alfy28

wb polo and morkyumbo. havent seen you guys in a while. as for badeor, i really hope he does better next race. it makes me wonder how MS would of done, if he was the driver. Also if he had done bad, would ppl give him a hard time like they are giving badoer? most likely not, probably come up with some good excuse.

But since MS never drove, only thing i can do is speculate. as for Barichello, i hope he wins the championship. i honestly think he is a better driver then button.

oh i forgot, i am going to be out of town this weekend, is there a site where i can dl or watch the race nxt monday. thanks



lets take this special moment to hear the messiah speak.


Lewis Hamilton Q&A: Some you win, some you lose
He’ll never know for sure, but a confused second pit stop may well have cost McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton victory in Sunday’s European Grand Prix. Is Hamilton downhearted? No - he’s been in Formula One racing long enough to know that you have to be philosophical about such things. Now he is just looking forward to Spa, even though he doesn’t expect the MP4-24 to be quite so competitive there, as he explained to his official website…

Q: What are your thoughts coming away from the Valencia weekend?
Lewis Hamilton: It was a great weekend and the team ought to be really satisfied with our result. We can't complain, we're up there at the front and we led most of the race - some you win and some you lose. That's motor racing. As I've said before, we don't have the best car just yet, we've still got a lot of work to do but the positive thing is that I genuinely believe we can catch up.

Q: Are McLaren genuine contenders now?
LH: Before the recent upgrades, we'd have been hopeful of getting into the top 10 but now we're regularly hoping for a win or to finish second - and that's a big difference and very encouraging. We're definitely strong again - but we're not fastest. With KERS, we are there or thereabouts but we still lack two or three tenths to the Brawns. Hopefully we can make some further changes to our aerodynamic package - Spa will be an interesting test for us.

Q: What exactly happened during your second pit stop?
LH: During my second stint, I was saving fuel as well as trying to build the gap to Rubens. I wasn't sure whether I'd actually done enough for another lap but I got the call to do an extra lap just as I was coming into the pit lane. But it was too late: I was committed to coming in and knew I'd lose more time if I aborted my pit entry and continued for another lap. In terms of the procedure with the guys, they never make mistakes at the stops - they are the best - and that's why we win races. And it just happened that the team was expecting me in on the next lap, which is why there was a slight delay in getting the tyres ready. It was a misunderstanding and we did the best job we could. It's very rare that we do things like that, but it's not a problem and it didn't ultimately affect our finishing position.

Q: Was it frustrating to lose the race?
LH: I'm not frustrated. We've been finishing close to last all year so to just finish second is great - it's my first second of the year, so I'm quite pleased. We win and lose as a team - simple as. There are some races where there will be a problem with me on the track and some races where there will be a problem with the car or the pit stop. The fact is that we have been extremely quick - it was always going to be a very tight fight with Rubens (Barrichello), but he just had the overall pace to win. Our car can't match that - at the moment.

Q: What did you think about Rubens winning - it was like seeing two generations of F1 driver on the podium!
LH: It was a great result for Rubens - he was absolutely on it all weekend. I've got a huge amount of respect for him - he's a driver who's been in Formula One for a long time and has seen so much. He was racing back when Ayrton (Senna) was in Formula One, which is incredible. He did a fantastic job and drove a stonking race!

Q: Are you confident ahead of next week's Belgian Grand Prix?
LH: I don't think we'll be as competitive as we've been at the last few races, because Spa is a circuit where you need a lot of downforce. I think Brawn, Red Bull and even Ferrari will be fast there - it's a high-speed circuit and Ferrari has always been very quick there, so I'm expecting Kimi (Raikkonen) to be quick. It should also suit the Red Bulls because it's very high-speed and flowing and they have great downforce. But, like most races these days, it's going to be very competitive. For ourselves, we need to ensure that we are competitive without KERS, so that when we use it, it will give us the advantage that we need.

