End of F1 boredom ? Probably not. Michael will probably get a better start, and then cruise on to win. The other teams had better be inspired when designing next years cars. Are Yoong and Webber out of Minardi ?. P.S. I want Spa to stay, as ther weather is so unpredicable. Get rid of the Nurburgring and Hungary though.
Re: End of F1 boredom ? It's all a waiting game. Ferrari will be dragged back into the pack eventually. McLaren had their periods of domination as did Williams. We just have to wait. On a related issue cracking result for Irvine (and Pedro). And definitely with you on the Spa issue (wish they'd have kept Hockenheim like it was too) and yes, drop Hungary from the calendar.
I heard they were considering axing Austria. I wouldn't want that to happen, as it is one of the more incident-packed races each year.
Re: End of F1 boredom ? Yoong actually returned this weekend, but he would not be around next season. Webber will join Jacguar next season. As Montoya and the Williams, they have been doing well in qualifying(as fast as the two Ferraris). So I ain't surprise with the results. They won't catch them on the race.
Didn't know about Webber and Jaguar. Suddenly looks like an upward move since the last few races. I still think that they'd be better if Jackie Stewart hadn't sold it Ford.
The start was promising with a double Williams lead, but then R Schumacher was early out with broken engine and Montoya was soon overtaken by both Ferrari. One further boring race afterwards with a Ferrari show finish and no real racing. 1 Barrichello 2 M Schumacher 3 Irvine 4 Trulli 5 Button 6 Panis -------- 7 Coulthard 8 Fisichella 9 Villeneuve 10 Heidfeld
Monza is always boring, bar the first corner on the opening lap. F1 is ************ as a spectator sport.
Actually, I thought today's race was pretty eventful as they go. Eddie Irvine and Jaguar on the podium?!! Who would've ever thought it possible a few races ago.
Frentzen replaces Massa in Indianapolis. Massa was sanctioned to be dropped ten ranks in the start formation for a race accident in Monza. As the punishment is only valid for the Indianapolis race, Sauber reacted and avoids this penalty by chosing a different driver.
Sauber's seats are occupied by Heidfeld and Frentzen anyway. Little bit odd as there were worse drivers than Massa
I imagine he'll wind up in a nice test drive with some team. I can't believe he'll be without a ride for too long. By the way, can somebody describe the incident that got him penalized? I must've slept through that part in Monza. Or else, I just forgot. Or was that the thing with De La Rosa?
Test driving is evil. Once you get into testing, it's hard to find a way out. Just look at Wurz, Pizzonia, Badoer et. al. If I was Massa, I'd sit out a season and try to race in another category rather than take a crap seat at Minardi or something, where the mentality is "pay us to race." I doubt Toyota would have any interest in a young driver notorious for pushing it during testing and destroying cars.
Cristiano da Matta is the latest rumor to be driving for Toyota althrough Helio Castroneves tested for the team this week. One of them will go. May be Massa will head to the US to replace one of them.
Actually, that'd probably be a good move for him. Get some more seasoning. See how he does here. If he can do as well as Helio or da Matta, he could well find another F1 ride within a few more years - especially if whichever of Castroneves or da Matta does well in F1 like Montoya is doing.
Montoya was in similiar position when he headed to CART. He was a known talent, but could not find a seat in F-1. There's no point for Massa to join a weak team in just to stay in F-1. Some drivers such as Gianni Morbidelli never regained their reputation by driving for smaller teams. The only problem for him is..... what if he sucks in the CART/IRL... he might end up liked another Bruno Junqueira. But even if that's the case, he probably does not have the talent to make it big in F-1.
JPM was on The Late Show last night. David Letterman actually asked him some rather intelligent questions, but not before calling him Zorro. Montoya said the only reason he's able to be that fast are balls.
http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=sportnews&StoryID=1508933 "Ecclestone suggested banning electronic 'driver aids', cutting aerodynamic downforce and even reducing all teams to a single tire supplier in future."
Rubens won the US GP..... Meanwhile, Phil Hills talked about an All-American F-1 team with Ford Cosworth supplying the engine.
