The 2006 Australian F1 GP (Alonso wins - Your thoughts ?)

Ed · Post by Ed » Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:51 am

Selected quotes:

Jenson Button - 10th - DNF/Engine
It's disappointing to end the weekend as we did today after starting the race in pole position. The way the race panned out with the four safety cars left me struggling for grip after each restart and I lost so much time and so many places. I could feel that something was wrong with the engine in turn 13 and it was a difficult way to end the race after such a long hard battle. The car is strong when we have tyre temperature, but when we don't we have massive grip problems. We have two weeks of testing before Imola and hopefully we can solve these problems

Juan Pablo Montoya - Retired
There was a lot going on in the race today. As we were lining up on the grid I made a mistake and spun the car. Fortunately the start was aborted, and I was able to take up my original start position in fifth spot. However during the first Safety Car period I had another spin which cost me two positions. Overall I found it rather challenging getting the grip into the tyres today and the four Safety Car periods didn?t make it easier. I think I could have finished on the podium, but as I was pushing to get past Ralf I hit the kerb at the start of the straight and went into a bit of a wobble but managed to save it. Unfortunately the impact activated a default system which switched off the engine and that was the end of my race. It?s a real shame as our package felt fantastic throughout the weekend. We can definitely go into the start of the European season with lots of confidence

Vitantonio Liuzzi - Retired
What happened was a real shame as we were competitive and had a really good pace. I am not very happy as I think Jacques (Villeneuve) might have put me in the wall. I am happy for Scott and the team that
he picked up a point. Now I am looking forward to Imola where if the car is as competitive as here we can have a good race

Michael Schumacher - Retired
I was pushing to the maximum to try and close on Jenson and
pass him. Probably he had some problems as he was not very quick. I tucked in behind him and unexpectedly I got some heavy understeer and finished on the grass. I had to push, because that?s the part of the track where it?s possible to pass. Today, our main problem was keeping the tyres up to temperature, especially in the first part of the race and
also because there were a few safety car periods. We had chosen this compound specifically for the race, and once they reached the right operating temperature, they were going well, as was obvious after the pit stop. At first, it was difficult to drive, as after locking the wheels a few times the tyres were completely finished. It?s clear we have a lot of work
to do.

Christian Klien - Retired
There was a safety car period at the beginning of the race and it very difficult to warm up my tyres. I struggled a lot with that, it made it really tricky to drive the car and I was also on a very heavy fuel load.

On lap seven, I touched the brakes, the rear locked or something broke, I'm not sure, and I went off the track into the wall. There was nothing I could do. The crash looked worse than it was I think.

It felt as if I got hit twice on the rear of my car on the first lap of the race and nearly went off on the first corner as a result, but I don't think that was related to my going off the track later on. I'm really disappointed

Jarno Trulli - Retired
I'm happy that Ralf did so well and it shows that we have the pace to challenge again. But this has been a disastrous weekend for me and it was a shame to be punted out of the race so early. A couple of corners in I was following Coulthard who was going very slowly and zigzagging on the straight. I went to the inside to overtake him and I was ahead at the corner but he just closed the door on me, hitting me on the back. That broke my rear suspension and put me out of the race. I was just being careful and overtaking a slower car so I don't understand how it happened and I was surprised by what he did. I've had such bad luck this weekend, I just hope that I've had my share for a while. We showed good pace so I hope we can keep that up and my fortunes can improve back in Europe

Felipe Massa - Retired
Not much to say?At the first turn, I had Klien on my left and Speed on my
right. Christian touched me, which spun me around and to the right, then I hit Rosberg and ended up in the barrier. There was nothing I could do as I was basically a passenger in my car. I am very unhappy because I am sure I could have had a good race. It?s been a weekend to forget. Now we must turn the page and work to be as well prepared as possible for Imola.?

Nico Rosberg - Retired
The start of my race into the first corner all went fine but then Massa & Klien got in bit of a tangle and I could see Massa coming sideways in my mirrors on the inside of me. I thought to myself don?t, please don?t, because I had nowhere to go. In the end he just hit me from behind and that was it. My rear wing was off and my radiators were too damaged for me to continue. It?s unfortunate because I was in a good position with a lot of fuel and considering that so many people had gone off or dropped to the back of the field, I was starting to think that today it could have
gone my way and I could have scored some good points. I?m going to look forward to Imola now, finally a track that I know well.?

Ed · Post by Ed » Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:52 am

Scott Speed has lost 8th place due to overtaking under yellow. He was given a 25 second penalty dropping him to 11th.

David Coulthard moves into 8th.

rah · Post by **rah** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:29 am

Ed wrote:Scott Speed has lost 8th place due to overtaking under yellow. He was given a 25 second penalty dropping him to 11th.

David Coulthard moves into 8th.

I bet RBR are happy about that.

rah · Post by **rah** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:42 am

Well done to Alonso, a commanding race and once in front he never looked threatend. I must say though that it was a monumental cock up by many of the teams there, but at least it was entertaining to watch.
Well done to BMW as well. I think it will take the field a long time to catch Renault.

Some truly priceless moments for me were:
Quote from Murray Walker "I hope he hasn't deranged Jenson's Button"
Fisi being told on the radio to hurry up there is no excuse for being 2 sec of the pace.
The look Monty got from all the McLaren garage when getting back after his misshap.
MS getting lost in the Toyota Garage after having his little misshap. Was he applying for a new job?
Liuzzi passing MS.
DC being told he must overtake Speed. Do you think he wasn't trying?
Button trying to do his best batmobile impression. Hey, the flames out of the exhaust looked cool in The Fast And The Furious 2. Of course I am not admitting that I saw the movie........ who would.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:51 am

rah wrote:
Ed wrote:Scott Speed has lost 8th place due to overtaking under yellow. He was given a 25 second penalty dropping him to 11th.

