San Marino Grand Prix

[bigC]

after a 3 week hiatus, the F1 season continues with the fourth race of the season, the San Marino Grand Prix! :D

Schumacher won the race last year, but Ferrari will be hard pressed for a repeat performance, especially given the early performance of the team this season, and the much vaunted and failed introduction of the F2005 at Bahrain. if they want success on Sunday, they had better hope the three weeks of testing have somehow made the car faster and more reliable. methinks they will be hard pressed to compete against Renault and the surprising Toyota, and it may come down to fuel strategy and tire selection.

BAR needs to start posting some results, the sooner the better. after a great season last year, they have to be one of the bigger disappointments early on. BAR has yet to score a single point this season (even Sauber has 2 pts, thanks to Massa), and the best driver in F1 (never to win a a race) may be getting frustrated. but, since his contract is up, he'll be free to move to any team, like he tried to last year, but will anyone want him?

McLaren and Williams need to continue getting podiums (1 for each team in 3 races), lest they fall away from the top 2 teams. Williams has not yet had two drivers finish in the points in the same race. RBR has tasted success, and will want more, but can DC continue to deliver? Klien, after getting his 3 starts and 6 pts, will be raplaced by Liuzzi for 3 races. Jordan, Minardi, and Sauber? they will continue to dwell at the back, but i hope that JV does the unthinkable and gets some points.

there is already talk of a new qualifying system, mainly because of complaints from the TV networks, who don't like the aggregate system or the fact that qualy is spread over two days. TSN (the network i watch F1 on) shows Sat qualy live and Sun qualy taped, before the race starts. i don't mind it that much, but i still somewhat dislike the single flying lap system.

preview:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/2869/735.html

Alonso is ready for the race. good for him: http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/news_story.asp?ID=122370&hubName=auto_racing-formula_one

Wurz will take the place of Montoya (who is still injured) and de la Rosa (who drove at Bahrain) for the weekend's race: http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/news_Story.asp?ID=122057

JV, as usual, is under pressure to perform and get points. this may, in fact, be the last race of his rather disappointing comeback, and, if the rumours are true, he'd either be fired or walk away from the sport for a second time after this race:
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32598
http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/news_Story.asp?ID=121496

Fisichella will get a new and improved engince the the San Marino GP, since his last one blew out: http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32594

Minardi news! they will debut their new car this weekend! wow, they will be a slightly faster back-maker: http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/news_Story.asp?ID=121578

[MUYA]

I didn't even know the GP was up :) cool!

[MUYA]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4472773.stm

First Practise Times;


1. Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.060
2. Ricardo Zonta (Bra) Toyota 1:21.174
3. Jenson Button (GB) BAR-Honda 1:21.805
4. Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:22.085
5. Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 1:22.736
6. Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR-Honda 1:22.945
7. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.962
8. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Williams-BMW 1:23.086
9. Alexander Wurz (Aut) McLaren-Mercedes 1:23.391
10. Mark Webber (Aus) Williams-BMW 1:23.532

Nit looking too bad but Ferrari has picked up the pace eh?

[bigC]

Ferrari was 6th & 7th, with a McLaren in 1st. too bad it's de la Rosa, who's only the test driver for the team this weekend. McLaren were fast, as was Button in 2nd, but Renault and Toyota were off the pace. RBR were really slow, with DC managaing only a 16th, whilst Sauber was 11 and 12th (Massa followed by JV). what happened to Williams? Heidfeld managed only a 14th and Webber in 18th. the back-markers are where they should be, namely at the back. whilst this is only Friday practice, it should set-up an interesting Sat qualy session. :)

story:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/2881/735.html
results:http://www.formula1.com/race/result/735/10.html

[NAZCA M12]

What happened to Williams? I'll tell you. What happened was that it's still Friday. On Fridays, the cars don't have the optimum setup (which will gain them some speed) nor do they carry lots of fuel (which they will on Saturday's qualifying session) therefore don't look at the times too much. In terms of speed they don't count for ****. McLaren's doing their usual thing. They'll show off on Friday, then drop down the order in qualifying :udawg: Notice who's usually fastest on Fridays? Being the smart guys that they are ( :rolleyes: ), they protect their race drivers's engines on the first sessions while their test driver lets it rip since he won't get a penalty if his car breaks down anyway.

So like i said, Fridays are for setup work not fast times. The order is not really representative or to put it in other words, de la Rosa's on a 1,2s faster lap than Raikkonen's shocker :screwy:, Zonta's a full 1,5s faster than Trulli :p (he should ask for a pay rise then) and omfg :eek:, Renault is 1,5s off the pace!! Erm, no it doesn't exactly work that way. See how representative Friday times are? Btw, since it's said that a wet race will almost certainly happen, i expect the Bridgestone-shod cars to be faster, especially if it rains heavily (and full wets are needed)

[Shamrock]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4472773.stm

First Practise Times;



Nit looking too bad but Ferrari has picked up the pace eh?

