2006 Formula One season begins!

[Mr_LoL]

What a confusing qualifying session. It was fun to watch though.

[MustangSVT]

Guys, as i said look at the time sheet: JV is half a second faster than Heidfeld yet Heidfeld starts 10th and Villeneuve 11th. What sort of logic is that? Rosberg posted the 8th best time, whereas Webber was almost 4 tenths slower, yet Webber is 7th on the grid and Rosberg 12th! What sort of a ****ed up system is this that allows drivers with slower times to be ahead of faster ones?


In addition to that, it remains hugely unforgiving. Today, a driver had an accident that was beyond his control, a mechanical fault not a driving error, why wasn't he given a second chance to salvage something from qualifying? Exactly what sort of role the mule (the 3rd car) is doing sitting in the pits all the time? To keep the ****ing costs down?

I don't think you quite get the system. About the faster times.

Heidfeld posted a better time than Villeneuve in the second round, as did Webber than Rosberg in 2nd round.

Why did the post slower times in 3rd round? Because the amount of fuel they ran on is the maximum amount of fuel that could be used on the start of the actual race tommorow. Therefore, they were using more fuel, making the car heavier and therefore. Had Rosberg and Villeneuve been using as much fuel as Webber and Heidfeld did, they would have posted slower times than them. In 2nd round however, everyone just had enough fuel for 1 or 2, or maybe 3 flying laps. In the third round, they basically had to use as much fuel as they would for the start of the race, so therefore they had much more fuel, probably for like 10, 15, maybe even 20 laps.

As for Raikkonen crashing. You don't understand that situation either.

Raikkonen could have gone in the third car. However, he would lose 10 grid spots in the qualifying position, and I assume that Raikkonen decided he might have not been mentally prepared to go out on the track again and didn't want to risk damaging the 3rd car as well.

[NAZCA M12]

MustangSVT, good point about the fuel levels but you forgot to say that grip levels should be higher for the last 10 runners since with every session more rubber was layed on the track. Essentially the heavier cars had also a faster track and apart from that, they came in and changed to a brand new set of tyres. We shall see in the race exactly how much fuel these guys have.

Regarding Raikkonen's accident and the poor mentally prepared excuse: He didn't hit the wall, just spun the car in high speed and tore off a rear wheel. He didn't even get out of the car but tried to go back to the pits instead. I don't think he would try to continue if he was scared. In the past, i've seen drivers like Senna crash hard (not just spin) his primary car at the early stages of qualifying, get back to the pits, jump to the other car which was set up for Prost, spend a few laps fine tuning it and then magnificently stick it on pole. I think Raikkonen's mentality was just fine after a spin and no driver would be scared by that, otherwise he should go home.

Just in case you didn't realise, as it stands he's starting dead last. If he could for example post the 5th best time (since he usually is quicker than JPM and he was 5th i think its a realistic target) and get the penalty, 15th would have been better than 22nd don't you think? And why would exactly be concerned about risking and potentially damaging the 3rd car anyway? He's supposed to be racing, not touring around, a potential crash is part of the game. It's not as if he would be put at the end of the grid had he crashed the mule. He's already last, he had nothing to loose, only gain a few places and save himself some traffic. You think his mechanics weren't mentally prepared to let him out again?

[MustangSVT]

Just in case you didn't realise, as it stands he's starting dead last.
Yes I realize. I'm not too sure why he didn't come back out, I just said what I thought. It's possible that the mechanics and the team leader (ron dennis) worried that the 3rd car might suffer from a minor suspension or such problem which caused Raikkonen's crash, so maybe they thought they'll at least get it fixed before the next time he gets onto the track. I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud here.

I just hope he can get a really nice start and gain 5 or more places on the first lap alone. He should really be able to gain even almost 10 places by the 2nd lap if he pushes really hard, especially at the start and at the finish line straight when the first lap ends.

[NAZCA M12]

McLaren are known for taking risks in such occasions, which personally i always like it for a team to do regardless if it pays off or not (remember Raikkonen's tyre problem at Nurburgring last year) I don't think they'd have big concerns sending him out again if they could, although i read they didn't have time to repair his primary car and that's why he wasn't out again.

Obviously Montoya saw what happened as he was right behind Raikkonen iirc and was made aware of the incident shortly after but they did send him out later on without problems. Of course every team is worried with such incidents about the other car and the spare and i'm sure they had a quick look at them. Usually, such problems (a broken lower wishbone in our case) occur due to manufacturing faults or due to a mistake in the quality checks process if you wish and thus, a faulty material passes through to the race cars. If they think they have a problem, new stronger wishbones will be manufactured back at the factory and will be flown to the track overnight.

Since you're a Raikkonen fan, you shouldn't worry about the start, his car is a lot faster than the Midlands and the Super Aguris and he'll naturally gain lots of places at the end of the straight, unless he is significantly heavier on fuel. By the way, speaking of the back end of the grid, do we all agree that its a good thing that Sato is not in a competitive car anymore? I guess now there will only be the possibility of him doing his usual stuff (crash into other cars) when everyone else tries to lap him :D

[Mr_LoL]

Great race. I was impressed with Rosberg in the williams and the Toyotas were simply shocking. I would have preffered if Michael had won the race instead of Alonson

[bigC]

i'm assuming everyone has already seen the race. if not, don't continue. :)


well, that was an enjoyable race, hopefully a sign of things to come, ie, there are at least three teams that can win on any given Sunday, perhaps more if you include Honda. F1 is a lot more interesting if it's not a parade and if the race is not already predetermined, as it seemed to be when Ferrari and Schumie won 5 championships in a row and simply blew away the rest of the competition. Williams was surprising, as both their drivers scored points and i also have to agree that the complete failure of the Toyotas was a shock. heads will role if they continue to suck. once again, Kimi showed was an amazing driver he is, starting last and finishing 3rd (ahead of JPM and the best driver in F1 never to win a race). it's too bad his car is not reliable, and should give pause for consideration to Alonso, who joins McLaren next year.

