I think we are ALL very aware of Jim's sentiments, and enthusiasm for Ferrari, and propesity to stomp all disagreement into the dust.

Jim, thank you for (for the most part) keeping it civil. I hope you are feeling better too, not talking about F1.

rusnak, funny because I was typing a long post about how great a developer Alonso seems to be and how I once disliked him and find myself rooting for him now.

I am a Tifosi but I like other teams and drivers as well, I am not a huge fan of Massa's and rooted for Kimi 2 years ago when he was with McLaren.

I am not as hard core a Ferrari fan as you might think, I just refuse to believe that there is a conspiracy favoring them. I see too many things favoring McLaren too as pointed out above.

Racing politics aside (why should they be any different) it was a fun race to watch. And wonderboy did ACE it.

Ian

I just went out to look for the horsemen of the Apocalypse...the end must be near....

...you and I agree on something related to Ferrari! Personally he comes off like a wanker and is about as consistent as Hillary's politics....

Dennis

Amen.

I think Flip could be on the way out after this year if he keeps that up.

I think that the Ferrari conspiracy rumors are just that, conspiracy rumors. They stem from the unseemly appearance of favoratism given the number of ex Ferrari guys on the FIA board. You have to admit, Ferrari are adept at politics. But so are Mercedes, and so are BMW. I think the least adept is probably the Japanese teams, and maybe Porsche.

I agree Massa comes off like a wanker. But lately and I mean over the last few races, so has Hammy. Alonso is the biggest wanker of them all, but I think a lot of people are getting some quiet satisfaction with seeing him struggle, sort of like seeing Max Mosely declare in open court that his orgy was not Nazi themed. I would like to see Max squirm in court some more, with pain and humiliation, but he's into that sort of thing you know and probably likes it.

I never liked him I was pissed when they sent Rubins packing.

I am a Schumacher fan, as much as everyone hates him he is a legend, yes he has controversy, he is a dirty player, and he is a fierce competitor. If he came back from retirement and went to Brauns team I would root for him.

I love Kimi, he is the iceman, even after Ferrari screwed the pooch sunday, he never blamed them, just said we loose as a team like we win as a team. He is a class act.

I hated Alonso during the Renault years, he grew on me at McLaren and now back with Renault he is growing on me.

I also like DC he has a big mouth and sticks his foot in it a lot, he USED to be a hell of a driver when he was with McLaren and honestly is doing a decent job at Red Bull. It will be weird not to see him on the grid next year.


Hey, I love F1 lots of really good drivers on the grid right now and I am looking forward to seeing what kind of excitement that will bring in the years to come.

Bob is another one I am looking forward to developing, hopefully he can take it to Hambone next year.

Ok, had to call 911, extreme pain to the chest, the ambulances are on the way....I think it is the big one, the ol' ticker just stopped...

..in my last moments, my last thoughts.......good bye mom, good bye cruel world...good bye family....I agree .. with . ..you ... Jim....

De

This just about sums it up. I could not have put it better myself.


http://axisofoversteer.blogspot.com/2008/07/hamilton-hits-back.html
Remember when there was TC and you would see battles like this? See!! Massa can drive when he does not have "mechanical issues".

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No one has struggled with the loss of tc more than Massa and maybe Heidfeld. Massa is a gutsy driver who drives more with his balls than his brains, and has pulled off a spectacular comeback after Melbourne. But the entire pitlane knows he has trouble in the rain. Since Kimi, who is fantastic in the rain, also spun and went off a couple of times, I think Ferrari had some sort of issue, not necessarily mechanical, that hampered their cars. I think perhaps the cars were either set up too low for that much rain (Silverstone has some DEEP PUDDLES by F1 standards) or they had to eliminate too many of the fins in the rear diffuser that resulted in loss of grip or grippy feel at the rear.

The Massa story is the most interesting one of the race. I was wondering why Kovy underperformed too. He did not roll over for Hammy, lol. He was passed and quite easily not only by Hamilton, and was having some trouble with his car or setup.

