The Official F1 2009 Thread

[E30Kaiser]

Thought this was a cool little question from the Thursday press conference at this weeks German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. Vettel talks about driving an old BMW 3-series around the ring which i would only guess would be an E30.

Question to you all: there's this big legend about the Nordschleife here. I want to know your experience driving around it with any car and if you have a wish to one day have a Formula One race here, even if the safety standards would be a little bit different?

SV: As soon as I got my licence, I used the opportunity (to come here) and I did a lap with a road car. I was completely lost but followed a friend and around half a lap I completely lost the brakes and I was lucky not to crash, so I had totally underestimated the performance of normal road car brakes. Then a couple of years later I had another opportunity with a friend who lives just down the road here close to Nürburgring and the Nordschleife.

He has an old BMW 3-series, not very powerful but modified, so proper tyres and the chassis tuned a little bit. When there were normal tourists around the track, then it was quite big fun to chase them in this little car and even though you have no power on the straights, you were much faster in the corners. It was fun. I think I had five or six laps. First of all you are surprised how many corners there are and how long one lap really is but I think then you quite quickly get into the rhythm and you kind of recognise the corners more and more, so after five laps you roughly know where you are but it has been a few days and I think I have forgotten most of it but it would be nice to come back and do a couple of laps.

[Hick]

webber has the best shot hes ever had to win a race now. i hope it works out for him

[hugh jass]

webber has the best shot hes ever had to win a race now. i hope it works out for him

no shit, its definitely time for him to win one

[TDE30]

webber has the best shot hes ever had to win a race now. i hope it works out for him

Agreed, I'd like to see him pick up a win tomorrow.

I'm sure the tons of German fans who showed up and endured the weather were hugely disappointed by the top three qualifiers today. I hated to see both Brawns in there, as Vettel (and Hamilton?!?!) put in some excellent times. I was impressed by some of Heidfeld's performance today, but ultimately he should have stayed out on the track to finish his Q2 lap that could have put him into Q3; I have nothing to say about his teammate. How about Sutil though?

Tomorrow should be interesting, hopefully it'll rain.

[Hick]

Sutil is significantly heavier than the guys ahead of him. i wonder how that will work out!

[323iNathan]

Webber winssss!!!!!!!!!! Couldn't be happier for him!

About friggin time the luck went his way. Soo stoked right now, the Aussie TV hosts we're all like "First they'll have to find the right tape and then brush 28 years of dust off the national anthem" haha

Today he had everyone's measure and then some, definitely deserved the victory.

[tg318is]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah

[z31maniac]

Awesome! Glad to hear he finally got a win. I didn't get to watch Silverstone or this one.

Although to be honest, all the controversy bullshit has seriously diminished my interest in the sport. The amount of ego that let all that shit drag on for so long.

Fuck.

[Ray Smoodiver]

Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie

Oi! Oi! Oi!

[Hick]

Nice run by Webber, even if he lost his head at the start. Surprised how the two Brawns differ in tire wear. Button is over driving the tires, and Rubins is not showing the pace he has had.

Ferrari showed well again. Massa is the man! that car is NOT good and he has driven it to a great points finish two races in a row.

POOR POOR Sutil. I cannot begin to imagine how upsetting that has to be for him. He had 4th place locked down this weekend and had it taken away by Kimi [not saying either driver was a fault]

[e30rida]

Once again it has been proven the fastest car wins in F1.

[TDE30]

Good on Webber and Vettel, I'm glad to see some points being taken away from Button and Brawn. Massa put in a solid performance today, as did Alonso (who was so close to overtaking Barrichello.) Even Kovalainen was able to score a point and outperform his teammate, although I was hoping LH could do decent today. In the post-race interview, Webber said that his move on Rubens at the beginning of the race was an accident, and I tend to believe him as I don't think he is that reckless and I don't think he would try to force the issue that much that early in the race. It was definitely a good call by the stewards to penalize him during the race instead of penalizing him after the race.

Good race, with or without the rain.

[323iNathan]

Good on Webber and Vettel, I'm glad to see some points being taken away from Button and Brawn. Massa put in a solid performance today, as did Alonso (who was so close to overtaking Barrichello.) Even Kovalainen was able to score a point and outperform his teammate, although I was hoping LH could do decent today. In the post-race interview, Webber said that his move on Rubens at the beginning of the race was an accident, and I tend to believe him as I don't think he is that reckless and I don't think he would try to force the issue that much that early in the race. It was definitely a good call by the stewards to penalize him during the race instead of penalizing him after the race.

Good race, with or without the rain.

Well said, but can't say I'm disappointed about LH haha.

[Iain]

Webber FTW.

He shoulda chucked some nuts in the car to celebrate like a true Queanbeyan bogan, though...

[YAN-3]

nice. im glad Webber finally got a win! now it will be very VERY interesting to see what happens in the next 2 races and if Red Bull can catch!

on a side note... BMW.... how much longer till we see a significant improvement? i mean look at what Lewis had and what could of been... why cant the boys at BMW and or Sauber do something to that extent?