Finally an F1 race that wasnt a yawnfest

Damn shame it was on CBS though...

and that frenchie's car won

The driver is Spanish......but the car is frog. I would have said they built it with a little help from some friends, but they haven't got any

Isn't Alonso Basque? The Basque would prefer to have their own country, IIRC and not be in southern France and northern Spain.

Hell, the French didn't wanna be in France. The smart ones moved to Canada.

QUOTE (Rake @ Apr 24 2005, 01:26 PM)

QUOTE (J P Stein @ Apr 24 2005, 01:16 PM) Hell, the French didn't wanna be in France. The smart ones moved to Canada.

Substitute Texan for French & Texas for....you get the idea....that works too

although with my company being taken over by the french.....

I have to agree...my french boss just canned me........ at least some of the french.....most are ok...

Back to San Marino there at the end Shumi couldn't get passed Alanzo & Alanzo couldn't catch up to a Minardi.....what's wrong with this picture? A slow race?

Dear Bernie:
Get rid of the F***IN' WINGS......out with em',gone, history, as in no longer here. You want passing? You also may wanna look at them carbon brakes. Neither of these items have any relation to "improving the breed" and neither would be missed.

QUOTE (J P Stein @ Apr 24 2005, 02:30 PM)

Back to San Marino there at the end Shumi couldn't get passed Alanzo & Alanzo couldn't catch up to a Minardi.....what's wrong with this picture? A slow race? Dear Bernie: Get rid of the F***IN' WINGS......out with em',gone, history, as in no longer here. You want passing? You also may wanna look at them carbon brakes. Neither of these items have any relation to "improving the breed" and neither would be missed.

Alonzo admitted in the post race interview that his car was slower at the end but drove a pretty good defesive line and Shumy couldn't (or wouldn't) make the risky pass attempt. What is inexcusable is CBS leaving at 8 laps to go for a series of commercials. What Bozos.

Alonso drove a great race. He knew he was no match for Schumies 1/2 billion dollar red car so he played defence. He slowed enough in the corners as to not catch the two slower cars but was quick enough and cool enough to keep MS behind him. Good for him!!
I thought it was sad to see the Ferrari almost 2 seconds a lap faster than the next fastest car. Just wait a few more races and we'll be back to last years yawnfest and parade watching.
For now though lets enjoy some other teams and drivers at the front of the pack.

Rules changes only benefitting the French?!?

They've made a goodly number of drastic rules changes over the past several years, which hasn't stopped Ferrari from taking every title, mostly through utter domination. The FIA has been accused of having a pro-Ferrari bias for 30 years now, so I have no idea where this fantasy of benefitting the French teams comes from.

Banning wings isn't the way to promote passing or better competition. F3, for example, has lots of passing and lots of competition, and it has wings (albeit small ones). I've seen some CART races with lots of passing, they have wings. I've seen my share of F1 races with lots of passing, too. Senna could carve through traffic like it wasn't even there. Passing doesn't happen in F1 for many reasons, one of which is the low tolerance for risk. Schumacher actually doesn't make very many actual on-track passes anymore, he and Ross Brawn just juggle pit strategy so they do all of their passing in the pits. Less risky. Smarter for them. Boring for us. F1 is too expensive for risk taking now.

Rather than ban passing, I'd reduce the reliance on pitstops, which have never done anything for me in terms of making a race more interesting. Rather than an outright ban (which is dangerous), just make them really expensive. Cut the size of the pit crew to, say, three from the unlimited number they have now. Having refueling rigs deliver fuel at some set (very slow) rate. With tires going the distance now (as they once did), and with the capability of no refuelling races (as they once did) being a known problem, you'd get no stop races, so drivers would HAVE to pass on the track, or excel in qualifying. F1 was this way as recently as 1982, and the races weren't boring then.

Unlike many, I think the one set of tires rule was a good one. It means a driver and the car have to be good on new and worn tires. I'd amend the rules to allow different tires for qualifying, which is a different kind of thing. Qualifying SHOULD be all about one magic lap (but not necessarily just one lap at all, but one lap in a string of laps). Allowing privateers to buy cars again will genuinely cut costs for them, and will also help with the works teams, who can sell extra cars for defray development costs. Privateers rarely win titles, but they can win races, and provide a useful wild card factor.

As far as I can tell, Mosley has only done harm during his tenure, and basically screwed up the entire series by his endless meddling. The sooner he's out, the better.

The rules changes were made so that Ferrari wouldnt dominate and to try to make things more interesting and competative. Theyve been trying to do it for a couple years but they finally are succeding this year.

I still think Ferrari will catch up and win manufacturers title and Schumacher will win the drivers.

Schumacher was on a tear.. but he is one guy I cant root for..

I was at a tech session yesterday, the topic was aerodynamics

It was quite interesting..the speaker is a long time racer, currently managing Formula Mazda and Formula BMW teams..Wants the drivers put back in the cars... say 2 in minimum ride height, instead of 17mm, reduction in wing size.. etc..

Shumacher kept locking up his left front near the end of the race.. he was trying, but the wake from a F1 car can be felt over 100 feet back, in close downforce on the front of his car is greatly reduced.. hence locking his brakes..

I think Ferrari has climbed the learning curve for this years rules, and we are back to a yawnfest

QUOTE (TimT @ Apr 24 2005, 05:52 PM)

I think Ferrari  has climbed the  learning curve for this years rules, and we are back to a yawnfest

I hope so...they have tested more this year than all the other teams total alotment of testing time for the entire year. All the others have the "gentlemens agreement" on testing. Ferrari said F.. that, we'll test all we want!

