Martin Brundle tested this years minardi and said that the car was one of the best produced by the team and that if it had more power that it could compete towards the middle of the pack IE with sauber whos chassis is not has good as minardis, they just need a good engine wich in turn would generate more points therefore more exposure and more money, they are just caught in a trap 22 situation, come on after all these years of trying dont you think they deserve a chance?
Minardi definitely deserves a chance. But it shouldn't come at the expense of Sauber. Aren't we all Ferrari fans on here? If Sauber would still be using Mercedes engines, then I agree, but as of now they are the small Ferrari team.
Anyone hear anything about the investigation between Sato and Ralph for the incident? Sata clearly was being driven off the track. Ralph just gave no room. What was Ralph thinking, I am Michael's brother, let me threw!
http://www.formula1.com/race/news/1408/716.html "Williams driver Ralf Schumacher was given an official reprimand for his collision with the BAR of Takuma Sato early in the race"
Yah good point, he just squeezed him too much and Sato had nowhere to go! I heard it last year on one of the pre-race boradcast. This is $22M US. The last time a saw flames coming from an F1 was from JVs Honda last year.
A "reprimand!" What does that mean? Did they tell him just watch yourself out there, and you promise not to do it again, right? That is BS. He should have gotten points on the super license. If Ferrari has to pay 10K for releasing a driver (that does not even sound right), then how can one get off by causing an accident! Nothing was done when Weber and Coultard were neck and neck down the pit lane. How was that different then what Ferrari did? By the FYI's own ruling, Jaguar should be penalized 10k also. I will stop now, I see that I am ranting...
Personally I think the less interference there is with driver behavior the better. I prefer aggressive driver over a bunch of lemmings. A reprimand does have some weight: If he is involved in another incident at the next race they'll look at the whole history and might come down on him really hard. If I were him, I'd rather take a $ 10k fine and be done with it.
Ralf was perhaps warned, if he does it again, he may be black flagged or have to have a drive through or a 10 second stop. As for that collision, he and Sato are to blame. Ralf gave no room at all, even when Sato was as far left as he could go. And Sato should have called off the dogs and let Ralf finish the pass. He was going too fast to make the coerner {he would have had to brake all the way across the turn and then turn left and go}. But he was beside Ralf, not neck and neck but he has 3/4 of Ralf's car beside him so he may have a leg to stand on too. No one should be blamed or they should both be. I say it was a racing collision and no fault of either man. If you want to hang them both, then there will be no passing attempts. You choose.
I tend not hang anyone out to dry when racing is racing. But what I saw was not totally a racing accident. There are just racing accidents, but Ralph clearly gave no room. Sato really had no where to go, but racing is racing. It would be nice though to have the onboard telemetry to see if Sato was even braking for the left hander when Ralph started to turn in. Here is a picuture of Ralph up and out. Ralph did do a good job of getting back in the hunt and finishing 7th. My favorite picture of the weekend though has to be Kimi blowing another engine. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Personally, I am very happy with what I am seeing now, especially with the Ferraris winning Yes, it may make the championship a little boring, but parity can not and should not be forced up on, it should be achieved by raising the talent level of drivers and teams. It is Frank William's own fault for not being able to compete. He has not given his team a soild consistant foundation to work with and to develop, in both the engineering and driver's front. With Newy jumping ship to McLaren, and his refusal to pay for a top driver's service (Ironically, he treats his drivers much like the ways that Enzo used to do), he has been left without a real veteran to work with in the past few years. Let's face it, drivers such as Fangio, Clark, Lauda, Senna, Prost and Schumacher only comes around ever so often. As for the McLaren camp, they may be having problems now Kimi is still too young, and I think the raw talent is there, but he needs to learn how to save his car in order to win and how to develop a car. It is scary to think how good that team will be in the near future. I have also noticed that some members here likes to refer back to the "older" days and claims that it was more exciting. The truth is, the F1-WC has always been in control by 1 or 2 teams in the modern F1 era. It wasn't that long ago when you knew that the race is going to be won by either a McLaren-Honda (Nobody really challenged Prost or Senna other than Prost or Senna themself) or Mansell and Prost's Williams-Renault. Which I think makes MS and his gang's (Ross Brawn and Rory Barns) first 2 WDC even more remarkable is that he was in an inferior car when compared to the Williams and when Ferrari was going throught its growning pains when they arrived. I also think the elimination of driver's aid (Mainly the elimination of fully-automatic gear boxes) has allow the good drivers to surface to the top, even if their car may not be up to par. Yes, Ferrari has a great race car in the F-2004, but notice how MS just pulls away from the field (RB included) and able to turn the performance up a notch at will. And even more kudos should go to Team Ferrari as they have shown time and time again how good they are when compared with the other top teams, their ability to learn, adopt and develop is even more apparent and second to none at the new circuits. It also seems to me that Ferrari has already figured out how to use the new rules (One-engine and new qualifying formate etc.) to their advantage faster than all others. In closing, I seem to recall not too long ago that a few members were calling for heads because Ferrari decided to stayed with Bridgestones........... I think the Japanese Tyre Giant deserve a heck lot more credits than given by the members here too
Fully agree. I was one of the Bridgestone bashers and was stunned to see them do so well. I think they have done their homework well and tires are probably not the issue this year anymore. I bow my head to Tokyo. Mea culpa.
