The past few years I thought they were smoking some major doobie. Fortunately they still had their #1 driver from last year so they retained some consistency, but i expect Renault to jump ahead of most of the other teams.
As I said yesterday, Hamilton will not magically disappear this season. Alonso is gone, but he's still out-classing the field. The guy just drives like he's supposed to win every race versus trying to win. The Scuderia seemed to be completely off of its game. They NEVER showed any hint of the dominance that was predicted after off-season testing. They have reliability issues which severely hampered KR's chances in the race. The pit-strategy after the safety car made absolutely NO sense, and both drivers just didn't bring it. Massa was a disaster, while KR gambled and came up short (I won't pile on him because it was a good move...he was trying to maintain contact with Hamilton)(of course, it wouldn't have mattered if he was pitting in a couple more laps) Hopefully this was just a star-crossed weekend and they can bounce back in Malaysia...this feels very similar to the start of the last two seasons. However, there is a whole new crew running things, and I don't know that I have the same confidence in their ability to pull things together. I think Ferrari is going to deal with not only McLaren, but also BMW. It should be an interesting season after all, contrary to all of the pundits' proclamations coming out of winter testing.
It literally looked like he thought the race was over and let off the gas. Even Fernando seemed caught out by the problem.
So Massa (possibly engine related), Kimi (engine) and Bourdais (engine) is all 6 Ferrari engines? I count 3. Fisi and Vettel binned their cars on the first lap, and I dont know what happened to Sutil but I dont think it was engine related. Dont blame these retirements on the engine department.
This is rich. So now even when Kimi goofs, it's all Massa's fault? This is F1, not an American Election. You don't have to pick someone to hate in order to watch. Sheesh.
There will be a lot more people to argue with, so most won't even bother with my reply, but... I feel very strongly that Ferrari as a team overestimated their reliability/integration with the ECU. And not to be a conspiracy theorist, but McLaren the only team to bring its 2 drivers home problem free.... Just to avoid the inevitable, I'll say it again... they should not be the ones supplying an ecu to the field. Honestly. That's a huge change for other teams, while complete integration already with the McLarens. I don't oppose a standard ecu... just not that way. It'd be different if 5 teams used that same one in the past, but its not like that. Anyways, that's PROBABLY nothing but coincidence, and it doesn't really bother me (until some emails start getting disclosed or something...). BMW honestly probably found all sorts of speed during testing and did a REALLY good job portraying to the press that they were having problems. They were the only team very vocal about their problems. Tough break for Kubica, he got rammed by Nakajima but on air they kept saying HE did the ramming. WTF. So annoying. Cool Nick really drove like he had a lot of experience. Very nice job. Massa... can everyone see what we're on about now? Andreas, how'd you like THAT **** from the "F-Chat golden boy"? Hahaha classic comedy. Some other people need to wake up and see that Massa lacks race craft! Its only heightened a million times without the traction control. Raikko... fine job, imo. I have a feeling that he was told to "can" it so he can get a fresh engine and trans for the coming races, while still grabbing a point (if Barrichello isn't DQ'd the FIA is really full of retarded double standards). I think most of his problems came from the bad luck with pit stops/safety car periods. If things had been tipped differently, timing wise, Kimi could definitely have won the race. Really. Yes a couple of big mistakes, but those came after his podium chances had already gone. If anything, they found out how the car reacts when very low on those options and you need to put a pass on someone real bad. That's the team pushing the drivers to feel out the car's capabilities more than Kimi really wanting to get past Heiki for 1/2 a lap before a pit. 2 wheels in dirt while braking will never be good though, and that, imo was jsut his frustration and over exuberance. Great job recovering after the shunts though. Hahaha. Overall, not a good day for Ferrari. Seeing how far behind you are to McLaren AND seeing how much faster BMW is than you really thought... yikes. Great drive by FA. Great effort by McLaren. Honestly, it was not a hard race for anyone in Lewis's position today. Great teamwork, great driving, very Schumacher. Go BMW. Go Ferrari. And really, a VERY exciting race. I think there will be many more races where Ferrari will come out on top, with McLaren getting the short end of the stick! And a win for BMW this year? Uhh... yeah, I can see that. GREAT RACING FOR '08!!!!!!!!
Ferrari has got the cars to win. Looking at the silver lining, Kimi did made it clear of what he and the car is capable of. He ran with 30 or so laps of fuel, with soft tyres, and he was still fast.
