Any Formula 1 racing fans out there?

[DB24]

i was hoping he'd be able to race.

He would definately made this season more interesting!

And Badoer gets a good chance to finally get a point

[5150 Lego]

Schumacher gave up because of neck problems.

Luca Badoer will fill in for Massa.

You beat me to it. After all this hype of his return..... He won't even be racing. I can tell you one thing. There's going to be alot of pissed off race fans come Valienca. Mnay bought tickets just to see him race.

[KimT]

Renault wins the appeal and is allowed to race this weekend

Now without Picquet... let's hope it makes a difference - which I highly doubt though

Go Alonso Go Go Go!

[DB24]

Good, it did seem very harsh to ban them for a race.

According to Renault, the two mechanics who dealt with the errant wheel were unable to inform the pit wall or the driver prior to him leaving the pits.

Fair call, and in my opinion the fine fits the crime!

Looking forward to renault's new driver!

[5150 Lego]

Renault wins the appeal and is allowed to race this weekend

Now without Picquet... let's hope it makes a difference - which I highly doubt though

Go Alonso Go Go Go!

Blah. I wonder how much the Officials In Valencia Paid off the FIA to allow Renault to race. Cause they were so sure that Alonso was going to be able to race and guaranteed he would long before Renault's hearing. I call foul play.

I also don't by that the mechanics "Didn't have enough time to tell the pit wall about the incident". There was plenty of time from when Alonso left the Pit lane to when he first called in about a possible flat tire. At that time they should have informed him his tire not being secured then.

Oh well. Politics as usual in Formula 1.

[KimT]

Meh! yourself

What about the fact that Ferrari just sneaked around the no-training-in-the-car-rule?

They filmed the test-driver in the Ferrari for a commercial which allows him to do a certain amount of time and miles in the car. Conveniently this is just before the GP and after they were disallowed to let him practice in the car up to the GP.

Everyone bends the rules when they can, and I can't see how Renault bend the rules in the appeal?

Furthermore if Renault is to be punished for letting a car out with a badly attached wheel, then what about Brawn?

How come they didn't get penalized for having a car drop a suspension spring?

It nearly killed another driver and they never found out why it came off.

In my opinion they should have been taken out of the race until they could prove why it happened and ensure that it'll never happen again.

It's not like the car had been running for 2.5 hours when it happened, it happened during qualify...

Don't they have mechanics that check, re-check and then check the cars over and over?

Renault got a 50000 USD fine and I think that's more than enough.

I am vouching for a Renault podium this weekend

[5150 Lego]

Meh! yourself

What about the fact that Ferrari just sneaked around the no-training-in-the-car-rule?

They filmed the test-driver in the Ferrari for a commercial which allows him to do a certain amount of time and miles in the car. Conveniently this is just before the GP and after they were disallowed to let him practice in the car up to the GP.

Yup, that was a shady way to bend the rules, but i seriously doubt that he gained any kind of advantage from that shoot.

Everyone bends the rules when they can, and I can't see how Renault bend the rules in the appeal?.

Its not bending the rules. Its very clear that the Valincia race has many fans that support Alonso. A race without him would have drasticly hurt sales for this race. Also keep in mind that many tickets were pre-sold because Schumacher was said to be making a return. When it was anounced he wouldn't, ticket sales slowed. Add the fact the the Spaniad would not be racing on his home track, and well;..Thats just insult to injury. Politics took effect in the decision to revolk the race ban.

Furthermore if Renault is to be punished for letting a car out with a badly attached wheel, then what about Brawn?

How come they didn't get penalized for having a car drop a suspension spring?

It nearly killed another driver and they never found out why it came off.

In my opinion they should have been taken out of the race until they could prove why it happened and ensure that it'll never happen again.

Thats two completly different senerio's. It was admitted by the Renault Wheel man that he knew the tire was loose but "Didn't have enough time to inform the pit wall."

Brawn on the other hand had no way of knowing that the spring was going to pop off. Even if it was human error, the difference was renault was aware from the moment Alsono left the pits that there was a problem and did nothing to inform him of the problem. Even after he radioed in that there was a problem with the right front wheel. That is not an accident, it is neglagence.

I am vouching for a Renault podium this weekend

Hamiltion will dominate all!

[KimT]

Yeah I fear that McLaren have totally reinvented their racers... they do look strong now.

- Better late that never

And I guess you're right about the political & economical reasons for letting Renault back in.

I can't wait to see the training sessions tomorrow.

[KimT]

Great practice sessions today.

A shame to see that McLaren have somewhat lost their pace.

Something is definately wrong with Hamilton's racer

A good thing is that Alonso came out of the 2nd session as the fastest today.

