shumi's got a good run ... he might win it .. but bear in mind that alonso's made a mistake while Qualifying ... and he's good in storming through. However whoever get in front of the 2 .. it will be tough to pass either !! and kimi has a task in hand to get in front from last ... but he's capable !!
i hope massa does well ... he's impressed me with his pace.
double retirment from torro rosso? and that dude monteiro ..( somehow cant stand him !!)
WOW no body else posted.
I agree with you, except on being sad for shumi (not really a fan). Kimi and Nico really stood out. Nico did an exceptional job for his 1st F1 race, and he may be the next great one. Kimi...well what can I say, as much as I like Monty, this guy started dead last and finished 3rd! He's done it in the past, and today he showed us again how good he is.
On another note, I was very disapointed with Honda. I expected them to be on pace...so Jenson did an Ok job...but Rubens proved he no longer belongs in F1.
Ohhh...and how 'bout Toyota! one of the largest budgets in F1 and the car sucked almost as much as the Super Aguri team...my suggestion-stick with Nascrap!
Agreed about BMW. J3 - why shouldn't Rubems be racing? I think he's a great driver and ill bet honda will improve. still sucks that he can't be on one of the 'big' teams anymore like renault or mclaren.
Today's race had so many good story lines from a personal point of view...Kimi had an amazing charge up through the field, an American in the field for the first time since '93, and Nico's stunning debut. If you're in the States and watched Speed Channel's coverage, I think David Hobbs had the quote of the day describing Nico's pass of DC saying he had some "rather large attachments" to pull off that move.
It's really early in the season to say. If Mclaren could put together a reliable car (which they can) i would say Kimi should destroy all, there's no reason that man can't win an F1 championship. I'm split between Schumi and Alonso though, either one could take it all this year. Then again, I'd much rather see a total, unexpected upset this year.
I agree with all on the Williams/BMW thing. I am glad to see the Williams/Cosworth package up near the top. A good slap in the face for BMW. On the Rubens comment: I too like Rubens very much. It was very sad to see him (and gives him merrit) relegated to "second" while at Ferrari all those years. I will take back my comment and wait til mid season to make such statements. My issue is that someone who has this much experience should at least keep pace with his team mate which he did not do this weekend. I guess same could be said for Mark Webber...he was outshined by Nico. All that hype about Mark...and the guy is a tool! I hope that Nico continues on his form and shows the F1 world that there is someone new to be reconed with.
I think Kimi is the best driver, along w/ Shumi (not a fan); if Kimi has a good consistent car, I think he might win the championship;
Alonso reminds me of Prost, cold, calculative, extremely consistent and dependable, and wins races by being smart; it's a recipe that works well when you have the best car;
Rubens had gearbox problems and ran much of the race without a gear, hence the slow pace; i don't think he is championship material though;
I think this is Kimi's year. He's too fast - as long as McLaren doesn't let him down again, but even last year he almost won it all with an extremely unreliable car.
I think Schumi will finish second, and if he's close may stick around for one more year.
I think Alonso will fade as the year goes and Renault will fall behind Ferrari and McLaren.
I would like to see a reversal of last season, and this year Alonso wins the first race, but Fisi wins it all. I know it won't happen.
Oh yeah, and Webber is way overrated. He made so many boneheaded mistakes last year. He's lucky Williams wasn't at the top last year where everyone would have seen it happen.
ok .. i didnt catch the race live ... was in bed, ill !!! ... so someone has to tell me ...
what happened to rubens? ... why was his perormance so bad? .. and kimi was in a crash .. that too first lap ? ..
i love it that fisichella won .. i've always liked him .. very under rated..
I like the way the season is getting layed out ... now if only toyota shows us why they spend so much money !!
I caught the race live...but just barely.
Barrichello (I will hold back on my personal comments for just one more race) but here is what Button had to say:
Barrichello was forced to switch to the spare car in Malaysia after an engine problem late in practice on Saturday, but he failed to deliver the kind of pace that third driver Anthony Davidson had shown in the car earlier in the weekend.
Button said he could not understand why his new teammate was having a hard time delivering the form that was expected of him after his move from Ferrari.
"That's a difficult one," said Button. "I think that the way the car works doesn't suit his style and he's taken a little bit of time to get used to it.
"The strange thing is that over the winter he was very competitive and it seems that when the conditions are hotter he is struggling a bit more with the car.
"It shows that the car is not where we wanted it to be or where we expected it to be for these first two races of the season and it shows we need to make steps forward in a couple of places."
