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ffhard wrote:
And a McLaren mechanical failure? Surely not!

Yeah but such an unnusual failure Can an engine failure effect the rear wing and suspension in that fashion?

No not (unusually?) an engine failure this time. Just some part of the suspension that couldnt do what was asked of it. Still, it could have gone on the first corner in the race!

I have always respected McLaren but in recent years they seem to have been slowly losing it. Oh, I know things can and will go wrong but they seem to have had more than their share. Unless Renault are pulling out I can't see why Alonso has signed with them. And he must have gulped a bit when just after his signing Adrian Newey announced his departure!

ffhard wrote:No not (unusually?) an engine failure this time. Just some part of the suspension that couldnt do what was asked of it. Still, it could have gone on the first corner in the race!

I have always respected McLaren but in recent years they seem to have been slowly losing it. Oh, I know things can and will go wrong but they seem to have had more than their share. Unless Renault are pulling out I can't see why Alonso has signed with them. And he must have gulped a bit when just after his signing Adrian Newey announced his departure!

Hola bienvenido ffhard

The reliability has been astonishingly bad for almost the entire time that merc and Mac have been together One or the other is cursed or something? They have been the most consistent inconsistent team in the entire history of F1 How do you do that?

The Alonso thing - exactly what I thought

Renault pulling out of F1 is the only rational answer, they are probably going to have another Rally campaign

After checking out the sector times over all the sessions it would appear to me that farrari could afford to go conservative on fuel, so it appears that there will be a four way fight for the win tomorrow and it all depends on how the individual cars use their tyres. Farrari have done the most consistent laps in testing if you look at Massa in Barcelona he put in lap after lap within a tenth of a second of each other. the Honda definately hasn't done anything like that at any time through testing. Renault have got some consistency with their tyre usage but it does wobble a bit. If Mclaren had some more pace they might be in with a shout as their tyres are in very good shape toward the end of a stint however I think they would need to be ahead to make that count now we have pit stops back again.

Snowy:

Do I read you correctly? Are you suggesting Fernando is jumping because Renault are getting ready to abandon F1? If so, how come Briatore is so (hopping!) mad about his boy jumping to McLaren without asking him for permission first? I mean, surely Fernando could have done a deal with Ferrari as easily as Ron Dennis. Because Michael won't be back, even if he wins his eighth W.C. this year. There isn't anything for him to come back FOR. He's a very thoughtful person as well as gifted driver and I expect, in time, he'll have something to do on the FIA side? Everyone seems to think that Kimi has already cut some sort of Ferrari deal, which may, indeed, be the case. But even so, wouldn't you rather field Kimi and Fernando if you were Jean Todt?

As to the Mercs this year; everyone I know in the engine business says they'll be the class of the field, Honda second, then Ferrari, Cosworth & Renault sorting out the rest. The Beamer, you ask, where will they be? Scratching their heads and wishing they had sent J.V. packing and picked up on Anthony D! that's where!

ciao, Jim Watt

Actually don't discount JPM they have quite a history of going deep into a race when no other's dare and Bahrain is supposed to favour fewer stops.

Jim Watt wrote: Snowy:

Do I read you correctly? Are you suggesting Fernando is jumping because Renault are getting ready to abandon F1? If so, how come Briatore is so (hopping!) mad about his boy jumping to McLaren without asking him for permission first? I mean, surely Fernando could have done a deal with Ferrari as easily as Ron Dennis.

Smoke Screen

I like the idea of Schui winning 'Water Closets' jim that really does appeal to me

Jim Watt wrote: Everyone seems to think that Kimi has already cut some sort of Ferrari deal, which may, indeed, be the case. But even so, wouldn't you rather field Kimi and Fernando if you were Jean Todt?

Right now I'd be wanting to run Massa with just about anybody who could handle the embarrasment of being beaten by the untidiest driver in F1

Jim Watt wrote:
As to the Mercs this year; everyone I know in the engine business says they'll be the class of the field, Honda second, then Ferrari, Cosworth & Renault sorting out the rest. The Beamer, you ask, where will they be? Scratching their heads and wishing they had sent J.V. packing and picked up on Anthony D! that's where!

ciao, Jim Watt

In the horse power stakes Cosworth are said to have about 25bhp advantage over Mercedes and Honda right now.

Alonso The Cute 4th isn't what I hoped for but I am sure he is heavy so watch out for him tomorrow running away from the rest after the first stop (if not before )

If Massa has a similar fuel load to Michael then he will be The Rebel I am hoping him to be

May the best win

With everything that happened today in qual., why am I getting one of those deja vue type thoughts?? I mean, what was it I said on the preseason testing and McLaren threads.....if the MP4-21 is fast and reliable, then they will give Renault trouble this year. And what happened.....McLaren suffered a mech. failure and Raikkonen gets to start shotgun on the whole field.

Hopefully, the race will have a better result for them than qualifying. At least Montoya made the top half of the grid.

ffhard wrote:Unless Renault are pulling out I can't see why Alonso has signed with them. And he must have gulped a bit when just after his signing Adrian Newey announced his departure!

Back to this theory are we ?
Renault have already said they are staying until end of 2007 at least but cannot commit further until after the fight between the FIA and the manufacturers. Alonso saw an oppurtunity with McLaren and took it as he may end up with a year at Renault and not find a competitive drive in 2008.

Alonso signed with McLaren a month after Newey announced his departure

JayVee wrote:

ffhard wrote:Unless Renault are pulling out I can't see why Alonso has signed with them. And he must have gulped a bit when just after his signing Adrian Newey announced his departure!

Back to this theory are we ?
Renault have already said they are staying until end of 2007 at least but cannot commit further until after the fight between the FIA and the manufacturers. Alonso saw an oppurtunity with McLaren and took it as he may end up with a year at Renault and not find a competitive drive in 2008.

Alonso signed with McLaren a month after Newey announced his departure

Reports this week end have Flav saying that Renualt is very close to signing with Bernie, so looks like a Renualt Pull out isnt on

The weather today (race day) is windy but sunny and much less dusty. Expect the track temperature to be higher than yesterday.

Air temperature around 2:30 is expected to be around 25 degrees.

Enjoy the race!