Malaysian GP - this weekend

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by Won

Watch the video Jim posted again. It's Hamilton not Kovalainen diving across the field as evident by the red camera pod above the intake.

It was not the drive across the track that was a problem, it was the fact that they were on the driving line, they figured it out as soon as Nick passed them and Hammy dived across the track off line, Heiki stayed on line and impeded Alonso after Heiki he impeded 2 cars and only got 1 penalty, then went on to come in 3rd. If the FIA wanted to really screw over McLaren, they would have penalized Heiki twice for both infractions but they cut him a break.

[Jims5543]

Massa, Massa, Massa........


wanted...traction control from AC on Vimeo.

[ginot912]

Re: Passing in the pits
Out of the top 7 or 8 cars Kimi had the shortest first pitstop 7.9 s.
Heikki and Lewis had the worst two. 10.2 & 19.9.
Massa had 8.5

Gino

[Mule]

Inability to pass makes for some boring racing. So does Bernie's leanings to Ferrari. Hamilton is easily the best driver out there.

[Lothar]

I am a McLaren fan. The penalty was fair. Only the McLarens were on the racing line. There was poor communication from the team to the drivers. Kovalainen alluded to this in an interview where he responded to the penalty.

Kimi deserved the win, as the team did a great job of rebounding from Australia. Massa still sucks and should be replaced before mid season at this rate. How much testing did they do, and Massa still can't drive the car without TC? He should go back to drivers school.

There is way too much made of the ECU issue. The spec ECU is not made by McLaren the "constructor". A separate electronics division, in cooperation with Microsoft, designed and builds the ECU. The reduction in performance obtained by the spec ECU comes from its lack of functionality compared the the ECUs of years past. There are many fewer parameters that the new ECU can control, so teams are less able to fine tune the performance of the car. Things like illegal TC cannot be created within terrabytes of hidden code. It was simply impossible for the FIA and Charlie Whiting to enforce the ban on drivers aids without control of the ECU code. So, the spec ECU affects McLaren just as much as any other team. I hope this issue goes away before the next race.

[Mule]

Microsoft is synonymous with reduction in performance.

[kang]

Originally Posted by Lothar

I am a McLaren fan. The penalty was fair. Only the McLarens were on the racing line. There was poor communication from the team to the drivers. Kovalainen alluded to this in an interview where he responded to the penalty.

.....

Even Ron Dennis thought the penalty was fair.

[legion]

I think it was a fair penalty for McLaren given the circumstances.

I also think that had two Ferrari drivers been on the racing line, no penalty would have been awarded.

When was the last time Ferrari was served with a penalty? I can't think of one. Every time Ferrari does something penalty-worthy, the FIA does nothing.

[kang]

Originally Posted by Scott at Pelican Parts

The pass for the lead

Funny….

But for me, personally, I like that strategy is an important part of winning an F1 race. Sure, driving skill should be the most important part, and I think it still is. Even with the best strategy, lack of skill won’t win a race. But I like the “chess game” strategy of an F1 race. In this case, Kimi qualified right behind Massa, but with more fuel on board. He also stayed right behind him during the first stint. Both of those things take driving skill. The skill to qualify well, and keep up, but with more fuel on board, gave Kimi more options during the race to play out a winning strategy. More fuel on board gave him more options, like if it rained, when to come in for wets. Etc, etc. In this race, more fuel gave him a few more laps on track with a light fuel load, which enabled him to pass Massa.

So no, the pass for the lead didn’t happen in the pits, it really occurred when Kimi qualified with more fuel on board.

My opinion only, your results may vary.

[Lothar]

Originally Posted by Mule

Microsoft is synonymous with reduction in performance.

Teams should be happy that McLaren is building the ECU. Imagine if you had Microsoft software running on an ECU built by DELL.

"Hello. My name is Benny. Can you tell me the nature of your ECU problem today? O'kay, I do not have a solution to your problem in my manual. Can you please hold for the next 75 minutes?"

NO! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LOAD SERVICE PACK 2!

Our technical support package starts at $4 million for 3 30 minute phone sessions. Would you like to give me your credit card information?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

If Apple were building the ECUs they'd weigh 1/3 as much and the cars would be five seconds a lap faster.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by legion

When was the last time Ferrari was served with a penalty? I can't think of one. Every time Ferrari does something penalty-worthy, the FIA does nothing.

Massa was DQ'd last season for leaving the pits when the red light was on.


Ferrari was penalized last year for starting a race in inters instead of full wets per orders passed through the pits. They HAD to enter the pits and change tires costing them position on the track.

Let me think some more and see if I can come up with more, there are plenty.

[cl8ton]

Great race,nice to see Kimi re-assert himself.
When Windsor was on the grid, he even mentioned something about Fararri getting free passes.

I think the big surprise this year is going to be Kovlainen, 2 starts and 2 podiums!

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

If Apple were building the ECUs they'd weigh 1/3 as much and the cars would be five seconds a lap faster.

Well I guess it's about time to post this one

[Won]

Originally Posted by Jim Cesiro

It was not the drive across the track that was a problem, it was the fact that they were on the driving line, they figured it out as soon as Nick passed them and Hammy dived across the track off line, Heiki stayed on line and impeded Alonso after Heiki he impeded 2 cars and only got 1 penalty, then went on to come in 3rd. If the FIA wanted to really screw over McLaren, they would have penalized Heiki twice for both infractions but they cut him a break.

I know that, I was just pointing it out for those who seemed confused about who was where during the in-lap. Just a minor detail really.

Michael Schumacher was penalized after his "incident" at Monaco in 06 during qualifying and started the race from pit lane.

[Seric]

Great race, much cleaner than Oz. I was delighted to see my two most prominent nationalities on the podium. Go Finn and Pol!

Massa needs to get it together or he's going to get the big fat bewt. I see a seat for Vettel opening up...

[cl8ton]

Alonso has an option to walk away from Renault at the end of 2008 season.
Many sources are saying he has put out a “Come and get me”, offer to Ferrari.

If so, he would obviously replace Massa who is off to a dismal start in 2008.
Now that would be some drama with Kimi and Alonso on the same team.

[Lothar]

Massa has a contract through 2010, of course, that doesn't mean as the race driver. He could be a test driver for Ferrari or could be loaned out to another team, like STR if Vettel came to Ferrari.

Alonso didn't even want Kovalainen, who has yet to win a Grand Prix, on the same team with him. What would that little sissy do with another WDC as a teammate? Sparks, fur, wishbones and everything else might fly with Kimi and Alonso together.

[Seric]

Alonso is not going to Ferrari, even though he wishes he could. Well unless Kimi freaks out, leaves racing and becomes a Monk or something.

[teenerted1]

Originally Posted by Seric

Alonso is not going to Ferrari, even though he wishes he could. Well unless Kimi freaks out, leaves racing and becomes a Monk or something.

i second that opinion

wasn't he involved in the whole scandal last year?

why would they want to hire someone that was involved in something that was stolen Ferrari

[cl8ton]

Originally Posted by teenerted1

why would they want to hire someone that was involved in something that was stolen Ferrari

Cause he has intimate knowledge of their setup already, makes coming aboard all that much easier

I think Ferrari would happily pay Massa to not drive in order to get Alonso.
Contract or not, Alonso demonstrated last year contracts mean nuthin!