Hockenheim

[Eagle]

haha, you think Ross Brawn wouldn't have been prepared for that? Jenson didn't actually have the same race pace we saw Michael and Kimi display at the start. Jenson's qualifying and race efforts were nothing short of sublime, from a man who didn't seem to expect a podium at the start - he needs to get his visor fixed though. Clearly the drive of the day.

Rubens... What a way to ruin your day. He'd have run brilliantly otherwise but oh well, these things happen. What happened at the end, he stopped on the pit straight with a rear left tyre failure from what I could see.

Trulli went backwards big time as his front wing was sporting a rather large (50cm long) chunk of Kimi Raikkonen's rear wing which disrupted his airflow tremendously. All the Michelin runners seemed to suffer with tyre problems at some stage or another, from outright blistering to delamination.

Montoya - what a start. Wasn't immensely impressive as he climbed his way back through the field either. Pizzonia barely rated a mention, Webber did a great job to beat him to 6th, Coulthard didn't seem to figure much except for a brief fight with Button. Sato had one of the best passes of the day, slipping a wheel towards the dirt and grass as he went around the outside of Trulli down into the hairpin, that was impressive.

Overall, quite an exciting race with some great battles and overtaking, one of the better ones of the season. Kudos to the German director who showed ITV viewers at least every single battle as it happened - no home town favouritism was shown whatsoever. The German fans were another matter, repeating the shame of the Tour De France stage recently where they spat on non-German riders.

Kimi, yeah he needs a hug and a lucky charm. Scary moment, poor guy, 2004 just hasn't been kind to him.

 

[l33tc4k30fd00m]

The German fans were another matter, repeating the shame of the Tour De France stage recently where they spat on non-German riders.

Now Kimi always seems to be quite the mellow guy (out of the car anyway). I can't blame him for being pissed when he crashed out.

But frankly if that was me I would have wanted to climb over the fence and smack some of those assholes upside the head.

Really not cool.

 

[Eagle]

I remember Kimi used to have the reputation as the Iceman, it seems like his fuse has really taken a beating this season, in the car he's still ultra cool and it shows but when he retires, damn, what can you expect. We all saw Michael throw his helmet into the wall in disgust at Monaco, Kimi's had it happen what, 6, 7 times?

 

[Mike Rotch]

Firstly, I almost cried when i saw they had pulled up the track on the old circuit and planted grass What a waste.

Stupid rear wing failure Kimi was shaping up to give Schumi a real run for his money. I think had Button started in third, he might well have won.

Another anonymous race from Williams, and poor old Trulli getting part of the McLaren stuck under his wing. Briatorre needs to chill out a bit and understand that with the current powerplant, his cars stand no chance.

 

[Eagle]

The next race at Hungary should see Renault shine again.

 

[daan]

haha, you think Ross Brawn wouldn't have been prepared for that? Jenson didn't actually have the same race pace we saw Michael and Kimi display at the start. Jenson's qualifying and race efforts were nothing short of sublime, from a man who didn't seem to expect a podium at the start - he needs to get his visor fixed though. Clearly the drive of the day.

There was nothing wrong with his visor. His probelm was the chinstrap. It wasn't right tight and the helmet was lifting up and restricting his breathing. He was trying to hold the helmet down so that he could breathe.

 

[RSCosworth]

Yep, he had problems with the chinstrap and breathing. Must´ve been hard to drive with only one hand most of the time, but still, he overtook Alonso. Button will be a champion one day. He has talents.

And yes, Renault and Hungary. I believe they will have a podium finish there, but I don´t believe they could win. It´ll be Schumi, Kimi or Button in my opinion. It would be great if Kimi could win. There are many finnish fans in Hungary cheering for Kimi, and he just deserves it. This season has been so hard for him. This is not the best time to suffer a structural failure Hope it was only bad luck, not a failure in car desing.

It´s three weeks to the next race, right?

Laters

 

[Eagle]

Yep, 3 weeks to the next run, and I just read about the chinstrap thing, last I heard we (along with his team from what we saw of them in the pits) were still speculating visor.

 

[phantasm]

you gotta hand it to MS and Ferrari yet again... an impecable drive for another win. Biggest thing about this year is how incredibly reliable the Ferrari is whilst also being sooo fast. Seems like the other teams can only be one or the other... reliable or fast.

Too bad for Kimmi, he was having a great drive... seemed like he was the only one even interested in trying to challenge Michael... that wing flying off was nuts... anyone hear what actually happened yet? Seemed a very bizarre incident to say the least.

Too bad Alonso got Kimmi's wing caught up in his nose... was a good fight with Jenson (who drove very well considering the starting place).

to Webber... great to see him have a good drive in a crap car... he should be doing some damage when he's with a real team next year.

Montoya's gotta be the biggest jekyll and hyde driver on the circuit... at points he looks like the best/fastest driver going, then he looks like he couldn't pass a minardi gonna be interesting at McLaren next season... I think they're gonna miss Coulthard.

Sato... they calmed him down and quieted the engine to keep him from blowing it up... but it appears that he's completely ineffective on course as a result... i guess he needs to be balls to the walls to be competitive.

You can see there's going to be a lot of driver casualties for next season... Panis, Da Matta, Heidfeld, be surprised if we see any of them in F1 next year.

Anyway, great race with lot's of battles and passing (other than upfront)... looking forward to Hungary

 

[Eagle]

Heidfeld might yet have whispers of Williams over him but I'd be surprised if that's the case. Trulli got Raikkonen's wing stuck under his front wing, not Alonso.

Apparently the McLaren rear wings are simply bonded to the sideplates, not screwed directly (just what I heard from the pitlane ITV guy, doesn't make a lot of sense though) so if the bonding just failed for whatever reason (heat + stress) then it might account for it essentially falling out like it did.

 

[Blake]

If it is bonded to the sideplates without screws - like they said - it makes very little sense. If that was the case how on earth would you change downforce?

Anyway great drives from Kimi, Button and Webber:tup:

Pitty one of those was a DNF. Hope to see Kimi doing well in hungary!