from the in car footage the car does look like a bit of a handful...


though that said HRT have suprised me, I was expecting them to be MILES away...and so far its only about 1 mile. Kudos to Senna sliding it around like a go kart for some old school fun

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Dare we hope? We dare.
Can we hope? We can.
Should we hope? We must.

Very clear and interesting explanation Parm, i hope your theory is true and we will see a very interesting race tommorow, for sure both LH and JB have a shot at a podium place for sure...

However there are still 2 things im worrying about:

1) Tyre wear, reports all over that the Mclaren's have big issues with the tyres
2) Jenson had problems with the car during Q3, hopefully it will be solved by tommorow.

I just hope Schumacher doesn't take Button out at the beginning. That's all I'm worried about.

Just had a check on the qualifying timing docs on the fia site. Both McLarens right on the top for speed trap settings, and RB right down the list.

Leads me to believe that RB on a higher downforce setup. If McLaren is actually at a lower downforce setting it could be aerodynamicaly more efficient and therefore require less fuel (ie. a few kilos lighter at start) - unfortunately I dont think the fia are publishing weights anymore!).. tomorrows going to be interesting!

So now we know!

After all the BS about him returning, he's 5 tenths slower than Nico, that's a long way off the pace. That must be a huge disappointment, he wouldn't have expected that when he agreed to return.

1.4 seconds off Vettel's pace is a long way down, he wont be able to compete with that. He even said that 1/2 a second was slow by his standards, well perhaps he will have to get used to a new set of standards now hes got a team mate hes actually having to race.

If the old minger cant get closer than that, Ross will have to let Nico just get on with it. Ross wont want to slow Nico back to Scunackers pace just to give him the advantage like he did with previous team mates at Ferrari, this time they don't have the fastest car, and by the looks of it, Nico will be ahead most of the year......

Its going to be a great season..

Regards the ride height/fuel load/tyre wear discussion:

Word is that some teams have developed a way of changing the ride height (leagally I assume) during a pit stop. If that's true issues over ride height can be overcome with an early pit stop.

Good Luck tomorrow team. Jense and Lewis will do great things this year.

Just finished reading the Autosport Q&A w/ Martin Whitmarsh. Am I the only one who is liking his open attitude to interviews? Ross Brawn, for instance, seems a lot more tightlipped than Whitmarsh.

Here's hoping that Lewis and Jense can pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat on race day and score a podium. But I guess we should be happy with whatever points we get and as an aside I'm also curious about what caused Jenson to moan about the car 'not feeling right' during Q3. I guess I expected Jenson to be within a couple of tenths of Lewis' pace in quali and if he doesn't get within those two tenths within the next 3 races, I'm going to consider him officially in trouble. It's worth noting, of course, that FA was also 4 tenths off FM in the Ferrari.

I'm also a little concerned about how the new teams will affect the race -- I'm guessing that we'll have at least one yellow caused by one of the new teams. And if I've understood the 107% rule correctly, both Lotus and Virgin would have been a little too close for comfort to not making it, while HRT definitely wouldn't have been allowed to race on Sunday:

Pole time: 1:54.101s = 114.101 s
105% time: 1.05 * 114.101s = 119.806s = 1:59.806
107% time: 1.07 * 114.101s = 122.088s = 2:02.088

19.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:59.728
20.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:59.852
21.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         2:00.313
22.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        2:00.587
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth           2:03.240
24.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth           2:04.904

All through Michael's career, particularly at Ferrari, the British press kept harping about team orders favouring him. The fact, however, remains that Michael's team mates at every team he has been in, just could not keep up with him – not even triple world champion Nelson Piquet in Michael's rookie year in F1.

Just take a look at the qualifying times and fastest laps and you will know how far away they were to him in ability. This is the true test – even if there were team orders, they could never affect qualifying times and fastest laps

Nelson Piquet: 24 pole 23 fastest laps 23 wins 207 races
Andrea de Cesaris: 1 pole 1 fastest lap 0 wins 214 races
Martin Bundle: 0 poles 0 fastest laps 0 wins 165 races
Ricardo Patrese: 8 poles 13 fastest laps 6 wins 256 races
JJ Lehto: 0 poles 0 fastest laps 0 wins 70 races
Johnny Herbert: 0 poles 0 fastest laps 3 wins 165 races
Jos Verstappen: 0 poles 0 fastest laps 0 wins 107 races
Eddie Irvine: 0 poles 1 fastest laps 4 wins 147 races
Barrichello: 14 poles 17 fastest laps 11 wins 288 races
Felipe Massa: 15 poles 12 fastest laps 11 wins 116 races
Schumacher: 68 poles 76 fastest laps 91 wins 250 races

Eddie Irvine even needed help from Michael to win one of his 4 races - that was at Sepang in 1999. That year Michael was out of F1 with a broken foot and Eddie should have won the WDC. He had a good car and did notch up 2 wins early in the season but he could not do anything about it even though Michael was not around to be "favoured" by Ross Brawn.