Barrichello, whose troubled time in Malaysia was hampered by a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pitlane, said he hoped the situation would improve soon.
Mr. Klien whacked into Kimi on the first lap=game over. This guy does not have luck on his side...maybe is all that partying and womanizing! god I wish I were in his place...
Good race overall...TOyota Sucked ass again...but the best part was the detailed coverage of Ferrari's "Active" front wing...
But wait there's more! the latest is that BMW and McLaren have the same issue and it needs to be corrected in 2 weeks time!
Alonso seems to be running away with the title .. but its too early anyway . Double retirment from williams and ferrari ... both of them very stupid mistakes!! .. at least MS should have known better . but MS was flying when he crashed ...
Too many incidents and retirments ... and button should be given a solid wack on his head for giving up the lead so early into the race!! .. when is he ever gonna win a race... that 103 races without a win ?
Alonso seems to be running away with the title .. but its too early anyway . Double retirment from williams and ferrari ... both of them very stupid mistakes!! .. at least MS should have known better . but MS was flying when he crashed ...
Too many incidents and retirments ... and button should be given a solid wack on his head for giving up the lead so early into the race!! .. when is he ever gonna win a race... that 103 races without a win ?
Jenson Button is the Peyton Manning of F1 - talented, can talk the talk, but falls apart when he needs to win. He'll win eventually, but this race should have embarassed him.
Actually, I'm really surprised that Ralf didn't get tagged for passing under yellow. I expected his result to be overturned when the race ended. He was noticibly sheepish about it in the post-race interview.
woo hoo ... that was a brilliant race ... so far 2006 has been a very interesting season !!
ok first the good points ..
Schumacher/ferrari gets their first (respectable) win since suzuki 2004..
good show by massa .. could have done better but lets give him credit coz he's not used to being out there in the front.
gosd drive by montoya .. well calculated pit stops
I was quite surprised about the pit stops /.. considering that only 3 cars did a 3 stop stratergy ... which mean all the rest were carrying heavy fuel load?? ... the was ferrari was flying in the begining I thought that they were carrying a light load ..
only 4 retirments .. thats a good thing ... the first crash (albers) was crazy !!
qualified 3rd finished 10th !!what the &@&&@#*@ is wrong with barichello!! ... enuf said ..
button ... well cant blame him too much coz of that pitstop mishap .. so negative points to the honda crew..
Nico ... slacking ?? .. hardly noticed him in this race .. in fact i forgot about him till the race finished !! I'm sure he knows that F1 is a fickle world.
what else ?? .. poor show by redbull ... and JV better retire after this season ... face it .. he ain't got it no more .. fisichella ... could have done better ,,,.... expected more out of him .. he belongs up front with that car he's driving ...
and what the F*cks up with toyota ?? ... so much money and thats what you have to offer ??? crazy man ... just crazy !!
Super Aguri driver Yuji Ide has been reprimanded by race stewards following his spectacular first-lap accident with Christijan Albers.
is Yugi the new Sato ..??
Sato's been very quite this season ... So far ie..
as for Schumi returning to the top ... it's tough to say .. ranault are on a high and are managing to get in the top 3 every time . and given that they are much faster than ferrari ... its a tough call .. I actually see a battle .. but alonso still has the edge .
They need to take Ide's superlicense away. Maybe they're trying to make Sato look good after last season?
Ferrari did well, but you can't pass at Imola which I think made them look a bit better than they are. Alonso was clearly much faster and quite frankly so were JP and Kimi, but they started so far back, which at other tracks hasn’t been a problem, but here they can't pass.
Australia was quite the race, so many retirements. I couldn't believe that Ralf didn't get tagged for passing under yellow but Scott did... Jensen's a hugely talented driver and I've been hoping for him to do well, but he got what he deserved, shooting his mouth off.
As far as predictions for the season? Same as last season:
-Fernando
-Kimi
-Michael
I'd like to see Kimi win he's by far my favorite driver, but 18 points behind and a car I'm not sure is anymore reliable than last year. Fernando knows what he has to do, be consistnet, so far he is and I don't see the Renault letting him down any time soon. If McClaren don't put a car under Kimi that can finish (no pun intended) this year, I'd go to Ferrari.
I'd like to see Nico and Williams do well, gotta support the privateers. And Nico, I mean come on, he's got the pedigree and the rock-star cool, his first outing was huge, hoepfully he'll deliver long term.
