Bad luck (again) for Massa. And yes, Ferrari needs to go back to the lollipops. How much time are they actually saving? Half a second at most?

Congrats to Alonso. He definitely had a quick car, even though it died on him yesterday during qualifying. And a little luck never hurts anyone either.

I really enjoyed the night race. The cars look way different under the lights, especially the McLaren. The chrome paint job acted like a mirror and all you could see on the top of the car was the black night sky. The car looked almost two-toned gun metal. Very nice. Almost as nice as the glimmering red prancing horses.

And this was the first time in a loooong time that the driver's wore clear visors. It was fantastic to see the drivers' eyes from the onboard camera behind the steering wheel. Hamilton's eyes looked HUGE, and it almost seems like they never blink. Kinda like me when I'm playing my PS3. They must learn how to force blink during races.

Three races to go, and not much time for Massa to catch up. Hamilton can finish 1 spot behind Massa in all the next 3 races and still win the championship. Hopefully Kimi will wake up and actually help out his teammate.

IMO it is odd that the race commentators also seemed to think it was a great experience [and went on and on about it] whereas compared to Monza and Spa it seemed like a procession redeemed only by chance and ultimately bad luck.

Massa had won pole fairly and squarely and seemed well set in the race when chance intervened. He was given the green light, he went and it was a major cock-up.

However, after his weasel words at Spa when he was a handed a race he did nothing to win and Ferrari's apparent 'premium', I find it difficult to have too much sympathy for Massa BUT today he was very unlucky.

Nevertheless the race was a monumental bore with Hamilton's pass on Coulthard one of the very few 'racing' moments - and even there it was ultimately of no consequence.

It might have been a pretty scene but IMO very, very boring although I would be genuinely interested in a contrary view that related to the racing as opposed to the scenery and its lighting.

Of course congratulations to Alonso and Rosberg who benefited enormously from Piquet’s mistake.

Now that it is over, please wake me up.

Biggest surpise Alonso, engine cut out, startes 15th, and finishes # 1.

Now lets see what Team Red has to say about big screw ups:
1] Fuel hose
2] Why KImi was reigh in back of him during fuel hose,
3] and why Kimi sort of parks it when race only has about 5 laps to go.

"Sort of parks?"

My brother had a girlfriend who "sort of parked" like that a few times...

quote:

Originally posted by yhn:
"Sort of parks?"

My brother had a girlfriend who "sort of parked" like that a few times...

Being kind. 2 of the recents 'patks' have been due to driver error!! and re got renewed for next year.

The FIA dropped the Canadian GP from the 2009 Schedule. There are links everywhere.

Unfortunate but not surprising. It is sad to see a circuit with some history be cut, but with no US race and all the problems they have been having with the surface it is not all that shocking.

Ouch.

quote:

Originally posted by Mezzo Litro:
The FIA dropped the Canadian GP from the 2009 Schedule. There are links everywhere.

Oh shit

Come on. If they wanted to they could [and should] fix the surface. It's a much better circuit than the Singapore nonsense unless they fix that too i.e. the circuit rather than the surface.

The problem, as dear old Max has said as he prepares to go to the 'big court' over privacy, is that the whole circus is way overblown and will disappear up itself unless a strong grip is taken on finances. Sound familiar?

OTOH some might think that the argument that "anything goes as long as it's private" doesn't sit too well with lectures about profligacy in F1 generally - even though he is probably right about the latter.

This is a disaster for the Montreal economy. But many times we've seen last minute concessions in F1. Who knows if this is the final word on '09 schedule. The optimist would say that the tank is half full. The realist (me) would say...money changes everything.

a lot of the problem is the sponsors & FIA rules against cigartetes etc. [spelling is not my forte]. Do not believe that the finances to Bernis pocket is the real issue, as it is at Indy.

There is a nice one month gap in the schedule, but is is not the normal June period.

Can somebody explain what is still legal to do in F1 when it comes to passing? The stewarts really need to stay out!!

