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2008 Season - Spa
Posted by
Quiet One
,
17 March 2009
·
126 views
Sorry, I'm back! I am having many troubles with my computer and we are now behind schedule. I was aiming to finish this review before Australia, but I guess we are on a tight schedule now.
Ok...so they raced and whoever got the most wins didn't win the championship. End of.
What? Oh, ok...I will continue with the reviews. But only because now it starts to look good for Nando! By the way, Igot the chance of watching the whole Turkey 2006 and Interlagos 2006 GPs. You should watch them again. We tend to think that lately there haven't been any legendary battles. That (thanks to youtube) in the old days it was a continuous Arnoux vs Villeneuve clip. Well it wasn't. Even in the old times it was a rare ocassion when you got to see a battle such as Schumi against Nando in Turkey. WATCH IT!!!
Now, about Spa. You name Spa and everybody chants like an idiot "My favourite track! I love Eau Rouge!". Well, it has been nerfed down so much it is barely as fun as it ever was. Too bad. It was still a thrilling race.
So, despite being the fastest at practice, the Ferraris lost to a blindingly fast Lewis in qualy. The order was: Lewis, Massa, Heikki, Kimi, Nick, Nando, Webbo, Kuby. It was time for Nick to do something. It was too late anyways, because Dr.Mario decided that they'd rather focused on developing their 2009 car, effectively making a joke of whatever effort his two brilliant drivers could put on track.
Just before the start, a shower left the track damp in some places and dry on others and everybody went for the softer compound (with the notable exception of Piquet).
Green lights! The usual chaos at turn one. Trulli, starting from 11th and also on the harder compound makes an astounding climbing up the field and almost battles for 3rd place...but Bourdais crashes against him at the corner and a little later is goodbye for the Italian.
Kovy loses some places after contact with Nick. Hamilton gets away on a blistering pace. Massa, meanwhile, was driving like an old lady and Kimi made an easy prey of him for second. In a rare display of spirit, Kimi went after Lewis with all he got. And Lewis spun by himself! It was so surprising that Kimi had to go off track not to crash against Hammy. Hammy kept going, though and rejoined just ahead of Kimi who was still trying to get back on track. They were nose to tail all the way past Eau Rouge and Kimi finally got past Lewis. It would be Kimi's greatest moment in the whole season.
Meanwhile, back down the field, Heikki entertains the audience with his patented dumb move ®. He get a bit optimistic on a move on Webber and touches Webbo's car, earning himself a drive thru in the process "for being an utter nullity" (As the steward's decision said, but it was sadly censored by the Finn Mafia)
While Webber lost many places (he was 6th and in good shape until then) and Heikki muttered excuses on the radio, Piquet decided to go into action. He lost the car and crashed in the barriers. Nobody knew at the time but he was just practicing some skills that would be welcome in the future... His comments after the race: "It's a shame because I'm sure we could have done something today."(sic) As opposed to the nothing he usually did so far, I guess...
In the fianl laps rain started to pour and, as usual at Spa, it became a puzzle for race engineers and strategists because of the varying conditions on the track. Lewis was 5 seconds adrift from Kimi but closing in fast.
3 laps to go. Lewis go for it at La Source. Kimi closes the door and Lewis cuts the chicane. Lots of controversy and blah, blah, Hamilton, blah. My opinion: he deserved a penalty. He didn't deserve THAT penalty, though. Anyways, Kimi crashed aftewards after displaying a dismal control of the car under the wet. So much for the King of Spa. Lewis managed to finish first only because Kimi sucked and Massa was still driving like an old lady. By the end, Lewis was driving like two old ladies. It was a fine display until then though (well...aside from spinning by himself and cutting the chicane...ahem!)
Best drives? Nick and Nando. From 9th to 3rd and from 8th to 4th on the last lap. Both switched to wet tires on the final lap and the gamble paid handsomely. If you want to take into account who was the best among those who didn't change tires then it would have to be Bourdais. The guy was poised for a podium until the rain made him finish 7th.
