Any Formula 1 racing fans out there?

[KimT]

P.S.: Noticed how we all suddenly got F1 icons?

What do you mean?

[5150 Lego]

What do you mean?

What??? Is that a renault???

[L-space]

It looks like it so I will be just lurking and saying nothing untill it's changed to a Brawn.

Last race was quit entertaining again. Brawn is a great addition to the sports. My fear is that the rest will catch up waisting enough money to feed the world twice on this.

Therefore I'm looking forward to the new budget rules.

But for now let's see when the rest of the pack is putting on new diffusers.

[MetroiD]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12433_5254835,00.html

YEEEHAWWW!!!

People might say it's lenient, I say bring on the European part of the season!!! Hopefully, McLaren will now be able to finally leave this entire mess behind them...

[5150 Lego]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12433_5254835,00.html

YEEEHAWWW!!!

People might say it's lenient, I say bring on the European part of the season!!! Hopefully, McLaren will now be able to finally leave this entire mess behind them...

Agreed. But to be honest, i think the fact that if Mclaren were suspended F1 would have lost tomany sponsors also had alot to do with the decision. Whitch i'm fine with. I think the ruling was very fair. The next few races are going to be very important. McLaren have been making progress every GP this year. Come'on McLaren, lets get a podiem next race!!

[KimT]

"That penalty is a suspension of the team from three races of the FIA Formula One World Championship.

Sheesh! Why do this?

A fine would have done just fine.

Now they've handed Brawn the win this year.

That's 30 points down the drain and in my opinion not very good for the sport.

A real shame the way I see it - Formula1 is becoming too much show and far too little about racing.

The F in FIA doesn't stand for Ferrari, does it?

[5150 Lego]

Sheesh! Why do this?

A fine would have done just fine.

Now they've handed Brawn the win this year.

That's 30 points down the drain and in my opinion not very good for the sport.

A real shame the way I see it - Formula1 is becoming too much show and far too little about racing.

The F in FIA doesn't stand for Ferrari, does it?

Were did you get that quote from? From my understanding the penalty is a "suspended"one. Meaning that at this point McLaren can keep racing, Hamiltion can continue racing and collect drivers points and McLaren can still pick up constructors points. If at anytime within the next year they are brought before the WMSC, it is then that they will recieve a 3 race penalty. So there ok. They just really need to dot their I'S and cross their T's so to speak.

[MetroiD]

Yup, the 3-race penalty is a suspended one mate. In other words, as long as McLaren behave like good boys, nothing bad is bound to happen.

That's why all the Ferrari-biased guys out there have started whining like you wouldn't believe... "oh, it's so unfair, how could they have become so soft, but it was so wrong what McLaren did, they should have been banned for life, blah blah blah"

In any case, this obviously gives McLaren a great chance to fight for their honour, if not the championship, and really rub it in on Ferrari and their horrible start to the season.

[KimT]

Thanks guys.

I've missed that it was a suspended punishment.

Pheewww!

Then it isn't all that bad after all.

[DB24]

Everyone excited for the big race tonight?

Button on pole, Massa is up there..

Big fail for kimi and heikki though, poor effort indeed.

[KimT]

What a race.

Dangerous start where both STR's were destroyed

Thanks to Ferrari for having the guts to refrain from tanking Massa enough to finish the race - that gave Alonso another sopt up the finishing grid

Sadly this season is getting a little boring in my opinion. I fear we'll be seeing Brawn on pole each time with a RBR racer taking the remaining spot. Not my idea of a 'swell' season

I hope the other teams will find a way to close that 40 seconds gap we saw today from number 4 to the next racer

Congrats to RedBullRacing and BrawnGP for having such great cars and drivers.

Now would be a good time for Renault to get rid of Nelsinho... He got nothing from today's race, even though 6 cars DNF'ed.

Could this also be the end for Dominicari (?) as team and tactical leader of the Ferrari team?

[L-space]

I just saw the summory as I was late back home.

