F1 World Championship 2008 Thread

[Crazysah]

It's quite obvious the penalty was for an avoidable racing incident. Both Kubica and Kimi saw the light and stopped, Lewis' lack of experience obviously showed here. Kimi's pace was coming on really strong before he pit, catching Kubica at a rate of 1 second per lap, and he came out in front of Lewis in the pits.. he was looking very good for the win, 10 points, or at least 8 points.

Yeah... I totally agree with you therre!

[CrashG]

Ferrari front row in France.

Qualifying Results:

Hamilton and Rosberg have a 10 spot penalty for their mishap in Canada.

[Fergie]

Kovalainen gets penalty for blocking Webber in Q1.

****ing FIA ******s.

[Lewism]

Wow, another great call :hmmm:

[CrashG]

Here's the revised grid:

1. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari

2. Felipe Massa, Ferrari

3. Fernando Alonso, Renault

4. Jarno Trulli, Toyota

5. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber

6. Mark Webber, Red Bull

7. David Coulthard, Red Bull

8. Timo Glock, Toyota

9. Nelson Piquet, Renault

10. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren

11. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber

12. Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso

13. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren

14. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso

15. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams

16. Jenson Button, Honda

17. Rubens Barrichello, Honda

18. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India

19. Adrian Sutil, Force India

20. Nico Rosberg, Williams

McLaren just can't seem to get a break. I like Ferrari and all that, but I like good, clean, hard racing more. Although there are few places to pass here (like most other tracks), but the short pit lane may help get them back up near the top and fight for a win.

[Mike]

that kovalainen penalty is a joke, he was tucked up behind nakajima coming to the corner with webber behind, he had 3 choices, do what he did, ram nakajima or go into rally mode

[.mcman]

wow, McLarens are 10th and 13th thanks to the penalties... :no: I hope at least Kubica will make me happy tomorrow.

[bayrider]

When i saw it live I thought to myself that Kovaleinen could have moved over to the inside of the apex. I recall seeing another driver (was it Rosberg?) move over for Weber a second before Weber caught up to Kovy.

[Mike]

it was nakajima ahead of kovy. kovy couldn't really move to the inside of the apex as that'd probably be the racing line, he had to pretty much go behind nakajima otherwise he'd make the obstacle 2 cars wide instead of 1

[.mcman]

:sleep: boring race. Disappointing results as well. :(

I hope Magny-Cours will be eliminated from the next year's calendar. :)

[simonlang]

happy that massa is leading the drivers championship now :D

[CrashG]

I have to wait until 1pm (EST) to see it. Damn Fox Sports :angry: After Germany it'll be back on Speed TV live not some taped delay.

[Fergie]

More bull**** from the stewards.

[ahmz]

Good call by the stewards, if there was a wall there he would of never have tried that move as there was always a high chance he was going to miss the corner. He should of just moved over and let him back past him, common sense really.

[CrashG]

Race Results from the French GP:

Good points for Jarno Trulli and the Toyota team.

[Fourjays Veteran]

Haven't been getting the notification emails for this thread. :blink:

Was a pretty unspectacular race at Magny Cour as usual - it really needed a good heavy downpour for the remaining 15 laps, to spice things up a bit. Trulli's pace was pretty amazing though, especially as he usually qualifies well only to go so so slow in the race.

I personally think Hamilton was already in front of the STR (just) before the chicane and would have made the corner had the rear end of the car not stepped out as it did. It is perfectly possible to do it there and it's also possible at the other chicane (Alonso 07).

I hope wherever the French Grand Prix goes in future, it has lots of good overtaking spots and fewer run-offs.

[Crazysah]

When is the next grand prix guys? This weekend at Montreal right? And there is no American grand prix right?

[Fergie]

Umm Montreal was about a month ago. Its Silverstone (uk) this weekend.

Anyone else going? I'm sat at Stowe C, good chance of rain this weekend as well. :D

[Crazysah]

Ahh right. Sorry!

