F1 World Championship 2008 Thread

[Shibby]

We need a different organization in charge. The FIA keep faffing about with rules and how they are applied. We can't allow the people involved to do the job of the FIA, everyone would be starting from the back of the grid otherwise....

[bayrider]

Why do we need an organization dictating the rules for all motorsport? Let Formula 1 decide what's good for Formula 1. Let the WRC decide what's good for rally car. It's ridiculous there's so much bureaucracy for the sport.

[.mcman]

Chinese GP Qualifying.

Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps

1 22 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.566 1:34.947 1:36.303 15

2 1 Kimi R?ikk?nen Ferrari 1:35.983 1:35.355 1:36.645 15

3 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:35.971 1:35.135 1:36.889 16

4 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:35.769 1:35.461 1:36.927 18

5 23 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.623 1:35.216 1:36.930 16

6 10 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:36.238 1:35.686 1:37.083 19

7 3 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:36.224 1:35.403 1:37.201 17

8 15 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 1:35.752 1:35.386 1:37.685 16

9 11 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:36.104 1:35.715 1:37.934 19

10 14 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:36.239 1:35.478 1:38.885 18

11 6 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:36.029 1:35.722 12

12 4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:36.503 1:35.814 14

13 12 Timo Glock Toyota 1:36.210 1:35.937 16

14 17 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:36.640 1:36.079 15

15 7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:36.434 1:36.210 15

16 9 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:36.731 7

17 8 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:36.863 9

18 16 Jenson Button Honda 1:37.053 9

19 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:37.730 9

20 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:37.739 9

3 Ferrari drivers behind Lewis! It will be a miracle if he'll make it through the first corner!:):)

[sundayx Veteran]

Lewis needs to redeem himself this year from the tragedy here last year hahaha

[ahmz]

Chinese GP Qualifying.

<snip>

3 Ferrari drivers behind Lewis! It will be a miracle if he'll make it through the first corner! :)

ouch, my eyes .mcman :p

[brentaal]

Whoah, the start will be really interesting...

[Fourjays Veteran]

3 Ferrari drivers behind Lewis! It will be a miracle if he'll make it through the first corner! :)

:rofl:

Lewis appears to have far better pace compared to the Ferraris. He was very quick in both practices too.

I believe if he gets 6 points or more than Massa this race, he wins the championship.

[ahmz]

He's light on fuel.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

:rofl:

Lewis appears to have far better pace compared to the Ferraris. He was very quick in both practices too.

I believe if he gets 6 points or more than Massa this race, he wins the championship.

'To finish first you have to finish first.'

Hamilton better not pull any banzai stunts like in the first corner at Fuji if he wants to win the race and eventually the WDC. 2nd or 3rd will be enough to stay ahead in the title race too...

...especially considering how often the Ferrari team has farked up already this season. Being a Ferraristo I am not at all optimistic regarding the chances of the Scuderia.

/me awaits a DNF of cars 5 and 6 in tomorrow's results

[Fourjays Veteran]

Actually it is "To finish first, you first have to finish". Ron Dennis I believe.

Forgetting Raikkonen and focusing on Massa would be fine, although I think we all know he won't. I like it though, he's exciting to watch. So many drivers simply settle for "enough", yet Lewis always pushes to win and will overtake if he sees an opportunity.

[Mike]

/me awaits a DNF of cars 5 and 6 in tomorrow's results

the renaults? :wacko:

i think lewis is light on fuel but was consistently faster in the first sector by 0.2s or so throughout qualifying.

going off the times in Q3, seems quite a few are quite light, seeing as the times they put in Q3 were good enough for top 10 in Q1. Supposed to rain tomorrow so should be interesting.

[Fergie]

'To finish first you have to finish first.'

Hamilton better not pull any banzai stunts like in the first corner at Fuji if he wants to win the race and eventually the WDC. 2nd or 3rd will be enough to stay ahead in the title race too...

...especially considering how often the Ferrari team has farked up already this season. Being a Ferraristo I am not at all optimistic regarding the chances of the Scuderia.

