The Canadian Grand Prix

[Daneel Olivaw]

:canadian:

Its a beautiful weekend here in Montreal, ripe for F1 racing. Sun, beer, hot chicks and fast cars!

I was lucky enough to get in to see the time trials today at the Gilles-Villeneuve track, on the Notre-Dame Island just off of Montreal. Bought 2 tickets half-price for me and my girlfriend in the gold seats off a scalper during the second friday trials, just in front of the Pits. Directly in front of Jacques Villeneuve's pit.

The 3 BMW Sauber cars were on track for the final 15 minutes at least. Robert Kubica made the best time for the day, his engine was running full speed. Both Jacques and Heidfeld's engines were slowed down to keep them in good shape for the race.

Obviously, with Jacques being from Montreal, he's the driver that people mostly root for this week-end. Most believe a sixth place is possible, though its the 2nd race in a row for his engine, and that could pose a problem.

[Daneel Olivaw]

Friday's times:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=18960&stc=1&d=1151118159
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=18961&stc=1&d=1151118347

FYI, I have no clue who -undefined- is, as Montagny was 29th, at 1:21:434

[CaptNKILL]

Psshh... they dont race cars in Canada, just sled dogs (and Gib's big military truck).

[Daneel Olivaw]

After that, there were the CIVIC qualifs, and my gf and I went to the Casino. In the evening we went back downtown to see the installations BMW had created near the Centre Bell. A pilot of another racing league drove Kubica's BMW Sauber around in 'doughnuts' as a show to the fans on a specially made track. That was pretty cool!

Crescent street was alive with souped-up cars and modded Hondas. A band was playing a Hommage to The Tragically Hip :).

All in all a very cool day. Plus its a holiday for many Quebecois, as its our National Holiday (St-Jean). Think of it as a miniscule Independance Day (I wish!).

[Daneel Olivaw]

Psshh... they dont race cars in Canada, just sled dogs (and Gib's big military truck).
:lol: Ah man, you should have seen Crescent street. A couple of very hot Ferraris and Acuras and so on... One guy had modded his car into an Optimus Prime! I'm not kidding, there was an upper-half of Prime in the trunk with the Matrix in his chest and all, with some pretty crazy speakers with the engine at the front! Looked more than professionnal too!

http://gallery.montrealracing.com/d/36187-1/gp040.jpg

Here's a link to pictures of the cars on Crescent Street:
http://gallery.montrealracing.com/v/gp06/?g2_page=1

In case you're a Ferrari fan, there's also Peel St. near to Crescent:
http://gallery.montrealracing.com/v/gp06b/?g2_page=1

[Daneel Olivaw]

For Live F1 results: http://www.radio-canada.com/AFP/sports/Formule1/F1/flash/fr/

Including today's qualifying.

[bigC]

d'oh! i forgot all about this race (i thought it was next weekend. the World Cup has got me all discombobulated). luckily, i saw this thread ...

hopefully everyone has seen the race, as i am posting results ...

well, this race followed the script (with a few minor twists to keep people watching) ...

Alonso, pole sitter, wins. Schumacher 2nd, capitalizing on a mistake by Kimi, 3rd. JV, in 8th, lost control on the "marbles" trying to pass lapped R. Schumacher and slammed into the wall. is that not predictable? methinks he is on his way out in F1, even though he has done better then expected at BMW. it's too bad, too: his new attitude of team-player is refreshing; much better then the surly woe is me JV from the BAR days.

for those that still care: Button did not get a point. mercifully, since the race was in Canada, we were inundated with JV hype instead of the ITV crew drooling all over Button (aka, mister i've never won a race in 100+ tries but i'm all that Britain has).

story: http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/news_story.asp?id=169723
results: http://www.formula1.com/race/result/759/8.html

next week ...... the US Grand Prix!? :beer: :confused: :eek2:

hmm. Ecclestone thinks F1 can survive without a race in the USA (what's he been smoking?). if there is a repeat of last year's fiasco, we'll see if that's true.

