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[GianFisi]

The new Renault looks like a frontrunner to me, both by the looks and what we can expect from the machine...

[Rivelution]

You know after looking at the Williams again, the nose aint that bad. It looks bad when you look at it straight on, but the Williams is definitely a beautiful car from all other angles, especially from the side.




Its between the McLaren and Williams for the best looking car. I cant wait for the Red Bull to come out, because I think that will be a pretty car.

[KyrosV]

The R29, FW31 & MP4-24 look like real title contending cars at the moment. The F60 & TF09 look a bit basic to me and not as advanced as the aforementioned. Lets see what the BMW has to bring.

As a Renault & Alonso fan im very optimistic for 2009. And Im happy with what im seeing in the team. This could be our year again!

[Lib]

The R29, FW31 & MP4-24 look like real title contending cars at the moment. The F60 & TF09 look a bit basic to me and not as advanced as the aforementioned. Lets see what the BMW has to bring.

As a Renault & Alonso fan im very optimistic for 2009. And Im happy with what im seeing in the team. This could be our year again!

We'll see when Fernando gets his hands on the R29 later in the week! Hopefully he'll feel the same as you, because he was definitely right when he slagged the R28 off at the start of last season!

[Denthúl]

It would be nice to see a battle between Williams, Renault and BMW Sauber, rather than the usual Ferrari and McLaren. Of course, for all teams to be able to challenge for wins next year. My prediction is that every team will get on the podium, seeing as Force India were the only team not to do so last season.

Interesting are the test times, though. I know they're probably meaningless, but it is interesting to see that the cars were five seconds off Buemi's 2008 car. Also nice to see is that the Williams was pretty close to the McLaren. Let's hope it isn't false promise

[KyrosV]

It would be nice to see a battle between Williams, Renault and BMW Sauber, rather than the usual Ferrari and McLaren. Of course, for all teams to be able to challenge for wins next year. My prediction is that every team will get on the podium, seeing as Force India were the only team not to do so last season.

Interesting are the test times, though. I know they're probably meaningless, but it is interesting to see that the cars were five seconds off Buemi's 2008 car. Also nice to see is that the Williams was pretty close to the McLaren. Let's hope it isn't false promise

Red Bull are wasting there time They have 2 teams (double the testing time) and yet they havnt brought anything to the table. what are they getting out of running one team with 2008 specs??

It was good to see the hulk only just slower than pedro (who had a 2008 rear wing on) Its promising to be a close season I think.

[scotty]

You know after looking at the Williams again, the nose aint that bad. It looks bad when you look at it straight on, but the Williams is definitely a beautiful car from all other angles, especially from the side.




Its between the McLaren and Williams for the best looking car. I cant wait for the Red Bull to come out, because I think that will be a pretty car.

The Williams looks awesome there!

I really, really hope this supposed mechanical grip advantage Williams had last year has carried over...

[Denthúl]

It would be nice to see a battle between Williams, Renault and BMW Sauber, rather than the usual Ferrari and McLaren. Of course, for all teams to be able to challenge for wins next year. My prediction is that every team will get on the podium, seeing as Force India were the only team not to do so last season.

Interesting are the test times, though. I know they're probably meaningless, but it is interesting to see that the cars were five seconds off Buemi's 2008 car. Also nice to see is that the Williams was pretty close to the McLaren. Let's hope it isn't false promise

Red Bull are wasting there time They have 2 teams (double the testing time) and yet they havnt brought anything to the table. what are they getting out of running one team with 2008 specs??

It was good to see the hulk only just slower than pedro (who had a 2008 rear wing on) Its promising to be a close season I think.

I think they are waiting for several things, including Renault ironing out any KERS problems. Of course, provided they can get most of it right on paper, then they shouldn't need too much testing and it leaves more time for the fine details. Hopefully Newey can get it right. And I hope they make a fat car, too.

[KyrosV]

have a look at this..

http://my.ing-renaultf1.com/en/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the car at the top has a normal pointed nose.. interesting?

[Denthúl]

Maybe it's an alternative design? In case the fat one doesn't prove to be fast enough.

[Jabberwocky]

So far I think it will be a Ferrari and Renault Year

[EwanM]

It is early days to predict anything, but in the next few weeks we will have a better picture about the form of teams, especially in the early part of the season.

I may be completely knocked down by the serious pre-season testing, but I am going to be bullish.
It is time to pull ourselves together and bring the title back to Enstone. Let Toyota fling money at their car, we can never match the budgets of the big teams, but we, like the best of them have the racing pedigree.
Renault know how to win titles, Alonso knows how to win titles.
Now to bring the title back!

(well maybe not the constructors... damn Nelson)

[7UpJordan]

You know after looking at the Williams again, the nose aint that bad. It looks bad when you look at it straight on, but the Williams is definitely a beautiful car from all other angles, especially from the side.




Its between the McLaren and Williams for the best looking car. I cant wait for the Red Bull to come out, because I think that will be a pretty car.

The Williams looks awesome there!

I really, really hope this supposed mechanical grip advantage Williams had last year has carried over...

And hopefully they've fixed the problem with the car at aero-dependent circuits. The front wing certainly looks heavy.

