Any Formula 1 racing fans out there?

[KimT]

The race could have used some rain though

Alonso and Hamilton did some serious racing today - I'll let others comment on Button as I generally think he's a mediocre driver.

Kubica delivered again and secured more points for Renault

Flawless race from both RBR's.

I can't wait for China.

Drivers' Standings:

1 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 39

2 Fernando Alonso Spanish Ferrari 37

3 Sebastian Vettel German RBR-Renault 37

4 Jenson Button British McLaren-Mercedes 35

5 Nico Rosberg German Mercedes GP 35

6 Lewis Hamilton British McLaren-Mercedes 31

7 Robert Kubica Polish Renault 30

8 Mark Webber Australian RBR-Renault 24

9 Adrian Sutil German Force India-Mercedes 10

[ZO6]

Yes, pretty clean race with relatively little drama (I always feel really bad for anyone caught in a collision). I'm pretty satisfied with the results, though too bad what happened to Alonso at the end of the race.

Many of the driver points are quite close now, it should be interesting to see how things progress throughout the season. Very much looking forward to Shanghai as well.

[5150 Lego]

The race could have used some rain though

Alonso and Hamilton did some serious racing today - I'll let others comment on Button as I generally think he's a mediocre driver.

Kubica delivered again and secured more points for Renault

Flawless race from both RBR's.

I can't wait for China.

Drivers' Standings:

1 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 39

2 Fernando Alonso Spanish Ferrari 37

3 Sebastian Vettel German RBR-Renault 37

4 Jenson Button British McLaren-Mercedes 35

5 Nico Rosberg German Mercedes GP 35

6 Lewis Hamilton British McLaren-Mercedes 31

7 Robert Kubica Polish Renault 30

8 Mark Webber Australian RBR-Renault 24

9 Adrian Sutil German Force India-Mercedes 10

Agreed! Hamiltion and Alsonso drove there A$$e$ off today. Making up nearly 15 grid spots. Now thats some driving! Sucks that Alsono's car gave out on him with 2 laps to go. He drove his a$$ off as well. Button did well, but your right, there's nothing all that special about him.

Cool t see the points so close with the top 7. its defenatly anyones championship!

[MetroiD]

I can't believe that Schumi is having such a bad season and is actually getting humiliated by Nico Rosberg! I mean, I know he's not in the best form of his life, but he's Schumacher nevertheless, and he is reunited with Ross Brawn... I guess that goes to show that unbelievable comebacks, although seen on quite a few occasions before, do not take place 5 years after you've quit the sport.

[KimT]

I can't believe that Schumi is having such a bad season and is actually getting humiliated by Nico Rosberg! I mean, I know he's not in the best form of his life, but he's Schumacher nevertheless, and he is reunited with Ross Brawn... I guess that goes to show that unbelievable comebacks, although seen on quite a few occasions before, do not take place 5 years after you've quit the sport.

Well he did say that he needed 3 GP's to get back in the saddle.

So in China (where he's never raced) he has to show what he's made of.

Alonso says he drove the race of his life and when considering that he drove 99% of the race with no clutch and still scared the living hell out of Button, I kinda agree

A shame that he isn't with Renault as it seems that his old team has finally gotten their act together and produced a decent racer this season.

What to do about that Vitaly Petrov fella

3 DNF's just isn't good enough - not even close.

[5150 Lego]

What to do about that Vitaly Petrov fella

3 DNF's just isn't good enough - not even close.

Very true. I'm wondering why they didn't re-sign Rojian or whatever his name was that replaced Piquet Jr. At least he had seat time and finished races.

[KimT]

Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has come to an agreement with former Renault team bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds to end their legal dispute relating to Nelson Piquet’s deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) banned Briatore and Symonds from FIA-sanctioned motorsport after deciding they had conspired with Piquet over the incident, which helped Piquet’s then team mate Fernando Alonso, who had no involvement, to win the race.

However, those bans were overturned earlier this year after a French court decided the WMSC did not have the authority to impose them for procedural reasons and because neither Briatore nor Symonds were FIA licence holders, and therefore not subject to FIA rules.