[Fourjays Veteran]

Anyone see Massa's crash in this morning's practice? Not his fault, but looked pretty nasty. Completely obliterated the rear of his Ferrari. The structure at the back (the bit the light sits on) was sticking out by over a foot afterwards. :blink:

Silverstone loses British GP to Donington

The British Grand Prix will leave Silverstone and move to Donington Park from 2010, the FIA announced on Friday.

After months of speculation about whether or not Silverstone would retain the race, Donington Park has moved to complete a deal to secure the future of the event.

FIA President Max Mosley said: "After many years of patient but fruitless negotiation with the BRDC, we are delighted that Bernie has nevertheless been able to ensure that the British Grand Prix will keep its place on the Formula One World Championship calendar.

"We understand that the development programme planned for Donington will achieve the very high standards we and FOM expect from a modern F1 circuit. Finally, British Formula One fans will get the Grand Prix venue they deserve."

Bernie Ecclestone, FOM President, added: "Finally the uncertainty is over. A contract has been signed with Donington Park and the future of the British Grand Prix is now secure.

"We wanted a world class venue for Formula One in Britain, something that the teams and British F1 fans could be proud of. The major development plans for Donington will give us exactly that. A venue that will put British motor sport back on the map.

"I am sorry that we could not have helped Silverstone to raise the money to carry out the circuit improvements and run Formula One. I believe that the government should have supported them which would have cost probably less than .002% of the government's commitment for the Olympic Games."

Source

Can't really complain. Donington is pretty good track and it at least gets Bernie to STFU about Silverstone. The first half the track won't provide any overtaking, but the GP section with the chicane and 2 hairpins should give quite a few opportunities.

[Scirwode]

Can't really complain. Donington is pretty good track and it at least gets Bernie to STFU about Silverstone. The first half the track won't provide any overtaking, but the GP section with the chicane and 2 hairpins should give quite a few opportunities.

How does Donington stack up to Silverstone? This is the first I've heard of the track and I have no idea how it looks like. Is it more challenging than Silverstone?

Scirwode

[Fourjays Veteran]

How does Donington stack up to Silverstone? This is the first I've heard of the track and I have no idea how it looks like. Is it more challenging than Silverstone?

Scirwode

It's pretty good. More chances for overtaking than Silverstone, IMO. Especially at Esses as there is quite a long run downhill to it, which would be good providing that the cars can follow out of Coppice. Then Melbourne and Goddards would provide a chance for follow-up moves and some fighting.

Ayrton took several cars on the opening lap there in 1993 (European GP). Can see it here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=PsFEjFf3QDo

[Scirwode]

It's pretty good. More chances for overtaking than Silverstone, IMO. Especially at Esses as there is quite a long run downhill to it, which would be good providing that the cars can follow out of Coppice. Then Melbourne and Goddards would provide a chance for follow-up moves and some fighting.

Ayrton took several cars on the opening lap there in 1993 (European GP). Can see it here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=PsFEjFf3QDo

Thanks for the video (Y) . It would be interesting to see how the current F1 cars deal with the circuit, especially with the amount of straights it has.

Scirwode

[CrashG]

Congrats to Kovalainen on his first pole. How light on fuel is Webber? What happend to Kubica's car at the end of Q3?

Qualifying Results for the British Grand Prix:

[Fourjays Veteran]

Go Kovy and Webber! :D

My guesses on fuel - I think McLaren are running the usual one lighter, one heavier strategy with Kovalainen on the lighter. Webber will likely be the first to pit. Raikkonen is probably a bit lighter than Kovalainen, and Massa either about the same as Hamilton or fuelled for a one stop. The Ferraris could also be on fairly similar strategies (as usual), but I think the gap in Q3 was too large for that, despite how Massa struggled in Q1 and Q2.

No idea about Kubica. They were running around frantically and seemed to be focusing on a flap at the rear of the car.

Rosberg's car looked plain nasty.

Will probably be a fairly straight forward race if it's dry, but hopefully it will rain so the mayhem can commence. :)