And was I the only one waiting for Barrichello to start crying like a baby? I was like "here come the waterworks", but they never came.

Being asleep whilst you guys post is a pain...

Going back a few to the tyre issue...the choice to retain the worn inters was not as 'stupid' as it appears. On a drying track their lap time advantage would have been a major factor... new inters on a drying track are slower in absolute terms and require deliberately seeking a damp line to maintain their temperature within limits. (The worn inters begin to behave like dry tyres quite quickly..as they have worn much of the block off and do not suffer the same heat build up as new inters....)

These factors can result in falling off the ever increasing pace quite dramatically. The figures do not lie...Kimi on worn inters on a damp track posted a 1:32, the quali time (race fuel load remember) but on a dry track with dry tyres was a 1:19...that is a big gap..even if we take a conservative estimate and say the lap time advatange was 'only' 5 seconds..then 6 laps and its a 30 second advantage. That is what both Renault and Ferrari were aiming for.. plus the inevitable track position advantage.

What is much less excusable is keeping the worn inters on for so long..a 20 sec pit stop for full wets would have gained 10+secs per lap....and reeled LH in very quickly or forced him to up the pace and perhaps go off.

But that's all done and dusted....

LH is a very good race driver, of that there is no doubt...as I have banged on about since last year is that he is far less able to develop the car. Certainly to date he has never in his career demonstrated the ability that say Senna or Schumacher (or even Hill) had in taking the basic car and moulding it into a supreme race car. It is a very pertinent question.. he has been supported by one fo the best teams in motorsport for over a decade...and yet still shows no signs of being in the top flight developmetn drivers... how long does it take to evolve that skill?

FA was the reason why McLaren were so quick last year...he proved his credentials with Renault over the previous seasons and prima donna character aside he is probably the most skilled driver currently in F1... KR and LH may well match him in terms of race ability but neither are in his league as a development driver.

It is also why Honda are struggling....they do not have (and have never had) a development driver who can really push the team... Rubens...nice guy.. good driver but no.. Jensen...nice smooth driver but again no. If they do get somebody sharp on board they will dominate.

I disagree with the Ferrari bias.. it is there.

It dates back from the days of Enzo himself and Jean Marie Balestre. Enzo was not averse to threatening to take Ferrrai out of F1.. using Fiat as the scapegoat. It survived pretty unscathed thro the wilderness years of the mid 1980s to ealy 1990s, first as the rivalry between McLaren and Williams made Ferrari a part of the pack rather than a leader.

It became obvious again with Jean Todt at the helm. He knew that with MS and Ross Brawn in the team he had a decent team and the skill to dominate.. what he did not have was the time to do so, so he bought it with the FIA...making sure that Ferrari were able to modify their car without points penalties etc when infringements were highlighted.. be it aero 'tricks', various electronic issues over the years...whilst all pushing the envelope were certainly not allowable nor signed off. Certainly its a far cry from the penalty applied to the BAR Honda team who following their ballast issue.. which having been cleared by the FIA during pre season scrutineering was then deemed illegal 'cos nobody else had thought of it.

Since Max's rise to power McLaren have been under the microscope. The history of bad feeling goes back many decades.. ironically from the days when RD arranged the purchase of the McLaren team...a move that Max was not best pleased about, even then, perhaps he wanted to do the same. Be that as it may since then the two have not seen eye to eye and with the success of the McLaren team the issue has not moved on.

The current situation is one that allows the FIA to focus its attention on areas of its choice and act with little or no regard to being called to account (although this may be challenged very soon). It does not breed a good environment for the sport, allowing cynics and sceptics to highlight the irregularities rather than celebrate the skill and ability of the teams and drivers..a real shame and one that will eventually make take the sport to entertainment status.

