'09 F1 Season coming soon!

 

 

 

 

 

Retro memories ain't got nuthin' on this find...

 

Nice find TC. Group 7 cars in the wet around Canada Corner.  That musta been big fun.

 

First time I was there was a few years later.  IMSA GTP and sports cars.  Porsches vs. Corvettes... Hurley Haywood vs. Greg Pickett.  Bobby Rahal was the hot shoe hire for the weekend.  Klaus Ludwig was hard to beat but IIRC Al Holbert did it.

Watching quali right now. I tink if I was Hamilton I'd be wanting to go home. That car looked scary in addition to being slow. 

 Anybody still watching F1? I'm pretty stoked for Ham! 5th place and he's heavier than the Brawns (but lighter than the Red Bulls). Stoked for Webber too getting his maiden Pole. If Ham can't win, I'd like to see Webber do it. Also will be interesting to watch the Williams duo as they seemed to have good pace but were caught out on the wrong tires. Can they work their way through the field tomorrow?

Interesting race. Brawn's tactics just didn't work out for them. If Kovalinen hadn't got in Button's  way for the first few laps, it might have been a lot more of a race.

Good drama with the return to form of the McLarens.  Incredible pics from Germany.  Love that super duper slo-mo.

Kovalainen didn't help, but I think the Brawns were just lacking in pace. I just can' believe Ham's luck with the cut tire (thanks Mark!) in the first corner. The season is not over yet, that we know for sure.

 Anyone else catch qualifying this morning?
I was flipping from Speed to Vs between F1 qualifying and the TDF.
Sadly, I didn't miss this crash.  It did not look good.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8160000/newsid_8168900/8168987.stm

A spring came off Rubens car and hit him in the head.  A split second later and the spring would have missed Massa entirely.  What are the odds?

Thoughts and +vibes to Felipe.  I hope to see him back in the Ferrari soon.  What a freak accident.

 Will Ferrari start the 2nd car?

Ham for the win.

Only one steed from Maranello today.

F1 on DVR while I'm off to spend the day in TC with IceLady.
Don't tell me what happens!

 What is up with Ferrari only running the one car? Do they no longer carry a reserve driver (Luca Badoer?)?

Whatev - I liked the race. It ended just how I wanted (though I'd have liked Rosberg and Kimi to switch spots. Speaking of Kimi, rumor is that he may go to McLaren if Alonso goes to Ferrari. On the subject of Alonso.... what kind of BS is it to relegate Renault because of his wheel falling off? It's not like they had intent for that to happen and they didn't get any points anyway! If anyone needed to be relegated it was Raikonnen for his antics at the start. It looked like he was channeling Dale Eanrnhardt Sr. and Vetel was Jeff Gordon.

Agreed, agreed and agreed.

Was Massa's car too badly damaged to get to the line on time?  Perhaps Ferrari thought it a bad idea to put a driver in the race who hadn't had a lot of seat time in that car.  Glad to see Jaime stay out of trouble.

I might rather see Nico in the second McLaren next year.

Banning Renault from the next race penalized the fans and the sponsors.  This should be reversed on appeal.

Seems like team Braun is doing a collective head scratch at the performance of their car.  It's getting worse as everyone else is improving.

I was shocked to hear that the spring that hit Felipe weighed nearly two pounds.  Waiting for positive news as to his prognosis.  What I've heard so far seems vaguely positive but definitely vague.  Almost sounded like BBC was getting their info from Reubens' twitter.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8169915.stm

Sounds like Felipe's life is no longer in danger but his driving career may be.  You all know he's not my fave but I'd never wish anything like this on anyone.  Here's hoping for a full recovery.

 I wonder who will replace him. They have a month to decide. With testing pretty much absent this season, it seems like they need someone with F1 experience. Bourdais?

 I'm not sure if you were watching the qualifying, but it looked bad when Massa got hit with that spring.
He was conscious and waved, but it wasn't right and I could tell that the medics were being guarded on his movement as well as what was viewed by fans.

I wonder if they'll pull Michael out of retirement 

I would love to see that.  Does he have any Ferrari ties?



That'd be somethin', eh?  As long as we're picking long shots... Rubens isn't all that happy at Braun right now and they're not too happy with him either.

If Renault indeed doesn't start at Velencia do you think Flavio would let Fernando do it?

“What do you want to do with Bourdais? I can drive! Honestly. Bourdais did not do anything in Formula 1 with Toro Rosso. He is a real waste of time. There is no way Ferrari would even consider him when he couldn’t perform in a Toro Rosso against [Sébastien] Buemi. The problem is there is a lack of up-and-coming guys.

“The test drivers are useless, and there is nobody else here if you think about it. If he (Schumacher) doesn’t want to do it, the idea is finished in the same second – but if I was di Montezemolo I would call him.”

Niki Lauda seems to have his mind made up.

 I've followed(or attempted to follow) Bumpfreaq on the highway.  I think Bumpfreaq could do it!
Put your application in for the empty seat BF.  I'll be your reference!

Ha!  I like that better than Bourdais (who shares a manager w/Felipe).  I'm sure I could put that ride on the podium too..... if only I could fit in it.

 Aren't they managed by Jean Todt's son? That oughta count for something with the red team.

Massa's doctor says he will definitely race again.

Schumi to drive at Valencia.

Should be interesting.

g2g

 Wow. Just yesterday Willi Weber said that he would definitely NOT take Massa's seat.

BTW - Screw BMW. I like their drivers and like Sauber, but have never liked BMW. When they were "partners" with Williams they were very quick to place blame. Not surprised to see that they'd pack up and leave when things get hard.

Hmmm, so which will be the next manufacturer to drop out and which team will snatch up Kubica?


Oh, and that's not the first time I've rolled my eyes at the comments of Willi Weber.

 Who said that michael would take massa's seat while he's on the mend? Hmmmm......


Its good to see that Massa is likely to make a recovery and drive again.  This was truly one of the freakest accidents I've seen in racing.

I read in a British site on Sunday that Fillipe had suffered a basal skull fracture as well as the damage from the spring. I saw on another site that it was rumored that his HANS device failed.

Should be interesting to see Michael and Lewis go at it. Although McLaren seems to have their car figured out right now.

Button on the other hand seems to be in a negative funk these days. I didn't/don't like him anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

So the ban on testing this year has made it extra difficult for new drivers to come to the series.  I was impressed by the performance of Jaime Alguersuari at the last race weekend.  Then Michael the Great announced that he would attempt a come back, standing in for Felipe while he is unable to drive.  Sure would be nice though if he could have special dispensation to take the wheel of his future steed for a day or so.  "Cool, that sounds like big fun," the FIA responded.  Seems that Jaime's team, Toro Rosso-Ferrari had a problem with this as did the ever grumpy Frank Williams.

The red team's solution?

Of course, as defending champ, Schumi sports #1

Great to see Felipe making such great progress.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8184678.stm

His eye definitely looks a bit wonky and I haven't heard anyone say if he's lost any sight in it but he certainly seems like he could be back fairly soon.

 I agree with the appearance of Felipe's eye.
Looking forward to seeing what Michael can do after a few years off track