It is getting very excited, I haven't miss a single race of the season. There is a world title and only two men fighting for it. The first half season I had no doubt that Alonso was unstopable but after the USA grand Prix things had change a lot.

4 more races to go and Alonso is still 12 points ahead, you don't have to be a genious to figure out that it is really 3 races left to determine if Alonso takes the world championship again.

By default Alonso's 12 pts lead makes the last race to not count. Todays race was a total thrill, specially the last 10 laps with Alonso and Shumy toe to toe. They were going so fast that they were cuting a full second per lap on Felipe Massa.

I personally would like Alonso to win however If Shummy wins then good for him because he is a heck of a driver. Shummy's car is right now perhaps the fastest and more realible car .

So my question is: who will win the championship this year?

Carlos

 

congrads to Massa on his fist pole position and first win. i was hoping Michael would win the championship but they both deserve it. i think the only way Michael could win now is if Alonso don't finish a race or finish out of the points. Even if Michael wins every race left, Alonso would be right behind him in second or third place (if without incident or mechanical failure).

Ferrari knew that Massa was faster than Alsono after the safety car came out and when Alonso came out of the pits in front of Michael. i think Massa should have slow down and held Alonso back so that Michael could catch up to Alonso and potentially pass him and would not risk getting pass by Alonso and Ferrari would have had a 1-2 finish. i think Alonso and Michael was catching up to Massa at the end because Massa was slowing down due to the big lead he had. i think Michael would have passed Alonso if there was one more lap because he was about to pass Alonso over the finish line, he would have definitely overtake Alonso in turn 1. Kimi is not having any luck this year.

the next 4 races is going to be very exciting.

 

The thing is that in the second sector specifically on turn 8 Alonso was able to again increase the gap on each lap however as you seen it, Michael was catching up on turn one again.


It looks like and accordeon race, Alonso was stronger on sector 2 and Shummy was quicker on sector one. According to Alonso, he did a very tight turn to make the overtaking more difficult but Michael came from behind with more speed.

I wonder if Michael could had pass Alonso on that straight.

As I said before, there are 4 races but because of the points gap it is really like 3 more races before we can see a Champion. Michael still has a chance but it depends more on Alonso's engine reliability or Alonso's desqualification/penalties etc.

Massa did very well, half of that due to a superior car..Ferrari is back!!
Kimi has bad luck but the few races he finished it wasn't even close to what we saw last year.
Button is picking up very well and De la Rosa is undeniably a guy to watch up next year. I predict De la Rosa could fight for 3rd or 4th place next year.

Thanks for the inputs Hondaguy!

Carlos

 

LOL this year!? How about his entire f1 racing career! I cant wait until he goes to a team that can have both speed AND reliability, not just one of them (ie ferrari or renault).

As far as this year goes, Id really like to see msc pull off another championship. Hes been one of my favorite drivers (besides kimi ofcourse), and id like to see him go out with a bang this year. With only 4 races to its going to be VERY difficult as alonso should be able to easily finish within the top 5 not giving msc a huge opportunity to catch up.

After todays race, i would have to put my money on alonso...

 

I totally agree with you with the only exception that my favorite is Alonso and not because I think is better it is the matter of nacionality and proud.

The 12 pts lead really don't mean S H I T. Alonso could have mechanical failures or he could run into the same issues that MSC had last year when Sato hit him from the back destroying his car.

We know some facts, only two drivers can mathematically win the championship, Shummy and Alonso. As much as I want Alonso to win I also have to admit that the way Shumy is driving and which such great car Alonso has a tough one.

None of the drivers can afford a mistake and yes I agree that either way Shumy or Alonso for the most part always finish in the top 5.

Last but not least, there were a lot of rumors of a posible penalty to MSC for what he did last race on the Chicane twice. He cut off De la Rosa on the same chicane twice when De la Rosa was clearly faster. We already know the dark side of Shummy anyway so is not a surprise for the formula one fans like me. Apparently they are not going to take any points from MSC.
I can't wait until Imola.

Carlos

 

I can't stand Schumacher (either of them, especially Michael). His hyper-agressive on track personality, arrogant clod off-track personality make me wish he had retired ages ago.

That being said, he's the best ever, period.

My favorite driver is Kimi... followed by Alonso, Heidfeld and Webber.

My pick is Alonso for the first, followed by Schuie and Massa.

 

My favorite driver is Jenson Button, but he obviously has no chance this year. I think as long as Alonso has to car failures he will pull off the win. I'm hoping that Schumacher can pull it off though.........

 

Massa must feel like he's won the lottery of life.... Glad to see him win a race, but in any other car - well you know. I would like to see Alonso win again, but I think this will go right down to the wire.

 

Go Scott Speed. JK

Schumacher all the way baby!