[lightman]

JV, in 8th, lost control on the "marbles" trying to pass lapped R. Schumacher and slammed into the wall. is that not predictable?

Hmm... I'm still not sure about his accident. From the camera car it looked like R. S. slowed down while cornering, and so JV went on the "marbles" ... I could be wrong, though, they re-aired the accident only a couple of times, and onyl from the camera car...

Anyway, about the race... Only one comment... Montoya should be kicked out of the circus, *now*. He's a complete, arrogant, sob, moron. He tried to slam almost anyone he had close enough, he "kicked" Rosberg out of the race, and then he slammed onto the wall. Bah. Oh, and then he said something like 'well, Niko is good and all, but he still has to learn that there are places in some circuits where there isn't enough room for two cars. Oh, and I was on the inside of the turn. He should've let me pass.' . Yeah. On the inside. Except he forgot to mention that Niko was more than half a car *ahead* of him. Bah. Someone shoot him, please. I hate that Colombian. Really. Bah. :D

Let's wait for Indy.

[NAZCA M12]

Heh, the Montreal race always delivers a bit of a drama doesn't it? First of all, i thought it was a nice touch to see JV's mum sitting in the pits. I wish Gilles Villeneuve could be present too. But who am i kidding? He'd probably be away, testing for the "over 45" sort of F1 championship.

I think there should be a little explanation about those "marbles", and why was the track littered with them off line so much. A big reason is that most teams were using the soft tyre compounds for that race which get destroyed quite easily. Now i don't know about the quality of the asphalt (looked alright to me) and how smooth or not it was (which would mean excessive tyre wear), but i do know that this track is resurfaced every 10 years. I have no clue which year we were on, yesterday but i don't remember seeing so much stuff outside the ideal line for a long time. In Australia for example, you get to see similar things plus leaves from the trees which make it even more slippery but still, it wasn't that bad. Here it was a case of one tiny lock-up and you would loose several places or end up in the wall. Villeneuve described it as ice-skating and he was right, look what happened to Raikkonen on the last lap. It looked as if he was gripping on his own oil (that would have been great btw). Speaking of Raikkonen, i couldn't help but laugh afterwards. He did such a good job the whole race, but kept his tiny mistake for the very last lap? Then, in the post race interview he adopted the "ah **** it, i don't mind anyway because we are only going for teh win". I would love to hear Ron's opinion on that.

Regarding the Montoya/Rosberg incident i have to ask a little question first: Where the **** are all these "experts" who were saying how impressed they were with the young driver after his debut and how he was going to be a future champion etc etc? Even the mighty Jackie Stewart had said he had gotten a 7th in his debut (i think) but he sure hadn't set the fastest lap or look so in control. Rosberg, apart from getting high praise from his dad (sheesh, who would expect that), or half-praise from Hakkinen (Hakka said he MAY become a championship contender. See, Rosberg is racing under a german passport and the always patriotic Hakkinen couldn't let that **** unanswered which is why he inserted a maybe) the things he does best is tangle with other cars.

Now to his defense, he doesn't know all the tracks and when you start from the middle of the pack, its easier to be involved in an accident but he has done that several times already and his performances are up and down. This weekend, in qualifying he managed to **** up his own team-mates qualifying lap by not seeing him down the straight (!), made a great qualifying effort himself, made a bit of a mess in the start as he usually does, then tried successfully to make amends for it and one corner later he was once again involved in a crash. What is more, starting his defense with something like "well, in GP2 this thing wouldn't have happened because there etc" as he once did after one of his first accidents, well. Somebody should tell him "son, this ain't GP2, this is F1. ****tier, and weaker than ever yes, but its still F1, and a whole lot different ballgame than GP2". He did look great in the first race but that was all. You can't recognise a champion by one good race, not even 10 but especially not from the first race of the season, a race than never indicates the full strength/weakness of a driver and his team and always allows for a surprise or two to happen.

