I was one of them. Actually until the end of 2003. The 2004 season was the turning point for me. Zeltweg had a lot to do with that. I'm really not worried about Kimi. He brings so much bad luck (or whatever it is) with him, that we won't grow tired of seeing him winning. Kimi in the Ferrari will be more like Gilles in the Ferrari. Some awesome wins, some hair rising maneuvers and lots of DNFs, that will make many people root again for the underdog. Think about it, it is a bit like Mansell: I so wanted that guy to clinch the title, yet it never happened. That made me root even more for him. When he finally did it, I was basically in tears. It would have been only better had he done it in the beautiful Coke shaped Ferrari. Hopefully that's going to be Kimi's story: First title in the scarlett car. Ahhhh!
Isnt there a limit to the total number of tires that may be used on a race weekend? Do those tires need to be pre-allocated as to which will be wets and which dry's? If so, then possibly Schumi only had one set of wets, and did not want to change to dry tires, figuring that it wasnt the right time, and that the wets would be OK since there is not tread-remaining requriement on them. Then, possibly, he did not realize he was going to have to fight as hard as he did later in the race, which appears to have fried his tires. I think people (not you, other people) subscribe some godly talents to MS and then rip him apart when he makes the slightest error. Witness the mental midget in this very thread flaming Schumi for "trying to take out Fisi". So that guy is saying MS is SOOOO good that he is incapable of a minute oversteer and correction? I'm sure Schumi would be flattered. They also ignore the obvious angle that MS has a LOT more to lose than Fisi and that the front of an F1 car is the most delicate part, and trying to tag someone's rear tire with your wing is almost guaranteed to damage the rearward driver, not the leading driver.
I am somewhat confused about the MS 8th finish thing... I thought he went out several laps from the finish, in which case I would have expected all the Midlands/Aguris/etc who actually finished to be higher in the standings. How many laps were left when MS retired?
Actually, both Midlands and MS were classified as having finished 67 laps. Where's the start/finish line in relation to the Ferrari pits at Hungary? Also, did the Ferrari ever pass post-race inspection?
Ferrari pits is before the S/F line, so the other cars drove more distance and would deserve the point. Hey, maybe we should send an email to Flavio? Since the car retired I don't think it ever passed post race inspection. And it would have been interesting to see the FIA's ruling on those "slicks". No 3 grooves left.
Ok....I missed the entire race this weekend and Speed only replays in once in between the 20 Nascar races they show. Is there any where I can watch at least the highlights??
I think Briatore told that mech to pull the retaining rod on the wheel nut so that the C'pship would run out a few more weeks, for the good of the sport and further entertainment of fans! Either that, or MS paid the guy off to do it. Either way, it keeps people humming about a season that was basically over in Montreal. Hmmmm.
I think it is far from over. I think there is a good chance the new champ will be crowned in Sao Paulo.
hmm maybe briatore was paid by ms to screw over his own driver.............jk but yesterdays race was the best one imo of the season. congrats to button
There are no rules for wet or intermed tire wear, so even if fully slick they would be alright. That's why they left them on in MS's last stop; they felt the difference btw full dries and worn inters would not be worth the time lost (presumably the tread is multi-compound, ie they set the inters up such that should they wear down fully they have a more dry-friendly durometer rating as this wear would only occur on a drying track). In hindsight, it didn't appear to work that way, but hard to judge based on how few wet races we have nowadays. And, +1000 on the uber-trolling in pages 4-14 or so. It's odd that the rosso corsa colored glasses card gets played as well (ie trolls claiming we are too biased on here), last I checked, Impy83 gets called out for trolling more than anyone so that is clearly not the case. Maybe we're too objective for some tastes.
Actually I think on average we're a fairly objective group. The die-hards are balanced out by the anti-die-hards. And lots of folks in between. I think we're more balanced than some of the racing magazines, particularly the letters to the editor section.
the best race in years. when was the last time a race turned out unexpectedly? monza 99? congrats to JB. a well earned victory. good drive by FA too. really impressive his drive from 15th. but i dunno if he can do the same on BS tyres
Fairly objective might be the right way to put it.... when you see something like this: I think Briatore told that mech to pull the retaining rod on the wheel nut so that the C'pship would run out a few more weeks, for the good of the sport and further entertainment of fans! Either that, or MS paid the guy off to do it. You gotta think there are some people feel strongly 1 way over the other... ! Hopefully that statement above was meant in jest. Personally, I would prefer to think that what happened to FA was an accident by one of the crew... I can't get myself to think that FA's own team, in order to make a couple more $$, would risk his life like that and therefore risk the championship.
Man, great call Andreas. I've been thinking the same about the wild ride that is Raikkonen. If you look up the word "mercurial" in the dictionary, I'll bet that Kimi's picture is sketched next to it. He will keep things interesting and unpredictable and will prove the antithesis to Schumacher. I also believe the anti-Schumacher stuff is similar to what Tiger Woods will experience in the near future and what other legends have experienced in the past. It's the same 'hatred' people feel for the Los Angeles Lakers or Dallas Cowboys. Too much success yields diminishing returns in the world of sports.
But even with the Michelin advantage... he was with a difference the guy with more fuel (and therefore weight, and in theory a huge disadvantage on the wet), and in the field there were a lot more cars with Michelins, not just him. What FA did was trully impressive.
I don't know any of the drivers on a personal level, but you gotta be impressed with the drivers that are able to come to the front from the back! It always gets me curious to have the guys that have that skill in the "same" car just to see how good they race against each other in a "stock car" like race.... maybe have them all race in Ferrari's or Renault's cars..... it's hard to quantify how much advantage FA had over MS simply due to the equipment (in this case, tires).