F1: Silverstone GP

[rusnak]

wow, already I think this one will be too close to call, based on Barcelona testing.

Why was McLaren so much off the pace in Magny Cours, following Canada, where they were competitive? And now they appear to be back on the boil? Was their race setup to blame, or does the car have some basic problems?

Add to that, rain is expected. How will Hammy handle the pressure? And rain has a way of making uncompetitive cars faster, or to be precise, puts a premium on driver control.

The best wet weather drivers are Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton, then Massa, in that order. They maintain aggression while racing on feel. I think the wild cards are Webber and Trulli, who can occasionally surprise. But Webber always has bad luck, and Trulli is not agressive enough.

So long to Coulthard, who is retiring. He needs a shave and a haircut. And the Max Mosley conspiracy is back....but now we know that it was not a conspiracy so much, because the dummy was warned!! I mean, how stupid is he anyway? I think he knew people were out to get him, he knew what could happen. And who has a "open budget" to go after Max? Mr. E? Not Ronzo, who is still trying to amortize last year's 250M fine.

[livi]

Very much looking forward to this race, particularly as rain is expected (well isn´t it always in England ).

[sammyg2]

Anyone else notice that Coultard looks allot like Dudley Dooright?

[rusnak]

yeah, he does!

Schumacher looks like Celine Dion, and Ecclestone looks like Andy Warhol, sort of.

[Oh Haha]

Too bad for Dave. He seems like a pretty genuine guy. Tough career he's had in F1, though.

[rusnak]

I kind of like M Webber for his straightforward talk. He makes a lot of sense, and was the only driver to lay it out like it really is regarding Max Mosley.

He also extended his Red Bull contract, so good on him!

[legion]

I hope Hammy pulls off a home win.

[rusnak]

In Hammy's case, I liked him until his "I heard you guys (in the media) have been saying some nasty things" remark.

I don't have much sympathy for race car drivers who jawbone too much. I sort of hope that he struggles for the rest of this year, then comes back next year with some gutsy drives and takes it with style and courage. I like to see guys who face adversity and battle back.

But that would not be fair to the team mechanics and support staff, who have been fantastic at McLaren for so long, without reward. I really admire Martin Whitmarsh, who I think should be given the job of team principal at McLaren sooner rather than later.

And what is with Jean Todt? Was he booted out at Ferrari or what? What is up with that, someone needs to hire him to run something somewhere.

[DaveE]

Speaking of Hamilton, did you hear about the press conference early in the week with him, Button, and Coulthard? Apparently they spent alot of time talking about Button being a marathon or triathlon competitor, at which point Lewis said HE was in better shape than Button. Button challenged him to a 10K pound charity contest, Hammy agreed, and daddy made a press statement afterwards saying that Hammy was backing out.

[Mule]

Put Hamilton in a Ferrari & he breaks Schumaker's records. Either that of allow somebody to field a car as fast as a Ferrari.

[Jim Richards]

After next year, Silverstone is dumped in favor of Donington Park.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

After next year, Silverstone is dumped in favor of Donington Park.

Bernie's justification: Why should the silverstone race be profitable, none of the other races are .....

[Steve PH]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

After next year, Silverstone is dumped in favor of Donington Park.

Same old, same old! Going back a few years Bernie threatened to give the GP to Brands Hatch to try and gee up the owners of Silverstone. Brands wasn't really suitable back then and neither is Donington now. Donnington is a bloody brilliant race track and was used briefly for the European Grand Prix back in the ninties before that went to the revised Nurburgring but compared to Silverstone it's a tiny venue. It has very poor access, would need massive re development to accommodate the fans and teams, noise issues etc etc.

From a spectators point of view Donnington would be really great, its in a natural bowl were as Silverstone is pretty much flat but ultimately the hurdles it would have to over come are pretty insurmountable.

To be brutally honest if Bernie gets his way the British Grand Prix will be no more and he will find another venue, preferable one that allows cigarette sponsorship.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I've always wondered if anyone could possibly trump Tony F'n George in their efforts to completely undermine and destroy open wheel racing. Apparently Moseley & Eccelstone are well on their way to trying to reach that dubious distinction.

As a side note, it looks like no USGP next year either.

