2007 Formula One Thread

[iGav]

what broke on Alonso's car?

Fred did... ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Seriously though... Sato was on the hards (softs) whilst Fred was stuck on the super softs, giving Sato a massive grip advantage.

Lewis was awesome today... to think, this kid is this good only 6 races in...

As for Ferrari... get Schumacher back in the car. NOW!

Still can't get over Fred though... ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

 

[SpookTheHamster]

That was a fantastic race, one of the best in a long time.

I was so glad to hear that Kubica was OK, he looked so much like he could have suffered a broken neck, but all he got was a broken leg.

Highlight and major surprise for me was Super Aguri. Davidson running 3rd at one point and Sato passing Alonso on the brakes into the final chicane!

Williams are back into it as well, hopefully a little bit of success will get them going again

edit: Why is everybody surprised that Hamilton won? He's been a great driver in pretty much everything he's raced, and he's in the best car. It's not a surprise at all. This isn't his 6th race in anything ever, it's his 6th race in this car after thousands of miles of testing.

 

[Counterfit]

Good job for Hamilton. He had it won from the first corner. (Well, at least according to the live timing archive, because VCRs ****ING SUCK ASS.). Wurz riding the one stopper to a podium, and Nick making BMW's day not completely suck.

Oh yeah, and SATO going around the OUTSIDE Alonslow! HAHA!


And does anyone else think a black flag for leaving the pits under safety car is a bit excessive? I would think a 10-sec stop/go would be enough.

 

[SpookTheHamster]

And does anyone else think a black flag for leaving the pits under safety car is a bit excessive? I would think a 10-sec stop/go would be enough.

No, a red light is a red light. Don't forget that they also went past other cars who were waiting for the light to turn green.

 

[aerove]

Good job for Hamilton. He had it won from the first corner. (Well, at least according to the live timing archive, because VCRs ****ING SUCK ASS.). Wurz riding the one stopper to a podium, and Nick making BMW's day not completely suck.

Oh yeah, and SATO going around the OUTSIDE Alonslow! HAHA!


And does anyone else think a black flag for leaving the pits under safety car is a bit excessive? I would think a 10-sec stop/go would be enough.

yea,, the black flag was too much for massa and fisci... massa could have ended up with a podium position if else.. on the whole a very bad day for ferrari.. and kimi is so screwed up!!! he was soo good back at mclaren .. dunno whats buggin him at ferrari...i think he is too drunk to drive..

 

[BoyBach]

Seriously though... Sato was on the hards (softs) whilst Fred was stuck on the super softs, giving Sato a massive grip advantage.

Highlight and major surprise for me was Super Aguri. Davidson running 3rd at one point and Sato passing Alonso on the brakes into the final chicane!

I believe that Alonso let Sato through unchallenged. Given Sato's, erm, reputation.



Still, it's nice to see Super Aguri kicking Hondas arse at the moment.

 

[iGav]

I believe that Alonso let Sato through unchallenged. Given Sato's, erm, reputation.

I'm sure that was part of it... heh, but Sato had the line, had Alonso tried to hold position he would've missed the chicane and would've had to give up the place anyway, either that or Sato would've just taken him the next lap, SA were just super cheeky with their stops meaning they were on the best tyres for the last stint.

Still, it's nice to see Super Aguri kicking Hondas arse at the moment.

And to be beaten by their own year old car too.

Still can't get over Fred though... ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

How much do you want bet... if Ferrari don't improve come Indy, they'll throw a boatload of cash at Schumacher to get back behind the wheel at Fiorano to sort the car out??? Schumi's coming back baby.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

So is it the car or the drivers? Kimi sucks right now, so I'm inclined to believe it's the drivers.

Hamilton looks set to win the drivers' championship - only "Fred" can do anything about it.

 

[BoyBach]

So is it the car or the drivers? Kimi sucks right now, so I'm inclined to believe it's the drivers.

