Driver Of The Day - Barcelona

[Eric 0]

Yes, what you really mean is you don't trust your wife next to me, it's understandable...

No, I think I made myself clear. We all know this was you.

[Schumikonen 2]

Don't hate him and forgive us Alonso fans. God will reward you.

I do forgive you but don't blame me for trying to understand. I still can't see. I don't know why Alonso comes to my mind when I see this video

[Quiet One 15]

As I haven't noticed anybody else but me voting Nando for DOD, I am going to take this personally

1) So, he slipped on the warmup lap? That's enough for discrediting him for DOD despite being able to qualify 2nd and having a great race until his engine blew up? Then Lewis "buttongates" and Kimi Qualy in Monaco 2007 would be enough to discredit whatever they do from now on? Weird logic.

2) His mistake at the start is not enough to obscure his performance. Even with his tires dirty, starting from the dirty side of the track, he was only overtaken by Massa...in a Ferrari. Wow, what a dishonour for Nando and his so far crappy R28!

3) I could go on, but whatever I say will be discredited because I am a Renault and Nando fan. So, I will let you read instead what Andrew Davies from Planet F1 thinks. And that guy is the most pro Lewis anti Alonso biased guy I ever read in any website. http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3265_3486515,00.html

[Schumikonen 2]

As I haven't noticed anybody else but me voting Nando for DOD, I am going to take this personally

1) So, he slipped on the warmup lap? That's enough for discrediting him for DOD despite being able to qualify 2nd and having a great race until his engine blew up? Then Lewis "buttongates" and Kimi Qualy in Monaco 2007 would be enough to discredit whatever they do from now on? Weird logic.

2) His mistake at the start is not enough to obscure his performance. Even with his tires dirty, starting from the dirty side of the track, he was only overtaken by Massa...in a Ferrari. Wow, what a dishonour for Nando and his so far crappy R28!

3) I could go on, but whatever I say will be discredited because I am a Renault and Nando fan. So, I will let you read instead what Andrew Davies from Planet F1 thinks. And that guy is the most pro Lewis anti Alonso biased guy I ever read in any website. http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3265_3486515,00.html

You haven't read the whole tread, you are not the only one, you are not alone like Michael Jackson said, strting for there you are already wrong.

1) I guess driver of the DAY means Driver of the SunDAY is not DO2Ds nor driver of the weekend is driver of the DAY so talking about qualifying here should not count as that was another day, so I guess you are wrong again. And now I an not going to mention that his car was improved and it was improved a lot, I am not going to mention that FB said this "we are going to use something that other teams are already using" so this should be a real improvement of the car not the driver, maybe I am blind help to see if I am.

2) In the last answer you talked about his car compared to a Ferrari, now I ask you how do you compare Massa to Alonso, who is suppose to be the best starter of F1, I guess I can find that somewhere here, he as the best starter having a lighter car should have done better, maybe you will say that a couple of laps of fuel is nothing and i will tell you that is a lot, in my country I used to work with a racing team and I have to tell you that even the sweet coming out the drivers body count, that team had a GTS car and the driver loose several pounds of body weight every lap, thoses car were very hot inside that got to record 100 degrees celsius in the c#ckpit, the point for water boiling, even the sand that gets in the car form the track count for the cars performance, so yes thoses two laps less count speacially if Renault consume more fuel than Ferrari and I know that Shell developed a lighter fuel for Ferrari so I guess thoses two lap makes a big difference.

3) If you go on I will go on too.

Remember I am blind

I Forgot he had a great race even when he was set to finish seven? is that a great race? then Kubica should WDC already.

[Eric 0]

Is Fernando a great driver? Yes. Is he the best on the grid? Probably. Did he put in the best performance in Barcelona? Hell no.

[Quiet One 15]

You haven't read the whole tread, you are not the only one, you are not alone like Michael Jackson said, strting for there you are already wrong.

Guilty of charge. I was away for a day and there were too many new posts around. But still...

1) I guess driver of the DAY means Driver of the SunDAY is not DO2Ds nor driver of the weekend is driver of the DAY so talking about qualifying here should not count as that was another day, so I guess you are wrong again. And now I an not going to mention that his car was improved and it was improved a lot, I am not going to mention that FB said this "we are going to use something that other teams are already using" so this should be a real improvement of the car not the driver, maybe I am blind help to see if I am.

