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Julian Mayo wrote:

sgd wrote:two comments...

it is of course early to say what i gonna say, but il looks like the most fragile engine is the ferrari v8, only one race and 75% of their engines are dead...

The fact that NicoRos. is in P3 here is of course great, but for me more impressive is the fact that in his first year with the team, in his 2nd race ever he has outqualifyed the Q-master Webber who is in his 2nd YEAR with the car...

Nico did more than 16,000kms of pre season testing in the car, I think he knows where the pointy end is

Nico is a good driver. JPM out Q'd kimi, doesn't mean he is a better driver. Good race from MW until his engine went BANG!!! He was all over FA.

Quality drive from Fisi. He is good, about 5 years ago when MS was at his peak he was rated a quicker driver than MS, by the drivers in F1. If he can get some luck he will push FA all the way.

Sepang was spectacular as usual. This track is one of the really good new tracks i the world. It requires a compromise set up that separates those who can set up a car well from the others.

Two thumbs up, way up for Giancarlo Fisichella for a flawless race.


My second driver of the day was Felipe Massa for finishing ahead of MS.


Fernando Alonso was simply superb as usual. Did I already say he will win the WC this year?


Great drives by Webber, Rosberg, and Heidfeld even though they didn't finish!


Instead of looking like Nigel Mansell or Johnny Herbert, Jenson Button is looking like Martin Brundle! If he does start taking advantage of opportunities like starting on the front row, he will end his career with no victories. I have no faith in his ability to win, and third in this race is like a DNF.


I guess JPM did the best he could. I know he is not satisfied.


My ironman award goes to Reubens Barrichelo for nearly reaching the podium from last place on the grid.


As for the Klein/Raikkonen shunt, it was just one of those deals as they say in NASCAR.


Anyhow, great race! I expect a lot of drama this year.

Chris

Instead of looking like Nigel Mansell or Johnny Herbert, Jenson Button is looking like Martin Brundle! If he does start taking advantage of opportunities like starting on the front row, he will end his career with no victories. I have no faith in his ability to win, and third in this race is like a DNF.

I meant to say if he doesn't start taking advantage...





Chris

To be honest, the race disappointed me, and not just because I was looking forward to seeing how the Williams performed.

I think it is a bit much to have the two hottest ave. temp races back to back in a new season. It is asking for a lot of technical failures and takes a lot of the point scoring opportunity away from drivers and into the teams hands.

Malaysia was less about racing and pace, and more about reliability and survival of the fitest . . . which for me, made the whole thing less enjoyable.

No disrespect to Renault though - they are a class act. But I am not going to jump around like some newspapers and say renault are in a class of their own. I dont believe it . . . 2 other teams have good pace: Williams and Mclaren. Honda and Ferrari are not far behind. Lets get to Oz and get back to a grand prix more about pace . . . and lets see an Aussie take the flag.

Great race for me

A Renault 1 - 2, the team can count on Alonso to get out of a difficult situation and again he did the job as expected. That start was superb and how he managed to get ahead of the two Williams despite being far far heavier just tells you how good he is. Then being able to defend his place despite the heavy fuel load and at the same time save his tyres. This kid is set to become one of the greats.
As for the conspiracy Fisichella will win races if he has the perfect car and a perfect race. Had he started from 7th with a heavy fuel load you would have seen him complain. We saw that last year.

Massa proved he is The Rebel
Starting 21st and Michael was 14th and Massa finished AHEAD of Michael
I haven't seen a team-mate to Michael do this and what is more impressive is that this is Massa's second race for Ferrari and has yet to do even half the time in the car as Michael.
Just shows how good Michael really is
(Is Massa doing to Michael what Michael did to Piquet all those years ago)

And to all those writing off Villeneuve, did you notice who qualified higher ? Did you notice who was the first driver to score points for the BMW team ?
VILLENEUVE

Oh and Alonso set the fastest lap time of the race with a 2 race old engine. That is the V8 Renault that was supposed to be low on power, late and unreliable

I said it before and will say it again, Alonso The Cute will dominate 2006 and I am loving it

Pretty boring race for me overall.

Great start for Alonso taking both the Williams who were much lighter,but i though Rosberg was a little conservative going into turn 1.But nonetheless,amazing start by Alonso & brilliant,composed driver by Fisi.The guy actually did 15 consecutive fastest laps till his first pit-stop
Superb result for Renault,it been long since they finish 1-2.

