F1

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I'm ready :-)

Got a new jar of Rocket Fuel to keep me awake for this weekend :-D

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I'm not too sure about DC this year again.  I want him to win, but I can't see it happening - he's still too nice :-(

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Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
(bah, humbug, Verstappen won't win anyway)

;-)

True, but now that Renault have upped their game, it looks like there will be more competition for the Ferarri team.

Ok, so they blew everyone away today, but let's see what happens when Bridgestone has a bad day :-)

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Shame about Webber's bad start.  Mind you, it was fantastic watching him weave his way all the way back up the grid again.

Just a pity he had more bad luck :-(

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Abou27 wrote:
I think with Ralf's accident, it was because of position being so dangerous with cars at high speed.  Therefore, had to wait for SC to be deployed, whole field to pass and then follow behind round the lap.  Medical car at front of pit, I think.  Also, there have been times in the past when marshalls have tried to hurry the driver out of the car before medical advice has been given.  Until things settled down Ralf, in his car, was in the safest place.

But as soon as the safety car comes out (or is announced to be coming out) all cars are to reduce speed and not over take.  It would've been very possible to get the ambulance on track during this time with the minimum of fuss.

With the way the crash was, the ambulance would've been able to drive towards Ralf (backwards round the track) and it would've worked out fine.  The racers would be over on the other side of the track to get past Ralf, and the ambulance would be coming up the same side.

After typing all that, it's maybe not crash-tye dependant, it's probably safety precautions no matter what.

The only reason I can see that they didn't red-flag the race was because Ralf was awake, compos mentis (Williams were asking him over the radio and he was able to move as they asked) and the car wasn't in a dangerous place, but the reactions should've been a bit quicker all round.

Cracking race all the way tho :-D

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Doobrey wrote:
And poor old Montoya! letting the guy race for 50 odd laps before black flagging him cos he got out of his race car and into the spare too late. Whatever happened to that 20 minute window that penalties had to be given in ? Now if Schumacher had done that......

I think that 20 min window is the time to look into the descision (when they notice it) and announce it.  The complaint is about how long it took them to notice, but also it seemed to take them over 20 mins to decide.  That latter thing is what Williams should be appealing against if anything.  The stewards were too late to do anything about it by then.

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Great race from Button and Alonso, that fight just didn't want to end :-)

Pity Kimi went out, Montoya had a bad race and Coulthard couldn't keep up the pace.  Kimi was looking as good as he did last year, pity his German bad luck struck yet again :-(

Still, fantastic race!

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Just watched the race (there was no way I was getting up at 6am :-P).

Looks like Schumey finally had all his bad luck rolled over him today :-P

Good to see such a closely fought race at the end too - less than 2 seconds between first and third :-D

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 :laughing:

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I'd actually say get rid of Max Mosley, not Bernie.

And yes, those ads have been annoying me for 4 years now.  Bloody annoying, but then again it meant that during the Australian GP I got to see the 2nd part of John Smith's Wedding Party ad for the first time :-D

Possibly the last JS ad with PK :-(

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Two bits of news on the Beeb today:

Sunday qualifying to be axed:

Formula One's Sunday qualifying is likely to be discontinued after this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix in favour of a single Saturday session.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said the 10 teams had unanimously agreed to change qualifying procedure.

The proposal is for a single qualifying session on Saturday afternoon with drivers each having a single timed lap.

and...

Eddie Irvine buying Jordan?:

Former Jordan owner Eddie Jordan has welcomed the possibility of Eddie Irvine buying into the struggling team.

Irvine reportedly heads a consortium keen on investing in the team owned by Russian billionaire Alex Schnaider.

"Formula One is in a situation where it needs characters of the ilk of Eddie Irvine," Jordan told BBC Five Live.

"It is devoid of the kind of style and parties and lifestyle that F1 has been associated with. Eddie is exactly the kind of guy who can deliver that."

Irvine's at Monaco this weekend on a "fact-finding mission" apparently.

Should be interesting to see what's said before the race tomorrow :-)

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Difficult choice, but better getting 6 points than none.

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blobrana wrote:
A bit of a farce.

Just a bit?

Another solution would've been using the new tyres Michelin were to fly over, but the teams would've incurred "penalties" for changing the tyres.   Nobody has said what penalties they would've been.

I can't believe I just sat and watched that "race"...

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Doobrey wrote:
IMHO, the Michelin teams made the right choice in not racing, why should they have gone out on the new tyres and get penalised for something that isn't their fault?

I'm not too sure about that.  Michelin have admitted that there is a design fault in the tyrewall.  It's only evident when the tyres are banking at 9degrees or more.  The diamond cut track made it more obvious.

As the track is not one of the test places no one knew until the Friday, by then it wasn't really avoidable either.  The teams pick their tyres on the Wednesday.

Oh, and Ferrari wanted no part in the discussions for a while, so even if there was a compromise that the FIA were happy about it would never have gone ahead because they need all 10 teams to agree.

I'm beginning to hate Ferrari...

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PMC wrote:
Surely even though rules are there to be obeyed, Ferrari went against the spirit of sportsmanship?

My thoughts exactly :-(