Official F1/Motorsport thread

[VR46]

yep, to finish first, first you have to finish

Never been Mr Consistant, always balls out, if he'd been more sensible and settled for 2nd/3rd etc in some rallies sure he would have won a couple more WRC Championships.

Ah well too late to teach an old dog new tricks.

[VR46]

So sad Meoni died in the Dakar today.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/4165021.stm

[powerslide]

that is tradgic. Just goes to show how dangerous this type of thing is, bikes especially.

[gtskater]

On a more uplifting note - cracking start to WRC '05. ITV 1 put an hour show out - can't really complain but it could've been better.

Anyway, looks like a good rally, with plenty of the usual crashes, spectators almost chasing death, beautiful shots from the helicopter. Loeb started the year as he meant to go on from what could be seen. Perfect driving throughout. Solberg made a few mistakes, notably losing his front-left wheel on an admittedly tricky part of the track. Moments later, Gronholm made the same mistake. Sebastien navigated that part of the course with precision, naturally.

Shame about the ITV coverage, but beggers can't be choosers.

[VR46]

Rallies are shown on Eurosport about 9.30 each night of the rally (if you have Sky/Cable). I still prefer C4's coverage though. Can't wait until Sunday afternoon for ITV to find out who crashed on Friday etc, just isn't acceptable in this day and age.

[gtskater]

Unfortunately I don't have Sky or cable, only Freeview. I prefer C4's coverage, ITVs is just a bit crap.

[VR46]

It's not the quality of coverage that get's to me (don't find it that bad tbh), it's the way they can justify just one program on a Sunday that "twists my melons man"

[gtskater]

I think I'm digging at both really. One single program to cover a rally isn't really enough. What really suffers here is the analysis and comment. With only an hour, so much is squeezed in that the quality of the content drops, and it seems to simply be VT after VT with simplistic commentary.

At least with the F1 shows, they go into a bit of depth talking about the technicalities, the strategies, the behind the scenes stuff.

[Alastair]

Heidfeld announced as Webbers team-mate at Williams for 2005.

He must have performed well in the tests or be 'good value' as he was a bit of an outsider a few weeks ago.

[Darwock]

Maybe Webber decided he'd be the easiest one to bully. I hope Heidfeld shows him up.

[VR46]

Pizzonia must be "Pizzed" he was favourite for the seat for a long time.

[Shez]

Pizzonia was also nearly half a second quicker that Heidfield in the final test that both drivers conducted.

I suspect BMW have had a little input, and I know Weber was not wanting Pizzonia as his team mate

[Alastair]

Pizzonia must be "Pizzed" he was favourite for the seat for a long time.

rubbish

[Alastair]

F1 gets it's first Indian driver.

As ever, Jordan seems to be paying for the team with drivers that can bring in the cash. I don't expect big things from them at all this year but I would love to be proved wrong.

[VR46]

your right apparabtly he's not mega quick, won few races in lower classes over the years, paying for his seat seems to have been the deciding factor, however he can be a bit wild (ala Sato few years ago) so could be entertaining to watch.
Can't see Jordan achieving anything this year, reading reports 2006 is going to be their "start year" as a new team.