So there's only like 10 of us that watch F1? I suppose it's not very archi-geek.
OK, so I said I would hold back my comments on Rubino until the 3rd race...but come on! what the hell is he doing? I actually felt bad for the guy...listening to his comments in the post quali conf. but seriously, the guy is past his prime!...IDE? hopefully, by the sound of things...he won't be driving too much longer (certainly won't see out the season) Overall the race was alot of fun. There seems to be quite a bit more excitement that last year. This whole Ferrari resurgence is just a one shot deal...Ferrari is always competitive at Imola for some reason...We'll see where they really are next couple of races. FA and both McLaren cars were quicker than MS. Massa drove a respectable race too.
My biggest issue is the fact that we had to watch the M.F. race on tape delay, and CBS chops the race up...no post race interviews...etc. From what I hear, it's all down to $$. FOM sold the 4 big races to the highest bidder. Can't wait for Speed TV's coverage this weekend.
I think the sensible mans money has to be on Fernando again this year. He's looking blisteringly quick and Michael (admitadly, I think he genuinely had problems with his tyres) would have been left in his wake.
I still think, despite his arrogance, Jenson was unlucky this weekend. I'd make sure the lollipop man was hung drawn and quartered before the Nurburgring. Still, Im sure he wouldnt have managed top spot, the BAR's just arent quite quick enough.
- Fernando
- Kimi
- Michael / Jenson (although I reckon all his points will be from 2nds and 3rds!)
I agree Nico has made a lot of friends already, he has my vote.
Also . . . as great as it's pedigree is, is anyone else getting a little fed up with Imola? I was bored stiff sunday despite the race between Fernando and Michael.
Yeah, but Imola last year was probably the most exciting race I've ever seen. I know passing is tough there, but Schumacher still pulled off that pass on Button last year that was absolutely phenomenal.
I know he doesn't have many fans, but JPM has grown up considerably since last season. He pulls off incredible passes, and he's quietly doing a great job this year. He's also had a bit of bad luck with his car/set-up, but he could be there with the top guys this season.
The BAR guy that screwed up was Alastaire Gibbons, their head mechanic guy...I had the pleasure of meeting this chap last year at the USGP, when my friend and I got a garage tour from him! He F'd up real bad!
JPM is fast. He's a great driver. But he makes some seriously stupid mistakes. Australia when he wrecked out that was probably not his fault, but that spin on the warm up lap was most certainly his fault. And his pass of Tiago Monteiro in the braking zone at … was it Japan, last year was retarded. Yes Tiago rear ended him, but he passed him too late and had NOTHING to gain by passing him he was a back marker and JPM could easily have made the pass as soon as they were around the corner. He could have camped out behind him the rest of the lap and still finished second. Tiago took the fall on that, but in opinion passing is the responsibility of the over taker, and even IF Tiago is at fault, a more experienced (or smarter) driver would not have attempted the pass, too much to lose, nothing to gain.
My assessment, he’s good, he’s fast, but he makes way to many stupid mistakes he needs to driver smarter, know when to back off.
Right then ... the European Grand prix ... few hours left for it to start!
Alonso on pole .... shumi on second ..
but the ferrari has been the stronger car during the week.
however we all know that, getting a pole here means half the battle is won !!
impressive run from massa to come in third and honda again has decent starting position with barrichelo coming ahead of button at 4th over button's 6th everything else went like clockwork , except for the the jaques-giancarlo mix up ...
on another note ... Yugi has been asked not to race anymore till he gets more experience !!
should be a good race!!.. I hope there'll be more overtaking than the last one !!
the Top three was as I thought it would be ...
Schumi is really back in the hunt now ... and Alonso's probably the toughest competitor he's had in recent times ( I think the last tough one would have been Damon Hill) fantastic driving ... cold and calculative. Full points to the Ferrari crew too . Good pitstop calls.
My respect for Massa has gone several notches up ... superb racing from him.
Rosberg shined again today ... from last to 7th ... he's a future champion if you ask me. all he needs is a reliable car and good guidance.
Giancarlo drove well too despite that shunt from Jaques ( who .. i still think should retire!!) good recovery. could have done better.
Honda ... I give up ..but Barrichelo was the better driver today tho.
Toyota - as usual "sucked" ... the money better start talking soon ..
Though he was running behind .. I was impressed with Scot Speed
Damon? What about Mika? No love for the fins. Ok so the McMerc tiped it in Mikas favor, but come the pass at Spa in 2000 was soo huge.
