Italian Grand Prix

[Massa 0]

The race is this weekend. Thoughts from practice?

[Quiet One 15]

RBR untouchable in qualy sim and full tanks...as usual, the real interest lies in the actual racing among the other teams: Ferrari vs Merc vs Lotus, Force India vs Toro Rosso, Sauber vs Williams, Marussia vs Catterham and McLaren vs their own ghosts.

Lotus seemed the leader of the top tier but the Merc showed hints of their super quickness and Ferrari are the team to watch race pace wise.

Jokes aside, McLaren I think has a chance for a podium as either Jenson's experience or Perez's speed are able to capitalise any mishaps in the front runners.

I hope for Vergne to beat Ricciardo, just because he was my favorite and I am a bitter old man

Also hoping that Maldonado leads the Williams ahead of the Saubers, just because everybody hates him, and I am a bitter old man

Finally, I expect my boy Bianchi to get some of his mojo back, and that Pic puts Avant Garde back in his place, just because I am a bitter old man

[BradSpeedMan 6]

I hope for Vergne to beat Ricciardo, just because he was my favorite and I am a bitter old man

I'm with you there

[Emmcee 0]

I'm with you there

Kimi fans were always going to hate who ever got that seat except kimi, iam glad they went with him. He deserves it,his qualifying pace is bloody quick,this is a kid who drove a 12yr old formula ford and still kept up at the front. Like newey said, they could have picked a well known driver,a world champion who can get results and achieve great things, but if you don't give a young guy a go, how is he going to have a chance to achieve great things to? I think they made the right decision, I expect him to open a few eyes next year.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Kimi fans were always going to hate who ever got that seat except kimi, iam glad they went with him. He deserves it,his qualifying pace is bloody quick,this is a kid who drove a 12yr old formula ford and still kept up at the front. Like newey said, they could have picked a well known driver,a world champion who can get results and achieve great things, but if you don't give a young guy a go, how is he going to have a chance to achieve great things to? I think they made the right decision, I expect him to open a few eyes next year.

I never wanted Kimi to join RB??????????? thats just a dof assumption bud

[Quiet One 15]

True. Brad didn't want Kimi to join RB. All Brad wants is to marry him.

As for the "giving a young guy a go" fairy tale that Horner wrote, I didn't expect you of all people to believe it!

Do you seriously think that they chose Ricciardo over Kimi because they rather give a new guy an opportunity? They chose Ricciardo because he is promising, but he also will be (hopefully) a good number two for Vettel and cheaper than Kimi, if Kimi was ever really an option (which I bet he wasn't).

Unless in a couple of races Ricciardo shows that he is the new Senna, they will keep him firmly behind Vettel as long as Seb is around. They are not a welfare state, they are not all about equal opportunities. They are all about which guy can help them sell most cans of liquid caffeine (*). And your man for that is Seb. End of.

(*) That's a joke, of course. As much as I dislike Vettel and RBR, they are surely not merely a drinks company, just like Benetton wasn't just a clothes company. They are the best and most professional team around, as much as it hurts to admit it.

But Vettel, Horner and Marko are still tools neener neener

[Emmcee 0]

True. Brad didn't want Kimi to join RB. All Brad wants is to marry him.

As for the "giving a young guy a go" fairy tale that Horner wrote, I didn't expect you of all people to believe it!

Do you seriously think that they chose Ricciardo over Kimi because they rather give a new guy an opportunity? They chose Ricciardo because he is promising, but he also will be (hopefully) a good number two for Vettel and cheaper than Kimi, if Kimi was ever really an option (which I bet he wasn't).

Unless in a couple of races Ricciardo shows that he is the new Senna, they will keep him firmly behind Vettel as long as Seb is around. They are not a welfare state, they are not all about equal opportunities. They are all about which guy can help them sell most cans of liquid caffeine (*). And your man for that is Seb. End of.

(*) That's a joke, of course. As much as I dislike Vettel and RBR, they are surely not merely a drinks company, just like Benetton wasn't just a clothes company. They are the best and most professional team around, as much as it hurts to admit it.

