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2008 Season - Monza
Posted by
Quiet One
,
19 March 2009
·
103 views
Welcome to Monza, home of speed. No, not Scott Speed. No, not the drink. Oh, crap....just shut up! 2009 season is about to start and we don't have time for this!
Soooo....everybody was unhappy after Spa. Too bad. It was a great race, more or less. Hamilton fans thought he was robbed. Hamilton haters thought he ruined the race penalty or not. Your usual F1 controversy. In that aspect, he just joined the club of the big names. Schumi, Lauda, Senna, Prost...all were involved in such controversies at one moment or another.
Monza was all about rain, timing, skills, luck...and gay men.
FIA reviews show a lap onboard with comments from one of the drivers before the actual clip of the race. For Monza, they chose Adrian Sutil, the Running Gaylord. Commenting his lap does nothing to give him a rugged, macho appareance.
Then, of course, we get to see Vettel. He has that same quality which shares also with Nico Rosberg. These guys have so much in common with the likes of Mansell, or Fitipaldi as I do with Arnold Schwarzennegger. And finally...the STR pitcrew. How can I describe them? Gays. Now that was easy!
No, I am not homophobic. I just love to make these remarks! You see, when I was a kid and I even had hair, I was your typical geeky, small and weak guy. Bullies were never too harsh on me, I must admit, but still I was no macho symbol. So something in the back of my mind always told me during my teens "you are not much of a man!". Luckily for me, the year 2000 arrived and with it the new men paradigm. Metrosexuals and such. Suddenly I became some sort of Bruce Willis, even if I am still as geeky and weak, only because guys started to "get more in touch with their feminine side". Is it good? Is it bad? Who cares! I have a blast out of it!
Sorry, I disgress as usual. So, back to work...
Like I said, Monza was all about timing. Vettel had it and thanks to his qaulifying times earlier during the session he ended up on pole. Kimi and Lewis failed again to impress under the wet, and Massa, the only guy to have an actual chance to defy Vettel's pole, qulaified 6th...after Silverstone he obviously never pushed hard again in the wet. Kimi and Lewis ended up a meager 14th and 15th. Nando 8th. Heikki 2nd, Webbo 3rd (oh, MW, why you are always so close yet so far from actually showing you can?) and Bourdais 4th.
Race starts under SC. Bourdais bad luck continues as he can't even start, his engine stalled. So from 4th to one lap down before the race even had started. Ouch. After 2 laps the SC pulls out and it's all about Vettel and a huge spray behind him. Conditions were so atrocious you can see from the onboard camera on Kubica's car that he passes Heidfeld for 9th without even realizing it. Kimi and Lewis battle against Fisichella's FI for position. Yeah, it was that bad.
Ok, a few other comments on some drivers before focusing on what was really important:
1) Vettel: we all know what happened. He managed to finish first from lead. Great job blah blah blah. Not enough to make him the next big thing but it was a big step forward and he would later show some more skills to certainly make him a guy to follow closely in the next few years. Wonderful performace and lots of luck, too.
2) DC: broke his own record and managed to take of the track both Fisichella and Nakajima.
3) Massa: Not too shabby. He started and ended 6th, though. He could have done much worse, though.
4) Alonso: 4tht again. The guy was quietly improving. Nobody noticed, though.
5) Kimi: Uninspired as usual this year. He managed to climb up some positions, but mostly thanks to pit strategy.
6) Kubica: Again the guy gave all he had. And again he managed to get a podium. And again it was worth s##t thanks to Dr.Mario.
7) Heikki: 2nd place! Wow...was the guy really improving? Nah.
Now for the important part:
Hamilton: surprised huh? Well, for me this one was a lot better than his Silverstone or Spa's performances. His team strategy sucked, and that hindered him in the end, but he managed to give a lesson on how to climb up the field. Yes, his car was much better than the other guys, but we must also remember that with these cars, overtaking is never that easy. He overtook every car imaginable without having to cut the chicane (see Hammy? you can do it!). Well, actually he did that while trying to overtake Trulli but he gave the place back.
Of course, being Hammy he can't be happy unless he does something dumb. In this case, his overtaking manoeuvre on Timo. He purposedly pushed Timo off the track. It was evident back then, and watching the race again does nothing to excuse him. He just moves to his side with no other reason than to push Timo off, he already had the advantage. Why? Who knows?
In any case, it was just a minor spot on on of his brilliant drives of the year.
Next stop: Singapore!
