Raikkonen fastest!

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Raikkonen was fastest at Friday practice, .498 seconds faster than his teammate David Coulthard in second. Rubens was third, but over a second behind!

Nice change, but do you think it will last into tomorrow's qualifying? I dont really know, Schumi didn't really get on track and you know he always has something in the bag, but Raikkonen seemed to have a nice set of cards up his sleeve at Spa as well, the last race where he had the fastest time in a session. And this time he was significantly ahead of everyone, and Rubens didnt have any lack of laps completed...

Nice crashes for Jacques and Monty, Im amazed that BAR got Villeneuve's car ready for the last 10 minutes or so of practice. It was in bits after the crash, so cheers to the BAR mechanics!

[Rohan 0]

only two words

DC LEAVE!!!!!!!!!

as we saw again today the new kid in the block is much better than the old dog! lol

and dc should give up his #1 seat!!!!

Nice crashes by JPM and JV....and ofcoarse the spins by Sato and crazy driving my Barrichelo!!!!!!

it was good today......hope it lasts......

Question? wut happened in in Montoya's crash???? i think its too late breaking but my friend in Manchester says it was a wrong angle with some slips in the tyre....so if any of u get a chance let me know wut happened!!!!!

[nichosnz 0]

I agree whole heartedly, DC has been shown up this year by someone who is only just out of F1 nappies.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Wrong angle with slips in the tyre? What?

Montoya made a somewhat common error, probably very common in practice sessions but not usually as destructive. I believe what he was going for was to try to turn in slightly earlier and carry more speed through the corner, probably after making a setup change such as slight increase in rearwing and maybe even softening the dampers a bit to better absorb the hit from using more kerb. He turned in that slight bit earlier, and found that, no, you cant do that! So in a way that is what your friend is saying, wrong angle. I bet most of the drivers try the same thing on Friday's (I do so a lot in practise laps karting) but it usually results in a touch of the gravel trap or something minor when it doesn't work, but a very rewarding two or three tenths when you get it right.

He ripped up the underside of the car, you could see the rear diffuser go into at least twenty pieces after he came off the kerb and bumped the gravel, and that's when he crossed the point of no return.

I do hope this carries over into tomorrow.

ps. My words of support for DC, at least he was second fastest and still plenty aways ahead of Rubens. I like the guy, but it is time for him to move on.

[daz 0]

Looks like KR was fantastic today... Once again showing DC a thing or two.. Also not to sure how they will do tomorrow though. I've got a feeling that the Ferrari's & Mac's are holding a lot back - i.e. running much heavier fuel loads etc... Guess we will only find out tomorrow though but good luck to Kimi. I'd like to see him have a good result for a change (As long as MS still wins though ).

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Wow daz you honestly dont get tired of watching the longneck win do you? Saturday always confirms how things really are, but Im hoping Kimi could at least pick up his first pole, or then let someone else have the pole and he wins the race! Or Both!

[sw4me 0]

Well, I am not baying for DC's blood. But yeah, what has he been doing lately? I wonder, if he doesn't have the will to push the car to its limits, I say, he's been around in McLaren for a whole while now. You know it's sad that he's being outclassed by a rookie.

Anyway with that off, Good luck to Mika's protege.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Not exactly a rookie, but still as inexperienced as a 5 year old when compared to DC's ventures at Williams and Mclaren (the only two teams he's raced with, both top teams).

Great talking to you after such a long while sw4me, unfortunately its time for me to go to bed now, just past midnight here on the west coast

[sw4me 0]

I agree Jens, I wouldn't be doing justice to Kimi's achievements by calling him a rookie, yeah Pop DC must get his pants up real soon.

I am in Arizona btw and here too it's just past midnight. Good night Jens.

[daz 0]

Not bad - when you guy's wrote this it was 9:23AM over here....

P.S. Nope I never get sick of watching the longneck win Jens. Have to admit that I wouldn't mind seeing a bit of competition for him again though...

[sw4me 0]

That looks like GMT+2 hours to me. Where do you live daz? Are you in South Africa? I have a weird feeling that you are somewhere there.

Anyway, competition is always welcome.

And as of now, I am going to sleep. Good night and peace be with the world.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

I think South Africa is GMT +1, because Finland is +2 making it a 10-hour time difference, so it was 10am over there at midnight over here.. So if it was 9am in South Africa..

What part of Arizona are you in sw4me? Around Phoenix? Im right next to San Jose, CA myself..

[sw4me 0]

I am in Tucson, that's about 187.2km off Phoenix, may be in San Jose for the thanksgiving weekend. PM me in case u want my phone.

[nichosnz 0]

Not bad - when you guy's wrote this it was 9:23AM over here....

And in New Zealand it was 8:23PM the next night.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

I'll be in LA over Thanksgiving for a hockey tournament... oh well

Nichos I still find it realy funny to think how its already 1300 Saturday in NZ when its 1800 here on Friday!!

[nichosnz 0]

Yes it means that no matter what happens in sport, world economy, technology etc. New Zealand will always lead the world in something.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Hahhahhah

[nichosnz 0]

For (I think) the first time this year Kimi got more race luck than DC, good, about time.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

It is about time, that was only DC's fourth retirement this year compared to Kimi's eleventh. All Kimi's failures have been mechanical, Coulthard made a stupid mistake that led to a mechanical problem (I think, my memory isnt working right now ), blewup in Malaysia, collided with Monty at Nurburgring, and then the throttle problem at Suzuka. Kimi has suffered everything from punctures to wheels and rear wings falling off!

[nichosnz 0]

Maybe it will be a bit more even next year, so KR can prove in the points he is better than DC.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

He could easily have beaten DC in points if his car had lasted in every race, or had he only had 4 retirements. Every single race he retired out of he was running in at least fifth... usually fourth and in a few cases third.

[nichosnz 0]

Although if he manages to do so DC will probably say something like "I'm a bit more experianced, I drive sensibly. Kimi was just very lucky this year, not to go off the track or break the car pushing it that hard, next year..."

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

I have said it before, but 2003 is honestly going to be DC's last chance with Mclaren. I dont think Ron Dennis wants to hang on to him much longer, meanwhile DC has said that he wont be leaving till hes champion.

Leaving F1 that is.

[nichosnz 0]

DC would have made it had for himself even if he was driving this years Ferrari with Yoong as a team-mate.

[daz 0]

Yip - its definitely going to be DC's last year where I think he will a reasonably good car under him. Still don't think he'll be WC though especially with the way KR is beginning to dominate in the team...