BTW, if I recall correctly, you also felt that Ferrari/MS was lucky when they won last year because of the weather factor (Mainly the rain at Indy) .....Well, the weather for the first three races were also cooler than normal, and supposly the Michellins are still better in hot weather as compared to Bridgestones, at least according to the media that is. In such case, do you still think MS and company are lucky to win all three races as of now or do you now agree that ever changing weather condition is just another part of the game? Please, don't take this question too seriously, I am just asking for the fun of it. Just too hard to resist
I deserve some bashing for having been of little faith to my beloved team during the winter season. And believe me, I am getting quite a rubbing from my direct buddies for lamenting the conservative Ferrari design. Well I look stupid now and admit it. But you know what? I'm fine with it, because "my" team wins. The only thing I really miss this season is the big battle I was looking for. Hasn't happened so far and probably won't. As far as last season is concerned: I still think Ferrari got lucky weatherwise in the last three races. The Bridgestones were really not up to snuff and the cool weather and der Regenmeister (MS) in Indy used the chance. As far as this season goes vs the winter testing, here my observations: 1) Bridgestone seems to be up to par with Michelin. I didn't expect that. 2) The Ferrari's incremental improvements work out great. I still think however the radical design of Williams and Mc Laren has more potential for the future. However: 3) I think the brutal dominance by Ferrari (and I bet it could be more obvious if they wanted to) is due to their engine, which is rock solid and can rev up high enough to deliver the power. I think the Williams and the Mc Laren would be capable of similar speeds (although the Mc Laren lacks reliability as a car), but neither BMW nor Merc has done their homework and have to keep the revs down to keep the engines from blowing up. I think that is also the major (not the only though) reason why we see a really fast BAR this year: Honda did their homework. So yup, in hindsight I look stupid. But hey, I can learn. At least I hope so...
I thought that Ferrari were lucky to win last year and still do. Their car last year sucked and so did the Bridgestones. The weather did help ... Infact if the other teams had been ready to step up then Ferrari would have lost. In the end Williams have 2 drivers that a not quite the full deal, and prefer to argue against each other, and Kimi just was not ready and missed a golden opportunity! This year it appears so far that the car is so good, that PSk could win!!! Why is the car so good? Because they went back to the legendary F2002 and started again. The F2004 owes far more (I believe) to the F2002 than the hopeless F2003GA. Just because a car won the WC does not mean it was a good design. Fangio won the '56 WC in the Ferrari Supersqualo which was a piece of ****, but he drove it like he stole it and Fangio being Fangio won the WC. It is though, to Ferraris considerable credit that they were able to win last year in that piece of ****, and just goes to show how the team have finally learnt how to keep winning ... something that they had lost completely in the 80's and 90's. I think McLaren now have lost that feeling ... Pete
The funny part in all this is that the Ferrari was able to pull away at about a second and a half a lap over the first 8-10 laps. If they really had to (ie stuck at the back of the grid) I think they could do 2 seconds a lap over the field. They are so much quicker that very little of the coverage focused on them and all everyone is talking about on this board is the altercations further down the field. If you were a Ferrari sponsor wouldn't you be a little annoyed about the vast sums of money paid for very little air time? Other option is watching two red car go round and round for 67 laps, pass no-one and pit occasionally. Perhaps a new rule to say that if you are lapped you have to retire back to the pits so that way almost all of the rest of the field would be out and the coverage would have to be of the Ferrari procession. If you forgot about Ferrari then there was plenty to watch on TV. IMHO this is not good for the sport.
Montoya wanted McLaren? Like the saying goes, "be careful what you wish for......" Same with Villenuve, if he would have restructured his salary, and stopped *****ing he might actually be making podiums today.
