honda-guy

iTrader: (55)

WOW, very exciting race. i thing every F1 race should be in the rain from now on, so much things that could happen in the rain.

this is why i think Michael shouldn't retire next year. both Ferrari and Michael are at the top of their game and there's no reason to walk away. Alonso might have not lost many position this year, but Michael have over take plenty and i think that is more challenging then defending your position. even though Alonso lost about 13 sec in the pit, that would just put him closer the Michael at the end but that doesn't mean that he can over take Michael. Michael said in the post race interview that he slowed down towards the end and just try to bring the car home. i do believe that Alonso push the car harder and most other drivers. Like when he slowed down quite a bit during the middle part of the race to conserve tires and everyone thought he has mechanical failure. drivers have switches in there car that will allow them to rev the engine 500-1000 rpm higher if they need the extra power it to pass a car, i guess Alonso use it too often.

i fell so bad for Kimi, i think he had a very good chance of winning the race if he car would have held together. he had a very fast pace until his car broke down. can't wait to see what he can do in a Ferrari next year.

fromWRXtoEVO

iTrader: (18)

^^ Very true.. I haven't miss a single race nor I missed any after race interviews nor after race reports. As much I want Alonso to win I still thing that Ferrari ultimately has been more efective than Renault.

I have seen Alonso loosing his first position this year due to a double pit stop. I have seen Alonso lossing a 10 position qualifying penalty.

Then his engine failed. The the rear tire fells off. Then they wouldn't let him use the mass damper. Then Renault wouldn't let him train on his own car due to conflict of interest because Alonso is going to Mclaren.

Shumi is a bad as s driver but Alonso is not lesser driver. As off today, I can see Shumi wining because of the Ferrari team leads more than for driving skills but that is just my point of view based on the points I mentioned before. We might have to wait until next week.

If Alonso can't finish next week within the 10 first or if he abandones then Shumi could be the champion next week as long as he can finish within the first 10.

Carlos

fromWRXtoEVO

iTrader: (18)

Hondaguy,


You wrote:

"Alonso might have not lost many position this year, but Michael have over take plenty and i think that is more challenging then defending your position"
__________________________________________________ _________

I agree with that however Alonso just didn't loose positions but always gained positions except in USA(finish the same as he started) and today which he only lost one position.

On the other hand Shumi has been overpassed by a few including Alonso overlapping him.

Statisticly that means that absolutely no one ever passed Alonso this year except today.

my .2c

Carlos

meanmud

iTrader: (74)

Alonso has had the better team/car this year and last - now the pressure is on Alonso, but if anyone can challenge Michael, it's him!

honda-guy

iTrader: (55)

in F1, most of the overtake happens in the pit lane, that's why pit strategy is so important. for me, i judge how good a driver is base on there over taking skills on the track. when Alonso comes up to a slower car, he throw his fist up in the air and expect the other drive to pull over for him to pass, he doesn't want to work for it. i’m not saying that Alonso is not a good driver, he is one of the top three F1 driver in my book.

no doubt that Alonso is putting the pressure on Michael, but i don't think Michael is stressing over it. in fact, i think he enjoys it and it's why he loves racing so much. Even if Alonso weren’t there to pressure him, Michael would still give it 110% on every race. He doesn't take any win for granted no matter how easy it comes. i doubt there would be anyone in the near future that holds as many records in F1 as Michael does. Alonso does have one record that Michael doesn’t have, he’s the youngest F1 Champion but i think that record might get broken soon.

f-dub

iTrader: (5)

They do have buttons that they can push to raise the rev limiter. I doubt it has anything to do with the engine's reliability considering they hadn't had problems all of last year or the beginning of this year and Fisi hasn't had a problem with it either.

It is said that the worst enemy of a F1 engine builder is the driver.

Do you also believe Renaults posturing that Alonso "was conserving the engine" at the end of the race? Renault is worried, and you can tell by their body language and all the statements they are putting out.

992gnt

iTrader: (5)

Statistically, that means NOTHING if he loses the championship. And no, I'm not a Schumacher fan although I will be rooting for Kimi and Ferrari next year...

Can't believe I just said that last bit.

kekek

iTrader: (22)

Yes I get it, yes I know it was on, no I don't have Tivo. Ever try and stay up past 12pm with an 18 month old child?

Worst part is I didn't even get to watch the replay since my damn brother in law loves his ball sports and I had to be at his house for his 1yr olds b-day party. No F1, autox or go karts for me in like 3 weeks...I need a fix!!!

x838nwy

1.) Of the top 13 qualifiers, Michael was the only one on Bridgestone. That just shows how quick he really is. All credits to Alonso also. Rain tends to be an 'equalizer' since you're really not as power limited as grip limited.

2.) I think it was a similar problem they had in Istanbul (or Badapest) where a wheel was rather difficult to install. It seemed Alonso was also worried about it falling off (again).

3.) While others left their tyres on, Alonso's front left was very worn. They expected to take around 4 laps to get the new ones worn in and up to optimum. It took much loner than that (like 8-10) during which time he was just too slow. As you can see Fisi tried to help, but really running 2 abreast is just asking for an accident.

4.) IMO, I think it was Michael controlling the race. Ha could get down to the low 1:39's some times but chose not to do too much because he has a big lead. Remember this engine had to go to Suzuka also.

5.) 6th->1st is not exactly that amazing on its own. But if you look at the times in qulifying, it didn't even look like the Ferraris were going anywhere near the podium. And when we had a wet track for pretty much the entire race, it's an achievement. More of a strategic one, but an acheivement nonetheless.

6.) See below:

Michael is actually ahead. They are both equal on points but Michael has more wins (7 to Alonso 6). If Michael wins in Suzuka and Fernando fails to score a point, Michael wins the Championship there and then. Michael can win the title next weekend but Fernando cannot. Even if they share one win each (Japan and Brazil) and one 2nd place each, Michael would still win. Ignoring anyone not finishing, it's down to the team mates. And I rate Massa above Fisi.

x838nwy

Not to take anything from Fernando, the Renaults have always been extremely quick in the wet.

I think this is down to the rear-biased weight distribution (reduces understeer on turn-in) and probably the best traction control in the business (preventing it going all tit$-up when you put your foot down). Anyway, Alonso was nearly 1/2 sec quicker than Fisi in qualifying in identicle machinery.

timzcat

iTrader: (10)

That was a great race.

For someone who is retiring Schumacher is certainly still quite impressive in an inferior package. I am actually happy I got to see that race and have one of the few remaining chances to see the master at work.

I don't care if Alonso hasn't been passed, F1 is currently as much strategy as it is on track action. For the entire package Ferrari and Schumacher still have it.

nick735

iTrader: (5)

Carlos have fun playing the "luck" card next year. Its been fun for me the last few seasons, but im glad im done with it. GOOD RIDENS MCLAREN!

meanmud

iTrader: (74)

Kimi has been on the receiving end of it

timzcat

iTrader: (10)

I have to say I liked Kimi when he came in but when he went to McLaren I kind of soured on him simply because I do not like McLaren. Now that he is going to Ferrari I hope he can take off finally in his career.

I love Alonso going to McLaren because now I can truely hate both.

My thing on Alonso is he is so vocal lately about Schumacher's career yet he has started to pull some stunts himself. Why brake check a complete newb in practice?

KevinD

iTrader: (56)

ferrari turned down the revs after realizing alonso would never be able to catch or pass shue. it wasn't because alonso was that much faster.