>>
>>M. Schumacher 72
>>J.P. Montoya 71
>>K. Raikkannen 70
>>
>>
>>Three GPs left
>>
>>Predictions:
>>
>>
>>Imola - High Speed Circuit = HP (horsepower and Hewlett-Packard aka Williams-BMW) I give this one to the horsepower kings in Munich. Go JP
>>
>>Indy - Long straights, tight infield = well ballanced package (superior aerodynamics and horsepower) Ferrari has a chance here, along with McLaren and Williams. Too close to call. But my gut tells me Kimi.
>>
>>Suzuka - Driver's circuit = Montoya over Schumacher. Last race and Schumi hasn't clinched yet, shades of Adelaide '94 or Jerez '97? Der Bad Boy must give his all, but I think that Juan Pablo wants it worse.
>>
>>Expect a great finale to '03.
>>
>>

My guess for the last three races:

Imola: Ferrari and BMW-Williams on podium, not sure who I'd put on top.

Indy: BMW Williams on top, then McLaren, then Ferrari. JPM on top.

Suzuka: Schumi on top, then McLaren, not BMW-Williams.

 

It does seem ironic that with three races to go and the closest field in years, that the tyres used all year long are now considered illegal.

Is that a Ferrari on the Bridgestone’s?

 

The rule specifies tread width when new, which the Michelins comply with.

I hope Monty can pull out the championship.

And I hope Fisi will finish a race, in the points preferably.

_________________
Treasurer, SCMM | paul@scmm.org | Future MINI owner: [insert name here] Who the hell knows what it will look like??!!

 

Divine intervention in the Michelin Bridgestone BruHaHa?

This just in from the wire...


Bridgestone Factory On Fire September 9 07:01

A massive fire at a Bridgestone factory in Japan won't affect the marque's Formula One operations.

The Kuroiso factory near Tokyo, one of nine Bridgestone plants in Japan, caught fire on Monday.

'Any suggestion that this might in some way affect [the F1 department] is not true,' said a spokesman.

The Kuroiso factory makes tyres for trucks, busses, passenger vehicles and mass transit systems - not racing cars.

Bridgestone's F1 spokesman continues that the fire has been contained and there are no reports of casualties.


This is a real report not b.s. Maybe God is trying to tell Ferrari something.

 

In a related story:

An unidentified man was spotted leaving the area of a fire at a Bridgestone tire plant. The whereabouts of this individual is being sought for questioning about the fire.

 

that's a funny story sndwave.
And the story continues...
I always thought though that the rules did not specify width at the beginning of the race (or at end), just maximum width, and it just so happened that FIA had always measured at beginning, and after the complaint by Bridgestone / Ferrari said they would measure after races too.
Now Michelin apparently has decided to change their tires, which I would interpret as meaning that there were close to being too wide (in terms of contact patch width) at the end of the race, so seems to me like the Bridgestone complaint was justified.
That said, I really really hope Ferrari does not file a complaint about previous race results, that would really really suck and be very poor sportsmanship. If no one complained, and no one measured after races, and the tires were found to be in compliance when measured, it would be wrong to complain about race results so much later.
It will be an interesting race tomorrow.
I still stick to my bet that at least one Ferrari and one BMW-Williams will be on teh podium tomorrow. I'm more inclined to think Schumi will be on top, and Juan Pablo in spot 2 or 3, if he will even finish and not run off the track somewhere under pressure.

 

Oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Schumacher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!

I know a lot of people said it was a boring race, but as an unobjective MS fan it was a nail biter. :evil: Anyway all that ends well, goes well

 

Montoya did the right thing. He had problems with backmarkers so he lost a lot of time. It would have taken a lot out of the car to catch MS. Even if he had caught Michael, how easy would it have been to pass him? Not easy at all. Monty played it safe and reduced the damage to the most acceptable level.

People thought it was a boring race, but I thought that since the gap was constantly reducing that made for tension.

Bring on Indy.

Go Monty. Forza Fisi.

 

The race was won when MS and not JPM won pole of Saturday. Monza is such a low downforce circuit, that except for the braking zone around the chicanes, there is very little opportunity to pass a competitor. As a MS fan, I was more concerned with mechanical failure on the Ferrari than JPM mounting an all out attack to try to get by. What was going though JP's mind? Don't screw the pooch, Kimi is behind the two of us, and any mistake on either MS or my part and he takes the lead for WC.

Next up, Indy. I'll be there Thursday 8:00 a.m. for the paddock walkabout. Anyone else?

 

Concern for a Ferrari mechanical failure, that would seem to be the most remote possibility in F1! Unless we're talking about Rubens car!!

 

It's going to be tough for Juan to pull it off, and I want him to believe me. Michael is like a pit-bull and those two points are like 10 right now. he will have to be beaten in the last two races...it's going to be rough. Isn't it funny though that at this point in the championship (late) bridgestone pushes a tire issue to all new highs, now michelin makes a new tire that isn't as quick or consistent as the old tire..suprise! On the old tires we would have seen role reversal in italy. Sour grapes from Bridgestone..they were being beaten by the big round one. Thery tried, remember, to make a differant tire ala Michelin profile and failed obviously. If JPM and williams pull it out now with new tiresan all, it will be an unqualified spanking of ferrari and they will have to go back to the lawsuit drawing board...what else can we find hmmmmmm.

It's all so exciting though, the best season in years!!!

 

I like Steve Machett's explanation of the tyre war. According to his theory, Bridgestone had no reason to complain about Michelins tyres in the past because they sucked. Now that Michelin is strong, they pulled out this challenge to the width of the Michelin contact patch issue. In F1 or any sport, you try to maximize the rules to your advantage. Michelin did it and now its Bridgestone's turn. Makes sense and Bridgestone won, so it's hard to fault them. Can't wait for the party to begin Friday. :smile:

 

Alright...formalities out of the way...let's GET IT ON!