Q: Were you pleased to see that England won The Ashes on Sunday?
LH: Absolutely, I think it's a fantastic sporting achievement for this country. It's been a great summer of sport for Great Britain - people like Andy Murray, Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and Jenson (Button) have done so well. We should be proud of this country. I recently played cricket when I was in New Delhi with Vodafone and I know how much people are affected by it. Congratulations to the whole team, especially Andrew Strauss, who did a brilliant job as captain. Also, my best wishes to Andrew Flintoff, I wish him a happy retirement from test cricket.


http://www.formula1.com/news/intervi...09/8/9805.html





McLaren: Brawn, not pit stop error, cost us victory
When the tyres for Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren weren’t ready as he arrived for his second pit stop during Sunday’s European Grand Prix, it looked as if the error had cost the reigning world champion a win in Valencia. Team principal Martin Whitmarsh, however, believes that eventual victor Ruben Barrichello was too dominant and that, mistake or not, Hamilton’s best hope was second.

“Following our all-front-row qualifying result, naturally enough we had very high expectations for today’s race,” explained Whitmarsh. “In the event, though, our race pace wasn’t good enough to beat Rubens’s car. We’d adopted a different tyre strategy from many of the front-runners - maybe that was right, maybe that was wrong - but the reality is that we weren’t quick enough to win today.

Although he was due to pit on Lap 37 of the race, the team went on the radio to tell Hamilton to stay out an extra lap to try to gain a slight advantage over the chasing Barrichello. But the call was transmitted just a fraction too late and the British driver had already turned down the pit lane. Arriving at his pit box, he thus caught his mechanics on the hop.

“Coming in to the final pitstops, in our efforts to convert a safe second for Lewis into a possible first for him, we took a calculated risk in attempting to reverse the sequence of Lewis’s and Heikki’s pit stops at the last second. That last-second decision caused a bit of pit-lane confusion, which probably cost Lewis a couple of seconds overall - but Rubens’s race pace was such that that couple of seconds didn’t make a difference to the outcome of the race. In a nutshell, we decided to take the risk because we knew Rubens had the strategy to win and it was our only chance of attempting to prevent that.”

Although he couldn’t match his win at the Hungaroring last month, Hamilton was still pleased with his second-place finish and delighted to be back on the podium again.

“This is my second podium in a row, and I’m very happy to be here,” he said. “We did the best job we could today. Am I disappointed? Yes, I think we all are - but that’s simply an indication of just how hard everyone in this team is pushing to win. We’re never satisfied unless we’re winning, in fact. But, ultimately, we didn’t really lose anything today - it was always going to be tough to beat Rubens and what we tried wasn’t quite enough.”

Following his two successive podium finishes, Hamilton is now up to sixth in the drivers’ championship and will be looking to increase his tally at next weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/8/9799.html

mike1324a

If you can find a working UK proxy then you can watch f1 on bbc's website. I dont have a working one though.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

Alonso/Ferrari announcement postponed due to Massa's recovery

The silly season continues as rumours about a possible Alonso/Ferrari-switch have been ongoing for months. A source close to both parties declared to 'GPWeek' that the Monza announcement has been delayed as Felipe Massa is still recovering from his accident during the Hungarian GP qualifying session.

The source was quoted by GPWeek saying: "The announcement was due to be made in Monza as had been expected for some time. However with Massa's return under question the team has been forced to delay.

"Fernando will be a Ferrari driver in 2010. The deal has been signed. The only question is his team-mare and out of respect for Felipe, Ferrari will not make the announcement until they are sure whether he will be able to return."

http://www.f1technical.net/news/13158

alfy28

personally i felt that button was just lucky, due to teams liek ferrari and mclaren being slow. and since both of those teams had finally made some improvements, its finally catching up to button. also i feel that rubens is a better driver then button.

It's now up to Jenson Button, rather than the Brawn team, to step up and defend his dwindling lead in the world championship.

That is the assessment of triple world champion Niki Lauda, after Button's teammate Rubens Barrichello recorded his first win of the season at Valencia while the 29-year-old Briton finished just seventh.

The fact the Red Bulls had an even worse weekend cushioned the blow for Button, but Lauda insists any points lead would not be safe if a driver is no longer on form.

