Oz Race Day

[Null 0]

PS

I think Nick Fry is on drugs.... seriously, you see the interview with him???

[Player(1) 0]

Actually he DID eclipse Alonso. Why? Keeping a 2 time Champion behind you in your very first race is very hard to do. Alonso never looked threatening. Not once was he close enough to overtake. Hamilton could have easily made some mistakes (like Kovalainen did) and given up his position. But he drove very smoothly; looked very calm and collected; did all the right things and started his F1 career in the best possible way.

I don't think anyone here is exaggerating his performance. Perhaps the press but thats expected.

"I was then behind Lewis for a while and was just focusing on keeping up with him and sometimes dropping back to allow the car to cool down."

Now if it was the last race and the championship depended on Alonso getting ahead of Hamilton youd see alot more effort from both drivers in attacking and defending. First couple of races are just grab as many points as you can without taking risks, especially against your teammate.

"Originally it was meant to be one lap but because I was behind Lewis I managed to save enough fuel for one more lap."

Another indication that Alonso was not pushing, 1 lap of fuel saved on race pace is alot.

[Autumnpuma 0]

This thread is too huge to respond to every post I want to respond to! I'll just post my thoughts on the race and hope it will address everything.

Hamilton did great. Not fantastic, but great. His race-pace was very close to Alonso's and he didn't make any rookie mistakes. The two instances of going wide on exit are not rookie mistakes. Stalling in the pits, spinning at entry, shooting your car over another car..those are rookie mistakes. Going wide on exit is common for every driver who is pushing. Hamilton lost time from the traffic and from Alonso's pace. It happens. All in all, I'm very happy for Hammy. As is being widely reported, and rightly so, Hamilton's defining moment in the race was at the start when Kubeetza muscled him almost to the grass and Hammy responded by jinking to the left and passing the bullying Pole on the outside. Such was Hamilton's balls that he passed not only Kubeetza, but Alonso as well. Interesting to note that after the race Kimi expected to be ignored by both McLaren drivers and appeared shocked a bit when Hamilton came up and congratulated him. A class act to be sure.

Kimi was in a class all his own. I've said that I'm starting this season with a clean slate as far as Kimi goes and I mean it. No car-breaker crap from me this season. Looking at Kimi's dominance I have to say this is just what I expected when the marriage of Kimi to Ferrari was announced. Kimi is the quickest driver on the grid at the moment and he made everyone but Alonso look the fool today (granted, DC didn't need any help to look the fool...). One minor mistake marred a perfect race. I forgive that little mistake because it's probably hard to maintain focus lap after lap when you're the only car in sight! The only thing of note is directed to the posters here who had been making up the lines about Alonso not thanking his team after a win. Ferrari's in-car radio clearly showed the team thanking Kimi, but I don't recall hearing anything from the Finn in reply. Bad form.

Alonso had a very determined race. He wasn't rattled or upset that he was looking at Hamilton's rear wing for most of the race. He went about his race calmly and methodically as we have all come to expect from him. As he said in the press conference, he maintained a good distance behind Hamilton to keep his car properly cooled. This is a man who knows his machine's limitations and drives within those limitations...ultimately bringing the car home in the points. When the opportunity arose during Lewis' final pitstop, Alonso took advantage and pulled out just enough time to take second from Hammy. I haven't looked at the lap times but it appeared to me that Alonso took a good 7 seconds off Kimi in that last stint (can someone confirm this?). At one point, Kimi was leading by a whopping 20 seconds and at the end that lead had become less than half that. Alonso is quick to have pulled that off.

Sato was fantastic as was Super Aguri. If I had a favorite team at the moment it would be Super Aguri. Davidson disappointed me, but I certainly expected as much.

Webber made DC look the prize fool today. Sorry ykick but you can't get your driver out of this one. Webber's pace was phenomenal and that, I feel, made DC nervous and impatient and ultimately caused him to almost kill Wurz. I am unimpressed.

Wurz did a fine job and so did Rosberg. One is proving his worth and the other is shaping up into a fine GP driver.