But Vettel, Horner and Marko are still tools neener neener

Of course not, they chose him because they know he will do exactly as he is told to do as he will be happy just to be running near the front. Simple as that.

[Quiet One 15]

Damn, Lewis!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

eish, and Kimi...what a disaster

[Imatool 0]

So Massa to have a Gearbox issue?

[Quiet One 15]

Seb on pole...thrilled.

Ferrari should give up the tow tactics, they never make it work and this time even Alonso seemed unconvinced about them.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

wow...Hulkenberg 3rd!!!!

[Ikyrotz 0]

Hülkenberg really was the star, didn't see that one coming! All in all, I thought it was a rather exciting quali, just too bad that Lotuses were so slow. I'm surprised about Lewis, maybe he was slowed down by Sutil on his last lap, but even before that, he hadn't been able to put a lap together in Q2.

[Quiet One 15]

Lewis said that his lap was horrible. Kudos for his honesty.

Grr so frustrated. I am not gonna watch the race, will watch this instead:

[Massa 0]

Hmm...I agreed with the "bitter old man" lines, as someone who regards Vergne, Pic, Bianchi, and Maldonado higher than what appears to be the "normal" way of thinking about them. I even clicked that video. Uh oh.

Pretty interesting grid, though I didn't see qualifying as I assumed NBCSN just shows the Premier League and nothing else now. Little did I know. A small chance of showers tomorrow might make this the third or fourth "rain-mongering" race of the year, in which the commentators constantly tell you about the threat of rain that never arrives.

I'm hoping Pérez runs a clean race in the eyes of the FIA, that Vergne gets his season back on-track, and that we are treated to some strong progress from Räikkönen and Hamilton to gain some positions. That would be satisfying.

[Rainmaster 7]

Red Bull and Vettel never making any mistakes makes for a boring but impressive session. Race should be interesting in the midfield with Lewis and Kimi. Lewis was too harsh on himself and as usual, unneccessarily open with the media. Sure, he made a mistake, but he also got impeded horribly.

Is it true that Alonso called Ferrari stupid on the team radio? Well, he is right. I said last year how dumb those towing moves are and that you can trip yourself up too easily. It's true that getting a perfect tow provides a nice advantage in qualifying but the problem is focussing on getting a perfect tow instead of just focussing on doing a good laptime leads to mistakes and that's exactly what we saw. Alonso is right to be angry with the team but I guess he's angry for going along with it, too. Anyway, "Felipe is too fast" is one for the Massa fans, if there are any left.

[Quiet One 15]

Red Bull and Vettel never making any mistakes makes for a boring but impressive session. Race should be interesting in the midfield with Lewis and Kimi. Lewis was too harsh on himself and as usual, unneccessarily open with the media. Sure, he made a mistake, but he also got impeded horribly.

Is it true that Alonso called Ferrari stupid on the team radio? Well, he is right. I said last year how dumb those towing moves are and that you can trip yourself up too easily. It's true that getting a perfect tow provides a nice advantage in qualifying but the problem is focussing on getting a perfect tow instead of just focussing on doing a good laptime leads to mistakes and that's exactly what we saw. Alonso is right to be angry with the team but I guess he's angry for going along with it, too. Anyway, "Felipe is too fast" is one for the Massa fans, if there are any left.

Apparently what he said was "genii" ("geniuses") and not "scemi" ("stupids", although "sillies" would be a more appropiate translation. It is a very mild insult, "stupid" is not so mild). The commentator here heard "genii" as well, and he knows some Italian, and he is a Vettel fan so I tend to believe him.

In any case, if he called them "genius" he was being sarcastic so it doesn't make much of a difference. He is frustrated, as the rest of us are Still he put a brave face afterwards.

[Rainmaster 7]

Apparently what he said was "genii" ("geniuses") and not "scemi" ("stupids", although "sillies" would be a more appropiate translation. It is a very mild insult, "stupid" is not so mild). The commentator here heard "genii" as well, and he knows some Italian, and he is a Vettel fan so I tend to believe him.