The crash in lap 1, both Fins going out of the race and the almost 'got used to' win of Brawn GP.

Ferrari, I think, will be catching up during the european season. You can bet they are working round the clock to sort the issues. if not for the last races this season then for the next season.

But I hope McLaren will catch up. Let's see if Hamilton can drive!

[DB24]

As an Aussie, and a huge Webber fan i was pretty pleased with the race Nice work indeed.

And 4 out of 5 now for Button... who would have thought

I never got to see replays to show if Trulli was at fault at all for slowing turning back on to the track and causing the huge pile up. Maybe his stearing was damaged?

[L-space]

I just saw the rerun and I think Trulli just lost it. Couldn't see any bad driving or him being hit by another car.

Simple bad luck on this one. imho.

Great move btw changing the strategy for Button from 3 to 2 stops

For the rest I do hope the rest can catch up on the wriggling circuit of Monaco. Almost everybody will gain something from the less downforce needed.

[5150 Lego]

Blahh! That was Rubens race to win. It was more than clear that Button is the favorite. Brawn screwed him with the 3 stop strategy. I have a feeling that Brawn is going to create a Hamilton/Alonso type team if he keeps pushing Button as the favorite. Rubens will not play second to Button for long. Not when its clear that he himself can fightforthe championship.

Over all an alright race. But like KimT said, its getting old seeing Brawn always up top. Good to see Hamilton make up spots on the Grid. Good Job! It was even nice to see Massa with big Red up top getting some points. Reallysucks about his fuel mistake though. Sad to see that he had to relinquish not one, but two spots just so he could ensure to make it to the end of the race. Very poor planning.

Lets hope that Monaco gives us some more excitement.

[KimT]

Agreed.

Brawn screwed Rubens big time and it was even a little too obvious at the following press conference that Rubens wasn't all that happy about it.

To me it looked more as if the idea of a 2 stop was the initial plan, but they changed it to 3 to keep Rubens back.

A real shame since for once he had actually earned to be number one today.

He overtook Button at the beginning and drove one helluva race.

Dirty tricks, using a legal team order to 'fix it'.

Shame on you Brawn.

Hamilton drove well in a car that didn't work at all on this track.

I loved his radio comment on the "rear tires being gone" and still he pushed on.

That's dedication and skill.

Renault had hoped for spot 10 in the end and got 5 (thanks Massa).

Hopefully they'll improve the car vastly for Monaco

If Ferrari finds a way to keep the cars running, then my guess is that Brawn and RBR will be in trouble fending off the Black Italian Stallion - which on the other hand needs to taste the glory again soon or Mr D will be in this game for a very short period.

[MetroiD]

A real shame since for once he had actually earned to be number one today.

For once. But that's about it. It's not hard to understand why Brawn GP did indeed do the right thing by handing the win to Button. There's no guarantee that things will indeed remain as they've been so far this season and I for one am sure that at one point not only Toyota and Red Bull, but other teams (i.e. the favourites) will start pushing for podium positions as well. When that moment arrives, it would be best to have opened a gap as wide as possible, both in the Constructors' and the Drivers' Championship. So it's only logical that they decided to give Jenson the win, even though it wasn't exactly fair to Rubens. In any case, I highly doubt if he's capable of mounting a serious title challenge... he's just not the type of driver.

Enough said about Brawn GP - I couldn't help but notice that quite a few of you have enjoyed Alonso's success at the expense of Massa's 5. spot... But I must admit, I really did feel sorry about the way Ferrari screwed up Massa's race yet once again. Given, he's definitely not one of my favourite drivers, but this is turning into a habit for the Scuderia. I mean, if they're so great, why can't they manage to pull one single race without killing their drivers' chances of success? The car is bad, that's pretty much obvious, but both Kimmi and Massa have shown that they have the will to keep pushing, no matter how bad their cars are. And yet, they've been additionally hampered by their team's ridiculous inability to make one right decision. I find it absolutely appaling and yes, I believe that Domenicali has to go if Ferrari are to go forward.

