Hungary for more

Tom Dart writes: So that was a surprisingly entertaining Hungarian Grand Prix in the sunshine and heat of Budapest. The cramped, curvy circuit may not promote drama, but Felipe Massa’s brilliance at the start – and his exploding engine at the end – made it an intriguing afternoon, with a nice story as Heikki Kovalainen won (more accurately, was handed by luck) his first win.

Lewis Hamilton can rightly point to the misfortune of the puncture he suffered on lap 41, but that shouldn’t distract us from the fact that he was outwitted at the start and never looked like catching Massa even before the tyre problem. Hamilton drove pretty well, but Massa was excellent. Any thoughts we had after Silverstone and Hockenheim of the drivers’ championship becoming a McLaren procession can surely be cast aside. If there was any danger of Hamilton’s confidence spilling into over-confidence, the race has put paid to that.

The Briton has a battle on his hands and both Kimi Raikkonen and Massa are placed nicely in his slipstream as F1 takes a couple of weeks off before Valencia. Remember, this time last year, Hamilton had a 20 point lead and still couldn’t quite grab the title in the end. Now his advantage is five points.

Here’s what Massa had to say in the Ferrari motorhome after the race:

”I think my race was focused on the start. The start was the only place we could have passed them and had the opportunity to win. That's why we took a lot of risk, but it worked. It was a great start, then we showed very good pace afterwards. Everything was perfect, then you know what happened.

”When Lewis had a problem on the tyres I knew straight away and reduced the RPM on the engine to save everything I could for the end of the race. I was 23 seconds ahead of Heikki, I knew what I had to do so I was not in trouble, the tyres were not in trouble, I was just saving the car for the end of the race but maybe it was not enough.

“The engine broke straight away in a very big way. We did a perfect job today and then it's just given away. Unfortunately this is part of our sport and we need to look forward and to the next race. The break will be good so we can recover our energy for the next race.

"The confidence is there after a race like that, even with a bad result at the end. We showed a great performance, great pace, great teamwork, it's very good for the next race. It was a perfect race, one of my best - but it's one of the most frustrating races in my career.”

Comments

[Anon]

Congratulations to Massa for being such a man after such a painful omment. Imagine Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher, or Alain Prost's reaction if that had happened to them (I'm sure it happend to one of them at some point).

It reminds me how Hakkinnen's engnie blew on lap of the Spanish GP. THere is a very nice, dramaticx movie of that on Youtube where you see the omnipotent Schumacher burning down on Mikka who tries to roll his car to the end but gives up.

Anyway, Ferrari have struck back, HARD. Surprise surprise. I usually love underdogs, the ones you know probably won't win. But there is something about the Scuderia which is awesome. The FIA realize it. The Scuderia are invincible. THey
always win. The reason that the Scuderia have so many more fans than the Silver Arrows is that 1.) the Scuderia wins. and 2.) the clothing McLaren wears is simply AWFUL! Seriously! It looks OK on drivers and engineers and stuff, because its a uniform then, but to wear it in public is ridiculous! When I went to Germany I'd say that the amount of fans per team went like this.

80% Ferrari
15% BMW
4& Renault
1% McLaren

Obviously, a lot more people supported McLaren then they're clothing showed. But that's how bad the clothing is.

Valencia- boiund to be dramatic. A new race. Fernando will be going on overdrive. THe streets should suit McLaren, but they are wide, so who knows. And if Massa's pace in Hungary was real Ferrari pace, then McLaren have a real problem. For Felipe, the goal of his championship title should be this- be within three points of Lewis wbefore the Brazilian GP. Because that is bound to be a Massa-led Ferrari one-two. Raikkonen's stronghold of the Belgian GP is near, so he will finally start winning again.Mabye he can win in CHina. Interesting.

[El Ponso]

It was here in 2006. I was a fan of Montoya (and I still am). Wasn’t too keen on Schumi and Juan Pablo had just left McL. And although Pedro had replaced him and was driving very well I was sort of ‘orphan’ about a driver. And then Fernando produced one of the best drives that I’ve ever seen and became his fan. Not because he was a spaniard, already a WC, or nice or ugly, not, but because I thought at the time that I was just watching somebody different, simply above the rest. During the race I went back to 1989 when Senna’s car was crippled and he went into the pits and got on the spare car (they had a spare car those days) and went back on the track and caught Prost. It was the same feeling of determination and skill from Fernando.
That was only two years ago. Two years! It seems like last century after all that has gone through. But I dont want to stir things up with the ‘anti brigade’ so lets go back to the future, which is now.
People were saying before the race that Hungaroring is a bad track for spectacle and that we should expect, unless it rains, a boring race. Well nothing of the sort. I always maintain that in unpredictable sports you don’t know what’s going to happen next. You could ask Felipe for example. After an excellent start he was well on his way to become the next leader of the championship and barely with a couple of laps to the finish he finds himself trailing third with an eight points deficit.
Lewis started the race leading the championship on four points and now, in spite of all the problems, has a five points lead.
As usual there’d be others here more suitable to analyze the technical aspects of the cars, team’s strategies and else, so I wouldn’t go into that.
Just to say that it’s great for Kova that at last he wins his first GP. Yes I know, he was lucky, but we have already agreed long time ago that luck is part of the game.
Timo excellent. Toyota have been for some time now performing very well. It seems they have find the right working line for the cars.
A good fight from Kimi closing on Timo, but after Felipe’s blow he probably was told by the team to settle for third and take no risks.
Good result for Renault which are just three points behind Toyota on fourth place. A very good race from Fernando and Nelsinho.
Seems BMW reached their peak at Canada aftwerwards they are just drifting.
Finally, does anyone know why there has been so many problems with the refuelling?
Aparently most of the teams suffered from those.
See you in Valencia.

[Verbal]

so Tom.D writes, Ed is away and so is Brundle hmmm is there a story there. anyway I think I like this Tom guy...he writes like a lyricist and flows like niagra falls.

as for the race golly, thats a race and a half, if after the last race ferrari were scratching their heads (as a lot o people have said) then after hungary, McLaren are scratching theirs...Ferrari where did that come from, Massa was on fire, I'm one his critics but to borrow from Brundle "he was supreme", his best race ever by far, but he must have cursed lady luck because to breakdown like that, 3 laps from the end is just unfortunate, Raikkonen had a similar last minute failure in a Mclaren German grand prix it was I think. Kimi seems to be playoing the long game, watch his start again, I remember thinkin it was far too conservative and trying to keep out of trouble but once he cleared Alonso thats when you just though god, the guy has still got it and and the sudden realisation that Mclaren are not as far ahead as they thought. Fantastic grand prix.

[Daniel]

Amazing that Hungary has had an extension of it's contract to 2016, no less ! The only thing going for it, is the heat which tends to make cars retire. I wonder what they have on Bernard to grant an 8 yr contract extension ?

[Richard]

The misfortunes of motor racing are all part of the explosive mix of this sport.

Massa highlighted the shortcomings of the Budapest circuit in his comments that his only opportunity was to overtake the McLarens at the start - and he did a brave job relying on Hamilton giving way.
There could, however, have been a Prost-Senna incident here.

[Red 27]

Congratulations must go to Massa for move of the season so far. What a start! That's what I like to see, a proper balls out pass. What happens with Massa? He goes from looking like he is just there to make up the numbers to looking like he is unbeatable, and when he is in the groove he really is. I would love to see him drive like that more often. I would also love to know what exactly happens to make conditions right enough for him to blow everyone away like he can.

I feel so sorry for him, it just never seems to work out. It reminded me of Our Nige's epic engine failure on the last corner (was it Canada?)

Lewis was well beaten and maybe it can bring him down just a peg or two as he has been making silly comments again. He should forget about the puncture and concentrate on the fact that he was simply out classed by Massa. "If that was him trying to pass me I wouldn't have let him by" (or words to that effect...) not always that simple is it lad?

Kimi really needs to pull his finger out still. Something is definitely not right and his body language in the car speaks volumes if you ask me. He remains second in the standings however...

All in all, happy for Kova, gutted for Massa, the season is still perfectly poised. Great stuff.

[Anon]

Richard: "There could, however, have been a Prost-Senna incident here."

Nope, those happen rarely. The last one was in '07, remember? Now we have to wait a few years for another! Take care.

[jlk]

Hey you guys, if LH is such a jerk why does he have such a great relationship with HK AND FP. It is well known that all 3 (and RK besides) are good friends
Now how many "close friends" does FA have on the circuit?

I bring that up because I believe that entered into LH giving way at the start. Not to take away from FM's brilliant jump. But I don't think there was any possibility of a Prost/Senna moment.

Would someone please give Heikki some credit for the steady race he drove? Of course Massa was driving better but maybe he pushed too hard? Same with LH and tire problem?

Every week the press is either singing FM's praises or giving him a sound and oftentimes unfair drubbing. The guy is brilliant but uneven. Maybe it's his Brazilian blood, maybe not. But he's still a guy who deserves repect win or lose.
JLK

[Sad day for F1]

WhaT ?? I watched in astonishment that all the drivers didn't pull over and let Hamilton pass as they did 2 weeks ago. I guess word came down from the top of the gambling empires to keep it real looking again. Going from 6th to 1st would be too obvious, but 4th to 1st?? Naaa, no one will notice that !!!

Sad day for F1

[Érico]

Massa was the man of the race. I could swear he'd repeat Melbourne and spin on touching the throttle, but he didn't and somehow put it all together while passing Hamilton. Fantastic move, nice payback for Hockenheim, certainly one of the best moves of the season. This kind of cruelty was more common before F1 got ultra-reliable, and maybe that's why it hurts so much. At least it kind of balanced Hamilton's tyre problem. But the one thing that wasn't on the script and seems the most out of place is Raikkonen back in the title hunt. He was supposed to be down and out, but somehow he isn't. Who said he's the unluckiest driver on the grid?

So Kovalainen won and perhaps now he'll improve with this monkey off his back. He still has work to do to match Hamilton's and the Ferraris pace, hopefully he'll get there sooner than later.