Ok...so they raced and whoever got the most wins didn't win the championship. End of.
What? Oh, ok...I will continue with the reviews. But only because now it starts to look good for Nando! By the way, Igot the chance of watching the whole Turkey 2006 and Interlagos 2006 GPs. You should watch them again. We tend to think that lately there haven't been any legendary battles. That (thanks to youtube) in the old days it was a continuous Arnoux vs Villeneuve clip. Well it wasn't. Even in the old times it was a rare ocassion when you got to see a battle such as Schumi against Nando in Turkey. WATCH IT!!!
Now, about Spa. You name Spa and everybody chants like an idiot "My favourite track! I love Eau Rouge!". Well, it has been nerfed down so much it is barely as fun as it ever was. Too bad. It was still a thrilling race.
So, despite being the fastest at practice, the Ferraris lost to a blindingly fast Lewis in qualy. The order was: Lewis, Massa, Heikki, Kimi, Nick, Nando, Webbo, Kuby. It was time for Nick to do something. It was too late anyways, because Dr.Mario decided that they'd rather focused on developing their 2009 car, effectively making a joke of whatever effort his two brilliant drivers could put on track.
Just before the start, a shower left the track damp in some places and dry on others and everybody went for the softer compound (with the notable exception of Piquet).
Green lights! The usual chaos at turn one. Trulli, starting from 11th and also on the harder compound makes an astounding climbing up the field and almost battles for 3rd place...but Bourdais crashes against him at the corner and a little later is goodbye for the Italian.
Kovy loses some places after contact with Nick. Hamilton gets away on a blistering pace. Massa, meanwhile, was driving like an old lady and Kimi made an easy prey of him for second. In a rare display of spirit, Kimi went after Lewis with all he got. And Lewis spun by himself! It was so surprising that Kimi had to go off track not to crash against Hammy. Hammy kept going, though and rejoined just ahead of Kimi who was still trying to get back on track. They were nose to tail all the way past Eau Rouge and Kimi finally got past Lewis. It would be Kimi's greatest moment in the whole season.
Meanwhile, back down the field, Heikki entertains the audience with his patented dumb move ®. He get a bit optimistic on a move on Webber and touches Webbo's car, earning himself a drive thru in the process "for being an utter nullity" (As the steward's decision said, but it was sadly censored by the Finn Mafia)
While Webber lost many places (he was 6th and in good shape until then) and Heikki muttered excuses on the radio, Piquet decided to go into action. He lost the car and crashed in the barriers. Nobody knew at the time but he was just practicing some skills that would be welcome in the future... His comments after the race: "It's a shame because I'm sure we could have done something today."(sic) As opposed to the nothing he usually did so far, I guess...
In the fianl laps rain started to pour and, as usual at Spa, it became a puzzle for race engineers and strategists because of the varying conditions on the track. Lewis was 5 seconds adrift from Kimi but closing in fast.
3 laps to go. Lewis go for it at La Source. Kimi closes the door and Lewis cuts the chicane. Lots of controversy and blah, blah, Hamilton, blah. My opinion: he deserved a penalty. He didn't deserve THAT penalty, though. Anyways, Kimi crashed aftewards after displaying a dismal control of the car under the wet. So much for the King of Spa. Lewis managed to finish first only because Kimi sucked and Massa was still driving like an old lady. By the end, Lewis was driving like two old ladies. It was a fine display until then though (well...aside from spinning by himself and cutting the chicane...ahem!)
Best drives? Nick and Nando. From 9th to 3rd and from 8th to 4th on the last lap. Both switched to wet tires on the final lap and the gamble paid handsomely. If you want to take into account who was the best among those who didn't change tires then it would have to be Bourdais. The guy was poised for a podium until the rain made him finish 7th.
But I remember how happy I was until the rain started