Yes Rubens did let let Michael win was at the Hungaroring in 2004 but this must be compensated with the win Michael allowed Rubens to have at Indianapolis in 2002

Don't believe everything that the press writes or even what you hear on TV. One of Michael's bitterest critics was Martin Bundle. Look at his record above – nothing to show after 165 races in F1! I'm not surprised that he is so cheesed off about Michael's achievements.

What we fans must do is to try and understand the sport and enjoy the pleasure that great drivers give us instead of getting inlfuenced and repeating what some pssed off loser in F1 states.

Michael has now got a team mate who seems to be able to match him and by all accounts Nico has been a vastly under rated driver. He now has a chance to prove himself. Let's see how the season pans out.

Quote:

Thomo from Kochi
Yes Rubens did let let Michael win was at the Hungaroring in 2004 but this must be compensated with the win Michael allowed Rubens to have at Indianapolis in 2002

Actually Micheal let win in Indianapolis because of the outcry of Rubens letting Micheal win in the Australia gp when Rubens stopped down the straight on the last lap to let Micheal win.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 14/03/2010 09:21 by Hondaf1fan.

In 2002 Rubens was rammed from behind by Ralf Schumacher at the start of the race and was out without posting even one lap. I think you may be referring to some other race - I'd like to know which one, though

Sorry it was the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix

[en.wikipedia.org]

Well,that has got to be the most boring race i have ever seen! no overtaking,no wheel to wheel... So the no refueling has made it worse..

Well, it deffinately wasn't true. (The ride height issue, that is) The Ferrari is just very quick.

They did use up 2 engines in each car this weekend though. I don't know why...it's very interesting though. They only have 6 left for each driver and it's just the first race of the season.

It's killing me to know why they changed them out so early on.

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If he were to hit you in the face, you'd feel a strong urge to thank him. He once taught a German Shephard to bark...in Spanish. Sharks have a week dedicated to him. He's the life of the party he doesn't even attend. He once had an akward moment...just to see what it felt like. He is the most interesting man on earth.

Can the engines that where taken out be used again? If they use the same engine for qualifying and then change it at each race, would that be allowed.

Oh, I thought this was a very boring first race but lets see how it pans out.

Well, well, well. Shame for Vettel and I wonder how much faster Lewis, Webber and Jenson could have gone in clean air.

Good job by the McLaren pit crew to get Jenson ahead of Webber and flawless race by both Lewis and Jenson.

I hope that the 22 secs. isn't reflective of the pace difference in clean air between Jenson and Lewis. Jenson looked like he got a better handle on the car during the 2nd half of the race and he was obviously able to take better care of his tyres than Schumacher.

But overall good start to the season with a car that looks like it still needs some development.

Quote:

Gazzbag
Can the engines that where taken out be used again? If they use the same engine for qualifying and then change it at each race, would that be allowed.
Oh, I thought this was a very boring first race but lets see how it pans out.

Yes, they can use the engines again, but they can not be re-worked.

Picture this: You have 8 engines you can use in your car to go to work for a year. If you run your first engine and it starts skipping, you can take it out and put in a new one. Now, if this skipping issue in your engine turns out to be a mechanical problem (like a burnt piston ring) then it's over. You can't use that engine again. (It'll blow up in a matter of time) You're not allowed to fix that kind of problem.

If it's just a pnuematic issue, which is not part of the engine proper, then you can fix that and use the engine again.

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If he were to hit you in the face, you'd feel a strong urge to thank him. He once taught a German Shephard to bark...in Spanish. Sharks have a week dedicated to him. He's the life of the party he doesn't even attend. He once had an akward moment...just to see what it felt like. He is the most interesting man on earth.

Quote:

ermo
Good job by the McLaren pit crew to get Jenson ahead of Webber and flawless race by both Lewis and Jenson.

I hope that the 22 secs. isn't reflective of the pace difference in clean air between Jenson and Lewis. Jenson looked like he got a better handle on the car during the 2nd half of the race and he was obviously able to take better care of his tyres than Schumacher.

