Official F1/Motorsport thread

[Senna]

Just finished watching the British GP, thought it was good for the first half when the top three were battling really close and Massa was coming through the field, but the second half was dull dull.

I thought Kubica and Massa did a great job, and it is clear that Ferrari go into the second half of the season with a clear speed advantage. The McLarens are still fast, but just seem to have lost a couple of tenths relative to the red team.

Great drive from Raikkonen, but why cant he be happier when he wins a race. It was the same as last week, a couple of smiles, but nothing more. If I was a F1 Driver, the pinnacle of your career, the place you aspire to for most of your life, and I won a GP, I would be shouting from the rooftops. Jesus

Finally, I actually felt a bit sorry for Steve Rider and Mark Blundell (plus the ever-present pain-in-the-head James Allen). Their gushing praise of Lewis Hamilton was forced to deal with just a podium. I can't believe they spent so much of their pre-race buildup about Hamilton (ok its th British GP and hes leading the championship, but come on). They even had to postpone Mark Blundell driving round Silverstone in an F1 car to the next GP, they overshot their time so much.

Its still looking good for Hamilton in the championship though, what with him regularly scoring high points, and the inconsistencies of his near rivals. If 12 points were awarded for a win rather than 10, then he would definitely be worrying more than he is at the moment.

Still though, 9 podiums out of 9 races for a rookie, is amazing.

[Richard.John]

He is doing a stellar job no doubt. I support FA so, as a fan, it's difficult for me right now to put up with the constant hype spewing from the British media. For example, yesterday, ITV-F1 described LH's pole lap as 'genius' but we now know that fuel adjusted, it wasn't so hot and both Fernando and Kimi did a better job in that regard. I don't blame Lewis himself of course as he is an amazing talent who will probably go on to rule F1 in the near future, but the hype machine is too much. I don't even live in the UK and I feel it.

[Spagoli]

I'm not sure the pole wasn't a mistake. I can understand why he wanted to come out of the weekend having ticked all the boxes but dropping fuel to grab pole I'm not sure was the wisest thing. Think more was made of the pit incident as well than it should have, not sure really how much diff it made unless it was to his focus. Still think its an amazing achievement and you would have had the most amazing odds from any bookie at the start of the season that he would have 9 podiums and a clear lead on the championship at this stage of the season

[Richard.John]

Yes the pit stop incident is being blamed for his loss in some quarters but in reality he was over 30 secs behind the top two in the end so it didn't make much difference. He was actually lucky that Massa had his problems as otherwise he would've finished in fourth.

[Alastair]

Albers gets the boot.

Was it because of this?


Maybe, but it seems more like this:
££$$££ - or lack thereof.

He's never really delivered has he, I seem to remember one or two decent performances but nothing outstanding, especially not in the Spyker.

[Richard.John]

The fuel pump incident was amazing I thought. So he got fined 5000 USD but just imagine the inferno he could've caused if the safety systems had failed.

[TheForce]

he's an idiot and I'm glad he's out, he's a disgrace for our country !

they say it's because of lack of $$$ that he's out.....

[cutmymilk]

Anyone else go to a VUE cinema to watch this? Was bloody fantastic!

[Senna]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6760617.stm

No more American GP, at least not for the forseeable future.

Im in two minds about this. I like the Indianapolis Speedway, but the F1 track is a bit too mickey-mouse, even if overtaking is possible on the way down to the first corner. Plus the race has had a bad history, what with Schumacher-Barrichello-gate in 2003 (?) and the shambles of 2005.

But I still feel F1 needs an American GP. It all seems to the Middle East nowadays. They should have a GP round the full oval, imagine the low downforce. It would be like the old, proper Hockenheim (sigh). Put the foam walls around the concrete to prevent serious injuries. It would never happen though, safety argument being the main one.

[Richard.John]

The British GP will be next.

In other news, I have just bought one of these. I think it's possibly the coolest thing I have ever seen.

http://www.lego.com/eng/racers/products/ferrari.asp?product=f8674

I just opened it up though and fook me, it has about a million pieces. God only knows how long it will take to build (but that's the fun, right?)

Any tips by the way on how to build this mutha?

[On The Edge of Insanity]

That does look impressive indeed.

I only hope that the lack of the US GP (I doubt they can find another venue at this short notice) will allow for the return of Suzuka, at least for a season, as a 'Pacific' Grand Prix or something.

[VR46]

That Lego Ferrari does look fantastic yes. Richard, just find a ten year old, they'd probably knock it together in half the time it would take us

Shame to see Indy GP go, sure a second American/Canadian race will be added to the calendar in the next couple of years though, bit hard to justify flying out there for just one race - unless they move it near (time-wise) the Brazilian GP.

[On The Edge of Insanity]

Indy seem to think they'll have the race back in 2008, so it will probably only be a one year thing.

I'd prefer they used one of the street circuits in a city though, such as Long Beach. The calender needs a couple more, although at least we'll have Valencia next year alongside Monaco.

[Alastair]

Anyone watch the bikes yesterday? Rossi really needed to stay on to help his championship bid, at least Stoner finished down the order a bit. Great ride from Hayden too, glad he's back on form.

The BSB races were full on. Lavilla (sp?) getting run over looked sore, couldn't quite believe he got back on for the next race. All the crashes were insane, really surprised no-one got badly injured.

[VR46]

Not seen Moto GP but saw the results, Rossi's luck does seem to have deserted him in the last twelve months. Winning Championship is going to be even more of a uphill struggle now.

Quite surprised about Hopkins going to Kawasaki next year, him and Capirossi (if rumours are to be believed) are quite a line-up and show Kawasaki's intent.