"The problem must be something within Jenson ... something must have gone wrong in his own mind. He must find the solution within himself and I think he will," the Austrian said, according to the Mirror.

Button, who won six of the opening seven grands prix this year but has not featured since June's Turkish GP, admitted that with Brawn back on the pace at Valencia he must now look inwards for improvement.

"This was the first time when we have had a strong car that I have not been able to get the most out of," said the Briton.

"I am going to go to Spa and be more aggressive, for sure," he is quoted as saying by the Sun. "The team have asked me to push harder now if I want to win the title."

Former driver and British commentator Martin Brundle believes that after a long stint with a points lead and the end of the championship drawing nearer, "Button is tightening up in the car".

"Can he lose the championship from here? Of course he can," he wrote in his column for the BBC.

David Coulthard agrees that the problem may be located within his friend's incandescent yellow helmet.

"I'm not sure whether something has changed psychologically for Button since Turkey," the former grand prix winner wrote in his column for the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"Perhaps he has developed something akin to the yips in golf, but he is certainly not the fluent force of the early season," Coulthard added.


http://www.worldcarfans.com/10908252...o-cure-f1-yips

ATL-GP

...on a side note, did anyone notice how Hamilton almost hit Rubens in parc ferme after the race Rubens almost had to jump the fence to avoid being hit

alfy28

Lol yah, hamilton was like, GET THE F OUt My WAy lol

alfy28

http://www.worldcarfans.com/10908252...iring-for-2010


Comments made by Felipe Massa's father will only intensify speculation that the Brazilian will be paired with Fernando Alonso at Ferrari next year.

Authoritative media sources are claiming that Spaniard Alonso, reportedly to replace Kimi Raikkonen, has now inked a proper contract with the Italian marque to begin in 2010.

Massa's father Luiz Antonio has told Spanish radio Onda Cero that Alonso is a "great driver" who would make a good teammate for his son, who is currently recovering from head injuries sustained at the Hungarian grand prix last month.

"Felipe has already had a great driver as a teammate in Michael Schumacher. With Kimi he has always had a good relationship.

"He is a tough teammate who motivated him and for sure if Fernando is with Felipe next year it will be a very good rivalry as much for all the fans as for Felipe and Fernando," Massa Snr added.

mike1324a

^ hahaha! Quality!

Pololo_RX8

Damnn... I can't stop laughing! My coworkers are like WTF?? Good one Alfy... good one.

Carlos

alfy28

lol glad you guys like. first thing that came to mind is polo and his dream team lol.

ATL-GP

alfy28

http://www.formula1.com/news/intervi...09/8/9816.html



Q&A with McLaren's Jonathan Neale
McLaren may not be in the championship hunt, but their recent return to race-winning form means they could now have a major influence on its outcome. In a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 'Phone-In' session, the team’s managing director, Jonathan Neale, talked about their remarkable comeback, their prospects for Spa, Heikki Kovalainen’s Valencia showing and the lessons learned from Lewis Hamilton’s last-minute pit call in Spain…

Q: Although the 2009 regulations brought in new rules designed to increase the cars’ ability to overtake, there seems to be a realisation that any improvement is marginal at best. Is this something that F1 remains committed to working on, and if so, what further ideas might be proposed?


Jonathan Neale: Yes, of course, it’s really important that Formula One remains a show and has great drama in it. And overtaking, of course, remains a key part of that. As you know, we saw probably the largest aerodynamic regulation change in 20 years, designed in part by the overtaking working group and part by the FIA, to slow the cars down. There have been different tyre regulations, of course, which have caused plenty of drama this year, with the super softs, the softs and the medium tyres, but I think what none of us expected to see at that time was that the grid would be so close.

People talk quite fondly and with dewy eyes about motor racing in the 1970s, and sometimes even earlier, and they forget that in those days the difference between first and second could be up to a second, and some of the grid never qualified. So when you have cars that are that far apart, cars coming through from the back and mistakes being made, it produced a lot of overtaking. This year front to back of the grid, at some races, if you look at the race pace, there’s only about a second and a half. When you’ve got that level of closeness between the cars it is more difficult and more challenging. But yes, it does remain something to which we are committed to.

