Wow, this rainy weather in Shanghai, China is sure very crazy for qualifying. If you're up at this hour in the US and get Setanta USA, be sure to tune in to that channel right now as well. It's the 4th quarter of AFL Grand Final from Melbourne, Australia where the action is absolutely gripping!!!!!! Wish the weather in Shanghai could have been as good as in Melbourne.
It's Renault all at the front and Ferrari pretty back!! I don't know what the weather forecast for Shanghai is on Sunday. But if it rains a lot, it's going to be a helter skelter race. At this point this race will have huge implications for the championships. If Schumi does poorly, it could be all over for him (maybe not mathematically -and I haven't bothered to work out the math - but practically).
Fernando Alonso looks like he took a mixture of diarrhea blocker and constipation reliever medicines, both on the podium and in the interview room. He even broke the champagne bottle, almost intentionally. Come on Fernando, you've at least got to learn to appreciate the greatness of a rival who has won record 91st Grand Prix, at least appreciate your podium finish with some gratitude.
Damn, I didn't realize the Japanese Grand Prix is coming up so quickly, immediately next weekend. I was going to be away next weekend. Time to set the DVRs I guess!
Alonso is a little bitch. He won't slack it in Japan because he has no chance of taking Shumi head on in such an important race.
Hmm...He's a very talented young man (I insist on very cause there's little he can blame on himself as far as this race is concerned) but he's not the best tempered chap of them all. This said, look at the face Schumi was doing when Massa won in Turkey. Both drivers are quite similar IMO. He must be frustrated, he had the pace to win today. Schumi made a brilliant drive but Renault has given this one away. The rear wheel at the pitstop and the tyre change which made the car undrivable for a few laps (this was maybe Alonso's choice there). There must have been a Chinese God looking after Schumacher, anything that could go right for him went his way. C'est la vie. Excuse me but you're talking about a driver who is the current WC holder (and the younger in history) and who fights for this championship to the thread, not about someone who had a distant chance of scoring his first success. Anyway, he showed guts once again on the track today.
I just want to mention what an incredibly gripping race that was. It wasn't quite as wierd as Hungary, but you just couldn't tell what was going to happen - if it had started raining hard again, Ferrari would've been screwed. I still can't quite believe Alonso's bad spell was completely down to the tires, but I guess it's possible. Would've been even more interesting if Raikkonen hadn't dropped out. If he'd been between Fisichella and Alonso, for instance, it would've wrecked Renault's team orders (because, let's face it... there was no way Fisichella was ever finishing 2nd in that race). Early in the race, my husband commented that Raikkonen looked like he was already driving for Ferrari, the way he was pushing so hard the two Renaults in sight. Anyway, brilliant racing all around. Ferrari was fortunate to get the switch to dries just right, and Schumacher was able to take advantage of Fisi still struggling to get the feel for the dries on his pit exit. It was certainly a hell of a pass. I'm sure Flav was wishing Fisi had closed the door there, one way or the other. The championship leaders equal on points, and the constructors championship separated by one single point with two races to go - when was the last time either or both races were quite this close?
When you see a driver losing more than two seconds a lap, the odds are quite in favor of a tire problem. The fact is Alonso and Renault made a conservative move because they were wary of the front intermediate tires degradation. Unfortunately for them, Fisi and Schumi proved that used tires were far better in those conditions as the brand new ones were graining on the drying track providing very little grip until they get more or less slick. Alonso started to better his times once his tires got past this window. Details, details... Sure, but the spirit isn't hampered as Alonso was definitely the quicker car. Five more laps and he could have catched Schumacher. The best solution would have been Fisichella winning it... Concerning tires. I heard during the last ChampCar race that since Bridgestone will be the sole provider next season, they might implement the same system as in the American single seater series. That is to say there would be two tires sidewall colours. The white for the normal compound and the red for the softer one so that everyone is able to see who's wearing what. Does that mean than drivers will be able to switch during the race though ? On another note. there have been rumours about Michelin making their own inquiry in order to see if their Japanese opponent do not use illegal means to enhance their tire competitivity. In a nutshell, Bridgestone technicians have been witnessed wearing some unusual gear (masks notably) while handling tires which might indicate the use of forbiden chemicals to give a performance boost during the first laps. Such a technique is well known in go-kart. You spread the product on the tires and it penetrates to change the compound on the external layer. All of this is not necessarily untrue...We'll see.