Those times are wrong MUYA, this is from YOUR website. Kimi was third, with Ferrari 6 & 7

San Marino GP first practice times:1 Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren) 1min 20.484secs
2 Jenson Button (BAR) 1:21.052
3 Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) 1:21.704
4 Ricardo Zonta (Toyota) 1:21.889
5 Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1:21.899
6 Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) 1:22.025
7 Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari 1:22.048
8 Alexander Wurz (McLaren) 1:22.174
9 Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) 1:22.211
10 Takuma Sato (BAR) 1:22.335
11 Felipe Massa (Sauber) 1:22.791
12 Jacques Villeneuve (Sauber) 1:22.955
13 Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:23.343
14 Nick Heidfeld (Williams) 1:23.458
15 Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) 1:26.466
16 David Coulthard (Red Bull) 1:23.815
17 Narain Karthikeyan (Jordan) 1:23.842
18 Mark Webber (Williams) 1:23.964
19 Christian Klien (Red Bull) 1:24.320
20 Tiago Monteiro (Jordan) 1:24.573
21 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Red Bull) 1:24.626
22 Robert Doornbos (Jordan) 1:25.172
23 Patrick Friesacher (Minardi) 1:26.620
24 Christijan Albers (Minardi) no time

Unless of course you posted this DURING the session, in that case, I appologize :)

[MUYA]

Not when it was first published as it was during the session....it was on going when they printed that. ;)

[MUYA]

Not bad, Top 13 within a second of each other!!! :D

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4475725.stm


Times in Saturday practice:

1 Jenson Button (GB) BAR-Honda 1:20.058
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:20.114
3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.209
4. Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:20.318
5 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:20.351
6 Alexander Wurz (Aut) McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.358
7 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams-BMW 1:20.424
8 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Williams-BMW 1:20.431
9 Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR-Honda 1:20.450
10 Felipe Massa (Brz) Sauber-Petronas 1:20.506
11 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:20.802
12 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Ferrari 1:20.851
13 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:21.105
14 David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull 1:21.136
15 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) Sauber-Petronas 1:21.543
16 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Red Bull 1:22.188
17 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan 1:22.964
18 Tiago Monteiro (Por) Jordan 1:24.910
19 Patrick Friesacher (Aut) Minardi
20 Christijan Albers (Ned) Minardi

[zakelwe]

Nice avatar MUYA, brings back happy memories of BBC2 testcard .. do you think he is going to write Bullwhip ? :D

Good old Roger.

Yeah, Willams now right on the pace. Actually it looks pretty damn good now with Williams, Ferrari, Renault and McLaren all on the pace.

What happended to Toyota though ? Looking slightly down on previous GP's maybe they are having trouble dialing it in ?

I think it all bodes well for a good race tomorrow.

Regards

Andy

[bigC]

Kimi gets the provisional pole in Sat qualy, with Alonso and Schumi behind him. only 1 Ferrari, Renault and Toyota in the top 10 (the new b-spec Renault engine landed Fisichella in 15th, while Rubens was in 11th). Trulli out-qualied Ralf S. (7 and 12th, respectively). it should be interesting to see if Ferrari will go for a lighter fuel load in order to gain a position or two, and how the other two drivers will fare (speed-wise) with more fuel on board.

Webber was the fastest Williams at 4th with Heidfeld in 9th, whilst Button was in 5th (beating Sato, who managed a 10th). Massa was a surprising 7th, as usual beating JV. but, he'll be penalized 10 spots for an engine replacement. reality has set in for RBR, as DC managed only a 14th, beating Liuzzi in 16th. still, there have been persistent rumours that DC will be dropped from the team after the season--ie, he's too old, like JV; the sport may have passed by these two drivers, as there are a lot of younger drivers (who bring sponsorship dollars with them) getting rides and chances to prove themselves. and at the back, both Jordans beat the Minardis, but nobody really cares. Minardi's first all-new car in three years was 6 seconds off the pace--i guess that's good for a team with 1/10th the budget of Ferrari.


story: http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32620
results: http://www.formula1.com/race/result/735/21.html

1 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:19.886
2 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:19.889
3 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:20.260
4 Mark Webber Williams-BMW 1:20.442
5 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:20.464
6 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:20.492
7 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:20.593
8 Alexander Wurz McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.632
9 Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW 1:20.807
10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:20.851

[NAZCA M12]