The other guys who impressed me were Glock and Piquet. Glock had a fabulous weekend and Piquet is visibly improving. 10 seconds behind Alonso on such a tight and technical track is very good. 4th fastest lap of the race isn't bad either.

Roll on Valencia. I hope it's a damn good race.

[Anon]

JLK: friends Fernando has:

Robert
Jarno
Giancarlo
Mark
Kimi

and he's making up with Felipe.

Lewis supposedly has Felipe. Probably not. I don't think so. Why? I've never seen them talking, apart from Lewis taking a shot at Felipe on defensive driving. Meanwhile Fernando had a long, civilized talk with Felipe before the TUrkish GP drivers parade.
Lewis (well, no, his fans did) also claimed a friendship with Robert, which Robert denied, saying they had split ways. So lewis's friends

Adrian
Heikki
?

Nico supported Alonso for last year, I remember.

But heck, who cares. My father always said every driver hated Senna. (AND NO, THAT DOES NOT MEAN LEWIS IS SENNA).

[maecassa]

In Hungary, Lewis was lucky...

When Napoleon considered appointing a new General the first thing he would ask was 'does he have luck?'.

Come November, when Lewis wins his first, (of many), WDC's by one point we'll all know where that point came from.

Go Lewis go...

[Antonio]

I wouldn't say that LH puncture is such a misfortuen; in fact, he usually takes many risks with his tyres, and it is not the first time he blows up one of the front tyres.

Very good move of Massa at the start. After that it is very difficult to overtake (just see Raikkonen stuck behind Alonso, being 1 second or more faster). Congratulations too for Timo Glock, really good race for him and Toyota.

Massa can lose the championship because of this. If KR has more points than him, he knows that Ferrari will support only one leader.

[maecassa]

Massa is a better driver that most people give him credit for.

But in Hungary he clearly felt he had something to prove after Silverstone and Hockenheim.

He got past Lewis but trashed his engine in the process. He paid the price with only 3 laps to go.

Roll on Valencia.

[todd]

@jlk i have to agree with anon on this one, i'm no alonso fan but alonso and the boys play poker at every event, and alonso and schumacher are friends, also, i noticed on the drivers parade at silverstone (i have the video) when all the drivers were on the back of the flat bed truck being driven around the track, everyone was talking to everyone, except lewis who was out on his own with no freiends...

[Maverick]

Wht a race....this was the best aggressive driving by Massa ever...and so perfectly timed tht Pussycat boyfriend had no answer to it.This shows the growing confidence in Massa as he is having the best season so far in his career.

Heikki...pure luck..anywyz..second fiddle alwys get anythng by luck..thts how it works everywhere in the world.

Kubica...i'm happy to see him doomed...he was so busy defending Kimi at the start tht he forgot Timo was right behind him...and later this move opened the door for Timo's excellent result. So Mr. Kubica..watch ur back more carefully.

Last but not least...Mr Cool Raikkonen...WAKE UP.Don't expect tht the WDC will be dropped in ur lap like this...while u were sleeping....u need to fight for it man..and it high time tht u score WIN in Valencia.

[Derek Smith]

The circuit suited the Ferrari, certainly with its wheelbase. It also seemed to get the best out of its tyres. Point and shoot is what Hungary is all about and Massa made the best of it. The next race would appear to be similar and I would suspect that Ferrari will be strong there. When I say Ferrari, I mean Massa. Sadly Kimi seems out of it. Mind you, given his lackadaisical driving this season, that he’s still managed to be second in the championship is remarkable. If he’d got it together earlier in the season he’d be leading by now.

It is irritating when mechanical problems affect the race so fundamentally. Massa deserved the win, Hamilton the second place. Whilst I feel for them, doesn't it make for an exciting championship.

Massa continues to confound. Dreadful at the start of the season and then he came onto the boil in a dramatic fashion. Then a couple of races which are best forgotten, and given the level of concentration he took to them, he probably can't remember them anyway. And now this last race where he was the class of the field.

As someone who backed Massa against the derision of my friends (I've decided to forget what they said to me after Silverstone) I hope he continues with this impressive standard of racing. Mind you, I wouldn't bet on it.

[RichyS]

I must say, I find most of the F1 press (though not Ed's blog) and the comments here hilarious. If you believe what you read, then everything is so black and white. After France, Ferrari were the most dominant team, and going to win the championships at a canter. then a mere two races later and it's McLaren who are dominant, and Ferrari doomed. McLaren to win at a canter.

But everything is so much more finely balanced in F1. With the tyre and aero rules as they are, it takes such a small amount of change to shift the balance of power one way or another. Why was the McLaren so much better than the Ferrari on Saturday, but Massa a tenth or two a lap faster than Lewis on the Sunday? Did the air and track temperature shoot up? Was it too hot for McLaren to manage their tyres? Is this why Lewis had a puncture? Or was it simply debris, as Bridgestone seem to be suggesting. Did the higher track temp cause the famously temperature sensitive Ferrari engine to overheat? Was this why Kimi was told to slow down?

Anyway, I think it would be nice if things like these were our discussion points, not who's got more friends, Fernando or Lewis. This is bloody Facebook.

And well done to Heikki. Felipe drove a great race, and was very unlucky; but you've got to be there or there abouts to win, and Heikki was. I don't think anyone complains how you get your first win, but lets hope he can consistently win now, and not rely on luck.

[Felipe]

I'm glad Hamilton didn't win and the Ferrari's look so strong... it was looking like it could be a boring end of the season. But that's what's so great about F1.

[PT]

Our Nige's engine did not blow on the last lap in Canada. He had a huge lead and was so busy waving to the fans that he let the revs drop too far and in effect (it's more technical than this) stalled. Totally his fault. At the post-race press conference, Piquet could hardly talk for laughing, and the press were the same.

[Pierre]

@Red,

"Lewis was well beaten"...?

The race I was watching had Hamilton only 3 seconds behind Massa, and most likely out for a couple of laps longer than him. If it hadn't been for Hamilton's puncture, he may have jumped Massa.

However, whilst Massa got and stayed in front of Hamilton, such was the strain and effort for his Ferrari, that it packed up before the end of the race.

F1 is not a 100m sprint you know. It's not just about who gets to the first corner first, or even to the second pit stops. It's who gets to the chequered flag first.

So Hamilton was hardly "well beaten". In fact, it could be said he beat Massa since at least Hamilton got points for his 5th place, extending his championship lead.

Anyway, where is Jordi? I think he should take over the blog in Ed's absence and entertain us with his conspiracy theories...

[willy]

HEADLINE:
The guy driving the number one ferrari IS NOT Kimi Raikkonnen!!!
Kimi hasn't been sober since the french grand prix, and the team is working with his twin brother Kumo.
That's why you think you saw Kimi pushing a photographer, and throwing on the floor that poor little girl while her mother was asking for an autograph.
Also that's why he was able to pass Alonso in the second pit stop...because when Kumo was coming in, Kimi was already coming out from the pit stop!!!

[Gordon]

For goodness sakes people, Raikonen is not and never was out of the title race, neither is Felipe, and neither has Lewis ever been.
But also bear in mind that until the puncture Massa was by no means assured of the win. Lewis was keeping the gap under control he was definitely fueled for a longer 2nd stint than Massa, and would have required a shorter 2nd pitstop. He could, note I am not saying would, possibly have leapfrogged Massa at the 2nd pitstop. Of course the puncture rendered it all irrelevant.

[z]

pierre, what are you talking about? of course he was well beaten. you can say massa pushed so much that his engine blew...well, lewis pushed so much that his tyre blew. lewis never had an answer to massa's pace throughout the race, it was fantastic to watch the lewis fans clutching at straws.

and what is this? a blog? or a one paragraph post, 80% quotations, and 100% random and soap opera style comments?

anyway. valencia is looking well poised. im guessing it will be a somewhat tight track, which should not be what ferrari is good at, with their need for high tyre temperatures. only extreme heat can really help them like it did at hungary.....3weeks is a lot of development time though, in f1 terms.

[jlk]

Guys
Sorry you misunderstood my "friends" comment. Again the point was I was responding to the possibility of a Senna/Prost moment who if I remember correctly were deadly enemies. LH would not do that to Massa and the friendship thing you are claiming as insiders , is the opposite of what our media is saying. I was not there in the paddock so I am dependent on Peter Windsor and David Hobbs to say who is friends with whom.
But that aside the main point is I am tired of LH bashing but I am also tired of Alonso bashing. They are both among the elite drivers of the world. A fraternity of the best there is. So calling someone at this level a poor or second rate driver is like calling Phil Mickelson a poor golfer because there is someone out there named Tiger who is always better.

I just wish the US would appreciate what these guys do. I cannot stand the boring oval track stuff and would love to have more than one F1 race here.

The "Magic" tag is a little hard to take as he has shown himself to be only too human in a third rate Renault but still an amazingly skillful driver.

As far as the best out there now? It obviously depends on the race, the weather the moon the stars or whatever.
But again, considering that Kimi had to back off toward the end I still think Massa pushed too hard. But that is the car's fault of course.

Go Heikki. At least I will give you credit for a solid race!
JLK

[Elizabeth]

Ah, the old-timers had it right after all, remember Roger Penske's famous words? "To finish first, first you have to finish"

Btw, I seem to remember that after Hockenheim some of the more rabid anti-Mclarenistas who comment sought to suggest that something against McLaren should be read into Hamilton's engine being taken for examination by the FIA.

Now that we know the engine passed that (routine, planned) examination, what are the chances of those same posters admitting that they were wrong in their insinuations? (Probably about the same as Force India winning the constructors this year I suppose ...)

[Pierre]

@Z,

Okay, so following your rather simple logic:

Lewis pushed too hard and gave himself a puncture - result: loss of places, finished 5th, earning 4 points.

Felipe pushed too hard and blew his engine up - result: DNF, nul points.

Anyway you look at it, Lewis came out on top (4 points on top to be precise).

[Anon]

JLK: total agree with you about the ovals.

And in case there si a mistunderstanding, I give credit to Heikki for his win. Sure, the engine failure was lucky. But when you think of all the bad luck he had this season, he deserves it. Now, the debut wins of Alonso, Hamilton, or even Kubica were more glorious, you have to admit!

