2008 F1 Season

[ctjet]

Hmm, I vaguely remember Barry Sheene giving someone a two fingered salute when he was on his motorbike.

I loved that guy

Ill be on his memorial cruise to PI this year

Edited April 8, 2008 by ctjet

[djr81]

give him time... I mean, its not everyday you see F1 drivers flipping others the bird on a track

Back in the day, before the bird was invented the universal signal for "up yours" was infact something that looked pretty similar to a thumbs up signal. Last time I was it used was by Jim Richards at Bathurst.

[Beer Baron]

yeah, the ol' 'up ya bum mate' sign. we need more controversey in F1, not less!

[dezz]

and who's to say schuey didn't just stuff up and stall his car there? I think he was judged on past actions.

He's a victim of his own success...'Too good to make a mistake'

bet you don't remember anything else about that monaco race.

even IF it was deliberate, professional fouls occur in every other sport. I don't really see the difference, except with how much media hype surrounded that incident. professional sportsmen take every competitive advantage they can, and always try to stretch the envelope of the rules or what is considered acceptable. that was certainly the culture at Ferrari - you don't dominate the best part of a decade in F1 without stepping on a few toes. perhaps if <<insert your favourite driver here>> had been up the pointy end for half as long as Michael, they'd have had a momentary brain fade here or there along the way also.

strange perspective though - deliberately causing a crash at racing speed is not as bad??? maybe Schumacher should have slowed and waited for the potentially faster qualifying car and just ploughed into him deliberately and to hell with the consequences - then you wouldn't mind it so much eh? personally, I reckon you'd be screaming "attempted murder" along with the world's press. the power of a surname. or the way the media casts you...

Not to mention that the oh so innocent McLaren drivers were no more than 3 weeks ago handed 5 position penalties for holding up cars in qualifying...So they didn't stop on the track...So they escape the flaming because they were slightly more creative?

The other escapes me

Might not be the 1 you're trying to remember, but Hamilton signalling to Fisi in what is pretty much 'what the f**k' in most wog hand speech, when racing for position, made me sick.

[sh@un]

and who's to say schuey didn't just stuff up and stall his car there?

well have a look at the footage again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcRUM2w2CVY

when you look at the 'speed' involved, and how he's steering the car; there really couldn't be any doubt that he meant to do it

[lingeringsoul]

well have a look at the footage again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcRUM2w2CVY

when you look at the 'speed' involved, and how he's steering the car; there really couldn't be any doubt that he meant to do it

I never understood that incident, why did he slow down and steered like? It's not like you can escape the consequences because everything is recorded. It was the strangest incident I've ever seen.

[ctjet]

brain fade

[sh@un]

he knew the FIA had his (Ferraris) back

[lingeringsoul]

well he still got penalised didn't he?

[dezz]

Just for those that blamed Alonso...

Front wing failure likely cause of Hamilton-Alonso crash

McLaren have confirmed that Lewis Hamilton’s front wing broke immediately prior to his running into the rear of Fernando Alonso’s Renault on lap two of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

The unusual nature of the accident - both drivers were accelerating on a straight section of track - prompted cynics to question whether Alonso had ‘brake tested’ his former team mate. Renault’s telemetry suggested otherwise, and McLaren say they have no suspicion of any wrongdoing on the part of the Spaniard.

“When I went into the engineers’ room and started looking at the details that I realised Lewis’s upper front wing had disappeared about two seconds before the accident, so he suddenly lost downforce,” explained McLaren’s Formula One CEO, Martin Whitmarsh.

“We haven’t analysed why that happened but we suspect the structure had been weakened by previous contact. To be fair to Lewis it could have broken of its own accord, but that has never happened before so contact is the most likely cause. There’s certainly no evidence that Fernando did anything wrong.”

Such a failure would have robbed Hamilton’s car of not only downforce, but also drag, giving it an unexpected burst of acceleration, explaining the unlikely impact.

www.formula1.com

[Roy]

He was on fire when i met him and loving it. he was different then. Then as soon as Lewis arrived he started showing the world how immature he is and how good he is at chucking his toys out of the pram and getting absolutely slammed by a rookie.

