Aussie GP

[Carl.]

So that would probably explain Montoya's somewhat lackluster performace. Did the article say exactly when it happened? I heard no mention of it on the telecast.

Here it is:

A frustrated Ron Dennis accused Juan-Pablo Montoya of 'throwing away' second place on his McLaren debut in Melbourne.

The Woking boss revealed that, in an incident completely missed by the television cameras, Montoya slid off the track during the race and claimed that the excursion cost the South American a comfortable podium finish. In the event, Montoya trailed in a tame sixth place, over half a minute behind race winner Giancarlo Fisichella.

"We threw away second place," Dennis complained. "I don’t know if it was on television or not, but Juan-Pablo went off [during the race]. He got his tyres very dirty and obviously they cooled and he struggled for grip thereafter. .

"From then, you're faced with engine conservation. He really threw second away," Dennis added, just in case his frustration wasn't already evident.

News of Montoya's excursion certainly explains his lacklustre performance. However, it remains inexplicable that in a race so bereft of drama and excitement, the incident was missed by the television cameras.

With Kimi Raikkonen stalling on the grid, and ultimately finishing just eighth, Dennis described the weekend as "painful".

It's not the way to go motor racing."

However, without their self-administered problems, Dennis believes that McLaren, rather than Ferrari, would have challenged Renault for victory.

"Kimi's fastest lap was set without deflectors, which is pretty impressive. We had the pace to win."

"The only people who finished in front of us who concerned us with their pace were Renault. That gives them a good start in the Constructors' but there’s a long way to go."

I might wait after the next race before switching from McLaren chassis/engine to Renault on Giles FF1, they look like this year's best deal (with Red Bull as a close second). At least I have Giancarlo as my first driver.

 

[Brett]

Its amazing that such an excursion could miss getting caught by the television cameras. This excursion may also explain why Montoya's tires were so torn to shreds.

 

[Carl.]

Yep:

Juan Pablo Montoya 6th: "I'm pleased that we seem to have the speed with the MP4-20 package, and I would have been able to finish higher up had things gone our way. I lost some valuable time during my second stint as I was pushing really hard on the in-lap and got the rear tyre on the grass at Turn Eight. Later on there was a misunderstanding with one of the Jordans which meant I was pushed off the track. Towards the end I slowed down to conserve the package for Malaysia. After the race I have been told that I also had lost one of my deflectors which obviously affected the overall speed and the handling of my car."

 

[Nasadus]

It was when he was in 2nd position,right in front of Rubens.You could see him go off when the camera was with Rubens on-board who was right behind him.But the commentator never said a thing about it.He probably missed it.It happend really fast.He went off at the 4th to last corner.He steered in,got oversteer,countered and went on to the blue stuff.Rubens and i belive it was Webber who was right behind Rubens passed him and Montoya lost 2nd place.

 

[VeNoM_NY_USA]

Interesting race thanks to the weather mixing up qualifying. RBR impressed me. I was expecting a good run from Renault. Great race from Fisi leading from pole. RB had a good race to get second. Michael had a disappointing race, but hopefully his ability to have a new engine for Sepang without penalty will work to his benefit. I was expecting more from the Maccas, but they at least both scored points. What was with Trulli's falling off in the Toyota as the race wore on? Anyhow, I thought it was an exciting start to the season.

 

[livemusic]

Good race for Rubens. It´s important for him to make points with the old car, so he won´t fell behind until Ferrari starts to use the 2005 model. You never know, this could be a good year for him.

 

[Roo]

Good race. Not the greastest ever, but it wasn't bad. Shame Coulthard and Webber couldn't get on the podium - would have been pretty special if they did.

Wasn't that impressed with Villeneuve, particularly when he was being lapped. It shouldn't have taken a lap to tell him to move out of the way of DC and Webber at the end.

Plodding along like your grandmother in her Yaris, Toyota are still here spending loads of money to score solid ninth places. Trulli can be fast until about halfway through the race, then he gets bored and slows down to have a rest.