A McLaren on provisional pole? ****! (bur) :p :mad: What's going on lately? Whatever i expect, the opposite happens :p They should have dropped down the order damn it :rant: Weird session anyway. We had seven different cars in the first seven positions on the one hand, on the other hand that meant there were big gaps between team-mates. There were big differences between Webber and Heidfeld, or Schumacher and Barichello or Massa and Villeneuve (joking, though i do hope JV owns Massa somehow) etc etc. :confused: And i knew Toyota has a problem with riding the kerbs (and you need to attack them heavily at that track if its dry in order to get a good time) but they struggled quite a lot. You know what? **** it. That was NOT a representative session. :D Don't try to extract results out of qualifying. Heck, don't even believe the race results, they don't mean **** :D

[bigC]

Kimi om the pole, Alonso 2nd, Button in 3rd has a chance to finally win a race, and Schumacher, who really screwed up, is way down the list in 14th. should be a fun race. :D

story:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/2903/735.html
results:http://www.formula1.com/race/result/735/20.html

[mikechai]

What a come back by Michael. One of the better race this year.
Things get more exciting after the 1st pits stop and thrilling near the end of the race. Great race!

[bigC]

wow, what a race! :D

Alonso wins his third in a row, narrowly beating a storming Schumacher, who started 14th and brilliantly ended 2nd. i wonder what would have happened if he didn't mess up his qualy lap on Sunday. Schumie definitely had the fastest car in the race, but it is really difficult to pass, as Schumie tried to do in the end stages of the race. still, it was an interesting battle, as Alonso had to drive defensively and really slow things down, and make his car as "wide" as possible, making it nearly impossible to pass. Schumie's pass on Button at Variante Alta was great driving.

still, the championship is beginning to look good for Alonso with 36 pts, Trulli in 2nd with 18, and Schumie way back with a mere 10. Alonso has had good reliability in the first 4 races, unlike his team mate, and unless Ferrari can start posting some 1-2 finishes (and hope Renault suffers problems) Alonso may dethrone Schumacher and Ferrari.

Button, in 3rd, was a non-factor amd Sato has a pedestrian 5th for BAR. the Brit announcers were cheering, "Button has a chance to win." but alas it wasn't to be (aww, poor Button). both Toyotas scored points, in 7th and 8th. JV was 6th (3 pts) so he may yet be around for another race. both Jordans finished, at the back of the field, but someone has to finish last. Wurz, for McLaren, managed a 4th place finish, so it wasn't totally bad news for the team.

big disappointments: Kimi's car crapped out on him again, and he retired early. Barichello and Fisichella couldn't finish the race, as both their cars had probs, as did both Minardis (big surprise there). Ferrari used to have the most reliable car in F1, so they still need to work on the new F2005. both Williams were out of the pioints, managing a pathetic 9th and 10th place only. Massa couldn't recover from his engine replacement, and he was never trully in the race competitively. however, he and DC had an interesting afternoon, as Massa lost part of his front nose in an incident, then got back at him later by bumping past him and gesticulating madly at him. RBR's Liuzzi was 11th and DC was in 13th, so their return to reality continues.

story:http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32634
more:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/2906/735.html
results:http://www.formula1.com/race/result/735/8.html

next up, in two weeks, the Spanish Grand Prix! :beer2::beer::D:

[bigC]

more race wrap-up:

Alonso can go head-to-head with Schumie and win:http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32635
Schumie is disappointed with his failure in qualy, which may have cost him a win. he was just 0.2s behind Alonso at the finish, and clearly had the fastest car. it's now up to the other teams to find some more speed:http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32637

Villeneuve is happy, Sauber is happy, so hopefully we'll see more succesful results from JV. still, if he continues to get outperformed by Massa, who has bested him in the past, then who knows how long he'll stick around:http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32639

apparently, Kimi was really pissed after he had to retire with a driveshaft prob. the iceman has cracked:http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32638

well, Heidfeld may actually score one point for Williams because R. Schumacher was penalized 25 seconds for an unsafe manoeuvre, pending an appeal of course:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/2911/735.html

[Sazar]

Schumi had an excellent race. The best driver in F1 today showed again why his talk is all hype :) Button royally sucked it up and became Schumi's bitch.

However he did enough to allow Alonso to win by slowing down Schumi.

Alonso likely will now win the title unless Schumi runs off a string of wins. Great final 10-15 laps though. One of the best races I have seen in a LONG time and on a better over-taking circuit coulda been more so.