Rubens and Massa both had bad races, but Massa's failure was compounded by a mechanical prob in the pits when they tried to change the rear tire. JV, once again, failed to finish the race, but it is hardly his fault. he was in the top ten when he engine blew, shooting out flames. but he faces harsher scrutiny then others and will no doubt be blamed. solid race for Speed in his first race and Rosburg, the latter scoring points for Williams. notable, the STR team finished 11th and 13th, and they are still using v10 engines (although with limitations on them). unfair advantage?

the fastest lap by Rosberg (1:32.406) is 2 seconds slower then Schumie top speed, set 2 years ago.

story:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/4087/751.html
results:http://www.formula1.com/race/result/751/8.html

Toyota has already panicked, calling for an internal inquest to find ut why they failed so miserably:http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=35231

next Sunday, the second race of the season, the Malaysian Grand Prix! :beer: :D

[MustangSVT]

Actually, Raikkonen got up to 3rd. He went from 21st (technically 22nd, but Monteiro started from pit lane) all the way to 3rd on podium. That's what I call driving. (nana2)

[NAZCA M12]

Interesting race. Usually the first few races produce surprises as some good teams underachieve and vice versa. I skip the cliche "omg omg omg, what an awesome battle between Alonso and Schumacher" since the...overtaking we saw was essentially one car (Alonso) crawling out of the pits, momentarily accelerating, then taking the ideal line with the other car (Schumacher) coming at full steam. I'd prefer to see both at the track, going down the straight neck and neck, and if Alonso was so ****ing great, simply brake down better from 300 to 60 than MS and get by him. This whole system is just hollow. The driver behind doesn't try anything on the track, and Alonso could since, he was much faster after increasing downforce on the front wing at the 1st pit stop, then he just tries to make his fastest laps when MS goes in for his stop, and gain the position through the pits. Similarly the two McLaren boys were almost 4 tenths slower than those, yet finished high with a high fuel load passing half the grid on the track and half on the pits while faster cars finished behind them.

It would be better to see fights like the one between Coulthard and Heidfeld or Button against Barichello. When refuelling gets banned, we should get great battles like that from start to finish. Anyway, some things will never change: Alonso's car will always be robust whereas Fisichella will deal with all sorts of mechanical problems, or Montoya will find new ways of loosing from his team-mate who started from the back etc. To be fair, it became known from yesterday that Fisichella had an engine problem and the mechanics were at a loss as to what was going on, all they knew was he was losing power. JPM on the other hand complained of a sick engine on Friday so he has the benefit of the doubt. Heh, I wonder if he'll complain about that at every race weekend, just to be on the safe side with Raikkonen.

I liked Villeneuve's driving. Talking about a "debut" with a bang :rofl It wasn't very smart of him to sit right behind Fisichella's Renault all the time, not cooling his engine properly. He should either go for it and pass him, or ease off a little bit and run in clean air. Also the way he let Raikkonen pass him was ridiculous. The only thing he didn't do was stop the car, get out of it and make an "after you" gesture. I bet his mechanics saw that and blew the engine from the telemetry. Or, they had a Mercedes powerplant in there. Anyhow, i still have a good feeling about him and want to see him doing great so that at the end of the season he can say a big STFU to David Richards. Heidfeld wasn't bad either but he got hit by Rosberg at the start and was dead last (for a moment i thought Sato had worked his magic again). So, except for Monteiro, don't forget those two were out of the way from the first corner, when you talk about Raikkonen's climb from... last to third.

About Rosberg, watching him from the in-car camera, he looked to have a silky smooth driving style. Apart from a bit of a moment at the last lap when he got over Klien and hit the kerb hard at the first corner, he looked like he was going on rails. Initially i thought Webber's experience with the team might hold him for half the season before Rosberg starts getting better but his lack of talent might be exposed earlier than that (Rosberg knows the circuits btw, he's not a complete noob). And Williams going well at the start of the season is not exactly a surprise. Apart from changing tyres (which may suit their chassis better), Cosworth started work on its V8 programe much earlier than any other manufacturer so they are ahead at the moment. Problem is, they don't have lots of money so their development will suffer with time.

As for STR, the Red Bull guys (and co-owners of course) were saying that they didn't really have an engine advantage over the V8 cars. And of course come Sunday, they look like complete morons since the team was actually faster than their first team (Red Bull that is). The way Scott Speed in particular leaped forward down the straight on Ralf Schumacher's Toyota was pathetic. Or was Toyota pathetic? Just so you know, Toyota actually had fitted a new aerodynamic package shortly before the first race so, it looks like its working well otherwise i suspect they would have been even worse. On the other hand, they don't care to win, they only want to be in front of Honda so they have to either get their act together, or pretend there is no official Honda team and they'll be miles ahead of the Super Aguri Honda :udawg:

[MustangSVT]

. On the other hand, they don't care to win, they only want to be in front of Honda so they have to either get their act together, or pretend there is no official Honda team and they'll be miles ahead of the Super Aguri Honda

:lol2: