Wahoo - Fisi beats Alonso Too bad Massa had to start so far back - good strategy for him with the one stop. Wonder what awaits in Australia??? Carol
I wish Button would have placed better. Now you have Alonso with a new engine in Australia (along with Montoya, Button & ?) vs Ferrari on the used engine. Hopefully Ferrari has resolved the piston issue and are ready to go in Melbourne.
1. Fisichella Renault (M) 1h30:40.529 2. Alonso Renault (M) +4.585 3. Button Honda (M) +9.631 4. Montoya McLaren-Mercedes (M) + 39.351 5. Massa Ferrari (B) +43.254 6. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) +43.854 7. Villeneuve BMW-Sauber (M) +1:20.461 8. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) + 1:21.288 9. Trulli Toyota (B) + 1 lap 10. Barrichello Honda (M) + 1 lap 11. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) + 2 laps 12. Albers MF1-Toyota (B) + 2 laps 13. Monteiro MF1-Toyota (B) + 2 laps 14. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 3 laps Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:34.803 Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (M) 49 Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 42 Ide Super Aguri-Honda (B) 34 Klien Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 27 Webber Williams-Cosworth (B) 16 Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 11 Rosberg Williams-Cosworth (B) 7 Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1 World Championship standings, round 2: Drivers: 1. Alonso 18 2. M.Schumacher 11 3. Button 11 4. Fisichella 10 5. Montoya 9 6. Raikkonen 6 7. Massa 4 8. Webber 3 9. Rosberg 2 10. Villeneuve 2 11. Klien 1 12. R.Schumacher 1 Constructors: 1. Renault 28 2. Ferrari 15 3. McLaren-Mercedes 15 4. Honda 11 5. Williams-Cosworth 5 6. BMW-Sauber 2 7. Toyota 1 8. Red Bull-Ferrari 1 (excuse the alignment)
just got back from bars....turned on speed vision...saw 2 renauts and a bar/honda on the podium.......f*^^k....where are the red boys....nice job renaut....didnt see the race...will watch the time delay tomorrow...i am out of the loop with everything F1 this weekend so i may be an idiot as far as all of it is concerned....whats the deal with all of the engine penalties that i heard about? btw this damn girl stole my jacket from the bar and walked home with it leaving me with just my shirt in 25F temps....
Haha, I so predicted that those Cosworths would possibly blow. You can't run 20k RPM forever. They should do well next race with fresh engines, plus it's Webber's home country. Sucks for BMW again, looks just like JV's. Same bank (right), same flame after the explosion, almost same amount of smoke. Overall good race, but not as much top runners fighting for position because of the lack of them. Kimi just is always having bad luck and MS starting that far back didn't stand a chance placing 1st.
i was so disapointed, no ferrari in the top 3, no mercedes in the top 3... the blue and yellow just dominated.
Four first places belongs to cars fitted with Michelin tires... I think Bridges are satisfied to know Michelin will leave F1 next year.
Just got up, couldn't make it through the whole race but I tried. Renauld looks real strong thru the first 2 races and something has to change for the boys in red. At least the cars finished.
hey guys, i just came back from sepang, its around 9 pm here in malaysia. one of the best races for me. MS's 2 overtaking moves was just damn good, and i had a full clear view of it. to be honest, i even have that video of kimi crashing out right in front of where i was seated. i'm just so satisfied, and tired now. there was no rain. just slight slight slight drizzle. i even jumped in to the ferrari pits and snapped pics with the crew after the race. since i've almost maxed up my upload limt, i'll post my pics thru andreas, specially for carol lol....i'm gonna shower now...one of the best days of my life, and certainly the best ever GP i've ever attended.
Here's what exactly happened to Kimi: Klein and Raikkonen touched wheels going through Turn Four, damaging the rear suspension on Raikkonen's McLaren and the front suspension of Klien's Red Bull Racing RB2. Although Klien was able to make it back to the pits for repairs, eventually returning to the race before hydraulic problems forced him out, Raikkonen spun out and into the tyre barriers following the incident. Klien said: "The start was okay. I was in a good place, then in Turn four there were three cars (me and the two McLarens) going into it. I was right on the inside, already over the kerbs. I couldn't go further to the right and mine and Kimi's cars touched. I broke my front suspension and that was basically it. "I went to the pits and we tried to fix it just to get some more mileage on the car. We went out once more, but then we had a hydraulics failure and that was the end of the race. It's very disappointing, if you look at the race pace I think we could have been right up there." Although teammate David Coulthard retired from the race with similar hydraulic problems to those that hit Klien, the Scotsman was upbeat about the speed potential shown by the RB2." Carol
hell, the car was totally destroyed. at one point of time, i thought kimi oversteered himself into the wall.