I myself had said i expected him to dominate Webber in the second half of the season once he knows the car, and his way in the team a bit better but i'm starting to doubt that. And Webber is not exactly the most talented driver down the pit lane and most certainly not the best new blood Australia could offer. I think the media are doing young Rosberg a big favour (just like Button) by remembering him only when he does something good and keeping silent when he is unremarkable. Now of course Webber has Briatore as a manager and Rosberg Jr has his dad and hence a lot of connections with various top teams. That means they should never be left without a drive, but i get the impression they both want to hang on to the Williams seat because there's little chance they can genuinely impress other big(ger) teams. Small teams would always welcome them btw for sponsoring reasons alone, plus they aren't very expensive etc.

Now, the accident with Montoya. One could say it was a bit of a racing incident more than anything else but both of them were wrong to make an
attempt at that corner because there's not enough room. There is room for 2 cars in the entry, plenty of room at the exit, but the corner itself has one ideal line which is also very very tight with rather high curbs on each side. Now imagine the ideal passing manoevre in which the driver on the right takes the inside line hitting the inside curb (which should send them of control straight but they don't) and the driver on the outside takes the longer, outside (d'oh) route hanging onto the left in what will shortly become the inside line, hitting the left curbs on the apex (something which should send him to the right wall but it doesn't). Holy crap, its a miracle !! Erm, no it doesn't work out like that. Perhaps if they were racing mopets.
Regarding who has the inside line and who is ahead etc, there's a bit of an unofficial rule here when entering a corner: If the driver behind puts his front wheels level on the rear wheels of the driver ahead and he usually can't make the manoevre stick inside line or not, he should back off. But if he has managed to put say 2/3rds of the car, then the other driver should at least give him space inside line or outside, otherwise a contact is very probable.

Whatever, most drivers today are ****ing bastards when it comes to proper overtaking. Instead of following a more sporting "nobody can enter the corner faster than me but someone can, fair enough. I'll give him a bit of room". Instead, everybody tries to bully himself and shut the door abruptly in a "now now, we don't want to end up on the wall do we?" sort of way. Words are not enough. I've said it in the past, try to find the battle between Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux, Dijon 1979 for second position to see how proper racing should be: Ruthless, with light contact, just enough space, fair.

Anyhow, here is what Monty had to say afterwards:

http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=122183

I think its pretty wrong of him to say that. I think they were both at fault but Montoya yet again deciding to bark after Rosberg's rather "quiet" view of the incident tells its own story. And what the **** does he mean by the manoevre on Michael that it was ok? So he puts himself in a position where the other driver finds himself with no room (because Montoya has forced him to the edge of the track which makes it nearly impossible to turn) and has to either lift/go straight or have an accident with him? Was that move ok because MS went off the track and let JPM have it his way? Is that why it was ok? Oh the irony btw that he put in the **** Schumacher, teh master of squeezing techniques (Imola 2001 with Ralf anyone? Or Canada 1998 coming out of the pits sending Frentzen spinning off the track at high speed?) Anyhow, Montoya looks like he's under pressure.

Maybe its the fact that (at least according to paddock rumours), no top team trully (no, not Jarno) want him for next year, at least not for what he does on the track. It is speculated that both Renault and Red Bull might be interested in him due to pressure from their sponsors. That's modern F1 for you, they may find him an attractive option to expand their interests to territories such as Colombia, Brazil etc and what better way to strengthen their marketing plan than have a driver who is very popular down there? There is also a chance that he may go back to BMW but i don't think it will happen. Heidfeld is bolted in that team (i mean there's a stronger chance of Mercedes making a reliable engine or Button winning a GP with Honda than him leaving) and so that leaves him taking the place of his very good friend (lol) Villeneuve. Bah, fat chance. In fact, so fat even Ronaldo would be scratching his head thinking "daaaamn, and i thought i was...". BMW prefer to throw the money at the car rather than spend them on high profile prima donas and Montoya is expensive, unless he takes a cut of course. Though that may be possible, he went to McLaren in the first place because he wasn't getting enough money at Williams compared to Ralf. Plus, Villenueve is looking just fine as he is. Montoya has been doing nothing else but "doing a Fisichella" and getting owned by his team mate for two years now on a team that is not built around him however. Maybe BMW should sign him up to hold the towel when Jacques gets of the car and needs to sweep the sweat from his face. Well, that is IF he sweats in the first place, so even that position is looking a bit shakey, sorry Juan.