 

why is this sato guy always hitting people????

i think jensen button is a cool guy too... but he has no luck or reliability with honda. of course i might be biased through all the british motorsports coverage i watch haha.

 

Sato and Ide
Unfortunately for Japanese supporters, Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide (during his brief career) tended to hit a anything and everything in front of them. On Ide's part, this was really due to lack of experience and communication problems. For the both of them, you really have to be sympatheric to because they have (or rather had, before the new spec) cars that are basically the old Arrows - like 3/4yrs old - and so their only chance of getting past the Midlands or the occasinal Torro Rosso is exclusively at the first corner. So they both have to (more than usual) go totally ***** out in the first corner which is always very dicey. Plus, a similar situation applies to all the other guys around that area of the pack so it's just one big mess down there usually.

Michael - De La Roas - Chicane
The rece stewards, the FIA and the GPDA have had a meeting about this and basically have ruled that what Michael did was legal. Unless you are side-by-side with another car, the leading car can cut the chicane and maintain his position. I'm not saying I like this, but that's the way it is according the Mr.Whiting. So, Schuey won't be penalised.

Queue in the pit lane
Ferrari basically had no choice but to put two drivers in the pitlane at the same time. The problem was that had they let Michael run one more lap (behind the safety car) then pit, he would loose more time than just sitting there. Basically Mass hadn't opened up enough of a gap to Alonso. It's not his fault because nobody can expected when/if the safety car will be deployed.

Turn 8
I don't think Alonso was quicker in Turn8. Time gap remains pretty much the same but the speed is different so the gap looks bigger. Anyway, Fernando has this tactic of lifting off in a corner to wrong-foot his opponent so I think if Michael was keeping a distance it was because of this. Additionally, although Michael appeared to have the edge towards the end laps, more of the difference is due to hardware. Michaels' tyres have only had <18 laps while Fernando's had I think quite a few more and some of those laps were at a higher fuel load. IMO the two were failrly even in the chase. Out-right, Michael was quicker. In fact had the finish line been 5 car lengths forward, we'd have a different result. But such is life.

People hating Michael
First of all, I don't think Michael got where he is by not being disturbingly competitive. But I really don't think it is the true picture that he is just evil and selfish. Taking recent evidence, if one recalls the Italian GP when Michael won and Alonso was on the podium. The most memorable moment of that race was when the tifosi began booing Alonso but Michael applaused and urge them to do the same. In Turkey, we was in the post-race that he was full of praise for Massa and it would seem that the two are getting on very well. I don't know if you guys knew, but after brake testing Robert Doonbros and getting a penalty, Fernando pretty much did the same again in Turkey (Fernando just stuffed it up the inside of Doonbros in Turn 1 in practice). The guy's is a World Champion and the other guy is in a fuggin Midland!!! And he's carried the grudge over 3 weeks!!! I think Michael was quite competitive in his younger days and drivers being rather reclusive on those days didn't help. The big factor was that the British press (who covers most of F1) had Damon Hill to nurse so they had to make the German as horrific a human as possible. It's a long time ago, but it still carries some weight today.

Who will win the Champoinship?
Finally, back to Carlos' question. Michael.
Losing the mass damper hurt Renault. Fisi will once again have his off-month and not really be able to play the part as much as Massa in helping their repsective team mate. Bridgestone is getting their acts together which should help. Most importantly, Michael now has a realistic hope of winning. He is calm and cool enough to do it. Fernando did look positively exhausted in Turkey and his behaviour of late has been indicative of a man under extremem pressure and not coping very well with it.

 

Formula one sometimes is as gay as it can be. Why would the FIA banned the mass damper on the Renault?, why did they banned the vertical stabilizer Renault had once also?

As far as I am concern each team has the right to come with whatever technological advance they want. Formula one is the edge in technology, let them show their ability to produce the best car.

The mass damper issue ban is unfair in my opnion, they should let Renault use it. My last remark is that MSC was using his fresh engine while Alosno was on the second race with the same engine.

Not to be ofending but I just want to clarify for those that never heard of it that you have to run two races with the engine before it can be replace/reworked.

Carlos

 

No way.

Jerez, 1997.

Adelaide 1994.

What a classless POS.

 

FIA did not ban the mass damper on Renault, they ban it on all team. Renault is not the only team that uses the mass damper, although they did pioneer it. it only hurt Renault the most because their chassis was specially design to take full advantage of the mass damper where as other team using it as an add on piece.

i do agree about not limiting technology in F1, just like when the FIA banned the front LSD that Honda use to reduce flat spotting front tires or when VTEC was first invented to use in F1. F1 is the pinnacle of motor racing and they shouldn't limit or discourage technology. i don't know how exciting it’s going to be when every team has to run Microsoft ECU and only one tire manufacture and have to run the same spec engine for more than one year. it just sounds like it's going to be lame.

 

what is this mass damper issue? and verticle stabilizer? i never heard of this drama