Massa did well to move up as far as he did. I expected a higher result from him, but he did well anyway.

Honda are missing Willis, this is as clear as their earth livery is muddy. Super Aguri were quicker in a modified (and LEGAL) '06 Willis-designed chassis. Honda were at least a second slower than Aguri in their non-Willis designed chassis. That really says it all.

Button was raped pretty comprehensively by Rubens, wasn't he? Button has complained about the brakes and all I can say is, I hope everyone slams him as they slammed Rubens last season for the same issue. That's only fair, right? I expect a professional like Button to quickly sort this out.

Heidfeld looked good until we found out he was running the softs on his first stint. That made his early pace seem rather unimpressive, didn't it? If he and BMW really had the goods, I would have expected Nicky to remain at the sharp-end.

Speed vs Liuzzi. If not for a punctured tyre, Speed would have brought it home ahead of Liuzzi. He had the upper hand to Luizzi all weekend; I call this one first blood to Speed.

Albers is nutters. Was he the product of inbreeding perhaps? His off was caused by him adjusting his earpiece and he forgot to turn? What?

Have I forgotten anyone?

...

..

.

Fisico. Well, well. It seems being forgotten sums up Fisico's race day as well....

[Blitzkrieg 0]

I don't understand why DC is still racing???? Who is DC??

[Player(1) 0]

Alonso pulled about 3 seconds on Hamilton in the 2 laps between their pitstops.

Alonso was right on him going into teh pitlane becasue of traffic then when Alonso crossed the line for his pitstop it was 7.1 seconds ahead of Hamilton which then came to a 2.9 second gap the next lap around.

[Autumnpuma 0]

Alonso pulled about 3 seconds on Hamilton in the 2 laps between their pitstops.

Alonso was right on him going into teh pitlane becasue of traffic then when Alonso crossed the line for his pitstop it was 7.1 seconds ahead of Hamilton which then came to a 2.9 second gap the next lap around.

Any info on how many seconds he eroded off Kimi after that last stint? The three-lap graphics that were broadcast showed Alonso chipping away at Kimi.

[Quiet One 15]

This thread is too huge to respond to every post I want to respond to! I'll just post my thoughts on the race and hope it will address everything.

Hamilton did great. Not fantastic, but great. His race-pace was very close to Alonso's and he didn't make any rookie mistakes. The two instances of going wide on exit are not rookie mistakes. Stalling in the pits, spinning at entry, shooting your car over another car..those are rookie mistakes. Going wide on exit is common for every driver who is pushing. Hamilton lost time from the traffic and from Alonso's pace. It happens. All in all, I'm very happy for Hammy. As is being widely reported, and rightly so, Hamilton's defining moment in the race was at the start when Kubeetza muscled him almost to the grass and Hammy responded by jinking to the left and passing the bullying Pole on the outside. Such was Hamilton's balls that he passed not only Kubeetza, but Alonso as well. Interesting to note that after the race Kimi expected to be ignored by both McLaren drivers and appeared shocked a bit when Hamilton came up and congratulated him. A class act to be sure.

Kimi was in a class all his own. I've said that I'm starting this season with a clean slate as far as Kimi goes and I mean it. No car-breaker crap from me this season. Looking at Kimi's dominance I have to say this is just what I expected when the marriage of Kimi to Ferrari was announced. Kimi is the quickest driver on the grid at the moment and he made everyone but Alonso look the fool today (granted, DC didn't need any help to look the fool...). One minor mistake marred a perfect race. I forgive that little mistake because it's probably hard to maintain focus lap after lap when you're the only car in sight! The only thing of note is directed to the posters here who had been making up the lines about Alonso not thanking his team after a win. Ferrari's in-car radio clearly showed the team thanking Kimi, but I don't recall hearing anything from the Finn in reply. Bad form.

