F1 2008!!!

[fivebob]

Weather didn't play that much of a part in this race really. It didn't advantage, or disadvantage any one in particular, though it did bring the back end of the field closer to the front.

Nobody got caught out on the wrong tyres, everybody went to slicks within their pit window, and nobody suffered from that much from tyre degradation due to overheating. The only real fatality of the weather was Sutil, who arguably wouldn't have been there without the rain to level things out.

Oddily enough there was less carnage than usual for Monaco, so even the loss of traction control and wet weather doesn't seem to be the major issue everyone was predicting it would be.

McLaren are going to go slowly off the boil for the rest of this season, i dont think with the combinatioon of young drivers they have they will have the expernce to get the car set up 100% this is where they are going to regret eating hamitons buttocks so hard last year at the expense of alonso.

Do you still have that, IMHO misguided, opinion after Hamilton's performance in the last two races???

[JustinSpiderholden]

Weather didn't play that much of a part in this race really. It didn't advantage, or disadvantage any one in particular, though it did bring the back end of the field closer to the front.

Nobody got caught out on the wrong tyres, everybody went to slicks within their pit window, and nobody suffered from that much from tyre degradation due to overheating. The only real fatality of the weather was Sutil, who arguably wouldn't have been there without the rain to level things out.

Oddily enough there was less carnage than usual for Monaco, so even the loss of traction control and wet weather doesn't seem to be the major issue everyone was predicting it would be.

McLaren are going to go slowly off the boil for the rest of this season, i dont think with the combinatioon of young drivers they have they will have the expernce to get the car set up 100% this is where they are going to regret eating hamitons buttocks so hard last year at the expense of alonso.

Do you still have that, IMHO misguided, opinion after Hamilton's performance in the last two races???

Yes i do still stick by this comment, I do not think Lewis Hamilton would be nearly as impressive had he started with another team.

Id like to see him in the force india do what suttil did

[fivebob]

Yes i do still stick by this comment, I do not think Lewis Hamilton would be nearly as impressive had he started with another team.

Actually I was referring to your statement that Mclaren was going off the boil

There are plenty of examples of talented drivers failing to produce results in their first season no matter how good the equipment. There are very few if any examples, apart from Hamilton, that have succeeded. Granted that his success is due in part to having a good car, but even if he had started in an average car he would probably have impressed enough to get a better drive the next season.

He has proved that he has what it takes to be part of the team required to develop a competitive car, and more importantly he has the talent to make the car perfom above it's capabilities.

Id like to see him in the force india do what suttil did

As I said, rain is a great equaliser, and I could see Hamilton doing as good if not better in the same conditions

[JustinSpiderholden]

Yes i do still stick by this comment, I do not think Lewis Hamilton would be nearly as impressive had he started with another team.

Actually I was referring to your statement that Mclaren was going off the boil

There are plenty of examples of talented drivers failing to produce results in their first season no matter how good the equipment. There are very few if any examples, apart from Hamilton, that have succeeded. Granted that his success is due in part to having a good car, but even if he had started in an average car he would probably have impressed enough to get a better drive the next season.

He has proved that he has what it takes to be part of the team required to develop a competitive car, and more importantly he has the talent to make the car perfom above it's capabilities.

Id like to see him in the force india do what suttil did

As I said, rain is a great equaliser, and I could see Hamilton doing as good if not better in the same conditions

Still a long season to go and I think for the first time in years an intresting season, BMW will continue to find more speed, and with the mid feild closing the gap every race. I think towards the end of this season going into next with the new rule changes f1 is going to get extermely tight and intresting to watch

[Mr Revhead]

Nobody got caught out on the wrong tyres

I wonder if both renault drivers agree with you!
seems if young Nelson is struggling a bit.

weather didnt advantage anyone in as much as cathinc ppl out with tyres etc, but as mentioned it certainly did level the cars performances somewhat. having said that, notice how much of a gap the fron 4 or so made int he first section. i guess the spray they made would make it harder for other drivers, but the gap was like 40 seconds at one point....

not as much carnage as i expected, but a lot more than most races. and it must almost be a record for wing replacments!!!
oh, and dunno about you guys, but i love watching F1s cars being driven like old rally escorts!!! so many sideways moments!

[Jdawg]

Weather didn't play that much of a part in this race really. It didn't advantage, or disadvantage any one in particular, though it did bring the back end of the field closer to the front.

Nobody got caught out on the wrong tyres, everybody went to slicks within their pit window

Ferrari have admitted their mistake in keeping Massa out on intermediates too long. That cost them the race.
But Mclaren have for the last couple of years been the dominant car at Monaco.

[2jayzgte]

Something interesting I was reading in Racecar Engineer mag was suggesting that the top teams had already found away around the so called non traction control and launch control issues by running a so called soft map through the so called untouchable ECU's,it has something to do with cutting fuel to injectors at certain points or something along those lines.They also suggested that the top team's would not get caught by the FIA as the cleverest guys work for all the F1 teams.