The FIA subsequently began an appeal against that decision by the Tribunal De Grande Instance, but on Monday announced it has dropped proceedings after accepting a settlement offer from Briatore and Symonds.

As part of that offer, the FIA says both men recognise their share of responsibility for the incident and have expressed their regrets and presented their apologies to the FIA. They have also agreed to forgo any operational role in Formula One racing until the end of 2012.

“The FIA President has considered that it is in the best interests of the FIA not to allow the perpetuation of these legal disputes, which have received a great deal of media coverage and which, regardless of the outcome, are very prejudicial to the image of the FIA and of motor sport, and thus to accept this settlement solution, thereby putting an end to this affair,” read an FIA statement.

Commenting on the settlement, Briatore said that for his part it was reached "without any admission of a personal guilt in these events and without any recognition of the fact that the decision of the World Council rendered against him would have been well-founded".

In light of the affair, and what the FIA described as “a poor [external] understanding of how the disciplinary procedure before the WMSC works”, the FIA is now planning structural reform to prevent other misunderstandings in the future.

I guess that means Flavio and Symonds will return in 2013 after all.

I wonder if Renault will let them back in?

I doubt it though, if the current team can continue to get better, then there's no need for them anymore.

Perhaps the FIA is hoping that they'll be forgotten in 2013 or least so far behind on the sport that noone wants to hire them.

Not long 'till the first practice in China.

Go Renault Go Go Go!

[KimT]

What a qualify session:

Pos No Driver Team

1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault

2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault

3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari

4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP

5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes

6 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes

7 Felipe Massa Ferrari

8 Robert Kubica Renault

9 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP

10 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes

And everyone thought Mclaren were the fastest this GP

Kubica is still doing good for Renault

Race ON!

[ZO6]

Not too surprising to see Red Bull step up during qualifying. I'm glad to see Alonso and Kubica start 3rd and 8th respectively.

Guess we'll see what the weather does during the race, but it should be great anyways.

[KimT]

Not too surprising to see Red Bull step up during qualifying. I'm glad to see Alonso and Kubica start 3rd and 8th respectively.

Guess we'll see what the weather does during the race, but it should be great anyways.

Agreed.

Alonso is the best driver in the World in my opinion.

I would have loved to see him in the yellow/black Renault this season with Kubica as partner.

Weather prediction is wet, so I think we'll have a helluva race tomorrow.

Go Renault Go Go Go!

[ZO6]

Ugh, up at 3am to watch the race (the only replay was at 5am for some reason, so I figured I'd watch it live), but it was one heck of a battle - against both nature and machine!

Wow, what a lot of pit stops! Considering the starting gird, I did not expect things to finish the way they did. Despite a bit of questionable driving here and there, I'm happy with a 2nd place finish for Hamilton and a 4th place finish for Alonso. Good to see Renault have quite a solid race as well.

Overall a great race

[KimT]

Personally I think Hamilton is pushing the limit as to how you're supposed to behave when racing.

He's doing a good job though

Alonso was a little too cheeky when he overtook Massa coming into the pitlane - boooo!

Not the thing to do to your own teammate

Vitaly finally came through and drove a fantastic race for a rookie.

Overtaking Mr Rain Schumi and forcing Webber to make a mistake surely can't be that bad?

The safety car definately blew Robert's chances for a podium finish, he did all right once more and if Ferrari have some sense, then they'll try hard to snatch him from Renault. I hope not though.

He and Renault are doing a great job together.

A super duper race - now let's hope the F1 Circus arrives in Europe safely - damn volcano

[The Cobra]

I don't remember ever seeing that much competition while getting in or out a pit stop (I remember Badoer showing how slow he could be).

As for Hamilton, he surely should have been penalized 2 weeks ago, while yesterday (they say) he just gained his place back after having being overtaken by Webber while the Safety car was in.

And I wonder what will happen between Alonso and Massa.

[KimT]

I was actually thinking of the pit exit he did.

Why did he (Hamilton) have to touch and push Vettel?

Not very sportsmanlike, plus I don't think overtaking or trying to overtake in the pitlane is allowed anyways.

