View Full Version : [F1] The Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian GP on ITV1 and ITV2
Live qualifying: Saturday 10 September 1130-1310 (ITV1)
Live race: Sunday 11 September 1200-1500 (ITV1)
Highlights: Monday 12 September 0010-0110 (ITV1)
Highlights: Tuesday 13 September 0100-0150 (ITV2)
Race replay: Thursday 15 September 0210-0450 (ITV1)
This will be the weekend when we could have a new WDC, the youngest ever, if Alonso wins and Raikkonen finishes anything other than 2nd. We will also see Michael Schumacher slip to the lowest position in the WDC since 1996 if JPM scores 6 more points than him.(1999 notwithstanding)
Michelin will announce that they will not supply tyres to Williams, Toyota and Red Bull in the 2006 season. Is this in preparation for a full pull out from 2007?
Will rain help Ferrari make up some lost ground and salvage some prestige from what has been developing into their "Annus Horribilis"
Niraj
As always niraj you list some of the key talking points of the weekend, however Red Bull have until this race to decide whether they will buy a controlling interest in Minardi (For those not familiar with the story, RB want to buy another team so they can help bring through their younger sponsored drivers).... bet Bernie is praying it happens.
As always niraj you list some of the key talking points of the weekend, however Red Bull have until this race to decide whether they will buy a controlling interest in Minardi (For those not familiar with the story, RB want to buy another team so they can help bring through their younger sponsored drivers).... bet Bernie is praying it happens.
Arent Red Bull already signed up to the next Concorde agrement whereas Stoddart is one of the most outspoken about the possibility of a breakaway if Bernie doesnt agree. It would make sense then for Bernie to get shot of this "troublemaker" by encouraging a buyout of Minardi. Would be a crying shame if they lost the name though...
Isn't Eddie Irvine separately talking to Minardi about a buyout as well, or is he fronting the RB takeover talks?
rbullivant
06-09-2005, 15:17
Can a team have two teams? What is to stop Ferrari or McLaren starting a second team up?
Rik
There supposedly is nothing in the rules to stop somebody having a controlling interest in two teams. It's not been mentioned alongside any of the articles i've read about the Minardi bid. Infact I seem to recall Mercedes were linked with a Jordan/Midland buyout earlier in the season aswell.
Rumour suggests that DM (Mr RedBull - well you try and spell his name without checking first!) has offered $30m for 'a controlling interest' but Stoddart wants 35. He has agreed to cease negotiations with any other bidder until after the SPA race, to give DM first option.
Waiting in the wings are Irvine, who is fronting a bid from a russian consortium & also Dave Richards & Pro Drive.
Radiohead
06-09-2005, 20:11
Will anyone actually overtake this week?
Will anyone actually overtake this week?
:lol: straight to the point there....
Surely we know the answer to that already ;)
Mandrill
06-09-2005, 22:22
Will anyone actually overtake this week?
I highly doubt it. :cry:
rbullivant
07-09-2005, 05:22
Pizzonia in once again for the headachey Heidfeld!
Rik
bobmartino
09-09-2005, 12:44
Mclaren/Mercedes are talking of starting a 'B' team in 2007 which will use the 2006 car and engine on a seperate developmet schedule. I think the only rule is you are not allowed to share data with another team.
It's absolutely chucking it down in Practice 2 just now. Liuzzi slammed it into the barrier on his installation lap. Only alonso has come out since they restarted the session, he rolled around the track very slowly and came back in. 17 minutes togo and no one is out yet.
Pizzonia hit the tires in practice 1 aswell. And ferrari weren't that quick.
rbullivant
09-09-2005, 15:47
I thought that a new team had to have its own development and car design, but they could buy a chassis from another team for the first two or three years while they get up and running?
Rik
LotusElan
10-09-2005, 12:01
Montoya on pole then.
Go Go Go Montoya. You Rock!
Lets hope someone gives Alonso a nudge into La Source on the opening lap...
Will anyone actually overtake this week?
Red Bull have taken over Minardi, does that count?
http://formula1.com/news/3572.html
rbullivant
10-09-2005, 20:05
Could be a good race for Kimi! Especially if Trulli does a Trulli and holds up the field. Would be nice if Alonso was taken out of the race, it might make the Championship a bit more exciting for a week or so
Rik
Sammy709Sony930
10-09-2005, 20:46
Bring on the dirty tricks :suspect:
Senna would come out and make his intentions clear!!
Spa was shrouded in thick fog & heavy rain this morning. It has passed but this is expected to be only a brief interlude before the next 'wash'. The GP2 event was delayed by over an hour and started under the Safety Car.
The rain appeared again. The GP2 race was suspended midway (after an accident) and subsequently ran out of time to start it again & make the finish. Half-points will be awarded.