[Anon]

Pierre: Felipe was NOT pushing hard.

Why? Because Heikki was absolutely destroying his lead, taking out a second per lap. Felipe obviously wasn't pushing hard considering his race pace.

Lewis falt-spotted the tire. He hit debris. If he hit the debris without the flat-spot, he would have been fine, says Bridgestone.

Or if he had Michelins, he would probably be fine there gtoo.

But then ALonso would win everything.

[jlk]

Thanks Anon
Yes, Heikki's win it was a bit more of an anti climax than the others except Kubica was also a survivor in Canada where so many had to drop out. But since Heikki is the most likeable guy on the circuit it is hard not to root for him.

But I would also like to give kudos to both Timo and NelsonHo for some really great drives. No one was more surpised than me to see them have those "coming out parties" in the last few races! Maybe Toyota has finally found the right combination.
JLK

[ELCROWLEY]

About Ham and Alonso friends comments....

Ham has just a few friends on the grid. Did you know Button and Coulthard (all of them britons) ain't friends of Ham? They and almost all drivers on the grid are really fed up with the diva Ham. They don't like as he acts and the things he says with his big mouth

And Alonso has a lot of more friends on the grid. Rosberg, Webber, Kubica, Barrichello, Button, Kimi,.... even Bernie Ecclestone!!

Alonso is one of the presidents of GPDA. Why? because rest of drivers trhink he is a excellent driver and good guy with no fears to say what he thinks.

[andrei]

...great drive from felipe he was 5 or 10 seconds ahead,whatever, everyone seems to forget silverstone where felipe got +2 laps and kimi +1lap....or monaco...after hiting that wall...in germany felipe couldnt pick up piquet and lewis was flying ...felipe is a fastest lap man like jarno trulli, they drive well if they are in p1 and there is no overtaking...alonso? just look at his girlie-paranoid interviews he had last year...only good thing with alonso is his driving,i respect that he destroyed schumacher....i think lewis hamilton is doing very well and he is going to be world champion sooner or later...and he has plenty of friends, including p diddy and pharell....go,go mclaren!!!!

[IDR]

Hello everybody! I’m on holydays and as I wake up early, I was reading the blog, trying to update all things I missed during the last weeks.

First of all, send my regards to Ed and my best wishes for him and his family, hoping everything will be ok, and welcoming Tom in his new duties.
Secondly, after reading all comments from this post and the previous one, I think we (all) have arrive to a point in which we are tired of the same thing, but IMHO, we are not able to identify properly what is, or, at least, express it in a way not hurting other’s way of thinking.

I read a comment of JLK that says:

“But that aside the main point is I am tired of LH bashing but I am also tired of Alonso bashing. They are both among the elite drivers of the world….”

And I strongly agree with him, despite I don’t think this is the real problem, only the origin.

My view of this is that the real problem we see in the blog is about respect.

Respect is a very wide (an important) concept, and all of you know how limited is my English knowledge, so, please be patient I’ll do my best trying to clarify as much as possible how I see the situation.

I hope that the wonderful view of the sea, the fresh wind, a cup of coffee and a toast with tomato marmalade and olive oil, would help me a little…

Eric Fromm said:

“To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility would be blind if they were not guided by knowledge”

And probably he was right, but on the other hand, how can we disrespect somebody without knowing him?

And this is what happens in this blog in many occasions, and in most of them just because we don’t like what we read.

Not insulting a person (something that happens in this blog, not quite often, but happens) does not means to respect him.

I’m referring to the notion of Respect for persons that basically means refraining from regarding or treating persons in certain ways:

We ought not to treat them as if they were worthless or had value only insofar as we find them useful or interesting, we ought not to humiliate them, or treat them in ways that flout their nature and worth as persons.

All of us are writing here through a nickname, and it seems to me, that we forget quite often that behind this nickname, there is a person that deserves at least the same respect we ask for ourselves.

Finally, every of us have our own emotions about the drivers we support and about others we don’t like.

I decided, at the beginning of this season not to show in this blog the negative ones, just because I prefer to read what the others posters think about the races, their technical views and their experience… than to hurt them and read their answers just defending not what they think about this sport but what they deserve as persons.

I do this just to show you the RESPECT I have for all of you:

Gary M, Anon, Richard, Andy G, Pinaster, JLK, Elcrowley, and many others,

I love to read what you want to tell us about this sport, I don’t know who you really are, but I KNOW of all you are great fans of this sport… as me.

[Paul Ramsay]

"Congratulations to Massa for being such a man after such a painful omment. Imagine Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher, or Alain Prost's reaction if that had happened to them (I'm sure it happend to one of them at some point)."

Michael Schumacher - 2006 Japanese Grand Prix. He had the race, and therefore the title pretty much sewn up. Then bang, engine went. Schumi got out car, chatted to marshals and waved to the fans. Got lift back to the pits and then shook hands with every member of the ferrari team. All with a smile on his face.
I'd say he was the one driver who always won and lost as a team.

[Richard]

IDR - thanks for a great post, you're absolutely right in everything you say. I hope we all read your comments and consider them when posting comments in the future. I think it would be the best blog on the web if we did

[jlk]

Thanks again to IDR who has shown himself to be the class act of the blog. And He is Spanish too!

I have to apologize to you directly as I can't come to Valencia this year ( as I threatened last year if you remember)because I am going to Asia instead. But I am sure you will have a great time without me!

I know Valencia quite well and that it will be a REALLY cool street circuit. Next year I will be there for sure!

The rest of this year will be quite exciting with so many guys going for it. It looks like Bimmer is falling out but I like the chances of Toyota and even Renault taking a lot of points. And of course Ferrari ain't lying down. I would put my money on LH (except I don't gamble) so I will say it online. But once again who the hell knows!
JLK

[Anon]

Well, now that we seem to be coming out of a dog-fighting phase of this blog, let's return to racnig.

One pecularity with Lewis is that he pretty much always wins on circuits he has never raced on before. Butwhen he races on them a second time, disaster strikes. May it be that the challenge is too easy for him and he doesn't care? Or is it small mistakes coming out of inadvertence?

Anyway, Valencia is a new circuit. Ferrari pace seems stronger than McLaren, although the development is raging this break. It is a streecircuit, but wide, so that can't be a huge advantage to McLaren.

I still think Lewis will be world champion this year. The only thing that could stop him is a technical failure which allows the Ferrari drivers to move up through him. His car has had no defects yet, compared to the engine failures of the Ferraris.

There are good and bad news for Lewis:

First, the good: From Singapore on, no more supersofts! Brazil is now medium-soft, a change from soft-supersoft, Bridgestone just announced. Big bonus there, less of a chance of his aggressive style hurting him.

Second, the bad- Valencia is a soft-supersoft, like Hungary. Even when he does not have a puncture, he ahs to diminish his race pace in order to save himself (according to the official F1 websitre, that is what happened to him last year at Monaco when he backed off from Fernando).

I read some interesting stuff from F1-Live which says that some accuse Ron Dennis of pushing ahead with 08 development recklessly in order to finally bring silverware to Woking and then retire. Wchih means the 09 development is going down the drain. In a sense, it's true. We see new stuff going on the McLaren all the time. Front wing updates. Shark fin or no shark fin? Meanwhile, no sign of KERS.

Now, if that is true, a lot of smaller teams can pull out the champagne. Which makes one wonder, just how much resources are the teams putting in each ear? Teams like Honda, Force India, or BMW or in 09. Ferrari, Renault, and McLaren are in 08. In a since, next year should be a BMW storming of the championship (I am actually predicting that Nick Heidfeld COULD be world champion. Wow. THat would be weird, considering he hasn't won a race yet. Maybe not.) The big changes of next year is a big reason for Fernando to sign a contract for a year. That way he can tell if Ferrari are still the top team or not! IF the lack of McLaren 09 development pace is true, that is superbad news. Lewis has never shone very much when he was in a position with double-digits- and he has never driven a bad car. But who knows? He'll probably master that as well.

Anyway, you have to admit that 1.) this year's championship is so much more interesting than last year's, 2.) the races are so much better than last year's, 3.) the team's are a lot closer than last year, and 4.) heck, isn't F1 great?

There have been more race winners, in terms of teams or drivers, this year. THere have been much more "strange bloke on podium" this year. So many races have not been won from pole. It seems that the races won from pole will actually be a minority this year! Last year, that would have been impossible.

Next year promises to be stupendous. Slicks, KERS, new teams taking the advantage, BMW launching its first major title challenge, etc. It's gonna be great! But let's first see who comes out on top in Brazil. Seems impossible to tell. Unlike Damon Hill, who changes his bet ery race, I'm gonna keep my on Lewis. It has to be the year of the Lewis. It better be, cuz otherwise more opportunities are going to be hard to come by.

[Felipe Cuesta]

Well said IDR

[IDR]

@RICHARD,

Thanks for your kind words.

I think this blog is the best one already, but there is always a space for improvement!

@JLK

Sorry to know you’re not coming to Valencia. In any case I will not be there. I worked hard to get a pass for the paddock but unfortunately I have had to give it to a customer (important one). I’m pretty sure paddock area is going to be amazing. I was there during the America’s Cup and the place is great.

Anyhow, I hope Ed will give us one of his most traditional views of the backstage.

In any case, we can renew the thread for next year, and have a great “Arroz a banda” in Cullera. There is a nice place (Casa Salvador) with a great terrace over the Jucar riverside. It is 40 km far from Valencia but the rice, as the place, is great.

[Anon]

Nice to have you back IDR!

[jlk]

IDR
My favorite spot is Ports A Playa. My friend Rafa has a place there and there is a seaside cafe with decent wine and decent Tapas. But the view is great and the Port is REALLY a nice place to hang out and relax. So mayber we can swap favorites as I always stay there when in town.
JLK
PS Must be a REALLY good customer!I would kill for thise passes (figuratively of course)

[IDR]

@JLK

Port Saplaya in Alboraya, not far from Valencia. Nice place.

Have you ever try Horchata? Alboraya is the best place for Horchata. (Horchata is Tigernuts juice, quite famous in Valencia).

