Grand Prix-F1

[Stephen Bailey]

He's still not quite as bad as Ricardo Rosset who used to pay for his drive. I remember him reversing onto the track just after the tunnel at Monaco, straight into Jacques Villeneuve!

That guy was shocking, I remember him accelerating into the back of 'that' crash at Spa in 98, instead of slowing down.

Not to mention no pitlane radio etc.

Strange that the only radio we got all race was Ross Brawn telling MS what a good job he did he did at the end. Think they put this down to it being the local TV company doing the coverage, rather than Bernie's FOM company. Better not happen again!

 

[barmyarmy]

That guy was shocking, I remember him accelerating into the back of 'that' crash at Spa in 98, instead of slowing down.

Possibly did what one of my school friends did when karting and got the two pedals mixed up...

 

[IloveGilly]

Aww, I missed such a good race! Bloody 1am in the morning.

GO Michael Schumacher!

 

[Sureshot]

I stand by this. The only time a team should be punished is if a driver is told to move over for no real reason e.g. Barrichello in Austria in 2001 and 2002.

That's not the point.

Massa was given time orders.

Team orders are illegal, irrelevant of whether he can win or not.

 

[msamina]

Yup, I agree with you there. They panicked at the thought of getting backed up so far they'd end up in traffic.
He had the fuel and the pace although I don't think MS had to stop the next lap so we don't know exactly how many laps difference there was between them in terms of fuel.

According to what I understood, Alonso had 8 more laps of fuel on board. If he stopped later than MS, he certainly would have had a better chance at winning.

 

[Yorkshire_No1]

It was just a poor decision on behalf of the Renault team

As for Button, what a joke. The lollipop man needs firing

 

[msamina]

Actually, I am reading this interview with Pat Symonds at www.formula1.com and it tells gives some very important answers to the strategy adopted by Renault. Looks like I was wrong about the 8 laps of additional fuel that Alonso had.

From www.formula1.com:

Q: Pat, let's start at the beginning. How did the first stint go for Alonso?

Pat Symonds: To be honest, the first stint unfolded pretty much as we expected. We saw Michael pulling away from everybody, as we had predicted - although perhaps not as fast as we had thought. It also became clear during that stint, that the tyre degradation was very low. That meant we knew the longer first stint we had planned, would allow us to pull back some time on Michael - as, indeed, proved to be the case [Alonso was 13.563s behind when Schumacher stopped, and 11.272s behind after Alonso had stopped].

Q: And what about the second stint of the race?
PS: That was when things became very surprising. Michael's tyre degradation was suddenly dreadful - and it very soon became clear that we were significantly quicker than him, and running much faster. It took Fernando less than ten laps to close the gap and start pressuring him.

Q: Presumably, then, the logical thing to do would have been to run longer again and pass him at the stops?
PS: Yes, that would - but by the middle of the second stint, we are already locked into our strategy. We make the decision about our second stop during the first stint, and at that point, we had no idea that Michael would have the problems he did. So we followed our optimum pattern, which was to do a shorter second stint in order to improve our track position relative to Michael. Unlike the television predictions, which had us stopping on lap 47 I believe, our measurements said we would stop only a lap later than Michael in all likelihood, or possibly even on the same lap.

Q: In reality, though, you stopped Fernando early?
PS: Yes, exactly. Fernando pitted two laps earlier than we had planned. Had we been certain of going significantly further than Michael in the second stint then obviously, the option would have been to stay out - and it would have probably worked. But we didn't have that extra fuel, and we would probably have run only a lap longer than Michael. During that lap, he would have been on new tyres and we saw in qualifying that they were particularly strong on those opening ?golden' laps. So we didn't think it would work for us and obviously, simply following Michael in and out of the pits was not an option. So we got creative, and took the only other option available to try and get the win - to bring Fernando in early.

Q: So what was the key?
PS: The really significant thing was that on the free lap after Fernando pitted, Michael showed he had some performance in reserve. On the lap we pitted, he did a lap of 1:25.7 - where his average speed in the ten previous laps, was 1:27.4. The lap-times during the second stint had not suggested he had that performance in reserve.

The link:
http://www.formula1.com/race/news/4275/754.html

In the last question, he explains that Michael had performance in reserve, which is what MS has always been great at - excellent in and out laps. Kudos to Ferrari for pulling it off.

Also, Alonso in his interview stated that in the third stint there was not a chance for him to pass since Ferrari were just too fast in that stint. Apparently, Fernando had set his engine to rev at its max in order to try and pass MS.

 

[barmyarmy]

As for Button, what a joke. The lollipop man needs firing

The lollipop man was the head mechanic!

 

[Maxkarter]

Mr Alex Gibson irc, a South African. Hes not going to be very popular around the pits for a while.

 

[sd92]

F1 used to be gr8! its seemed to become borin nowadays, they just go round a track no1 overtakes any1 hardly, Superbikes is soo much beta! ooo and ur ace maxcarter! Carting is the best!

 

[kuttakumar]

The Honda pit crews have not worked like a pro team. 3 imperfect pit stops. 2 for Jeneson and 1 for Rubens.

And the Suzuka cicuit might have its last F1 race this season. Next year the Japaneese GP will be held somewhere else. I hope the new circuit might be as exciting as this one.


And why have FIA dropped Spa (Belgium)???!!!!It was an action-packed GP most of the times.

 

[Stephen Bailey]

And the Suzuka cicuit might have its last F1 race this season. Next year the Japaneese GP will be held somewhere else. I hope the new circuit might be as exciting as this one.

It's going to Fuji, which has been 'tilke-ised'.

And why have FIA dropped Spa (Belgium)???!!!!It was an action-packed GP most of the times.

FIA are unhappy with the facitilies, which are being upgraded. The plan is to bring it back next season.

 

[kuttakumar]

The Prodrive team have been oficially registered as the 12th team in 2008 season. It will be headed by Dave Richards.

 

[Sureshot]

It's going to Fuji, which has been 'tilke-ised'.




FIA are unhappy with the facitilies, which are being upgraded. The plan is to bring it back next season.

A race at Spa couldn't have been held, there are only 10 car garages.

And with 11 teams, it doesn't work, obviously

 

[kuttakumar]

A race at Spa couldn't have been held, there are only 10 car garages.

And with 11 teams, it doesn't work, obviously

Are enough garages being constructed there for 2007 season? If not we will never see an F1 Grand Prix held there. There will be 11 teams in 2007 season and as mentioned earlier, the grid will grow up to 24 cars for sure in 2008 season.