2007 U.S. Grand Prix

[<_Spike_>]

Alonso just needs his nappy changed and no ones doing it for him so he's throwing his toys out of the pram...seriously he needs to realise he's not going to become Schumacher MkII just because he's won two championships

 

[m7ammed]

Practice 1 times Well nothing changed from Canda, all will be clear in tommorow's practice ... Hope BMW keep the pace up

1. ALONSO McLaren 1m11.925s
2. HEIDFELD BMW 1m12.391s
3. HAMILTON McLaren 1m12.628s
4. VETTEL BMW 1m12.869s
5. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m12.966s
6. ROSBERG Williams 1m13.020s
7. MASSA Ferrari 1m13.040s
8. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m13.159s
9. BUTTON Honda 1m13.597s
10. WEBBER Red Bull 1m13.682s
11. TRULLI Toyota 1m13.777s
12. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m13.786s
13. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m13.819s
14. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m13.907s
15. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m13.990s
16. FISICHELLA Renault 1m14.000s
17. SATO Super Aguri 1m14.037s
18. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m14.052s
19. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m14.189s
20. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m14.632s
21. ALBERS Spyker 1m14.636s
22. SUTIL Spyker 1m14.810s

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Did anybody else watch the Speed TV F1 Special Event? Fantastic! Who knew these guys could be so funny?

I just started watching it this morning and I agree, it is a refreshing take on the race weekend. I think if they did this regularly the popularity of F1 in the US would improve dramatically, as it adds much needed personality to F1, specifically the drivers, that is often lacking in much of the F1 coverage in the States. Driver personalities as well as their performance is what creates fans in the first place, otherwise they are just rooting for the constructor.

Derek Daily is the new team member to the F1 announcer team. He didn't ask a single serious question. He made fun of Kimi's tattoo which got a round of boos, he made fun of his party habits, he made fun of Luizzi who turned it back with humor (did he ever go on a date with Kimi) and so did Scott Speed. Nice question, Daily.

I actually found Daly to be a refreshing change and as he even stated before he asked his first question:

We don't want this necessarily to be a racing show, we want to know more about the personalities.

Frankly I think Kimi should have listened carefully when Daly said that, as Daly gave him a wonderful opportunity to show some personality and instead he blew it with his usual short, un-descriptive monotone mumbling answers. 👎

Other than Kimi, I thought all the drivers did a pretty good job, several really letting their PR guards down and saying what they really want to say and not what their team managers and agents wanted them to say. 👍

I particularly liked the following interviews:

• Fisichella (loved his response to the "red light" mishap )
• Sato (great comments about passing Alonso &#8211; also is it just me or is his British accent getting stronger? )
• Davidson (on his encounter with a "beaver" )
• Speed (interesting comments about a possible move to NASCAR)
• Trulli (always a great interview)
• Button (always like his frankness)
• Barrichello (I suspect his next time at Indy will be in Andretti Green)
• Heidfeld (informative, but not terribly personal)
• Alonso (like him or not, he always gives great interviews) 👍
• Hamilton (he is not only impressing me on the track, but off it as well &#8211; really well spoken for a rookie &#8211; oh, and loved his comment to the fan asking him a question about wearing a Ferrari hat. )
• Rosberg (loved his thoughts on his gearbox troubles )
• Wurz (for some good technical insights)
• Coulthard (excellent interview, possibly best of the bunch, with a wide range of interesting topics)

I liked Hamilton&#8217;s little nod to the PlayStation (presumably Formula One: Championship Edition), crediting it as one of the reasons that despite being a rookie, he has quickly learned the various nuances of each circuit. The crowd at hand seemed to get a kick out of hearing that as well.

These days it seems all the young(er) drivers in various racing sports all play the latest racing games. I was reading a few months back that several NASCAR and IRL drivers even have their own online racing leagues and race against each other online quite often. That&#8217;s got to be a great free plug to those consoles and games.

I don't know about that, but all the team drivers showed up and got interviewed together... except... Kubica, duh, and Alonso and Hamilton. They didn't show up together. Can you say 'tension at McLaren?'

My feelings as well. Even Peter Windsor didn&#8217;t sound very convincing when he said it was due to a &#8220;bit of a travel logistic glitch&#8221;.

Uh&#8230; if it was a travel glitch how come Hamilton followed Alonso&#8217;s interview only a minute later? Come on. If Hamilton was truly a few minutes late all they had to do was either wait, or interview Rosberg & Wurz first, then Alonso & Hamilton&#8230; I&#8217;d say it is pretty clear someone didn&#8217;t want to share the stage. I&#8217;m thinking that someone is the same someone who has a tendency to blame everyone, including his own team when he isn&#8217;t performing his best.