But I think the result this morning is a good result for the championship as it brings Hamilton back into the mix and also a very costly mistake by Raikkonen at the end gave him no points so bring on Montreal.

[fivebob]

Nobody got caught out on the wrong tyres

I wonder if both renault drivers agree with you!
seems if young Nelson is struggling a bit.

When Piquet changed to slicks it was the right choice for the conditions, it's just that Nelshino doesn't have what it takes to use a F1 car to it's fullest extent. If you don't push the dry weather tyres to get the heat in them then they're worse than bloody useless in damp conditions. Alonso went out a couple of laps before Piquet and was up with the fastest intermediate runners straight away. Webber struggled for a couple of laps too, but he had the confidence to push through it and get the tyres up to temperature. Piquet needs to go back to GP2 and learn more racecraft, he's not ready for F1.

but the gap was like 40 seconds at one point....

How is that different from any of the other races, always seems to be 4 or five cars that get away from the rest of the field.

[fivebob]

Something interesting I was reading in Racecar Engineer mag was suggesting that the top teams had already found away around the so called non traction control and launch control issues by running a so called soft map through the so called untouchable ECU's,it has something to do with cutting fuel to injectors at certain points or something along those lines.They also suggested that the top team's would not get caught by the FIA as the cleverest guys work for all the F1 teams.

It's not really possible to run a secondary map for T/C as changing MAPs requires a 30sec delay, so you can't switch from a Launch/TC map to a full power map on the fly.

[fivebob]

Ferrari have admitted their mistake in keeping Massa out on intermediates too long. That cost them the race.

It might have cost them second place, even that's dubious, but not the race, they were never going to win after the first safety car nullified Hamilton's mistake.

Just like dry weather tyres you have to manage things properly. They had the pit window to bring him in earlier but chose not to do it. He wasn't caught out by degrading tyres, he was caught out by poor strategy.

[MikeMan]

Well Max survived the vote.

Sad day really, he should have gone ages ago.

[fivebob]

Looks like he'll be the head of a dying organisation.

Germany has said they will break away from the FIA, USA is threatening to do so as well. If that happens I would expect the other clubs that sent the letter to Mosley may well join them. They're, (rightly?) peeved that the 85% of the FIA membership they represent does not really get a say in how the FIA is run, because they only have 25% of the votes.

Also it may bring about rumours of a new break-away F1 series, BMW, McLaren Mercedes, Honda and Toyota have all said that they don't think F1 with Max as head of the FIA is something they want to be a part of.

This decision is not good for the FIA and not good for F1. But that is what you get when you let a narcissist control an organisation.

[JustinSpiderholden]

Looks like he'll be the head of a dying organisation.

Germany has said they will break away from the FIA, USA is threatening to do so as well. If that happens I would expect the other clubs that sent the letter to Mosley may well join them. They're, (rightly?) peeved that the 85% of the FIA membership they represent does not really get a say in how the FIA is run, because they only have 25% of the votes.

Also it may bring about rumours of a new break-away F1 series, BMW, McLaren Mercedes, Honda and Toyota have all said that they don't think F1 with Max as head of the FIA is something they want to be a part of.

This decision is not good for the FIA and not good for F1. But that is what you get when you let a narcissist control an organisation.

would be kind of good tog et a break away series, would finally free formula one. form Max and his Bum chum Bernie who both have not really done anything profound for the sport except line there pockets

Also again when are the 41 points going to be updated

[Azza-BZT]

Interesting reading further speculation (F1.com) about Raikkonen's future in F1. He appears not to be denying rumours that this maybe his last year as he appears not to have a contract for 2009.

Qualifying in Montreal should be interesting. Kubica is the most consistent of the front runners although it's hard to know fuel loads etc at this stage. Trulli should hopefully crack into Q3.

[Mr Revhead]

i thought he was contracted till end of 2009?

[fivebob]

i thought he was contracted till end of 2009?

He is, and he's thinking about not renewing beyond that.

He's not denying that next year may be his last in F1.

[2jayzgte]

I have seen articles that Raikkonen doesn't really care to much,all he wanted to do was win the F1 title once and be done with it.He does'nt want to be a 7 time champ like Schumacher and does'nt care to much I no this sounds a bit blasse but I guess thats just his personality I guess.All he wants to do if he could is turn up to qualifying and race and does'nt really care for all the other commitments that go with F1.

[Mr Revhead]

well that was an interesting race.....
as its proven to be before, some surprises!

best way to conquer any demons though for kubica!!

[2jayzgte]

I tell you what after that safety car it would have been interesting to see how well those 3 would have gone head to head but alas it was not to be as Hamilton's little mistake cost him and Raikkonen there chance's as Raikkonen had just posted the quickest lap of the race and I reckon was a little faster than Kubica.

[Sideros]

Exactly, and by the end of the race Raikkonens lap hadn't been beaten, which means he could have easily had the ability to go faster than that even.