What an idiot

 

I think races like this will probably occur all year

Because Bridgestone don't qualify well over one lap, Schuey is going to push really hard during quali and makes more mistakes. I think the cooler temp help Bridgestone with the soft compound for Schuey as well.

Schuey is going to have to push every race and hopefully not get held up by slower cars. Maybe he will actually pass people on the track for the lead and earn his 2 million dollar salary per race.

This is going to be a good year, although odds are that Alonso has too large of a lead to overcome, which is good for Alonso :smile:

I have no idea what happened to everyone else during the race because for obvious reasons the camera never left Alonso-Schumacher

 

Nice run Schuey! CBS sure looks like it knew what they were doing when they chose to broadcast this one.

Ferrari must have known that they couldn't compete for the very front of the grid, and put Schuey on very full tanks for the race, a la McLaren's strategy for much of the last couple years.

The Michael/Fernardo duel proved both what is great about F1, and what isn't so great. Seeing 2 of the best drivers in the world battling like that on a proper racetrack was awe-inspiring. As Derek Daly said, "If you're not sitting on the edge of your seat, you're taking up too much room!" At the same time, there was no way for Schuey, in an obviously faster car, to get around the Renault. Brilliant driving by both men, though Alonso pushed his slow-down-in-the-middle-of-the-corner strategy to the limit as Michael almost ran into him at least once.

 

Yeah, I'm going to watch it again on Speed next weekend. I was a bit annoyed at their need to try to explain absolutely everything (e.g., the wings press the cars down to the track), but maybe they thought the CBS audience is less likely to know what they're watching. At least they showed the entire race, unlike NBC's butchering of the Long Beach Champ Car race where they couldn't even be bothered to show the race start.

I didn't know Daly said that about Katayama. That's not good. I know the term "***" is sometimes used by British people in a non-derogatory way (British car magazines often to refer to "*** cars", for instance), but Daly should know better than to do that on American television.

Hmm, I see that Button might lose his third place because of a possible weight infraction.

Mark

 

My favorite was when they used a telestrator (John Madden's tool) to circle the steering wheel so we knew where it was in the cockpit. The announcers were very annoying. I love all the inside info and jokes with Speed's announcers. Would be nice if it has to be on CBS that it was in high def., that would great!

 

I was wrong! It wasn't Daly who made that comment. It was another driver being interviewed after an "incident" with Katayama.
What Daly DID say was during qualifying for the Indy 500. Hiro Matsushita was starting his run when Daly said "Rotsa Ruck, Hiro". Just as bad, in my opinion.
Jim

 

I agree they said stuff that are just stupid like "the stearing wheel is where most of the controles are for the driver" do they think we are stupid?

 

I had every possible body part crossed hoping it would be in Hi-def. I finally unraveled myself around lap 15 to watch a reg-def race. I think CBS was really lucky because that was a great race that I hope attracted more fans.

 

Checked for the replay of the race this weekend on Speed. Didn't find Italy anywhere. Spain will be replayed the following Friday. It is Saturday morning. Did I miss it? Miss the Speed crew and their jokes! Wanted to hear the commentary on the finish.....

 

It was on last night....or was it very early this morning? Oh well, I figured they would show it again, but recorded it anyway just in case. The Speed crew was definitely a lot more entertaining - especially compared to the lame/flawed/useless CBS commentary. In fact, even though I'd already seen the race on CBS - so there were neither suspense nor surprises - I was still more entertained watching it again on Speed.

 

As long as we are not having another Ferrari parade I don't care who the announcers are

 

It's funny, when I watched the CBS coverage I wasn't very pleased but I didn't think it was that terrible, but after watching the re-broadcast on Speed I was amazed at how much better it was and how awful the CBS coverage was in comparison. I enjoyed watching it more the second time, too.

Looks like the FIA wants BAR kicked out of the championship for the rest of the year for the fuel weight irregularity. The court's decision is supposed to be handed down today. Those guys don't fool around! In NASCAR, someone can win a race, be caught cheating, and not only aren't they kicked out, they get to keep the win.

Mark

 

Barring BAR from the championship will certainly suck, but so be it if they've cheated. Could Button have seen a dishonest trend towards the end of last season, hence his desire to jump ship?

Tomorrow's decision will be huge!

 

Interesting question about Button. That whole thing was pretty strange.

The decision is supposed to come today, 2 PM local (Paris) time, so very soon. Apparently BAR's defense is that the car wouldn't run without the 6 kg of fuel in the extra fuel compartment so they could never have burned that fuel and run light, and that they were never asked to pump out all the fuel before the weighing.

Mark

 

It was at least much better than it used to be on non-Speed (was it ABC? previous years with much worse commentary)

 

Looks like the BAR announcement will be tomorrow. It'll be interesting to read about this.

Mark

 

Ironic isn't it. In 1984 the FIA disqualified the Tyrrell team's entire year's results for irregularities with their vehicles' fuel tanks (lead additives that boosted hp and dissolved in the fuel). In what, 1998/1999? BAR purchases the Tyrrell team, and now this? I've heard of purchasing the "good will" of a corporation, but "bad faith" too??!!

Poor Jenson, poor Takuma, and poor Gil!!! What a baptism by "fuel" for our ex- Indy 500 champ as BAR's new race principal.

 

I've never been interested in NASCAR (or any other left turn only racing), but I lost what little respect I still had for it thanks to a commercial I saw a while back. I don't remember most of it, but the part that disgusted me lodged permanently in my gray matter. I don't know his name, but I'm sure it was a driver, proudly (arrogantly) saying "it's our job to break the rules and it's their job to catch us."

 

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=24319

Ouch! This really hurts BAR when they are down. Even if they were techncially legal due to unclear FIA rules, they still said they car was empty of fuel when it wasn't, which is a big no-no. I wonder what Honda will think of this?

I'm really looking forward to this weekend's race, but not the horrible CBS coverage. I hope Alonso gets the home win, go Alonso and Renault!

Aaron

 

Justice served...at least they'll be back for Montreal.

 

As long as we are not having another Renault parade I don't care who the announcers are.

 

Ditto. I dont pay for NASCARTV...ahem...SpeedTV (mainly for rally, F1, and motoGP) to watch F1 on CBS!!!

 

I'm starting to wonder why I even check what's on Speed anymore - it's always playing NASCAR NATION.

I miss Dakar coverage, WRC coverage, F1 coverage, touring car coverage, and the rest of the stuff they've all but given up on.

 

BAR is my team. I have Jenson shirts. I root for them in Indianapolis. I am extremely disappointed. I may start looking for another team to support. Am I being a fair-weather fan?

 

You might be rooting for Jenson in a different team next year. It's pretty unlikely now that he's going to score 75% of the championship leader's points by August and that'll free him from having to drive for BAR in '06.

Mark