What is the situation should it start raining halfway through? Are they allowed to change tyres?
They can change tyres but are not allowed to add fuel afaik.
:edit: Correction i think it's only if they're changing worn/damaged dry tyres that they can't refuel.
Fat Bloke
11-09-2005, 13:52
1 K Raikkonen (McLaren)
2 F Alonso (Renault)
3 J Button (BAR)
Montoya appears to be taken out 2 laps from the end when in 2nd place. How much more luck can Renault get this season! Or should that be how unlucky can McLaren be?
bobmartino
11-09-2005, 14:01
God dang it Sato, what were you doing! Now if shue does get super tires at Brazil he has to go out 3rd. Jenson Buttons super charge at the end was impressive, he was doing 1.53's on his inters just like kimi did with his 1 fast lap. And his outside overtake on Villno was great. Webber finally stays out of trouble and gets some points. Why they couldnt show a replay of the Montoya crash that actually showed what happened I don't know, shall read the team reports later on to find out.
Looked great with Kimi driving at such a slow pace with the whole pack following him into the pits.
And Montiero scoring a point!
McLaren unlucky Again. They should of had both campionships by now :?:
McLaren unlucky Again. They should of had both campionships by now :?:
There's no luck in being able to build a reliable chassis/engine package, tune your setup in line with your tyres & avoid getting involved in needless accidents.
rbullivant
11-09-2005, 19:21
Think it is a bit rich of Michael Schumacher to call anyone else for dangerous driving, I'm sure I am not the only one who remembers him trying to kill Jacques Villeneuve to take the 1997 Championship.
Quite a good race, shame Ralf took the wrong tyres, could have pushed Alonso back to 4th and given Kimi a fighting chance in the Championship.
Rik
redmosquito
11-09-2005, 19:26
What's that all of 8 years ago :brickwall
So because Michael has made some mistakes and bad choices in the past he isn't allowed to comment on anything current :shrug:
So after all McLaren's criticism of Renault's alleged team orders they quite happily make the most of a "convenient" pit stop to put KR ahead of JPM.
McLaren unlucky Again. They should of had both campionships by now :?:
Yes ... they should have if ....
...they had a more reliable car
...Alonso and Renault weren't in the championship this year...
apart from that your theory is sound ;)
Back in reality - If the way to get a car that's faster than the rest is to sacrifice reliability then that's the price they pay ... and they've suffered for it.
Think it is a bit rich of Michael Schumacher to call anyone else for dangerous driving, I'm sure I am not the only one who remembers him trying to kill Jacques Villeneuve to take the 1997 Championship.
I'm not a fan of Michael in the slightest, but as the 'elder statesman' of the sport he probably has more right to criticise other drivers when they make errors than any other. Sato's driving yesterday was poor and is the latest in a long line of misjudgements that border on the dangerous. The man is a liability on the race track and in my opinion is only there to keep the Japanese happy. Hopefully he's about to lose his race seat, because I can't see him getting any better.
I would look at Michael's comments as evidence that Michael accepts this type of driving is wrong. This should surely mean that he also accepts that when he was guilty of similar behaviour in the past, he too was in the wrong. Of course, if he still can't accept that, it would be hypocritical to comment now, but I do believe he does now regret the incidents with Villeneuve and Hill.
Panavision
12-09-2005, 07:03
']So after all McLaren's criticism of Renault's alleged team orders they quite happily make the most of a "convenient" pit stop to put KR ahead of JPM.
I'm not bothered about team orders at this stage of the season, and the FIA share the same sentiments. Not sure why MAC need to whine about Renault.
I'm not bothered about team orders at this stage of the season, and the FIA share the same sentiments. Not sure why MAC need to whine about Renault.
My thoughts as well - it's the hypocricy of McLaren as opposed to the actual team orders that annoys me. At this stage in the season it makes sense to maximise the chances for your best title chance.
Bearhorn
12-09-2005, 18:25
A few curious things to come out of the Belgian Grand Prix:
Trulli retired having been taken out of the race by Tiago Monteiro inadvertently activating his pit lane speed limiter in front of Trulli. Is this Jordan's latest excuse for a slow car or for their driver brake testing another?
David Coulthard is having a moan about the rules again insisting that having to run the entire race on one set of dry tyres compromises safety as teams have to run the harder tyre (as that is the only one that will last the distance) and cannot run a softer tyre which gets up to operating temperature quicker which is necessary for a damp track. The result, argues DC, is to potentially leave drivers with no suitable tyres if the track was like it was at Spa on Sunday where it was too dry for intermediates and too wet for dry tyres (as evidenced by those drivers who chanced dry tyres and had to pit in on the next lap to change back to intermediates).
