Paul
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Post by Paul on Mar 18, 2007 13:34:18 GMT 1
Toyota have been fined 2000 Euros for allowing Jarno Trulli to exit the pit lane with a rear jack attached to his car (it fell off at the end of the pit lane). Spyker have protested about Super Aguri's and Red Bull's cars, claiming that they breach the rules by being essentially the same as other teams' cars. The Toyta thing was hilarious! Spyker only protested officially about Super Aguri's car, but it was rejected because the protest was too late! To be fair Super Aguri only unveiled their car a day before the deadline Spyker and Williams have been rumoured to be taking more serious action about both Red Bull cars and the Super Aguri between now and Malaysia. It is a joke that SA can run with last years Honda, but fickle that no one complained when they ran a 2002 Arrows, or that Toro Rosso ran with a 2005 Jaguar design. I don't mind the Red Bull situation this year as much, because at least they designed one car between them
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Paul
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Post by Paul on Mar 18, 2007 13:43:58 GMT 1
Result: 1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1h25m28.770s 2. ALONSO McLaren +7.2s 3. HAMILTON McLaren +18.5s 4. HEIDFELD BMW +38.7s 5. FISICHELLA Renault +66.4s 6. MASSA Ferrari +66.8s 7. ROSBERG Williams +1 lap 8. SCHUMACHER Toyota +1 lap 9. TRULLI Toyota +1 lap 10. KOVALAINEN Renault +1 lap 11. BARRICHELLO Honda +1 lap 12. SATO Super Aguri +1 lap 13. WEBBER Red Bull +1 lap 14. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +1 lap 15. BUTTON Honda +1 lap 16. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +2 lap 17. SUTIL Spyker +2 lap R. WURZ Williams +10 laps R. COULTHARD Red Bull +10 laps R. KUBICA BMW +22 laps R. SPEED Toro Rosso +30 laps R. ALBERS Spyker +48 laps
In a way, a slightly disappointing race. The top 4 teams were further apart than it seemed originally - Ferrari are clearly quicker than McLaren, who are clearly quicker than BMW, who are clearly quicker than Renault. Raikkonen was ominously quick. Hopefully in Malaysia we will see a true showdown between Kimi and Massa, and the pack to be a bit closer. Hamilton was exceptional today. He actually looked quicker than Alonso all weekend. Shame on Sato for being up to his old tricks by blocking Lewis before his final stop.
In contrast, Kovalainen was very disappointing all weekend, and it is interesting that Flavio has publicly criticised his performance. I also thought Button, Albers and Wurz were seriously disappointing compared to their team-mates performances this weekend.
Nico Rosberg had a tremendous race and thoroughly deserved his points. Williams need to work on their qualifying though, as they should have clearly been top 10 yesterday. Again the Toyotas were quicker than expected in race trim (although very slow at the end of the race). DC was the other one I was disappointed with - he was NEVER going to pass Wurz like that.
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Post by Maximo Mark on Mar 19, 2007 19:26:57 GMT 1
It was a good race, worth getting up for. A shame Kubica retired, would've liked to see how a battle between him and Heidfeld had turned out...
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Post by -Big Dan- on Mar 19, 2007 20:07:23 GMT 1
I never did see what happened to Kubica.
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Paul
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Post by Paul on Mar 19, 2007 20:18:52 GMT 1
Kubica had a gearbox problem.
I suspect Kubica might have beaten Heidfeld actually - the decision to take soft tyres in the first stint didn't work at all well for Nick
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Post by Zodiac on Mar 19, 2007 20:45:11 GMT 1
I thought it was a somewhat dull race too. Hamilton's performance sort of made up for that - exceptional result on his debut. I hope McLaren are able to remain strong throughout the season. Kimi looked frighteningly comfortable though.
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Post by paulgilb on Mar 21, 2007 13:09:14 GMT 1
Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for becoming the first driver since Jacques Villeneuve in 1996 to score a podium finish on his debut.
Also congratulations to Adrian Sutil for managing to receive two drive-through penalties on his debut...
