A good race.

And Craig, check your email.

 

Oh no...he's pist.


...look at the all the tobacco and cellphone money in that one pic!

 

He was pissed during the second quali too after Alonso got the pole.

What do you expect!!!

Now that I think about it, I don't believe Shuey would have won the race anyway because those tyres were in bad shape but it is good to know the pace is there. He might pull off a Monaco win at least.

These races have been pretty good haven't they? The newer tracks encourage passing with lots of runoff area.

When the European season starts the parades begin again

Okay Renault was good so now they're great...no big surprise, but Toyota? Damn. Red Bull?

Ferrari and BAR just suck so far. They might as well play some tennis

Nice drives by Massa & de la Rosa BTW

 

Great race - from what I saw...the whole DST thing screwed me up so I missed a bunch.

Great race by DelaRosa, dukin' it out with Webber. However, it would have been nice to see a blue flag waved as Webber was clearly slowing him down.

Sato's carbon brake dust from his left front was awesome to watch!

Nice work Renault. And who are these Toyota guys?? lol

 

I agree, top quality action in Bahrain. But woe to the Bridgestone users. Those hot locales (Malaysia and Bahrain) eat their donuts too quickly. After the race, did you see Alonso's tires? Fronts looked hardly worn at all, while rears suffered some, but all in all the Renault is very easy on the rubber. I too loved the Webber - De la Rosa duel (but Pedro's pass in the last laps cost me 6 points in the fantasy league). Nothing like getting up early and watching F-1 on the tube, cup o' java in hand. Ahh, springtime!

 

De la Rosa must have been a lot faster than Webber, given the number of times he out-braked himself trying to pass.

Alonso ran away with it, as I think most people expected. Toyota showed, suprisingly to me, that they aren't just qualifying wonders.

The red cars looked somewhat promising. It was nice to see Schuey back in the hunt, and actually looking like he wanted to race. Rubens again charged through the field before dropping back at the end; he continues to impress me even if he doesn't have many points to show for his efforts. He's driving like he's trying to win a job somewhere. Anyone know if his contract up after this season? I though everyone at Ferrari was there until after 2006.

After all these years of Ferrari dominance, I'm not sure what to make of these new races! I have to recalibrate my F1 viewing to make sense of it all.

 

What was so nice about this last race was that we got to see the racing where it was taking place even it was at the back of the pack. So often coverage has stuck with the front runners only. Perhaps the new rules have even shaken up the coverage? What do you all think?

 

It seems that way a bit more. Part of me wonders if the marshalls were told to wait even longer before waving the blue flag to make it more interesting for us viewers.

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think the blue flag is supposed to be used on a car fighting for position, but only when the car holding up a faster car is a lap or more down.

 

You're absolutely correct. Thanks for the clarification. Just some defensive driving going on!

 

"Vitantonio Liuzzi will make his Formula 1 race debut with the Red Bull Racing team at the San Marino Grand Prix on April 24...."

link to article

They claim it's temporary, but who knows....

 

I don't agree with this at all. Klien has done a great job for Red Bull and deserves to keep his seat! This changing of drivers is very unsettling for a racing team, and is a mistake on Red Bull's part. The change is probably coming from the Red Bull owner, not Horner.

 

FWIW, the SpeedTV article is a bit more informative.

 

Thanks for that good article, I guess the only good thing about it is that Scott Speed may get a third driver shot. Having an American driver in F1 would be huge and would help F1 in the US.

 

I like the reference to Speed's smokin' pace at the end of the article:

 

Maybe a little bias from being a US reporter! I'll forgive them...:smile:
Fernando has always been my favorite driver and Renault my favorite team, so I obviously love this season while some of my Ferrari buddies do not.
I do hope Ferrari can get their car and tires sorted so they will be in the fight. All those years of making Bridgestone focus on them only are now biting them in the ****...

 

Friday at Imola...