Anyway, about the race... Only one comment... Montoya should be kicked out of the circus, *now*. He's a complete, arrogant, sob, moron...

Let me tell you this: I've been watching JPM since i think '91 and Barber Saab racing in the US, then F3 in Britain, a short double race for Mercedes in DTM substituting for Magnussen who had broken his foot iirc (btw the car started the race white but ended up black can you guess why? That's right, it did what it does best: caught fire), F3000 with Helmut Marco's team, then CART next to Jimmy Vasser in the Ganassi team, replacing Zanardi and then F1 with Williams in '01. My verdict is this: Montoya has been F1ed.

We are talking about a very aggresive, risky driver here who came into F1 at a time where modern F1 almost "dictates" that you should not take risks to overtake because you got the cheaper but safer solution: the pit stops. He also came in F1 at a time when despite the efforts to simplify the cars and take away excessive technology, its still too easy, complicated and unpunishing compared to the past. We're not talking about cars of the early 90's era with sophisticated active suspensions and stuff like that, but still in a modern car, you don't shift ****, you can't overev the ****ing engine, your start is largely controlled by the electronics etc. Furthermore, the federation was pushing for every fast track to be butchered by the addition of chicanes (case of example: Hockenheim) in the name of safety, each new track was designed by the same guy (wtf?) most of them are branded as mickey mouse tracks that lack "soul". In short, a not so good, non-attacking, no-risk, wait-and-see, driver can be masked behind a modern F1. However, all the qualities of an attacking, eager to risk with half a chance given, ragged but fast driver such as Montoya were going down the drain. It just couldn't work. I wouldn't say he is an idiot or arrogant (every other driver is arrogant there's nothing new here). I'd say Montoya has slowly adapted to modern F1, he has calmed down in a way, his style is lost among the others, instead of being distinctive. Occasionally he has flashes of his old self, but that's it. He also has fallen out with both Williams and now McLaren and he needs some good results to attract interest. He's not getting them atm. Ganassi said he'd hire him back any time. Maybe that could rejuvenate him?

[NAZCA M12]

About Villeneuve's accident. Exactly what is not clear here? Ralf was going very slowly in that right hand corner and decided to let JV get by him. To his credit, he slowed down considerably to make things easier for Jacques. To his discredit, why the **** did he keep the ideal (and clean) line for himself and slow down at the same time? Villeneuve had to lift and open his line because Ralf "forced" him in a "pass me from the outside, i'm slowling down" way. We all know what was on the outside of the ideal line and saw in other occasions how slippery it was. Why couldn't Ralf position his car on the dirty side of the track? He wasn't racing for points or anything plus he wasn't going fast. Overall however, the blame should be put to Toyota. Ralf screwed up, but of course he didn't mean it to finish Villeneuve's race like that. Why didn't Toyota call him to the pits in the first place? Ralf was out there with a so-so setup, wrong tyres, struggling for grip, being occasionally several seconds off the pace, spinning numerous times and breaking the record for number of pit stops in a race. Just like his brother broke all the records for short cutting the infamous "corner of the champions" (shouldn't Michael get a little something for that? He didn't do this just once or twice) Ralf was several laps down, was clearly going to get nothing and in the end after he ****ed up JV's race he came to the pits and retired so, why?

Speaking of Toyota, thanks to Truli finishing a race (or failing to keep his momentum of collecting DNFs, whatever you please), the following anecdote must now be dropped:

-Hey wanna hear a good one?
-Shoot.
-Truli finished a race!
-Buahahahaha.

What is more, we now lost the other one too:

-Hey man, wanna hear a second one?
-Fire away.
-Massa didn't stuff it in the wall.
-Mother****er!!

