German F1 Qualifying

ltr317 · « **on:** 11 Jul 2009, 06:36 pm »

For those who don't know the results yet I won't give it away, but this is turning out to be a steller year for F1! Just nice to see other teams have a chance at the championship instead of the usual suspects the past 6 or 7 years.

dhrab · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 Jul 2009, 10:54 pm »

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richidoo · « **Reply #2 on:** 11 Jul 2009, 10:55 pm »

I agree Paul. It was a fun session with some welcome surprises! I was glad to see the new McLaren wings made such a difference, with more good changes to come.

I'm also excited to see my man Alonso in red next year! aa I am also happy to see Ari Vatanen running for FIA pres, and the perv headed down.

ltr317 · « **Reply #3 on:** 11 Jul 2009, 11:02 pm »

Quote from: dhrab on 11 Jul 2009, 10:54 pm

If you're a F1 fan ... you need one of these for your garage door

http://www.style-your-garage.com/motive.php?item=3&type=a

That's a pisser!

ltr317 · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 Jul 2009, 11:04 pm »

Quote from: richidoo on 11 Jul 2009, 10:55 pm

I agree Paul. It was a fun session with some welcome surprises! I was glad to see the new McLaren wings made such a difference, with more good changes to come.

I'm also excited to see my man Alonso in red next year! aa I am also happy to see Ari Vatanen running for FIA pres, and the perv headed down.

So far, rumours. If it happens, will Kimi go rally around the world or go to another F1 team?

dhrab · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 Jul 2009, 01:00 am »

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ltr317 · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 Jul 2009, 02:01 am »

Road America (RA) is in Wisconsin. If you've ever seen Winning (1969), the movie that got Paul L Newman interested in road racing, the first scenes were filmed at RA. Up to recently, RA was the longest road course in the US, surpassed now by Miller Motorsport Park in Utah. Miller though, doesn't have the history or cache of RA.

Where do you find these interesting side things on racing?

richidoo · « **Reply #7 on:** 12 Jul 2009, 02:09 am »

Man, if only those balloons were street legal.... That's hilarious!

I would like to think Massa would get the boot, but just wishful thinking. Ya never know... Kimi has more talent and much bigger contract.

ArthurDent · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 Jul 2009, 05:01 am »

Yes, quite the mix in the top ten this week. Will be extremely interesting if they get rain tomorrow. If so hopefully not as bad a last time.

RA, ah yes, Elkhart Lake, just up the road from Sheboygan. Incredible course, with the possible exception of Watkins Glen which I haven't been to, hard to imagine a more beautiful & challenging layout. Was lucky enough to take a driver's school there, and saw a CanAm race, back in the day. It's off the beaten path, but if you live in the midwest and enjoy road racing you should make a point to check it out. I'm guessing CenDiv SCCA still runs there, and probably some vintage racing too.

Oh yes, don't miss the beer cooked brats.

ltr317 · « **Reply #9 on:** 12 Jul 2009, 05:28 pm »

Quote from: richidoo on 12 Jul 2009, 02:09 am

Man, if only those balloons were street legal.... That's hilarious!

I would like to think Massa would get the boot, but just wishful thinking. Ya never know... Kimi has more talent and much bigger contract.

They are both under contract for next year, so it will be interesting who will, if any one leaves. I actually prefer Massa to stay, as he's more of a team player. He's gotten better the past 2 years, and there are tracks where he's faster than Kimi, so it's a close call. At this level, they are all fantastic, just a few tenths apart from each other, given identical cars. Even Fishi and Bourdais could win in a competitive car. Bourdais won F3000, then the feeder series to F1 against a lot of guys that ended up being F1 drivers. He didn't win the Champcar title 4 times because he's slow. I was visiting a friend in San Jose a few years ago, and we went to see the SJ Champcar GP. Bourdais smoked everyone and you can see he was the class of the field. At the same SJ GP, in the prelim Toyota Atlantic race, I saw an up and coming Katherine Legge trounced the competition. She just ran away from racers who were past champions in kart and junior formula series. I've been a fan of hers ever since. I've also seen Danica raced, and Katherine is better.

ltr317 · « **Reply #10 on:** 12 Jul 2009, 05:32 pm »

Quote from: ArthurDent on 12 Jul 2009, 05:01 am

Yes, quite the mix in the top ten this week. Will be extremely interesting if they get rain tomorrow. If so hopefully not as bad a last time.

RA, ah yes, Elkhart Lake, just up the road from Sheboygan. Incredible course, with the possible exception of Watkins Glen which I haven't been to, hard to imagine a more beautiful & challenging layout. Was lucky enough to take a driver's school there, and saw a CanAm race, back in the day. It's off the beaten path, but if you live in the midwest and enjoy road racing you should make a point to check it out. I'm guessing CenDiv SCCA still runs there, and probably some vintage racing too.

Oh yes, don't miss the beer cooked brats.

