More somber news:

http://jalopnik.com/5060150/canadian...-north-america

 

Dude, that's what we've been screaming about for the last couple pages! See post #911. But thanks for the post anyway!

 

Japanese GP Practice Times:

Results from first practice at the Japanese Grand Prix:

1. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes one minute 18.910 seconds
2. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:19.063
3. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:19.279
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:19.399
5. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:19.473
6. Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault 1:19.743
7. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.121
8. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:20.160
9. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.182
10. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 1:20.217
11. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 1:20.288
12. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:20.350
13. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:20.620
14. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:20.628
15. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:20.657
16. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:20.753
17. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:20.769
18. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:20.823
19. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 1:20.905
20. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 1:21.014

Results from second practice:

1. Glock 1:18.383
2. Alonso 1:18.426
3. Hamilton 1:18.463
4. Massa 1:18.491
5. Raikkonen 1:18.725
6. Webber 1:18.734
7. Nakajima 1:18.734
8. Vettel 1:18.761
9. Kovalainen 1:18.803
10. Trulli 1:18.863
11. Kubica 1:18.865
12. Piquet Jr 1:18.888
13. Rosberg 1:18.981
14. Bourdais 1:19.040
15. Barrichello 1:19.258
16. Sutil 1:19.287
17. Coulthard 1:19.327
18. Fisichella 1:19.482
19. Heidfeld 1:19.894
20. Button 1:19.999

 

Watching qualifying now -- those green painted grooves give the tires a very strange look out on the track!

 

I posted over on the SPEED forums, before Quals, that although Fred can't win the WDC, he can sure be a wildcard, and affect those who might win it. Lo and behold.......

 

I love this article -- Bob touches a nerve and Ron lashes out.

Dennis Scolds Kubica for Hamilton Rebuke

 

What a race! Very exciting. Those of you waking up Sunday morning to watch the race recorded are in for a treat!

 

I absolutely CANNOT believe the stewards penalized Bourdais instead of Massa for that touch when Seabass was coming out of the pits, and Massa moved over on him. Where the hell was Seabass supposed to be?

 

The stewards are Ferrari's third driver.

 

I agree, that was the low point of the race. Not the incident itself but the post-race penalty. It was just a racing incident.....though if anyone had to be blamed for it the stewards pointed the finger at the wrong guy.....

Otherwise an excellent race. Glad I recorded this one!

 

In which case Massa wouldn't have had a drive through penalty for the other racing incident.

 

ummmmm

Massa went over the curbing to punt Lewis....totally different.

Seb was in no way obligated to conceed the corner. He had position and maintained his line. Massa tried to cut him off and Seb challenged him. They were racing for position so no reason to let someone by.

The whole Lewis penalty was just as bogus.....remember the first turn at Spa? Same frikkin' thing.

 

Geez...F1 can't even have one race without whining and controversy. What a joke.

Massa is the new JP Montoya (get overly aggressive, make mistakes, blame everyone else).

 

I was making a point about the FIA conspiracy theorists.

Anyway, I think the stewards as the season has gone on, have decided to tighten up after watching a lot of boneheaded moves by the front runners. Much like NFL refs do.

 

I forgot the race was re-aired at 4:00...who is carrying the next two events?

I apparently would have thrown something at the TV again anyway...

 

It was a perfect PIT maneuver!

 

+1

The responsibility for a safe pass lies with the overtaking car.

In his impatience to move forward & gain valuable points, Massa forced the issue!

It was an ill advised manuver as there was no place for Bourdais to go! He (Sebastien Bourdais) moved over as far as he could go... Bourdais cannot just dissapear... He gave all the room that he could to Massa and then some as he appeared to bump over the curbing. What else could he (Bourdais) have done?

To then penalize Bourdais with a 25 sec. penalty is ludicrous! What makes this an even greater farce is that Massa is not penalized for this and walks away without even a rebuke from the stewards!

IMHO, the weight of this incident lies squarely on the overtaking car, namely, Massa's Ferrari.

This seems to be just another example of Massa's poor racecraft. When the pressure is placed upon him he seems to go through a bit of mental meltdown and then his judgement and subsequent racecraft go out the window.

 

Pretty sure it's SpeedTV again.

 

I agree. I was thinking before the race that Massa has been a bit less accident prone this year, but that it was probably just a result of his being more experienced and less likely to feel pressured. I'm sure starting from P5 and at a 7 point deficit had him wound up pretty tight, then needing to overtake a bunch of cars just to get back into the points had the same effect. Add pressure and he loses his cool and starts making foolish mistakes again.

 

+1

I've long contended that Massa is not Championship material because he makes too many mistakes and is not as mature a driver as he should be. If he does indeed win the CHampionship, it's due to help from the Ferrari Intervention Agency. I would have loved to see Kimi take it again, or Kubica surprise us, but I think Massa is just a whiner who goes all Montoya on us when things aren't his way.

 

I think STR has a good case to protest should they choose to. This isn't like the Spa issue with chicane cutting.

GO FRED!

 

Speaking of Fred...

Alonso Willing to Help Massa

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2008/...to-help-massa/

 

I do seriously doubt, that will mean punting anyone off the track, or intentionally blocking.

 

Perhaps a bit off topic ...STILL F1 news though ...

I just don't seem to dislike "Bernie" as much as before ...






But I have always liked fur ...

 

I agree. At most I figure it would mean letting Massa pass him.....but can you really see Fred doing even that? They may be friendly (and Fred might like the idea of helping Ham lose), but he's too much of a competitor to sacrifice a race position.....unless he's maybe already a lap down and out of contention.