GP of Brazil 2007
- Thread starter Skid Mark 33
- 570 comments
- 20,796 views
- 19,699
- Alabamamania
Yay, no more pointless arguing for another 4 months...I mean, congratulations, Kimi Raikkonen! I personally don't have a vested interest in any of them winning the title, but I found myself rooting for the underdog in this one at the start.
The trouble was, they were all really underdogs, in some way: A rookie driver, a no-luck driver, and a reigning world champion that had more competition than ever before, with a different team, no less. Who here really thought Alonso's move to McLaren in late 2005 was a great idea, when the '05 McMerc was the least-reliable car in the field? In 2006, did anyone seriously believe a brand-new driver could possibly be the hunt for the world title...in the final round? Or would Kimi's luck ever change?
The answer is no, for the most part. A truly improbable season, though a constructor's championship willing, and the typical he-say-she-say media blitz, still a great season. For once, this will be one of those historical Formula One years that actually measured up to the old title: Grands Prix. Why?
Nobody tried to take each other out, no crashes, no anti-climactic crap...just a motor race to decide the championship, once and for all (er, 2007). My hat's off to all four front-runners for not spoiling the title decider.
Finally, a real nail-biter to the Formula One World Championship. Good thing the American press actually cared about this one*.
* Whoops! Went too far there!
The trouble was, they were all really underdogs, in some way: A rookie driver, a no-luck driver, and a reigning world champion that had more competition than ever before, with a different team, no less. Who here really thought Alonso's move to McLaren in late 2005 was a great idea, when the '05 McMerc was the least-reliable car in the field? In 2006, did anyone seriously believe a brand-new driver could possibly be the hunt for the world title...in the final round? Or would Kimi's luck ever change?
The answer is no, for the most part. A truly improbable season, though a constructor's championship willing, and the typical he-say-she-say media blitz, still a great season. For once, this will be one of those historical Formula One years that actually measured up to the old title: Grands Prix. Why?
Nobody tried to take each other out, no crashes, no anti-climactic crap...just a motor race to decide the championship, once and for all (er, 2007). My hat's off to all four front-runners for not spoiling the title decider.
Finally, a real nail-biter to the Formula One World Championship. Good thing the American press actually cared about this one*.
* Whoops! Went too far there!
- 862
Quit whining guys 
Sureshot had a point with the BMW & Williams case. FIA should penalise the teams, not the drivers. That way it would be consistent with all other things they've decided this season. And about the question why wasn't there a guy watching over Ferrari, the answer is that they never promised to give equal strategies to their driver's, unlike McLaren. So it was practically Ron's own idea to have the inspector there, just to prove he's a man of his word. And it's not like McLaren had never done the same as Ferrari did now. It's standard procedure and it is not ugly. It gives the sport the more tachtical side and I personally don't have any problems with it. But apparently some of us do and that's a shame. It's a part of the sport, so just learn to live with it. And besides, McLaren propably would've made Fernando retire if one car had dropped out in the final laps. And they would've said he had a problem with the car, or then he would've crashed it slightly. Who knows... And I'm sure I wouldn't be bitching about it, so I see no point why you are bitching about this...
Another good examlpe is France. Ferrari drivers were quite neck-to-neck in points, Massa actually ahead, and there Kimi passed Massa during the pits. And that wasn't what they planned, I believe. So it can happen even without planning...
But other than that I have to say it was the greatest crown for this season. We got a legitimate champion, who actually used his team's car, not a piece of art patched together from the two top team's ideas. Lewis still has time to win the championship in later years, so I'm really happy with the result. Ferrari won the double, Kimi won his first championship after the two close years he had and really everything went right. All ready waiting for next season!
Sureshot had a point with the BMW & Williams case. FIA should penalise the teams, not the drivers. That way it would be consistent with all other things they've decided this season. And about the question why wasn't there a guy watching over Ferrari, the answer is that they never promised to give equal strategies to their driver's, unlike McLaren. So it was practically Ron's own idea to have the inspector there, just to prove he's a man of his word. And it's not like McLaren had never done the same as Ferrari did now. It's standard procedure and it is not ugly. It gives the sport the more tachtical side and I personally don't have any problems with it. But apparently some of us do and that's a shame. It's a part of the sport, so just learn to live with it. And besides, McLaren propably would've made Fernando retire if one car had dropped out in the final laps. And they would've said he had a problem with the car, or then he would've crashed it slightly. Who knows... And I'm sure I wouldn't be bitching about it, so I see no point why you are bitching about this...Another good examlpe is France. Ferrari drivers were quite neck-to-neck in points, Massa actually ahead, and there Kimi passed Massa during the pits. And that wasn't what they planned, I believe. So it can happen even without planning...
