Alonso threatens to quit in 2010 if...

[Tazio]

Good to see a driver with some principles at last. Hopefully this, combined with similar threats from Ferrari and Toyota, will be enough to blow this retarded idea completely out of the water for good.

Fred (God Bless Him) has always had a propensity towards profundity.
When he was penalized 5 (or maybe 10) grid places for allegedly impeding Massa in qualifying for Monza 2006.
Mike was making his charge that almost won him the WDC. Speed TV reported it as being an unfounded claim. Flavio was livid
The video they showed didn't convince me that he had, or had not been blocked,
(a suggested ploy to keep the championship alive, for Mike, or at least delay the outcome of the season)
being a fan of the reds I was overjoyed. This was the race that Mike announced his retirement (quite eloquently)during the post race interview.
During the prerace show, Steve Varsha quoted Fred as saying “Even though I consider myself a sportsman, I no longer consider F1 a sport"
Sheer profundity!
When He is a chubby middle aged man almost every one of his detractors will look back fondly at this rascals contribution to The F1 World.
Providing there still is an F1 world, any world, or at least a matrix. :

[Tazio]

Fred didn't win on style but driving agression IMHO. I would think that the move away from driver aids is right up his street

He says differently!

Alonso, champion with Renault in 2005 and 2006, said Formula One was going backwards technically with recent regulation changes.

"In 2005 we had a V10 engine with 1,000 horsepower," he said. "That was what was exciting for the driver, motor racing at the limit.

"We have gone from the futuristic to cars without grip or electronic aids which look like something from the past."
http://eurosport.yahoo.com/03122008/...quit-2010.html
Que pasa amigo?

[Knock-on]

He says differently!

Alonso, champion with Renault in 2005 and 2006, said Formula One was going backwards technically with recent regulation changes.

"In 2005 we had a V10 engine with 1,000 horsepower," he said. "That was what was exciting for the driver, motor racing at the limit.

"We have gone from the futuristic to cars without grip or electronic aids which look like something from the past."
http://eurosport.yahoo.com/03122008/...quit-2010.html
Que pasa amigo?

That was the quote I was on about.

It really surprises me that he feels this way although perhaps I'm not understanding him correctly.

I thought that drivers like Fred, Lewis etc would welcome the demise of drivers aids.

[Tazio]

Perhaps he just feared for what I voiced a concern about (and almost everyone else) why does the sport have to fix things that aren't broken!
It's painfully obvious that short of ruining the sport, F1 will continue to be more expensive every year. I was just thinking of this yesterday. How is requiring an engine to last 2 races, and a transmission 3 saving any more money than letting the team build cars that detonate at around 210 miles odo. To say nothing of the fact that the engines are not matched every race.
BS I want to see a new Ferrari "Lump" against a new take your pick every race. Let them limit revs if they are concerned about being too fast for safety reasons. What a bunch of pussies. Racing is a little dangerous! The real problem is the loss of tobacco revenue.

[V12]

On the topic of engines and cost saving - I wonder if anyone more in the know could answer me this, unless it is too hard to quantify that is.

What, roughly, accounts for more of a team's budget? The actual raw hardware and materials used to manufacture the engines (which they now get to use a bit less of with the engine-lasting-for-x-races fad), or the R&D required to develop an engine that can last that long while remaining competitive?