But this situation isn't a function of the new rules this season which require teams to run one set of tyres for the whole race weekend, this could equally apply to the last couple of seasons where teams were all required to nominate one tyre compound from their suppliers. If any team had nominated the harder compound on a wet race weekend, they would similarly be left with a situation, as Sunday, where they had no soft tyre to use and had to wait until the track was dry enough for the nominated harder compound tyre.
Finally, the peculiar saga of Nick Heidfeld being deputised by Pizzonia seems to strangely mirror the plight of Ralf Schumacher last season when Gene deputised for him after testing accidents. Apparently Nick Heidfeld has now suffered a Montoya-esque cracked shoulder blade on a cycling accident (or was it a tennis accident ;)). It leaves me wondering whether Heidfeld is not on his way out to BMW next season and that there are contractual provisions which allow Williams to conveniently sideline him so they can evaluate drivers for the next race seat. It does not make sense if Williams are confident that they will have Jenson Button in the car next season - perhaps there is a big money deal to be made for Jenson to stay at BAR. Nor does it make sense when you consider that BMW are still Williams' partner so it's not exactly like Williams have secrets etc. which they are happy to let BMW know about but would rather Heidfeld not know about (or do they?)
']...it's the hypocricy of McLaren as opposed to the actual team orders that annoys me....
Followed up with:
12 September 2005
McLaren criticises Renault's qualifying 'tactics'
Fisichella on Saturday
McLaren has criticised title rival Renault's questionable 'gamesmanship' at the Belgian GP. The Woking based team's 'F1 CEO' Martin Whitmarsh said Renault told Giancarlo Fisichella to drive a very fast out-lap ahead of his qualifying effort on Saturday.
As a result, Kimi Raikkonen - the previous qualifier, with a higher fuel load - could not save fuel by doing a traditionally very slow in-lap. "You could call it lots of things," Whitmarsh's quotes were published by Speed TV.
He added: "It undoubtedly consumed a bit more fuel than he would ideally have done in that lap, and it kept him a little bit busy." Whitmarsh, though, said McLaren did not return the favour, even though Juan Pablo Montoya could have been similarly used.
"Everyone's got to do what they feel comfortable with," he said, although not referring to Raikkonen's race tactic to hold the field up in pitlane so he didn't have to queue behind teammate Juan Pablo Montoya for pit service.
http://www.f1racing.nl/en/news.php?newsID=98094
And anyhoo, didn't Kimi 'run' sand onto the track during his in-lap of the German GP, with Fernando following on his hot-lap.
The Bear
12-09-2005, 20:04
']So after all McLaren's criticism of Renault's alleged team orders they quite happily make the most of a "convenient" pit stop to put KR ahead of JPM.Even if JPM had been racing him properly he wouldn't have got out still in front IMO. If Kimi had cruised around and got out in front of him I could see your point, but he put in a blistering set of laps a la Schumacher to do it.
Even if JPM had been racing him properly he wouldn't have got out still in front IMO. If Kimi had cruised around and got out in front of him I could see your point, but he put in a blistering set of laps a la Schumacher to do it.
I don't think JPM went as fast as he could prior to his pitstop - he normally flies around when he's leadingand especially low on fuel. That set up the situation where KR could do a few flying laps and get in front.
Bearhorn,
I'm quite sure that NH is out of Williams at the end of this season and so this new "accident" has conveniently happened.
As far as JB goes, the mutterings are that he will stay at BAR and both BAR and JB will cross Frank Williams's palm with silver for that to happen.
Whether or not Nico Rosberg gets the Williams Drive next year is to be seen.
Niraj
Panavision
14-09-2005, 07:16
Followed up with:
And anyhoo, didn't Kimi 'run' sand onto the track during his in-lap of the German GP, with Fernando following on his hot-lap.
He certainly did :lol:
Followed up with:
And anyhoo, didn't Kimi 'run' sand onto the track during his in-lap of the German GP, with Fernando following on his hot-lap.
I dont think theres anything in this, a lot of drivers seemed to be having a quick out lap due to their lack of running all weekend and their need to use this lap to evaluate grip at speed. I seem to rememeber Coulthard especially not hanging about on his out lap...
Mandrill
14-09-2005, 10:11
']I don't think JPM went as fast as he could prior to his pitstop - he normally flies around when he's leadingand especially low on fuel. That set up the situation where KR could do a few flying laps and get in front.
For what ever reason it seemed JPM was struggling for pace at that stage of the race.
Alonso pretty much has it wrappd up now more to do with he renaults reliabilty than his actual race pace throughout the season , some awful luck for Kimi has helped too.Well done to him though he has kept in on the track and scored consistantly in the races he hasnt won.
I hope next season the overtaking problem is sorted out and I think tyre changes should be brought back.
vBulletin® v3.8.7, Copyright ©2000-2012, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.