Formula 1

[Cymro]

Starts up again this weekend. Anyone going to watch it?

Who's your bet to win the race and/or the championship?

[rambler14]

Starts up again this weekend. Anyone going to watch it?

Who's your bet to win the race and/or the championship?

Stop talking about betting. Most of us are still in mourning for our lost euros:D Sure I added to my Cheltenham woe by losing €20 on the toss of a coin tonight.

But if I had to bet, i'd go for Raikkonen to retain the title.

[superfrank]

C'mon Raikkonen. I plan on being very drunk by 4.15 on Sunday morning so it'll be pretty interesting to watch the race then.

[deecay]

Ah ****e,its not this time of year again

[rambler14]

Heres an F1 fact for ye: Tomorrows grand prix will be the first grand prix in 17 years without a Schumacher in it.

Robert Kubica seems to have continued on the form he showed before his major crash in Canada last year. I think he'll win 2 or 3 grand prix's this year and he is a future world champion IMO.
I've changed my mind about the world champion too. I think that this year is Hamiltons year.

[Schumi]

Hamilton to win the race but Raikkonen for the championship.

[superfrank]

Hope you're right Schumi.

[Schumi]

Last night must have used up all of Raikkonen's bad luck for the season. :eek: Could anything else have gone wrong?

[superfrank]

I missed the race. Were conditions that bad? I was shocked to see 6 cars finish.

[Schumi]

7 finished I think (it was quite early!). The conditions were fine, it was just a bit of a freak race. Three big crashes had the safety car out and pit stop timing made a huge difference. Ferrari didn't bring Raikkonen in during the last safety car period and then brought him in two laps later for some reason which put him last (10th at the time I think). He then slid off trying to pass someone and then the car broke. :rolleyes:

[superfrank]

BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7299130.stm) have it as 7R and 8R.

[Schumi]

BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7299130.stm) have it as 7R and 8R.I didn't know that Barrichello had been disqualified. Raikkonen picks up a point somehow. :)

[Cymro]

Last night must have used up all of Raikkonen's bad luck for the season. :eek: Could anything else have gone wrong?

It wasn't bad luck, just terrible driving. If anything, his luck was in, because he somehow managed to score a point.

[Schumi]

In fairness, his car broke at the end and a team **** up (not bringing him in during the last safety car period) cost him loads of time and several places. I didn't see much of qualifying but I think his car broke then as well. Going off behind Nakajima was bad but he was only scraping a point or two at that stage anyway.

[superfrank]

Good win for Kimi today. Apparently his car was wobbling on the last ten laps but it was all over.

There was some pretty dodgy driving today. Massa, Hamilton and others were guilty of messing their corners, Massa spectacularly.

Hamilton's 20 second pit-stop ended his race and I think even until Massa spun out, Raikkonen would have won it.

[OwlsFan]

I see F1 boss, Max Mosely, has been caught with his pants down (literally):

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/3003_nazi_orgy.shtml

Haven't look at the video but I believe from a good source that it's a goodie.

[superfrank]

Just watching the Spanish GP now. Kovalainen had a pretty heavy crash. His car went straight into the barrier and his car was wedged deep in.

[Schumi]

Nasty looking crash from Kovalainen but he's only suffering from concussion apparently and is likely to race next week. I thought he might have broken a leg, the crash looked very similar to Schumacher's in Silverstone in 1999.

[Cymro]

I thought the next race was in 2 weeks time. But yeah, good news that Kovalainen is OK.

Race itself was pretty dull, looks like the season will be dominated by Ferrari.

[Schumi]

Sorry, 2 weeks. Force of habit from football!

Ferrari do look very strong but they're not finishing races very far ahead of McLarens or BMWs so it might not take much of an improvement for either of them to challenge.

[Superhoops]

...Race itself was pretty dull.....
Is that not the case for every race? F1 must be the most boring sport ever. Where is the 'racing' element in F1?

Once the qualifying is done, isn't it just a case of waiting and seeing if the P1 and P2 cars are reliable enough to finish the race in which case they finish 1-2.

[Cymro]

In fairness this season has generally been better than previous seasons so far. We had a pretty exciting race in Australia and now that I've watched it again, Spain wasn't too bad.

Sometimes you need to watch races from 2004 where Ferrari and Schumacher had the titles wrapped up by just gone halfway to get some perspective.

[Superhoops]

In fairness this season has generally been better than previous seasons so far. We had a pretty exciting race in Australia and now that I've watched it again, Spain wasn't too bad.
Apart from the start, how many proper racing overtaking manouvres or even efforts to overtake were there among the first six cars on Sunday, apart from those when they were overtaking backmarkers after emerging from the pits?

After only one lap, the only issue was if the Ferraris would keep going to the end.