[KimT]

I am happy that Alonso finished where he did, yes that's correct.

I am sorry that Massa suffered from bad tactical planning, yes.

My dreamteam would be Massa in a Renault side by side with Alonso.

I'd actually tipped Massa as this year's World Champion before Ferrari decided to "do alchol" instead of building a Formula1 racer

[The Cobra]

Some italian newspapers say there' s going to be a "revolution" in Ferrari. Fact is, it's hard to find something good in 5 races.

- Two bad decisions on Saturdays meaning Felipe or Kimi starting from way back.

- Second time this year that one of the car is out for electronic problems.

- KERS? Sometimes you hear on team radio "KERS is not working (well)". Then you hear Domenicali saying "there's nothing wrong with KERS".

- Early pit stop meant early use of hard tyres. That meant losing 1 or 2 seconds per lap.

- Fuel problem: an Italian motto kind of says "Let's laugh, so that we can't cry"

I still think that in 2008 Kimi and Felipe made a lot of mistakes, throwing away their chances at the World Championship. Now it seems like anyone in the team is doing their worst.

As for Trulli, I think he might have been hit by Rosberg. Either that or Jarno made a huge mistake.

[KimT]

I saw the race and it did look as if someone clipped Jarno and he went off track.

The problem was that he came back on the track crossing the line of several other drivers.

I think he should have slowed down and let the rest pass before reentering the track.

The way he came back was dangerous and without any signs of concern for the other drivers.

But then again, I can see that it might be difficult to consider such matters going at full speed into a corner and then go off-track.

Anyways I am glad noone got injured and mechanical damage is a small price for crashes in F1.

A shame that both STRs went out on that one since they did show some interesting improvements in the training and qualify sessions.

[fugglewyg]

Sorry guys but i disagree with you about Brawn "giving" Jenson the win. They were both on 3 stops at the start of the race according to Ross and they switched Jenson at the first stop due the safety car changing traffic predictions for him. This would give him a chance when things paned out to come second still as Rubens was supposed to charge off into the distance given that 3 stops was predicted to be the quicker strategy. However Rubens just wasn't fast enough when he had to be and Jenson was. Ruby lost it for himself ! Rubens himself has said no team orders were involved and he would quit if it turned out like it was at Ferrari for him and he admitted he lost the race by not being quick enough in the 2nd and 3rd stints. Jenson won fair and square - and no i'm not a Jenson fanboy, in fact i wrote his career off years ago - he's suprising me at the moment.

[L-space]

Rubens expression at the presscondference looked like he didn't understand what happened during the race with the changing of the tactics. And i might give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.

If it did come from teamorders to push Button up in points brawn might as well say so. After all if it is your first season as a team (allthough he is backed by a lot of money) you would do almost everything to get the championship.

I mean just look at what Hamilton did for a couple of extra points.

As for Ferrari, as a non-Ferrari fan I even feel sorry for them.

[DB24]

I agree with what was said about Trulli coasting back onto the track, dunno what he was thinking...

How good was the Webber/Alonso fight down the main straight! I thought he'd gone to deep for a bit, but he managed to keep it on the road.

[L-space]

In one of the Dutch newspapers this morning an article about the 45 million euro rule. Toyota have said they would leave the formula 1 if happens next year. RBR saying they will leave if it doesn't come. So this might be interesting.

And about the statement by Max Wosley that F1 doesn't need Ferrari, much to Bernie's dismay who stated that Formula 1 is Ferrari.

It ends with the upcoming talks between the teams and the F1 honcho's.

to be continued....

[fugglewyg]

How good was the Webber/Alonso fight down the main straight! I thought he'd gone to deep for a bit, but he managed to keep it on the road.

Possibly the best bit of the entire race. The speed that Webber shot past Alonso up the inside was amazing, i was sure he was going to go straight into the gravel trap when he found he couldn't make the corner having gone so deep into it. Fantastic bit of driving to make that move stick