[NAZCA M12]

Well, i guess i'm the only one who refuses to join the choir about Schumacher's brilliance and driving as only he knows how etc. The race was his, the car had the pace, he blew it big time. For a multiple champion he makes mistakes aplenty. He lost the race because he screwed up his 2nd qualifying session and thanks to the stupid rules, his race was compromised as well. And for those naive enough to think he "suddenly" woke up and picked up the pace, that wasn't quite the case. He started doing 1:22's a few laps before his firs pit-stop and continued to do so right after taking on fuel. At the first third of the race he was behind traffic, courtesy of his qualifying mistake and he couldn't run at full speed during that time. When he started doing those "quick" laps right before his stop was when he had a bit of a clear road ahead of him. Alonso seemed to be in safe mode from the start of the weekend (to protect the engine), at the end he had to up the revs and go for it while his tyres weren't in as good shape as Schumacher's. Good drive by him. On the other hand, a weird accident by Fisichella. Didn't seem like a driver error. A quiet race for Wurz. Kudos to McLaren for giving a chance to their other test driver when it would be easier for them to just let de la Rosa race again. Not too funny though that Ron's reading the forum and decided to trick us by starting Raikkonen on a three-stopper. Imola's a difficult to pass track so perhaps they thought of that as well but seeing Kimi pull out 2 seconds from Alonso on the first lap under a normal 2 stop strategy would be a miracle. If they're so strong all of a sudden then they'd lap the whole field. Not a bad race for BAR eh? Button's car failed the post race inspection (it was found to be underweight) but after the team's explanation to the stewards, it was passed legal. WTF? Anyone see Ralf's incident with Heidfeld? Very nice coverage we got, we even missed the freaking start thanks to the red lights being behind a sponsor sign! Couldn't they move the camera a bit? That stuff has happened again at Imola so what gives?

Finally Williams was the disappointment of the race. The pace looked to be ok (4th on the grid), they were **** in the race though. Am i the only one who thinks that both drivers are a tad ****ty? :fu: Can someone from the team tell Webber that he's supposed to race the ****ing car, not tour around with it? For the 4th race in a row he was a chicken in the first corner. Now it is understandable that no one wants to look like an idiot by crashing on the first corner but he's losing places all the time. I could understand that for Australia (his home race) but damn it, he does the same tricks in qualifying too (very careful in the first corner by his own admission). I hope he will someday understand that if he's so **** in the first corner of a race, that in order for him to start a race from pole (if he ever... :rolleyes: ) and actually keep it after the first corner, he'll have to start from a "special" pole position with an empty front row between him and the rest of the field. Maybe the federation can do sth about it heh. Mark's inability to finish better than 5th is becoming apparent now. The reason he lost third place in the previous race was because someone must have told him on the radio that he was third not his usual fifth, so he spun in order to correct that :D With that mistake though, he completely destroyed his tyres and he was easy prey even to de la "i'll try to pass anybody but will outbreak myself and end up on the grass" Rosa. Not very funny. Maybe we can do sth about that too. Like, give the 10 points to the fifth-placed driver? :udawg:

Heidfeld on the other hand, seems to have a problem with qualifying (particularly on first qualifying sessions unlike Webber) but in the race he usually makes up for it. It's hard to do so however when you start in the midfield. At the moment he looks to be good at one race, so-so at the next one etc. I think it'll be a repeat of 2000 and he'll only last one year and will be replaced by Button (if he's available). In addition to that, someone has told the Williams team apart from the fact that getting a duo with 0 wins, 0 poles, 0 fastest laps, and 2 podiums combined is the way to go, that they also have to do the same with their testers in order to move forward the car. So they now got Nico Rosberg as their second test driver? It’s the right thing to have fresh blood on the sport, but exactly how are drivers with little to no F1 experience going to help them? They have Pizzonia and Rosberg now to help them develop the car? That’s great, maybe they can take Piquet Jr in as well, so that they’ll be complete from a noob viewpoint :thumbdwn: Rosberg Jr might prove to be a future champ, at the moment though he has an enormous three tests experience with an F1 team. Sorry, but his dad’s feedback would be much better now. Perhaps they should have a look at Toyota for example: one proven driver with vast F1 experience (Panis) at the center, surrounded by new blood. That way they give chances to the future, but have a great yardstick as well to rely on. If those latest developments were supposed to improve the team, then they failed. But if the target was to mess it up, they’ve done a great job. :udawg: Imo, as they look, they can only finish on the podium through sheer luck or high attrition, they don’t have the experienced drivers to turn the situation around, and they’re wasting their ****ing engines. Expect them to have one of the same in the next race because it’s a slow track that favours good chassis (and their chassis is weak) :o

[bigC]

postscript: Button may be disqualified from the race, as FIA is appealing a decision by the race stewards that allowed Button to keep in 3rd place finish. apparently, when drained of fuel, the car was 5 kg underweight. if he is DQ'ed, it would be bad news for the team.

http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/news_story.asp?ID=122819&hubName=auto_racing-formula_one

[Sazar]

Saying schumi shoulda won is easy to suggest but not so easy to demonstrate.

He had the faster car over several parts of the track hence overall faster BUT he was not faster in the straight where Alonso repeatedly pulled away convincingly.

Had he been faster there, the race would have been over a lot quicker. Given the position he started from, it WAS a brilliant race by him to come from the position he started at to finish where he did.

I have long waited for the Sato's and Alonso's to get into the points in the manner they are doing now and I am happy to see F1 returning to some semblance of competition.