Hamilton looks set to win the drivers' championship - only "Fred" can do anything about it.

If I were a betting man I'd put my £5 on Alonso for the Championship.

 

[R.Youden]

Great race by Lewis. Kept his head whilst all around him where losing there's. Etc etc...

Kubica was one lucky bloke. That looked VERY bad. I used to work with a guy who was radio man Luciano Burti. When he had the smash at Spa in 2001 he swallowed the microphone so no-one cold communicate with him. That was a very scary crash but I thought todays was worse.

Luckily he only appears to have a broken leg.

 

[iGav]

Has anyone seen the close ups of Kubica's car during the crash? You can see his feet after the initial impact.

He's very lucky that the secondary impact wasn't head on too.

I suspect the FIA will demand further reinforcement and crash testing to help protect in a frontal impact, if not this season, then certainly for the 2008 one.

Autosport were/are reporting that BMW-Sauber/Mario Theissen are still not aware of Kubica's condition.

 

[R.Youden]

Has anyone seen the close ups of Kubica's car during the crash? You can see his feet after the initial impact.

He's very lucky that the secondary impact wasn't head on too.

I suspect the FIA will demand further reinforcement and crash testing to help protect in a frontal impact, if not this season, then certainly for the 2008 one.

Autosport were/are reporting that BMW-Sauber/Mario Theissen are still not aware of Kubica's condition.

Yeah McLaren told Lewis (who are good friends) that he had a broken leg.

I don't they they can do too much about the impact tests. They certainly can't do anything this year. They just keep increasing the strength of the impact tests but you can only protect against so much.

 

[R.Youden]

You can see his feet here:

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Yeah, I saw that...scary.

EDIT: Looks like Kubica was actually unhurt in the crash...

 

[BoyBach]

BMW have said that Kubica "escaped relatively unscathed" from his crash. A sprained ankle, no less!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6739431.stm

 

[iGav]

EDIT: Looks like Kubica was actually unhurt in the crash...

Classic example of what loose lips sans the facts can do isn't it, the source of the broken leg report was as R.Youden said, the McLaren radio after Lewis had won (ITV went to adverts just as the guy was saying he'd "broken...") and this was seemingly then reported as gospel by the worlds media completely ignoring BMW-Sauber who were reporting that they hadn't any news on his condition.

Still, I expect we'll see a tyre wall, maybe even a SAFER barrier sited there next year, and I expect we'll see changes to and an increase in the length of the front of monocoque with further reinforcement of the footwell area, as this seems to be the only weak area of the current generation of monocoques.

 

[whooleytoo]

Still, I expect we'll see a tyre wall, maybe even a SAFER barrier sited there next year, and I expect we'll see changes to and an increase in the length of the front of monocoque with further reinforcement of the footwell area, as this seems to be the only weak area of the current generation of monocoques.

Are monocoque changes necessary? It looked to me like Kubica's monocoque did its job superbly well, in (almost) the worst case scenario for a crash - nearly head on into a non-deformable concrete barrier at ~200mph/320kph (since he had little chance to brake being airborne!).

The nose cone too is designed to deform to absorb the energy of the impact, and worked well.

 

[iGav]

Are monocoque changes necessary?

When the tub is compromised like that, I'd say so.

It looked to me like Kubica's monocoque did its job superbly well, in (almost) the worst case scenario for a crash - nearly head on into a non-deformable concrete barrier at ~200mph/320kph (since he had little chance to brake being airborne!).

The nose cone too is designed to deform to absorb the energy of the impact, and worked well.

It did do it's job well, but that doesn't mean it couldn't have done it even better.

Had his secondary impact into the barrier been at a different angle, it's not inconceivable that he'd have lost both of his feet. And that is cause for concern. In this case he was extremely fortunate.

This accident exposed a potential weakness with regards to the current design and construction of the current generation of monocoques, and one that should be rectified to further protect the driver.