..Sometimes you need to watch races from 2004 where Ferrari and Schumacher had the titles wrapped up by just gone halfway to get some perspective.
Have Ferrari not got the title wrapped up already? Bar crashing out or engine failure they are not going to be beaten.

[KevB76]

Is that not the case for every race? F1 must be the most boring sport ever. Where is the 'racing' element in F1?

Once the qualifying is done, isn't it just a case of waiting and seeing if the P1 and P2 cars are reliable enough to finish the race in which case they finish 1-2.

Yeah its been like that over the last decade or so, the Schumacher era.
I used to love F1 when I was growing up, back in the days of Senna and Prost, two all-time greats who shared an era, resulting in some fantastic competition between the two.

The 92 season was one of the most memorable for me, with Senna in the inferior Ford V8 poweered McLaren, somehow managing to wring a performance from it and still challenge the much superior Williams Renaults (with their pioneering active suspension iirc). Oh, the memories... :)

The problem over the past decade (...actually its about 15yrs now :eek:) is that there has been nobody to challenge Schumacher, who was so far ahead of the rest of the pack that it became dull and predictable. I lost interest in F1 years ago and it has failed to re-attract me.

Schumacher burst onto the scene in late 91 and very quickly showed that he could compete with the best, but Senna's death in 93 and Prosts retirement tha same year robbed us of the potential spectacle and it hasnt been the same since.

[Schumi]

Schumacher burst onto the scene in late 91 and very quickly showed that he could compete with the best, but Senna's death in 93 and Prosts retirement tha same year robbed us of the potential spectacle and it hasnt been the same since.I don't disagree with the point really but Senna's death was in 94.

[KevB76]

I don't disagree with the point really but Senna's death was in 94.

The memory is not so good after all - must learn to google before posting :)



...so my most memorable year was 93, not as I had remembered it :o :D

[holidaysong]

Anyone know a pub in Dublin that show the races on a Sunday even if there is GAA on?

[superfrank]

Missed the race today. I slept in til 2. Only made it down to catch the presentations.

What was it that happened to Raikkonen's car?

[holidaysong]

His exhaust pipe came loose and was charring the car chassis. The pipe eventually came off.

[elroy]

Great performance by Hamilton yesterday a class apart!! the team tried their best to lose it for him but still comfortably came good. No way should Massa be considered good enough to be champion. Would schumacher have left hamilton through so easily??

[holidaysong]

I'm going to the next race in Hungary, cannot wait! :D

[John83]

Great performance by Hamilton yesterday a class apart!! the team tried their best to lose it for him but still comfortably came good. No way should Massa be considered good enough to be champion. Would schumacher have left hamilton through so easily??
The car was a second a lap slower. I doubt anyone could have held him off for long.

[Schumi]

The car was a second a lap slower. I doubt anyone could have held him off for long.He made it far too easy though, handed Hamilton the inside of the corner.

[John83]

Certainly, he made a mistake there. I don't think he could have held Hamilton up long enough to make a difference though.

[holidaysong]

Fantastic win for Vettel - delighted for him! I think I'll have to wear my Minardi cap around tomorrow to celebrate. :) One of the best things I've ever seen in F1.

[John83]

Yes. It's nice to see one of the smaller teams get a win.

[holidaysong]

Absolutely gutted for Felipe Massa today.. He was robbed on the last corner by Glock putting in a disaster of a lap (he was on the wrong tyre however). Massa deserved this championship but has been robbed due to mechanical failures (Budapest most notably) and team **** ups in the pits! I really hate the arrogance of Hamilton..

[Rambling Along]

Absolutely gutted for Felipe Massa today.. He was robbed on the last corner by Glock putting in a disaster of a lap (he was on the wrong tyre however). Massa deserved this championship but has been robbed due to mechanical failures (Budapest most notably) and team **** ups in the pits! I really hate the arrogance of Hamilton..

Gutted for Massa I don't like Hamilton either and now we'll have to endure his hero status for the rest of the year.
Poor Massa though ecstacy to agony in 20 seconds!

[thischarmingman]

I like Hamilton and I like his attitude. It's nice to see someone young and talented refuse to be cowed by the older and more experienced drivers. I think he's driven brilliantly at times, with confidence and skill and after last years disaster I'm glad he pulled off the result today.

[TheBoss]

I am however suspicious here, Glock had a 15 sec lead over him going into the last lap, and I recall, the commentator, Brundle saying, will the rain affect him on the last lap and then said, his lap times are good at sector 1 and he could coast the lap, I think if this was mid season, Glock would have put in a better effort to stay in 4th place.

EDIT: If the old points system 10-6-4-3-2-1 was still in place, Massa would win with 83 to Hamilton's 80.

