F1 2004 - Let the race begin :D

[Unknown Soldier]

Hi I'm back for a bit.

Just moved to Botswana(for 3 months) and still don't have internet organised(hoping too soon though).

So canada coming up this weekend and USA to follow the following weekend.. woot. Now I must just organise myself a place to go watch the damn races. Everything here closes at 8pm on Sundays.

Anyways .. i'll be back(now where have you heard that before?? )

US

 

[V3]

Hopefully a better race compare to the last one.

1 Ralf Schumacher Williams 01:12.275
2 Jenson Button BAR 01:12.341
3 Jarno Trulli Renault 01:13.023
4 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams 01:13.072
5 Fernando Alonso Renault 01:13.308
6 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 01:13.355
7 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 01:13.562
8 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren 01:13.595
9 David Coulthard McLaren 01:13.681
10 Christian Klien Jaguar 01:14.532
11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber 01:14.674
12 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 01:14.851
13 Olivier Panis Toyota 01:14.891
14 Mark Webber Jaguar 01:15.148
15 Nick Heidfeld Jordan 01:15.321
16 Timo Glock Jordan 01:16.323
17 Takuma Sato BAR 01:17.004
18 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi 01:17.064
19 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi
20 Felipe Massa Sauber

 

[Gollum]

Didn't get to see the race, but it seems to have been one of the closer ones this season, with Ralf finishing only a second behind Michael. Will watch the summary later ...

 

[V3]

It wasn't that close. Ralph was on 3 stoppers, Michael on 2 stoppers. Michael was nursing his car for the last twenty laps or so. The only reason its one second gap because he back right off during the very last lap. If not he has around 7 seconds gap.

If Rubens wasn't racing Michael on the early part of the race and nurse his brake instead, he would have been second too.

Räikkönen managed to finish the race, even with some steering problem and managed to pick up drive thru penalty too. I really thought he wasn't going to finish.

In contrast both Renault failed to finish the race. There was one scary accident in the race I think it was Massa, front suspension broke, front wheel came off, head on straight to barrier.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

The Williams and Toyotas are now disqualified. http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=30423

 

[Deepak]

The Williams and Toyotas are now disqualified. http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=30423

 

[London Geezer]

Nice race!!! I mean, yeah MS won again, but at least this time he started off from 5th place and went up from there! If things continue like this, by july there won't be a reason to follow it, because if MS wins every race till then, he will be in a safe place whatever happens after then, even if he were to retire from every race after july, he would still be champion.

 

[MfA]

Maybe he could conveniently brake his legs again.

 

[London Geezer]

Maybe he could conveniently brake his legs again.

Heh, if he wins every race until the end of July, he could do that and still be the champion this year. Cool huh... I mean, gross leg-hurting aside.

What would be freaky is that if he wins every race until the end of july, then (TOUCH WOOD) has a fatal accident and dies, he would still be crowned 2004 champion anyway. I think. Interesting, what would happen in such a circumstance?

 

[Snyder]

Maybe he could conveniently brake his legs again.

Heh, if he wins every race until the end of July, he could do that and still be the champion this year. Cool huh... I mean, gross leg-hurting aside.

What would be freaky is that if he wins every race until the end of july, then (TOUCH WOOD) has a fatal accident and dies, he would still be crowned 2004 champion anyway. I think. Interesting, what would happen in such a circumstance?

Well - it has happened before. Jochen Rindt was crowned world champion poshumously in 1970.

 

[Gollum]

Well, lets just hope something like that never has to happen again! There have been enough tragic deaths in F1 history, I'd prefer if all the current drivers made it through their careers alive.

The disqualification is quite a bummer, what were Williams and Toyota thinking? Its especially bad for Ralf, who's had a horrible season so far. The last few races he finally got better again and seemed to turn things around for this season, guess he'll have to continue trying now.

I'm happy for Kimi and Coulthard that they finally managed to finish a race and score, about friggin' time!

