OK, they SAY they were, but do you believe it? Do the times reflect it? Did they look like it? They looked pretty slow in the infield to me. Wes
I think that they were allowed to have a go! But i guess that they would of had there engines turned down, and there main aim was to score max points but not to stress there engines. If that was the case, they would of has more pace then they were showing!
MS was leading....Rubens behind putting no pressure. MS pits....16 secs pit stop compare to 8 or 9 seconds for Rubens. Rubens is the new leader ....(woohoo Ferrari putting on a show by reversing race leaders, boring) The 16 secs pit stop for MS was done on purpose. Later.... MS comes back on track.....almost hits Rubens... Avoiding action for RB. I can bet you 50$ that RB won't be driving for Ferrari next year. He is fed up.
I'll take that bet. The only other time I've seen him that unhappy after a race is after his car gets wrinkled.
Have you been persuaded by Derek Daly to believe that Michael was driving dangerously and should have been disqualified? Have you ever been in a competitive driving situation where you had the corner? I do not believe the victory was staged. If it had been so, Rubens would have won after Michaels long pit stop. No, Michael would not give him the lead at pit lane.......It was a racing decision.....
Reubens shoudl not and probably is not upset. He is the number 2 driver at ferrari. He knows his role there is no same in it being the number 2 driver., he should stay quite and enjoy the ride, and life !
In the stands we were talking about their pace and they were turning anywhere from 1:14 to 1:11 compared to Trulli's qualifying pace of 1:10.6. But, once michael was behind we knew they were running because he would not stay behind Rubens like that without pushing for the lead and he gives no quarter as demostrated on the pit exit. Stupid race but Schumi knew that the points could be important later and Rubens always says he can beat Michael so the race was on.
You got to be joking... Rubin is there to guard Michael. Even Rubin lead and headed for the checker flag, the team ordered Rubin to slow down to let Michael passed, Don't you remember that incident...??? Whatever happened last sunday was a FERRARI SHOW!!!
They looked to be "racing" -- as Ferrari does F1: Go quick and try to pass with pit strategy. At the second round of pits, Rubens had good reason to want to be ahead -- after the pits are over, the positions were pretty much set. They needed to get both cars to the finish -- wheel to wheel racing over those last laps would have stressed the equipment (remember the two race rules) and possibly taken them both out. Racing each other? For the first 46 laps, yes. After that: get to the end. Reasonable, but not too exciting. Too bad there weren't any other positions being contested either. Maybe the Michelin cars should have held a game of charades for 7th and 8th. Or, better yet, a game of chicken: Who's willing to appear in front of that irate crowd?
I really agree to this point of the staged stop in the box, and lauged a lot when the pit radio says, "hey, is no problem, the tyre has more another 100 laps easy". I was thinking that Ferrari says to the world (and to Michelin) that the correct tyres is really no problem and anyway, with a 16 second stop where MS even has a cup of coffee and take a leak we can still win. Even though the race was a empty victory, the comment on the radio was a real "finger" to Michelin.
Not really sure which way to vote here. I think they were racing in the way that they usually race these days: Do what you like till the last pitstop and then cruise to the finish. That's why Michael was so determined to get ahead of Rubens as he left the pits. If they had both been absolutely determined to win and been battling each other all through the race it probably would have been a great race, even though the others were all in their garages sulking!