My driver of the day was Massa.Doing a one stop strategy in this heat,on brigestone tyres & then finishing ahead of Michael,i ought to give it to him.
He's coming off age by being a F1 driver & not a rally driver

After qualifying,i mentioned that Cosworth & Mercedes were the only 2 teams with good reliability so far & we saw that the most unreliable engine during winter testing was the MOST reliable. KIMI should now stop complaining about reliability of his engines.
Yes bad luck for him this race,but what happened to Montoya Wasnt the engine mapping issue solved??

Wiliams bad luck with engine,Rubinho 10 sec penalty gave JV & ralf a chance into points.But i must admit JV drove well after a longtime,my memory is fading..when was the last time?

Apart from Alonso getting the better of 2 Williams & Michael's overtaking JV & then Truli,I dont like most engines doing their BBQ,which lost us of a more spectacular race,therefore IMHO,Malaysian GP proved to be very boring compared to Bahrain where every position was challenged!!

Altogether the race was a bit disappointing as it became moreless a procession after the first stint.

However I would give the drive of the day to GIANCARLO as he drove out a flawless victory. FERNANDO was great from the start and pushed the car to the max. RENAULT are certainly on top with their package incl.strategy.

JENSON should win soon, possibly in Melbourne already, he is highly underrated on this podium but even if RUBENS had problems, look how they compared in the first 2 GP. HONDA have one of the poorest strategies though, putting in too much fuel at the first stop lost them a safe 2nd place and chance of winning.

JUAN PABLO looked as unspirited in Sepang as in Bahrain, where did his excentric style and speed go? The problem might be his car, hopefully. KIMI is impossible to judge in this GP.

Both FERRARIS were totally unspectacular, and MICHAEL came of worse as he had to stop twice. They certainly lost 0.5sec of form opposed to Bahrain, maybe Melbourne will be better for them.

JAQUES secured lucky points for BMW after their unlucky loss of 5th place held by NICK. An improved performance and further compression of the field.

RALF was really fast in the TOYOTA so hopefully they will remember Bahrain as their all-time low. JARNO not to be judged through technical problems.

MARK was on the wrong strategy after FERNANDO had passed him but I like his performance at Sepang while NICO proved he is the greatest talent since MICHAEL and he is here to race and that includes his team mate.

Good to see decent form of ex-MINARDI and new-TORO ROSSO, pretty impressive speed by SCOTT who looks really well against TONIO.

REDBULL kinda nowhere after an impressive 2005.


My choices for Melbourne 1.JENSON, 2.FERNANDO, 3.MICHAEL

The driver of the day IMHO was Fernando, not only for his stellar start...the way he controled Mark, how he nursered the tires with a big load and finally he was by far the quickest guy out there, as you can see from the stats: (autosport.com/full race laptimes)

TABLE 2: ALL LAPS

Rank Driver Time Lap #
1 ALO 1:34.803 45
2 ALO 1:35.010 28
3 ALO 1:35.115 29
4 FIS 1:35.294 16
5 ALO 1:35.455 30
6 ALO 1:35.461 46
7 ALO 1:35.465 34
8 ALO 1:35.486 35
9 FIS 1:35.488 12
10 FIS 1:35.517 33
11 MOY 1:35.566 39
12 ALO 1:35.571 31
13 BUT 1:35.604 35
14 BUT 1:35.625 40
15 ALO 1:35.632 41

Looks clear to me...

Jim Watt wrote: I love it! The guy I had already written off as a hopeless #2 (joining the JPM, F.M. & R.B. "club") wins the POLE! Way to go Giancarlo!! this qual performanc makes me remember the promise of last year (and all that time in the way uncompetitive Jordan. Back when he was 8th in the W.C. with Benneton. Full of promise

makes me think of a dialogue for JayVee:

F.A. to Flav: "What the @#$ did you put in my engine compartment anyway; I had a hard time finding my way past the bleeding Red Bull!?

Flav to F.A.: "Whoops, sorry lad, in all the hurry to qualify we put you in Fisi's car?

F.A. to Flav: "so what do you have planned for the race, genius?"

Flav to F.A.: "not to worry defending champ; we'll put you back in your own car and you should be able to get past the Webbo & the new kid before the end of lap one."

F.A. to Flav: "just one small problem my high living escort of fashion babes: I have to get past Kimi and JPM, too!"

Flav to F.A.: "Well, at least you don't have to worry about Michael!; if J.V. doesn't take him out on the way up, J.T. will!"

Oh Boy ain't this gonna be fun

Chris

Jim Watt wrote: I love it! The guy I had already written off as a hopeless #2 (joining the JPM, F.M. & R.B. "club") wins the POLE! Way to go Giancarlo!! this qual performanc makes me remember the promise of last year (and all that time in the way uncompetitive Jordan. Back when he was 8th in the W.C. with Benneton. Full of promise

makes me think of a dialogue for JayVee:

F.A. to Flav: "What the @#$ did you put in my engine compartment anyway; I had a hard time finding my way past the bleeding Red Bull!?

