What a GREAT season this is !

Massa's move on Lewis- brilliant ! (pushing her a little bit eh ?)

Hamilton - I have to believe he would have taken the lead at the final round of stops, I think he backed down to save the tires for when Massa pitted. A stellar job coming back with the options.

Kimi - The hangover helper kicked in right at the end

Timo - Toyota is on to something !

and a big to Heikki ! (Lewis said he could win it !)

Wow ! this is great !

 

I felt so bloody bad for Phil. I mean DAMN! Great move at the start, lead the whole way, and three lousy laps from the end Ferrari bites him.

Good for Heikki! Congrats to Timo!

Renault and Toyota are both showing huge signs of improvement.

And what's up with poor BMW? Great at the start of the season, and now seeming sliding.

On to the new "green" regulations they've been talking about. After watching three refueling fires in the pits today, I wonder if F1 shouldn't think about switching to methanol like IRL. You'll note that after each fuel stop at an IRL race, a blast of water is sprayed about the fuel port on the car, washing away and diluting the methanol to prevent a fire. And, methanol is a "green" fuel.

 

I wonder if and how much quicker they'd be if they ran on methanol?

 

I bet ya that Ferrari took a gamble and allowed additional engine strain in order to take the lead and that is what led to its demise. Sometimes you must take that risk. Its happened to Schu, Mika and some of the best, but you gotta finish before you can win !

I still think the reason Lewis backed off (4 sec gap) prior to the puncture was to save the tires for his hot laps when Massa pitted and then he would have taken the lead. But racing is racing and he still did a good job to get back to fifth.

Its so exciting not having one car and driver destroying the field.

Ferrari would be idiots to get rid of Massa, no doubt one of the best.

 

I hardly think you back off and give Ferrari 4 seconds prior to a stop and hope you can make it up in 1-3 hot laps. LH hadn't shown Phil anything prior to that and I believe Phil earned those four seconds. Lewis was gunning for 2nd on Sunday --- best he would have done. But we'll never know..

 

I'm sorry, but I was overjoyed by the demise of the Ferrari. For me it's anybody but Ferrari albeit my wife is a big fan of Kimi. Ferrari has been dominant of late, and for that I congratulate them - and I will admit that in my opinion MS was the greatest driver of all time . . . but, that having been said, Ferrari are the biggest whiners in F1, and there is no doubt that the FIA is VERY Ferrari-centric and will do ANYTHING to penalize McLaren. As for the drivers I have no real opinion except total disdain for Alonzo.

This may create some tension

 

That's pretty much the way I saw it. I'm not so sure I think Ham decided he would have to settle for second though -- you always push, just in case ... and I'm sure he WAS pushing.

 

Not from me, it won't. I can't stand the cry-baby. Since everyone says he's going to Ferrari next season, I'd love to see Ferrari tell him there's a definite 1-2 driver order, and he's number 2.

 

No, not really. And you are 100% on the FIA probably being in bed with SF. And liking to penalize McLaren. But my vote for best driver has to go to Senna. Watch this and try to disagree after:

All I can say each time after watching that is that is one of the world's best drivers behind the wheel of the one of the world's greatest cars on an amazing track.
I would honestly hope if Fred does go to SF next year he's either #1 or they drop team orders totally. He's proven time and time again what he's capable of with a properly set up car, both wet and dry. And wet is where Ferrari seems to lack.

 

He's also proven time and time again that he's capable of throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his own way, but I don't think that's a reason to hire him as #1. Nor should Ferrari be bullied into running things as THEY see fit. They own the cars and rent the drivers, after all.

 

If they were to bring him on, I'm sure the first thing he'd want to know is who is #1 and #2. I have $$$ that says if he hears he would be #2, he says no way. And I didn't mean the FIA should outlaw team orders. I think it would make for better racing if it was dropped by the team. Could you imagine the force of a Massa/Fred partnership if the BS was avoided? You have one who is one of the top 5 drivers in the field (based on stats, not 2008 performances ) and the other who can do double duty as both one of (if not the best) #2 men in the sport and a top notch driver capable of taking the checkers for his team. Now if only they weren't wearing that cheating horsey on the uniform.....

 

(Bit of a typo in my post--should have read "nor should they be bullied OUT OF running things...")

Alonso proved what he was capable of when there were no team orders and no #1 or #2. He threw hissy fits. He kicked down doors (literally). He held up his fellow driver in the pits. Everything except play fair and square. He HAD to go to a team where there's a definite pecking order, if he'd be #1.

Maybe some of the back marker teams could use him. He'd be better off trying to bring up Renault, though.

 

Did anyone else hear the rumor of Honda making him an offer? I don't know about that. Ross Brawn and Fred? Never thought I'd see that. Hell, I never thought Brawn would leave Ferrari and go to Honda of all places. All I know is the rest of this season and next season will be great!

 

Hmmm--funny you should mention that. This just in:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/040820...da-switch.html

 

I suppose I'm the last to find this, but I discovered a site that shows video highlights of the various races:

http://www.formula1.com/services/play_video.html

 

What a fantastic post! I've followed F1 since the Senna-Prost days in the mid to late 80's and didn't even know that formula1.com had that site within it. THANKS. Oh, BTW I watched the Monaco GP just to see Kimi wreck into the back of Sutil, but of course KIMI was NOT given a penalty in the next race, never could do that, never could penalize Ferarri.

 

Thanks, rt, glad I could help!

 

Just like when he had the flappy exhaust a few weeks ago. What did the FIA do? Go get something to eat, probably. "Oh, Kim had an exhaust manifold come loose? We'll check into that right away...."

 

Yup, you can register at the site and they'll send you an email with a direct link whenever they post a new clip.

 

True--I get TWO every time, but I can't figure out how to cancel one.

Poor Kimi. I think he needs to hang up his party hat if he doesn't intend to hang up his helmet:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/050820...ari-needs.html

 

If you penalize Ferrari you will have a war on your hands with all those red clothes wearing fans. Imagine what would happen to the ticket sales if the Red guys pulled out.......

Do you rememeber back in the drag racing days, Darrel Alderman ? He ran for Dodge. The Dodge boys (as they were known) became a dominate force in NHRA Pro Stock winning over and over. One day it was revealed that their shop, cars, motors, everything had been destroyed by vandals and they could no longer compete. The rumor mill around dragstrips was that they were caught cheating (Nitrous) and rather than blow the whistle and throw them out, the story was fabricated. Why ? Mopar was the prime sponser for all of the NHRA events that year.

Don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out why the big red one always gets their way.

 

I'm not a Ferrari fan, but other teams have gotten away with loose or missing things too. Wasn't it a Red Bull car that had the rear red light come loose a few races ago, and they just yanked it off in the pits? The regs say that light MUST be there, yet I haven't heard of any penalty against Red Bull for not replacing the light.

 

The key is they yanked it off in the pit rather than continuing to drive with a potentially deadly projectile hanging off of the car. There is just is no excuse to have allowed that - period

The nice thing is, if Mclaren wins, it won't be because of any gifts from the FIA.

 

Yeah, but they are required to have it on the car. Wasn't that at Monaco where it rained like mad, too? And what's the point of that light? I thought someone told me it flashed when the car was transmitting data back to the pit wall.....

 

The light is mainly for wet conditions but it also indicates when they are on the pit lane speed limiter.

They actually check pit lane speed of the cars LEO style with a gun !