Official F1/Motorsport thread

[MartyG]

BBC covers the race live, and sometimes the qualifying. Full coverage is on Eurosport on Sky, not sure whether that's a freeview channel.

[Alastair]

Cheers Marty, just checked it out on BBc website and it's not on live unfortunately.

Sunday 10 July - USA (Laguna Seca), 2230-2330

Shame there's no freeview channel for Eurosport

[mid]

It was 19 minutes = 66 miles.

Really? Actually, I thought I heard 19 minutes, but then convinced myself I misheard, as that's just insane.

[VR46]

Cheers Marty, just checked it out on BBc website and it's not on live unfortunately.

Sunday 10 July - USA (Laguna Seca), 2230-2330

Race don't start until 10pm our time, so can't complain too much !

[MartyG]

Yeah, they're normally live on BBC, I guess that the time difference has just pushed the schedule too much on this occasion.

[Alastair]

just checked on ceefax and it doesn't start until 23:30 now. Just so you know!

[PeteBrant]

Nice to see Nicky Hayden win one. I think the commentary team on BBC2 were getting a little carried away (they really aren't a patch on the Eurosport team), claiming this could be the platform to launch Hayden. It won't be, he was racing a track that he had raced many times before, against many riders that were racing on it for the first time. One swallow does not a summer make, and we'll see how Hayden does at Donnington in two weeks. Odd to see Rossi et al in the traditional US Yamaha colours too.

[VR46]

80's Yamaha colours were great, always look lovely on an R1 etc.

Hayden did well, but like you say, he won't finish on the Podium at Donington, shame Melandri fell (again), with Gibernau slipping away race by race Rossi's gonna stroll to this years championship. Seeing bikes at Laguna again reminded me of the great Superbikers of ten years ago, Scott Russell, John Kocinski ....

[Alastair]

That MotoGP was pretty cool, the corkscrew and turn 1 looked seriuosly like leaps of faith. Would love to give that a go some time. What were the commentary guys up to though chatting about each others clothes and hurling insults? Is it always like that?

F1 was ok but the build up program was better than the race Good to see JPM win one at last and another storming drive by Kimi.

They really need to sort out overtaking though. Kimi was blatantly faster than everyone else but couldn't even get close enough to MSC/Trulli to have a go and that does not make great viewing "wow look, they're driving within a second of each other still" and I'm sure it's not fun to drive like that either. Pit stop overtaking may make the team-tacticions cream their pants but not me I'm afraid. No-one makes mistakes now either, maybe they should bring back steel brakes to spice the braking zones up a bit?

One good thing from the new regs and quali format is the race that always goes right through the field. JV, Coulthard etc gave about the only excitement.

[mid]

The problem there is that the tyre changes mean the aerodynamics are absolutely vital to performance. The moment you get into dirty air, your braking and turning characteristics go to pot.

[Rossco]

Was ashame for Kimi, he done amazing to get onto the podium after starting 12th was it? Want him to catch up with Alonso so much, he's clearly been better recently, and just hasnt had the luck etc to get the points. Yesterdays race was very exciting though. Great TV.

[PeteBrant]

F1 has totally lost the plot for me. MotoGP is streets ahead for entertainment. However, things could be changed if

(i)Single tyre supplier - no more results decided on what make of tyre you have.
(ii)Go back to no fuel stops, fuel up to the end of the race - Remove the tactical element, as many trye changes as you like.
(iii) Go back to a one hour 12 lap quali session
(iv)Stop penalising drivers for mechanical failures - Penalise the team in terms of manufacturers championship points.

[Richard.John]

It must be said that Ilmor are screwing his WDC chances at the moment. He has dropped four points to FA in a week when he should've won two races and narrowed the gap. I feel FA will ultimately win the title because all he has to do is consistently finish on the podium from now on.

[Richard.John]

F1 has totally lost the plot for me. MotoGP is streets ahead for entertainment. However, things could be changed if

(i)Single tyre supplier - no more results decided on what make of tyre you have.
(ii)Go back to no fuel stops, fuel up to the end of the race - Remove the tactical element, as many trye changes as you like.
(iii) Go back to a one hour 12 lap quali session
(iv)Stop penalising drivers for mechanical failures - Penalise the team in terms of manufacturers championship points.

Totally agree on all points and in particular the fuel issue. Fuel stops are dangerous and should be banned. In the 11 years since the reintroduction of refuelling, we have had numreous pitlane fires but not one inferno due to a car crashing (for example,Berger '89).

[sharky_ob]

Totally agree on all points and in particular the fuel issue. Fuel stops are dangerous and should be banned. In the 11 years since the reintroduction of refuelling, we have had numreous pitlane fires but not one inferno due to a car crashing (for example,Berger '89).

Yeah, but wasn't the Berger inferno because it was at the start of the race and he had full fuel? I thought that was why it was safer to have refuelling at pit stops.