The Official 2008 F1 Series Thread

[Hick]

Championships over. Ferrari keeps losing it for their drivers.

Great drive from Alonso!

[E30Kaiser]

I wouldn't say it is over, it is just going to be hard. As you said though good drive from Alonso and Nico, and Vettel put in another good performance. But why oh why can't DC take out the people I want him to? *coughlewiscough*

[Jon325i]

I wouldn't toss in the towel yet on the Championship, Joe. LH's point lead over FM is only 7 points - a 2nd place finish for Massa with Lewis out of the points would swing the pendulum the other way in Ferrari's favor, not to mention the Constructors' title is favoring McLaren by a single point. Now if these were the standings going into the season closer at Brazil then your frustration would be justified. However, there's 3 rounds remaining with as much as 30 points up for grabs for those who take the win. Still too much in play to call it a season at the moment.

Jon

[TDE30]

Wow, hell of an inaugural race indeed. I hated it most for Massa, he had a stellar drive yesterday and today (until the first pit window opened up.) I think it was the stacked pit strategy and (of course) the green light that really threw him off and created the fueling rig hose incident. Whoever let Massa out of the pit box should be fired, he was extremely close to nailing one of the Force India cars and I'm surprised that the stewards didn't throw in an additional penalty just for that.

The Driver's and Constructor's Championship is far from over though. Ferrari has had some costly mistakes lately, but with a cool head, they could regain control over the next three races. Personally, I have to agree with Joe that today really, really did them in. LH will most likely have podium positions at two out of the next three races, making it even more likely that Scuderia Ferrari will get either championship.

I was very impressed with Rosberg and Williams-Toyota today. Rosberg and his strategists really made the most of that 10 second stop-and-go penalty and got him out in a comfortable position. It's a great shame that Kubi didn't fair as well, his stop-and-go penalty was a catalyst for a really poor day.

Congrats to Alonso though, it was race well earned.

[Hick]

Massa did have a drive threw for coming out next to a force india car.

[TDE30]

Ah okay, for some reason I thought the penalty had something to do with ripping the hose off of the fueling rig. It sounds like SF is also being fined 10,000 euros for the incident as well. Someone may not be at work Monday morning. :D

[Dave]

Did you notice later that when Kimi came in they used the lollipop and not the lights? Methinks it may be that way at the next race as well. If I were Massa, I would be furious about that. The light was clearly green before he pulled out.

My fucking Tivo shut off shortly before the end of the last lap. I assume it must have gone a little over the scheduled time? Grrrr. . . .

[TDE30]

Did you notice later that when Kimi came in they used the lollipop and not the lights? Methinks it may be that way at the next race as well. If I were Massa, I would be furious about that. The light was clearly green before he pulled out.

The same thing happened with DC, he was let go prematurely by the lollipop guy. But, in regards to Massa's situation, the lights went from green back to red. Something definitely wasn't right there.

My fucking Tivo shut off shortly before the end of the last lap. I assume it must have gone a little over the scheduled time? Grrrr. . . .

Yup, your Tivo probably recorded the whole race, but unlike some F1 races that go over their allotted time, today's race was directly preceded by NASCRAP. And, instead of allowing the F1 race to include the post-race press conference, they just decided to instantly air the NASCAR race.

The whole "Fuck NASCAR" thing is like beating a dead horse, but seriously, that was the gayest move Speed Channel has pulled in a while.

[Jon325i]

The whole "Fuck NASCAR" thing is like beating a dead horse, but seriously, that was the gayest move Speed Channel has pulled in a while.

Yeah - it definately was teh suck.

All in all, I thought it was a good race. The pitlane entry/exit wasn't as much of an issue as I was expecting it to be. That tight series of chicanes where Kimi stuffed it is a horrible design. It clearly forces a single-file procession of cars through there. I'd like to see those rearranged or removed to allow enough width for two cars - then you would get some passing under deep braking (isn't that what they're trying to do to make F1 more exciting)? The washboard effect of the pavement going into T7 (at least I think its T7) made for some great braking situations. Nico's tire smoke job passing Trulli was a great bit of driving. The German certainly had a good day.

Jon

[TDE30]

^ Yeah there was quite a bit of lock ups going into turn 7, I recall seeing Rosberg, Kazoo, and a few other drivers passing there. There was a lot of gripe amongst the drivers about the bumpiness going into turn 7, and the FIA mentioned some resurfacing of that corner when/if the event is held next year. I kind of liked the bumpiness though, especially at night when you could see the planks hit the asphalt, it really adds to the street circuit feel.

[Jean]

Man, what a blow for Massa and Kimi as well. Great job Alonso and Rosberg.

[ldsbeaker]

hmmm, let's think about this. Was it 14 or 15 cars that finished? Let's say 14.
14x62 (include recon lap) = 868
Two practice sessions, let's say all 20 cars get 30 laps in.
Qualifying, all 20 get at LEAST 10 laps in.
That's over 1600 opportunities, and only one guy stuffs his car after hitting that chicane?
Sounds like someone lost their focus. I'm as much a Kimi fan as the next guy, but he just plain effed it up.

p.s. I'm glad I had my DVR set to record an extra half hour...

[Jon325i]

Possible F1 "Million Dollar Race" on Fridays? Just prize money - no points. Discuss.

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-teams-propose-1m-friday-show-race/

Jon

[skota]

I usually dont miss a Friday practice, so this sounds great to me.

[E30Kaiser]

I wish they would just have something like the M1 Procar series or something. That would be far more interesting to me. Though the $1m seems more inline with the ideal of a "Grand Prix", so either way I would be happy.