might as well start the 2015 thread because the World Motor Sport Council met today to and made a few decisions

 

2015 Calendar

 

Mar 15 Australia Melbourne

Mar 29 Malaysia Sepang

Apr 12 China Shanghai

Apr 19 Bahrain Sakhir

May 10 Spain Barcelona

May 24 Monaco Monte Carlo

Jun 07 Canada Montreal

Jun 21 Austria Red Bull Ring

Jul 05 Britain Silverstone

Jul 19 Germany Hockenheim

Jul 26 Hungary Budapest

Aug 23 Belgium Spa Francorchamps

Sep 06 Italy Monza

Sep 20 Singapore Marina Bay

Sep 27 Japan Suzuka

Oct 11 Russia Sochi

Oct 25 United States Austin

Nov 01 Mexico Mexico City

Nov 15 Brazil Interlagos

Nov 29 Abu Dhabi Yas Marina

 

The reviled double points finale rule has been scrapped (hooray) and the proposal for standing restarts following Safety Car periods has been dropped (hooray)

 

Also, from 2016, there will be a minimum age requirement to be issued a superlicence of 18, and with 2 years junior formulae experiecne, so Max Verstappen has got in just in the nick of time :P

Edited January 15, 20159 yr by The Bisch

Oh. My. God! Omega's gonna kill you :P.

 

Cheers!

Jenson Button, Kevin Magnussen and Mika f'n Hakkinen are racing supercars around Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh tomorrow. I'm going and its gonna be awesome!

I'm happy we've enough people on here interested enough that there is a fight over who creates the thread! :D

The BBC are reporting that McLaren have chosen to go with Jenson for 2015 at a salary of less than half his 2014 pay.

 

I, for one, am pleased.

I didn't expect that. I like it though.

I think jenson's may have done himself there and assumed no real big moves were going to happen into McLaren and so not been aggressive enough in getting his contract sorted. Alonso suddenly appearing in the scene means jenson isn't worth quite as much. Still I'm very pleased and I think Alonso will be happier with JB as a teammate than Kevin. To be honest I'm glad it'll be over with, it's not been good PR for the team at all.

That's it confirmed with magnusson as test/reserve driver

I am really happy that Jenson is staying with McLaren as he is still a very good driver in last season's crap car. The driver lineups for the top teams looks very interesting.

I'm happy for Jenson. Based on performance he deserved the drive. Curiously it looks like it might be a two year deal, which is rather surprising as I think everyone assumed it would just be the one.

 

Mclaren certainly have the line up now though, so no excuses, time to build them a good car!

Jenson on 2 years and Alonso on 3 so I think we'll see Kevin or Stofel in 2017. I think Jenson may not be there 2016, a lot will depend on what he does V Alonso. If he pushes him then he'll be there, if it's one sided then he could still go.

It looks like Korea won't be on the calendar for next year according to Bernie Ecclestone. The only reason they put it on was because they could have been sued if they didn't. It was thought that it was put on the calendar to allow 5 changes of engines as there will be more than 20 races and that the race would be scrapped as it would be a logistical nightmare because of where it was placed in the calendar.

I think it's a little of column A and a little of column B. If Bernie is telling you 100% it wasn't done for that reason then it probably was at least a little bit. I don't think they can have another two final races of the season with teams like Red Bull not taking full participation in qualy because of a lack of engines. I suspect it helped Bernie to be legally covered by offering Korea a spot but he knew they didn't want it when it was offered and so I doubt he was terribly worried about any legal challenge from Korea.

The FIA has published an updated entry list for next year's Formula 1 season and Manor and Caterham remain on it while Lotus are now also "subject to confirmation".

 

The initial list was revealed last month with Manor, who competed as Marussia this year, and Caterham also "subject to confirmation" after the two teams went into administration last season.

 

Marussia have already ceased trading with many of its assets auctioned a few weeks ago, but Caterham are still hoping to find a buyer and compete in the 2015 Championship.

 

One tweak to the list sees Lotus' status changed despite the team already confirming Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado for next year with Mercedes their new engine supplier.

 

The numbers of the drivers who will be on the grid have also been revealed with defending World Champion Lewis Hamilton keeping number 44.

 

2015 Entry List:

 

Mercedes (Engine: Mercedes)

44. Lewis Hamilton

6. Nico Rosberg

 

Red Bull Racing (Renault)

3. Daniel Ricciardo

26. Daniil Kvyat

 

Williams (Mercedes)

19. Felipe Massa

77. Valtteri Bottas

 

Scuderia Ferrari (Ferrari)

5. Sebastian Vettel

7. Kimi Raikkonen

 

McLaren (Honda)

14. Fernando Alonso

22. Jenson Button

 

Force India F1 Team (Mercedes)

27. Nico Hulkenberg

11. Sergio Perez

 

Scuderia Toro Rosso (Renault)

33. Max Verstappen

55. Carlos Sainz Jr.

 

Lotus F1 Team (Mercedes)*

8. Romain Grosjean

13. Pastor Maldonado

 

Sauber F1 Team (Ferrari)

9. Marcus Ericsson

12. Felipe Nasr

 

Manor F1 Team (Ferrari)*

TBA

TBA

 

CF1 Caterham F1 Team (Renault)*

TBA

TBA

I am baffled that anyone who had the option to have #1 on their car would turn it down.

So more than likely 18 starters next season with the US Haas based team coming in 2016. Lotus on provisionally I assume is a payment of fees thing or could be that they want to rename the team from Lotus to Proton potentially. Interesting that the company that owns Proton has a 34% stake in Honda (Malyasia) so could be scope for them to become a discounted honda customer in future perhaps.

 

Sauber are going to be f*cked I think. I can't see the Ferrari unit being any better next year than this and they don't have the budget or depth of engineering to do a Williams and change their fortunes. Ericsson isn't good enough and I don't rate Nasr who came third in GP2 behind Jolyeon Palmer who can't get an F1 drive and Stoffel Vandoorne who was in his first season in GP2.

 

However that top 10 list of drivers and teams is mouthwatering!