F1 spain......spoiler spoiler spoiler!!!!!

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what a great qualifying session by jensen, i'm glad that they're still able to bring the fight.
if they keep doing things like they have been i expect both brawn to be on the podium somewhere

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well jenson did it again, too bad for barrichello as it looked like he had the pace until his later tires went off, the crowd went nuts when fernando overtook massa due to ferrari screwing up the fuel load.......
ferrari is toast this year, mclaren is questionable, webber continues to surprise, and keep your eye on vettel.....

overall a great race imo, and seeing brawn that far ahead in the mfg championship probably has honda kicking themselves in the head

[imcarthur]

Are you talking to yourself here? A solid race by Button. Lapping LH must have made him smile. And as you said, the easy pass by Alonso was great for the locals. What a different season - in a very good way.

Ian

[Geronimo '74]

boring race all together

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I talk to myself a lot LOL

I'm really hoping rubino can step it up, I'd like nothing more than to see him lock up the championship in brazil.....it'd be remeniscent of senna they way the crowd would react

[Dennis Kalma]

Personally the current Brawn domination makes me even more convinced that the majority of the difference between Team A and Team B or Driver C and Driver D is the car.....

Nothing against Button, he is by far a better driver than I wil ever be, but he did not magically become a better driver over the winter and neither did Hamilton magically become a worse driver since becoming WC.

Button just has a better car, took advantage of a bad rule definition in a positive way and his car is now a few fractions of a second faster per lap than Hamilton.

Makes me believe that while there are minor differences between drivers, some are a bit better about wringing the last bit of performance out of a car (e.g. Kovalainen vs Hamilton), Bernie and Nazi Maxie have a point.....the dominant teams win because they have been able to throw bucks at every minor improvement to get a few hundredths here and a few hundredths there, get acceptable drivers and then win 7 championships or whatever....

Makes the case for a budget cap, as much as it pains me to agree with two of the nastiest people in any business.....

Dennis

[sammyg2]

Evidently when Scumi and Brawn left Ferrari, there was no one left with a brain.

They've gone from the best team ever to the biggest and most expensive joke in motor sports history in two short years.
Someone needs to go.

[nota]

Originally Posted by Dennis Kalma

Personally the current Brawn domination makes me even more convinced that the majority of the difference between Team A and Team B or Driver C and Driver D is the car.....

Nothing against Button, he is by far a better driver than I wil ever be, but he did not magically become a better driver over the winter and neither did Hamilton magically become a worse driver since becoming WC.

Button just has a better car, took advantage of a bad rule definition in a positive way and his car is now a few fractions of a second faster per lap than Hamilton.



Dennis

at 66 lap race and 1:20+ lap time race pace was over a full sec a lap diff button to hamilton when he was lapped
yes Q times are a lot closer

I thought both button and webber were gifted their places over their faster team mates by tean screw ups on pit stops timing

and why was glock so slow
and massa so fast as kimi had the new lite car

[Stanley]

Mark Webber's pass on Alonso was fantastic. Other than that the race was pretty boring. I'm startign to think that this is the last year in F1 for Rubbens. He was given the chance to win and he couldn't keep up the pace.

Did anyone see the BBC coverage and the "blackfaced" fan. I say shame on the BBC for showing that and making a story out of it. It was one fan out of 100M that was out of place. I think this is the equivalent of showing the guy that runs into the baseball game naked. These people do not need attention. I agree that the racism in the past Spanish GP's needed attention as it was so wide spread. This guy should have been thrown out of the racetrack before a camera could spot him.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by Dennis Kalma

Personally the current Brawn domination makes me even more convinced that the majority of the difference between Team A and Team B or Driver C and Driver D is the car.....

Nothing against Button, he is by far a better driver than I wil ever be, but he did not magically become a better driver over the winter and neither did Hamilton magically become a worse driver since becoming WC.

Button just has a better car, took advantage of a bad rule definition in a positive way and his car is now a few fractions of a second faster per lap than Hamilton.

Makes me believe that while there are minor differences between drivers, some are a bit better about wringing the last bit of performance out of a car (e.g. Kovalainen vs Hamilton), Bernie and Nazi Maxie have a point.....the dominant teams win because they have been able to throw bucks at every minor improvement to get a few hundredths here and a few hundredths there, get acceptable drivers and then win 7 championships or whatever....

Makes the case for a budget cap, as much as it pains me to agree with two of the nastiest people in any business.....

Dennis

2 years ago I would have argued with you but now I agree with you 100%.

Even 2 years ago, as much as I would like to think it was not the car, it is. Jacques Villeneuve should have been an indication of that back in 97. There are exceptions, Schumacher and Senna come to mind as modern day ones, possibly Alonso as well.

What is funny is how everyone carries on about how great of a driver Button is all of the sudden, when everyone should be talking about what a great car he was given to drive.

I just read some articles about Rubins and all his crying about team orders etc... Then Braun comes back pondering how Rubens could not out pace Button. Rubins is not WDC material he is second driver and that is it, he is lucky to be at another front running team this late in his career.