David Coulthard moves into 8th.
I bet RBR are happy about that.

He also copped a fine for bad mouthing an official. His nickname is "Beavis" as in.....and Butthead

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:53 am

rah wrote:Well done to Alonso, a commanding race and once in front he never looked threatend. I must say though that it was a monumental cock up by many of the teams there, but at least it was entertaining to watch.
Well done to BMW as well. I think it will take the field a long time to catch Renault.

Some truly priceless moments for me were:
Quote from Murray Walker "I hope he hasn't deranged Jenson's Button"
Fisi being told on the radio to hurry up there is no excuse for being 2 sec of the pace.
The look Monty got from all the McLaren garage when getting back after his misshap.
MS getting lost in the Toyota Garage after having his little misshap. Was he applying for a new job?
Liuzzi passing MS.
DC being told he must overtake Speed. Do you think he wasn't trying?
Button trying to do his best batmobile impression. Hey, the flames out of the exhaust looked cool in The Fast And The Furious 2. Of course I am not admitting that I saw the movie........ who would.

I think MS was familiarising himself with the layout

rah · Post by **rah** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 10:18 am

Was anyone else hurling abuse at the MF1 cars (now I know what MF stands for) for their restarts after the safety cars. What a great way to stuff up a race. Now after the two Williams had done their bit, I was baracking for Alonso, but the last thing I wanted was to see it handed to him.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 10:23 am

rah wrote:Was anyone else hurling abuse at the MF1 cars (now I know what MF stands for) for their restarts after the safety cars. What a great way to stuff up a race. Now after the two Williams had done their bit, I was baracking for Alonso, but the last thing I wanted was to see it handed to him.

Yup, it was a great argument for cars to take their actual race positions behind the pace car

Bundy · Post by **Bundy** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 10:39 am

Julian Mayo wrote:
rah wrote:Was anyone else hurling abuse at the MF1 cars (now I know what MF stands for) for their restarts after the safety cars. What a great way to stuff up a race. Now after the two Williams had done their bit, I was baracking for Alonso, but the last thing I wanted was to see it handed to him.
Yup, it was a great argument for cars to take their actual race positions behind the pace car

With a logical reason like that there is no way it will happen

Lloyd · Post by **Lloyd** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 11:59 am

Great entertainment. Dont know what was more entertaining though, Muddled Murray's comments or the demolition of millions of dollars of machinery. It was like there was a "boring button" at race control. When the race started to settle a bit some one hit the button and BANG a car hits the wall again.
Thing that I cannot get out of my head is Murray's comment.
"I hope that didnt derange Jensons Button"

classic
Well done Alonso. A class above in that Renault, wonder whos turn it is to drive the good car next race

My faith in the Cosworth is still sound but have they got McLaurens fragility bug.

Hope not.
3 GPs 6 cars starting only 2 finishes, thats even worse than Super Aguri
of a possible 340 laps that could have been covered so far this season Williams have only managed 157 laps on top is Honda with 337.

jacfan · Post by **jacfan** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 2:37 pm

Bundy wrote:
Julian Mayo wrote:
rah wrote:Was anyone else hurling abuse at the MF1 cars (now I know what MF stands for) for their restarts after the safety cars. What a great way to stuff up a race. Now after the two Williams had done their bit, I was baracking for Alonso, but the last thing I wanted was to see it handed to him.
Yup, it was a great argument for cars to take their actual race positions behind the pace car
With a logical reason like that there is no way it will happen

I don't know what a MF1 car is

Alonso was great at getting away from the pack on the restarts. It is up to everyone else to bunch up behind him and not let him just bolt away on his own I think.

rah · Post by **rah** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 2:54 pm

jacfan wrote: I don't know what a MF1 car is Alonso was great at getting away from the pack on the restarts. It is up to everyone else to bunch up behind him and not let him just bolt away on his own I think.

MF1 = Midland Formula 1
They were the two backmarkers immediately behind Alonso that had been lapped. On the restart Alonso just took off and these two strolled along at their own pace. Thats not so bad, but the cars behind those that were trying to win the race were held up as they could not overtake them until after the start/finish line. Hence giving Alonso a free couple of seconds.

rah · Post by **rah** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:06 pm

Almost forgot another priceless moment:
Monty spinning on the warm up lap and then seeing Ross Braun's face while watching the replay. Nice to see he had a little chuckle before knowing his repair bills at the end of the day.

I believe that Monty also had a spin under the first safety car, is this true?

JayVee · Post by **JayVee** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:16 pm

While the other slammed into walls, spun warming up their tyres, activitated their engine shutdown mechanisms, flat spotted their tyres badly, blew their engines, blew their gearboxes, Alonso was on his own

28 points from a possible 30 and double his nearest rival. I told

The difference between Alonso and Raikkonen: The way they passed Button. One was ultra smooth and the other, well he had to change his front wing

Great race, I agree about the traffic but it wouldn't have made much difference, and remember that Alonso lost more than 30 seconds because of those safety cars.

Looks like McLaren are the only ones who have a chance of catching Renault but Raikkonen needs to start looking after his car and Montoya should find a better way for warming his tyres

Oh and I should do reasonably well compared to the others in 8 'n' Pole. Although once again I didn't pick Villeneuve

rah · Post by **rah** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:41 pm

JayVee, your nothing but a blind Alonso supporter who always picks him for 1st place. But then it has worked for me so far this season as well.

I don't know about your picks, but I hate to see mine. I only have three driver in the top eight.

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