1. 35 DE LA ROSA McLaren Mercedes M 1'20"484 220.650 Km/h
2. 3 BUTTON BAR Honda M 1'21"052 + 0'00"568
3. 9 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'21"704 + 0'01"220
4. 38 ZONTA Toyota M 1'21"889 + 0'01"405
5. 5 ALONSO Renault M 1'21"899 + 0'01"415
6. 1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'22"025 + 0'01"541
7. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'22"048 + 0'01"564
8. 10 WURZ McLaren Mercedes M 1'22"174 + 0'01"690
9. 6 FISICHELLA Renault M 1'22"211 + 0'01"727
10. 4 SATO BAR Honda M 1'22"335 + 0'01"851
11. 12 MASSA Sauber Petronas M 1'22"791 + 0'02"307
12. 11 VILLENEUVE Sauber Petronas M 1'22"955 + 0'02"471
13. 16 TRULLI Toyota M 1'23"343 + 0'02"859
14. 8 HEIDFELD Williams BMW M 1'23"458 + 0'02"974
15. 17 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota M 1'23"466 + 0'02"982
16. 14 COULTHARD RedBull Cosworth M 1'23"815 + 0'03"331
17. 19 KARTHIKEYAN Jordan Toyota B 1'23"842 + 0'03"358
18. 7 WEBBER Williams BMW M 1'23"964 + 0'03"480
19. 18 MONTEIRO Jordan Toyota B 1'24"573 + 0'04"089
20. 37 KLIEN RedBull Cosworth M 1'24"625 + 0'04"141
21. 15 LIUZZI RedBull Cosworth M 1'24"626 + 0'04"142
22. 39 DOORNBOS Jordan Toyota B 1'25"172 + 0'04"688
23. 20 FRIESACHER Minardi Cosworth B 1'26"620 + 0'06"136

 

2. 3 BUTTON BAR Honda M 1'21"052 + 0'00"568


Could it be? A good weekend for BAR?!?

 

Still, There was quite a crowd ahead of your boy Button:


Kimi Raikkonen
Fernando Alonso
Michael Schumacher
Mark Webber

Mighty close times at Imola.

Sketch, don't forget your picksix entry.

 

Thanks, I forgot last week. I am ashamed...

 

A real nailbiter, Alonso wins by 0.2 sec. over Schumacher.

Results

1- Alonso
2- Schumacher, M
3- Button
4- Wurz
5- Sato
6- Villeneuve
7- Trulli
8- Schumacher, R*

*finished in eighth place, but Heidfeld may have gotten the points, and Ralf moved down a few slots for some sort of infraction.

Looks like BAR got its MOJO Back!

But what happened to Williams? they've dropped of the pace.

 

Nailbiter for sure! Alonzo did a great job of making sure Michael didn't get around him at the chicane.

Poor Kimi...he was looking great all weekend and then....

The pace Michael was setting was just...stupid fast. You can see why he's won so many times at this track.

BAR - awesome job!

 

Wow, that was exciting. It was an excellent motorsports-watching day yesterday: we braved the snow storm and went to Ann Arbor to see Dust to Glory (great movie!) and then watched the TiVo'd F1 race. It probably would have been a good deal less exciting if Michael hadn't messed up his second qualifying run, though: it didn't take him long at all to close in on Alonso; the new Ferrari seems very competitive, if still a bit fragile (poor Rubens!), and the Bridgestones were working okay. Alonso sure did the job once again. That has to be a bit of pressure to have Michael on your rear for ten laps.

Unless the Ferrari proves to be a lot quicker than everyone else, it's going to be an interesting year with so many potential race winners (Ferrari, Renault, Toyota, and McLaren all seem capable) and Alonso's big points lead.

Mark

 

Great race!! Too bad it was on CBS,though. Not a big fan of Shaheen and Daly. Ever since Daly referred to Katayama as "that little ***", I have no respect for that clown.
Jim

 

Excellent race, excellent run for Alonzo...the potential is high for the greatest season in many years.

Alonzo's tactic to keep Schumacher at bay...

“My only chance was to brake really hard into the slow corners,” he explained. “I was braking more than I needed in order to slow Michael down, and then relying on the car’s good traction to stop him from attacking on the next straight.”


Brilliant!