And yes he is a good customer. I have been moving everything I could, trying to get one, and finally when I have it, I give it to my client.

You know money walks...

On the other hand, I was able to have only one, so, not very much interesting to be there alone. (I know is not a good consolation excuse, but ...)

[Anon]

IDR: hope your customer REALLY appreciates the passes; he probably doesn't realize what he has!

[IDR]

Port Saplaya in a nice place close to Valencia, in Alboraya.

Have you ever try "Horchata"? (tigernuts juice). It is quite traditional in Valencia, and Alboraya is knwon as the best place for having it.

@JLK, ANON

I hope my customer appreciates it too. In any case, is an important customer for me, so, you know, money walks...

My consolation is I only got one, so I would have to assist alone.

Anyhow, I will try to get another for next year, I'm pretty sure the paddock of Valencia's race is going to be fantastic.

What a race! Massa was superb - a great overtaking move (yes, he can overtake!) and then he put the hammer down and had race under control - i was gutted to see the engine blow. Still, good to see ferrari on the pace again and some exciting overtaking.

Not sure why people are saying that felipe and lewis could have had a senna-prost moment - if you watch the move, you can see that felipe gave lewis a lot of room...was perfectly fair - ham said he thought they might touch but he didnt criticise massa.

I was also pleased to see James Allen commentating with a racing driver who kept him in check - despite massa's heroics, guess what, james allen didnt pick him as driver of the day - no surprise there then! At least damon hill made some interesting comments and corrected allen - roll on next year when i hope and pray that james allen will not be commentating!!

[Anon]

About commentators, like Anonymous was talking about:

F1 commentators are pretty funny. Either you have guys who never put a foot in an F1 car, or guys who sorta screwed up their career. On Eurosport we have Jacques Laffite. My father "accepts" him as a commentator because he would go nuts if Prost commentated. I personally don't like Laffite much, he doesn't have much to offer. THe other commentator has only one subject and that is Renault. Whenever the Renault does something good (Spanish qualifying, ALonso in Australia) it is the car. Whenever it is off pace, it's Alonso's fault. No middle ground. I think it was a Eurosport commentator who started frantically yelling, "Sato's ripping the track! He's warm! (i.e. he's really fast)." He didn't finish the sentence that Sato came on the screen: backward into the gravel.

Peter Windsor also made me laugh when he walked up the whole Brazilian startin grid to talk to Lewis who was trying to meditate and only said hello. And then the CHinese GP grid, where he walked up to Wurz (again, pretty much the whole grid) and asked him about his retirement plans. To which Wurz responded angrily that no one should know about them.

Also, when he told Lewis before the Chinese GP what a day in history it could be, hot great it would be, etc. Lewis answered that Peter should not put ideas in his head or else he'd screw up. Windsor must still regret that question.

[IDR]

Anon,

If you have the opportunity of watching a F1 race in Tele5 (Spanish channel), you could see the most ridiculous team of F1 commentators: Antonio Lobato and Gonzalo Serrano.

Thanks god that in the most of the races we can have Pedro de la Rosa correcting the constant errors of those guys, and making some insightful comments.

When they are alone (without Pedro) is better to switch off the sound. It is really hard to believe that after more than 5 years following F1, they are not able to identify properly each driver, and each team.

Thanks god next year the F1 will go to “La Sexta” (another Spanish channel), and hopefully, we will have another new commentators. Maybe they will have less experience, but a little bit more potential to learn (not so difficult btw)

[jlk]

@ Anon and IDR
Never had the pleasure of (Horchata is it)? But I will eat paella as long as the shrimp's eyeballs are not staring at me in their death throes! (Americans are real wimps when it comes to stuff like that)

Thanks for the spelling lesson on Port SaPlaya. My Spanish is atrocious.

I will be there next year and I am leaving it up to you guys to tell me how to get tickets as Rafa doesn't know F1 from a screwdriver.

But knowing the old town, and I assume that is where the race will be, I have to give advantage to LH and (GASP!) FA. I hope the double parkers will be cleared out by then!
JLK

[IDR]

JLK Don't be afraid of your Spanish.

Port Sa Playa means "Port near to the beach" and is Valenciá (language of Valencia Community) not Spanish.

In Spain there is a specific language for almost every single person!

On the other hand, Valencia circuit is in an expansion area of Valencia city, they have built the race layout before the buildings. Two thirds of it will be around the port used for America’s cup and the rest, around those buildings that are under construction.

Valencia is having one of the most spectacular developments in the last ten years. Traditionally, Valencia was living “ignoring the sea”. The most important areas of the city were far from the port and the beach. The area near to the sea was relegated to industrial activities and lower class population.

During the last ten years they start to invest a lot connecting the city with the sea, through the original channel of the river. They built there the “Ciutat de les Arts e de les Ciencies” comprising: L’hemisferic, L’oceanographic, Palau de les arts Reina Sofía, Museo de les ciences Principe Felipe and Lúmbracle, giving the city a completely new look that has become the new “City emblema”.

On the other hand, they worked hard to host America’s Cup for the Swiss (thanks Anon, Switzerland does not have sea), and they transformed all around the port and malvarrosa beach (lower class beach).

If you went to “la malvarrosa beach” before America’s Cup, and visit the area know, you will realize how things have changed. It is really amazing.

And now, they signed the agreement with the FOM. This new event will develop the area between the “Ciudat de les Arts e de les Ciencies” and the Malvarrosa beach and America’s Cup Port.

Finally, Valencia will be connected with Madrid through high-speed train in little bit more than one hour and hopefully they will take some of the sailing sports of Madrid Olympic Candidacy for 2016.

Valencia city is doing a big effort to become an international location, and it seems to me that they are doing things quite properly.

In fact, I still remember, five years ago, during a meeting of a European Association of the industry I worked for, we were deciding (the board) were to allocate an international convention we organize each two years. They were asking me for places in Spain, and I was suggesting Barcelona, Seville, even Tenerife (Canary Islands) when suddenly the Chairman of the board (English) ask me: “And what about Valencia?” I never imagined at that time that Valencia was in the mind of foreign people.

We organized the convention in Valencia and we had a great success. The funny (or sad) thing was the idea came from an English man instead the only Spanish who was in the meeting.

Finally, you will realize I’m a big fan of Valencia. Only tell you that I was born in Madrid, and currently living in Madrid. I never lived in Valencia. I only have some good friends there.

I'm pretty sure Valencia GP is going to be amazing. The only bad thing will be the climate. 24th of August is not the best date for a GP in Valencia. Temperatures at 14'00 hour will be over 35 Cº and with a high % of humidity.

It had been perfect in spring or in autumn. One of the best places at that time for sure.

[Anon]

To IDR: Yes, I'm pretty impressed with how I managed to learn the helmets of each driver. The only guys I have trouble memorizing are Glock/Trulli and Fisichella/Sutil.

The commentators I have on SPEED are pretty hilarious. I remember when at one point in Australia Kovi was getting chased by Kimi. One commentator (they're all Hamiltonists) asked what would Fernando do if he was being hunted down by a Ferrari. To whcih another commentator answered "cry". As it was, Fernando came behind in a Renault and overtook them both a little while later.

I imagine P.d.l.R. must be a great commentator. A ton of experience, and probably the best test driver on the grid (maybe Wurz can compare). He's threatened to leave McLaren, which would be really hard for the team, and get a racin seat. He'd be interesting to watch though.

I'm right now struggling to think about who will win the Valencia GP.
Can Massa keep the speed going? Can Kimi wake up? And sorry, but can the most inconsistent driver on the grid come back (that's Lewis. You have to admit he's really inconsistent. Which is really good and really bad. Hence why it's inconsistent).

Will be interesting. Anyway, Belgian GP wil be easy to predict, Kimi will win easily.

[Anon]

Wow IDR! I much prefer the great touristic knowledge we get on this thread to the dogfights on the other one.

I have only gone to Spain once, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite my arm being in cast. I was in Madrid, and I loved the food (I love food in general). I remember seeing the meat hanging from the walls and the quickness of the service. Maybe I was in a peculiar case, but the service was so fast.

I also have fond memories of the oldest restaurant in the world. I remember, IDR, that we talked about it and you had doubts (if I remmeber correctly) as to its being the oldest of the world and not simply Spain. But here is its webpage: http://www.gomadrid.com/rest/botin.html

Delicious. I also loved Madrid for its great nightlife. I think one day I will try to go to Barcelona. I have to return the US in a few days, but I was close to maybe being able to attend Valencia. Instead, I attended Hockenheim. But I wish I could have gone to Valencia, it would have been great.

Regards

[Richard]

ANON - 'can the most inconsistent driver on the grid come back (that's Lewis'

Sorry, I couldn't resist responding to this comment, I really should stop reading this blog!

I'm not sure how you're measuring consistency, but it doesn't seem to be by results:

2008 stats (10 races to date):

LH wins - 4
DNFs - 1
Podiums - 6
Top 5 finishes - 8

KR wins - 2
DNFs - 1
Podiums - 6
Top 5 finishes - 7

FM wins - 3
DNFs - 2
Podiums - 6
Top 5 finishes 7

I won't bore you with the 2007 stats but they show that LH, FA and KR all had the same number of podium finishes throughout the year, whilst FM had fewer. LH had an unbroken run of nine podiums in his first nine races.

However, there is only one real measure of consistency that ought to be applied when comparing the top few drivers, and that's the number of points scored. Since he came into F1 at the start of 2007, he has scored more points than any other driver, which surely makes him the most consistent points scorer.

If he can be this consistent at the very beginning of his F1 career, what will he be like when he's got more experience and maturity?

[Derek Smith]

Richard,

You have done the unforgivable: you have brought facts into an argument. That is rather silly. Prepare to be targeted.

Thanks for the stats, they gave food for thought. More please. Don't ever think that they can be boring. At worst, they might be irrelevant.

Derek

[Anon]

Richard- what you say is very right. But I see Lewis as inconsistent because his races have no middle ground- either he's on fire and he wins, or his race turns to disaster.

