Frentzen at Indy?

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Yep, haha, a 1-2 for Sauber is very very very far fetched, even with Frentzen behind the wheel

[nichosnz 0]

I do hope he can pull something out of the bag though, a podium might be nice, and is possible Heldfeld got one (Brazil) last year.

[daz 0]

It would be nice to see Frentzen get a good result. Especially after all the bad luck he has had with Prost and Arrows after the last 2 seasons.

I still don't think Sauber can realistically expect to do better than their current 5th this season, but hopefully with a good result or two at Indy/Suzuka they can stay where they are.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

The whole team seem to be rejuvenated with Frentzen in the team, so I think we will just have to wait and see. A good strategy pays off at Indy, so they may be able to get positions there.

[nichosnz 0]

Frentzen does deserve a good result, he has been waiting a while. In 2000-01 whenever he was in line for one, the Jordan (usually the Honda bit) broke.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Yea, in 2000 he did well in the underperforming EJ10 and finished on the podium at Indy. Jordan though have gone downhill since 1999 (its hard to think they were the third best team!!!), and I think he made a wise choice to not rejoin the team.

[nichosnz 0]

I think so too, pity for poor Giancarlo, left Jordan when they were just getting better, and returned when his other team were just getting better.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

True, though Renault has quieted down significantly since Button scoring his three fourth places. Shame he didn't get the podium at Malaysia, would've loved to see that!

[nichosnz 0]

At the time of Malaysia it didn't look like we would have to wait too long to see Button there. Pity that turned out to be wrong.

[daz 0]

Thats true. Does anybody have any idea why Renault started off so well this year but have faded towards the end of the season? Is it just that the other teams have improved at a faster rate over the season or is it something like internal politics at Renault affecting their performances (Eg. getting rid of Button for Alonso etc..)?

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

No, it really is just a case of Mclaren improving at a much faster race than Renault, which can be expected thanks to all the people who work at Woking. But Renault can pick it up again, honestly I was expecting them to be as fast as Mclaren at this stage in the season back around the time of Malaysia.

[nichosnz 0]

They will improve. But Renault need Alonso and Trulli in Qualifing and the start of the race, but they need Alonso and Button in the middle and end of the race. I feel it was the right thing putting Alonso in a race car, but it is a pity Button vs Trulli was decided by contracts and who has Flav as a manager, rather than evauating the two drivers. I think Button would have got it in an evaulation method, as a racer is more important than a qualifier.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Trulli seems to have bad luck in the races, but I think he is a good driver nonetheless. Jenson will do good at BAR, it can only help when the entire team is pretty much British and now that they have a Brit and a former world champ who's been there from the start, things will get better.

[nichosnz 0]

Dave is the man to do it, look what he did for Subaru and the Rally Championship.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Richards did an excellent job for Subaru and especially for the entire WRC series. The new TV coverage he made available, all the new camera angles and new technology he implemented and the obligations by the teams to help out the TV coverage (explaining parts of the car, interviews, specials) if needed really make the WRC a thing not to miss.

[nichosnz 0]

I'm not really into Rally, but I do keep up with the results. Although that may change as in addition to what you said Jens the improvment in coverage means it is easier to know who is leading.

[daz 0]

Pity - we have absolutely no coverage of it over here apart from a very quick glimpse on world sport. Sounds like it is worth watching though.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Yea its great to watch now as you can see absolutely everything worth seeing and everything major that happened. For example at the last rally Petter Solberg gained around 20 seconds over Richard Burns by taking full advantage of a stage that allowed a lot of corners to be cut. Solberg of course did, and the coverage did a great job to compare how Solberg cut the corners while Burns didn't.

Before rally coverage was a miscellaneous mass of clips from random parts in the rally with really no inside info and explanations of what is going on. Unlike F1, rally is very dependent on a great play-by-play person while F1 is sometimes quite self evident on TV.

[nichosnz 0]

Before rally coverage was a miscellaneous mass of clips from random parts in the rally with really no inside info and explanations of what is going on.

And not necessarally in a approiate order two, you could see clips from SS6 then a couple from SS2. How can you follow that?

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

That was the real problem, along with the fact that it was usually just a 15 minute quick highlights section that made no sense and showed the results. Rally coverage is now something so unbelievably organized, thorough, and well presented that you cant not know whats going on. The F1 digital feed is getting there, but not quite.

[nichosnz 0]

I wish we had F1 digital over here, I would pay for it. It will be a long time away though, England had to wait 3 years after France/Germany/Italy etc got it, so in NZ that probably equates to about 2018.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

We are now getting it over here in the US at least for the USGP, but will likely continue receiving it free. Most European stations will now get the digital feed for free but it will not have the free choice of cameras as the payperview feed does.

[nichosnz 0]

Free, when we do get it in 2018, it will not be free the choice-free service will be $16.99 (US$8.50) per event, plus inflation. The payperview will be $79.99 (US$40). Just to get thier money back on the service.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Probably sooner or later you will get it though. Next week there is the Rally of New Zealand, you probably get good coverage on that..

[nichosnz 0]

I haven't checked the schedule for it, but judging by last year, we will.