I wouldn’t say there are races without overtaking; it’s very circuit dependent of course. The circuit where we’ve just come from, in Valencia, is pretty tricky. The circuit grip is changing over the whole weekend and there are very few run-off areas and if you try an ambitious move then all hell can break loose. But we shouldn’t get downhearted about it and I think Spa is a really good example of where a great circuit can see some great races. Over the course of this week I was watching the rerun of last year’s race, reminding myself of that gigantic battle between Kimi (Raikkonen) and Lewis (Hamilton) in the rain. At one point Kimi was off the road looking for grip for about half a mile and it was fantastic drama. The short answer is the regulation change created some new frontrunners. Of course we underperformed at the start of the season, so that produced some changes and some drama. But I think there’s much more we can do with circuits, and I still think there’s more we can do with the regulations.

Q: What updates will be on the car this weekend and will both drivers be using the shorter wheelbase chassis? In addition, what action have you taken to ensure that the 2010 car will be competitive from the very beginning rather than through updates?

JN: In terms of the package for this weekend I would say its evolution rather than revolution. Spa requires a different downforce level to the circuits we have been running recently, so we do have new wings for the car, available of course to both drivers. But that is more of a rebalancing of the car for the circuit, rather than an outright performance gain in itself. I think most of the teams will be doing something similar. For the wheelbase, we have the shorter wheelbase available to both drivers, or both engineering teams, and when I spoke to (chief engineer) Pat Fry last night, he was going through the analysis, and I would say it’s one of the options that we have for this weekend, depending on how the circuit is on Friday morning we can go either way. We are not committed to either one direction or the other on either car at the moment, but it is available for both.

In terms of your second question about the 2010 car, this is again a question that we’ve been covering ourselves. How do we not end up in the situation in 2010 as we did in 2009? I would say that I’m enormously proud of the work that Pat and (design and development director) Neil (Oatley) and (engineering director ) and Paddy (Lowe) have done with the car. To go from 2.5 seconds off the pace in Week 11 in Barcelona, to where we were able to lock-out the front row in Valencia, that is a testament to a huge amount of hard work, but it’s also evidence of what I said at the beginning of the season, which is that we hadn’t done anything fundamentally wrong with the car but we just hadn’t done enough.

When you end up with a car that you’ve taken a completely wrong turn with, and you’ve screwed up the stiffness or you’ve done something really unstable with the car, it is notoriously difficult to get that back. We had just underdeveloped the aerodynamic package and then in the cut and thrust of what happened between Week 11 and getting to the first European race, we turned the organisation upside down and knew we had to fight back and overhaul teams that were pushing forward. I’m delighted we were able to do that and very proud with what the team’s done. But we went down some paths that were blind alleys and although they were performance gains in their own right, it was clear by the Spanish Grand Prix that there were emerging trends on the cars - two in particular. The very aggressive ‘shadow diffuser’ was one of them and the other was the front-end concept of the car, with broadly out washing front-wing endplates. I think in the melee that was going on to pull ourselves back, we were slower than we might have been had we stepped back and looked at it - hindsight’s a wonderful thing. That’s how we got to where we are now.

In terms of 2010, then the regulations are different. They’re evolutionary rather than revolutionary. And the fundamental aerodynamics of the package next year are the same. The big changes will be in the weight of the car, because we’ll have to carry the fuel that we need for the whole race. We’re going to go back round the loop on vehicle dynamics because the front tyre will be changing and therefore the weight distribution and the forces will have to be managed separately. But the essence of the aerodynamic form will be based upon proven technology that we’re doing at the moment, so it’s an extension of the stable platform that we have. If we were still scrabbling around at the back of the grid at the moment, with a car that was uncompetitive, whilst we’re going through the release of the car for next year, which will happen over the next month, I’d be much more concerned than I am now.

We are not complacent by any means, but we have to recognise that our car has KERS on it, which is probably worth three tenths, and we have a very good engine package. If I compare where other team’s chassis are then it’s clear at the moment that, whilst we have a competitive package, I do not have the benchmark chassis and aerodynamic performance, and therefore we will not be sitting back resting on our laurels. We will be working to recover that with this year’s car and going into next year. It’s a stretch for us.