Overall, I really liked this &#8220;F1 LIVE&#8221; format and I hope to see more of these in the future.

 

[livemusic]

I hope Ferrari do better than they did in Canada.

 

[Sureboss]

Why is Wurz not in those practice sheets? (I see Williams have Nakajima though.)

 

[m7ammed]

Why is Wurz not in those practice sheets? (I see Williams have Nakajima though.)

Because they are the only team to run a 3rd driver in pratice (after BMW ditched the idea with 2 races into the season I think) all other teams now run 2 race drivers in practice.

 

[Sting]

Nice job by Seb Vettel in his F1 practise debut standing in for Kubica

 

[Muzaffar]

An exiting race weekend to see.McLaren still has the advantage over the rest of the field,followed by BMW and Ferrari.It does seem that Alonso hasn't "lost it",he still could do well in the USGP.But Lewis Hamilton still could prove as a main competitor to Alonso (having his 1st win at Canada,and has finished no lesser than 3RD! simply awesome for a rookie ) And i think Williams could have a good run here at Indianapolis.Could get some championship point (if they finish)and i think the Toro Rosso could be a surprise at Indianapolis

 

[Sureboss]

Interesting looking at the Speed Traps. Red Bulls comfortably fastest and the Super Agurri's comfortably slowest. Yet both have set midfield times in both sessions.

I'm quite looking forward to this. Can Indy perform for once?

 

[Bleached]

Did anybody else watch the Speed TV F1 Special Event? Fantastic! Who knew these guys could be so funny?

Yeah, I was there for most of it. What I thought was really ridiculous was that a lot of people booed at Ralf when he came on, though I doubt you could hear it on the microphones.

 

[Kylehnat]

seriously he needs to realise he's not going to become Schumacher MkII just because he's won two championships

And the other 21 drivers on the grid have won zero combined (that includes Mr. Hamilton). Regardless of what you think of him, he's the most successful driver on the grid. He has a bad attitude sometimes, but I dare you to find a human being who doesn't.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I don't know about that, but all the team drivers showed up and got interviewed together... except... Kubica, duh, and Alonso and Hamilton. They didn't show up together. Can you say 'tension at McLaren?'

I think Alonso didn't want people to see them in the same outfit.

 

[<_Spike_>]

Second practice... Alonso out to prove a point, 4 tenths between the top 4 cars, with half a second between Kimi and 5th place Heidfeld

1. Fernando Alonso Spain Vodafone McLaren Mercedes-Mercedes 01:12.156
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain Vodafone McLaren Mercedes-Mercedes 01:12.309
3. Felipe Massa Brazil Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro-Ferrari 01:12.435
4. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro-Ferrari 01:12.587
5. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber F1 Team-BMW 01:13.026
6. David Coulthard Britain Red Bull Racing-Renault 01:13.042
7. Nico Rosberg Germany AT&T Williams-Toyota 01:13.057
8. Heikki Kovalainen Finland ING Renault F1 Team-Renault 01:13.110
9. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Honda Racing F1 Team-Honda 01:13.144
10. Jenson Button Britain Honda Racing F1 Team-Honda 01:13.202
11. Sebastian Vettel Germany BMW Sauber F1 Team-BMW 01:13.217
12. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull Racing-Renault 01:13.263
13. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:13.332
14. Anthony Davidson Britain Super Aguri F1 Team-Honda 01:13.364
15. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy ING Renault F1 Team-Renault 01:13.394
16. Alexander Wurz Austria AT&T Williams-Toyota 01:13.539
17. Jarno Trulli Italy Panasonic Toyota Racing-Toyota 01:13.692
18. Scott Speed USA Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:13.712
19. Takuma Sato Japan Super Aguri F1 Team-Honda 01:13.753
20. Ralf Schumacher Germany Panasonic Toyota Racing-Toyota 01:13.765
21. Christijan Albers Holland Spyker F1 Team-Ferrari 01:14.225
22. Adrian Sutil Germany Spyker F1 Team-Ferrari 01:14.513

 

[prisonermonkeys]

20. Ralf Schumacher Germany Panasonic Toyota Racing-Toyota 01:13.765

Oh, look! Twentieth is the new third!

 

[<_Spike_>]

Heh, all talk no substance is Ralf...bit like Tim Henman really

 

[Metar]

Oh, look! Twentieth is the new third!

It's always been third place. Third-last.