Taken from the latest Sniff Petrol. Impressively accurate, given the result from Melbourne.

 

[ExigeEvan]

BAR played abit of a sly tactic at the end and the commentary said that if oterh teams do it again they will make a rule against it.

 

[darkfinal]

Alonso overcame 10 positions, from 13th to 3rd. Villeneuve was blocking him for the first 10 laps but when Alonso got rid of him, he began to run like hell and doing fastest laps. 1'25'600, OMFG! That's a signal of the superb status of Renault. And Fisico went almost all race 1st, as all people expected. He was "slow" compared with Alonso, well, I guess Flavio Briattore told Fisico not to run, he was going to win the race anyway. But I'd REALLY wanted to see both Renaults starting at the front of the start grid, to see a real comparison between the experimented Fisico and the promising Alonso.

I didn't care of him, but Barrichello was there all the race. He was confident, he hadn't much cars at front of him and he took advantage of this. 2nd at all!!! Ferrari is still running like hell. But the 2nd place of Barri is contrasted with the abandonment of Schumi. Very very bad race. He wanted to overcome SO BAD and Heidfeld couldn't do nothing to stop his car through the grass.

And RBR??? I thought Klien was ABSOLUTELY DEAD last year, he was so bad at Jaguar and the accident between him and Webber last race of 2004 confirmed it. But, man, he has improved a lot!!! I suppose he has learnt of Coulthard, another one I thought he would do nothing in this GP. That was a really good race for RBR.

McLaren continues with its bad luck, well, Kimi and Montoya deserved a better place. But there are 18 GPs left, nothing is impossible.

Williams has done very bad race. And both BAR were stuck between some slow cars, and he didn't do much. BAR has slown down very much, this year they won't have much possibilities of end 3rd on the constructor's cup.

Toyota is a very good constructor and it has a competitive car, but... Trulli always does the same: a good clasification, he fights the top positions but at the end he ends at the rear positions. He was doing this in Renault last year, when Alonso was running between 2nd and 5th places every GP, Trulli was below him (excepting the exceptional race of Monaco, when Alonso was reaching him and that fu:censored: ba:censored: fool of Ralf hit him). And Ralf... better not to talk about him. I can get very very ANGRY with him.

Jordan and Minardi, always the same. Monteiro did what he could. Karthikeyan is still so newbie, and he couldn't handle his Jordan as he wanted. Albers stopped misteriously in the pit stop, and Friedsacher ran as fast as he could.



So, I really like how this year looks like. This race was SOOOOOOO GREAT, without the supremacy of Ferrari and with some great competitors. If I have to bet to someone now, I'd bet that Renault will win the constructor's cup. But for that, Renault has to win a lot of points BEFORE Ferrari get the new car.

And who has the best opportunities of winning the championsip? Fisichella, Alonso, Schumi, Kimi, Montoya... I really want to see Alonso at the top of the list.

 

[Ev0]

Yep, it looks like we could have a great season on our hands, until Ferrari get their 2k5 car...

Nonetheless, great race. The new rules appear to have made passing a very difficult, so it looks like we could see some very dull races regarding position changes (Monaco could be a complete snoozefest if this holds true).

It's great to see a whole slew of competitive teams this year. RBR is surprisingly fast (I'm glad I picked them for fantasy F1!), Renault could very well give Ferrari a run for their money, even after the debut of the 2005 Ferrari, and all the other front runners look strong so far; with the exception of BAR, but they had crappy grid position due to the weather, so we'll hopefully see their true pace in Malaysia.

And speaking of BAR, anyone have an idea of when they are getting the new 1000hp engines from Honda?

 

[Mike Rotch]

The new rules appear to have made passing a very difficult, so it looks like we could see some very dull races regarding position changes

Yup. Harder tyres mean less mechanical grip - exactly was is needed for more overtaking. Mosley is a royal idiot IMO, but thats for another day.