[EwanM]

Briatore: KERS is a 'disaster'
Monday, 19 January 2009 20:49

Renault team boss Flavio Briatore has slammed the decision to press on with the introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems this year.


Amid the round of cost cuts, several teams had pushed for the new devices to be scrapped, but Briatore claimed that BMW prevented an agreement and forced the retention of KERS - to the Italian's disgust.


"I think it’s a terrible mistake," said Briatore.


"Renault, Mercedes and Ferrari supply engines to other teams, and we know we don’t make any money by doing that [due to the low-cost engine arrangements], so we have a big reduction in the cost of the engine [for independent teams].



"But in another way we’re opening a big door [to higher costs].


"First of all we don’t know how much it will cost to develop.


"We don’t know if it’s dangerous or not; it looks like it’s not 100% under control, anyway.


"And it’s something which doesn’t bring any good to us – it brings only costs. This is sure.


"We have this situation because one team only was really determined to have this programme.


"We know already that for 2010, with the option of the standard KERS, whatever money we spend this year is for one year only.


"And in this kind of environment I think it’s completely unnecessary.


"For sure BMW want to do it and so we will follow because it’s difficult for us to have one competitor to develop a programme and for us not to be part of it because we could lose performance.


"But at this moment to support this programme is really not good for anyone.


"What we know is that we are spending all that money for nothing – this is sure."


Briatore's lead driver Fernando Alonso said he had reservations about KERS from both a safety and an economic standpoint.


"I don’t think too much about this, but I know that there is a possible danger there," he said.


"I’m not a great fan of KERS so far.


"All the teams have had problems with KERS, I know it’s quite expensive and with the economic situation we have now it was maybe not the perfect system to introduce."

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=44967" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Alonso determined to win 2009 title
Monday, 19 January 2009 00:00

Fernando Alonso says he will be disappointed if he does not win this year's world championship.


The double title-winner believes the new Renault R29 - which was launched at Portimao today - will be quick enough to thrust him back to the front of the pack.


"At the moment the whole team is really confident, really optimistic and there is only one target for 2009, which is winning the drivers’ championship and winning the constructors’ championship," said Alonso.


"Both championships are the target.


"Everybody is so focused on this, and all the results we have from the wind tunnel, the engine dyno, everything are better than we predicted.


"So everybody is quite motivated so far but you never know if it will be enough to win.


"But hopefully from the first race we will be fighting for the podium at least.


"I think if we don’t win the championship we will be disappointed this season.


"Obviously in race two or race three, maybe you are nowhere and you have to change your target – but now, in January, you have to be really optimistic and we are now."


Alonso said he hadn't seen any sign that Renault's rival teams had handled the radically-different 2009 rules better than his team.


"I’m sure that every launch has been looked at in more detail than in any other year," he said.


"In our team, every time we see a new car we try to look if they have something completely different, or another philosophy of understanding the 2009 rules.


"But so far we didn’t see anything special.


"None of the cars now has something that the others don’t have, so maybe it can be a good championship if it’s really open and has the possibility for more than two teams to win races.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=44965" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Alonso sceptical about Friday tests
Monday, 19 January 2009 00:00

Fernando Alonso has warned not to expect an increase in the amount of track action on grand prix Fridays despite the new in-season testing ban.


In an effort to cut costs, no testing will be allowed once the championship is underway, so Fridays will be the main opportunity to get test and development mileage.


However Alonso feels that this would be too disruptive to teams' race weekend preparations, especially as each driver can now only use eight engines during the season.


"I’m worried that we will not run too much on Fridays," he said.



"That’s my feeling right now, because if you are needing to test things on Fridays, that will be a little bit of an extreme position to take, and a panic move.


"Fridays are just to check the car; you are in the race weekend, you make sure everything works, you do some little tweaks to finalise your set-up and nothing more than that.


"And especially with the engine rules, we will do very few laps on Fridays I guess."


He said that meant that if teams had to perfect new technology like their Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems during winter testing rather than taking work through to the early race weekend.


"Now if you don’t have everything under control in the last test of the winter, there is no time any more to do anything," said Alonso.


"If the KERS is still not working in the last test of the winter, it is better to remove it and race without it for the rest of the championship.


"You cannot arrive on Friday in Malaysia or Bahrain and think about testing a new solution for the KERS; it’s too late by then."

"All the cars now are mixed because we are starting from zero.


"If you carry the same regulations for two or three years, the cars that win the championship normally keep this advantage for years."

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=44971" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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[Rivelution]

You know after looking at the Williams again, the nose aint that bad. It looks bad when you look at it straight on, but the Williams is definitely a beautiful car from all other angles, especially from the side.




Its between the McLaren and Williams for the best looking car. I cant wait for the Red Bull to come out, because I think that will be a pretty car.

The Williams looks awesome there!

I really, really hope this supposed mechanical grip advantage Williams had last year has carried over...

And hopefully they've fixed the problem with the car at aero-dependent circuits. The front wing certainly looks heavy.

The Williams and Renault front wings look sturdy comared to the Ferrari and Toyota, which look like they will break off easily when the driver uses too much curb.