JPM showed you how fast he was. That's what happens when he drives with his head. Though he did almost stuff it into the back of somebody twice (Hiedfeld was it?). What happened to Kimi? My boy let me down. I'm glad I didn't have money on that one.
The number of retirements was rediculous, I felt bad for Liuzzi and Coulthard.
Agreed Jacque is past his prime.
What's with these Super Aguri boys? Running old Arrows machines? At least they dumped Ide.
sporadic i agree, kudos to massa. he was consistently impressive all last weekend.
as for spain . . . it was boring. kimi did make a fantastic start and pulled off a nice overtaking manouvre between the toyotas, but once again he just had a really uneventful afternoon.
jpm was a wally he's far too eratic at times.
nico and trulli's little battle was one of the highlights. nico clearly has bags of talent but is still in need of some epxerience. this will of course come!
its interesting to note catalunya is where the teams have done the majority of their testing, and on current form its clear renault and ferarri are going to run away with the season. bridgstone are clearly lacking a bit in grip though which might prove the decided in the long run.
sadly monte carlo is likely to be much of the same with little overtaking and the race decided on the saturday and in the pits.
there will be loads of testing going on this week though so you never know . . . monaco might throw up some suprises yet.
boy o boy ... monaco qualifying ... all that drama ..
so shumi lost his pole ...
i do believe that it's difficult for someone like him to such an error .. but there seems to be a personal vandetta against him .. If he did do it on purpose .. then he desrved it ..
p.s. someone please kick jaques out !!.. can't stand the arsehole !!
but the race should be very interesting now .. should be interesting to see ferrari's stratergy for the day ... and exactly how far up can shumi go up today ...
haven't watched the race yet, and have to wait a while (in west coast this weekend)...but I've kept informed thanks to formula1.com and autosport.com.
From what I've read there are 2 sides to the story...but like you said, that kind of mistake you don't expect from a world champion...and at such a crucial point in quali. It's about time that the FIA put their foot down! Can't wait to watch the race in 4 hours.
The way I read the FIA's ruling it sounded like it was as much about Shumi not getting out of the way after the fact. Watching the footage he definately locked it up. On purpose? Who knows. What is known is that it interfered with qualifying and punishment is due (Fisci was penalized for holding up DC earlier in the day so the precendent was set and Shumi's infraction was much worse [side note, did you notce DC holindg up Fisci durring the race? Notice Giancarlos ferocious pass? Good stuff.]), I will say though that you don't see many mistakes from Schumi... makes that move a bit questionable. Also we know his character.
Well Mike showed us his stuff bring it up to fifth (too bad CBS coverage is so fing bad they didn't show any of the million passes on the hardest track in the world to pass on...).
Overall I was quite dissappointed, webber and kimi... BOTH.... sigh... I think they have the worst luck. Montiero looks to be the next Ide.
well...
for those of you who follow f1. I have been in indy since wed. night, and have been at the track every day since thurs (pit-walk-about) once again, we got to jump over the fence and get a tour of the Honda F1 garage (my buddy knows their head mechanic alistair gibbons) it was the sh!t.
very interesting weekend so far, and I will comment later.
Formula 1 2006 season ... place your bets !!
Alright the guys .. the first race is just around 17 minutes later ...
place your bets
here's mine ..
shumi's got a good run ... he might win it .. but bear in mind that alonso's made a mistake while Qualifying ... and he's good in storming through. However whoever get in front of the 2 .. it will be tough to pass either !! and kimi has a task in hand to get in front from last ... but he's capable !!
i hope massa does well ... he's impressed me with his pace.
double retirment from torro rosso? and that dude monteiro ..( somehow cant stand him !!)
lets see ... gotta catch the race now.
wow ... now that was a terrific race ... kinda sad for Shumi tho.. i really thought that he would pull it of ..
to me the star of the race ... Kimi / Nico ... awesome performances by both of them ..
nico is without doubt future Championship material ... even better than his dad , i should say !!
end result .. great race , exciting season to look forward to .. and ferrari's revival is a relief !!
WOW no body else posted.
I agree with you, except on being sad for shumi (not really a fan). Kimi and Nico really stood out. Nico did an exceptional job for his 1st F1 race, and he may be the next great one. Kimi...well what can I say, as much as I like Monty, this guy started dead last and finished 3rd! He's done it in the past, and today he showed us again how good he is.