But overall good start to the season with a car that looks like it still needs some development.

lol,
were you watching the same race as me?
jensons performance today was nothing short of embarrassing to be honest!
after the pit stops, when they were both in clean air, Lewis was over a second quicker than Jenson and before the stops, averaged about .6 per lap quicker
you should really watch the live timing during the race !
[www.formula1.com]

Quote:

Steve Mac
Well,that has got to be the most boring race i have ever seen! no overtaking,no wheel to wheel... So the no refueling has made it worse..

Just woke up!

Bit disappointed with Jenson I think he was to careful but it seemed that no one wanted to make a mistake. I hope this is not a sign of the way its going to stay all season but I fear it could be.

Jenson's performance was not embarassing. Don't make more out of it than it is.

Only Jenson fanboys expected him to match Lewis right out of the box. It's a different car, a different team and different rules. It's only 1 race, folks. Let's not go jumping off the deep end just yet.

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If he were to hit you in the face, you'd feel a strong urge to thank him. He once taught a German Shephard to bark...in Spanish. Sharks have a week dedicated to him. He's the life of the party he doesn't even attend. He once had an akward moment...just to see what it felt like. He is the most interesting man on earth.

The Brawn car and the Mclaren car have different steering system and is a lot different to handle, it will take a few races for him to get used to it.

Oh and was Webbers Performace embarrasing, he came behind Button and if it hadn't been for the problem for Vettel it would have been a bigger difference to Vettel than Button to Hamilton and they have been team mates for over a season now.

OH yea. Webber was most DEFFINATELY the absolute loser of this race. He was horrible from start to finish.

The funny part was that he had considered retiring. He should have. He's always been over rated and is the most dangerous man on track. He's the only guy I know that has hit 8 people in a single season without incurring a severe penalty...only warnings...from the FIA.

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If he were to hit you in the face, you'd feel a strong urge to thank him. He once taught a German Shephard to bark...in Spanish. Sharks have a week dedicated to him. He's the life of the party he doesn't even attend. He once had an akward moment...just to see what it felt like. He is the most interesting man on earth.

Quote:

Parminio_USA
Jenson's performance was not embarassing. Don't make more out of it than it is.
Only Jenson fanboys expected him to match Lewis right out of the box. It's a different car, a different team and different rules. It's only 1 race, folks. Let's not go jumping off the deep end just yet.

alonso was in a new team/car.and destroyed massa
nuff said..............
and by the way, i am a button fan, but i don't except amateur performances like that as "just settling in"

...ah yes, I remember now why they brought in refueling stops...

I think Ive already seen this season somewhere before?

Destroyed Massa? How do you come up with that? Massa was told to slow down just past half way through the race because his car had a problem.

Merciful God...you people have some serious moronic issues to sort out.

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If he were to hit you in the face, you'd feel a strong urge to thank him. He once taught a German Shephard to bark...in Spanish. Sharks have a week dedicated to him. He's the life of the party he doesn't even attend. He once had an akward moment...just to see what it felt like. He is the most interesting man on earth.

Massa was told to back off.

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Massa was told to slow down, plus I think that Massa would have been feeling the effect of the Accident last season. *hmm*

Massa wasn't feeling anything but disappointment when he was reeling in Alonso to the tune of .250 per lap and was told to slow down because his engine was having issues.

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If he were to hit you in the face, you'd feel a strong urge to thank him. He once taught a German Shephard to bark...in Spanish. Sharks have a week dedicated to him. He's the life of the party he doesn't even attend. He once had an akward moment...just to see what it felt like. He is the most interesting man on earth.

@Barn: Guilty as charged -- I wasn't watching the live timing like I usually do, and I didn't get a chance to pay much attention to the times as my better half had guests over and I had to put in an appearance. I just noticed that Jenson looked stuck behind Schumacher for quite a few laps after the pitstops and looked to be gaining on him and my post reflects that impression. Looking forward to check out the times on Forix, though. I'm also a bit curious to know what you expected from Jenson since you called his performance embarrasing? I'm a bit disappointed, yes, but hardly embarrased.

@Parminio: I'll concede that today was an eye opener in the sense that I'll certainly 'adjust my fanboy expectations' down a notch or two.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 14/03/2010 16:09 by ermo.

Quote:

Hondaf1fan

Actually Micheal let win in Indianapolis because of the outcry of Rubens letting Micheal win in the Australia gp when Rubens stopped down the straight on the last lap to let Micheal win.

You are right - it was Austria 2002 not Australia 2002. That was what I had meant, but I wrote Hungaroring 2004 instead of Hungaroring 2002