In any case, if he called them "genius" he was being sarcastic so it doesn't make much of a difference. He is frustrated, as the rest of us are Still he put a brave face afterwards.

Yes, that sounds right I misremembered. He was being sarcastic (and to me even his comments afterwards saying they did a "perfect" job seemed sarcastic, though I was reading them not listening to them). Anyway, you'd think it's not too much of an offence although I don't think LdM has much of a sense of humour

[Grabthaw the Hammerslayer 4]

...although I don't think LdM has much of a sense of humour

He keeps employing Massa doesn't he? Surely he has to have a sense of humour to do that

[BradSpeedMan 6]

This Alonso outburst is getting hectic, from a post on JAonF1...."Jon Noble has just tweeted: “Caught up in an amusing press scrum with Luca di Montezemolo just now. He shouted at Alonso to ask if he was driving for Marussia next year”. He also asked him if he called the team stupid on the radio!..... JA was also there and heard it, don't know if it was meant as a joke or for real....

[Quiet One 15]

This Alonso outburst is getting hectic, from a post on JAonF1...."Jon Noble has just tweeted: “Caught up in an amusing press scrum with Luca di Montezemolo just now. He shouted at Alonso to ask if he was driving for Marussia next year”. He also asked him if he called the team stupid on the radio!..... JA was also there and heard it, don't know if it was meant as a joke or for real....

Tsk tsk...now you are being naughty!

James Allen said "I was there. He did. He wanted to show that there were no hard feelings between them, clearly."

It was fun to read all the other comments, each one supposedly "quoting" Alonso and each one making Alonso's sayings sound more and more insulting. My favorite theory was that he is doing all this because he is rattled about Kimi going to Ferrari, all that based on a completely made up version of what Alonso said. Alonso explained quite clearly what he said.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Tsk tsk...now you are being naughty!

James Allen said "I was there. He did. He wanted to show that there were no hard feelings between them, clearly."

It was fun to read all the other comments, each one supposedly "quoting" Alonso and each one making Alonso's sayings sound more and more insulting. My favorite theory was that he is doing all this because he is rattled about Kimi going to Ferrari, all that based on a completely made up version of what Alonso said. Alonso explained quite clearly what he said.

yeah, we'll see....

[BradSpeedMan 6]

from pitpass

http://www.pitpass.com/49828/Alonso-downplays-idiot-comments

[Rainmaster 7]

I think the media scrum yesterday was just some friendly "banter" as we'd call it here. But as is often the case banter can hide more serious tensions and it's obvious there are tensions between LdM and Alonso. The tensions just haven't got serious enough yet for them to show them genuinely in public, as you could see in the past with say Prost and Senna. Apparently at the end of the incident LdM commented to Alonso calling him in Italian "little Fernando". Just a nickname? To me it seems more like he wants to put Alonso in his place because LdM's ego is one of the worst in F1, and that's why he's often clashing with drivers like he did with Raikkonen who would be even less tolerant of that kind of thing than Alonso. This is also the reason I think Kimi really wouldn't want to go back to Ferrari, but we'll see.

[Quiet One 15]

@Brad: again, that's the explanation he made, and the "You are idiots, real idiots" that they quote is completely made up, look up the radio transmission on youtube and invite an italian speaking friend and you will notice that he never said that.

If you can't, sites that pretend to be F1 serious informing sites should do, to avoid making up stuff to back up their prejudices.

@George: JA is a good example of the mob lynching FA is going through right now, and JA is the most objective of them all.

But he reports a friendly joking between Alonso and LdM, he acknowledges that there's tension in the team and that this tension is perfectly understandable, and then goes to interpret whatever sign as he seems fit. Friendliness is actually hatred, "Fernandino" is not a demeaning or patronizing way of calling someone, but a term of endearment and you need to really distort the facts to interpret it in any other way, it's exactly like in Spanish.

Meanwhile, someplace else in these forums it was posted a quote from Button spreading rumours against another driver, something really despicable, yet that goes perfectly unnoticed because we all know Jenson is a "nice" guy.

Oh, well...