As for the mighty Fisichella, what can you say? He only recently got his contract with Renault renewed. Are they complete idiots at Renault or do they plan to sign Raikkonen as No.1 and have GF as his gf once again? With his confidence sky high, one would expect for once, not to be screwed by his team-mate. Ya know, like 0.4-0.8s off Alonso's pace and **** like that. Plus, Fisico traditionally goes well at Canada. He did a good job though to screw his race. I bet he's working hard to find new ways to deny himself a victory but this ain't the Fisichella of the old days. As for Alonso, i'm glad he won and i'd like to see him continue the trend till the end of the year, do the little bull**** gesticulations he does after he crosses the finish line, keep having his nose high, keep giving interviews saying Renault did nothing for him, or that in truth he should have the team completely behind him, taking priority with new aerodynamic parts, engine specs etc, then take that No.1 to a McLaren and think "*******, that **** was easy i'm so gonna own them again". And soon, the emergency landing will start and then...CRASH! "Oh, well, guess not". Even that wreck Fisichella might be ahead of him (due to car, not ability) next year. How will he like that? Will the Vodafone moolah help? We'll see.

Back to Villeneuve, it's hightime someone said a few truths about his time at BAR Honda because i can't stand reading all these bull**** how he was crap back then, or how he got soundly beaten by his team-mate etc. He did a huge mistake signing up for the money and he payed for it dearly. His performance though was not reflected by the results at all. What do i mean by that? Two things: Strategy and DNFs.

The team would often let him and Jenson Button choose a different strategy if they wanted to, which they did all the time. Jacques would always go for the fewer pit stops, meaning he would be heavy, he wouldn't be impressive in qualifying, nor at the start of the race, later on though he would come good. Jenson was on the opposite side. Let's go for a light car, extra stop for fuel, softer tyres too, a "glorified" qualifying but of course he would loose plenty of time after his last stop. Whether JV's strategy or JB's one was better it doesn't matter much, they probably would have been close. We never got to see because most of the time, Villeneuve would get a DNF in the middle of the race. Usually his Honda would break down. Button's car wouldn't though. It was a similar case to Alonso and Fisichella: Fisichella gets all the mechanical problems, Alonso gets nothing. Because Villenueve would usually have his problems at the start or middle of the race (before the pit stops were completed) he was most of the time behind Button. That doesn't mean he would be behind him in aggregate though. Bear in mind the average moron F1 viewer who doesn't know about all that strategic **** and you got yourself this: "Who started ahead? Button again? Sheesh, he's having it easy". Add the ****-sucking British media that were having a field day with the whole thing and their MEGA Button showing his tremendous talent (minor detail: he is still winning his first F1 race). Throw a bit of a Button humble opinion "Without a shadow of a doubt i'm in the top two of the best F1 drivers currently" or sth like that, shake well and you got the final judgement: JV was utter junk at BAR Honda. He was outqualified, outraced, completely dominated by Button. Horse****. I wonder btw, why didn't Button put himself into the top 1? Surely for a driver of his charisma, getting 50-60 wins in a season in order to match MS would have been no problem right? That is of course in the highly unlikely possibility of one heretic daring to question his out of this world ability and remarkable dominance.

I don't know if BMW's approach for next year is correct but i don't like it. They have said they will take their time and a decision as to who will partner Heidfeld will be taken at the end of the season. They said they did that last year when they had to make up their mind about keeping JV on the team or reaching an agreement to part ways. They carefully studied the data, saw the progress he made against Massa in terms of qualifying and race pace and finally decided to keep him. So far, he has proven them right. He's fast, he immediately gave them their first points as a new team, he trashed his team-mate in many outings including Germany, he doesn't crash the car (but Ralf does, heh). In short, he has done nothing wrong so far, yet there are rumours that the 3rd driver Kubica will get his seat. But a string of fast laps in unofficial testing doesn't mean ****. A great lap when you are all by yourself on the track without pressure shouldn't be that great. Speed is one thing, racecraft is another thing. How a driver responds when put under pressure, or how consistent he is on lap after lap basis, or how accurate feedback he can give to his mechanics, it all counts for a complete driver. But i'd like to see a driver put all that to good use during a race, with a bunch of guys in front of him, a lot of pressure in his rear mirrors etc. True, modern F1 is doing its best to completely kill all these things but still a very fast lap is not the whole picture. They say Kubica has good speed, is steady and all but i don't know what he can do under race conditions. Of course i'd like to see what he can do and there's only one way to find out but i'd prefer Villeneuve to be retained because we know his abilities well, he's a proven asset for the team. Kubica is described as a rough diamond, he's still learning the tracks and i think one more year of testing would do him good.