It's also how easily he can change. After Hockenheim, he was invincible. After Hungary, he doesn't. After Australia, invincible. After Bahrain&Malaysia, the underdog. After Monaco, Spain, & Turkey, simply the best! After Canada and France, pretty bad.

It sort of drives me nuts. After France, we all thought he was broken. Remember his comments "I'm unbreakable?" Well, he's right, he isn't. He's not breakable. After Britain and Hockenheim, bam, he's back.

It's that kind of inconsistnecy I'm talkin about. And inconsistency isn't bad, especially in Lewis's case, for all his lows are balanced by his incredible highs. It makes him a very entertaining driver to watch.

As for last year, the only thing that separated Fernando and Lewis was second place and a ninth place for one and a third place and a seventh place for the other. THat's how tight it was.

Regards

[Anon]

Since Derek wants stats, here goes.

Podiums, not including wins

Raikkonen- 4
Massa-3
Hamilton- 2

Point finishes not on podium

Raikkonen- 3
Hamilton- 2
Massa- 1

Now as to DNFs.

Kimi has had no DNFs that were his fault (engine failure, Canada incident).

LH has one retirement, his fault.

FM has one retirement his fault (Malaysia). Otherwise, engine troubles.

We can also ake race by race for each driver and say if it was OK, GOOD, or BAD.

Lewis

GOOD (Australia)
OK (Malaysia)
BAD (Bahrain, etc.)
GOOD
GOOD
GOOD
BAD
BAD
GOOD
GOOD
BAD

6 good, 1 OK, 4 bad

Kimi

BAD
GOOD
GOOD
GOOD
OK
BAD
GOOD
GOOD
OK
BAD
OK

5 good, 3 ok, 3 bad

FM

BAD
BAD
GOOD
GOOD
GOOD
OK
OK
GOOD
BAD
OK
GOOD

5 good, 3 ok, 3 bad

It's a very simplified way of doing it. But the thing is that there is no middle ground for lewis when we look at his races. One day he's on, and he isn't. We forget that the Ferrari drivers should have scored more points in Australia and Felipe should have won Hungary. THose are engine failures. Lewis's car has been perfect all year and that explains his low retirement rate.

But please, I'm not criticizing Lewis for being inconsistent. It been not be good for a championship challenge, but it gives spectatoras a great show. His drives in Britain, Monaco, and Hockenheim were awesome. Canada and Bahrain were horrible. But he has enormous amount of talent and there are days where NOTHING can stop him. He just has a sort of mistake problem. He'll get rid of it, but it seems a bit chronic. Even last year, mistakes started- Nurburgring, Turkey, China, Brazil.

But I like drivers who can win races spectacularly, like Lewis in Britain, Alonso in the Nurburgring, or kimi in CHina.

[Derek Smith]

Anon,

Ranking races as good to bad for each individual driver is not statistical, it is opinion pure and simple. LH's last drive, which you rate as 'bad' I rate as good as even though he suffered a puncture at turn 1, he still managed a points finish and husbanded his soft tyres for getting on for 40% of the race. Further, even if the McLaren strategy of the long middle fill hadn't paid off and put him into the lead after his second stop then Massa's engine problems would still have given the 10 points to him.

Further, another way of looking at Canada is that he made one mistake. It was a biggy, but it was just the one.

Further again, Kimi, who has been a favourite of mine, has had a number of terrible races if you take into account his tremendous ability and experience. Whilst there are problems with the Ferrari, especially with setup it seems, he struggles when his less gifted team mate excels. I must admit that I can’t get him at the moment. I rate all his races as substandard this season apart from the few he's won.

But to get back to Hungary: when LH came into the pits and had softs put on I told my wife he would have to come in again after 15 laps or so and that McLaren were stupid putting in all that fuel. To be fair to me – my wife I thought wasn’t - last year he would probably have run his tyres down to the canvas and had a second puncture about 15 laps from the end when challenging for third. So I’d rate his drive as very good and indicative of a more thoughtful approach. Mind you, I reckoned he had mellowed since Canada, but then came the Silverstone wet drive. In Hungary he wasn’t exciting, but got points when by rights he should have been out of it.

[Anon]

Derek SMith: you're right about the good/bad thing.

But ni some ways you're wrong.

His Canada race was not his only mistake. Bahrain was arguably even worse as he failed to make the car start then crashed into Fernando.

Now for Hungary.

Bridgestone has said that Hamilton had a puncture that happened BECAUSE he flat-spotted his tires. No other drivers did, and that's why they don't get punctures. It's not coincidence it's always Lewis getting punctures. So he had a puncture. Not good.

Now, he also got overtaken on the start despite being on the clean start of the grid.

I wouldn't call losing pole position on Turn 1 and flat-spotting our tires something good.

And it's not like he managed anything great either. If he overtook Fernando at the end, then that would have been something.

But please, the argument is is he inconsistent or not?

I say that when you can come from winning the opening round with absolutely no challenge and then two races later crash through the lowfield, then that is inconsistent. When you come off of winning F1's most difficult race in the wet to then crash at 50 mph, that is inconsistent. When you come off of winning two magnificent GPs, one of them your home one in the race and the other when SC didn't favor you, to then flat-spot your tires , I find it inconsistent. That's just my opinion. The stats in comparison to the Ferrari drivers are difficult because 1.) they've had engine failures and 2.) Lewis is simply ahead in points, so his stats will be better.

But again, inconsistency is not bad. It provides thrilling races, great accomplishments like his home win, etc. It does bring along a few chuckles, but that's fine. The only reason I bring it up is because I'm wondering whether Lewis will be "on" or "off" during Valencia.

[Anon]

"In Hungary he wasn’t exciting, but got points when by rights he should have been out of it."

OK, he got points. But what did he do? He drove his limping car back to the pits and drove out again. Not spectacular, it's not like he did some overtaking.

[Derek Smith]

My point wasn't whether LH was exciting, flatspotted his tyres or whatever, it was solely that a judgement of good/bad/ok is purely subjective and not statistical as there are many way so looking at races.

Whitmarsh said: "Lewis's tyre problem not only forced him to complete the best part of a lap on a flat tyre, he suffered the failure at Turn One and the tyre was flat by Turn Two, but also caused him to pit earlier than anticipated. This not only negated the fuel advantage he was originally carrying but forced him to look after his super-soft tyres over a far longer stint than we had originally anticipated. That he managed to do that so effortlessly is a great testament to his presence of mind, and his fifth position, during an afternoon of damage-limitation, was a truly impressive result." But then he would say that, wouldn't he.

But to take up your point about flatspotting tyres: they would say that, wouldn't they. In 42 years of being a GP nerd, I can't remember any other tyre failure being put down to a flat spot before. And one would assume especially one that was hardly 2/3rds into its planned life expectancy.

[Anon]

Derek: about the tires. Yes, Bridgestone say other stuff, such as

1.) he blew the tire totally due to rough driving (Lewis in Turkey)

2.) he hit a big piece of debris, not his fault, not ours either.

In this case, it's in the middle, some of it Lewis's fault, some of it not. Who knows, since he flat-spotted the tire, he may have blown it totally at the end of the stint.

Come on, Derek, you're one of them who comes in here to promote logical thinking and sources and facts. You're absolutely right. But can't you see all of these are on my side?

About the good/bad: sure its opiniated. I gave some stats that weren't in the same post I gave the good/bad.

But heck, it's fine if drivers have bad races. It just happens. I've come to term that Fernando had a ton of bad races this year: Monaco, Canada, France, Hockenheim. It's no big biggy.

Time to wake up at five tomorrow to go the US.

[Anon]

Oh, and about the "they would say that, wouldn't they."

Well, why would they? It would have made Bridgestone tires look a lot better if they said "he drove over debris he should not have." And who cares, they are the only ones in F1.

And it's not like we're going to change the tires on our personal cars to Michelins because Lewis ha a flat-spot!

Regards

[jlk]

Jeez Guys
And we were having so much fun with the travelogues! And you go and spoil it with F1 comments!!!
Since it is summer holidays and I am already "betting on" LH to win I want to tell IDR that Madrid is my 2nd fave Spanish city. Cordoba beats all for me.
BTW when is the new "AVI between Valencia and Madrid due to be completed?
JLK
JLK

[Richard]

DEREK - I totally agree with your comments about flat spotting tyres causing punctures, and I've said as much on previous posts. How badly would a relatively new tyre have to be flat spotted to substantially increase the susceptibility to puncture? I think the car would be undriveable due to vibrations before a puncture.

Tyres are flat spotted by a number of drivers in every GP (how about Massa's in turn 1 trying to overtake Hamilton?) but we've never heard it being cited as the cause of a puncture before.

ANON - Earlier in the season, Kubica was being hailed as Mr Consistent whilst LH KR and FM were being labelled as inconsistent. I think this is true, they've all had their moments of inconsistency. LH's tend to be due to needless mistakes whilst KR's seem to be down to a huge variance in his speed (and motivation?) from race to race. But I still don't see that LH is more inconsistent than any of his closest rivals. He may appear to be more inconsistent due to the nature of his mistakes, but the results tell a different story. And as you say, inconsistency makes the races more exciting, so long may it continue!

[IDR]

As Derek has given us permission for doing some “statistical wishful thinking” and despite I agree with him that stats are someway not objective at all.

I mean: Kovalainen win in Hungary and Hamilton win in Britain. On a statistic point of view both wins have the same value. I’m pretty sure all of us agree on these wins have not the same value.

In any case, I have made some maths.

I have taken the final race position of all GP up to date. I have discounted for those drivers race positions in which they have had technical problems: Massa in Australia and Kimi Raikonen in Canada (well he didn’t have any technical problem but somebody “rubbed his back”)

Here are the results:

Average final race position:

Lewis Hamilton. 5,55
Kimi Raikkonen 3,60
Felipe Massa: 6,60
Robert Kubica: 5,18

If you want to measure consistency, you should take in consideration the Standard deviation of each driver's average:

Standard Deviation:

Lewis Hamilton: 5,99
Kimi Raikkonen: 2,99
Felipe Massa: 6,96
Robert Kubica: 3,92

At the end, the most inconsistent driver is Massa, as most of us have been commenting in this blog. And the most consistent should be Kimi.