On another note, I was very disapointed with Honda. I expected them to be on pace...so Jenson did an Ok job...but Rubens proved he no longer belongs in F1.
Ohhh...and how 'bout Toyota! one of the largest budgets in F1 and the car sucked almost as much as the Super Aguri team...my suggestion-stick with Nascrap!
im so glad Williams-Cosworth kicked BMW-sauber 's asses. BMW should have stuck to williams
Agreed about BMW. J3 - why shouldn't Rubems be racing? I think he's a great driver and ill bet honda will improve. still sucks that he can't be on one of the 'big' teams anymore like renault or mclaren.
*Rubens
Today's race had so many good story lines from a personal point of view...Kimi had an amazing charge up through the field, an American in the field for the first time since '93, and Nico's stunning debut. If you're in the States and watched Speed Channel's coverage, I think David Hobbs had the quote of the day describing Nico's pass of DC saying he had some "rather large attachments" to pull off that move.
It's really early in the season to say. If Mclaren could put together a reliable car (which they can) i would say Kimi should destroy all, there's no reason that man can't win an F1 championship. I'm split between Schumi and Alonso though, either one could take it all this year. Then again, I'd much rather see a total, unexpected upset this year.
And go Williams for showing up BMW.
I agree with all on the Williams/BMW thing. I am glad to see the Williams/Cosworth package up near the top. A good slap in the face for BMW. On the Rubens comment: I too like Rubens very much. It was very sad to see him (and gives him merrit) relegated to "second" while at Ferrari all those years. I will take back my comment and wait til mid season to make such statements. My issue is that someone who has this much experience should at least keep pace with his team mate which he did not do this weekend. I guess same could be said for Mark Webber...he was outshined by Nico. All that hype about Mark...and the guy is a tool! I hope that Nico continues on his form and shows the F1 world that there is someone new to be reconed with.
I think Kimi is the best driver, along w/ Shumi (not a fan); if Kimi has a good consistent car, I think he might win the championship;
Alonso reminds me of Prost, cold, calculative, extremely consistent and dependable, and wins races by being smart; it's a recipe that works well when you have the best car;
Rubens had gearbox problems and ran much of the race without a gear, hence the slow pace; i don't think he is championship material though;
I think this is Kimi's year. He's too fast - as long as McLaren doesn't let him down again, but even last year he almost won it all with an extremely unreliable car.
I think Schumi will finish second, and if he's close may stick around for one more year.
I think Alonso will fade as the year goes and Renault will fall behind Ferrari and McLaren.
I would like to see a reversal of last season, and this year Alonso wins the first race, but Fisi wins it all. I know it won't happen.
Oh yeah, and Webber is way overrated. He made so many boneheaded mistakes last year. He's lucky Williams wasn't at the top last year where everyone would have seen it happen.
I do like rubens tho ... i think he's very under rated ..
remember .. he drove without the 3rd gear for most part of the race !!
MALAYSIA !!
ok .. i didnt catch the race live ... was in bed, ill !!! ... so someone has to tell me ...
what happened to rubens? ... why was his perormance so bad? .. and kimi was in a crash .. that too first lap ? ..
i love it that fisichella won .. i've always liked him .. very under rated..
I like the way the season is getting layed out ... now if only toyota shows us why they spend so much money !!
what else ?? fill me in ..
I caught the race live...but just barely.
Barrichello (I will hold back on my personal comments for just one more race) but here is what Button had to say:
Barrichello was forced to switch to the spare car in Malaysia after an engine problem late in practice on Saturday, but he failed to deliver the kind of pace that third driver Anthony Davidson had shown in the car earlier in the weekend.
Button said he could not understand why his new teammate was having a hard time delivering the form that was expected of him after his move from Ferrari.
"That's a difficult one," said Button. "I think that the way the car works doesn't suit his style and he's taken a little bit of time to get used to it.
"The strange thing is that over the winter he was very competitive and it seems that when the conditions are hotter he is struggling a bit more with the car.
"It shows that the car is not where we wanted it to be or where we expected it to be for these first two races of the season and it shows we need to make steps forward in a couple of places."
Barrichello, whose troubled time in Malaysia was hampered by a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pitlane, said he hoped the situation would improve soon.
Mr. Klien whacked into Kimi on the first lap=game over. This guy does not have luck on his side...maybe is all that partying and womanizing! god I wish I were in his place...
Good race overall...TOyota Sucked ass again...but the best part was the detailed coverage of Ferrari's "Active" front wing...