Super impressed with RBR. The old Jag honchos must be wondering how the new team unlocked so much performance. Sauber looked rather anonymous and Toyota were their usually misleading selves.

Alonso was another who was super impressive, and one mustnt forget Rubens coming from 12th to 2nd.

 

[Ev0]

Don't forget about less downforce too.

But if you ask me, if they wanted to make the cars slower, I think they should have introduced tighter engine regulations instead of reducing grip (which should also make the cars more difficult to drive).

 

[Double_R]

they shld allow 10 second boosts.

 

[Race Idiot]

Super impressed with RBR. The old Jag honchos must be wondering how the new team unlocked so much performance. Sauber looked rather anonymous and Toyota were their usually misleading selves.

I think Jaguar (ford) were very tight with the purse strings, wheras the new teams owner has given them a bit more cash to play with. Also the Cossie engine had a bit of a power increase. Quite nice to see Coulthard doing well in the new team though.

Great start for Renault and i'm probably clutching at straws but I realy want Rubens to win the Championship this season. Even though i'm not a Ferrari fan I think it would be nice to see him show that he can beat Mike.

As for Jaques 'I'm the 97 world champion roadblock' Villeneuve, well the less I say the better. And I thought he would be rejuvenated somewhat, nope.

Qualifying was hillarious though, Fisichella (god I suck at teh spell) got a nice clean dry lap. Then next out Massa got drenched and had to drive around at 30mph.

Also all I can see these aero/tyre rulechanges doing is making the cars fall off the track easier, more overtaking my arse.

Edit: The Ferraris rear diffuser looks cool as **** though doesn't it.

 

[Ev0]

As for Jaques 'I'm the 97 world champion roadblock' Villeneuve, well the less I say the better. And I thought he would be rejuvenated somewhat, nope.

I'm not all that surprised with Villeneuve's performance. He's been having lots of problems driving the '05 cars, most likely due to the downgraded handling. That, and he's not the driver he once was. He seems to have lost the competitive edge he had back in the mid 90s when he was one of the world's premiere drivers.

Also all I can see these aero/tyre rulechanges doing is making the cars fall off the track easier, more overtaking my arse.

Fully agreed. It also makes them a hell of a lot more difficult to drive in the rain, as we all saw in qualifying.

 

[kensei]

I'm not all that surprised with Villeneuve's performance. He's been having lots of problems driving the '05 cars, most likely due to the downgraded handling. That, and he's not the driver he once was. He seems to have lost the competitive edge he had back in the mid 90s when he was one of the world's premiere drivers.

I agree. Enough excuses for JV. He has had MORE than enough chances to prove he has a shred of talent. he has failed on each other them. Enough.

On another note. Why do you thing the Toyota fades mid race? It did it last season with Trulli and did it again. What do you (anyone I mean) think the issue is? Please don't respond with "the car sux man"...try to be more constructive. The only thing I can think of is the car eats tires. This season that is even more of an issue.

 

[ExigeEvan]

The cars Villeneuve drove are very different to the ones they drive today. I think his hair is the problem .

@DoubleR-Ithink 10 seconds is just abit too long

 

[daan]

Why do you thing the Toyota fades mid race? It did it last season with Trulli and did it again. What do you (anyone I mean) think the issue is? Please don't respond with "the car sux man"...try to be more constructive. The only thing I can think of is the car eats tires. This season that is even more of an issue.

They always start light on fuel, which makes them look good for the first stint. Trulli pitted on lap 18. As a comparison DC pitted on lap 21, Fisi on lap 23. As soon as they give the Toyota a decent amount of fuel, it just fades away.

 

[Carl.]

I agree. Enough excuses for JV. He has had MORE than enough chances to prove he has a shred of talent. he has failed on each other them. Enough.

I'd love to disagree, but I can't, if this is what we should expect for the rest of the season from him that's pathetic. The only part that seems to remain from his talent is that he's still hard to pass... even when it shouldn't be (as with Fisichella). I'd be happy for him to get decent results from the Sauber this year, but it looks like it's just not going to happen without some sort of miracle.