0.774 seconds faster than number 2 is quite fast

Can't wait for the 3rd practice session and qualify tomorrow.

[Partario]

What a beautiful topic.

I hope you guys won't mind if I join the discussion.

Just so you know I'm a Renault fan and I support Alonso. (Spanish powah!!!)

IMO Alonso is the best driver out there its just the car is not that good.

Anyways Valencia quali was great. Front row for McLaren (my fellow countrymen will be happy with that).

BTW Kim T are you an ALonso fan?

[The Cobra]

There are rumors that Red bull will try to have KERS on their cars; they will try to add it before Belgium GP (that's next Sunday).

[KimT]

BTW Kim T are you an ALonso fan?

Does the Pope wear a funny hat?

Yes I am a great fan of Alonso, but my allegiance lies with Renault, so I'll not switch to Ferrari with him next season.

I did hear that Kubica might be getting Alonso's seat with Renault next season...

Best of luck to all tomorrow, though I kinda hope that Alonso is more than heavy loaded with fuel.

Go Renault Go Go Go!

[5150 Lego]

What a beautiful topic.

I hope you guys won't mind if I join the discussion.

Just so you know I'm a Renault fan and I support Alonso. (Spanish powah!!!)

IMO Alonso is the best driver out there its just the car is not that good.

Anyways Valencia quali was great. Front row for McLaren (my fellow countrymen will be happy with that).

BTW Kim T are you an ALonso fan?

First things first. Welcome to EB Partario, as well as our little F1 discussion. While i'm in no way an Alonso fan, i do have respect for his talent. He's defenatly a good driver. The best on the grid? Don't think so. Hamiltion proved that in his first year he had what it takes to beat Alonso when given the same equpiment. Alonso is also very arogant. More so thn anyone else on the field.

Congrats to Lewis Hamiltion and Henki Kovelien for taking front row! I knew you guys still had the fire left in you. Glad to see the teamis finnaly getting things worked out! Good luck to Mclaren Mercades tommorow!

[Partario]

Wow what a race and what a well disserved win for Barrichello.

Martin Whitmarsh was not been all that truthful when he said that the pace of Barrichello pace was better than Hamilton’s (ok maybe that was part of it). But he should have been honest and said the McLaren pit crew screwed up.

As for Renault not a bad race for Alonso and Grosjean did alright for his debut.

BTW sorry 5150 Lego if I also sounded a bit arrogant by saying Alonso was the best. I was obviously exaggerating .

[5150 Lego]

Wow. My father always said thatin racing you need a litle bit of luckto go along with skill. Seemed luck was in Rubens favor this time around. To bad for Hamiltion. That race was his and his pit crew seems tohave cost him the race. Oh well. Thats racing. Still can't be disapointed with a second place finish.

Partario, no worries. Your a fan. Thats what we do right?

Glad there will be a race next weekend to make up for the 4 week gap.

[KimT]

A shame that they messed up his pit stop, though I still doubt he could have kept Rubens from winning.

He was insanely fast in that Brawn GP... hopefully the RBR's will strike back next week.

We need the fight for the Championship.

Alonso did ok in my opinion, as did Grosjean - now get working on that racer Renault.

[DB24]

What a horrible boring race... Made only slightly more exciting by Rubens winning.

Real pity about the messed up pit stop by McLaren's mechanics! what went wrong there?!

[5150 Lego]

A shame that they messed up his pit stop, though I still doubt he could have kept Rubens from winning.

He was insanely fast in that Brawn GP... hopefully the RBR's will strike back next week.

We need the fight for the Championship.

Alonso did ok in my opinion, as did Grosjean - now get working on that racer Renault.

Hamiltion would have goten out in front of Rubensif he had the planned 7 sec pit stop instead of 13.4. Rubens didn't have enough of a lead to getin front if Hamiltion had a 7 sec. pit stop. Even if he hadn't, he would have been right on Rubens butt. Although we'll never truely know, Considering Hamitions lap times during the last stint, it would have been a great battle.

[Lord Of Pies]

If I was the race director during the Valencian Grand prix, I would have brought the safety car out after Nakajima's head tyre exploded. That would have livened things up!

Do we think Jenson has won the WDC now? I personally don't think anyone will catch him now, especially if the RBR's drop points again. Mind you, Spa is a circuit that should suit the Red bulls, so we will have to see!

P.S, Is it me or did Kimi look extremely bored during the podium celebrations??

[5150 Lego]

If I was the race director during the Valencian Grand prix, I would have brought the safety car out after Nakajima's head tyre exploded. That would have livened things up!

Iwas a bit surprised about this as well. Especially since he left debris on the track.