But wait there's more! the latest is that BMW and McLaren have the same issue and it needs to be corrected in 2 weeks time!
man ... that kimi has the worst luck !!! ( only in the race, ie..)
not a mclaren fan ... but I admire Kimi's talent
the wing controvery has been on for a while, didnt know that BMW and Mclaren had the same problem ...
Australian Gran Prix :-
very eventfull
Alonso seems to be running away with the title .. but its too early anyway . Double retirment from williams and ferrari ... both of them very stupid mistakes!! .. at least MS should have known better . but MS was flying when he crashed ...
Too many incidents and retirments ... and button should be given a solid wack on his head for giving up the lead so early into the race!! .. when is he ever gonna win a race... that 103 races without a win ?
toyota finally gets a podium - good race from RS
Australian Gran Prix :-
very eventfull
Alonso seems to be running away with the title .. but its too early anyway . Double retirment from williams and ferrari ... both of them very stupid mistakes!! .. at least MS should have known better . but MS was flying when he crashed ...
Too many incidents and retirments ... and button should be given a solid wack on his head for giving up the lead so early into the race!! .. when is he ever gonna win a race... that 103 races without a win ?
toyota finally gets a podium - good race from RS
oh ... and rubens is finally in the points ..
Jenson Button is the Peyton Manning of F1 - talented, can talk the talk, but falls apart when he needs to win. He'll win eventually, but this race should have embarassed him.
in the mean time ....
scott speed has been having fun ...
http://www.planet-f1.com/News/Story_Page/0,15909,3210_3213_1128997,00.html
Actually, I'm really surprised that Ralf didn't get tagged for passing under yellow. I expected his result to be overturned when the race ended. He was noticibly sheepish about it in the post-race interview.
right then ... race on in 7 hours (as of now) ..
shumacher carves out an incredible qualifying round to take the pole position .. so is this is ? ..
in the process, he has now broken senna's record of most pole ( of course he took many more race than senna)
woo hoo ... that was a brilliant race ... so far 2006 has been a very interesting season !!
ok first the good points ..
Schumacher/ferrari gets their first (respectable) win since suzuki 2004..
good show by massa .. could have done better but lets give him credit coz he's not used to being out there in the front.
gosd drive by montoya .. well calculated pit stops
I was quite surprised about the pit stops /.. considering that only 3 cars did a 3 stop stratergy ... which mean all the rest were carrying heavy fuel load?? ... the was ferrari was flying in the begining I thought that they were carrying a light load ..
only 4 retirments .. thats a good thing ... the first crash (albers) was crazy !!
now the bad ...
qualified 3rd finished 10th !!what the &@&&@#*@ is wrong with barichello!! ... enuf said ..
button ... well cant blame him too much coz of that pitstop mishap .. so negative points to the honda crew..
Nico ... slacking ?? .. hardly noticed him in this race .. in fact i forgot about him till the race finished !! I'm sure he knows that F1 is a fickle world.
what else ?? .. poor show by redbull ... and JV better retire after this season ... face it .. he ain't got it no more .. fisichella ... could have done better ,,,.... expected more out of him .. he belongs up front with that car he's driving ...
and what the F*cks up with toyota ?? ... so much money and thats what you have to offer ??? crazy man ... just crazy !!
Interesting to see schumi back on the top podium, can the champ return? I think he seriously could, this is shaping up to be a good season.
Super Aguri driver Yuji Ide has been reprimanded by race stewards following his spectacular first-lap accident with Christijan Albers.
is Yugi the new Sato ..??
Sato's been very quite this season ... So far ie..
as for Schumi returning to the top ... it's tough to say .. ranault are on a high and are managing to get in the top 3 every time . and given that they are much faster than ferrari ... its a tough call .. I actually see a battle .. but alonso still has the edge .
They need to take Ide's superlicense away. Maybe they're trying to make Sato look good after last season?
Ferrari did well, but you can't pass at Imola which I think made them look a bit better than they are. Alonso was clearly much faster and quite frankly so were JP and Kimi, but they started so far back, which at other tracks hasn’t been a problem, but here they can't pass.
Australia was quite the race, so many retirements. I couldn't believe that Ralf didn't get tagged for passing under yellow but Scott did... Jensen's a hugely talented driver and I've been hoping for him to do well, but he got what he deserved, shooting his mouth off.