But other than that I have to say it was the greatest crown for this season. We got a legitimate champion, who actually used his team's car, not a piece of art patched together from the two top team's ideas. Lewis still has time to win the championship in later years, so I'm really happy with the result. Ferrari won the double, Kimi won his first championship after the two close years he had and really everything went right. All ready waiting for next season!
- 87,582
- Rule 12
- GTP_Famine
I guess you missed the quotes I posted from the FIA saying that the FIA were appointing someone to check that Alonso was given equal treatment at McLaren.
That's THE FIA.
Why should the FIA get involved with McLaren and not any other team? If McLaren weren't giving the drivers equal treatment, it's not an offence against F1 rules, so why does there need to be an FIA-appointed inspector there at all? If it suddenly IS an offence, why is the inspector only at McLaren, and not any of the other teams where there are clear #1 and #2 drivers?
I guess you also missed the part where I said I had no problem with team orders either. Just that I can't see why the FIA needed to involve themselves in something completely irrelevant.
The final points also show that McLaren treat their drivers equally - equal points for the two of them...
- 1,748
- 1,637
After the football AND the rugby...I don't think anyone would've bet on Hamilton's luck during the race, or lack there of.
Good to see Kimi win it, if Hamilton wasn't going to I'd have been happy Kimi did. He deserved a Championship title under his belt. Could say McLaren were to blame for Hamilton not winning it in China, but it's all ifs and buts now. Well done Kimi, glad I can at least say he's a World Champion now. Now Fernando can hop off to Renault and get worshipped there u-u.
As to all this fuel business...one hand there's Kimi winning it and the fact drivers shouldn't be punished...on the other there's the fact they break the rules... If they break them, they should be punished (a fact a couple of members were always so intent on emphasising to me as a McLaren fan eh?)
I'd like to bring this point up, many said that the drivers should be punished for McLaren's use of Ferrari settings (not that anyone knows just how much) and supposedly gaining an advantage. Williams and BMW had their drivers gain an advantage whether the drivers knew about it or not...are those suggesting that Hamilton and Alonso should've been booted from the Championship saying that Heidfeld, Kubica and Rosberg should be DQed from the race...or have they suddenly changed their philosophies?
Good to see Kimi win it, if Hamilton wasn't going to I'd have been happy Kimi did. He deserved a Championship title under his belt. Could say McLaren were to blame for Hamilton not winning it in China, but it's all ifs and buts now. Well done Kimi, glad I can at least say he's a World Champion now. Now Fernando can hop off to Renault and get worshipped there u-u.
As to all this fuel business...one hand there's Kimi winning it and the fact drivers shouldn't be punished...on the other there's the fact they break the rules... If they break them, they should be punished (a fact a couple of members were always so intent on emphasising to me as a McLaren fan eh?)
I'd like to bring this point up, many said that the drivers should be punished for McLaren's use of Ferrari settings (not that anyone knows just how much) and supposedly gaining an advantage. Williams and BMW had their drivers gain an advantage whether the drivers knew about it or not...are those suggesting that Hamilton and Alonso should've been booted from the Championship saying that Heidfeld, Kubica and Rosberg should be DQed from the race...or have they suddenly changed their philosophies?
- 33,155
- Hammerhead Garage
Yeah, losing two world championships in two days is pretty bad.
I wasted no time in informing one of my friends who is English that Hamilton didn't win. Actually, I think the first thing I said all day was "Lewis choked!", which was the way I greeted him.
He was very appreciative. He even thanked me by escorting me back to my room. At speed. He's the university champion when it comes to running, but I think this morning was the first time someone managed to out-run him. Shame no-one was around to see it ...
MagpieRacer
Premium
- 17,449
- Wymondham, Norfolk
- Seagull_Racer
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7056308.stm
Alonso questions Mclarens appeal..
Alonso questions Mclarens appeal..
- 12,486
- CCS
- GTP_Diego
I think McLaren has a lot to learn from this season, and appeals and arguments aren't the best way to earn a championship... the races are won on the track, not in the courts... who was it that said that?
- 119
I dunno very much in physics, but how much can a liquid contract with a 3-4 degrees colder temp?
And more, they say that an engine performance is better with colder fuel... i always heard the opposite, since the colder is the fuel and the air, the more you have to enrich the mix... increasing the consumption.
boh!
And more, they say that an engine performance is better with colder fuel... i always heard the opposite, since the colder is the fuel and the air, the more you have to enrich the mix... increasing the consumption.
boh!
- 6,009
- Austin, Texas
- D-Nitrate / GTP_DNitrate
True, they likely learned they should never have hired Alonso.