VT2IT...what's the issue you're referring to? Massa and Lewis' drive thru penalties?

Both, along with Bourdais' 25 second penalty. Those where all normal racing incidents. Sure drivers forced each other off, or into a position where they had to have contact, that's going to happen when you are trying to pass. There were no intentional shunts, just some agressive driving. Doesn't F1 want any passing?

quote:

Originally posted by VT2IT:
Both, along with Bourdais' 25 second penalty. Those where all normal racing incidents. Sure drivers forced each other off, or into a position where they had to have contact, that's going to happen when you are trying to pass. There were no intentional shunts, just some agressive driving. Doesn't F1 want any passing?

Well I sort of agree with you but in the first case a driver over-braked himself forcing his way past, ruined his tyres and caused others to lose postion - but didn't hit anyone.

In the second a driver over-braked while ahead and lost momentum, went off the circuit across a corner and drove back onto the circuit into the driver who had moved ahead of him causing that driver car damage and a position at the back of the field.

I think both merited an investigation but IMO the penalties if any should not have been the same.

The Bourdais incident was a disgrace. Bourdais did nothing wrong and could not have been further over. Massa should not have hit him and there was plenty of room to go around him.

To penalise Bourdais is lunacy.

Rather than get into an argument though I agree with the generality that the stewards have been making a mockery of racing - in this season's races in particular.

SB was presented with a blue flag at the time of the exit. He [if he was watching the signals] would have realized there was a car passing.

For that a penalty would be justified, however 25 sec is too much. Maybe 10. 25 knocked him out of the points

Plus it was not in the last five laps where the rules call for a 25 second penalty. Why wasn't it decided quickly enough so that he could have served a drive through if they deemed him at fault?

I think the stewards are 'tip-toeing' around the Ferrari/McLaren and Massa/Hamilton championship fights. They do not want their decisions to have any big impact on those fights. Therefore, they waited as long as possible before passing judgement.

quote:

Originally posted by Mezzo Litro:
I think the stewards are 'tip-toeing' around the Ferrari/McLaren and Massa/Hamilton championship fights. They do not want their decisions to have any big impact on those fights. Therefore, they waited as long as possible before passing judgement.

FIA = Go Red!! or No go Silver

quote:

Originally posted by Florida Wino:
SB was presented with a blue flag at the time of the exit. He [if he was watching the signals] would have realized there was a car passing.

For that a penalty would be justified, however 25 sec is too much. Maybe 10. 25 knocked him out of the points

Bourdais was racing Massa. I watched the entire race and saw car after car pile out of the pit lane and 'interfere' much more comprehensively with the passing cars without the flicker of a penalty.

The blue flag 'faster car approaching' was being waved a lot of the time in those cases exiting the pit lane and 1. no one else got run into and the cars with momentum either passed later or drove round the outside and 2. there were no other penalties.

IIRC penalties for ignoring the blue flag are usually imposed when a driver is holding up the leaders i.e. is about to be lapped and usually requires several warnings before a drive through penalty [or the infamous 25 seconds after the race is cut and dried] is imposed.

A drive through would also have been ridiculous but there is no excuse for the decision to penalise Bourdais to take that long.

It was rank bad driving by Massa but since he had penalised himself and this time not damaged the other car the incident should just have been left as a driving incident.

I am so sick of the pro-Ferrari conspiracy theories. There have been plenty of times Hamilton and McLaren have been helped out at the expenses of Ferreri which get convenietly overlooked.

quote:

Originally posted by Mezzo Litro:
I think the stewards are 'tip-toeing' around the Ferrari/McLaren and Massa/Hamilton championship fights. They do not want their decisions to have any big impact on those fights. Therefore, they waited as long as possible before passing judgement.

"They do not want their decisions to have any big impact on those fights" How do you work that one out

Of course the Bourdais decison has had an impact.

The points difference would have changed the result of the Championship last year and might do so this year.

Yes it may Nigel, that is why they should stay out of the way and let the boys race.