Finally, a real RACE! For those who couldn't stomach CBS coverage,I believe SPEED will be broadcasting a replay on FRI.4/29 at 11PM or Midnight Eastern time.

QUOTE (Dion @ Apr 27 2005, 09:46 PM)

I believe SPEED will be broadcasting a replay on FRI.4/29 at 11PM or Midnight Eastern time.

I am waiting for the rerun on Speedvision. What's up with CBS' coverage anyway? Since when does broadcast TV cover Grand Prix races that aren't being held in the US?

FOA gave the rights to four races this year to broadcast television. Imola was one of them. But it will be on Speed this weekend. So we have Peter and Steve back

As to the rules, man, the FIA wants to jumble things up a lot but it makes no sense to say the changes are directed at one team in principle or effect. The only reason Ferrari is screwed so far (and given their pace, that is plainly ended/ing) was tires. Bridgestone let them down big time.

The one set 'o tire rules was a big revision and Michelin did a lot (like 4 or 5X) more testing, esp in hot weather. But now that they are back on Europe the weather is cooler and the performance difference is not so great.

I do not know the tire rule was aimed at Ferrari; it was supposedly to reduce costs. It does effect Ferrari the most but that is because Sauber jumped ship and took on Michelin, ergo less testing. I hear Montezemelo was furious. Supposedly it will cost Sauber the engine deal and they will swith to BMW once the supplier contract is over.

The BS two-week engine rule was supposedly also to reduce costs but it reduces nothing. Remember that the big costs are from testing which Ferrari will not agree to limit (and the Concorde agreement requires unanimity). Of course, Ferrari owns their own track.

As to rules being directed "against" Ferrari, they are the only team to have signed with Eccelstone to extend the Concorde agreement. The other teams are still trying to spin off into the GPWC. So it just isn't true.

Just to go on record...I thought the CBS coverage was not up to par...why not just let the Speed guys do the broadcast? Much more entertaining and not talking about driving over the curbs EVERY LAP!!!!

Great race though, Unfortunately it shows that there is no way to pass in these cars, even if you are a second a lap faster, bah. I guess Ferrari is back, but if you aren't on the front row, it makes it tough!

I know they are trying to get a new audience, but they dumb it down way too much. Even my sisters were getting a kick out of it, and they could care less.

QUOTE (JmuRiz @ Apr 28 2005, 10:16 AM)

Just to go on record...I thought the CBS coverage was not up to par...why not just let the Speed guys do the broadcast? Much more entertaining and not talking about driving over the curbs EVERY LAP!!!! Great race though, Unfortunately it shows that there is no way to pass in these cars, even if you are a second a lap faster, bah. I guess Ferrari is back, but if you aren't on the front row, it makes it tough! I know they are trying to get a new audience, but they dumb it down way too much. Even my sisters were getting a kick out of it, and they could care less.

Bernie, et al, would LOVE to get the mainstream US media interested in F1. They don't understand Speed. They do understand that F1 is right up there with underwater basket weaving as a spectator sport in the US, but they don't understand why. They don't understand that the taxicab racing crowd that is NASCAR has virtually zero interest in F1. They can't seem to stop salivating over the size of the US market, not realizing that reaching the 40 MILLION people who can now get Speed on their cable/satellite is the entire population of the UK (and you can thank NASCAR for that 40M number, it was 4M as recently as 2000). They're sufficiently greedy that they want the whole 300M population.

So, every few years, they try to get CBS/ABC/NBC interested in showing F1, and CBS/NBC/ABC show caution and say they'll try "a few" races to see how it works out. The coverage is universally awful and undermarketed, so ratings suck, and the fans just watch the re-runs on Speed a week or so later. This is at least the fifth year they've done this (not in a row). CBS/NBC/ABC go no way, until a significant management turnover (which seems to only take a year or so), when there's a new bunch of suckers in power to pitch the idea to, again.

If Bernie, et al understood the US racing scene, they'd give Speed the feed for free for several years, plus a marketing budget to push the sport to non-Speed viewers, and be happy with attracting a good percentage of those 40M people, and hopefully get more US people to pick up Speed, which helps both F1 and Speed. They'd support Speed 100%, as Speed is working to promote motorsport in the US far more than any other major media outlet. Motorsport is so unpopular in the US that there's a huge amount of room to grow, and having a US partner to do it is the smart way to go. Instead, they'd rather go with the existing media outlets, which have no interest in the long term viability of the sport.

Still, and I say this every time this subject rises, I'm so happy we get coverage at all. I (tried) to follow F1 through the 70s and early 80s, when the only TV coverage was a few laps of Monaco (and Long Beach when it was an F1 race) every year on ABC's Wide World of Sport. The fact that we get practice, qualifying, and the race was unthinkable 20 years ago.

QUOTE (lapuwali @ Apr 28 2005, 03:35 PM)

Still, and I say this every time this subject rises, I'm so happy we get coverage at all. I (tried) to follow F1 through the 70s and early 80s, when the only TV coverage was a few laps of Monaco (and Long Beach when it was an F1 race) every year on ABC's Wide World of Sport. The fact that we get practice, qualifying, and the race was unthinkable 20 years ago.

I hear that. I remember the days when the only racing coverage you could get - period - was on ABC's Wide World of Sports!

We've come a long way baby...