A Braun driver will be WDC this year and it looks like Button. I am pretty sure Ferrari and McLaren are close to giving up and concentrating on next year.

[legion]

Hamilton seems to be doing pretty well with a not-so-great car. I use Kovaleinen as comparison. Last there, they were pretty evenly matched. This year, Kovaleinen can't finish a race.

Did anyone catch the commentators say that there would be TWO U.S.-based F1 teams next year? I always assumed that USGP was taking Super Aguri's spot. Who is bowing-out next year?

[jyl]

What was the FIA conspiracy to favor Ferrari and penalize McLaren in this race? There must have been one, right?

[legion]

Originally Posted by jyl

What was the FIA conspiracy to favor Ferrari and penalize McLaren in this race? There must have been one, right?

At what point in the race did a Ferrari and McLaren get close to each other?

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by jyl

What was the FIA conspiracy to favor Ferrari and penalize McLaren in this race? There must have been one, right?

Only in the minds of those wearing tin foil hats

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by jyl

What was the FIA conspiracy to favor Ferrari and penalize McLaren in this race? There must have been one, right?

Ross Braun is ex-Ferrari and Braun won while McLaren finished outside the points.

There you go.

Kovaleinen vs. Hamilton

Hamilton is the WDC and he sucks this year, want to impress me get on the podium with that car, THEN your a great driver. Any improvement made to that car will happen on an Engineers cadd screen not from behind the drivers seat.

.... and to be fair, Massa and Kimi are stinking up the place as well. Ferrari is general are a joke this year. Its hard to continue to root for them as a team when they keep screwing up over and over again, making the same mistakes. I was waiting for them to put a set of full wets on Kimi's car in the dry yesterday just to make things complete.

[Dennis Kalma]

As for the penalization of McLaren, I am landing on the conclusion that when you have a confluence of a**holes there is always a stink and pile of poop there.

Bernie and Nazi Maxie get along like a hooker and a crack dealer, Ron Dennis, as charming as he is, probably could piss off Mother Theresa and Mahatma Ghandi, together they just created a huge stinking pile of hate and crap.

Maxie Pad finds a way to penalize McLaren, Ferrari helps out as it is in their interest. Ron finds a way to video Maxie with his pants down. Bernie indulges his senility all around.

Nothing good, anywhere.

Well, Ronnie has bowed out. Now we just need a couple of convenient heart attacks (or would so if either of them actually had a heart) and get Bernie and Maxie gone...perhaps F1 could get better....

Personally I am getting interested in competitive basket weaving....seems more interesting....

Dennis

[450knotOffice]

Originally Posted by Jims5543

Ferrari is general are a joke this year. Its hard to continue to root for them as a team when they keep screwing up over and over again, making the same mistakes. I was waiting for them to put a set of full wets on Kimi's car in the dry yesterday just to make things complete.

So true (and your tire comment made me laugh...because I wouldn't have been surprised either). It's obvious that Ferrari is not run nearly as well as they used to be in the Brawn years, which is sad, because I'm a fan.

[nota]

Originally Posted by legion

Did anyone catch the commentators say that there would be TWO U.S.-based F1 teams next year? I always assumed that USGP was taking Super Aguri's spot. Who is bowing-out next year?

burnie and mad max are trying to get new teams in the show

new rules on spending capped teams are looking to raise the total car count
so there is no Super Aguri spot or team needs to leave for another to join rule

one or two USA teams plus aston-martin and lola and maybe others in 2010

only limit is cars starting the race 26 most tracks but there can and have in the past been far more teams trying to Q then spots
89 saw 39 cars trying to get in some races

[Dennis Kalma]

Originally Posted by nota

burnie and mad max are trying to get new teams in the show

new rules on spending capped teams are looking to raise the total car count
so there is no Super Aguri spot or team needs to leave for another to join rule

one or two USA teams plus aston-martin and lola and maybe others in 2010

only limit is cars starting the race 26 most tracks but there can and have in the past been far more teams trying to Q then spots
89 saw 39 cars trying to get in some races

I think this is a power play by Bernie and Max. They are tired of having their competence and little world (not to speak of their financial fortunes) being placed at risk by having large, influential manufacturers like Mercedes and historical powers like Ferrari being in any way able to criticize or exert control.

Easiest way out is to remove the threat, namely fill the grids with players they can actually control, shrug their shoulders when Ferrari threatens to leave and generally grab complete control of racing, world wide.

I personally think the only way out is for the manufacturers to just pack up, leave and start their own series. But none of them really will do that as either they are too small (e.g. Williams) or their business is actually something else...like producing cars (e.g. Mercedes, BMW) which leaves the field to Bernie and Maxie Pad....

Dennis

[mike55]

Originally Posted by Geronimo '74

boring race all together

..i agree. glad i didn't wake up to watch it live. but it is amazing to see how far back last years' front runners are this season. poor strategies in some cases......