Official F1/Motorsport thread

[Richard.John]

No, the pit stop didn't work out for Renault. I reckon they were worried about MS coming in on the same lap as FA in order to block him but Renault were heavier so it does seem strange, but it was a gamble that didn't pay off. That's F1 I suppose, but 5th to 2nd isn't too bad for Fernando on a day when his rivals like GF anb KR didn't really do too well.

[cutmymilk]

Yeah, it didn't hurt him at all but they should have won. They say that they were worried that Ferrari had more fuel but, is that really likely?

[VR46]

can't see it, though it may go some way to explain why Schumi was so slow after first stop, why on earth did Honda plan a three stop strategy for Button, when everyone else was only stopping twice ?

Montoya & Kimi climbed up well quietly, but were never going to be race winners.

Lot of teams were woefully off the pace, Toyota & Red Bull need to be added to the list mentioned above.

[cutmymilk]

Yes, almost everyone made mistakes, to the point where Brundle elected not to have a driver of the day. A friend of mine firmly believes that Button could have won the race if they hadn't botched the strategy.

Can't remember how, exactly, though.

[Darwock]

Hmmm.. seems I am not alone in thinking it was a deliberate bluff:

But it turns out that Schumacher had been conning them with his slow pace and his in-lap was over a second faster than the laps which had preceded it and a second and a half faster than Alonso?s in-lap!

[Richard.John]

I read that as well. So JA is saying that it was just a hoax to control the race? Nice work by Fezza if true.

[VR46]

Makes sense, plus Schumacher didn't want to catch up with any back-markers for fear of them allowing Alonso an opportunity to pass.

[Alastair]

Yuji Ide has been dropped by Stupid Aguri already:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4972570.stm

A long overdue seat for Franck Montagny. Will be interesting to see how he does.

I didn't see the crash at Imola for Ide/Albers. What happened?

[VR46]

Sure he just braked too late and took him out, at first corner iirc, needless to say the incident didn't get much press/web site coverage

He is (sorry read was) the Sato of the last couple of years.

[Alastair]

Has anyone got an engine penalty for this w/e's race or is it fresh engine time again?

[VR46]

Not one blow up last weekend.

5th race of the season this weekend so must be new engines all round anyway.

[Alastair]

OK cheers, was hoping to juggle the fantasy team about a bit.

Looking forward to the race now, fingers crossed it a good one.

[cutmymilk]

Oh yeah race this weekend. Came around quick after havinga 3 week break before. Should be good.

[VR46]

If Friday practice is anything to go by should be close up front between Schumi & Alonso (though expect Mercedes power to jump up the grid tomorrow), and same at the tail end with Montagny snapping at Sato's heels already

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4976530.stm

[Richard.John]

Montagny is not sticking to the script is he? He's supposed to play the good number 2 to Takuma chan. They don't want him stealing PR from golden boy.