DOD is stupid and we all know it. Since DOD for most people means "the guy that wins", between Ide winning on a Ferrari against a Schumi finishing second on a Super Aguri with no fuel and lacking 3 wheels most would chose Ide. The car has improved, it seems. How much? We don't know, for the same car that got Nando on P2 got Piquet onP10 and barely so. That said, still seemed like Nando was doing great on his Renault, keeping in touch with cars that were suposedly much better (Ferraris, Maccas and BMWs)

I can't see the relevance of what FB said. Maybe I am blind and dumb. If I am, don't even mention it

2) In the last answer you talked about his car compared to a Ferrari, now I ask you how do you compare Massa to Alonso, who is suppose to be the best starter of F1, I guess I can find that somewhere here, he as the best starter having a lighter car should have done better, maybe you will say that a couple of laps of fuel is nothing and i will tell you that is a lot, in my country I used to work with a racing team and I have to tell you that even the sweet coming out the drivers body count, that team had a GTS car and the driver loose several pounds of body weight every lap, thoses car were very hot inside that got to record 100 degrees celsius in the c#ckpit, the point for water boiling, even the sand that gets in the car form the track count for the cars performance, so yes thoses two laps less count speacially if Renault consume more fuel than Ferrari and I know that Shell developed a lighter fuel for Ferrari so I guess thoses two lap makes a big difference.

Alonso is, in fact a better starter than Massa. His start was not that bad. You decided that Nando's better skill should be enough to compensate for the car difference. I think otherwise. There is no point in arguing because this is totally subjective. On my own subjective basis, I chose Nando.Speed and ITV journalists among others agree with me. So even if I am wrong, I am not making things up.

A couple of laps on the same car means a world of difference. On different cars...it depends on the difference between both. I say that the F2008 is miles above the R28. Again, they are different enough so as to make it impressive the pace the R28 could keep even being a couple of laps lighter. Speed and ITV journalists among others agree with me. So even if I am wrong, I am not making things up.

3) If you go on I will go on too.

Remember I am blind

I Forgot he had a great race even when he was set to finish seven? is that a great race? then Kubica should WDC already.

Fisi had a great race. Webber had a great race. Only P1 is a great race? Then why even bother with these polls? Potential achievement vs actual achievement is what makes me decide who I choose as DOD. If your only factor is finishing place, that is OK too, just different to my opinion.

Don't worry, your post is wrong, but I take in account that you are blind and watching the race in Braille must be really hard so you will get my vote for post of the day

[Piotr 0]

You guys watch races with your eyes closed - Lewis overtook your man Kubi at the start and drove a faultless race to keep him behind despite similar pace and strategy - his lap times were within a whisker of the ferrari's and he didn't put a wheel wrong all race - What did Webber do? he qualified well and benefitted from nando's demise. Nick was unlucky with the safety car, but his pace has to be measured in terms of his team mate and he was found wanting - For me there were only a few good performances.

- Kimi for controlling the race and owning his team mate

- Lewis for never giving up

- Kubica for a qualifying performance that was quicker than Massa & Lewis, but a poor start cost him a podium

- Nando for out driving his car

I am able to remain objective because I try to watch the races without emotion. I don't hate any of the drivers and am able to rate them on performance alone.

OK, so other than overtaking Kubica at the start (and BMWs HAVE a problem with the starts) mostly thanks to Kovi's interference on the outside, what did he do that Kubica didn't? If Hamilton had a perfect race, so did Kubica. Are you implying that one overtaking move at the start makes Hamilton DOD? McLaren are SUPPOSED to be faster than BMWs, so why wouldn't Hamilton keep ahead of Kubica? I'm confused...

[dribbler 6]

OK, so other than overtaking Kubica at the start (and BMWs HAVE a problem with the starts) mostly thanks to Kovi's interference on the outside, what did he do that Kubica didn't? If Hamilton had a perfect race, so did Kubica. Are you implying that one overtaking move at the start makes Hamilton DOD? McLaren are SUPPOSED to be faster than BMWs, so why wouldn't Hamilton keep ahead of Kubica? I'm confused...

The stats' will always read that Lewis beat Robert. He beat him off the line. Whether we like it or not, at Spain, that's where the race is lost or won. Get over it and fight your corner on a day when Robert looks better. Arguing a case for him on days when he was only very good and not brilliant does nothing for your reputation as a biased fan.

[Fed up 0]

OK, so other than overtaking Kubica at the start (and BMWs HAVE a problem with the starts) mostly thanks to Kovi's interference on the outside, what did he do that Kubica didn't? If Hamilton had a perfect race, so did Kubica. Are you implying that one overtaking move at the start makes Hamilton DOD? McLaren are SUPPOSED to be faster than BMWs, so why wouldn't Hamilton keep ahead of Kubica? I'm confused...

What he did is beat Kubica despite the two having identical performance. Kubica didn't have a perfect race because he lost a place at the start. It is irrelevant that the BMW's have poor starts because the start is part of the race. Hamilton was the only driver of the top 5 that made up a place, so his daring move on Bob at the beginning was ultimately telling in him securing a podium.