The past few years, we have those demanding noobs or should i say their managers who want to be given a crack at the big time with a top team too. Hamilton for example is pushing for a McLaren seat next year. I suppose it's an insult for him to start from a small team, say STR, hone his skills, show his talent, then move to a better one. Would that be the No.1 or the No.2 McLaren seat Sir Lewis? Shall i wrap it up? I say its a double-edged sword for guys like Kovalainen, Hamilton, or Kubica and if they screw up they'll have themselves to blame. I don't think putting guys who don't even know the freaking tracks but are advertised as the next champions into top teams is such a great idea. A good example of such a highly advertised talent (Button again) was in 2000. He did nothing but waste one car imo. Don't start with Sato. I bet the British and Japanese media would disagree with that. Theissen recently gave a vote of confidence for JV though. Hopefully at BMW, they'll be checking the Nvnews fora for some proper ******* tips.

Ecclestone thinks F1 can survive without a race in the USA (what's he been smoking?). if there is a repeat of last year's fiasco, we'll see if that's true.

Bull****, he is bluffing. I bet he was holding his sides when he stated that. Ecclestone always looks at the commercial side of a race. The US market happens to be the biggest or second bigger market for many manufacturers involved in F1. Of course with NASCAR in particular becoming huge the past few years, and the "sister" open wheel racing of F1, Indycars being torn into two, F1 isn't exactly popular. Last years race, or the rather still recent "cooking" of results between Barichello and Schumacher didn't help. What is Ecclestone going to do? Forget about it? I'd be surprised if he did. We're talking about a huge market here, so huge that, at least manufacturers not only want to keep Indy, they want a second race added on the calendar. Anyhow, for a start, we need to have a decent race. I have no idea how they're going to do that.

Finally, flexi wings. There's been a whole saga about thtm for the past few weeks. There were several teams thought to be on the illegal side like Ferrari, McLaren and BMW. We had a new development during the weekend when there were reports of evidence by Honda that BMW's rear wing was flexing down the straight. Ferrari was similarly accused of that. What gives? Well, big teams have the ability to turn in almost every race with a new wing or aero parts in general. BMW for example had new front and rear wings for Canada. Ferrari did too. These things pass inspection by the technical delegates of the FIA before being raced, hence if they are illegal, they will be stopped way before making it to the track. Obviously all these filthy, unsporting, shameless teams passed scrutineering normally before the race. The masters of the universe though (Honda) dictated that should BMW in particular finish in the points, they would lodge an appeal and bring the matter to the FIA.

Now let us think for a second, is there anything that the pure, clean Honda can win out of this deal against the disgusting, illegal BMW in particular? Let's play the Q&A game. Which two teams are currently sitting tight in 4th and 5th? Those two. Which one has been steadily making progress while the other has been steadily going backwards? BMW and Honda respectively. Which team is steadily chewing the points difference and which one recently hit rock bottom at Silverstone scoring zero points as did in Montreal? BMW and Honda again. Based on their recent form, which team looks to be in better position to further improve? BMW which has the best wind tunnel in F1 and even now they still aren't running it at full capacity (currently 2 shifts but they'll shortly up that to 3), and quickly solved their engine problems? Or mayber Honda which has been **** in the last few races despite them having the best driver never to win a race, they keep breaking engines no problem (even a ****ing Super Aguri broke an engine yesterday and Barichello stopped with an engine problem too in yesterday's race) with such big flames that make Haug say "well **** me sideways, we just got powned", are stedily off the pace and they just ditched their technical director replacing him with a guy who has never worked in that position before?

