Just read an interesting take on all this in yesterday's Daily Mail (yuck!) that a visitor brought over. First of all the non-Michelin teams were right, including Ferrari with their position. It's rules chaps. Why change the race circuit or allow a change of tyres, when you agreed to the rules in place and now wanted them broken. Blame the tyre supplier, as it isn't as if Michelin is new to this game, nor the Indianapolis circuit. In fact blame yourselves for not bringing in the right kit. Doh!
The article went on (OK I am trying to cut it down and give a quick sunmmation, with personal bias to boot), thatOK they cant go through this corner at 180mph top speed.......well slow down a bit!!! You have brakes!!!
This could have been also done.
The final spin is that it was a battle for control of the premier sport in motor racing. As a result the manufacturers, except Ferrari, were trying to push the F1 promoters and FIA into accepting their demands to break the rules in place. Ecclestone didnt put up a good argument - could have used most of this post. So now the battle lines have been drawn up. The end of F1 as we know it?
No it couldn't. Can you imagine a group of cars coming up to the corner together and all suddenly have to slow down. There's no way they'd slow by the same amount and you'd be guarenteed a crash at some stage in the race(and this is before you consider what would would happen if a Bridgestone car was behind them). It'd be like Coulthard at Spa in 1998 again except that there'd be loads of cars involved.Originally Posted by Frank Blue
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
Hopefully normal service will be resumed in the French Grand Prix, so we have a genuine race to look forward to.
Renault should have won last year's race, but were outfoxed by Schumacher's pit-stop strategy. (How can someone win a race on 4 pit stops??)Williams have a new package, that they believe will make them faster from this round. Will Ferrari rediscover it's competitive edge? Or will Raikkonen walk away with it again?
The tyres don't suffer too badly from wear-and-tear in Magny-Cours, the track surface is as smooth as a billiard table. And if Michelin's tyres are not up to scratch at their home race, they may as well withdraw from the championship!
There were a lot of politics involved at the American GP. The 'Group of Nine' were trying to pin the blame of Ferrari when they were perfectly entitled to run the races without any changes.
The suggestion of a chicane was ridiculous....untested? How were the cars supposed to figure that one out on Lap one after running through it a couple of times?
Michelin made a mess of it. They were to blame.
The British Grand Prix hosts Round 11 of the championship at Silverstone, a race that was almost excluded from the championship this season. It's the closest we have to a "home" race too.
Alonso won the last race for Renault, helped by the fact Raikkonen's engine blew during the weekend, which led to a qualifying penalty. However, Raikkonen and Montoya are expected to thrash the opposition on their home circuit. It would be brave to bet against them.
Btw, would the teams on Michelin tyres faced punishments if they had started the race in Indy, but chose not to complete any laps? The FIA can punish them for not starting, but maybe not if they retired en-masse during the race instead.
Round 12 moves to Hockenheim, in Germany. Alonso increased his lead over Raikkonen by two more points at Silverstone, where from a McLaren point of view, the wrong driver won the race, Juan Montoya.
Before 2002, Hockenheim was one of the world's greatest circuits, an intimidating challenge which was hell for poor cars with unreliable engines, that often couldn't cope with the very long straights over 45 punishing laps. (Some of the straights were so long, that they hosted drag races!!) Sadly, it was ripped up, and the current track is effectively a tv track now, with only one redeeming feature at the Turn 3 hairpin, which provides lots of overtaking opportunities. Schumacher suffered a puncture there 2 years ago, and it's the 10th anniversary of his first win there this year. McLaren, and Renault, may be the only ones to fight it out for victory this time, however.
yes it used to be some track, still is fairly good. Those long straights always threw up a good race. remember 97 berger and fisichella, when jordan came so close to a then first win.
Hopefully Raikkonen can get the win and a good few more points than alonso, want to see this championship go down to the wire
The drivers title was decided at the last race, when Raikkonen retired leaving second-placed Alonso to take the lead and drive unchallenged to the flag. The race is on for second place now, and continues in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, Budapest. While the city's grandeur is awesome, the Hungaroring circuit is not. The tight, twisty dustbowl has one overtaking spot, at Turn One, and races are perennially processional. There have been 20 Grand Prix's there now, and it has never rained during the race. Alonso is expected to walk it again.
Alonso finished 11th in Hungary, as Kimi won the race without breaking sweat. It's happened too late at this stage to affect the Championship.
Round 14 moves to Turkey. The brand new circuit is similiar in size to Bahrain, and China, but is anti-clockwise. The new circuits may leave Ecclestone and Mosley salivating over Hermann Tilke's design, but as the crowd is usually well away from the track in some parts, there would appear to be more atmosphere on the moon, than at the Istanbul Oktodrum.
Raikkonen won the Istanbul GP, and McLaren would have had a 1-2 finish, if Montoya didn't crash, spin, and run off the circuit in the space of 2 of the last 3 laps. Alonso finished a grateful second, and a bonus two points...
...which came in handy at the next race in Italy, at Monza. Montoya survived a tyre deflammation near the end to win, finishing just ahead of Alonso. Raikkonen, suffering another 10-place grid penalty for mechanical problems, trailed in 5th.
It all means the championship is practically done and dusted. With 40 points remaining, Alonso leads Raikkonen by a whopping 36 points. McLaren may have the best car this year, but they won't close that big a gap. They might reduce it in Belgium with the unpredictable weather at Spa, but I fancy Alonso to clinch it in Brazil, in front of the prime-time tv audience.
People can say what they want about Michael Schumacher's dominance, but what i want to see is a straight out battle between two championship challengers - whoever they may be.
Kimi is flying at the moment and Alonso, quite rightly is playing it safe, but I would love to see the two of them just go at it. The McLaren is a lot quicker though just not as reliable.
Raikkonen won again in Belgium, cutting the gap at the front to 2 points, as Alonso benefitted from another Montoya error late on, to take second.
As the circus headed West to Brazil, Alonso claimed the drivers championship by finishing 3rd, behind a McLaren 1-2, with Montoya claiming his second win at Interlagos in a row.
Heading further West over the Pacific, the focus moves to the Constructors title. McLaren are bidding to win back their crown they last won in 1998, but Alonso has kept Renault in the hunt for their first title since they won it with Williams in '97. Ferrari and Schumacher played merely a supporting role this year. The Japanese Grand Prix start time was moved for the first time this year since 2000, it starts at 2pm local time, moving back in line with the majority of the other circuits. It means a 6am GP start for us. Let's hope it's more exciting than last year's Schumi walkover, his last competitive vicory.
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