In any case, consistency doesn’t give you high advantage in terms of points. In fact Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton has been the most inconsistent of the four drivers, but both would have been the two first drivers in WDC if we eliminate the engine problem of Felipe in Hungary.

Finally only say that thanks god Lewis have been someway inconsistent, if not, the championship should be almost decided at this time.

[Derek Smith]

The only thing you can prove with statistics is that they prove nothing. That's the way it's always been, I have the stats to prove it.

I don't know what makes a good driver but I think most would accept that Prost's statistics were considerably better than Mansell's, yet whenever I think of the latter, it's his "wheel to wheel" overtake on Senna, or his pass on Piquet at Silverstone that springs to mind. Or perhaps, the excitement of his outlap at Brands when he stayed ahead of Piquet and earned his first win.

Prost? What famous win did he ever burn into my brain? The first race that comes to mind is when he span off on the parade lap. Or, of course, his two 'collisions' with Senna.

But who was the 'better' driver? I know who was the most consistent - the stats are clear enough. Who would you have paid more to see though?

LH has brought a lot of excitement to GP racing and this, to me at least, makes him a good driver. Sod the stats.

[IDR]

@DEREK

You have put on the table the best possible example for me:

Alain Prost is my less admired champion; meanwhile Nigel Mansell is one of my most admired ones.

As you said, Nigel has given many unforgettable moments, as those you commented and for example the one you can watch in this link:

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=xHhWD095uj0

That was almost impossible, but Nigel tried and tried again giving us the pleasure of a great moment of Montecarlo GP in 1992.

In fact I think admiration is not about HOW MUCH one has won, but HOW one has won it.

Maybe stats are just to determine who is better, but for sure stats are not for determine who is more admirable…

…Despite I have no stats to prove it.

@JLK

Cordoba is really wonderful. Next time you go there, don’t forget to go to El Churrasco restaurant, wonderful place for visiting and with a great cuisine.

[Richard]

IDR - thanks for the clip, it brings back some great memories. I think we were spoiled back then, if you look on youtube, there are many great clips from the late 80s and early 90s with Senna, Mansell etc.

I have a suggestion for the FIA - bring back the cars from that era, make them a little safer, and put them back on the track for today's drivers to race. We'll then see whether it's the cars or the drivers to blame for the relative lack of close racing we see nowadays.

[IDR]

Once I said in a previous post consistency is not the key element for fighting for the WDC, now is Lewis Hamilton who says:

"Consistency key to Title" (Autosport)

So, as Kimi is the more consistent of these four title contenders, he will be champion again.

Well I'm afraid not everybody agree on this. If fact, if you look at betfair, Lewis is paid 1,8 meanwhile Kimi is 3,65 (litle bit more than double)

Stats are only useful in predicting... the past!

Just a quick note to say I read new goosip in AS (not very reliable source):

Ferrari had relaiability problems in his engines in recent tests. (A connecting rod broken during a race simulation in their laboratory)

[Richard]

It depends what you mean by consistency. LH is the most consistent points scorer, that's why he has the most points. RK and KR may have had less deviation in their results but they've still scored fewer points because their placings have been lower than LH's on average.

If it were just down to consistency, Adrian Sutil would be favourite for the title, as he's been extremely consistent - 7 retirements out of 11 races, and two 19th places.

I hope Ferrari sort out their engine reliability problems as I'm sure we'd all like to see the title decided through racing not through retirements. Mind you, it does make you wonder why an engine suddenly starts to throw conrods halfway through the season when there's a freeze on engine development......

[Derek Smith]

Richard said:

"Mind you, it does make you wonder why an engine suddenly starts to throw conrods halfway through the season when there's a freeze on engine development . . ."

The same thought occurred to me. Mind you, every cloud and all that, at least for Ferrari. The engine spec can be changed to overcome reliability problems. They are being beaten by McLaren and now they have a chance to work on their engine. Now I'm not one to go on about conspiracies, 'cause I know that if you do there's that crowd down at . . . well, I've said too much already. But you know who I mean.

I can't help thinking that a bit of unreliability might be just what Ferrari need at this time. I'm not suggesting they messed with engine management, at least on one car, in order to prove their problem. If I was Massa I'd check the conrod for a 'Made in China' label.

Joking aside, it does seem odd, though, doesn't it. Why now?

[Anon]

ABout overtaking and pole:

Here are the races and why or why not they were won from pole.

Australia- won from pole
Malaysia- overtake in the pits
Bahrain- off the line
Spain- pole
Turkey- pole
Monaco- overtake in the pits
Canada- accident
France- mechanical
Britain- overtaking
Hockenheim- pole
Hungary- mechanical

In all, you can see only one race was actually decided fair and square through overtasking on the track, and that was because Heikki sorta ran wide allowing Lewis to overtake.

That needs to be fixed. Sure, there were great overtaking maneuvres, just to list a few:

Alonso on Heikki and Kimi, Aus.
Heikki on ALonso, Aus.
Kimi on Robert- Bahrain
Lewis on Felipe, Turkey
Alonso on Kimi, TUrkey (TUrn 1 of Lap 1)
Alonso on Webber, Monaco
Barrichello on Webber, Monaco
Massa on Barrichello and kovi, Canada
Lewis on Fernando, France
Heidfeld on Jarno and Fernando, Britain
Heidfeld on Kimi and Heikki, GBR
Lewis on Massa, Hockers.
Massa on Lewis, Hungary

Lewis and Fernando have given us the best overtaking so far. Fernando on both Finns in AUstralia was awesome not only for the technique but the fact his car sucked.

Any Monaco overtaking was great.

Lewis on Massa in TUrkey was nice, even though he was much lighter.

Fernando on Kimi in TUrkey was great cuz you wonder how he got through Kimi on the right side of the track while kimi was ON the right side of the track.

Etc.etc.

But in the good old days, cthis would be the amount of overtaking in one race, not one half-season.

[IDR]

@DEREK

"They are being beaten by McLaren and now they have a chance to work on their engine. Now I'm not one to go on about conspiracies..."

In this case it's not necessary, Flavio Briatore has already gone through this way. So, you will not be the first... and not the last one, I guess.

And related to "Made in China" label...

Well it depends on who has been copied by the Chinese to make the conrod!

[Richard]

DEREK - 'Joking aside, it does seem odd, though, doesn't it. Why now?'

Absolutely - they have bulletproof engine reliability for years when there's no restriction on development, but when an engine development freeze is in force, they start having serious reliability issues. Of course, it could just be that the management isn't as effective now the 'dream team' members have gone their seperate ways.

[Anon]

Wow, I just discoered something new.

I always thought that podium was the best a driver has ever done on his debut race. Wrong. Giancarlo Baghetti scored his very first race win on his very first race.

The huge irony is, it was his only win.

[Derek Smith]

Baghetti was the second driver to win the first F1 GP he entered. It's a GP trivia question (the year it was in) that nearly caught my team out. The answer is, of course obvious once you think about it. All the other teams put 1961 and they were wrong. They've never forgiven us. I really must stop mentioning it. One of these years.

[Anon]

Derek Smith: Oh, I guess the other one was Nino Farina at Silverstone in 1950?

[IDR]

@Anon

Giuseppe "Nino"Farina was the first driver to win the first F1 GP he entered.

That was at the British GP 1950... and was the first F1 GP for everybody!

[Derek Smith]

Well done, guys. The British GP in 1950 it was. As I say, obvious when you think about it. But you have to think about it.

By the way, back onto Ferrari's engine blow-up and, presumably, they being allowed to modify it: do I remember correctly that ferrari were allowed to check the McLaren engine when it was examined by the FiA a few weeks ago, ostensibly to see if McLaren had copied anything from Ferrari?

It is all coming together nicely, at least for those of us who indulge in conspiracy theories.

[Anon]

One random post.

On my flight back to the states I bought a copy of F1 Racing, a French magazine that is only about F1 (and the French guys in it).

Among the stuff in it: an interview of Robert, a very interesting interview of Fernando, and a look at the rule changes for '09.

The Robert interview is amaznig for one thing. THere is a picture of a podium from a karting race. First is Robert, who you can identify easily by his face and nose. Second is Lewis, who you can identify easily, as he looks the same now. And third is Nico, who can easily recognize because of the flowing blonde hair. Black and white, great picture.

An interview of Willy Rampf is interesting because he confirms what I've been saying for a long time: that BMW have long given up on '08, and are throwing themselves entirely at '09 in order to dominate the whole championship. I think they will.

An interview of Fernando is interesting because it is surprisingly frank. Considering his McLaren contract has a clause in which he can't criticize the team (which is more or less normal, I imagine), his interview is frank. He says his usual story, the one we've all heard and ove or hate: the one about being at a disadvantage at the end of the season. He claims to have never asked for preferential treatment, ever, but simply refuses to be a number four or five. Interesting enough. I always thought he was number 1 at Renault. Maybe that came out of the incompetence of Fisico rather than him asking.

And then there is '09. They show us a graphic picture of what an '09 car will look like. If they got it right, I don't know what I like better. I hate the wings on cars, which goes off next year. My dad points out Formula One would like better if they're cars looked more like, well, cars. So in 09, no wings. But then the front chanegs to be some enormous slab of a front wing that looks like the car is ready to suck the snow off of a road. The back wing is smaller, which is fine. I just hope those front wings don't become too oversimplified. I like the complicated ones we have now.

And then, supposedly there is a ton of things that will change F1 and make overtaking easier: reduction of downforce, slick tires, adjustable aerodynamics, and, of course, KERS.

The reduction of downforce comes from the missing wings. That's great. While I was at Hockers for my first live race, I found that F1 cars are SO fast in turns. It's unbelieveable. Witht he reduction, hopefully turns will be much more challenging and since cars will go slower and there will be more room for mistakes, more overtaking. Hopefully.

And then slick tires are harder to use, so more mistakes, more overtaking.

Supposedly, and I'll translate my magazine, "the big flaps of the front wing can be adjusted twice per lap to up to six degrees, allowing a car which is following another to stay close in rapid turns turns preceding straight lines". Complex enough. If it works out, great.