Flav to F.A.: "Whoops, sorry lad, in all the hurry to qualify we put you in Fisi's car?

F.A. to Flav: "so what do you have planned for the race, genius?"

Flav to F.A.: "not to worry defending champ; we'll put you back in your own car and you should be able to get past the Webbo & the new kid before the end of lap one."

F.A. to Flav: "just one small problem my high living escort of fashion babes: I have to get past Kimi and JPM, too!"

Flav to F.A.: "Well, at least you don't have to worry about Michael!; if J.V. doesn't take him out on the way up, J.T. will!"

Oh Boy ain't this gonna be fun

Chris

BlinkyBill wrote:Malaysia was less about racing and pace, and more about reliability and survival of the fitest . . . which for me, made the whole thing less enjoyable.

I can see your point, but sometimes "attrition" races are quite nerve-racking and therefore exciting in a different way. On some level, every race is a survival race, but when there are so many failures that everyone left is holding their breath, those races can be so much fun.

I can recall watching the 1982 Monaco Grand Prix on ABC Wide World Of Sports. Alain Prost, looking like a sure victor, spun into the barrier at St Devote when a drizzle started about 5 laps from the end of the race. This put Didier Pironi in the lead about 30 seconds ahead of I think Andrea DeCesaris in the Alfa Romeo (this, sadly, was the first race after the death of Gilles Villeneuve). Pironi is sure to win the race. Then suddenly, on the 2nd to last lap, the Ferrari slows to a stop, out of gas! I'm thinking DeCesaris is going to win his first race for himself and Alfa Romeo. The next thing you know, he sputters to a halt about 15 feet behind the stalled Ferrari. Riccardo Patrese in the Brabham BT49C (probably the most beautiful F1 car of all time) flashes by to take the lead but promptly spins out and stalls at the casino hairpin. This leaves Derek Daly, who had just replaced the retired Carlos Reutemann, the only car running. He goes into the tunnel but never emerges. He has looped it into the wall in the tunnel! All this happens on like the last lap of the race!! Strangely there is no engine noises whatsoever on the television. I don't recall who was calling the race with Jackie Stewart, but they are dumbfounded. Suddenly, there is an engine running, and Patrese finally appears to take the flag!

Later on in a report in Road & Track magazine about this strange race, they said the corner workers decided to push Patrese's car off the kerb because he was blocking the hairpin and "in a dangerous place." Patrese, knowing the rules about push starts, waited until the corner workers took their hands off the car, pointed it down the hill, dropped in the clutch, and restarted the Brabham (something you cannot do in a modern F1 car). He arrived at his pit after taking the flag thinking he had finished 6th and apologizing to the team whereupon they informed him he had won!!

That race stands out in my mind as one of the best experiences I've ever had watching sports!

Sorry for the long post guys!

Chris

Don't be sorry, it brought back the memory

JayVee wrote: (Is Massa doing to Michael what Michael did to Piquet all those years ago)

Well, I'm not ready to take that bet, but it sure is an intriguing thought.

I said it before and will say it again, Alonso The Cute will dominate 2006 and I am loving it

I took that bet three years ago! Alonso fully expects to win every time he gets into a race car, just like MS, Senna, Piquet, Prost, Lauda and all the great champions before him. Just like them all, he WILL be a multi-championship winner.

Chris

Kapel wrote:Wiliams bad luck with engine,Rubinho 10 sec penalty gave JV & ralf a chance into points.But i must admit JV drove well after a longtime,my memory is fading..when was the last time?

1997.

Chris

coronado wrote:The driver of the day IMHO was Fernando, not only for his stellar start...the way he controled Mark, how he nursered the tires with a big load and finally he was by far the quickest guy out there, as you can see from the stats: Looks clear to me...

We can see from the stats that all of Fernando's quick laps were posted just before and after his first pit stop. He made two pit stops in a much shorter space of time than any of the other drivers in the race. Jenson was actually in contention for second place up until he met up with Scott Speed. This necessitated that Fernando drive his socks off, whereas Giancarlo was in a very dominant situation and had no cause to stress his car. Ergo; the stats lie again IMHO

Those are very handy readouts though, I watch the Live Timing on the Official F1 Web Site, it has all the sector times and everything it is quite brilliant Have you tried it? However I have't found a way of keeping all that data. I'm an artist and the thought of collecting all those sector times fastest laps and other interesting data fills me with glee One day I will find a way.

Hey Ed have you any suggestions?