Alonso had a very determined race. He wasn't rattled or upset that he was looking at Hamilton's rear wing for most of the race. He went about his race calmly and methodically as we have all come to expect from him. As he said in the press conference, he maintained a good distance behind Hamilton to keep his car properly cooled. This is a man who knows his machine's limitations and drives within those limitations...ultimately bringing the car home in the points. When the opportunity arose during Lewis' final pitstop, Alonso took advantage and pulled out just enough time to take second from Hammy. I haven't looked at the lap times but it appeared to me that Alonso took a good 7 seconds off Kimi in that last stint (can someone confirm this?). At one point, Kimi was leading by a whopping 20 seconds and at the end that lead had become less than half that. Alonso is quick to have pulled that off.

Sato was fantastic as was Super Aguri. If I had a favorite team at the moment it would be Super Aguri. Davidson disappointed me, but I certainly expected as much.

Webber made DC look the prize fool today. Sorry ykick but you can't get your driver out of this one. Webber's pace was phenomenal and that, I feel, made DC nervous and impatient and ultimately caused him to almost kill Wurz. I am unimpressed.

Wurz did a fine job and so did Rosberg. One is proving his worth and the other is shaping up into a fine GP driver.

Massa did well to move up as far as he did. I expected a higher result from him, but he did well anyway.

Honda are missing Willis, this is as clear as their earth livery is muddy. Super Aguri were quicker in a modified (and LEGAL) '06 Willis-designed chassis. Honda were at least a second slower than Aguri in their non-Willis designed chassis. That really says it all.

Button was raped pretty comprehensively by Rubens, wasn't he? Button has complained about the brakes and all I can say is, I hope everyone slams him as they slammed Rubens last season for the same issue. That's only fair, right? I expect a professional like Button to quickly sort this out.

Heidfeld looked good until we found out he was running the softs on his first stint. That made his early pace seem rather unimpressive, didn't it? If he and BMW really had the goods, I would have expected Nicky to remain at the sharp-end.

Speed vs Liuzzi. If not for a punctured tyre, Speed would have brought it home ahead of Liuzzi. He had the upper hand to Luizzi all weekend; I call this one first blood to Speed.

Albers is nutters. Was he the product of inbreeding perhaps? His off was caused by him adjusting his earpiece and he forgot to turn? What?

Have I forgotten anyone?

...

..

.

Fisico. Well, well. It seems being forgotten sums up Fisico's race day as well....

Darn, Mike! You again put clearly what would have taken me 100 posts to convey!

My only disagreements are of course Liuzzi vs Speed (neener neener ) and Wurz comment. I think Wurz was also to blame for the accident for not checking his mirrors properly, DC was driving like Sato on too much caffeine, conceded, but Wurz trying to close on the curve helped casuing the accident.

Oh, and good comment about JB and RB! I will keep my eyes open on such comments!

[Player(1) 0]

Any info on how many seconds he eroded off Kimi after that last stint? The three-lap graphics that were broadcast showed Alonso chipping away at Kimi.

He did chip away a good bit but seemed like he was just settling into 2nd and Hamilton backed off settling into 3rd...Kimi strangly enough was one lap going slighty slower the Alonso then the next he was setting purple sectors. If I remember right Kimi set fastest race lap (beating his own) on the final stint...saw his do that before which is weird, then there was when he got distracted and messed up on the exit one a turn so was hard to tell what he was up to. I'd say it was too late for Alonso to do anything about Kimi on the final stint anyway.

Kimi was 6 seconds behind Alonso before ALonso pitted anyway and when he came out Kimi had about 17 seconds on him which dropped to 10 seconds by the end anyway.

[Quiet One 15]

Any info on how many seconds he eroded off Kimi after that last stint? The three-lap graphics that were broadcast showed Alonso chipping away at Kimi.

No idea excatly how many but those last seconds mean nothing for KR already knew he had a comfortable lead over Alonso and probably was turning down the revs to preserve the engine as usual.

[Autumnpuma 0]

Darn, Mike! You again put clearly what would have taken me 100 posts to convey!