/me awaits a DNF of cars 5 and 6 in tomorrow's results

That was Ferrari in 2007. :p

Exact same P1-4 as 2007. Hopefully result will be very different.

[.mcman]

wooohooo! :)

[sundayx Veteran]

Hamilton! Off to Brazil we go!

[what]

I lol'd at Massa and Raikkonen in the press conference. They were trying so hard not to say they swapped places on purpose to help Massa get an extra two points but they were doing so badly; Hamilton couldn't help but laugh.

[Scazza]

A well disaplined drive from Hamilton, he needs to take that with him to Brazil. If he does, and the car is good and has no problems he will win the Championship.

Go'on Lad!

[brentaal]

I lol'd at Massa and Raikkonen in the press conference. They were trying so hard not to say they swapped places on purpose to help Massa get an extra two points but they were doing so badly; Hamilton couldn't help but laugh.

Why "and Raikkonen"? He had admitted it was for the team. Also, Kimi looked as if he was about to laugh when Massa said he was "quicker" . It didn't look like Kimi was trying to hide anything. Massa on the other hand looked pretty uncomfortable, since everyone knew what happened.

It was only logical for them to swap places, after all, F1 is a team sport.

Anyways, a pretty dull and boring race. I wish there had been more excitement. (both Massa & Lewis crashing with Kubica on P1 :rofl: )

[Nicholas-c Veteran]

I think hamilton should adopt a new strategy in next race :p get behind masa in qual and smash full speed into him on 1st corner :p win, win situation, go out with a bang ;)

[sn00pie]

Congrats to Hamilton! He's got a 7 point lead heading into Brazil, just like last year. God this is going to be down to the wire again!

[sundayx Veteran]

Oh! Embarassing... </Peter Griffin>

[bayrider]

You know when Raikkonen laughs there was something funny to be heard!

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Whoops, my bad - of course the Ferraris are cars 1 and 2, not 5 and 6.

As to yesterday's race: It was not as exciting as I had hoped it would be. What surprised me was the lack of any protests against the position swap by the Ferrari drivers... it reeked of Austria 2002 to me. They could at least have tried to be more subtle...

[brentaal]

I was surprised by the swap itself... They've done it pretty clumsy considering all the preparation from the 2nd pit stop (Kimi was driving a lot slower from that point onwards, 3 or 4 tenths of a second slower than Massa)...

[Fourjays Veteran]

Kimi was practically crawling round. Felipe still finished +16 of Lewis, so Kimi was driving round with the brakes on while Felipe was giving it everything he had.

The swap was pretty blatant though. I should have staged a stuck wheel nut on Kimi - no-one would have not believed it, with the number of problems Ferrari have had in the pits this year.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Dennis: Force India deal will go ahead

Ron DennisMcLaren boss Ron Dennis believes a technical partnership deal with Force India will still go through, even though future uncertainty about regulations has complicated matters.

As autosport.com revealed at the Japanese GP, McLaren and Mercedes-Benz are in advanced negotiations with Force India about a tie-up that could extend as far as a customer car type deal.

Although it had been thought the deal would be concluded in the days after the Japanese GP, the raft of cost-cutting measures due to be introduced to the sport have led to uncertainty about what McLaren can or cannot due.

In particular, it is understood that the team are waiting for some form of clarification from the FIA about whether or not customer cars are allowed.

Speaking about the situation at the Chinese Grand Prix, Dennis said McLaren were still working on the details of the deal.

"Anything that comes along that impacts significantly on your business has a ripple effect to what you are doing," he explained. "If there is any impact on it, the viability of it, it is more likely to be a delay rather than a cancellation.

"But so far we are not in a binding commitment on either side. We are very open to trying to achieve our goal, which is not to make money or lose money, but to be an absolute supporter of one of the independent teams - who are not the lifeblood of F1 but an essential ingredient of F1.

"That is why we are doing it. We are doing it to assist an independent team. I think it will happen still, but it hasn't happened yet."