Incidentally these two constructors also came back to the F1 circus at the same time in 2000. What were the "experts" saying? The logical thought: Surely it should take a bit longer for a company that hasn't been in touch with F1 since 1987 to get back to winning ways against a company that only retired officially from the sport but practically never retired thanks to the continuous involvement of their sub-division Mugen. Well who is still trying to win a race?

Btw, is there a dollar or two that differentiates 4th and 5th position? Surely the chaps at Honda have no interest in getting more money eh? Rumour has it, there is more than one team behind Honda silently backing them up. Let me take a look at the constructors points and take a wild guess: Toyota, and Williams maybe? Or even Red Bull? I bet McLaren is in it through Mercedes but that's just normal. Who knows. I wonder is their problem that they've been spending so much money all these years making a mockery of themeselves whereas Sauber upon 1 year after being bought is ahead of them? Or they just can't ****ing accept that their engines are inferior? Finally, curse my ****ty memory, which ****ing team got banned last year for hiding a small fuel tank within the fuel tank?

In the meantime, during the weekend, the cameras repeatedly showed the rear wings of Ferrari and they weren't flexing. They also showed the BMW rear wing and (zomg!) it wasn't flexing either. A few hours after the race, instead of seeing that appeal Honda was talking about, there was a change of tune from their part, with Honda now dropping their macho stance and mercifully deciding (praise the builder) not to lodge an appeal on little ol' BMW and instead they are looking to the federation to clear the matter. That sudden change came after talks with the FIA before the race. Nobody knows what was excanged but for Honda to "threaten" a team like that before the race, circulating supposed evidence to the other teams, evidence that was never proven right, bypassing on the way the technical delegates who had already passed these parts as legal, and at the same time exposing the federation, well i think a "next time you do this stuff you let us know first, in the meantime, STFU" or something close to that could be possible. Still i'd like to see an answer. The case is not closed and we'll see at Indy what happens.

If Honda want to threaten, maybe they should threaten to never get on the points again or stuff like that, in short, they should have realistic targets. In the meantime, they should put their heads down, stfu and work on their car, or alternatively lodge a protest on every team that finishes ahead of them. Maybe that way they can get a point or two. Maybe.

[JonathanM]

Dude, that was one sickass analysis. You should write an F1 column :)

As for the JV incident. It happened right in from of me at turns 6&7. I seem to remember seeing out of the corner of my eye (haven't watch the race on tv yet) that ralf even might have hit the dirt while slowing down. Him littering the track could have resulted in JV skating right into the wall.

On the replay JV's fronts lock up, yet there doesn't seem to be much smoke coming from them.

Oh and the marbles this year were HUGE. Especially around the hairpin, but there was a fair amount in front of my seats too.

All in all, it was a solid race. I'm just unhappy with Trulli's performance after the safety car went away. He totally messed up the relaunch and screwed up Kimi's chances of getting anywhere close to Alonso.

What do you think about the backmarkers remaining in the order during the safety car laps? Would have been more exciting to see the grid line up again. Or at least, if they remain in the lineup, allow the drivers still in the race to pass quicker. Seems to me like Schumi had a much easier time pasing them than Kimi.

Oh and did the broadcasters show any of the groundhogs crossing the track during the practice or qualis? Funny stuff. One of them came out during the Ferrari Challenge and drivers had to swerve around them.

[Shamrock]

You are exactly right JonathanM. Ralf hit the dirt and it flew right in front of JV, losing complete traction. SPEED TV showed it several times. He kicked up a TON of dirt, but very little dust flew.

As For Kimi..."HE" himself didnt make a mistake...his crappy team did, TWICE!!! First it was a locked wheel hub, that the wheel guy had NO IDEA what to do, just threw up his hands. Kimi did 2 complete stints on one rear tire. THEN on his final stop, they told Kimi to shut off the engine because they "thought" they saw a bent lower A Arm..Kimi shut it of, then they decide start him back up, because he was running competitive laps! :mad:

Kimi should leave them, they way he is treated. It was a better race than the last 2, at least Alonso had some competition for a about 20 laps.

