Official F1/Motorsport thread

[Kieran76]

No schui is a git and history has proved that to be true.

[VR46]

His move on Heidfeld (sp?) was out of order and getting the marshalls to push him out of the gravel trap doesn't seem fair to me. I know he retired, but its not the first time he has asked marshalls to risk their own safety to help him.

Heidfield never had his nose anywhere near in front of Schumacher so how can his "move" be out of order, he only "moved" to cover the line once which is perfectly legal and getting pushed out of the gravel was legal too, was he red flagged ? no, and how quick was his foot on the clutch eh,

As Neil said Renault will fade away and Schumi will still win the championship come October (or earlier)

[Kieran76]

I think there is a difference between covering your line and cutting someone up. What did he expect would happen? He left Heidfeild no where else to go, to me the fact that Schui is now saying it was one of those racing accidents tells me he knows it was his fault.

[VR46]

didn't see post race interviews tbh, headed off to bed straight after chequered flag, fair enough if he said that then prehaps he does have a concienence (sp) after all.

[Shez]

Yorath, how about your own man Coulthard?

The move he put on Webber under heavy accelration while side by side was far more dangerous than what Schumacher and Heidfield got upto - Blatant bad driving by Coulthard, but obviously the ITV crew aren't going to warble on about that to the same degree as they did with schumacher

After all the fuss about the rule changes, the race turned out to be another snooze fest. They are not going to win new viewers with races like this.

[Kieran76]

DC is innocent of everything

[MonkeyWrench]

It was good to see Fiscicella win again, but other than that it was a dull race. Max Mosley needs taking out of the barn and shooting, the new rules are a joke. I used to be relegious about F1, but now I don't even care if I miss a race. Rallying has now become the main staple of my motorsport diet over the last couple of years.

[VR46]

know what you mean, yet F1 could be so so good if they got the rules etc sorted.

Personally MotoGP (the man Rossi) is top of my essential Motorsport viewing, followed by F1, Rallying, WSB.

Great we have a 19 race season mind you, means retirements will have less of a harsh penalty.

[havileck]

I think it was an alright race, the ITV coverage did not show much of Fernando tearing up pack and also the stunning drive of Mr Ferrari No2. With tire wear a problem they did not really push that hard and i think the podium would have been much different.

Congrats to DC and in your face Ron Dennis, at least Ron could have been more honest in his appreciation of a stunning drive from DC. LOL at the wonder kid Montoya who i always think is all flare and has no drive. Last year he easily had one of the best cars and failed to deliver. Kimi is a much more complete drive than he is and will always be the team number 1 driver. Montoya will never take the World championship when you have more complete driver around him like Kimi.

Schu was unfortunate to start at the back of the grid, in normal circumstances he would have been all over rubens if not infront so it shows the modified 2004 car has alot ofounch cant wait for the 2005, shame it will blitz all the other cars as ferrari always do. Ferrari are not sweating at all, both championships are in their hands, 18 more races !!!

.. oh and it was Schueys fault, the crash, he left Nicki nowhere to go, but i dont blame him for actually putting the squeeze on him, people do it all the time.

[Alastair]

Before we start slating the ITV coverage, the camera work was all done by Bernies company FOM so ITV didn't have any choice on what was shown.

[Shez]

Putting the camera work aside for the moment, the ITV coverage has always been piss poor.

Already I can see Brundle and that other bafoon doing me nuts in when talking over the team radio

[VR46]

Agent L is right about camera coverage, nothing ITV can do about it, I too am not a Montoya fan, would love to see him in F1 for 10 years and not win the championship

[Alastair]

Yeah, I agree that they aren't the best. At the tail end of last season they were messing up the team radio chat and they look like they'll be continuing to do so this year.

I think the new qualifying system is a good move in terms of messing up the grid but the tyre rule means the racing is going to be poor. No-one can push hard enough to make it from 15th to top 5 anymore for fear of cooking their tyres and engine.

Re the crash, I think Schu was a bit at fault as he should have left a bit more room. He will know (as Brundle said) that if the other guy is on the grass he wont be able to stop therefore there would be a crash. We all knew he would ask for a push, he's done it before and will do again. He knows the rules inside out and exploits them. If he didn't stall and was in a dangerous place he is allowed a push out of the gravel. I don't like it either but it is legal. Heidfeld should have got one too though but I'm not sure if his suspension was broken. Is the team radio live? If so, Schu was asking for a push well before the team came on the radio. I get the feeling it may be a couple of seconds delayed at times though. Did Schu retire to get a new engine for Malaysia? Seems likely. Both of the BAR's retired on the last lap it seems to get the same 'opportunity' for Sepang. That loophole needs to be tightened I think Although they are still listed as finishing they 'failed to finish' so can have a new engine for the next meeting, expect to see a lot of teams doing that in the future.

Coulthard made all the haters eat their words I feel. Nicely done. That squeeze on Webber was a little dodgy though and could have been very dangerous.

All in all we can't really tell what everyones form was untill there is a consistant qualifying condition (all dry or all wet - not changing during the session) but I was super dissapointed by the suppossed top runners lack of speed when sitting in 10th-15th.

[Soong]

I think the new qualifying system is a good move in terms of messing up the grid but the tyre rule means the racing is going to be poor. No-one can push hard enough to make it from 15th to top 5 anymore for fear of cooking their tyres and engine.

No, the new qualifying system is ****, surely. It pretty much makes it pot luck, they might as well put everyone in a hat and draw at random. As for the second point, are you saying before this new law they'd be thinking, "I'll push hard and if I need new tyres it doesn't matter, I'll just pit-in". Just pit-in and lose 30-40 seconds on the guy they're chasing. What's the good in that? Anyway, don't forget people CAN still change tyres if deemed a necessity. The new rule applies to everyone so everyone's still on the same level, people can get from 15th to a top 5 (did they really ever?) and they will. Alonso went from 13th(?) to 3rd, Schumacher got up to something like 8/9th from 18th before being taken out, and so on.

[Alastair]

No, the new qualifying system is ****, surely. It pretty much makes it pot luck, they might as well put everyone in a hat and draw at random.

Historically though a muddled grid led to a better race, lets wait and see what a 'more normal' qualifying (without the random weather) brings about.

As for my sencond point, they would have pushed as hard as possible as they'd know they would be getting new tyres in x laps time anyway, as would the other guy. Everyone makes pitstops and they still do, they just don't get a fresh set of boots now.

I take your point about people coming through the field yesterday though Soong, just it mostly seemed to be in the pits and the race wasn't as interesting to watch as they used to be with a messed up grid.