Thank fkin Tony G. for that one. And Bernie, of course.

[Noah930]

Hey, POP, if you can raise the $30 mil (or whatever Bernie's charging these days) necessary to secure an F1 date, we'll hold the next USGP in your neck of the woods, say sometime in April? Be better than watching the IRL circus in the spotlight at the LBGP.

[the]

Originally Posted by Mule

Put Hamilton in a Ferrari & he breaks Schumaker's records. Either that of allow somebody to field a car as fast as a Ferrari.

That's what made Schumacher the greatest.

He went to crappy teams, and he made the car and team great.

He won championships in crappy cars before he went to Ferrari, then he went to a bad Ferrari team that hadn't won a Driver's Championship in DECADES and made them a winner. If he had gone to McLaren instead of Ferrari, McLaren would have all those championships, and Ferrari would have had none for the past 30 years.

That's why Schumi is the greatest driver of all time.

[BRPORSCHE]

Schumi was indeed the best, and I think he is still top 5 best drivers in the world. I believe the last time Ferrari was constructor's champions was in 1976? I need to look up the correct year. Schumi brought Brawn with him from Benneton/Williams? (forgot who he raced for.)

Sure he was ruthless and he would run you off the track to secure his championship. He made Ferrari what they ar today though.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by the

That's what made Schumacher the greatest.

He went to crappy teams, and he made the car and team great.

He won championships in crappy cars before he went to Ferrari, then he went to a bad Ferrari team that hadn't won a Driver's Championship in DECADES and made them a winner. If he had gone to McLaren instead of Ferrari, McLaren would have all those championships, and Ferrari would have had none for the past 30 years.

That's why Schumi is the greatest driver of all time.

My initial response to his statement was that he must not follow F1 very closely with a statement like that.

Your 100% correct and just to add, it is becoming apparent Hambone cannot handle pressure very well, on 2 occasions this year he had the opportunity to show us he was #1 driver and he choked with miserable drives. I still throw in the Brazil 2006 race just to see a master tear up the competition, a man with nothing to gain running through the field the way he did yet, he still did it because he is a racer.

You cannot win championships when your rear ending everyone on track and I am not talking about Kimi in the pits either, I am talking about him hitting a lot of other cars on track when he is in traffic and having to dog fight it out.

I hope Kimi has a great weekend I am really rooting for him and I am always rooting for the Red Bull cars as well I hope they do good as well.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Noah930

Hey, POP, if you can raise the $30 mil (or whatever Bernie's charging these days) necessary to secure an F1 date, we'll hold the next USGP in your neck of the woods, say sometime in April? Be better than watching the IRL circus in the spotlight at the LBGP.

Nah, Long Beach isn't up to it anymore. They have a 5 year deal with IRL, IIRC, and after that, you never know.

Somethings can't keep going forever and I see the day of no more motor racing in LB coming sooner or later. The near riot last April Sat night is just a harbinger of things to come. It's not a race as much as it is a big party for big profit.

Why would we want to do something really cool?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

If I could raise $30M, do you think that:

(1) I'd still be living in Long Beach?
(2) I'd still be working?
(3) I'd still have my "coolest" P-car being a '74 Targa?



Although I'm up for trying. I don't know how the FIA would respond to interest in a USGP in Long Beach. Personally I think it'd be awesome - F1 used to race here "back in the day". But I seriously doubt there would be much interest in a street circuit like this (then again, they do it in Monaco. . .) and I doubly doubt the local government would get behind it to the extent necessary to be a serious contender for a date. Then again, I suppose nobody knows for sure if nobody asks. . .

I'll ask around on some of the open wheel forums - there are still a LOT of people out there that despise T.G. and the IRL, and who are simply pissed off about the demise of Champ Car (which clearly was the better series, with the better equipment and the better drivers).

You're also fighting the tide of "stupidification" of America in the rise of NASCAR. Most laypeople out there associate ANYTHING to do with auto racing with NASCAR these days. A tragedy for the sport. Open wheel is a pretty limited demographic, but maybe just maybe there is enough interest to bring it here.

I certainly wouldn't hold my breath, but I agree doing ANYTHING is better than doing nothing and just "taking it" from short-sighted imbeciles like T.G. and B.E.