As for Alonso's performance a lot of rubbish is being written about how fantastic it was blah blah blah - It was good, but nothing special once analysed - He qualified on the front row BECAUSE he had 3/4 laps less fuel than the front running teams. The difference was not 2 laps as the safety car period enabled his renault to eek out more miles per gallon due to the reduced pace. When all is said and done the Renault is the 4th fastest team on the grid hence his prediction that he was aiming for 7th place - nothing he did altered this in the race.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Race highlight? Seeing Michael on the prat perch.

no, the race highlight was seeing Kimi and Massa joke in post-conference....hilarious to see. lovely unity!

[dribbler 6]

As for Alonso's performance a lot of rubbish is being written about how fantastic it was blah blah blah - It was good, but nothing special once analysed - He qualified on the front row BECAUSE he had 3/4 laps less fuel than the front running teams. The difference was not 2 laps as the safety car period enabled his renault to eek out more miles per gallon due to the reduced pace. When all is said and done the Renault is the 4th fastest team on the grid hence his prediction that he was aiming for 7th place - nothing he did altered this in the race.

All true, but to split the Ferrari's with only that amount of fuel less in a much more inferior car was a brilliant effort, worthy of in depth analysis and a bit of gloating for his fans. Great performances like that need to be praised and cherished.

Like you say, he was never going to beat at least the top five, but don't dumb down his achievement too much.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Actually all the point finishers had good races and Alonso bar the retirement of course.

My vote goes to Kimi he had everything covered the whole weekend, and it is the first race of the season where he out qualified Massa, but my vote could have just as easily have gone to Webber.

From the moment that he stepped off his private jet on thursday.... he did'nt make one mistake from the word go. He drove a faultless and brilliant race upfront...

Kimi is not only the DOD, he is simply put...THE MAN!

[Fed up 0]

OK, so other than overtaking Kubica at the start (and BMWs HAVE a problem with the starts) mostly thanks to Kovi's interference on the outside, what did he do that Kubica didn't? If Hamilton had a perfect race, so did Kubica. Are you implying that one overtaking move at the start makes Hamilton DOD? McLaren are SUPPOSED to be faster than BMWs, so why wouldn't Hamilton keep ahead of Kubica? I'm confused...

Willy rampf's comments;

"We expected more from Robert," he said. "I thought we would achieve a podium with Robert with the performance we had in qualifying, and we knew the performance between us and McLaren would be very close.

"Here were are talking about one tenth more or less, and this is also what we saw during the race today.

"The race was decided more or less before the first corner, because we lost our position against Hamilton and throughout the race we had the same pace, we even had the same strategy by accident, and we were not close enough to jump him on a pitstop.

"Our pitstops were a bit quicker than his, by about half a second, and with a two second gap you don't make it."

[maure 1]

In the course of hailing Hamilton and puting everyone else down (they call it "objectivity"), we have learned that Alonso used less fuel than other drivers during the SC, that a BMW and a McLaren have "identical performance", and that a Ferrari overtaking a Renault at the start is only possible if the Renault has previously gone briefly off track during the warm up lap...

Always fun, always fun,...

[Quiet One 15]

In the course of hailing Hamilton and puting everyone else down (they call it "objectivity"), we have learned that Alonso used less fuel than other drivers during the SC, that a BMW and a McLaren have "identical performance", and that a Ferrari overtaking a Renault at the start is only possible if the Renault has previously gone briefly off track during the warm up lap...

Always fun, always fun,...

For this once, I agree with your sarcasm.

[Ash1 0]

Kimi.

Fastest through free practices and most consistent in terms of lap times. Pole. Wins the race. Fastest lap. 10 more points in the bag.

No one stood a chance.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Kimi.

Fastest through free practices and most consistent in terms of lap times. Pole. Wins the race. Fastest lap. 10 more points in the bag.

No one stood a chance.

and to say that is still an understatement!!!!!

[Schumikonen 2]

Fisi had a great race. Webber had a great race. Only P1 is a great race? Then why even bother with these polls? Potential achievement vs actual achievement is what makes me decide who I choose as DOD. If your only factor is finishing place, that is OK too, just different to my opinion.

Don't worry, your post is wrong, but I take in account that you are blind and watching the race in Braille must be really hard so you will get my vote for post of the day

I already said that noone shined on that race, maybe like you said the best performance was Fifi's but I didn't see anyone doing a great job, even Kimi said he could have gone faster, it looks like they were all worried about tire wear or something like that nobody seems to be pushing, even NH after taking the penalty looked like not pushing that hard, I thought he would finish higher but he didn't he took too much time to overtake Fifi, and like you said FA was ahead at the beginning of the race but we have seen BMW and Toyota doing the same but were are tehy at the end of the race? and were it was FA going to be at the end of this race.