And then there is KERS. I'm surprised that KERS is not mandatory next. Williams, Honda, and BMW are all for it, bur other teams don't want it. I think it is ridiculous to have such an important rule be non-mandatory. Either everyone does it, or nobody does. But anyway, the negery used from braking can be used by the driver either all the time, consistently, or as a power boost there and there (which makes me wonder how cars with KERS will interfere with cars without it). Diffferent management of the KERS boost will allow more overtaking.

All of these are the theories of the group mandated by the FIA to make overtaking easier (the group is made of Pat Symonds, Rory Byrne, and Paddy Lowe).

It all semms great. But then does all of this really help when you're in Hungary, Catalunya, or Monaco? Probably not. Overtaking is made easier by it, but you can't do it when there is simply no room. Period.

And then one wonders if it's possible F1 will return to the good old days. If all of the sudden, a race will not be settled by qualifying fuel loads but by the sheer brilliance of drivers we all admire and love. Will these little technical details make it so that pole position is a ltiny, laughable advantage? I sure hope so.

And then comes the questions of: will team hierarchies change? It all depends on how much time team will put on '09. Teams like Force India and Honda started focussing on it straight away. BMW did rigt after Canada. And McLaren and Ferrari seem to be so engrossed in their championship fight that they've totally forgotten about it. Wouldn't it be great if the main title contenders were Honda, BMW, and Williams, with the midfield consisting of all the rest with McLaren and Ferrari struggling to get podium? It would be interesting and great to see new faces fighting for the championship. But then, the McLaren-Ferrari hold has been so tight on championships, could it really work?

There is the theory that McLaren have put all of their resources recklessly into '08 in order for Ron Dennis to finally bring the silverware home to Woking. By doing so, he's dragging down Ferrari into the abyss. It's a suggestion, but it makes sense. McLaren gained such huge advantage from Silverstone on it's incredible. Ferrari got really fast right after Hockenheim. It's like a poker game, and Ferrari and McLaren are graduall going all in on '08 will BMW folded a long time ago.Of course, that means the staks are incredibly high, especially for McLaren. If Lewis loses the championship and then is stalled by slow car next year, it would really damage his career. Same goes for Massa or Kimi. I think Lewis will win the championship this year. He should win in Italy, Singapore, Japan, and China. There is no room for error though. Not one. This year, he needs it in the bag, because who knows, it might be the last chance in a long while.

[Anon]

Oh, I forgot to mention Fernando's future, having talked of Lewis's.

Fernando's case is so complicated. Renault seem doomed to be a midfielder team, and that is only helped by their incomprehensible decision to continually upgrade the R28. There is no reason for that. It won't score a win, let alone a championship. They should focus on '09. But appently, they haven't. Maybe this is a cruel maneuvre from Fernando: encourage the team to work on '08 so he can enjoy himself more and then leave to another, more competitive, team for '09.

But were should he go? It all depends on whether you believe Ferrari will tumble and Honda will rise, or if you think the hierarchy will stay the same.

Honda want a two year deal with him, and the fact Ross Brawn says he is the best driver on the grid and that Ross Brawn made Michael get 5 more championships is encouraging. But can they really do it? Or should he go to Ferrari and try to stop what should be a gradual fall from power? It all seems so complicated. It would be great if he could go to BMW, but they seem happy with their driver lineup and don't want a driver who they believe can cause problems.

I would suggest he should stay at Renault for a year and wait and see, uinless he gets Kimi's seat at the end of the year...

About he trivia-

Here's my homemade questions- hopefully I didn't make any mistakes!

1.) Who was the last champion to win the championship with only one race win?

2.) How many times was Michael Schumacher ether disqualified or barred from entering a race in 1994?

3.) How many drivers raced for Williams during 1994?

4.) The Jordan team won how many races?

The answers below.

It is interesting to know that this F1 championship is arguably the closest in history. This is only the third time in F1 history we've had three drivers tied on top of the standings (and another one only two points off). The other two times were in 1950 and... 2007. This is also the only championship in which four drivers have held the championship lead in four races. Maybe we should be a bit more grateful to modern F1.

OK, the answers. Feel free to correct me if needed.

1.) Keke Rosberg, in 1982. He only won the Swiss GP but won the title.

2.) Four times.

3.) Four drivers- Senna, Mansell, Coulthard, Hill.

4.) Four race victories (ow, what's with the number four? Coincidence).

Enjoy!

[Anon]

I like the trivia. Multiple choice now. I'm not ENTIRELY sure of the answers though, so you can correct me.

The only time a driver won all races except for two of them in a season was:

a. Schumacher in 2004
b. Fangio 1951
c. Mansell in 1992
d. Ascari in 1952

2.) The smallest point difference between the championship winner and the runner up was in

a. Schumacher over Hill, 1994
b. Raikkonen over Hamilton, 207
c. Lauda over Prost, 1984
d. P. Hill over von Trips, 1961

3.) Which of these drivers never won a Grand Prix:

a. Stefan Johansson
b. Jean Alesi
c. Jarno Trulli
d. Patrick Tambay

4.) The season in which there were the most GP winning drivers was:

a. 1975
b. 1977
c. 2003
d. 1982

Answers (no peeking!)

1.) d
2.) c (half a point was the difference)
3.) a
4.) d (eleven race winners)

[Derek Smith]

Concentrate is a difficult condition to attach to the way rich teams, such as Ferrari and McLaren, apportion their resources between 08 and 09. Whilst I agree that McLaren are targetting the 08 championships, I can't help but think they still have enough left to invest into 09. There is, I feel, a limit to how much useful investment they can make for next season. If, as seems probable, they drag Ferrari along with them they might well consider it as job done.

I agree that BMW is the big risk to the top two in 09, but giving up on 08 was, I feel, forced on them. They weren't going to win, that was plain, so why throw good money after bad?

What is up for grabs, though is the routes followed by the various teams. KERS and no KERS is interesting. It seems to me to be a bit Mickey Mouse, but then what do I know?

What I do know is that there will still be McLaren and Ferrrari at the top next season. The only question is who will join them.

I reckon it will be a fascinating year. Probably not a classic one, but interesting. Oh, yes, very interesting.

[McCheets]

Frank Williams recently acknowledged that the ‘engine freeze’ is not as literal as one would rightly assume. Given that the freeze wasn’t forced on the engine manufacturers overnight, and the levels of reliability witnessed after the requirements for engine life were increased, the failures that some teams are experiencing is surprising.

As Flavio is the only team leader to speak out on the issue of the engine freeze, it has to be assumed that Renault is the only team not exploiting any loopholes in the regulations – of course this could purely be a consequence of budgetary constraints.

I agree with Richard’s comments on the loss of the ‘dream team’ as being the most likely reason for Ferrari’s woes. Last season reliability tended not to be at the levels generally witnessed from 1997-2006.

During this time, if a Ferrari engine failed it was invariably that of Schumacher’s team-mate. Was this a consequence of Schumacher’s famed attention to detail, extra focus from Ferrari employees not wanting to be responsible for a Schuey blow-up, or simple good fortune?

On a completely irrelevant topic, is this the most uneventful ‘summer break’ in the history of F1?

[McCheets]

ANON

Your statement that KERS energy will be available all the time is not entirely true. At the start of the race there will be no energy stored in the KERS of each car. When a driver makes a pit stop, the stored energy will also be released.

As each lap progresses, energy recovered from one axle will be transferred to the KERS, up to a maximum of 400kJoules. How quickly energy is stored will depend upon the amount of braking that takes place, and the difference in the speed of the car before and after the brakes are applied.

The change in kinetic energy when a car brakes from 200 km/h to 150 km/h corresponds to a changed in energy of approximately 400 kJoules (assuming the car/driver weighs 605 kg). Braking from 300 km/h to 150 km/h corresponds to 1575 kJ.

Of course, the (likely) low efficiency of KERS means that only a small proportion of this energy will be stored. Hence, a few corners of braking will be required for the energy capacity of the system to be reached.

After the energy stored in the KERS is accessed, the total energy available will be reduced. Thus the process of storage will recommence. Determining the optimal location that the stored energy should be accessed on the track should prove interesting at some venues, especially if systems enable the driver to access the energy before the KERS has reached the 400 kJoules maximum capacity stored (does anybody know if this is the case?).

Some publications have been referring to KERS as an energy saving system. At the moment the plan is not for it to be used in F1 for this purpose – it is intended as an additional power supply.

The amount of time that a driver will have access to stored energy is given from the equation:

Time = Energy/Power

The FIA has stated that next season teams are allowed transfer 60kW (just over 80 bhp).

If 400 kJoules (400000 Joules) of energy is stored in the KERS, then the driver will have access to the energy for a maximum of 6.7 seconds.

Time = 400000/60000 = 6.7 seconds

This is how the 6.7 second figure quoted in the press is obtained.

If 200 kJoules (200000 Joules) of energy is stored, the driver will have access to an additional 60kW for 3.33 seconds.

Time = 200000/60000 = 3.33 seconds

Hopefully KERS will prove to be an interesting development. It may lead to a similar situation to that experienced with turbos - initially running without it is better, but as time progresses its use becomes essential to remain competitive.

[Anon]

One last post for now.

Here is a funny question. Give yourself three seconds- no more!- to think of the answer.

When was the last time lewis and Fernando were together on podium?

About the engine stuff. Are you guys saying Ferrari have taken McLaren stuff to add engine horsepower which in turn has made it less reliable?

I doubt it. After the affairs of 2007, Ferrari should be careful to not 1.)develop the engine, because that's illegal and 2.) steal info, because that gets them the boot!

I'd say the engine blew because of the fact humans make the engine. We tend to forget that the guys who make engines are mechanics at Maranello. They messed up on this one. Not severely, as Felipe could go fast when he wanted to. But a slight defect.

It's interesting to know who has the best engine. I think Mercedes has the best, then BMW (most consistent), and then Ferrari.

But who knows.

The answer to the question is Italy '07.