 

[livemusic]

I realy want Rubens to win the Championship this season.

That makes two of us.


And I don´t think Villeneuve will last until the end of the season.

 

[sirlosealot]

That makes two of us.

So we know there's at least three people on the planet that want Rubens to win the championship.

 

[kensei]

So we know there's at least three people on the planet that want Rubens to win the championship.

Monkey's will fly out of Micheal's butt before they allow poor ole' Rubens to win the title.

 

[Blake]

Villeneuve shouldn't be in F1, he isn't competetive and he'll never get another competetive drive. 👎

Blake

 

[jenson09]

I actualy like JV but have to agree. He drove poorly i the race, made a bad use of a good grid position and badly blocked other, faster drivers blue flag or no blue flag.
Actualy that is one point that the marshals shoud have done better.
And what was up with Micheal getting people over to push him out of the gravel. Take retirement like a man and switch your engine off!! Dont put other peoples lives it risk just to save face!!

Oh and well done to ITV for making Martin and James shut up when Team Radio was on. Its about time we got to hear that.

 

[daan]

So we know there's at least three people on the planet that want Rubens to win the championship.

But the main problem is that none of them work for Ferrari...

 

[sirlosealot]

So we know there's at least three people on the planet that want Rubens to win the championship.

But the main problem is that none of them work for Ferrari...

Well one of them does.

Monkey's will fly out of Micheal's butt before they allow poor ole' Rubens to win the title.

Suppose, for one crazy moment, that we're approaching mid-season and through a combination of errors, weather and bad luck (for Michael) Rubinho is ahead of Michael in the championship. How quickly would Ferrari switch allegiances? Obviously not a likely occurence, but the team is only on Michaels side as long as he's winning.

 

[Brett]

I think in those circumstances any team would change which driver is the number one, at least until the end of the season.

 

[jenson09]

I think in those circumstances any team would change which driver is the number one, at least until the end of the season.

They certainly would...its intheir best interests to give the most support for the champion contender in the team. Look at McLaren, they would have probably been champions more in the late 90's early 2000's if theyd properly suported the leading driver which at some points was not mika. But because Ron Dennis was so blinkered and loyal to Hakinnen it cost them the championship. The same may happen to Ferrari if they just blindly support MS even if he's doing realy badly. They'd have to give Rubens better kit. I mean, if he can do so well with number 2 cars imagine what he could do with a car like Michaels!!

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Well one of them does.

Suppose, for one crazy moment, that we're approaching mid-season and through a combination of errors, weather and bad luck (for Michael) Rubinho is ahead of Michael in the championship. How quickly would Ferrari switch allegiances? Obviously not a likely occurence, but the team is only on Michaels side as long as he's winning.

You may think so, but personally I disagree. The thing is, they're paying Michael enough money to pay off Third World Debt, and it would be embarrassing for them if the monkey in the second car (who gets paid in McDonalds Happy Meals, one per day), goes and wins the championship for them. I don't think it's quite so pressing now as it was, but I think it's a consideration nonetheless.

And if you think all of this is a load of hoo-ey, you would do well to look at the archives of the 1999 season, toward the end of the championship. Look at the points going into the European GP, and then look at what happened IN the European GP...

 

[kensei]

I agree with Giles. Part of me thinks that Ferrari's "win at any cost" approach to motorsport would allow for Rubens to win the title if he was well ahead mid season. The other part doesn't see it. Giles's brought up a good point about MS and he being the #1, etc. I think it is all valid. I think to save face, if Ferrari were that far out of it mid season, they would throw their hands up in the air and write the season off, even with Rubens in the top spot. Ruben's roll is to be #2 and thats it. He isn't supposed to win the title and I doubt Ferrari would ever let him.

But....I also can reason that because of Ruben's service the past seasons that if he was well ahead that as a "Thank You" Ferrari and MS would help Ruben's win the title...if it was ANY other team but Ferarri I would see this happening. But since it's Ferrari you just never know.