yeah good show from the "unreliable" McLaren's

I think Renault got mostly lucky because of a good start and a few people dropping out. Hope to see them get a handle on their car soon...

Heidfeld

 

I checked the lap chart on formula1.com and you're right. Fisi passed 4 cars on lap 1 and didn't do much else other than waited for others to break. Same deal for Heikki except he was one of the 4 cars Fisi passed on lap1.

The lap chart is a cool feature:

Go here: http://www.formula1.com/race/result/...ps/771/8.html#

Click Live Timing Archive.

Click Lap Chart.

 

How about the new "G Meter" feature on the telecast?! I thought it was awesome and gave a much clearer picture of what the drivers are going through.

TV doesn't give you much sense of the speeds and forces involved in racing. That little dot bouncing around the G meter put it all in perspective, especially (a) when they hit the brakes and the dot flew up to the top of the chart, and (b) when they went through the esses and it went from being red way over at one side the circle to being red over on the other side of the circle a moment later. Such a simple graphic, but it is a great enhancement to the telecast.

Likewise the track map they showed a few times during qualifying, that had a dot moving through it in real time while we were on-board (I think with Alonso). It helped to show the distances the cars cover in very short periods of time.

 

I agree. But he had the chance to stay in first place at the start and blew it. I think Massa is a great driver out of traffic, but he seems very tentative, even frozen, when he NEEDS to pass...almost is if he cannot make a commitment.

 

My friggin '91 VCR didn't tape the race.....

Someday I'll have to replace that damn thing!

 

It was a great race but now I have to worry about my favorite team Ferrrai. The one thing that I can tell so far this season is the Fernando must give excellent feedback to the engineers. The turnaround at Mclaren is just too good. That means as the season goes on the Ferrari performance is going to start going down unless Massa learned how in the previous years. The quote from Fernando that he saw why last years car did so poorly means that it was obvious to him but Kimi didn't catch it. Nor did he tell them what to change to make a difference which apparently Fernando has.

 

Great race with plenty of thrills and some nice overtaking...and anything could have happened in that heat! Some seemed to think too much is being said about Hamilton, but two podium finishes in his first season? I think he deserves a lot of credit, especially for performing so well under stress (those red cars behind ya can be a bit unnerving!!!).

 

Martin Whitmarsh is giving a lot of credit to Fernando. "Whitmarsh believes that Alonso's arrival at McLaren has been a significant factor in helping the team return to the winners' circle following their victory drought in 2006."
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/57959

I think McLaren made a very smart choice with Fernando. Kimi is definitely quick but seems to be much less of the complete package. And Hamilton is certainly impressive.

Mark

 

I'm sure bringing in the reigning World Champion does a lot to invigorate a race team, even one with as long a history as McLaren. How could it not?

However, I don't think that reflects poorly on Kimi. After all, with decent reliability 2 years ago he would have brought McLaren its own championship.

 

I can burn you a copy if you PM me your address

 

some people think way too much is being made up about Hamilton . . . I think too much is being made about this.

Kimi put in 4(5?) solid years at McLaren . . . by the time he was saddled with the slower car in '06 he'd had enough. After reading what Niki Lauda had to say about Ron Dennis . . . I'm also certain that there was more to his discontent than the car alone.

Geez, he even had to put up with that hot head Montoya as his teammate those final two seasons. It's clearly evident to me that the mood at McLaren dropped with Coulthard's departure.

Much has been speculated about the mishaps of '05, but in my mind he should've been the World Champion. The car let him down.

Some of the criticism leveled at Kimi is fair . . . but when it comes to his primary job . . . I have no doubt that he will deliver. Fernando is a great driver, but on equal turf he can not defeat Raikkonen

 

what i would pay to see that! kimi and fernando in the same car on the same track at the same time. starting side by side.

whew!

 

We'll never know about that, unless they both go over to NASCAR next year.

 

And he gave nothing to McLaren development over those four years, Fred seems to have turned it around in one off-season.

Yet who has two WDC's and very well could be on is way to a third, in his first year with a new team?

 

How long have you worked for McLaren?

 

As long as you, but that is the news from sources inside McLaren, starting with Ron Dennis.

 

A credible, unbiased source of course!

 

The beauty of F1 is that every team (historically, at least) has built its own car, leading to the innovation and variety that we fans love. The downside is that discussions of who is a better driver remain hypothetical.

I'd like to see an end-of-the-year race that pits all the drivers in identical cars on a road course. Put them in touring cars provided by a sponsoring car company (or spec Miatas or anything else with fenders so they can politely nudge one another in the turns) and set them loose on a race track.

I think it would be a great way to end the season. The fans would love it, and I think the drivers would have fun, too.

(Yes, I am aware of IROC [which was biased toward people who turn left for a living] and the Nation's Cup [which is too far removed from real racing to be meaningful {but does look like fun}].)

 

So . . . are you also saying that JPM contributed the same "nothing" to the McLaren's development? I know you're a Montoya fan . . . I'm just curious.

Anyway, I think it is pretty evident that Kimi was not happy at McLaren. When someone is not happy . . . they don't contribute as they normally would.

 

This is a great idea. Can they all drive Spyker Ferrari's so none of them finish more than three laps?

 

This is another point brought up time and time again: a spec series with "allegedly" equal cars.

I doubt very seriously . . . even when one considers the numerous road racing series that exist among all makes across numerous continents . . . (even Mini's!) . . . that such a utopian comparison exists.

I can't agree that driver evaluation is as hypothetical as you suggest. Is it subjective? Yes . . . but that elevates the mystery, in my mind.

just my two cents

 

GP2 is such a series but of course, even so, the teams with bigger budgets will tend to do better. Hamilton was, of course, very good in GP2.

I agree that part of the attraction of Formula 1 is that each team must design and build their own cars. Letting Super Aguri and Torro Rosso weasel out of that this year and, especially, explicitly allowing customer cars next year is, IMO, very bad for F1.

Mark

 

Far too soon to worry. Two races so far, two very different tracks. I think it'll be an interesting season. Seeing how Kimi stacks up agains Massa should be fun and so will comparing the McLaren team mates.

Mark

 

When I firt read that I thought that you had typed

'See how Massa stacks it'

Massa got rattled and suckered into a move that was prevelent in FF1600 in the 80's

But, back on topic - Hamilton has proven that thus far the hype was, for once, justified, McLaren seem to have built something more akin to a bullet-proof car, Fred looks unstoppable, Kimi has shown that he is capable of conserving his car and driving for points and everyone else ?

Well BMW are up there, not entirely sure why, but 'quick Nick' appears to be finally showing some of the speed that he shown back in (erm) way-back.

Honda have simply got it horribly wrong (again), Williams look dangerously 'together' and Renault have lost the plot.

For some reason I really disliked Fred when he was at Renault, but since he has been a McLaren driver, he is seems to have transformed into a media friendly uber-driver.

Interesting times.

 

Yeah, STR & Super Friends are dominiating now they have all those advantages...
Currently:
STR best finish 14
Aguri: best finish 12

Mclaren and Ferrari must be trembling with hatred over the rule

I predict 1 finish in the points between the two teams.
That's no better than last year.