Yep. Turn to Ham's page about driving on worn tires and add a new page about driving on a worn, cold tire. It was a rookie mistake...guys, there's a time to pick a fight and a time not to pick a fight...especially so close to pit. I have to admit, it does make for great viewing. Kimi from P16 to trying to get tone on P1 coming off of a SC period late into the game...classic stuff. Meanwhile Massa decided to knit from the start, ending the race of two and possibly two more before turn two, and then got collected by a Red Bull deep into the race. Sure, it was Coulthard, who else could it have been? As great minds think alike, overdriven minds fade alike. Comedy gold that it was both Coulthard and Massa smashing carbon atoms in the Brain Fade Accelerometer. Lumping qualy and race together, and Ferrari has the sour note of a 75% mechanical DNF record for this weekend. Ferrari had a tough weekend, and I won't slag anyone of them but Massa for it. Slagging Ferrari is like slagging Clark Kent for wearing a bow tie; we all know who Clark Kent is, but today Ferrari started out as Clark Kent and McLaren started the day as Superman. A subtle, but important difference. But it is just the first race. Grats to Ham for a flawless, easy, and dare I say it...Schumian win. Grats to Nico and Nick especially. Bask in the glow, because basking in it is only going to get rarer as the season grinds on. Luck won't shine as brightly as it did today.
Hi to the Forum, I am authorized from Ferrari to send this press release. They are beginning a new course of web communciation. Hope you will enjoy it. MG. NEW F1 SEASON: NEWS, PICTURES, COMMENTS AND MORE ON WWW.FERRARIWORLD.COM Maranello, 14 marzo 2008 With the new season of F! there are new pages and services on www.ferrariworld.com. Ferrari fans can find on the site results, comments and the official pictures of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Beginning this year the site can count on a special collaborator: Marc Gené. The test driver of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro will be present at all the races and write on his blog what he sees and feels on the tracks with the Maranello Team. On www.Ferrariworld.com there is a section fully dedicated to the best moments of the past of all the worldwide circuits and an exclusive photo gallery based on Ferrari archives. To fully appreciate the experience and the emotion of the F1 car on the site a 3D image of the F2008 racing car can be accessed, with all the details and hotspots for fans. For them the site has also an exclusive section dedicated to technical aspects bylined by Giorgio Piola who will keep visitors updated on the technological evolution of the Scuderias car during this season. And if you decide to go to a Gran Prix, on www.ferrariworld.com the section tickets and travel allows you to plan and book the perfect holiday at the track. You can also win a prize on the site. Visitors must indicate the placement of the Ferrari drivers. Suggesting the placements for each Grand Prix will grant free shipping for any item bought on www.Ferraristore.com over the following 3 days, and there will be a final prize at the end, drawn among all the participants, for a fantastic holiday at San Paolo Brazil on 2 November 2008 for the last Grand Prix of the season. Ferrari Media Press Office - Web Support
*sigh* I had to wake up at 5am to see the race...I was obviously expecting a better outcome. Oh well, Ferrari has demonstrated on several occasions to be very capable at turning around negative situations and I'm sure that they'll do so again. He who laughs last, laughs best. Forza Ferrari.
oh...well, we had Hammi in Brazil last season... anyways, did anyone hear how awful Kimster Ferrari sounded just before he parked it? i wonder if he broke his exhaust or something like that.
i won't be surprised. he ran thru a red light, and i was wondering why they didn't black flag him straightaway, like they did to Massa in Canada last season.
relax. it's just the 1st race of the season. reliability glitches are bound to show. i'm not sure if Ferrari can recover, within 1 week to go to Sepang. but even if they don't they will be competitive soon. just look how fast Kimster was in a heavy car, and bruising tyres...
Does anybody have a replay for the Massa Coulthard accident. I saw a replay on tv and i am now convinced that it wasn't Massa's fault.
What a crazy race. INTENSE heat but managed to survive. No doubt walked past plenty of f-chatters over the weekend. Appalling weekend from Ferrari, very very poor. Lewis drove faultlessly all weekend. Certainly shaken things up. Can't wait to download and actually watch the race now!!!
Massa used a lack of common sense, and IMO Coulthard COULD have given him the pass, but when does he (DC) EVER do that? Massa tried to force something that wasn't there. He said he had the inside line... ...but he wasn't anywhere close to being actually passed Coulthard. He stuck his nose in, went too deep, and couthard closed the door. Unfortunately it ended poorly for Coulthard and it created ANOTHER safety car period in which Kimi was restricted from moving through the field dwindling the effective laps he had to work with to less and less. Good job, Phil... really backing up that embarassing spin on the first corner from P4 with some real fine racecraft.