It's one of three race tracks I would like to race or at least do a drivers school that I haven't yet. Laguna Seca and Sebring are the other two. I've driven or raced at the Glen 7 or 8 times and it's a fantastic course. I would think RA is similiar, only longer.

ltr317 · « **Reply #11 on:** 14 Jul 2009, 05:08 pm »

A hearty congrats to Webber on his maiden F1 victory!

It was a long time coming, and couldn't happened to a nicer gentleman and racer.
It looks like Bourdais is out and the 19 yr old Jaime Alguersuari is taking his seat. Such is the fickle nature of the F1 circus.

richidoo · « **Reply #12 on:** 14 Jul 2009, 06:20 pm »

That's what Gerhardt Berger does to cover his ass, blame the driver's bad attitude. Scott Speed all over again. Prost gave Berger cover when he said Bourdais was too negative when talking to the press. It is not a good team to be with for a driver, but it's a car, so they take it. Vettle got through it, but his destiny was already written before he ever sat in the TR, cemented at Monza.

I think Massa is more prone to make dumb mistakes, is terrible in the rain, and personally dislikes Alonso. Raikkonen has shrewder strategy, and is excellent in the rain, but some bad luck and a streak of indifference (iceman.) I'd love to see Alonso/Raikkonen. But I was excited about Alonso/Hamilton too but I think that disaster was more Dennis' fault than either driver. At least we know in either case both Ferrari drivers will be expecting to win the championship. They will drive hard against each other. IMO a wheel to wheel battle against Alonso is the most exciting event in the sport now. He is ferocious attacker and defender.

Yes, congratulations to Mark Webber!

He was so genuinely happy at the interview. I'm so happy for him. It's been a long time coming. He is a super driver. Known for having the widest car in F1, hardest to pass.

mgalusha · « **Reply #13 on:** 14 Jul 2009, 07:35 pm »

I really enjoyed the race and was glad to see Webber finally get a win. Would have been interesting to see how Hamilton would have ran without the flat incident on lap 1.

ricmon · « **Reply #14 on:** 14 Jul 2009, 08:24 pm »

Now that the other teams are more competitive. I can't wait to see what the enhanced McLaren?s will do next race.

ltr317 · « **Reply #15 on:** 14 Jul 2009, 08:40 pm »

Quote from: mgalusha on 14 Jul 2009, 07:35 pm

I really enjoyed the race and was glad to see Webber finally get a win. Would have been interesting to see how Hamilton would have ran without the flat incident on lap 1.

Mike,

That would have been interesting. But as Hamilton knows, you can't win a race on the first corner. He, like all racers including myself, have lapses of memory when you're in a race.

Paul

ltr317 · « **Reply #16 on:** 14 Jul 2009, 08:52 pm »

Rich,

You're right about Massa being bad in the rain, but he's getting better in that aspect also. I don't think Kimi helps as much as Massa setting up the car for the engineers and crew. If Alonso joins the scuderia, then I think Massa will accept it and make an attitude adjustment. Alonso is no saint either, even though he is one of the four best right now.

I never liked Berger. He used to bad mouthed other drivers when he was with Ferrari. The Torro Rosso is a pig right now, hopefully fitted with the long overdue parts that Red Bull already has, they will be more competitve in Hungary.

mgalusha · « **Reply #17 on:** 14 Jul 2009, 09:37 pm »

Quote from: ltr317 on 14 Jul 2009, 08:40 pm

That would have been interesting. But as Hamilton knows, you can't win a race on the first corner. He, like all racers including myself, have lapses of memory when you're in a race.

No question about that, too much enthusiasm at the first turn has squelched many a racer.

richidoo · « **Reply #18 on:** 14 Jul 2009, 11:23 pm »

Especially THAT first turn at Nurburgring. Hobbo didn't see it, but Hamilton cut his right rear tire on Webber's front left wing, 100 yards before the corner. It must have gone down fast cuz he couldn't make the turn. 100 yards earlier Webber whacked Rubino which we all saw... maybe Webber and Hamilton had sore necks, couldn't look to the right...

It was nice to see Kovaleinnen do well, at least for a while.

ltr317 · « **Reply #19 on:** 15 Jul 2009, 01:03 am »

Quote from: richidoo on 14 Jul 2009, 11:23 pm

Especially THAT first turn at Nurburgring. Hobbo didn't see it, but Hamilton cut his right rear tire on Webber's front left wing, 100 yards before the corner. It must have gone down fast cuz he couldn't make the turn. 100 yards earlier Webber whacked Rubino which we all saw... maybe Webber and Hamilton had sore necks, couldn't look to the right... It was nice to see Kovaleinnen do well, at least for a while.

That's my point. Hamilton knew he overshot the breaking point and couldn't make the wide turn since he was the outside. The best he could do if his tire wasn't cut, was to rejoin in fourth or fifth. If he had been thinking about winning the race, he would have slotted third behind Webber and Rubino with time to make turn 1. And if he had a fast paced race car, he could wait to pick off the first two cars with his Kers. Kovaleinnen did the right thing by not being too greedy. He picked off a couple of positions at the start. Unfortunately, he didn't have the updates on his car that Hamilton had on his, so didn't have the race pace to get further ahead.