I love the way you compare NP to FA, Eather NP is a 2 time WDC or FA is a Rookie, I still can't see

[Schumikonen 2]

no, the race highlight was seeing Kimi and Massa joke in post-conference....hilarious to see. lovely unity!

I agree I was going to talk about it but for some reason I forgot it.

[Quiet One 15]

I already said that noone shined on that race, maybe like you said the best performance was Fifi's but I didn't see anyone doing a great job, even Kimi said he could have gone faster, it looks like they were all worried about tire wear or something like that nobody seems to be pushing, even NH after taking the penalty looked like not pushing that hard, I thought he would finish higher but he didn't he took too much time to overtake Fifi, and like you said FA was ahead at the beginning of the race but we have seen BMW and Toyota doing the same but were are tehy at the end of the race? and were it was FA going to be at the end of this race.

I love the way you compare NP to FA, Eather NP is a 2 time WDC or FA is a Rookie, I still can't see

Nah, I agree that nobody really shone too much. Given that, everrybody feels free to choose their DOD based on a few more or less random factors. I chose Nando for the surprise factor (nobody really expected him to be there). You can choose Kimi for his flawless win. It doesn't really matter. What I cannot understand is why is it so strange to pick Nando as DOD. I agree is not the obvious choice, but it's not as if I chose DC!

I compare NP with FA because they are the only ones driving a Renault. Last year comparison was with Lewis. There's nothing I can do. That being said, I obviously don't expect NP to deliver the way Nando does, regardless of his skills (which so far, seem worryingly unexistant), but is the only way to get an idea of the possible performance of the Renault.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Nah, I agree that nobody really shone too much. Given that, everrybody feels free to choose their DOD based on a few more or less random factors. I chose Nando for the surprise factor (nobody really expected him to be there). You can choose Kimi for his flawless win. It doesn't really matter. What I cannot understand is why is it so strange to pick Nando as DOD. I agree is not the obvious choice, but it's not as if I chose DC!

I compare NP with FA because they are the only ones driving a Renault. Last year comparison was with Lewis. There's nothing I can do. That being said, I obviously don't expect NP to deliver the way Nando does, regardless of his skills (which so far, seem worryingly unexistant), but is the only way to get an idea of the possible performance of the Renault.

It's also quite obvious that they pushed up the revs so high as to give him pole and it cost them an engine failure... which means it was rather ridiculous going that lenghs to PLEASE THE FANS..... just my take on it...

sure the element of suprise was there Quiet One, we all knew how it was gonna end (sortoff)

don't you agree

[Ash1 0]

and to say that is still an understatement!!!!!

Hi Brad, what did you think of the commentary during the race. I had to turn a deaf ear. Utter, utter bias.

[Schumikonen 2]

Nah, I agree that nobody really shone too much. Given that, everrybody feels free to choose their DOD based on a few more or less random factors. I chose Nando for the surprise factor (nobody really expected him to be there). You can choose Kimi for his flawless win. It doesn't really matter. What I cannot understand is why is it so strange to pick Nando as DOD. I agree is not the obvious choice, but it's not as if I chose DC!

I compare NP with FA because they are the only ones driving a Renault. Last year comparison was with Lewis. There's nothing I can do. That being said, I obviously don't expect NP to deliver the way Nando does, regardless of his skills (which so far, seem worryingly unexistant), but is the only way to get an idea of the possible performance of the Renault.

I will give you this one you convinced me with the bold part.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Hi Brad, what did you think of the commentary during the race. I had to turn a deaf ear. Utter, utter bias.

I laughed when our Supersport commentator Gary Formata made a stringent point of pointing out Kimi as DOD, just after Martin Brundle made his choice of Lewis, as if to correct it for the viewers for an embarrassing choice... It's getting abit ridiculous, I think James Allen has affected Martin Brundle, who I always had respect for. Strange, I really love James Allens's reports, just read his feedback on itv-website, pretty good,.......................it's just when they commentate...

[Ash1 0]

I laughed when our Supersport commentator Gary Formata made a stringent point of pointing out Kimi as DOD, just after Martin Brundle made his choice of Lewis, as if to correct it for the viewers for an embarrassing choice... It's getting abit ridiculous, I think James Allen has affected Martin Brundle, who I always had respect for. Strange, I really love James Allens's reports, just read his feedback on itv-website, pretty good,.......................it's just when they commentate...

Yes, you're quite right. But it seems their brain stops working during the races. It really does spoil a perfect sunday afternoon, otherwise (with kimi winning etc).