Once again the rain gave us an edge of your seat race The points are now even...but if MS takes the WDC by the points lost when the bumbling FIA penalized Alonso for "blocking", it will be tainted.
Some people might have considered adding sprinklers to race tracks in case races were getting boring. In this particular case though, it was the lack of rain that gave an interesting race. A full wet course and the Michelin drivers would have had a definite advantage apparently.
Two races to go and whatever will I do in the offseason? Newbie or not, I'll always believe that Renault got jobbed by the FIA this year.
There's still A1 GP...Well, it's merely a substitute to wait until next season. But don't worry, the season already starts at the end of January when new types are presented and tested. So, yeah, it'll be difficult in November, December and early January and people will look at you wondering why you look so unhappy during the Holidays... Ferrari is having a brilliant run but it's true the FIA did not help at all...I'm amazed at how many glory hunter copycats there are althrough the world. The international media want their fairy tale so badly also even if they know sh... about the sport...Just for the picture, the legend. It's not only about F1, they always have this attitude when dealing with sports. Another proof they like (need?) to aim at the least common denominator... On ne prête qu'aux riches. Only rich people get the loan. As far as French media are concerned, the EEG is still pretty flat anyway. Nobody hardly gives a ********. I think the public channels are still almost boycotting F1 because of an old story about a regional journalist team that was prevented from reporting from the French GP due to copyrights issues. That and F1 being a non PC value these days... I hope for Renault that they do get some prestige out of it abroad nonetheless. It's not common knowledge but the technical inquiry about their mass dampers has been triggered by McLaren. I get the sense most teams in the paddock prefer losing to a legend like Ferrari than to Renault.
FYP. But really, what else besides the mass dampers? That blocking penalty? As I've said before - and I confess that I haven't read the regulations - it just makes sense to me that a car that is not on a timed lap must give way to a car that is on a flying lap. Regardless of how fast he's going, if he's not pulling away, he's still disrupting Massa's lap. It was the earlier misfortune with the puncture that put him in the predicament, but that shouldn't give them a pass.
not that i really know, but here on british TV they say it's the intermediats where michelin has a big advantage. the bridgestone full wet tires are supposed to be a bit better than the michelin ones.
One of the few races I have actually seen in full this year. What a great race to watch! It was really sad to see Kubica (sp?) get the tire change wrong. Man, was that kid flying. I loved the excitement when Fisi came out from his tire change. Could he hold the line?...oops. WTF happend on the last lap? Who crashed into whom? It looked like what I epxected on the first lap, not the last. What happened to Toyota? Like Nan said, 5 more laps...
Brit tv must have got that wrong. Looking at Hungary and qualifying in China the Michelin wets were clearly superiour. But the Bridgestone intermediates definitely held their own in China as shown by Webbo's drive as well as Schumi of course.
Trust me, Formula 1 offseason seems to go on forever. It's absolute torture. But we are here to help.
Ha, I had to go back and watch that thing in slow motion to see what happened. Heidfeld was leading Button and De La Rosa as they overtook the lapped Sato. Button took an inside line on the curve, and Sato got out of HIS way, drifting wide and blocking Heidfeld, who spun and was plowed into by Barrichello, who himself was helped along by a bump in the back from Albers in the lapped Spyker. Button and De La Rosa escaped unscathed to finish 4th and 5th, Barrichello finished 6th despite losing his front wing, and Heidfeld got himself turned around in time to limp home in 7th (when he should've finished 4th). Sato was excluded from the race results for failing to yield (he certainly could've done so at a more appropriate time) while Albers received a 25 second time penalty.