[NAZCA M12]

Nice info on the KR problems Shamrock. If he did a whole stint with an old rear tyre then his pace was fantastic. He also set the fastest lap.

What do you think about the backmarkers remaining in the order during the safety car laps? Would have been more exciting to see the grid line up again. Or at least, if they remain in the lineup, allow the drivers still in the race to pass quicker. Seems to me like Schumi had a much easier time pasing them than Kimi.

Oh and did the broadcasters show any of the groundhogs crossing the track during the practice or qualis? Funny stuff. One of them came out during the Ferrari Challenge and drivers had to swerve around them.

Now that i would have liked to see :D Regarding the safety car period, you are right, the backmarkers did a big disservice to Raikkonen on the restart whereas guys like Alonso were as usual benefiting from that. However, i think the whole procedure is just wrong, not only the backmarkers getting in the way of faster cars. What really winds me off is that the leader of the pack can dictate the pace as he pleases, just like the formation lap.

For example you could have a safety car period ending when the pace car goes in, but everyone has to follow the leader down the straight at whatever speed he pleases, even if we're already green. That prick Alonso always does this in a safety car period: He waits for the pace car to go out of his way, goes really slow, then all of a sudden he abruptly accelerates to catch the others behind by surprise. How cool of him. For me, it's unsporting to say the least, and i just can't accept the "well, yeah but you know, its part of the whole thing". No, it shouldn't be part of it and it certainly wasn't in the past. Moreover, some idiots slow down considerably just when we are about to go green and leave a hefty gap to the car ahead. Result? When they finally gas it, they are miles behind the driver ahead and have ****ed up in the process whoever is behind them. Wtf is that? Is it not in their best interests to keep as close as possible to the car in front of them? I didn't know that dropping a freaking mile behind the car ahead increases the chances of catching it up/overtaking it.

This system is unfair imo. In the past, if there was a bad accident with lots of debris or cars blocking the track, we'd go to a red flag and a restart with fewer laps to complete. If the cars could be cleared out of the way quickly though, we'd have a "normal" race under yellow flags. In a red flag situation, the drivers involved in the crash can always go back to the pits and use the mule. Now they don't. This can be pretty unfair. Imagine a driver screwing up, triggering an accident involving several other cars (hmm, that sounded like Sato :p ). The pace car goes out, and the other drivers involved simply can't rejoin the race and have to take **** for their effort through no fault of their own. Why? Also, this pace car procedure is too sensitive: Somebody farted, pace car goes out. Oh but i forgot, it supposedly adds excitement because it gets all cars together :thumbdwn:

Anyhow, lets see some news. Fisichella felt that the jump start penalty he received was a bit harsh:

http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=122292

I think he has a point. Indeed he evidently seemed to stop the car once he realized his mistake and that of course compromised his race start and gave 2nd to KR. The FIA should change the rule: Whenever Fisi makes a mistake, hand the penalty to Alonso :D That will spice things up a bit.

In the meantime, Button is going to Indy convinced that he will win (ok, i'm joking :p ):

http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=122337

Schumacher on the other hand, says everything is still open and they are going on the attack:

http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=122322

Somebody should warn Renault. "Attack" in Schumacher/Ferrari terms probably means that Massa will be out there to collide with Alonso.

And here's the outcome of Ecclestone's attack on the future of the US grand prix:

http://f1.racing-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/060626143913.shtml

Back to the flexi wings saga: Just a few hours after i posted yesterday taking a wild (yeah right) guess at which teams might be behind Honda, Sam Michael of Williams Cosworth urged the FIA to close the case before Indy while McLaren Mercedes expressed their discontent on BMW's rear wing! Miserable ****s. I wonder what will McLaren do next year in the (unlikely?) scenario that this same rear wings are ahead of their front ones? Make a protest with photographs of Sauber personnel smiling as evidence that sth fishy is going on?

I suspect we will have the same thing before the Indy race: They will urge the technical delegates to recheck the wing prior to the race and they will afterwards have to shovel their evidence up their arses:

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=36401

[JonathanM]

Well at least we don't have to wait long for the next GP and the next bout of controversy. :)