Here's the latest on the front wing situation: Fry hopes FIA outlaws Ferrari wing Honda Racing boss Nick Fry has said he hopes the FIA does not come out in support of Ferrari over the flexi-wing issue, after the matter reached a head at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday. Eight teams wrote a letter to the FIA before the race demanding a clarification on the situation amid concerns about the manner in which Ferraris' front wings were flexing. Television pictures obtained by teams indicated that the wing changed shape at high speeds to aid performance. The FIA is set to issue a clarification about the situation before the Australian Grand Prix and Fry hopes that it does not give the green light to Ferrari's interpretation of the rules - because that would force other teams to go down that route. "The FIA will clarify the situation before we get to Melbourne," said Fry. "That's what we need. All we asked (FIA technical delegate) Charlie Whiting is which interpretation is correct. "It would be unfortunate if Ferrari's interpretation is said to be right because all the other teams will have to do similar things." There were several meetings between teams in the Sepang paddock on Saturday night and Sunday morning to discuss the matter, which had been brought to light thanks to images shown on German television. "We have been aware of it for six months," added Fry. "But the situation is very difficult. It is hard for the FIA to measure. It was this weekend that for the first time we got a clear picture from German TV." There had been fears that the situation could have led to a post-race protest about the Ferraris if they had taken a decent result in Malaysia, but their run to fifth and sixth places went some way to calming down the situation. When asked whether a protest would definitely have happened if Ferrari had won, Fry said: "It's difficult to talk about things that didn't happen. I'm just pleased they didn't win... "And we all agreed on the safety issue that it was unrealistic to expect them to change this weekend." Fry also revealed that two of the eight teams that have signed the letter against Ferrari are operating similar flexi-wings. "Anyone who is not an engineer can see from the TV pictures and make their own conclusions. Two other teams are in the same situation, and ironically they are part of the eight. "We had a nice conversation with Charlie Whiting late morning today and we took his word that it will be fixed for Melbourne." Carol
After discussion on one of the NASCAR shows and what if's about the NASCAR engine rule and what if everyone changed engines (Bootie said it wouldn't ever really happen) but - here's a thought about F1 and qualifying/grid positions: All the teams change their engines after the race and accept the penalty that ensues, thus everyone would maintain their qualifying position. Carol
Actually IMO he was not, MS was faster on most laps, it was just the effect of only 1 stop strategy. And I understand that you saw him live, but telemetry says he was slower. - Julio.
I was really hoping for rain!!! Would of made it atad more exciting!! Poor 2nd pitstop for Ferrari, which cost Schumie the position to Massa but overall Ferrari really need to get back to Italy and try and find some more speed and reliability. I wonder if Montoya is getting the raw end of the McLaren stick... Still only 7pts behind Alonso and Fishi still wants to fight Honda need to find alittle more pace, Roll on MelbGP
my bad. i just read the whole report of the race. but when i was there, the gap between schu and massa was just....not changing...even MS admmited that he cound;t catch massa cos massa made no mistakes.
at first, it did show that it was gonna rain. very cloudy on my section of the track. but just spots, nothing else. btws, the weather today was wayyyyy cooler than yesterday tho...
Well at that point of the race he was as fast as MS, probably beacuse they will have about the same fuel in the car, I guess. Think that for a big part of the race he was raicing with more weight than MS. Which means he was pretty fast for the load conditions he was driving on. - Julio.
Well that wasnt a very exciting race was it? Not too much overtaking with drivers worried about their engines and not pushing too hard. Kimi's accident and the two Williams ka-blam-o meant that there was less on-track excitement. Alonso's dragster like start and jump into third into the first corner was awesome to watch ... kinda like Indianapolis 2003. I think Webber should have concentrated more on his line than trying to intimidate young Rosberg in to the first corner - I guess he was miffed that all the attention was on his younger teammate and wanted to put a point across. If he hadn't tried to swerve into Rosberg, he might have been able to block Alonso in turn 1. Pretty lacklustre drive by MS this weekend - he was mid-pack for a really long while and I guess he was not pushing the engine all the way in fear of blowing it up. Good job by Massa to come all the way from dead last. This is more in line with what I expect from him. Montoya is looking really slow this season for some reason. He was pretty heavy with fuel but was unremarkable at any point in the race. If Kimi was not tagged by Klien, I am sure he would have fought Alonso for second. I dont know why Monty is so inconsistent in his performance, when he was at Williams, I thought he was generally the more consistently fast performed - particularly in 2003 and 2004. With McLaren, he seems to be doing a Ralf - get a few great performances and then wallow in indifferent drives for the rest of the year. Good job by Fisi. A win under similar circumstances like last year where Alonso's qualifying was compromised. But can he repeat this when Alonso qualifies well? I doubt it. During the press conference, when Alonso was being interviewed he said that he was really pleased to get 18 points in the first two races and he gave a glance at Fisi after he said this as if to say .. you may have won this race, but I will crush you over the season
The whining about Ferrari's wings is not stopping. http://f1.racing-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/060319101754.shtml How come no one whined the past 2 years when you could see the front wings of the others flexing down from the on board camera shots.
"Faced with being dragged through the mud, Ferrari's Jean Todt is understood to have agreed to modify the wings' designs by the time his cars set down on Australian soil. " so they are giving in? thats lame they shouldnt just give up theat easy, they are just being targeted because they are Ferrari. they really should fight this.