European GP 2005

bcsolutions · Post 30 May 2005, 07:38

What an end to the European GP! It was fascinating to watch Raikkonen dicing with disaster in the closing laps. Judging from the footage of his accident Raikkonen will be thankfull for those strenghtened wheel tethers!

What a dilema for Mclaren, should they have brought him in and forfeited the win for valuable points or were they right to chase the win at all costs.

What does everyone think?

Scuderia_Russ · Post 30 May 2005, 10:27

Ron Dennis will still say the same thing. McLaren exist to win, not finish second. No way would Dennis have allowed it. I was looking forward to the last lap showdown with Alonso. Qualifying at Canada should be interesting. Webber / Ralf out first and Coulthard and the Ferrari's out in the last five.Shame D.C. missed out on a podium!

bcsolutions · Post 30 May 2005, 15:18

If he hadn't been speeding in the pit lane he might have been. I'm guessing the incident occured when he passed the Minardi at the end of the pit lane though this was not confirmed by anyone. Silly mistake really considering how un-competitive the Minardi's are by comparison.

Post 30 May 2005, 17:02

Well David confirmed that himself though:
"... I was disappointed that I made a mistake trying to get out in front of the Minardi in the pit lane. I came off the speed limiter fractionally early and picked up a penalty, which cost us a podium. But, we've got to be satisfied with what we've done here today and I'm happy with the result."

And for McLaren, they also said it was hard to judge when or if the suspension or tire would fail because of the vibrations. However it was a real possibility. As Ron Dennis and Button said it's all about managing your tires. If you block your wheels too much then you put yourself into trouble. Raikkonen just tried too much (also note his two trips off the road).

If he wanted to win there was no real option to slow down and keep Alonso behind as braking was the true problem. The first corner and the Vedol S would have perfect overtaking opportunities for Fernando.

johny · Post 30 May 2005, 18:26

A nice GP with a spectacular end, Kimi made a few mistakes leading the race while he should be a little more conservative, at the end they decided to keep pushing with that tyre and lost 10 points, if he'd slow down maybe 8 points are better than 0. That was a pity also for DC, he lost the podium when he nearly had it. IMO kimi should slow like alonso did in monaco, but now is so easy to talk

Guest · Post 31 May 2005, 04:18

can't remember all the races, but i've seen enough times when Kimi leads, he often falls into driving error/bad luck? (...same thing with Montoya - although last time was traction control, i think)...)

bcsolutions · Post 31 May 2005, 06:53

It shows just how much emphasis the new tyre rules are placing on drivers being able to look after their tyres. It's not something that F1 drivers have really had to consider in the last few years. I reckon that its great for the racing. Kimi or the "ice man" as TV pundits are calling him wasn't so cool on sunday. I still reckon he's gonna win the champ though.

johny · Post 31 May 2005, 10:11

he made so many mistakes while he was the faster, everybody could have a bad day but if you want to be a world champ you need to be more smart, imo i see alonso this year on top he has the luck of champs, the 4th in monaco and that win, and also the renault is working good, mclaren and kimi must do very consistent races to avoid alonso wining this champ