I disagree that f2003ga was hopeless. i think ross and rory made a car that had a larger fuel tank and longer wheelbase in the thinking that a longer first stint will make them dominate and less stressful on rear tires, one of the very few flaws of f2002. however, the late change of rules meant that the advantages of larger fuel tank and longer wheelbase for aerodynamic reasons were negated. that being the case, f2004 has not gone back to a shorter wheelbase and smaller fuel tank, but with the same chassis design and aerodynamic performance improvements over f2002. its the best of both 2003 and 2002 designs, not radical but keeping the best of past seasons while improving on their flaws.
Tifosi12: I didn't mean to say that you looked or were stupid. I think that you were just a little too concerned and got a little bend out of shape during the Winter GP. I was simply referring back to some of the topics that we had touch up on. I agree that the Bridgestones were not as good as the Michellins in 2003, but like we discussed before, there were other factors involved and it is a bit unfair to just say it was their fault. It was not as cut and dry, and I feel that when you are looking at the big leagues, you need to have a little faith and let the team work things out. Just like what I think Williams and McLarens should do, stay with and develop the design until year end. And if the design is truly revolutionary, they will be the one pulling away at 1 sec. a lap next season, or even by year end. Than I will be the one with egg on my face. However, as a fan of Ferrari, I sincerely hope that does not happen and that the twin-keel (spelling?) design is nothing more than just another failed experiment. PSK: I never said the F2003-GA was a success, and I don't know enough about the cars to agree or disagree with you that the F2004 is more of an off-spring of the F-2002 instead of the F-2003GA. I do know that the dimensions of the F-2004 is more similar to the F-2002, especially the wheelbases. But to say the F-2003GA was a piece of s*hit is a little harsh, don't you think? Afterall, it was not sh*tty enough for MS to not win the 6 races during 2003. As for Fangio, he was one of the greatest, if not the greatest. Even know that it is too early to say this about MS, only history can be the judge as to how great he is, but I think Clark, Senna, Fangio and MS are in a class of their own as they all are able to win with an inferior car and all knows how to nurse a broken car to victory more than their rivals. Anyway, I love Ferrari and I have really enjoy reading the posts by youself, Tifosi12 and Beast... just to name a few. I just find it a little funny to see others jump on and off the bandwagen. Even know that Ferrari has won 3 races so far, I still am not ready to write the others off yet. And that has been the main point of all my posts so far, it is simply much too early to say who is going to be the 2004 WC. As for my post to Tifosi12, I sincerely hope that he knows taht they are more of a friendly jab of words, nothing more. I respect his opinion greatly, even if I do not agree with him from time to time. AC
Er, 5 I think. The first win was in the F2002 I still say they would have had an easier season if they had continued to race the F2002. Maybe MS would have won 8 races then Still Ferrari have to try different things, and the F2003GA was an unsuccess attempt to try something ... whatever the reason it was not fast when the flag dropped. The F2004 on the other hand looks TOO fast ... Pete
Pete, The F2003GA was a much better solution in aerodynamics over the F2002. The main issues with the F2003GA was too long of a wheel base and not enough flexability to shift ballast around to get proper balance of the car for long runs. The F2004 has taken the aero package and improved upon it and altered the dimensions closer to the F2002. Bridgestone tires did not do us any favors last year and they need a round of applause for the great job they did over the winter. Ferrari's true ace in the hole is the motor and transmission package. Martineli has been designing ultra reliable motors for the past couple of seasons. I honestly feel that the reliability of the motors while still reving out is what will allow Ferrari and MS to win the world championship agin this season. Rob
Thanks man. Yup, I got a bit overly nervous when the results from winter testing came in. I couldn't believe that Williams and Mc Laren were setting track record after track record without having a really fast car. I still don't think they were bluffing. But being fast is only half the equation if your engine blows. My next winter's resolution: Be less concerned and don't believe anything I read in the newspapers. As if that is a new revelation... PS: I'd like to see the Williams twin keel become a cool new revolution. Not that I like it that much, but it'd be nice to see some new influences in F1.
Winter GPs has really burned me in the past, that's why I figure I should just leave it to the Professionals to worry about it. Still fun to think and discuss about the possibilitiess and what is or may be happening, but I think the present day Ferrari is probably one of the best team in the F1 history, so I should just stand by them regardless the outcome and enjoy the ride. As for the twin keel design.....I sort of have mix feelings about it. I think Ferrari will wait and see how well McLarens and Williams do during the season. If they are truely the next step in evolution, Ferrari will probably do the same for next season. And if that is the case, I only want the twin keel design to work and be perfected by Ferrari, not by their rivals (Hey, I AM a TIFOSI)