Q: Heikki did great in qualifying in Valencia, but seemed to struggle in the race. Did he do enough to secure his drive for next year?



JN: I think Heikki had a really good weekend. There was lots of talk after Hungary in the media and here about how we were going to support Heikki with his race pace. He’s always qualified really aggressively, particularly if you look in Q2, and he is a very quick driver. So we’ve been asking ourselves the question, have we been doing enough to help him protect the tyres and therefore maintain the pace that he has and is there anything we can do to support him with both the car’s tuning and in the simulator, with his driving style. We spent a lot of time with him pre-Valencia taking that apart systematically and I personally was very pleased with his drive on the weekend. In P1/P2 he was pushing, his qualifying lap nearly eclipsed Lewis, who is no slouch of course. If it hadn’t been for that shake and wobble just coming into the last turn then it’s clear to us he would have been on pole. So qualifying was very good. Stints one and two were good and then through no fault of Heikki’s, we put used prime tyres on to his third stint, rather than new tyres, and they were slower to warm up. That’s physics, not Heikki. From the weekend, is there a difference between Heikki’s race pace and Lewis’s at that event? Yes. Is it very much? No. And I think Heikki can now take that with some confidence and build on it going into Spa. Well done Heikki.

Q: Has the performance of Luca Badoer damaged the reputation of other testers and what can be done about the situation where they are getting so little mileage?


JN: Luca Badoer is a very experienced driver. I don’t agree that he has damaged the reputation of other drivers. I think that it was an extraordinary challenge to come to a street circuit, with low grip, concrete barriers down the side, and keep the car in one piece all weekend. I’m quite sure that Ferrari will be looking at his pace and wondering what they will do next, but I’m not concerned there is a wider implication as to how good the other third drivers are. The team managers will continue to meet around the sporting regulation working group and just look at the balance of what we’re doing for young drivers. Of course we want to encourage the development of drivers coming into Formula One, but we also don’t want to fail to support our test drivers. Pedro (de la Rosa) would like more time in the car. Some of us have simulators, which are a way of keeping the pace up, but there is nothing like the full force of being ‘match fit’. I think that the sporting regulation group has got to take a look at how we support the third drivers.

Q: It’s been predicted that Monza and Spa may not suit the MP4-24 quite so well. What are your aims and how much benefit will KERS be?



JN: The car that we have now, that we’ve started to develop from Germany, is very different from the car that we had in preceding races. And it’s true to say that circuit characteristics at the slowest average speed, which tend to be Monaco, Hungary and Valencia, were always likely to suit a car with those inherent performance characteristics. The real answer is that we don’t know what’s going to happen at Spa. If it were based on the first few race then we really struggled in the high-speed turns over the first five or so races. The driver reported that the car was unstable, particularly at the rear, and that they didn’t know where the car was, and for a driver that’s pretty horrific. If you can’t lean on the car and know that the rear end is really underneath you, then you’re not going to be able to find 90 percent of the grip level . The fact is that the car is more stable, much more planted at the rear end now. And the aggressive shadow diffuser that I mentioned earlier, which we’ve put that on the car and continue to develop, does lock the car down and make it more stable. On a relative basis, I expect us to perform much better compared to what we would have done otherwise on a track like Spa. But then there are other teams. If I look at Red Bull, and the likely climate - rain showers are currently at 50 percent probability, but we expect changeable conditions - I think they should be very strong. And if Brawn have got over whatever was going on to affect their ability to heat up and keep heat in their tyres then they will be strong. If not then the Red Bulls will push them further back. As for us, our desire is to be up there, but I’d be kidding you and us if I thought we were confident.

Q: What steps have the team taken to avoid a repeat of the pit-stop problems in Valencia?