As far as predictions for the season? Same as last season:
-Fernando
-Kimi
-Michael
I'd like to see Kimi win he's by far my favorite driver, but 18 points behind and a car I'm not sure is anymore reliable than last year. Fernando knows what he has to do, be consistnet, so far he is and I don't see the Renault letting him down any time soon. If McClaren don't put a car under Kimi that can finish (no pun intended) this year, I'd go to Ferrari.
I'd like to see Nico and Williams do well, gotta support the privateers. And Nico, I mean come on, he's got the pedigree and the rock-star cool, his first outing was huge, hoepfully he'll deliver long term.
So there's only like 10 of us that watch F1? I suppose it's not very archi-geek.
OK, so I said I would hold back my comments on Rubino until the 3rd race...but come on! what the hell is he doing? I actually felt bad for the guy...listening to his comments in the post quali conf. but seriously, the guy is past his prime!...IDE? hopefully, by the sound of things...he won't be driving too much longer (certainly won't see out the season) Overall the race was alot of fun. There seems to be quite a bit more excitement that last year. This whole Ferrari resurgence is just a one shot deal...Ferrari is always competitive at Imola for some reason...We'll see where they really are next couple of races. FA and both McLaren cars were quicker than MS. Massa drove a respectable race too.
My biggest issue is the fact that we had to watch the M.F. race on tape delay, and CBS chops the race up...no post race interviews...etc. From what I hear, it's all down to $$. FOM sold the 4 big races to the highest bidder. Can't wait for Speed TV's coverage this weekend.
I think the sensible mans money has to be on Fernando again this year. He's looking blisteringly quick and Michael (admitadly, I think he genuinely had problems with his tyres) would have been left in his wake.
I still think, despite his arrogance, Jenson was unlucky this weekend. I'd make sure the lollipop man was hung drawn and quartered before the Nurburgring. Still, Im sure he wouldnt have managed top spot, the BAR's just arent quite quick enough.
- Fernando
- Kimi
- Michael / Jenson (although I reckon all his points will be from 2nds and 3rds!)
I agree Nico has made a lot of friends already, he has my vote.
Also . . . as great as it's pedigree is, is anyone else getting a little fed up with Imola? I was bored stiff sunday despite the race between Fernando and Michael.
Yeah, but Imola last year was probably the most exciting race I've ever seen. I know passing is tough there, but Schumacher still pulled off that pass on Button last year that was absolutely phenomenal.
fair point
I know he doesn't have many fans, but JPM has grown up considerably since last season. He pulls off incredible passes, and he's quietly doing a great job this year. He's also had a bit of bad luck with his car/set-up, but he could be there with the top guys this season.
The BAR guy that screwed up was Alastaire Gibbons, their head mechanic guy...I had the pleasure of meeting this chap last year at the USGP, when my friend and I got a garage tour from him! He F'd up real bad!
JPM is fast. He's a great driver. But he makes some seriously stupid mistakes. Australia when he wrecked out that was probably not his fault, but that spin on the warm up lap was most certainly his fault. And his pass of Tiago Monteiro in the braking zone at … was it Japan, last year was retarded. Yes Tiago rear ended him, but he passed him too late and had NOTHING to gain by passing him he was a back marker and JPM could easily have made the pass as soon as they were around the corner. He could have camped out behind him the rest of the lap and still finished second. Tiago took the fall on that, but in opinion passing is the responsibility of the over taker, and even IF Tiago is at fault, a more experienced (or smarter) driver would not have attempted the pass, too much to lose, nothing to gain.
My assessment, he’s good, he’s fast, but he makes way to many stupid mistakes he needs to driver smarter, know when to back off.
JPM can win races .. but ....
he's not Championship material anymore ... he used to be ..
in the mean time ....
Ferrari want to extend Michael Schumacher's contract for two more years and have offered him an immediate opt-out clause if he wins another Formula One title
Right then ... the European Grand prix ... few hours left for it to start!
Alonso on pole .... shumi on second ..
but the ferrari has been the stronger car during the week.
however we all know that, getting a pole here means half the battle is won !!
impressive run from massa to come in third and honda again has decent starting position with barrichelo coming ahead of button at 4th over button's 6th everything else went like clockwork , except for the the jaques-giancarlo mix up ...
on another note ... Yugi has been asked not to race anymore till he gets more experience !!
should be a good race!!.. I hope there'll be more overtaking than the last one !!
Alright then ....
another good race ...
the Top three was as I thought it would be ...