[elroy]

I am however suspicious here, Glock had a 15 sec lead over him going into the last lap, and I recall, the commentator, Brundle saying, will the rain affect him on the last lap and then said, his lap times are good at sector 1 and he could coast the lap, I think if this was mid season, Glock would have put in a better effort to stay in 4th place.

EDIT: If the old points system 10-6-4-3-2-1 was still in place, Massa would win with 83 to Hamilton's 80.

Ya I was a little suspicious as well, I thought Glock left them through way too easily, although when I watched the highlights last night, you could really see how he was struggling to keep the car on the road when he came out of the last corner plus he did finish a full 5 seconds behind Hamilton which is incredible when you consider where Hamilton passed.
I think overall Hamilton deserved the title this year and arguably more so last year. I dont find him arrogant at all, i think its more so our hate of how the british media will suddenly build the guy up to the last. Great for formula one to see a decent race finishing the season. Sad to see F1 moving away from ITV.

[elroy]

Massa deserved this championship but has been robbed due to mechanical failures (Budapest most notably) and team **** ups in the pits!

i think the mess up with the refueller in Shanghai cost Massa the championship. He was def going to win that race only for that error. I was a bit disappointed how McLaren played the race yesterday. EJ made a very good point that they really should have let Heiki run light to get him in the mix and settling for just challenging for 4th or 5th was a big risk that so nearly went wrong.

[paul_oshea]

i dont understand elroy how he was keeping way ahead of him until the VERY LAST corner and then bang....more than a little suspicious, but then don't toyota have a ferrari engine?! so maybe not!

[passinginterest]

It was incredible television, the celebrations in the Massa garage and the the slow realisation that they had lost it, it was really heart breaking stuff. The commentator on Setanta said something about Glock owing Hamilton during the early part of the race, I thought he was suggesting Hamilton had done something to Glock in a race but now I'm very suspicious. If Glock didn't have some sort of mechanical failure or an off I don't see how he could possible have lost so much time in that final sector. I haven't watched much F1 in the last 5 or 6 years but that was just like the good old days.

[paul_oshea]

same as PI, same as. But ya its very suspiciuos what I love is the fact that the brits haven't focued on what glock did at all.

But you can be sure if it was on the other foot, papers this morning would be full of "he was robbed" etc etc

[elroy]

i dont understand elroy how he was keeping way ahead of him until the VERY LAST corner and then bang....more than a little suspicious, but then don't toyota have a ferrari engine?! so maybe not!

I was watching the ITV coverage for the last few laps mainly because they were creaming themselves at the thought of hamilton blowing it two years in a row......and brundle did say at the start of the last lap that based on the lap times that hamiltons only hope was that he would catch glock. Now i havent seen details of the last few lap times of glock which would be interesting but it did look like that heading into the last lap that glock was the target and considering how slow he was from the last corner to the finish line the dry tyres must really have been suffering. I still think he couldve made Hamilton at least go around him rather than literally get out of the way.

Fair play to Massa, he was very gracious in defeat in awful circumstances.

[elroy]

It was incredible television, the celebrations in the Massa garage and the the slow realisation that they had lost it, it was really heart breaking stuff. The commentator on Setanta said something about Glock owing Hamilton during the early part of the race, I thought he was suggesting Hamilton had done something to Glock in a race but now I'm very suspicious. If Glock didn't have some sort of mechanical failure or an off I don't see how he could possible have lost so much time in that final sector. I haven't watched much F1 in the last 5 or 6 years but that was just like the good old days.

I have watched F1 religiously with about 12/13 years and my interest has def waned since Jordan left but it certainly is back at its best since 1999. The number of race winners this year illustrates it. Next years championship should be the most open in a long time with possibly 4/5 or maybe even 6 real contenders. Schumacher was head and shoulders above the rest (bar maybe alonso) but was bad for the sport as a spectacle. My only worry is with the substantial changes in the rules next year, we could have a scenario like we did when there was last a big change in 1998 when McLaren had a far superior car to anyone else.

[Schumi]

Unbelievable drama over the last 5 laps or so, I'd completely forgotten about Glock until I saw Hamilton going past him. Agree with the posters above that Ferrari mistakes lost Massa (and possibly Raikkonen) the championship this year.

[Youths4Ever]

Fair play to Massa, he was very gracious in defeat in awful circumstances.

Have to fully agree with this Massa was gracious in defeat

I also thought Glock slowly down was suspicious but surely Ferrari would have launched appeal if thought anything going on.

maybe i missed it and then are but i have seen or heard anything about it.

[Schumi]

I also thought Glock slowly down was suspicious but surely Ferrari would have launched appeal if thought anything going on.

maybe i missed it and then are but i have seen or heard anything about it.I had the lap timer on the F1 website open as I was watching the race and Trulli's last lap was about the same time as Glock's, he was on the dry tyres too. It was all legit I'd say.