 

WooHoo, Went to the Paddock walkabout yesterday. Chatted with some of the McLaren mechanics.

MGC: "So do any of you gentlemen have some thoughts you'd like to share on the upcoming race, like who will win?"

McLaren Mechanic: "Usually the one who passes the chequered flag first."

Maybe we should both stick to our day jobs.

Walkabout was a great idea, (Note to Tony George, keep it for every year).

Saw J.P. Montoya, and actually got autographs from Fernando Alonso (winner at Hungary) and Allen McNish (last year's Toyota driver, this year's Renault test driver).
Both drivers were gracious with their time and we fans appreciate that.

Can't wait for the rest of the week-end.

Let's Motor







_________________
BLUBELLE - 2003 MCS IB /W Premium, Sport, Cold pkgs, Lapis blue interior, Magnecor wires, Alta Pulley, Moss Skid Plate, Chrome Trim Interior

 

Have fun MGC and the rest...looks like it was pretty crowded in pit lane...

 

Who is doing the Car Corral?

 

Trulli first again...on a Friday...and then the rains came...

2. BARRICHELLO
3. WEBBER
4. R.SCHUMACHER
5. MONTOYA
6. COULTHARD
7. ALONSO
8. M.SCHUMACHER

 

Michael Schumacher pulls off a stunning victory at Indy and picks up his 70 career victory. Weather and tyres played the largest part in the early laps of the race.
An awesome race and a true highlight to one of the closest F-1 seasons in years and it’s not over yet. The world championship will come down to the last race of the season in Japan two weeks from now.

 

...game over...I know, I know...it's not over, til it's over...but....who's giving who a shoulder rub in this pic?

 

The race results at Indy not ony gave the independent teams a boast in spirit, but $$$ as well. Interview with Bernie tonight on SPEED@9 EST should be interesting....

 

Seems like Mother Nature is a Bridgestone / Ferrari fan too! No other way for the Michelin tired crowd to lose except bringing on the rain. This year's crowd was about 45% Schumi, 45% JPM and 10% others. Great cameraderie amongst the F-1 fans, no big ugly incidents, like I've seen before in Europe. Well managed, folk. As for JPM's outburst towards the stewards' timing of his stop and go penalty, well I'd like to know how the stewards knew exactly at what time the rains would increase along the speedway. Disappointing yes, for JPM and his legions but its just a racing eventuality; and if he hadn't punted Barrichello, well none of this would have happened.

For me, the brightest star of the week-end was Renault's Jarno Trulli. Fastest on Friday, and Saturday morning, then an end of session shunt caused his team to have to rebuild the whole suspension prior to qualifying. Still managed to finish fourth, and was lapping at or better than Schumacher's times during the last half of the race.

Looks like The Man will get his sixth World Championship crown, and enter that very exclusive club where membership is a total of ONE.

 

MGC - Nice synopsis. As my first F1 race, it will not be the last! The sights and sounds of F1 are like no other. I was able to get some good pictures of the Montoya nuts jumping and chanting, he will have his day though. I must say being a schumacher fan more than anything else, I was pulling for Montoya to finnish better to make it a battle to Suzuka, but no dice. The race was certainly eventfull!

 

Thechandler81...great to hear you liked it...it's like nothing else, unfortunately the rumors have begun:

From f1-live.com...
With attendance falling at the United States Grand Prix and the Canadian Grand Prix already dropped from the lineup, Formula One faces the prospect of no North American races after next year. Attendance for Sunday's US Grand Prix here was estimated below 150,000, continuing a trend of steady decline despite the first-time appeal of a title chase involving Germany's Michael Schumacher and Colombia's Juan Pablo Montoya.

No one would love it more than Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, who pays a reported 11 million dollars annually to host the F1 race under a contract that expires next year. The US race switches to June next year, but the idea of higher attendance is negated by a 2004 ticket form showing two grandstands with available seating in 2003 being closed off for next year.

Add to that the added expense of switching the track from May's Indianapolis 500 oval classic to a June F1 course and back to oval for a major Stock Car event and it's easy to see profit margin fall and a possible Indy F1 farewell.

But it's a part that ignores F1 in favor of the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), American football and Major League Baseball. June will bring US Open golf and the National Basketball Association Finals. And F1 has already had prior US Grand Prix failures, most notably in the 1990s at Phoenix and Detroit. Indy's role as the traditional US racing capitol was seen as the ultimate make-or-break US F1 home.

Get the passports in order, we may have to go to Europe to see F1 after next year...

_________________

 

I will definitely be going to the USGP in 2004, hoping that it is not the last F1 race in America! I wanted to go this year, but had too much going on last week.

Next year, my Dad and I will motor up to Indy in my MINI and park in the MINI Car Corral. I can't wait!

JPM will have his day, but for now, it looks like Schumi has it sewn up again. Do you think he will come back next year to try for a 7th, or will he hang it up now?

Aaron

 

COOPERation,

I saw that post on F1- Live today, too, very disappointing. With the rest of the world scrambling to get a slot on the F-1 Circus world tour (China, Bahrain, Turkey, just to name a few) and the collapse of tobacco sponsorship due to the interference of North American and European govts., we may very well be at a unique crossroads. It could be that in 5 years time, all the races will be held at unlikely venues. I'd love to see the Mexican race return, although no at the expense of USA. South America needs more races too, Brazil is not enough. Argentina's return would be great, as would a race along the Caribbean coast, Colombia or Venezuela. Indy is a great and historic track, let's hope that the new June date helps attendence. I've already sent in my renewal for '04. See ya there.