# New timetable for GP weekend



## F1Crazy (Dec 11, 2002)

FIA's new timetable for Grand Prix weekend:

*Friday*
08.30 - 10.30 Private testing for Minardi, Renault, Jordan, Jaguar
11.00 - 12.00 - Free Practice Session
14.00 - 15.00 - First Qualifying Session

*Saturday*
09.00 - 09.45 - Free Practice Session
10.15 - 11.00 - Free Practice Session
13.30 - 13.45 - Warm Up Practice Session
14.00 - 15.00 - Second Qualifying Session

*Sunday*
14.00 Race

Race start time will be different in Malaysia, Great Britain, US and Japan.

So it looks that no refueling after qualifying stands. We're going to have tactical battle and lots of confusion watching the race. :thumbdwn: 
I guess the outcome won't be obvious after first refueling and that's probably what Mosley wanted. :dunno:


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## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

Mosley seems to be dictating a lot of these changes. If you noticed Ron Dennis and Frank Williams have begun an official challenge of some of his changes. Only time will tell if these schedule modifications will benefit the racing. I don't like the fact that the teams will not be allowed to prepare the cars for the race after qualifying. I think the fuel load in qualifying might be interesting but let them do a warmup. I know it will cost them some fuel, but let the teams worry about it.


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## F1Crazy (Dec 11, 2002)

I haven't seen many drivers, besides Jacques of course, with positive comments about the rules lately. Villeneuve as always has to be different. 

Some of the changes are fine with me, like one lap qualifying, testing on GP weekends, no driver's aids like TC, LC, no pit to car telemetry and maybe one engine per weekend rule but I have strong feelings about the other ones. 
Why do we ban car to pit telemetry? This provides safety information like possible engine blow up coming or tire failure just to name a few. I don't want to see "tractor" engines as Renault called them. No refeuling after qualifying to ensure that qualifying cars are not used? Put them in parc ferme but let the teams check the cars and change setups before the race.
I bet the teams are already running simulations and trying to determine proper fuel loads for each GP.
Steve, like you said time will tell if changes are succesful.

...one more thing... do you think that some teams will take advantage of no refueling and will run the cars dry in qualifaying just to be on pole for publicity reasons?


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## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

I'm not against the one lap qualifying. Do they get two sessions now or must they pick the hour they use? In any case, it will make practice more important. Williams, for instance, has taken a relatively laid back approach to the beginning of a GP weekend. Friday times don't usually mean much, but they won't have time to waste now. They'll need a compromise setup since they'll be racing what they qualify. A team like Minardi might just qualify on low fuel, to move well up the grid, only to have to pit for fuel very early. The removal of TC will make the starts more fun to watch and require more driver control, but otherwise I don't think it will make much difference. I can also agree with one engine per weeked, but beyond that is not F1 and that's an absolute! I'm ambivalent about the telemetry. They were going to discontinue pit to car communications entirely. I'm not sure if they changed that, but that's surely a safety issue. I was hoping with the new F1 coverage we'd hear more of the in car comms.

Two weeks til Melbourne. :thumbup:


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## F1Crazy (Dec 11, 2002)

SteveT said:


> *Two weeks til Melbourne. :thumbup: *


I can hardly wait!  
I hope that new TV coverage (ex Bernie TV) will be better than last year's.
As far as qualifying goes friday will determine starting order on saturday with the best driver on friday starting last. This is the change I actually like very much, there will be no waiting for 30 minutes till Minardi shows up and than others at the end of the session. This new format will be quite entertaining, especially with changing conditions.

Make sure to watch CART race tomorrow.


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## WILLIA///M (Apr 15, 2002)

I have to say that unless Williams and the FW25 have more to show this year with the actual race set up then they might not be a factor in qualifying this year either. At least last year they could show well in qualifying before being left in the dust as soon as they got passed in the race.:tsk:


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## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

Topaz330xi said:


> *I have to say that unless Williams and the FW25 have more to show this year with the actual race set up then they might not be a factor in qualifying this year either. At least last year they could show well in qualifying before being left in the dust as soon as they got passed in the race.:tsk: *


The FW25 is a completely new package for them as I'm sure you know. I'd love to see the car go fast right away, it may not. Recent comments by Ralf talk about how much work they need to do on the aerodynamic package. He says they've got a lot of grip and from what I've heard the car is noticeably smaller than the FW24. That could mean the tires are much better or it may mean that since the balance is different it turns in better. Hard to tell. As usual Williams has gotten in a ton of testing. It looks like the P83 is quite reliable. As far as qualifying and race setups, they could setup for qualifying and then just race the setup and dial it out at the first stop. I guess we'll see where they are in two weeks.


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## richard (Apr 3, 2002)

F1 Crazy,
I hate to burst your bubble but if you were expecting Bernievision we are not getting it. Bernie completely disbanded his digital feed. All we'll get here in the States is the same world feed we always got. In fact it will be worse because Bernie's guys did the onboard cameras with their digital equipment. Now we have to go back to bouncing the signals off the helicopters which means no onboards from Monaco tunnel. In fact, as of now we have no coverage at all...no deal has been reached with any U.S. network.


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## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

Although the Speed Channel hasn't made an announcement yet, word is they've got a two year agreement. The Australian Grand Prix (practice, qualifying and race) is on their posted schedule.


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