It would be nice if Alonso would use that same bit of advice.... although now that an appeal and argument from McLaren would help Hamilton and not him, he is now opposed to it.
I have the very opposite feeling despite being much more of a fan of Hamilton and McLaren than Kimi and Ferrari. (I respect the abilities of all the drivers at McLaren and Ferrari, I'm just talking overall fan wise)
The simple fact is even without McLaren's punishment due to being found guilty... TWICE for some pretty severe espionage, Ferrari still managed to win 204 constructor’s points to McLaren's 203. All the while, Ferrari has had to spend a great deal of extra time and effort what with losing their technical engineering director who stole critical Ferrari data and shared it with his pal at McLaren. Although some love to suggest the FIA is severley biased to Ferrari's efforts, I found it interesting that despite McLaren being found guilty the first time, the FIA didn't punish them at all.
And this of course just caused even more distractions for Ferrari as they fought like rabid dogs to make sure McLaren got adequately punished for what they did.You can argue the points all you like, and point to times when Ferrari and other teams broke rules and were not punished adequately, but then you also have to look at all the times they have been.
As much as I like and support McLaren, with all the smoke & fire of evidence surrounding this case, they should be glad they were punished more severely, and they can thank the fans for that as I'm sure the FIA's decision was based on knowing that had McLaren been tossed out for the season, fan support for F1 would have plummeted.
In the end, Hamilton's last season mistakes and misfortune, and Ferrari's (both Kimi's and Massa's) amazing late season efforts gave them a much deserved dual championship.
Speaking strictly as a fan of F1, and not Ferrari, they also earned them both in an incredible final race effort, with a lot of drams surrounding it... boring? Not for me at least. In fact, quite the opposite. I would have to rank this final race and championships as the most dramatic and exciting that I have seen in a very long time. 👍
- 1,565
- Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- m7ammed84
- 6,006
- Finland
Correct. If those drivers get punished now because their team did something against the rules, then the McLaren drivers should be disqualified from the championship. Otherwise it's far too evident that FIA wants to give Hamilton the championship.
As it goes, if they keep their line, Kimi will win the championship and that's what counts. He won it fairly and he should be allowed to keep it. And McLaren should face the fact that after all, they've been lucky to even have drivers' points in the final standings. Mr. Dennis, shut up and admit that you lost.
- 3,534
- London
Woo Kimi winning the championship was the best thing that I could hope for. Also does anyone else think it was odd the way Hamilton's car was playing up??!
Sabotage!!
Sabotage!!
- 12,486
- CCS
- GTP_Diego
At a certain point de la Rosa said that on Hamilton's outing, some dirt, stones or debris got in his hydraulics which elevated the temperature and wouldn't let him change gears... it was his inexperience.
D-N
Probably that they should never have placed too much trust on a rookie and let the World Champion in the team act as a world champion and not reverse the roles, placing him iin the bottom of the trust chain.
- 6,009
- Austin, Texas
- D-Nitrate / GTP_DNitrate
That's probably a popular personal opinion among Alonso fans... although I also suspect it falls well short of having any reasonable amount of evidence to support it.
As has been proven on and off the track, McLaren more than any other team gives equal support to its drivers. The fact is that Alonso was getting beaten by a young rookie on equal grounds. Obviously that didn't go over well for Alonso or his fans. Unfortunately, instead of proving he was the better driver on the track, he used the Spanish media to try and discredit his own team (much like he did to Renault during the second half of the season last year). It would seem many of his supporters believed everything that was fed to them through Alonso's campaign against McLaren.
Besides, I believe it was up to Alonso to "act like a champion", not for anyone on the team to make him act like one. Which I think you'll find outside of Spain, most would agree that he has not acted at all like a champion, or at least not like most F1 champions.
However, I don't expect you to agree with any of that, and as such we will just have to agree to disagree. 👍
- 1,637
True that, as a World Champion (Sorry...EX-World Champion) and let's not forget...someone who's what...24 years old? not 14...he shouldn't expect everyone to bow down for him to act the World Champion, it should be in his blood by now to act like it. The only thing he acted like for a lot of the season was World Class Prat.
- 7,177
- Lisboa
- FLAT_TWELVE
Yesterday, Hamilton showed that he is (was, the season is over), indeed, a rookie. The mistake in the first lap, and the way he treated his car after that, can only come from inexperience.
It's his own fault (and of course Kimi's merit) that he lost this championship. All he needed to do was to "sit behind" Alonso for the entire race ...
It's his own fault (and of course Kimi's merit) that he lost this championship. All he needed to do was to "sit behind" Alonso for the entire race ...
Similar threads
