We know it is DC's last race, but who else will "celebrate" their last race today? Barrichello and Piquet (ironically both in their home GP) have no contract for 2009. I wouldn't mind not seeing them in F1 next year anymore. Time for some new talent like the Incredible Hulk.
While I applaud DC and Barrichello for their careers, I wouldn't mind never seeing Piquet in an F1 car again. And as much as I'd like to see another fellow countryman with high ambitions to join the grid, I heard from people who dealt with him that Hülkenberg is an idiot - let's see if he gets a seat...
Being not very bright, leading to wrong decisions, and being arrogant about it What I heard he isn't the nicest guy around. No personal experience, but more direct than what you get through the media filter. @gsjohnson: Hülkenberg
Oops, well in that case his F1 career might be limited. Not that it is a contest of chess players, but it does help hugely to be as smart as Prost or Lauda. OTOH it hasn't helped Nico much so far.
You're talking about Nico Rosberg now? I guess being intelligent AND having skill is needed to succeed on a larger scale Then again, Rosberg did his exam on some private school IIRC, where you don't know if the grades are somewhat related to the willingness in financial involvement....
Nico Rosberg allegedly scored the best entry exam by Williams ever showing his education and smarts. And IMHO he is hugely talented. However his results are modest at best, so dunno what's missing here, but something is. And if it is the car, then he deserves some blame for sticking with Williams for too long.
Barichello?? No way. There was an interview with him not long ago where he was saying he feels hes still got 4-5 years left in him.....i guess what he thinks and what the teams want differ a bit.
After watching Hekki the last few races, I wouldn't mind if he was gone from McLaren. Considering Alonso won 2 races with that Renault, and Hekki has won one with that McLaren.
There are drivers that are WDC material and there are those that aren't-PK and HK aren't...at least HK outqualified Hammy once in awhile but PK was spanked all season by FA...
Yeah he has the problem that guys like Jenson Button have. They're good, not spectacular like an Alonso/Hamilton/Vettel/Raikkonen, but still quite good. The issue is that there are too many worthy drivers and too few competitive cars.
Don't forget goodbye Glock! Not because he can't find a drive (non-Ferrari related obviously), but because Luca is probably hiring a hitman as we speak!
I'll miss seeing DC since he was such a sporting gentleman from his first F1 race. I always admired that about him. He played second fiddle to Mika at McLaren and I expected him to get more respect from the team but it was not to be. I hope he finds his way into the broadcast booth. As for Rubens, he has so underperformed at Honda despite his working relationship with Ross Brawn during the Ferrari days. He should go, as should Jenson. He is not helping the team develop their car since he always has a hard time getting out of Q1 at every race. I think Nelson Jr. should go as well. He certainly has not contributed to Renault in a meaningful way this year, but more so since we won't need to see his father on race weekends. So long DC. Hope to meet you in Monaco.
I disagree...this year's Honda has been a complete dog. RB's 11 points to JB's 3 isn't so much about who was outperformed their teammate, but how cosmically bad the car was that team only managed 14 points total for the year. Jense and Runbinho should retain their seats for 2009.
I will not miss DC one bit. This is a guy who drove for championship winning teams and had all the breaks in the world, yet he kept repeating that "this was his year" every time. His career evolved backwards and was fairly successful with 13 (?) wins but lately his driving was pathetic. Someone should have taught DC how to get passed without scrapping people in the process. Sure, he was articulate and a nice guy out of the car but he's but I'm glad he's gone for good.
# Formation lap doesnt count as one right? I think the laptimer thing on the car starts at 0, then as soon as you go over the line from the race start it triggers '1'. so technically, yes, he did get a lap in. Or maybe he'd like to think that. Big shame though, i do enjoy seeing him race, or do laps.