have been a more accurate, albeit less exciting, title.
I expect McLaren are not launching their's on 13th January and so on.... Aren't launches wonderful. Be great when we do eventually see the cars but even then the livery at the launch is usually quite different to the finished product because all the sponsorship isn't sorted.
Does anyone know what's happened to Jenson Button and Ross Brawn now that Honda has pulled out? The only news we get here in NZ is that Honda has pulled out and is looking for a buyer. The F1 website is silent on the subject.
I don't mind the car being different to the one they eventually race in Australia (sponsorship deals and aero changes will continue almost to the race I'm sure) but I would assume that a car billed as the 2009 car would meet the 2009 specs!
As for Button and Honda, as far as I understand they are still developing the car (although not the engine) while looking for a buyer -- so that any buyer can be ready to race in Australia. Having said that though I think Honda only gave them until the end of January to find a buyer. If that doesn't happen then I guess the team will fold and Button won't have a race seat this year, which would be a real shame, especially given that with Ross Brawn on board I was hopeful that the Honda would finally be a reasonable car.
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