Soooo....everybody was unhappy after Spa. Too bad. It was a great race, more or less. Hamilton fans thought he was robbed. Hamilton haters thought he ruined the race penalty or not. Your usual F1 controversy. In that aspect, he just joined the club of the big names. Schumi, Lauda, Senna, Prost...all were involved in such controversies at one moment or another.
Monza was all about rain, timing, skills, luck...and gay men.
FIA reviews show a lap onboard with comments from one of the drivers before the actual clip of the race. For Monza, they chose Adrian Sutil, the Running Gaylord. Commenting his lap does nothing to give him a rugged, macho appareance.
Then, of course, we get to see Vettel. He has that same quality which shares also with Nico Rosberg. These guys have so much in common with the likes of Mansell, or Fitipaldi as I do with Arnold Schwarzennegger. And finally...the STR pitcrew. How can I describe them? Gays. Now that was easy!
No, I am not homophobic. I just love to make these remarks! You see, when I was a kid and I even had hair, I was your typical geeky, small and weak guy. Bullies were never too harsh on me, I must admit, but still I was no macho symbol. So something in the back of my mind always told me during my teens "you are not much of a man!". Luckily for me, the year 2000 arrived and with it the new men paradigm. Metrosexuals and such. Suddenly I became some sort of Bruce Willis, even if I am still as geeky and weak, only because guys started to "get more in touch with their feminine side". Is it good? Is it bad? Who cares! I have a blast out of it!
Sorry, I disgress as usual. So, back to work...
Like I said, Monza was all about timing. Vettel had it and thanks to his qaulifying times earlier during the session he ended up on pole. Kimi and Lewis failed again to impress under the wet, and Massa, the only guy to have an actual chance to defy Vettel's pole, qulaified 6th...after Silverstone he obviously never pushed hard again in the wet. Kimi and Lewis ended up a meager 14th and 15th. Nando 8th. Heikki 2nd, Webbo 3rd (oh, MW, why you are always so close yet so far from actually showing you can?) and Bourdais 4th.
Race starts under SC. Bourdais bad luck continues as he can't even start, his engine stalled. So from 4th to one lap down before the race even had started. Ouch. After 2 laps the SC pulls out and it's all about Vettel and a huge spray behind him. Conditions were so atrocious you can see from the onboard camera on Kubica's car that he passes Heidfeld for 9th without even realizing it. Kimi and Lewis battle against Fisichella's FI for position. Yeah, it was that bad.
Ok, a few other comments on some drivers before focusing on what was really important:
1) Vettel: we all know what happened. He managed to finish first from lead. Great job blah blah blah. Not enough to make him the next big thing but it was a big step forward and he would later show some more skills to certainly make him a guy to follow closely in the next few years. Wonderful performace and lots of luck, too.
2) DC: broke his own record and managed to take of the track both Fisichella and Nakajima.
3) Massa: Not too shabby. He started and ended 6th, though. He could have done much worse, though.
4) Alonso: 4tht again. The guy was quietly improving. Nobody noticed, though.
5) Kimi: Uninspired as usual this year. He managed to climb up some positions, but mostly thanks to pit strategy.
6) Kubica: Again the guy gave all he had. And again he managed to get a podium. And again it was worth s##t thanks to Dr.Mario.
7) Heikki: 2nd place! Wow...was the guy really improving? Nah.
Now for the important part:
Hamilton: surprised huh? Well, for me this one was a lot better than his Silverstone or Spa's performances. His team strategy sucked, and that hindered him in the end, but he managed to give a lesson on how to climb up the field. Yes, his car was much better than the other guys, but we must also remember that with these cars, overtaking is never that easy. He overtook every car imaginable without having to cut the chicane (see Hammy? you can do it!). Well, actually he did that while trying to overtake Trulli but he gave the place back.
Of course, being Hammy he can't be happy unless he does something dumb. In this case, his overtaking manoeuvre on Timo. He purposedly pushed Timo off the track. It was evident back then, and watching the race again does nothing to excuse him. He just moves to his side with no other reason than to push Timo off, he already had the advantage. Why? Who knows?
In any case, it was just a minor spot on on of his brilliant drives of the year.
Next stop: Singapore!
Andrés said:
Hamilton? Woohoo. If you're judging the race, I think you're very fair! If you judge them on the whole weekend, I would say it was one of Hammy's most disappointing race weekends. His qualifying was one of the worst moments of his career and Vettel deserved the win just for that. I still remember my sheepish posts (hopefully it didn't show) to YHR, so soon after mocking Massa's wet weather driving in Silverstone.