Anyone else on the boards following the Formula 1? What do you think of the season so far? How does the new qualifying system grab you? Who's going to win at Indianapolis on the weekend?
Yep. Pretty good, this and last season are a massive improvement on the yawnfests we were getting when the red baron was sweeping the board. Qualifying is much better then the last format, but the fuel arrangments in session 3 needs a better solution. Probably Alonso. Ferarri's performance seems to be a bit hit and miss depending on the track and Mclaren still seem to be having difficulty fielding good cars that don't fall apart before the end of the race.
Yeah or Laguna Seca, I guess Indy must have had better facilities and so that's why they went there, after last year's fiasco though I doubt anyone will turn up The last session of qualifying is pretty dull until the last 5 minutes, then you get last-minute stunning laps like Alonso pulled at Silverstone. It's a good start though and at least the first two sessions do make it a good fight. Mclarens form is really frustrating me this year, the car is SO fast but their luck just isn't there, unlike at Honda where they have two awesome drivers in Button and Barichello and the car isn't working at all. I'm certain it'll be Alonso for the championship again this year, not like he doesn't deserve it!!
I'd be surprised if the US stays on the calender for much longer, Bernie has got countries fighting over the oppertunity to host a race and theres little point wasting a slot on a location with little interest when theres much more money to be had elsewhere. As for the last 10 in qualifying, they should either make them do thier flying laps with thier race fuel load or make them declare the load at the start of session and doing the laps light. I'm not convinced about Button being the great driver everybody makes him out to be, its been all talk and no show for the last couple of years and he only did so well in 2004 because most of the other teams were a fucking shambles that season. On the topic of top-tier motorsport, does anyone else follow the MotoGP?
Yeah, saw Rossi hurt himself last weekend (OWWWW) Heard Caparossi will be back quite soon as well so that's good. That's the only bad thing about MotoGP, the riders go further than the bikes when they crash :S Button will start suffering from the Henman curse I reckon, he is talented, but cracks under pressure sometimes. I wish David Coulthard could get a break and get some results in, his luck IS the worst in the sport, I was supporting Coulthard loooong before JB came along. Jacques Villeneuve has surprised me last couple of races, he's getting back to his old form.
i think its as boring as last year as once again we have someone winning everything. The test for Alonso will be wether he can repeat his performance next year Mika Hakkinnen and villeneuve unfortunatly showed that were incapable of wiining races when not in the best car. Something michael schumacher and to a much lesser extent damon hill were able to do wether alonso can repeat his performances with another team will determine how good he is
I'm a McLaren fan, and I must say the season has been very disappointing. The car just isn't fast enough, and Montoya hasn't been up to speed either. I'm pretty sure Alonso will take it home, he seems untouchable right now. You could really see at Silverstone that the Renault cars had far more grip than any other car. Alonso's hands looked like he was aiming a gun when turning into corners, while Schumacher looked like he was trying to make milkshake. I'm excited about 2007, I hope we will get a dream team with Kimi+Alonso or Kimi+Schumacher. Coulthard has always been a favourite of mine too, he's a real gentleman and honest sportsman. The Red Bull team's apparent sense of fun and enjoying the sport make them a perfect match. I also think the prediction of Rosberg becoming the Beckham of F1 could come true, he's quite a hotshot. But I'm even more excited about the 2008 season, with all the new rules hopefully bringing some more skill into the game.
I think Coulthard is a whining overated git myself, but I won't deny that he has always been a decent driver and that he was one of the almost-but-not-quite guys back when he was in decent cars. I'll be miffed if Montoya doesent get a seat for next year. He may be volatile and inconsistant, but he's the most entertaining driver on the circuit when he kicks off and he's better then the other top team second drivers when his luck holds. MotoGP has been really good this year since Rossi's bike trouble and Ducati getting thier act together has opened the field up, its a shame that half the top riders have smashed themselves up too much in the last couple of races to keep the momentum going.
Montoya is one of the few real characters left in the sport now, the other drivers aren't particualrly exciting guys, Raikonnen especially. I know for a fact Finnish people DO have emotions!! Grid for the Indy GP tomorrow ITV F1 site Some surprises there
Quite an intersting race today I thought, besides all the carnage at turns 1 and 2!! A pity Villeneuve's engine let go as well, he was putting in a good performance again. The Renaults obviously hadn't got their set-up bang on for the track, Ferrari had it won before they started I think, even with Massa leading Schumacher around for a few laps. I hope this weekend has made the crowds at Indy a bit happier than last year, will there be a race there next year or will we have the rumoured 'pacific GP' at Fuji circuit in Japan instead? Anyone catch the MotoGP earlier? I was in town so I missed it.
Interesting race today with the Ferarris on form and the Renaults a bit dodgey, althougth the high attrition rate deprived it of more competition and left it lacking in the last third or so. Apparently there was going to be negotiations after the race on the future of the event, so we'll have to wait and see on that. Judging from Bernies attitude on the grid, I think it'll happen again as long as they are willing to pay the fee and not cost him any money. MotoGP was decent as well, Pedrosa won and Rossi got 2nd after taking it to the wire with Melandri. Hayden only made seventh today because his bike wasent right and he got caught in traffic after going wide early on.
Think the worst thing for the race the first corner did was to take both Mclarens out, Montoya said that he hadn't expected Kimi to brake so early and so he hit him, which is understandable with their proximity at the time and the fact F1 cars have no brake lights
I was about to necromance this thread myself to bring it up. Its damn shame he is going, especially since the lack of seats on offer to him is probably more down to the indicision from Schumacher and Raikkonen rather then anything to do with Montoya himself. It certainly raises the question of who is going to be in the second Mclaren next year, I can't imagine that Raikkonen will want to hang around and get his thunder stolen within the team by Alonso. Ron doesent usually bring in untested drivers either, so it'll probably be De La Rossa or some seat warmer from a lower team. I see that Bernie is looking at shortening the third qualifying session and cutting down on in-season testing. Good news on the former, but I can't say that I agree with the latter since it could nerf the teams ability to improve the cars from race to race.
New qualifying set-up could be in place by Magny-cours, the cut in testing is just to reduce team costs really, which would be better for smaller teams as if everybody is restricted to only a little bit of testing then the high-budget teams won't have an advantage just because they have more money to spend on testing.