Schumi is really back in the hunt now ... and Alonso's probably the toughest competitor he's had in recent times ( I think the last tough one would have been Damon Hill) fantastic driving ... cold and calculative. Full points to the Ferrari crew too . Good pitstop calls.
My respect for Massa has gone several notches up ... superb racing from him.
Rosberg shined again today ... from last to 7th ... he's a future champion if you ask me. all he needs is a reliable car and good guidance.
Giancarlo drove well too despite that shunt from Jaques ( who .. i still think should retire!!) good recovery. could have done better.
Honda ... I give up ..but Barrichelo was the better driver today tho.
Toyota - as usual "sucked" ... the money better start talking soon ..
Though he was running behind .. I was impressed with Scot Speed
what else? ...
+ I thought there were too many retirments due to bad equipment
dang, this looks like its my show !!
anyway ... spanish GP .. grid line up ...
1 alnoso ..
2 fisichella
3 Shumacher ..
prediction : .. no prediction ...
but will be a good race !!
Looks like Ferrari are back! Oh well.
Damon? What about Mika? No love for the fins. Ok so the McMerc tiped it in Mikas favor, but come the pass at Spa in 2000 was soo huge.
JPM showed you how fast he was. That's what happens when he drives with his head. Though he did almost stuff it into the back of somebody twice (Hiedfeld was it?). What happened to Kimi? My boy let me down. I'm glad I didn't have money on that one.
The number of retirements was rediculous, I felt bad for Liuzzi and Coulthard.
Agreed Jacque is past his prime.
What's with these Super Aguri boys? Running old Arrows machines? At least they dumped Ide.
Man o man I hope fisichellas luck gets better.
Spanish GP ....
hmmm ... boring race if you ask me !! ... text book victory for Alonso ... thats it i guess ...
but the campionship race looks exciting nonetheless..
sporadic i agree, kudos to massa. he was consistently impressive all last weekend.
as for spain . . . it was boring. kimi did make a fantastic start and pulled off a nice overtaking manouvre between the toyotas, but once again he just had a really uneventful afternoon.
jpm was a wally he's far too eratic at times.
nico and trulli's little battle was one of the highlights. nico clearly has bags of talent but is still in need of some epxerience. this will of course come!
its interesting to note catalunya is where the teams have done the majority of their testing, and on current form its clear renault and ferarri are going to run away with the season. bridgstone are clearly lacking a bit in grip though which might prove the decided in the long run.
sadly monte carlo is likely to be much of the same with little overtaking and the race decided on the saturday and in the pits.
there will be loads of testing going on this week though so you never know . . . monaco might throw up some suprises yet.
boy o boy ... monaco qualifying ... all that drama ..
so shumi lost his pole ...
i do believe that it's difficult for someone like him to such an error .. but there seems to be a personal vandetta against him .. If he did do it on purpose .. then he desrved it ..
p.s. someone please kick jaques out !!.. can't stand the arsehole !!
but the race should be very interesting now .. should be interesting to see ferrari's stratergy for the day ... and exactly how far up can shumi go up today ...
haven't watched the race yet, and have to wait a while (in west coast this weekend)...but I've kept informed thanks to formula1.com and autosport.com.
From what I've read there are 2 sides to the story...but like you said, that kind of mistake you don't expect from a world champion...and at such a crucial point in quali. It's about time that the FIA put their foot down! Can't wait to watch the race in 4 hours.
The way I read the FIA's ruling it sounded like it was as much about Shumi not getting out of the way after the fact. Watching the footage he definately locked it up. On purpose? Who knows. What is known is that it interfered with qualifying and punishment is due (Fisci was penalized for holding up DC earlier in the day so the precendent was set and Shumi's infraction was much worse [side note, did you notce DC holindg up Fisci durring the race? Notice Giancarlos ferocious pass? Good stuff.]), I will say though that you don't see many mistakes from Schumi... makes that move a bit questionable. Also we know his character.
Well Mike showed us his stuff bring it up to fifth (too bad CBS coverage is so fing bad they didn't show any of the million passes on the hardest track in the world to pass on...).
Overall I was quite dissappointed, webber and kimi... BOTH.... sigh... I think they have the worst luck. Montiero looks to be the next Ide.
well...
for those of you who follow f1. I have been in indy since wed. night, and have been at the track every day since thurs (pit-walk-about) once again, we got to jump over the fence and get a tour of the Honda F1 garage (my buddy knows their head mechanic alistair gibbons) it was the sh!t.
very interesting weekend so far, and I will comment later.
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