JN: A lot. It was a very aggressive strategy call that one and we got it too late. Not by much, and you saw the result of that. In the end that was not material to Rubens (Barrichello) jumping us. That was always going to happen, but certainly we would have been able to put Lewis closer to Rubens if we had, either executed the stop properly or had been able to go the extra lap. It was marginal. Since then, of course, it’s important we don’t dwell on the past and we look forwards, but I have been through all of the data, I’ve replayed that particular piece of video footage of that stop I don’t know how many times, probably 100 or so. Looking at every movement of who did what and who said what. So we have forensically taken it apart, looked at what we need to do. I have to say that, in defence of the garage, that the garages were blameless in this case. There was some unfair criticism of the guys who actually manage the tyres and work the cars, the crew did an excellent job but our decision making was slow and we compromised the pit stop. So what we need to do for this weekend is learn from that, look at our decision making, and everybody on the pit wall who has been through the ‘after event analysis’ and debrief will be sharper next week.

alfy28

was checking out the videos highlights of last year spa race. i forgot that was the track where hamilton cut the corner, and gave back the postion to kimi.

bse50

Alfy, alfy alfy... I'm looking forward to watching this race.
I would love to wake you in the morning with a sms with a huge grin in it

alfy28

sadly ill be missing this years race . going out of town and all. i need to check if any one replied to my request of a site where i can dl the race or something. i wish valencia was this week and spa was last weeks.

bse50

I would record it for you but i have no disc space
Anyway if you want i can insult you via pm when Kimi (if still sober...) kicks your driver's ***

alfy28

lmao, gotta love ferrari fans. they wish they own a ferrari, and now they wish their drivers owns hamilton. the world is full of dreamers

bse50

I actually am an owner but who cares
I love how mc laren fans take this seriously! C'mon and laugh!
Spa is a great technical track and i'm sure that Hamilton will do a great performance. Perhaps i Jenson Bottom er.. Button...

alfy28

Psh take this seriously? Its very typical for Ferrari fans to have forgotten that they haven’t won a signal race this year. While us mclaren fans get to make fun of Ferrari fans. In fact, I went and bugged your home. And yes we heard your prayers. It went something like this.

Bse: oh father, I know that a lot of Ferrari fans wish that you would bring us a Ferrari. But since I own one, I have another request to make . I know that Hamilton is the messiah and the greatest driver to walk the earth. But its very heartbreaking to know that Ferrari has not won a single race this year. So my request is, can you please make sure that Kimi is sober. With massa out, we Ferrari fans can only hope that kimi brings us our first win this year. I know I am asking for a lot, and i know its common for us Ferrari fans to do so.

It sucks that us Ferrari fans at the rx8club gets bashed by alfy and his elite silver knights on a daily basis. All I want to do is laugh in alfy face. But without a win this year, I wont be able to. With polo and aln crying on a daily basis, I felt that I am the only person who is sane enough to make this request. Any how thanks god for listening, and if kimi win this weekend, I promise ill take down the Hamilton poster that I have up and put back up massa and kimi. love you always bse

bse50

You're nuts alfy but this is why you're a friend

Ferrari has got many other troubles to face now anyway, they'll probably end the season without a win.
It is sad because with them and williams in the middle this could have been a great championship with 5\6 teams fighting!

alfy28

^^ yah. that reminds me, i need to go look at the contructors

mike1324a

I love spa. I will predict that the Red Bull will be back up to speed and faster then the brawns. Hard to say about Ferrari and Mclaren. Kimi is good there and so is Hamilton. I want to see a dual like last year! I prefer ferrari winning but that was bullshit and hamilton was not at falt. the officials are retarded. It was just good racing. Dont penalize good racing

BlueRenesis82

Williams FTMFW!

RX26b

Alf,
what's with the hammy being the messiah crap? The guy never put in his dues (i.e. first year in F1 he sits in the best car, and is favored by the team over his spanish teammate), never proved he could win with inferior equipment (a la Senna, Schuey), etc.

Btw, I'm not a fan of any driver or team, and haven't been since Senna drove, so it's not like I'm picking on one particular driver.

ps thought that the messiah was the schmuck that the majority of morons voted for last fall

BlueRenesis82

True that. How hard is it to win if you are the favored son in a team at the very pointy end of the grid? Trying winning in a Minardi or Toleman, then you can have some pretty good reputation built.