There was a very perceptive article a few years ago in Motorsport written by Gordon Murray (then still at McLAren but not in the F1 department).. he was very clear that the best way forward was to reduce the aero/ electroinc dependance and focus of providing the drivers with a car they could 'play' with on the track and 'race' each other.

He when as far as to propose two alternative outcomes.. one was a fully remote control car.. drivers in the pits with TV cameras as their eyes... which were faster lighter etc etc.. ultimate speed and aero performance..

The other was a return to the non-aero late 60s cars....drivers clearly visible...narrow tyres.. low power engines...etc but great racing...

Its only his opinion for sure, but one that carries a large number of very successful race cars with it and a lot of intelligence as well...

I'd like to see the racing return along with the intelligence and a reduction of the money dependent solutions being raced at the moment. I do not really mind who wins (except for Massa;)....) but at the moment there is no real correlation in the best driver/ best car/ best team/ winner equation, makes for very exciting races, but a poor overall levle of performance.. far better to see the best pushing each other on the track.

He didn't ace anything. He was about to lose the lead to kimi until ferrari made a bad decision in the pits. he was very fortunate to come away with a win.

Wow, and had the exact same thing happened, but Kimi had been in the lead and the put the wrong tires on Hamilton's car, you guys would be saying he never had a chance. :rolleyes:

The truth is, having a faster lap time is not the same as passing, especially in the wet. Raikonnen's engineers knew he needed a little something extra to get past Hamilton, which is why they made a risky call on tires. It's been said multiple times on this thread that the Ferraris were not properly set up for the wet weather. Any lead Raikonnen did get would have dissappeared the second it rained again.

Well who knows what would have happened if Kimi had caught Hammy. He'll have a chance in the German GP, which will be very fast, and very exciting.

But meanwhile, there is this, which is so disturbing I'm stunned. Disgusted. Shocked.
http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3213_3794450,00.html
Mosely needs to be canned. I mean caned. No no canned. Fired ok?

I am not condoning what Mosley did but can someone please explain to me why this is wasting everyones time and money in court?

When was it anyones business what kind of sexual depraved acts someone wants to partake in?

I find this more alarming that Max being spanked by Nazi's in a role playing sex game.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,369464,00.html

Suddenly being spanked by Nazi's pales......

Again I do not condone what he did just do not understand why it is now in court. I do not like Max at all I dislike him I just do not get these theatrics going on.

Jim,

The matter is in court because Max himself is taking the News of the World to court in a tort case. The man is totally delusional. Now there are even more issues, as well as the revelation that Mosley has led this double life for quite a long time. He is a sick puppy, and I for one think it's pertinent if he was using his Monaco digs that belong to the FIA for a sordid affair. Even worse would be if he has conducted anything improper at an F1 venue.

Again you are comparing things that have nothing to do with each other to make your point. This is called building up a "straw man", or making a false argument that can be easily pushed over, rather than addressing the issue at hand. Jim, don't you think that if Max himself brought the matter to court, he is in a direct way saying that it is a public matter?

I did not know Max was taking this to court he is indeed an idiot then. (Not that he was not before)

I just think there is a lot of posturing over this, yeah its wacked out, but its tame in the big picture of things in this world. Kind of the point I was making above.

Since he seems hell bent on making this a court issue instead of letting it go I say let him get all the bad publicity he gets.

I have not and do not pay attention to his stupid scandal because its trivial in the big picture, since he is dragging it into court now and wasting time and money on it then let him burn.

GREAT! Compilation video

<object width="400" height="225"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1311014&amp;server=www.vimeo .com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_p ortrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" /> <embed src="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1311014&amp;server=www.vimeo .com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_p ortrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/1311014?pg=embed&sec=1311014">GBR-GP Highlights</a> from <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/user567207?pg=embed&sec=1311014">Axis of Oversteer.com ***</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com?pg=embed&sec=1311014">Vimeo</a>.

FANTASTIC CLIPS there. What a crazy race, wow. And Kimi temper? Puh-leeze the guy was crouching on Kimi's duffel bag.