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Post by -Big Dan- on Mar 21, 2007 13:11:19 GMT 1
Taking nothing away from Lewis Hamilton, would he really have got a podium finish if he was in a lesser car?
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Post by Panda on Mar 21, 2007 14:49:58 GMT 1
I thought it was a somewhat dull race too. Hamilton's performance sort of made up for that - exceptional result on his debut. I hope McLaren are able to remain strong throughout the season. Kimi looked frighteningly comfortable though. Thinking about previous Australian GPs, the races at Albert Park usually do turn out to be pretty dull, unless there's a few crashes and safety car periods...
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musicfan2000
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Post by musicfan2000 on Mar 21, 2007 19:05:05 GMT 1
didn't get to see the race,but heard how good hamilton was,
when was the last brit on a podium?
was it button last year??
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Paul
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Post by Paul on Mar 22, 2007 7:41:36 GMT 1
PaulG - Sutil may have had 2 drive-thru penalties, but the pace was absolutely there. He was ahead of Albers in practice, qalifying and the race
Dan - Would Lewis have made the podium in a lesser car? No. But that's not the point. It's how close he was to a double world champion on pace in the same car that is exciting
Musicfan - Last Brit on the podium was Button, in the race before last - Brazil 2006
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musicfan2000
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Post by musicfan2000 on Mar 22, 2007 9:07:14 GMT 1
PaulG - Sutil may have had 2 drive-thru penalties, but the pace was absolutely there. He was ahead of Albers in practice, qalifying and the race Dan - Would Lewis have made the podium in a lesser car? No. But that's not the point. It's how close he was to a double world champion on pace in the same car that is exciting Musicfan - Last Brit on the podium was Button, in the race before last - Brazil 2006 i thought that but never remember when it was
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Post by -Big Dan- on Mar 22, 2007 12:30:54 GMT 1
Dan - Would Lewis have made the podium in a lesser car? No. But that's not the point. It's how close he was to a double world champion on pace in the same car that is exciting Ok, you're right.
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Kristofferson67
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Post by Kristofferson67 on Mar 23, 2007 15:51:26 GMT 1
I really enjoyed it to be honest.
First time ever I've sat and watched all the qualifying and race in it's entierity. (sp)
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Paul
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Post by Paul on Mar 24, 2007 10:28:29 GMT 1
Glad to hear Kris, although the race wasn't the most exciting. In fact, qualifying was more exciting than the race, mainly because the qualifying format is now close to being perfect
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Post by Maximo Mark on Mar 24, 2007 16:05:09 GMT 1
Yeah, qualifying is ace now. It's the first time in years it hasn't changed and rightly so because it's been boring for a long time now...
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Post by -Big Dan- on Mar 28, 2007 15:16:07 GMT 1
Qualifying is absolutely cracking now. I don't even mind watching the first part of the final session, to see who blinks first, as it were.
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Paul
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Post by Paul on Mar 28, 2007 16:53:23 GMT 1
Some news:
Bridgestone have been experimenting with how to distinguish more clearly between the two tyre types, after the tiny white dot was considered inadequate. It seems that the softer tyre will have one groove painted white, and it looks like a much more effective solution
Also, it seems that Valencia will have a place in the 2009 calendar, being called either the European or Mediterreanean GP
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Post by -Big Dan- on Mar 28, 2007 22:08:22 GMT 1
Valencia is a good circuit, similar to Catalunya in many ways. I hope it gets given the go ahead.
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Paul
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Post by Paul on Mar 30, 2007 12:38:49 GMT 1
Valencia is a good circuit, although from what I hear it may be a street circuit. I am a bit against circuits like Barcelona and Valencia where they test on so often, and considering there are a lot of countries getting GPs, it's becoming difficult to justify a country getting two races. For Spain, the Alonso effect is huge, and that's why they would be getting a 2nd race
In similar news, it looks like there will be no French GP next year. Apparently Bernie wants either Paul Ricard or a new circuit near Paris to host from 2009
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