Ive lost a lot of respect for the young guy and i dont rate him as highly as i did a couple of years back.

Well talking to a McLaren mechanic in Melbourne, Alonso was liked by his mechanics, and Alonso was only guilty of letting some things be heard outside the team. Lewis is loved by the team, but was not innocent. At the end of the day Alonso is gone and i have it on good authority that Lewis was no more innocent then Alonso, only Alonso lost out in the eyes of the media.....I didnt get any insight on why that was the case but one could hazard a guess and say that so much F1 media is British, and secondly that he was the golden rookie...but was clever enough to cry foul publically but behind close doors conduct business in a different manner.

Re todays press release, McLaren are doing a good job of protecting their drivers. Perhaps Flavio needs to take a leaf out of their book. Every time there is a problem its a team letting the driver down.

[wolverine]

anyone have footage of the wing breaking 2 seconds prior?

sounds like spin to calm things down.

[benm]

It's bullshit.

I've watched the accident numerous times and Hamilton got a run on Alonso out of turn 1, Alonso took the inside line into turn 2 to cover where as Hamilton kept out wide keeping a higher speed and then simply had too much speed on the exit of 3 (before they were even driving in a straight line).

If Hamilton's wing was damaged/broken he would have run wide on that corner due to lack of downforce and hit Alonso's left rear not tried to go up the inside of him (right side).

Edited April 8, 2008 by benm

[Roy]

anyone have footage of the wing breaking 2 seconds prior?

sounds like spin to calm things down.

Re Lewis farking up by trying to start the race in the wrong mode...

He has admitted that he forgot to push the correct button…?

"Yes, but as a team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes doesn’t habitually blame its drivers in public. Is the procedure clear? Is it simple enough? We have to look at all the details."

LOL, the story of the front spoiler? I suppose they could see the stroke of the front shock change indicating loss of downforce on the front...but i suspect its another example of the team protecting the driver. Just like it was the teams fault not to call Lewis in when at China he had fark all grip, they could see the tyre was farked....no doubt Lewis said the car was still drivable, wait to see what the weather was doing...and oops! Fark Up! But the team wore that mistake !

[m3gtr]

well have a look at the footage again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcRUM2w2CVY

when you look at the 'speed' involved, and how he's steering the car; there really couldn't be any doubt that he meant to do it

Wow, thats the first time ive seen it from that angle and i have no doubt he sawed at the wheel twice even though he was clear of the corner.

Im of the definite opinion it was deliberate. He induced a touch of over steer, made slight correction which you can see from the slight puff of smoke from the tyres but over compensated which put him clear of the corner so then he had to change his line through the corner and straightened up there by appearing to have run out of road.

It was an amateurish cheating attempt. If he got it right on the first turn of the wheel it would have been impossible to tell but in actual fact he screwed up...

And was penalized for it.

Oh well...he still has 7 championships under his belt and i think ill be in the grave before that ever happens again!

[sh@un]

maybe someone will come along that has just as much driving skill, but is even better at taking competitors out/wasting quali time and making it look 'accidental'

[Beer Baron]

lay of ze cherman boys. you know I have a soft spot for ol schuey.

[Roy]

And here come the critics .... http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news...409105054.shtml

I agree 1000% that Louises gesturing when he couldnt get past Fisi was uncalled for and a bit childish/bratish.

Be interesting to see that if McLaren continue to struggle and lost their place at the top with Ferrari whether the Alonso fans will come out of the woodwork saying "We told you so" If Lewis can turn it around in the next few GPs and get solid podiums then it will at least show that mentally is tough enough to be around for a whole championship when expectation is high

[Marco-R34GTT]

+1

Spoilt brat!

[Roy]

With regards to signing Alonso for RBR in 2008, the 63-year-old Dietrich Mateschitz is quoted as saying

"His situation was complicated because he was free for one year only,"

Whilst looking for a 2008 drive it seems Alonso had already wrapped up a seat for 2009. Everbody seems to thinks its Ferrari, but personally i can see it being BMW. For a period they were very vocal with their praise for Alonso, but the past 9 months have gone quiet. I think they have bagged him with Heidfled out of a seat in 2009. What is Nick the Bricks contract term?