Official F1/Motorsport thread

[Alastair]

Impressions of Imola then people?

I thought is was one of the best races in a long time. For once I was actually supporting MSC as he did so amazingly well to come back from 13th. Would have liked to see him steal it on the last lap though.

What were they doing going to a break with 3 laps to go too? Idiots. I know they showed all the laps again but it really spoiled the excitement for me.

I can only assume the producer is a football fan

Bad luck for Raik as he looked in with a decent chance.

Liuzzi beating Coulthard too, come on Dave, you should have done better than that even though Massa decided to attack you twice and give you the bird

[VR46]

It was good race, sure Schumi was about 25 seconds off the lead after first set of stops, championship is going to be close this year, still think he'll pip Alonso at the end though. Alonso is still bookies favourite, almost gotta feel sorry to see Montoya out to 50 to 1 already

Roll on the next round and Schumacher's first victory of 05.

Oh yeah and commercial break was b*llocks, but at least ITV were honest about postponing the break while Button was leading etc.
Big advertising revenue will always take precedence over viewers unfortunately.

[Kieran76]

It was an excellent race wasn't it? Watching schui tearing it up once again was ace. As for DC, some decent testing will need doing before the next race, the Red Bulls looked well off pace.

[Morcerf]

Echoing whats already been said, but really enjoyed this race, and was amazed to find myself actually cheering on Schumacher towards the end! Would have been amazing if he had gotten past Alonso on the final lap (even better if they had taken each other out and Button had gotten the win!!) :-)

After a relatively slow start, and despite no longer enjoying qualifying on a Saturday, looks like this could shape up to be a great season!

[Richard.John]

I am not sure which was more incredible, MS for his stunning pace or FA for slowing his pace to control the race. Notice how he didn't catch the Red Bulls
up front. I am sure Schumi has a lot more respect for Fernando now.

[Kevvy Metal]

The press conference was a lot of ****....Alonso won fair and square and deserved a lot more congratulations for a stunning drive, the interviewer was more interested in sucking the arse of Schumi, Schumachers statement was an overblown lot of self congratulatory nonsence, it sounded like an oscars acceptance speech, His overtaking of Button was super impresive however.

and to top it of they cut of Button.
Lot of **** from the TV, Race was awesome.

[Darwock]

Dunno what you're on about don, schumacher was pretty pissed off in that conference, looked to me like he felt he let the team down. Nothing self-congratulatory about it that's for sure.

[SaijoBob]

I really wish I had seen this race, the battle for first sounds pretty impressive. Good to see some new blood at the top.

Time to try to find a bittorrent of the whole thing...

[Shez]

ITV are feckin ****e, always have been, always will be. Bastids!!

Very good race though, and I was pleased to see Villeneuve getting some points.

Alonso is a brilliant driver, he controlled Schumacher beautifully, something Button wasn't able to do.

Now, just need to find a decent feed, and feck this ITV crap off.

[Richard.John]

ITV are under contract, and they have to show certain number of ads breaks per race. The mistake was assuming that MS would get past easily, forcing them to wait until the last few laps to run the ad break. An own goal by ITV but they had no choice otherwise the advertisers would sue them.

[SaijoBob]

What's all this about Button getting disqualified for having a secret fuel tank? Would be a great shame for the team after a disastrous start to the season.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/formulaone/story/0,10069,1470453,00.html

Sounds like their being vilified a bit, but then they would in their own press release!

[VR46]

don't understand it really, if the car was 6kg under weight at the end, how can they convince FIA it would have been 600kg+ "at all times during the race" - a barge board with some big chunks out of it would possibly count for some ?? and surely a second fuel tank breaks the rules anyway ?

[SaijoBob]

It was only 6kg under weight after all the fuel had been drained out, and BAR claim they can prove that there was at least enough fuel in the car at all stages of the race (not just after the pit stop) to keep it over 600kg. They might be able to prove it with telemetry data showing how much was left in the tank every lap, as I am sure they have to monitor this in order to know when to call in the cars.

They also say that many of the teams have this second fuel tank, and it is used to maintain a high-pressure fuel flow.

[Shez]

ITV are under contract, and they have to show certain number of ads breaks per race. The mistake was assuming that MS would get past easily, forcing them to wait until the last few laps to run the ad break. An own goal by ITV but they had no choice otherwise the advertisers would sue them.

Aye I know, it's supposed to be 5 x 2 minute breaks - Not always the case though.

ITV always drop the ball on their timing, who can forget them going to a break and missing Hill in his Arrows overtaking Schumacher - The list goes on and on.

The adverts are bad enough, but the coverage is ****e anyway - Missed interviews, cutting off post race interviews - Stupid ****ing questions to the drivers etc

The only decent thing is Brundle's grid walk.

Not to mention James Allen, Louise Goodman, Ted Kravitz, Tony Jardine, and worst of all Jim Rosenthal - The biggest bunch of boring bastards I have ever had the displeasure of listening to.

**** off ITV

[Kieran76]

I was annoyed like everyone else with the ads on Sundays race but I don't understand why ITV's entire coverage is getting slated. It is loads better then when the BBC had the rights, all we had then was the race itself. I really enjoy it when they focus on one team and actually have some of their men talking to us while the race is on.
I once watched the coverage on the F1 channel thing on Sky and it was ****, no passion.