European GP 2007

[waynes]

More of the same please, but with Hamilton winning

no thanks

but i will take some Jenson Button in the points thanks

[pRo]

Sorry but I cant see how his position was dangerous , he was in the gravel trap!

So you didn't see the other cars flying towards that same point, one almost taking the safety car out too!

[pRo]

Also, Heike's team ruined his race with that gamble. What the heck was that?

Apparently he had to pit in for fuel anyway. It was a gamble, like they said for the public in the radio. But it would've been even more stupid to continue with dry tyres, knowing the rain will come any minute. It was just a minute or two too slow for him.

[modbaraban]

It was a gamble, like they said for the public in the radio.

'It's a helluva gamble, mate' to be correct

[Rob W]

First of all, if it hadn't rained, Ferrari had a 1-2 going for them.

That's the beauty of F1 racing. You can talk up all you want, you can qualify first, do the fastest lap, overtake like crazy - but the only ONLY thing that matters in reality is where you cross the line. People so often seem to forget this and feel like their man/team has been hard-done by when it rains or there is a safety car etc but it's how you react to it that matters.

Alonso was faster over the course of the race than either Ferrari yesterday - end of story.

Rob W

[Rob W]

Sorry but I cant see how his position was dangerous , he was in the gravel trap!

His car almost got hit by a Spyker sliding off and four other cars went off there also - if that isn't in the dangerous category I don't know what it.

Rob W

[checkered]

Strangely, a lot of tempers

flaring in Nürnburgring. Alonso and Massa having words (in Italian, no less, a connoisseurs choice for a heated argument ...) - just imagine them spinning out and the podium being Webber-Wurz-Coulthard! That overtaking situation wasn't very straightforward though, since grip was very different off the driving line. I couldn't make up my mind who was "more in the right" there. Needless to say that wet weather driving has never seemed like Massa's forté and perhaps Fernando was even a bit too aggressive, he could've taken the lead a bit later as he wasn't short of opportunities. Of course he didn't have forever as the track started to dry again.

Theissen wasn't too happy with his drivers running into each other. Neither Heidfeld nor Kubica admitted being responsible for their little ballet twirl, which, in the "ifs and buts land" cost BMW Sauber a podium finish. Details here: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/61063 . That was nothing compared to the atmosphere at STR though ... their press release ("Nothing to say" - in its entirety) was an understatement indeed as it failed to mention that Speed was actually in the receiving end of a physical altercation by his boss Franz Tost! Liuzzi didn't spin off by his own accord either, but suffered a technical malfunction, a piece of information obviously omitted from the STR "communiqué" also. More to follow later, but I doubt it will be championship points at this level of co-operation. I wonder what Bourdais has (optionally) signed up for next year ... details here: http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/formulaone/38913/

I wonder if, in the future, we're going to see more drivers who get stuck in gravel traps just sitting put in their cars, engines running in safe mode, until they're hoisted back on the track? What isn't forbidden ... to me, it's OK under safety car but otherwise ... it isn't often, though, that that many cars end up aquaplaning at the same exact spot. The Spa crash wasn't similar, but the situation did remind me of a certain Brazilian GP when the pouring water formed areas of flowing water over the circuit. Perhaps I'm a bit of a "dry" person, but rainy races aren't my favourite ones ... the cars, while manageable (most of the time), just don't function in any relevant range of performance when it's pouring q.e.d. the first shower.

Then under the "would you believe it" section is the fact that every time Schumi has been on the Ferrari pit wall things have gone seriously wrong for Kimi. Not once on the podium on those races. Add to that the fact that he has DNF'd because of technical reasons (and freaky ones at that like the rear wing coming off ...) what must be coming close to ten times in German GP's and one couldn't be blamed for betting that something happened this time also. Perhaps he needs to wear some garlic and holy water to his next German GP, or whenever Michael makes an appearance. It can't hurt.

It's mostly tighter now in the championship, for a bit of rain and some less than properly fastened wheel nuts ... oddly reminiscent of Hungary last year, in fact. Some solid racing, but overall, not a good quality race in my books.

[deluge]

Marshals can move cars from a dangerous position, this is true. But, that means dangerous to the competitors on track, as well as the stranded driver on-track, i.e. MS stuck with half of his car on the tarmac and half in the gravel with the engine running and tires spinning. A simple push, the car is away, the obstruction is cleared, and the marshals retreat.

If Lewis was in a dangerous position, it was only because he didn't exit the car like the other 5 drivers did. No one on track was threatened by Lewis, and if so, they were also threatened by the other 5 stranded cars.

So, to make things less dangerous, let's move a heavy piece of recovery equipment in, lift a car and driver, a car with the engine running, a car with about 15 laps of fuel in the tanks, and then move toward the danger of approaching cars, and deposit said driver and car on the tarmac to continue racing.

This has to be the most dangerous option available to marshals, other competitors and race control. And, it is unprecidented.

I won't even bring up the fact that he was allowed to rejoin at the back of the leading lap even though he wasn't between the leaders and the safety car.

[Rob W]

I won't even bring up the fact that he was allowed to rejoin at the back of the leading lap even though he wasn't between the leaders and the safety car.

New rules this year which, like in all of the major US racing series, allow for the lapped drivers to un-lap themselves so they're not disadvantaged by the random coming out of the safety car in the middle of the field.

Rob W

[deluge]

Rob, did the safety car come out in the middle of the field, or at the front? I don't know? Did any other cars pass the safety car, or was Ham the only one a lap down. The timing stopped on my end so I can't recreate the event.

How about the other points of my post? Do you agree or disagree?

I do not disagree with your comment, but my gut tells me that something is not quite right. And, I have no particular cross to bear with any team.

This is just a tech issue for me.

[DaveKillens]

I can understand your logic and where you're coming from Deluge. I'm of the personal opinion that if a driver gets stuck off track, tough, the day is over, period.
But as far as exiting a car in the scenario Hamilton was in, the best place to be is to stay in the car until the race marshalls come and tell him it's OK to exit the vehicle.
As far as Hamilton unlapping himself, that's part of the new safety car procedure. It is to eliminate the possibility that a slow car gets caught up entangled with the race leaders, or anyone substantially faster.

[marcosp]

I disagree with all that say Massa is useless in rain, especially after this race. Come on, he started third, passed everybody, didnt crash when almost everyone did, swerved from that wheel part in a split second and didnt win because of unbalanced tyres (sheez, how hard is it to get that?). And then Alonso comes whining once again because someone touched his precious sidepod on slippery tarmac... Did you guys see the subtitled version of that argument? Massa saying "Go take a crap (vai a cagare), you think I did that on purpose?Its always like that, you win and complain (...), like you did in Barcelona. " LOOOOOOOOOOL... And then Alonso apologizes to him.


But then again, I'm biased because I'm Brazilian.


What a champ...

[johny]

he just passed Winkelhock, if that's passing everybody. Also he didn't win because he isn't as good as Alonso driving on rain

[modbaraban]

he just passed Winkelhock, if that's passing everybody. Also he didn't win because he isn't as good as Alonso driving on rain

btw Hammy lapped 0.5 sec faster on the wet in the closing stages of the race

[johny]

I was talking about Massa-Alonso battle, yes lewis was the fastest one on the wet, but he's British and he's supposed to be good on the rain