[Derek Smith]

Anon asked:

"Are you guys saying Ferrari have taken McLaren stuff to add engine horsepower which in turn has made it less reliable?"

Not me anyway. What I'm saying is that it seems odd to me that the engine suddenly has become unreliable. My understanding is that the only reason an engine can be changed from the 'standard' deposited with the FiA at the beginning of the season is to rectify reliability issues. We now have a sudden failure of Massa's engine and a conrod failure on test. Is this enough to show unreliability?

Remember that to all intents and purposes Massa was cruising from a little after half way in Hungary yet his engine still let go. Had LH not had his puncture, Massa would have had to put in some belting laps before and after his pitstop in order to stay ahead and, I would assume, his engine would have let go much sooner.

As regards to pinching McLaren's ideas: mere knowledge of another team's methods of overcoming cetain problem gives a competitor an advantage. This from the FiA in punishing McLaren because their cheif designer had had sight of the 780pp document (second trial. The first trial on this they found no reason to penalise).

Mind you, I don't think any info will be that useful at this stage of the season. My suggestion of a conspiracy was a bit tongue in cheek. However, one wonders if Ferrari will be allowed to modify one of the most reliable engines in the paddock.

[IDR]

Off Topic...

Today Rafa Nadal has the Olympic Gold Medal
Tomorrow, Number One Status.

A pity Federer was not in the final round. I think all of us would like to see those great tennis players fighting again. Maybe next week in the USA Open.

Vamos Rafa!

[Anon]

Wow, McCheets, a lot more detail than I could muster! Very interesting indeed!

IDR: eek, don't mention tennis to me anymore... we wonder what happened to Federer these past few months... At least we Swiss won on doubles.

[Anon]

Extra:

Yes, McCheets, this is a really uneventful summer break. Reall uneventful. Normally F1-Live.com provides me with a plethora of godsip and rumors I can feed off of while waiting. Now, just two small and essentially useless columns about India drivers and Coulthard watching MotoGP. Hardly the kind of day-by-day scandals we we're getting last year.

Derek Smith: I remember that after the Australian GP, Ferrari was thought to have upgraded the reliability of their engines. Shortly after, some teams felt they added not only reliability but horsepower.

I don't know if the engine freeze is good or not. With budget capping next year, I think they should overthrow. Otherwise, teams like Honda or STR will be stuck with engines that are freezed into being sower than the top runners...

OK for Valencia.

It's a street circuit with barriers. Lewis loves those, Massa doesn't.

Hence my ultra-radical prediction-

Lewis
Kimi
Felipe
Heikki
Timo
Fernando
Jarno

I wonder if Alonso can pull off a real good show. Considering he has the most passionate fans for an F1 driver, I'd be absolutely horrified to have to compete in front of my home crowd. Imagine the embarrassment if he delivers a race like he did in Hockenheim or Monaco!
But his performance in Catalunya was really good. He was running in fifth when his engine failed him, which would have been his third best result up until now.

But will he master Valencia as well as Catalunya?

Another thing that annoys me, as an Alonso fan, is that Piquet always runs on safety car-conducive straegies. Long one-stoppers that allow him to all of the sudden finish second in Germany, even though he didn't overtake ONE car.
What if that were to happen again? Simply finishing third would put him ahead of Fernando! We tend to forget that Piquet's real point stack is five points.

Which is why hate the safety car rule. If you're not touched by my worrying about Fernando, then maybe imagine this.

The race goes down to Brazil with two title contenders- Kimi and Lewis. They're on equal points.

Lewis is leading Kimi easily and cruising into second. A cdrtain Coulthard crashes for the umpteenth time this season. Safety car comes out. Kimi is on more fuel and stays out. Lewis has to go in. Kimi comes up front! Kimi is champion, even though Lewis was faster everywhere.

That would be some sport, huh?

Or imagine if Felipe loses the championship by one point. He obviously deserved to finish in front of Piquet in Germany. Again, because of the safety car, the wrong champion will be crowned.

I think the FIA should realize this and fix it. I understand they want lower teams to get a chance at podium glory. But even Honda and Toyota have done it fairly, without safety car. THe FIA should change the rule in case this year's champion is crowned because he had one lap more fuel on board on lap 27 of the Brazilian GP. That would suck.

So Lewis should win Valencia. But then also we have to remind ourselves that generally, he ahs followed a bad race with another. Of course, he can change the pattern. But look at the China-Brazil, Malaysia-Bahrain, Canada-France combos. Will be interesting. Felipe tends to be up and down. It would be great for him to win Valencia- especially if he wins because the guy leading the race lost his engine three laps from the end. I was talking about F1 with a family friend who mentioned that Massa was such a soft and nice guy. And come to think of it, she's right. I've always thought of Felipe as uncharismatic, but he in fact is very tender and soft in his personality. That's one of the reasons I think people have a bias against him- they think he's not rock-hard enough to overcome the mental powers of Kimi, Fernando, or Lewis. Now we just need to see if he can actually string two great performances in a row.

There are two things that are missing this season. 1.) replacement drivers. What happened to them? Last year there were tons of F1 newcomers: Yamamoto, Winkelhock, Vettel, etc. Now nobody! DC is obviously the most susceptible to replacement, bt he was clever enough to say that he was thankful to Red Bull for letting him race until te final laps in Brazil. It would seem cruel to fire him amidst his last season. But you have to admit the guy is considerably off pace and is cauing Red Bull a lot of money!

Bourdais also is coming under a lot of pressure. I think a lot of it unjust. We forget that he suffered an engine failure in Australia and that he actually should have scored five points- or four, if Fernando caught him. So he would be one or two points off of Vettel right now. Some argue his pace is too slow. I argue that Vettel's is too fast- the guy is bound to be a champion.
But we'll see.

Another thin this season has been missing is the ultimate crazy race. If Fisico could win in Brazil in '03, shouldn't someone really far-fetched win? OK, Heikki's win was a bit miraculous. But it would be great to see a Toyota or Red Bull or even Fernando take a win in really, really crazy conditions.

Regards

[Richard]

MCCHEETS - thanks for the info, I have to confess I haven't taken the time to really understand the implications of KERS, so this has been an education for me.

ANON - I only mentioned the Ferrari engine issue because someone had posted that they'd had a serious engine problem in testing as well as Massa's problem in the race. I agree that we shouldn't read anything into one engine blow-up, but when there are two serious engine malfunctions for a team with legendary engine reliability, it does strike me as odd.

Having said that, I haven't read about their testing problem anywhere else, and do they even need to run their 'frozen-spec' engine when testing anyway?

[Verbal]

WHy dont you ping-pong fans go find a somewhere else to play :)

Derek - there several reasons why an engine may suddenly give and Anon touch on one of them,
errors in the manufacturing and tranportation process and other things in and around the engine bay could adversly affect it...
I susppect you already know this but being a Macca fan you are taunting the "red devils". I think Ferrari is such a force that people think if they say unreliable, faul or cheat, something is bound to stick/become true.
Things will go wrong, before the season is out a Merc-Mclaren engine is going to puke, the willams and BMs are likeely to follow suit thats not to say they are cheating. this is F1 everything is on the edge and finly balanced a small thing could tip that balance.
I remember a Mechanic forgot to put dry ice in schumi's car it subsequently gave up the ghost-over heating, needless to say thats the last time that man was seen wearing the scuderia red

[Anon]

Richard: it is sad that in this sport, some questions can only be answered if you are Charlie Whiting, Bernie Ecclestone, or a steward. Or you can be a journalist and rely on rumors. Heck, you could create your own alternative F1 world because you believed the wrong stories or didn't understand something. Very Kafkaesque indeed.

[Richard]

ANON - I suppose the secrecy in F1 is bound to breed suspicion and conspiracy theories. I imagine Bernie did this on purpose in order to add to the mystique of the sport, and I have to say, it works a treat!

Maybe Bernie has to make up for the lack of charisma amongst drivers and team managers compared to years gone by. I can't imagine being excited by the prospect of reading Nick Fry's or Christian Horner's life story in twenty years time in quite the same way as I relish reading stuff about Enzo Ferrari or Colin Chapman. Or maybe I'm just looking to the past with rose-tinted spectacles.

[McCheets]

Apologies, by my KERS comments weren't entirely accurate.

The energy figures that I quoted related to the combined braking from all four wheels. Each wheel contributes to the total braking force, with a bias on the rear wheels (probably 30% of the braking force is provided by each of the rear wheels, and 20% by each of the front wheels). Additionally, for 2009 energy can only be recovered from one axle, which will presumably be one of the rear axles. Hence, the theoretical energy that can be recovered under braking will be around 30% of the values that I stated, and the actual energy transmitted to the KERS will be some, presumably small, proportion of this.

On a totally irrelevant topic, I have just read on yahoo that Lewis was robbed in Spain.

[FORREST GUMP]

PING

Richard:

For Enzo, Rosso better than Rose for sure.
For Colin, Yellow or Gold would work better, I suppose.

PONG

Nice to see you round here!

[McCheets]

RICHARD

Chapman passed away before I was old enough to know about F1, and Enzo soon after, but from what I have read and viewed, there were no shortage of characters in F1 back in ‘the days’. When I look at the bland, tow-the-line, corporate droids that we have, I feel as though I have missed out on something. (Overlooking financial irregularities, of course!).

I have seen Mario Andretti interviewed many times, and wonder if there is something in the Evian (or is it Perrier?) that everybody involved with F1 gulps down nowadays! And then there are the musical tastes of the drivers – how many of them cite Phil Collins as their favourite artist????

I have no doubt that the expurgated variation of F1 offered in 2008 is no match for days gone by.

[Derek Smith]

Mario was a fabulous entertainer in the Lotus. I must admit to wanting the driver to perform on circuit rather than in interview. I'm a big fan of Kimi but when he talks!

Chapman was a character all right but his integrity was questionable. He even boasted about cheating in an early book so much as I was a big fan of the cars he produced for the track and road, I can't say I took to him. Whilst current team owners like Ron Dennis might be infrequently referred to as wild ones, I can't see them falling for the same temptations as some previous ones.

I have one of the books on CC and it's entitled Flawed Genius and I can't help but agree.