F1 Malasian GP: Any Comments?

[tantal]

My point is that a driver gets good training on an oval; I picked Villeneuve as an example of a driver with oval experience making it into F1. But you're right in that the cars in the IRL are heavy and underpowered; the Champ Cars of the 1990s were much closer to F1 cars in their dynamics. IRL cars are not great (ok they suck) on road circuits.

 

I don't think many IRL drivers will get a chance at F1, but F1 would be silly to ignore an otherwise great driver just becz he came out of the IRL (Marco Andretti might have potential but I wasn't impressed by either of his F1 tests with Honda). Oval racing gives drivers great lessons in wheel to wheel racing.

 

But this is exactly my point; IRL is not training great drivers. If IRL was, training great drivers, they would graduate to GP2 and F1. One guy, Villeneauve, is an exception, not a rule.

 

If Marco makes it he is lucky. A crappy series can't hold back a great driver, but it can't _produce_ great drivers.

[tantal]

I watched most of the Champ car race in Vegas last night. What a farking mess. Looks like Rahal either fell asleep, was staring at a bikini in the stands, thinking about a burger, his math test, or hopefully, someone got a little to close to him, and he went off into the dirty part of the track.

 

If someone got too close to him, he needs to learn to hold his line better, but he's only 17, hopefully he'll improve.

 

Sebastian Bourdais: This guy drove a great race - he had 3 punctures and finally broke his suspension, but of course with the shitty coverage we didnt see the incident. SB drove from the back of the pack, three times, up into a position where he could figure in the result, only to have a puncture each time. Maybe his line was unusual and ended up on the dirty part of the track too often, not surprising since he basically races a fair number of amateurs, but he had tough luck.

 

No need to forgive Sebastian anything for this weekend IMO, he was stellar.

 

Paul Tracy - meh. Really the guy is pretty good for an old man, but he's as stupid as ever. I want to see this guy do poorly, then take his career in wrestling.

 

Will Power. Not much to say, he drove a good race, not great. I was not impressed with his start or with his attack on Tracy. He won this in the pits. I would like to see him improve, but who knows.

 

Robert Doornbos: A good performance IMO, but was expecting more. Same as Power - its a street race so anything can happen, and does, but Doornbos is experienced with better cars, he should dominate this series. Same with Neel Jani.

 

It will be very interesting to see where these lower tier F1 drivers end up this year. These guys are exactly what F1 needs to peg the competition level of Champ car. Would really love to see Villeneauve here too.

 

I would prefer to see Bourdais followed by Doornbos, Jani, and then Rahal for final results this year. Any other result reflects badly on the guy not finishing in the position he should.

[tantal]

Oh, and OMG what is up with Dominguez? Sheesh he sucks.

 

Glad to see Legge finish above her teammate, but she needs to pick up her game quickly and make an impact this year, or she's going to be relegated to mediocrity forever.

[cartman]

Glad to see Legge finish above her teammate, but she needs to pick up her game quickly

 

Absolutley. I hope she can do better. She may take a more conservative approach this year since she wrecked her car a lot last year.

 

I was really happy to see Christiano DaMatta at the race. I hope he can get a ride next year or grab a few races this year to see if he still has his marbles together. I've always admired his talent dispite being booted out of the Toyota F1 team, especially when Trulli, Ralph, and the car have not improved since Toyota entered F1.

 

Toyota in F1 - there's a looong thread.

[Scotty]

Katherine is fast in that she's up there in the fastest lap time. Too bad she can't do it during qualifying. PKV should have kept her in Altantic series for another year like they planned before bringing her to Champ Cars. If she can get up there, she can hold her own. She's pretty darn aggressive, I mean she did get placed on probation in the Atlantic series for too aggressive driving.

[KartRacerBoy]

Spain. Massa wins his second race from pole. So my revised interpretation is that he is fast (faster than Kimi so far weekend for weekend), but Felipe is delicate. Like Coulthard was, he can win from the front when he has managed to set up the fastest car. Put him under pressure, however, and he becomes a whole messa Massa and tries to hard and makes mistakes. Witness his duel with Hamilton at Malaysia.

 

Kimi, on the other hand, is also fast. He's not as fast a Massa with Ferrari. Yet. That may change as the season progresses, or maybe it won't. But one thing is clear. Kimi is more of a racer and when he's not leading from the get go, he can come to front with silly things like passing other drivers. Massa? Not so good at the passing thing.

 

Opinions?

 

Oh yea, Hamilton is da balls! Alonso? "Hey!!! How does Hamilton pull off those 1st lap, 1st turn, outside passes?!?!?"

[tantal]

Kimi is apparently the more sensitive, something I'm disappointed with. However, when the car comes to him, and it will, he will be unbeatable, even by Felipe. Kimi appears to be having a problem setting up the car the way he likes it, but he is extremely consistent - better than Schumacher in this respect. Lap after lap his times differ by the amount of fuel used. But he is having trouble adapting to the new car. This shouldn't be a big surprise - the McLaren is the only car hes driven for five years, and the car was developed for him, not for Juan Pablo or David.

 

Felipe - he is still underrated. The man is extremely fast - he and Kimi may be neck and neck for raw speed. However Felipe is inconsistent. On the other hand, he has come a very long way, and I think this will continue. Just look at how much that team loves Felipe - they adore him. He makes his mistakes, and he admits to them - what a concept. Fred blames the car, Felipe comes right out and says "I farked up." Fred says "My team isn't supporting me." Felipe says "I let down my team."

 

Felipe is the kind of guy to rally your team around. Kimi - who knows? McLaren is such a fark-fest kind of place; look what they did to Juan Pablo and David. Kimi has yet to show how he works with a supportive team. But the man has great speed and great consistency - the car just is still foreign to him.

 

When the Ferrari/Kimi combination is better sorted, no one will be able to touch Kimi. Not even Felipe.

 

At this time, no one else will be able to touch Felipe. Not even Hamilton.

 

Fred? Who's Fred? LOL

 

It will be a very interesting and exciting season - but it is looking like the 07 Ferrari is related to the 05 McLaren - this has to change.

[cartman]

Any thoughts on the Mclaren front wing movement?

I thought that it was natural for the wing to flex a little, given the large amount of air that it moves.

 

Grate race, though. Fred was pissed!

[Scotty]

Within the next few races, the FIA will come up with a test and specifications on how much deflection is allowed like they do with the rear wing.

[KartRacerBoy]

Within the next few races, the FIA will come up with a test and specifications on how much deflection is allowed like they do with the rear wing.

 

 

I believe the front wing is already tested for rigidity. How the test is applied may be more important.

[Scotty]

The main wing is tested, but not the winglet.

[KartRacerBoy]

USGP. Kimi is still getting his butt whipped by Massa. It appears that Kimi is NOT faster over a single lap than Felipe, let alone over an entire race. But still only seven races into the season.