[ZO6]

Lots of grid penalties handed out

Mostly a straight forward qualifying anyways. Nice to see Kobayashi make 10th spot, I'd like to see him get to finish a race.

1. Webber

2. Vettel

3. Hamilton

4. Alsonso

5. Button

6. Schumacher

7. Kubica

8. Rosberg

9. Massa

10. Kobayashi

Should be a good race, can't wait!

[ZO6]

Boooo! @ Hamilton's tire going right at the end of the race

Not one of my favorite courses, but at least it was a pretty clean race (clear weather too!). The top driver standing points are really close again.

[Skalldyr]

Yea, Michael's 4th!!! Woho and Vettle 3rd. Really nice, even if it was only by the failure of Hamilton.

[BorgShadow]

Yay!! Webber won, you Aussie battler Woohoo!

[KimT]

Kubica 3rd and 6th in the two practice sessions.

It's looking good for Renault and now they've even got a new business partner to add on top of Genii.

Hopefully this means Renault will stay in F1 for a long time.

Alonso prove that he is without any doubt the number one driver in the world - that's just my humble opinion

Mercedes GP also looks like they've refound their pace - a little disappointed in McLaren, but they could be bluffing along with Red Bull

Man I can't wait until the qualify session on Saturday - hopefully the fear of traffic in Q1 will be just that.

A fear with no reason...

[KimT]

Awesome qualify.

A shame that Alonso couldn't join it since his car was damaged during final practice earlier today.

3 Renault engines on top

Kubica showed his worth by placing himself as 2nd fastest during the qualify.

I'm sure we'll have an awesome race in Monaco tomorrow

It's going to be great watching the world's greatest driver fight his way through the field.

[ZO6]

So it seems Alonso had his accident during the third practice? A shame indeed as he was on fire in Monaco during the other sessions. I'm sure he'll have one heck of a race tomorrow anyways.

Kubica! He dominated Q3 until the very end, good for him. Second on the grid is still going to be a great start for him.

There were a lot of close shaves during qualification - with cars nearly out of control. With all the pressure during the race tomorrow, it's going to be nuts on the track.

Here's looking forward to one heck of a race

[KimT]

What a race!

4 Safety cars and loads of action.

A shame to see Button's engine blow up - I guess pitting for new tires was a mistake when he returned to a slow field behind a safety car.

Not much chance to cool the engine then...

Vettel took 2nd in front of Kubica, which is perfectly ok by me.

The RBR's are better than Renault and getting in 3rd is a win for Renault to me

A shame that there's no gentleman left in Schumi- overtaking a hard working Alonso in the last corner just after the Safety Car pitted in on the last lap was just disgusting and to me it's a perfect picture of why he shouldn't have come back.

Shame on you Schumi! Shame! Shame! Shame!

[ZO6]

1 car down, 23 remaining

...

12 cars down, 12 remaining

That race sure had it's toll on the cars. I was expecting chaos and Monaco delivered. There were some nasty crashes in there, but it sure made things exciting.

I was extremely pleased to see Alonso make that pit after the first lap and then make his way through the field knowing he wouldn't have to pit again while everyone else would. He really earned his spot in the top ten, and I was annoyed to see Schumacher pass him at the very end to steal 6th.

Still, lots of great driving by many, so good job to them all.

[KimT]

Looks like Schumi missed out on a very important rule

From autosport.com

Schumacher handed 20-second penalty

By Pablo Elizalde Sunday, May 16th 2010, 16:37 GMT

Michael Schumacher has been handed a 20-second penalty for having overtaken Fernando Alonso on the final corner of the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Mercedes GP driver passed Alonso just as the safety car had left the circuit on the final lap, and stewards deemed the race was still finishing under the safety car.

Under rule 40.13, which states that "if the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pitlane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking," Schumacher has been given a penalty.

The German, who had passed Alonso for sixth, drops down to 12th, meaning Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi's scores the final point for 10th.

Dumb dumb dumb!!!

[ZO6]

Thanks for the find.

Ouch for Schumacher! Though it seemed nasty that he overtook Alonso there, the commentators made it sound like it was a legit move. Jeez, getting bumped down to 12th place for that little stunt. What was Schumacher thinking?