Great debut for Timo Glock too - first race, first point!

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

I'm happy for Kimi and Coulthard that they finally managed to finish a race and score, about friggin' time!

They went back to an older, more reliable engine, so they went even further down on power. If the Renault's hadn't expired and Williams hadn't been disqualified, the McLaren results would have been a lot less encouraging. Still, I suppose it's good Raikonen got some points after his loads of pitstops and penalty.

I saw Coultard saying in an interview that McLaren were making progress and they expected to be on the pace by the end of the season. Pretty useless though, as by the end of the season when everyone is about to move onto next year, Coultard will be looking for a new drive anyway.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Michael qualified in 6th place with Rubens 7th, Timo got 2 points from first race.

Good to see McLaren having some reliability.

The McLaren MP4-19B is expected only by the French GP(about a month from now).

US

 

[Deepak]

Berichello would have won the race but for *team orders*..... , and F1 has some of the silliest incidents (Montoya disqualification).

 

[MPI]

What makes you think there was team orders? Didn't you see them almost touching in turn 4? Or is it totally out of this world that MS actually would finish ahead _with_ proper racing and all? RB tried to pass, couldn't and backed off. EOS.

As for Monty and Williams, rules are rules and they didn't comply, simple as that, but the FIA really does need to hurry those decisions the **** up. Waiting over an hour for a decision is really way WAY too long.

They also have to answer for the apalling response time to Ralf's accident, I mean, WTF?!

 

[Deepak]

What makes you think there was team orders? Didn't you see them almost touching in turn 4? Or is it totally out of this world that MS actually would finish ahead _with_ proper racing and all? RB tried to pass, couldn't and backed off. EOS.

Exactly, Bar was definitely faster then MS during that particular time period and after that almost *incident*, he suddenly backed off and never again gave it a try. I am sure team order was the reason. They robbed viewers of a great battle.

 

[mustrum]

Definatly teamorder. This one attack was only performed to avoid getting into trouble that's it. Ferrari is well known for having only one driver. The 2nd ist backup for the number 1 and never more. Rubens could've been faster for half a second each lap there that's for sure.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Berichello would have won the race but for *team orders*..... , and F1 has some of the silliest incidents (Montoya disqualification).

Apparently this was because there is a time limit at which point you must be ready to race - in this case you must be ready to go (as in at your starting position) within 15 seconds of the start, and Montoya missed that window by a few seconds.

This rule was apparently introduced years ago after engineers had been run over because they were still messing with cars right up until the start lights turn green.

The big question is why it took the stewards so long to tell Williams this, and allow Montoya to risk his life for almost the whole of the race before booting him out for an incident right at the start.

 

[MPI]

What makes you think there was team orders? Didn't you see them almost touching in turn 4? Or is it totally out of this world that MS actually would finish ahead _with_ proper racing and all? RB tried to pass, couldn't and backed off. EOS.

Exactly, Bar was definitely faster then MS during that particular time period and after that almost *incident*, he suddenly backed off and never again gave it a try. I am sure team order was the reason. They robbed viewers of a great battle.

BS, if team orders was in play why did he even try in the first time?? The Ferraribashing bandwagon rolls on... makes me sick. It's like some people have poisoned minds or something. Everything must twist to your preconcieved conspiracy theories.

If you can't pass you can't and you back off, happened COUNTLESS times between NON-teammates... jeebus cripes...

 

[Gollum]

Bar lost the race early on in the safety car phase (being stuck behind Kimi for a while certainly didn't help either). He had a window of 2-3 laps at best where he had the advantage of better tires after his last pitstop, after that they were both on the same car with the same amount of fuel and used tires. Bar may have been a bit faster than MS this weekend, but in not fast enough to overtake MS on the track. A race is a race, MS wants to win just as badly as Bar and will do everything he can to stay ahead. Bar gave it a shot and didn't make it, after a few laps his advantage was gone and there was just no way to overtake MS except if MS had made a driving error. Its as simple as that...