uzzmaan

So Kimi was fasted in prac 2. Whether he can carry that pace into the race remains to be seen.

With the season still pretty open, anyone think Kimi has a chance? I've been torn in two directions all season. I want McLaren to get the title, but at the same time I've liked Kimi's driving style since he showed up in F1, and really wanted him to win a title at McLaren.

ilitig8

Kimi has a chance, making up the points from mid-season is not unprecedented. However, it really depends on LH having at least one bad (ie DNF) this season.

dom

That had to be one of the most entertaining races I've seen in some time. I nearly broke out into hard laughter when the 4th or 5th car came off the road and nearly took out the tractor.

mg7726

another fine example of massa showing he can not drive in the wet. it was the best race of the year so far.

Chief F1 Fan

the best reason for watching races in the wet: it shows who can really drive and who cannot. Massa's excuse was a vibration from that set of tires. I call bullshit.

fsttyms1

Man Kimi has bad luck there.

uzzmaan

Massa messed up royally. Alonso caught up to him as if Massa was standing on his brakes.

Kimi was definitely unlucky with missing the pit lane when it first started pouring.

dom

Did he miss it or was he told to go on since both Ferrari's were coming in?

Chief F1 Fan

I thought they told him to stay out b/c of some rule in the Sporting Code that prohibited his entry at that time?

uzzmaan

I did not know such a rule existed, and I wasn't honestly paying too much attention to the commentary since I was preoccupied with the Potter novel.

Why would the sporting code prohibit the entry of the race leader when it's pouring on the track and staying on dry tires could potentially be dangerous?

As for Dom's comment, don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure I saw other teams stacking their drivers. Again, my mind wasn't fully on the race, but Kimi was in the lead at the time I think, so it doesn't make sense for Ferrari to tell him to take another lap and bring Massa in for a tire change. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please.

F-C

No, the idiots on Speed were mistaken again . The Speediots thought that Kimi didn't pit because he short cutted the entry leading into the pits, by driving over the painted lines. In reality, Ferrari asked both drivers to come in to pit, but Kimi decided it was better to stay out.

Chief F1 Fan

that's what I was thinking: when Kimster cut the white line I thought that was the infraction.

dom

I figured he didn't miss the pit entry, he looked like he was in control of the car.

What surprises me more was the fact than no one but Spyker started the race on intermediates. They had to know it was about to rain.

R J Poseidon 6

Well, it looked to me as if he lost it & couldn't make it back in safely (I've watched the race 3 times). There is no reason 4 him not to go in b/c he was just ahead of Massa ~ if anything, Massa would've kept going.

I honestly don't think they are SpeedIodts, they are entertaining & much better than the coverage in other countries.....

R J Poseidon 6

Yeah, many other places too!

If it wasn't due to reliability problems he would've had '03 & '05 championships. Now this year that's twice that he would've (maybe) won the race or @ least been on the podium & a better chance of this years championship....

F-C

Check out Jean Todt's quotes after the race. He made it clear that the scuderia told both drivers to come in to change tires, but Kimi made the decision to stay out.

R J Poseidon 6

Well, that was dumb of Kimi...

Chief F1 Fan

Absolutely!!! McLaren for one, has a weather watcher of some sort who allowed Ron Dennis to say at a recent race (Monaca quali?) that he knew it was going to rain within "2 minutes of it actually doing so" or something to that (very) precise effect. Too bad Winkelhock wasn't able to capitalize on his 35 sec. lead, instead getting stuck behind the pace car and then having the race red flagged. Oh well . . . .

F-C

All the teams have people monitoring the weather. My guess is that the rain in the mountains are so unpredictable, that even the teams' weathermen got fooled. Remember when the tv feed showed that rain was immenent within 10 minutes? When the ten minutes were up, it was still bright sunshine. It then didn't rain until an hour later, at the end of the race.

dom

True. I guess pitting for intermediates with everyone else > taking a chance that it will actually rain.

davo-cls

Why did Lewis get to pass the safety car and get his lap back? I never understood their explanation.

R J Poseidon 6

'Lucky dog' rule implied this season (similar to the 1 in FAGCAR .... err I mean NASCAR)

F-C

Was there an actual explaination?

uzzmaan

I believe the new rules this season allow lapped cars to unlap themselves in a safety car situation. Which is pretty stupid, in my opinion.

dom

The rule was designed to move lapped cars out of the way of the leaders so they wouldn't interfere with the restart. Kinda like how that Spyker was in the way at the restart . I believe Lewis was a lap down and in last (nobody behond him?) at the time. There was no reason to move him forward.

F-C

Yeah, that's how the Speed crew explained it. Wouldn't it be better to have the lapped cars fall behind the queue, rather than move ahead of the pace car to unlap themselves? By allowing the lapped cars to get their laps back, those cars would have to drive at race pace to unlap themselves in time for the restart, which defeats the purpose of having a pace car out there to slow the field down for safety.

R J Poseidon 6

Hey, I read that the reason Kimi stayed out instead of pitting was b/c he slid past the turn right before the pit & he had to cut the chicane.....