Won??? Once again a Ferrari farce which had nothing to do with sports I would say. All those who betted on Schumacher should file a combined lawsuit against Ferrari - could cost them tens of millions, but maybe they'd learn some basical sports rules by that. Also read about the "All-American F1 Team", maybe even for the next season.
http://www.sport1.de/coremedia/gene...humi_20fauxpas_20schadet_20ferrari_20mel.html SCHUMACHER FAUXPAS COSTS MANY SYMPATHIES FOR FERRARI Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello have never celebrated as many victories and points as in this season. Ferrari can celebrate World Championship, Vice-World Championship, Team-World Championship and a new point record. You cannot speak about a perfect season though. A season is only perfect if it's spreading glamour and honor. Exactly this is what Ferrari wasn't doing. The Zeltweg-Scandal was hardly forgotten when Ferrari cared for the next negative headlines. This time by the driver who Ferrari owes endless positive headlines: Michael Schumacher... "Schumacher may not have donated this victory to Barrichello. This result is degrading Formula One. It's very critical when drivers are fighting during the whole race and at the end such a ridiculous scene decides", criticised F1 expert Jacques Schulz. Ron Dennis is confessing it: "This is not the idea of motor sports. Such a finish makes the previous race superfluous". Mercedes sports boss Norberg Haug adds: "I don't know what the two were playing. The applause of the racing fans is staying in limits". Even the Ferrari-brave Italian media are criticising that the Indy race left the impression of a faked result. While F1 fans are mad at them, Ferrari's amateur actors are trying to keep the damage in limits. "It was no intention", said Schumacher with broad grin on his face, "We wanted to pass the finish line together and suddenly he won". That easy. And that damaging for Formula 1 that was degraded to a bad joke. Ferrari wanted to avoid that. Schumacher confesses that the team bosses didn't want Barrichello to win. "I asked whether I should allow him to overtake and they answered 'no'". Jean Todt was outraged and immediately started an argument with his drivers and to find a common opinion to keep the damage in limits. In the official press statement Todt said: "The team worked extraordinary. It is a symbol of this season that we crossed the finish line together. The joy the drivers had on the podium was a sign of harmony for us". Harmony in the team may be good - the harmony between fans and team is damaged. --------------------------------------- The not very F1 oriented 'kicker' had a nice column some weeks ago. The editor begged Ferrari to end this farce and said: "It happened very often that a team was dominating all others. But never before did those teams determine the winner or a number one before the races. In times of previous domination the F1 lived by internal duels like Senna vs Prost and also Hakkinen vs Coulthard." That's what I say is the basical shame with Ferrari.
Bernie Ecclestone adds some new rule suggestions. Article excerpt: "Ferrari domination, long and tiring training sessions and a qualifying where half of the time no driver is on the track. All factors are leading to one thing: Formula Boredom and lacking attendance. Ecclestone wants to change it. "I don't want to degrade the driver's performances, but their job got too easy. I was watching Michael Schumacher in an on-board perspective and he was sitting there like driving to a supermarket". He is talking about five rule changes: 1) "Just one tyre producer shall deliver all teams". Until now Michelin and Bridgestone delivered and this had massive effect on the performances. While all other teams just got standard tyres, Bridgestone produced especially for Ferrari. 2) "I want the electronics to be less important". Traction control, start automatic, automatic gear - driver's mistakes were equalised by electronical helps. With less electronics the ability of the driver would get more importance. 3) "The aerodynamic effect on the cars has to get less". 4) "I want four training session of 30 minutes each on Friday and Saturday. The times of the four sessions are added and decide on the starting position". This would be a revolutionary change and make the Friday training finally important. 5) "All teams must have the same rights for tests". This is a reaction on Monza refusing some other teams than Ferrari to do tests on their track. ------------------------ This is aiming to the right direction (just wondering as Ecclestone in the last years helped to get into the no 2 and 3 situation). Especially interesting is no 4 - though I'm not quite sure. New drivers who don't know the tracks would have a big disadvantage. Maybe the first training session should be without timing for getting to know the track for car and driver.