 

[Muzaffar]

Originally Posted by <_Spike_>
20. Ralf Schumacher Germany Panasonic Toyota Racing-Toyota 01:13.765

Well,its not the 1st time Ralf have been under performing.He has been like this since Melbourne and it looks like he's not doing any better to improve.Ralf better performed or have another Schumacher retiring from F1 (or at least got fired....)

 

[Touring Mars]

Oh, look! Twentieth is the new third!

It's always been third place. Third-last.

ROFL... (or should that be RAFL?)

 

[Metar]

ROFL... (or should that be RAFL?)

Saturday practice looks good again for the Aguris. Sato seems to suck terminally, but Anthony in 13rd is probably the best result he had for a while... Again, however, their placing in the Speedtrap is far lower - perhaps they're running a higher-downforce setup? The trap's at the end of the straight, after all. That being said, all four (!) Red Bull cars are first there!

 

[<_Spike_>]

New from the FIA circus...

Any driver that makes contact with anyone else before their weigh in after a race will now be reported to the stewards. The driver then may face disqualification...

That's just as bad as yellow or even red carding a football player for celebrating with their fans...

 

[Muzaffar]

Originally Posted by <_Spike_>
Any driver that makes contact with anyone else before their weigh in after a race will now be reported to the stewards. The driver then may face disqualification...

Ouch!Another reason to hate the FIA.But i think this one is more fair than the other penalties because after all,it could be the drivers fault that could cause the accident.

 

[RouWa]

ROFL... (or should that be RAFL?)

LOL!

Even the german TV mocks him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lyDHpMhP0w

This is episode 5 of "Eckelstein" (german for Ecclestone). Here is a quick translation:

Ralf: I am the king of Monte Carlo (Monaco)!
Cora: You are MY king!

Flavio/Norbert/Michael:*sigh*
Michael: To be honest, Ralf troubles me. Someone has to take care of the boy.
Falvio: I'd rather take care of Cora...
Michael: And his contract at Toyota runs out, too!
Norbert: Those ricers wouldn't win anyway...
Michael: Hey pals, let's play "Rock, Paper, Scissors". The loser must contract Ralf next season!
Flavio: I dunno. As a test driver, maybe.
*They play, Norbert loses*
Norbert: Oh ****! Well, then I am going to bring Ralf the "good message".
*Norbert goes to Ralf, Ralf and Cora fall overboard*
Michael: There is a career drowning... (it's not possible to translate it properly, but I think you get the message).
Norbert: I did nothing wrong!/I am not guilty! (reference to Michael, every episode ends with this quote)

 

[slackbladder]

Qualifying has finished. Hamilton is good. Really good!

 

[Metar]

Anthony did well - for a while

At least the Aguris beat the Spykers and STRs... Though the way it currently looks, Toro Rosso can look forward to an excellent car next year, judging by the RBR3's performance

 

[<_Spike_>]

Mmmm, Hamilton was good, but Alonso's mistake made sure he got pole just as in Canada.

 

[Muzaffar]

Lewis has done in again! 2 for 2 in North America.Would he win again in Indianapolis?I hope so.....Trulli did a good job getting 7th (way better than that old 🤬 Ralf or should i say Rolf) But too bad the Super Aguris didn't get into the top 10,i was hoping Sato would perform better in Indianapolis then he did in Montreal.

 

[<_Spike_>]

At least there's no wildlife for Davidson to maul this time

 

[Sureboss]

BMW looked good until Q3, I think Ferrari held it back a little in Q1&2. Well done Lewis, I thought Vettel did well too.

 

[<_Spike_>]

Vettel impressed me considering it's his debut and only at 19, may only be for one race but it's a chance to show what he can really do for future race-seat suiters

 

[Roo]

New from the FIA circus...

Any driver that makes contact with anyone else before their weigh in after a race will now be reported to the stewards. The driver then may face disqualification...

That's just as bad as yellow or even red carding a football player for celebrating with their fans...

Ouch!Another reason to hate the FIA.But i think this one is more fair than the other penalties because after all,it could be the drivers fault that could cause the accident.

The rule isn't about on-track action, it's for the parc ferme at the end. In Montreal, Lewis parked the car in parc ferme at the end of the race, as usual, but he then went into the crowd of mechanics and celebrated with them; then he went and got weighed. This rule has been put in place to prevent drivers doing this. The reason is that the car could run illegally light, get on the podium, have another team member hand the driver something to increase his weight to bring it above the minimum weight limit. So long as the driver is weighed first, then he can go celebrate; until then, he must remain alone.

Good work from Hamilton again. Vettel impressed; let's hope he can keep his head at the start. I was hoping for more from the Super Aguris (never thought I'd say that at the beginning of the season). The Ferraris seem in better form; should be close at the top.

Looking forward to tomorrow.