 

[displaced]

No, a red light is a red light. Don't forget that they also went past other cars who were waiting for the light to turn green.

Absolutey. Red means stop. The two drivers would have had no idea why the light was still red. Even with input from the teams via the radio, an individual team may not know the reason for the red light.

In a sport where there could be marshals, debris or cars in dangerous places, it's absolutely critical that every driver follows the signalling as set by the race director. At the end of the day, the race safety buck stops with him. If he's closed the exit from the pitlane, then it's closed -- end of story.

The black flag was entirely appropriate. The violation the two drivers wasn't simply ignoring a red light, it was disregarding the authority of the race director to control car movement in the interest of safety and the sport.

 

[R.Youden]

Thinking about it we can draw a few things from this weekend:

1) The cars are bloody safe! If you make the crash structure at the front any bigger then you get complications with weight distribution which could be detrimental to safety as a whole. What the FIA tend to do is monitor the progression of carbon composite design and increase the crash test loads accordingly so the nose cone is stronger, but not heavier.

2) They need to do something about the refueling and Safety Car scenario. Alosno (and someone else) where screwed because they HAD to stop on the first lap after a safety car came out. If they had waited they would have run out of fuel. I suppose the only way around this is to provide confidential stratergy information in real-time to the FIA who can make the call if someone comes into pit excessively early.

3) Lewis is a very smooth driver who will be a great champion. To go to a difficult circuit (how many times did Alonso and Kimi make mistakes) which is very bumpy and go so fast is amazing. And he didn't have the best of luck with the safety car either... Go job Lewis.

 

[mfacey]

Just watched a downloaded version of Fox's coverage of the GP (was away for the weekend). Let me just add that the commentators on Fox are absolutely horrible (the two english guys are okay, but the American needs to go find a different job). And all the commercials drove me crazy.

Nonetheless, an extraordinary race. Hamilton and Heidfeld were pretty much the only drivers in the top that held onto their positions. Its been a long time since I've seen such a chaotic race, especially in the dry!

Massa and Fisi getting black-flagged was definitely the correct thing for the stewards to do. The blatant disregard of the rules could easily have caused a dangerous situation. Wonder if they'll get fined too?

 

[Project]

Alonso has been making some real greasy comments about McClaren/Lewis the past few days

 

[R.Youden]

Alonso doesn't like it now he has a team-mate that can compete with him week-in-week-out. Fissi had some great races but on the whole was around 0.25 per lap slower, sometimes even more.

If Alonso is to be a great (Schumacher, Senna, Prost) then he will have to rise to this challenge and beat Hamilton this year. I fear that if Hamilton wins the Championship then that will be the end of Alonso. It will be a crushing blow and he will struggle to bounce back. This season is not only a huge test for Hamilton, but as we have seen in the past few weeks, a massive test for Alonso. I would love to see them racing wheel-to-wheel sometime soon. Imagine the reaction if Hamilton passes Alonso in the way he did during the GP2 race at Silverstone last year (I know he didn't pass Alonso, it was some other GP2 guy!)

 

[Lord Blackadder]

So who saw the race? Was it a good one? This season looks set to be an all-McLaren battle.

 

[mfacey]

Was a decent enough race. There was a lot happening in the mid-field. But up ahead, besides Alonso's nail-biting attempt to slipstream past Hamilton, it wasn't that special.

Great win for Hamilton though. This time no one could argue it was a chaotic and unusual race. He was definitely the fastest man on the track. Not a single error either (unlike Alonso!).

It looks like BMW is getting closer and closer to Ferrari as well (who are consequently moving further and further away from McLaren). I'm hoping Ferrari gets back on track to becoming a race winning contender soon. A three way battle for the driver's title would be great.

On the other hand it looks like Hamilton and Alonso really are very close in skill and capacity to win. The car is reliable and very fast. I wouldn't know who to put my money on for the championship between Lewis and Fernando!