My only disagreements are of course Liuzzi vs Speed (neener neener ) and Wurz comment. I think Wurz was also to blame for the accident for not checking his mirrors properly, DC was driving like Sato on too much caffeine, conceded, but Wurz trying to close on the curve helped casuing the accident.

Oh, and good comment about JB and RB! I will keep my eyes open on such comments!

I don't know. There was an overhead shot of the incident and Wurz was on the same line as the Toyota(?) ahead of him. DC was shown going off-line and clearly coming in too hot and off-line. There wasn't much Wurz could do, as he was on the proper racing line and DC was completely off it. Actually, looking at the geometry of it, it's unlikely DC would have even made the corner had it been clear. I see this as completely DC's fault.

He did chip away a good bit but seemed like he was just settling into 2nd and Hamilton backed off settling into 3rd...Kimi strangly enough was one lap going slighty slower the Alonso then the next he was setting purple sectors. If I remember right Kimi set fastest race lap (beating his own) on the final stint...saw his do that before which is weird, then there was when he got distracted and messed up on the exit one a turn so was hard to tell what he was up to. I'd say it was too late for Alonso to do anything about Kimi on the final stint anyway.

Kimi was 6 seconds behind Alonso before ALonso pitted anyway and when he came out Kimi had about 17 seconds on him which dropped to 10 seconds by the end anyway.

No idea excatly how many but those last seconds mean nothing for KR already knew he had a comfortable lead over Alonso and probably was turning down the revs to preserve the engine as usual.

Yeah, I wasn't suggesting Alonso had a chance at the win, such was Kimi's speed, but I was trying to determine if he was eroding Kimi's lead. Could be that Kimi backed off at the end....

[Shane2 0]

Any info on how many seconds he eroded off Kimi after that last stint? The three-lap graphics that were broadcast showed Alonso chipping away at Kimi.

He did back off. The cooling was a bit on edge so he turned the engine down

[ykickamoocow 0]

Webber made DC look the prize fool today. Sorry ykick but you can't get your driver out of this one. Webber's pace was phenomenal and that, I feel, made DC nervous and impatient and ultimately caused him to almost kill Wurz. I am unimpressed.

You clearly were not watching the lap times on live timing. Once Coulthard managed to get clear air he was going around as fast as cars which were coming in 4th. The accident was probably caused by impatience as he was stuck behind a extremely slow Button for much of the race and he probably really wanted to overtake Wurz who was afew tenths slower each lap. Coulthard's pace in the second stint was nearly exactly the same as Webber's pace in the first stint so i am not worried about the comparisons there.

[mikathegreat2 2]

It was a good race! Lewis Hamilton did very well!

[Sato 0]

Are you nuts???? D.C. could've killed Wurz, big mistake by a veteran driver.

About 2 secons later I posted saying I was wrong... I didn't see it clearly live as I had just turned around from checking live timing.

[Jenson_Rules 0]

Mike I for one have always stated Button struggles in an unbalanced, difficult slow car! If Honda can sort out the balance at least which is affecting the braking which is all down to the aero then they will be far quicker and I'm sure JB will once again be too quick for rubens!

[mikathegreat2 2]

WHAT ??? Button did terrible today & he & Rubens knows it! Massa also knew it 2! He wanted 2 win dat race today!

[Kay 0]

Button was complete s##te today, he has bad days when the car has bad days it seems, although I guess at least that means that is when the fewest points were lost.

A comment I feel is necessary to make though, is that Button pitted 8 laps after Rubens with more fuel onboard still, pitted earlier so he could make changes to the car, so the amount Rubens 'pulled away' from Button isn't how much faster he was; can't believe Button speeded in the pitlane though, what a fool!

I'm sure Button will take a lot from the test and be strong once again, his race today will motivate him for sure.

I'm extremely impressed with Webber, I didn't realise his fuel flap was stuck closed in his first pitstop, so that explains where the time went and then it was stuck open (ITV reported it was DC; fools). His spin before the pit entry was rather comical and glad his error didn't cost too much time, not that it mattered when his car was a dog. DC needs to do much much better... Webber made him look average on Saturday and average again on Sunday.