Do we think Jenson has won the WDC now? I personally don't think anyone will catch him now, especially if the RBR's drop points again. Mind you, Spa is a circuit that should suit the Red bulls, so we will have to see!

Its still anyone's championship. Webber or Vetel could easily catch up in the next few races. Button seems to have lost his pace. Heck, even Barrichello has a shot. 17 point difference is not that large of a gap. Keep In mind that this time 2 yrs ago Hamilton had around a 20+ point advantage of Kimi, and Kimi beet him by one point. Nothings set in stone as of yet.

One thing that i have yet to hear about, is in the first lap when Button cut the track and gained a position and never gave it back. Webber even notified his team of this so its documented. Never was he given a penalty or told to give the position back. That is very uncool. Bad moves on the Stewart's part.

P.S, Is it me or did Kimi look extremely bored during the podium celebrations??

Kimi never seems to show any kind of emotion. wether it be when he's on the podiem, an interview, or just a shot of him talking to the team or just casuly walking. Never a smileor anything. And he sounds exactly the same wether he wins or looses.

[KimT]

One thing that i have yet to hear about, is in the first lap when Button cut the track and gained a position and never gave it back. Webber even notified his team of this so its documented. Never was he given a penalty or told to give the position back. That is very uncool. Bad moves on the Stewart's part.

He did give it back, it just wasn't shown.

The fact that Hamilton nearly caught up with Rubens in the end shows nothing.

Rubens had a nice lead and thus he went into 'cruise' mode to save the engine and racer.

Had Hamilton come any closer I am sure the Brawn racer would have been pushed much harder.

Brawn is back and RBR looks 'gone'.

I am fairly sure Button will have this years Champion Trophy.

What a horrible boring race... Made only slightly more exciting by Rubens winning.

Real pity about the messed up pit stop by McLaren's mechanics! what went wrong there?!

The weren't even remotely ready for him to pit in.

Perhaps they thought he wouldn't be in for another round?

[5150 Lego]

He did give it back, it just wasn't shown.

The fact that Hamilton nearly caught up with Rubens in the end shows nothing.

Rubens had a nice lead and thus he went into 'cruise' mode to save the engine and racer.

While i find that to be true for the last 3 laps or so, with around 12 laps tro go Hamiltions was edging up on him. Brawn even had a radio transmission to Rubens that Hamiltion had knocked off 4 tenths and thathe needed to keep pushing.

Brawn is back and RBR looks 'gone'.

I am fairly sure Button will have this years Champion Trophy.

Its not over yet. Its still anyones race. If Button keeps up his current pace then he'll lose the chapionship lead in a couple races. Vettel, Webber and Barichello still have a good chance of taking the title from him.

The weren't even remotely ready for him to pit in.

Perhaps they thought he wouldn't be in for another round?

Martin Witmarsh revealed that they switched strategies at the last minute and that pit stop was orignally meant for Henki. Its thought that not everyone in the pits were notified and thats why the front tire guys were not ready as they had the soft compond for henki when Hamiltion need the hard compond.

[KimT]

From Formula1.com

Hamilton:

Before my second pitstop, I’d been saving fuel and was a bit unsure if I had enough for that extra lap or not. The pitwall had initially asked me to pit - but, just when I was coming in, they told me to stay out and do an extra lap - however, I was already inside the white line and committed, so it was too late. In those circumstances, it’s always better to be safe and to pit, because the last thing you want to do is run dry out on the circuit. But the call was a marginal one - the team was pushing the envelope, as I say - and it came just a little too late for me and the mechanics, who weren’t perfectly prepared. Make no mistake, I think those guys are the best in the business; what happened was simply a result of the team trying everything in their power to turn a safe second place into a possible win.

Whitmarsh:

So, coming in to the final pitstops, in our efforts to convert a safe second for Lewis into a possible first for him, we took a calculated risk in attempting to reverse the sequence of Lewis’s and Heikki’s pit stops at the last second. That last-second decision caused a bit of pitlane confusion, which probably cost Lewis a couple of seconds overall – but Rubens’s race pace was such that that couple of seconds didn’t make a difference to the outcome of the race

A perfectly understandable reason for why it went wrong.

Good to have the Silver Arrows back on top though.

[5150 Lego]

Race weekend is upon us, and McLaren is top in friday practice! Though that is just practice, but McLaren is running faster thatn they ecpected, which is great!

[5150 Lego]

Me, 5150 Lego maaaaaaaaddd! Favortie team no break top 10! Only 12th and 14th. But me, 5150 Lego, happy for Fisechella! Punny human made pole position for first time since 06'! Nooooo front runners in top 5!Race be enteresting tomorrow!