What a fantastic race this was! Better than the entire season 2008 combined. Congrats to Hami and to Kimi for scoring valuable points. It just showed once again, that installing sprinklers would be a great idea to liven up a dull race.
Very entertaining, but frustrating. Could not some of these poor pitlane decisions be evidence of a deficiency created by the departures of Brawn then Todt? Great drive by Lewis.
Just had a thought, which has surely not escaped Hamilton and McLaren... This year is his only remaining chance to take the record for being youngest F1 champion from Fernando. Next year will be too late unless he somehow wrapped it up before the mid-point of the season. Since Alonso is the youngest F1 winner and the youngest driver to get pole it's one of the records i'm sure he'd like to get. Ian
It just showed once again, that installing sprinklers would be a great idea to liven up a dull race. +11111 I love it !!!!
Well.. Massa is overrated, period! He only seem to be able to win when it goes wrong for his opponents... RAI/HAM crash, RAI car problem, Monaco he just blew it on his own, AGAIN. out of the raqces so far there only seem to be two where he has REALLY earned it himself. I want Ferrari to have the best and 2nd best drivers. Not just some good top 10 driver like Massa. What happened today was all Massa's fault. Forget about the car being the problem. And even IF it was a problem, then it just makes it worse for Massa IMO. Then he put the life of the other drivers as well as his own, in danger by continueing the race.
+100 And now for the Massa Fans, I hope you take your blinders off and learning something from Hamilton's drive. Too bad Ruebens isn't still in the Ferrari instead of Massa.
How about oil slicks and pop up rumble strips? Maybe wild animals jumping out of cages if you hit a button in the track?
great race. it's been clear that the ferrari's tend to struggle more in the wet than their main rivals which we've just gotten further evidence of. Massa seemed doomed from the start so i'll just leave it at that. I'm very impressed with the way Lewis stepped up and answered the critics. Ferrari screwed up Kimi's race again but 4th is still very respectable and he's regained a tie for the WDC so no harm done. looks like we're in for a great 2nd half of the season!
People were bad-mouthing Rubhino when he was in the Ferrari. But I'm starting to think that Schumi and Rubens did their own race strategy, while Kimi and Phil are getting directed from the pits. How often, this year, have we seen the team mess up both drivers? Hamilton did an outstanding job hanging onto the car in horrific conditions. The standing water was more than the inters were meant for. (Remember the European GP last year, when water running across the track collected a half dozen cars in a row ... including Hamilton?) The track was something that F1 had no tire to deal with: a dry line with puddles. Honda went to full wets to some advantage, but the drying line may have worn them quickly (judging from the switch back to inters). And everyone was spinning on inters at the standing water. Hydroplaning is no fun, I can tell you. For those who think sprinklers are the key to "good races", may I suggest, for your viewing pleasure, the Demolition Derby? AHA: There's the choice for a USGP: A street circuit around the D.C. metro area. Why settle for marbles when you can have nails? Flat tires every lap! What fun!! (My street tires have picked up enough junk to start a hardware store)
Poor show by Ferrari. Two stints on one set of inters for both drivers?! And I think something was seriously wrong with Massa's F2008. There's no way an F1 driver could be that bad in the wet.
Some good scraps in the midfield. Alonso, Raikkonen, Kovi had some good scraps. Hard, but clean racing. Alonso let Hamilton by without any problems.
Seriously wrong - YES - go back and watch track action on Friday and you'll know why. They should have replaced the chassis after the big shunt he had going off on Alonso's engine oil. Carol
I'm sure the car wasn't 100%. But I don't know if that added up to last in the field. Everyone was hydroplaning on the standing water. And if Massa has shown a weakness, it's in regaining control once the car comes unstuck. Massa might have been better off with full wets. Many of the cars might have been better off with full wets. But perhaps Massa even more so. Especially with the chassis not quite right. The spins they did show *were* somewhat abrupt, leaving little chance to control them. And the car did seem to have a preference for sliding tail first --- which isn't good for rejoining without losing positions or getting t-boned. I think the team needs to have a sit down and start putting some of the strategy decisions back on the drivers. After a spin or two, Massa might have had doubts about running inters across the fjords, much less double stinting them. But the pits made the choice based on the weather forecast. In England. Forecast, riiiight. After all, we saw how well following the FIA forecast worked out for Massa's race at Monaco. I think there needs to be a bit more driver input in the decision process. Not all teams give the same level of access to their radio comms, but we've heard Renault ask Alonso what he wants to do. Have we heard Ferrari ask either driver about strategy?
Happy to see Barrichello on the podium today, real class act! Sorry to see Kubica bow out but Heidfeld congrats. Ferrari sucked today but I really wanted to see BMW do better if Ferrari wasn't going to make a good showing. Interesting race! Jeff
I can't believe that a team with Ferrari's resources and experience would keep Massa running a chassis that is damaged or worse yet not know that it was damaged. They have a spare chassis with them why would they not use it if Massa had a problem?