[Shane2 0]

Apparently according to Jenson most of his extra time loss over rubens was specific to the way the front end of his car is set up.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Haha the first thing Kimi does with the champagne bottle is takes a swig

he always does....

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Kimi was in a class all his own. I've said that I'm starting this season with a clean slate as far as Kimi goes and I mean it. No car-breaker crap from me this season. Looking at Kimi's dominance I have to say this is just what I expected when the marriage of Kimi to Ferrari was announced. Kimi is the quickest driver on the grid at the moment and he made everyone but Alonso look the fool today (granted, DC didn't need any help to look the fool...). One minor mistake marred a perfect race. I forgive that little mistake because it's probably hard to maintain focus lap after lap when you're the only car in sight! The only thing of note is directed to the posters here who had been making up the lines about Alonso not thanking his team after a win. Ferrari's in-car radio clearly showed the team thanking Kimi, but I don't recall hearing anything from the Finn in reply. Bad form.

you sir, Have my outmost respect, I take my hat off for you....

And forget the stuff that I said about not accepting your compliments if Kimi performs Mike.... we start on a clean slate

[raikkonen_rulez 0]

Ferrari's in-car radio clearly showed the team thanking Kimi, but I don't recall hearing anything from the Finn in reply. Bad form.

Kimi's radio broke right after the start. He did thank the team at the post race conference though.

[dribbler 6]

Actually he DID eclipse Alonso. Why? Keeping a 2 time Champion behind you in your very first race is very hard to do. Alonso never looked threatening. Not once was he close enough to overtake.

Your thoughts on Alonso would have been quite different if he had got rattled by Lewis being in front and started looking ragged by feigning moves etc. That's not how a professional works. Jeopardising both of their races just to prove a point and take the 'i'm a champion, i should be in front of you' approach? I don't think so. The truth is, Fernando played the waiting game. He never looked threatening because he never tried to threaten.

DC should retire, he was shockingly close to Wurz's head and I know it could have happened to anyone, I simply do not know what DC was thinking and I'm so relieved as it could have all ended in tragedy!

Wow. I'm simply amazed by peoples reactions to DC's race. He makes one misstake in a career that has seen very few and there are imbicillic criefor retirement. Get real.

PS

I think Nick Fry is on drugs.... seriously, you see the interview with him???

It was hilarious, i thought he sounded like Mr Bean!

The only thing of note is directed to the posters here who had been making up the lines about Alonso not thanking his team after a win. Ferrari's in-car radio clearly showed the team thanking Kimi, but I don't recall hearing anything from the Finn in reply. Bad form.

Actually Mike Kimi thanked the team first, then they came back and congratulated him. He then said nothing because he didn't need to.

[Sato 0]

So what was it then? He said his radio was dead in the post race conference...

[Jem of the Shire 0]

Kinda hard when your team mate scooches away from pole, and you are stuck in traffic don't ya think?

thats no excuse, there were plenty of times when massa had clean air in front of him

Alonso pulled about 3 seconds on Hamilton in the 2 laps between their pitstops.

Alonso was right on him going into teh pitlane becasue of traffic then when Alonso crossed the line for his pitstop it was 7.1 seconds ahead of Hamilton which then came to a 2.9 second gap the next lap around.

defend him all you like but alonso got a surprise this weekend and almost got beaten by someone who's never even been in an F1 race.

Lewis certainly didnt 'eclipse' alonso but he matched him through quali and the race, and that wasnt expected

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Your thoughts on Alonso would have been quite different if he had got rattled by Lewis being in front and started looking ragged by feigning moves etc. That's not how a professional works. Jeopardising both of their races just to prove a point and take the 'i'm a champion, i should be in front of you' approach? I don't think so. The truth is, Fernando played the waiting game. He never looked threatening because he never tried to threaten.

I hear what you saying, Alonso playing the waiting game, never looking ragged etc etc.

But if Lewis had a clean 2nd pit session and emerged in front, it would've been a different game. We were robbed of a dramatic tense teammate battle.