Imola, San Marino Gp

[kapitan]

Alonso look like he's catching hard breath...
Meanwhile MS is kinda emotional...

So both also need to calm down...
Somehow Ferrari always perform a spectacular show for an Italian race...
Last year Schummi also perform a spectacular show to come back from last to 2nd for the 2nd race in Italy... this year in san marino also starring him...

 

[BenWang]

4th place for Macca, to bad Kimi had to retire. Will Monty be back by next race?

 

[boggysv]

Originally posted by BenWang@Apr 24 2005, 22:39
4th place for Macca, to bad Kimi had to retire. Will Monty be back by next race?

[snapback]923839[/snapback]​

monty...sounds so kinky :P

 

[BlackSamurai]

great drive from Schumi, 13rd to 3rd after first round of pit stop. Button make a mistake at the wrong time allow Schumi to overtake him before their 2nd pit stop.

great tactic from Ross Brown and Ferrari tactical team!

No matter how much you hate Ferrari or Schumi, you can't denied that they did a great job and drove an exciting race yesterday. A stunning race.

 

[si|verfish]

To say that I'm not a Schumacher fan is an understatement. But I found myself rooting for him yesterday during his, quite frankly, awesome charge throught the field. Reminds me of Mansell. Great tactical call by Brawn (I suppose) to bring Schumacher in earlier compared to the rest of the field, allowing him to have a clear road to put his foot down. Stunning drive. If he had won this one, it would have been up there with the best drives ever.

One question had to be posed though, how much of that pace (2 seconds faster than the rest of the field) is up to the car and how much is because of Schumacher aggresive push?

Alonso showed what he is made of. Under intense pressure from Schumacher (it doesn't get more intense than that) he was faultless and drove very very good defensively to deny Michael any chance of passing him. Of course the torque of the Renault also allowed him to get some breathing space away from Schumacher when accelerating out of the corners. The Ferrari was better in the braking and the turn in was electrifying. The Ferrari cornered like it was on rails, but how much of it is the car and how much of it is Michael, we don't know.

Unfortunately, Kimi couldn't be a part of the mix thanks to yet again another reliability problem from McLaren. Thanks chaps. If Kimi were to be World Champion, it wouldn't be with you judging by the looks of things. It would have been very very interesting to see Michael go head to head against the two young pretenders to his throne.

Anyway, conclusion. Best race by a mile for years. I watched the whole race, didn't change the channel and didn't fall asleep halfway.

 

[BlackSamurai]

frankly,
move Kim out from McLaren, put him either Ferrari, Renault, BMW or BAR will make the race more exciting. Kimi is another talented driver who unable to show him real capability due to the car issue.
McLaren reliability problem really make the driver and supportor fastructed.

I do not know how good is F2005 or Schumi for yesterday race. This is the 2nd race for the same engine, and at Bahrain, Schumi retired at lap 12, which means he shall have a engine is more durable compare with Alonso (who finish 57 laps in Bahrain). Or put it in this way, Ferrari engineer can tune the engine to give more power with less worry about the engine durability issue. I guess that make the 2 secs different.

Alonso drive a cool race also.

 

[si|verfish]

Just the engine factor alone, is impossible to give Schumacher a full 2 sec advantage. 2 seconds in Formula 1 is a week. Martin Brundle said earlier in the race that Kimi and Alonso's engines were from the Bahrain GP and Button's was new. So they will have to limit the revs later in the race and that will slow them down about a half a second, thats it.

The F2005 is definitely quick, what we don't know yet is how quick and how reliable it is. We shall see in Barcelona in 2 weeks.

Anyway, I think its safe to assume that Alonso is in for a shout at this year's Driver's championship. But I don't know if it's just me, but I feel a bit uncomfortable about such a young driver winning it. Frankly he hasn't paid his dues in the sport. Young drivers need to go through failure and frustration and a host of other experience as a sort of sharpening, so that they become more seasoned. It would be beneficial to him and the sport in the long run. We just never know what early success might do to a potentially great driver. Schumacher didn't exactly jump into F1, into a good team and start winning stuff straight away. Same with Hakkinen. A great driver needs to be moulded.

That said, the shit Kimi has to go through with McLaren is definitely beneficial to him in the long run. Hope Alonso gets the same.

 

[keithkeat]

anyway,good bouce back for shumi

 

[zero4]

i dont support schmi but i have to say, the legend is back on track

 

[BoatOwner]

Originally posted by si|verfish@Apr 25 2005, 10:26
But I don't know if it's just me, but I feel a bit uncomfortable about such a young driver winning it. Frankly he hasn't paid his dues in the sport. Young drivers need to go through failure and frustration and a host of other experience as a sort of sharpening, so that they become more seasoned.

Alonso is in his 5th season in F1 (2nd season as test driver), and his first season was in a Minardi. I don't see how Alonso going through failure and frustration would do the sport any good - if driving a minardi isn't frustrating i dunno what is :( .

Villenueve won the championship in only his second season in F1, michael in his 3rd/4th season i think.

IMO there is no need to pay your dues in the sport. If you can win in your first season there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't. Many people said it was unfair and crap how kimi got into F1 without doing even a single race in F3 - bollocks... if you're good enough you're good enough.

 

[si|verfish]

Well, for a start, failure builds character. But if you get everything too early (as in young but it is a relative thing because it also depends on the person), it might just fuck you up as a person. I can draw from a lot of examples of young talented sportsmen screwing up their careers.

So, I'm not saying they can't, but maybe it would be better in the long run if they don't. Also, there are many types of champions. Ultimately, you'd want to be a consistent winner like Schumacher and not a flash in the pan like Villenueve.

 

[normality78]

Althought MS didnt win the race but frm the way he charged frm 13th plc to 2nd is the best entertainment to his fans in Imola. so he is not dissapointing his fans at all....

great drive by Alonso, though me is not alonso fan but he deserved the credit. too bad kimi was out.. or else it will be fun to watch...

 

[gibod_78]

Kimi throws his steering to the wall in the pit garage.. phewww.. thats an expensive one..

 

[prodigy]

its the hundredth time his car broke down while he was leading. not necessary comfortably but enough to build a gap on alonso. i mean the mercedes isn't exactly the most reliable car but they've had 2 cars finishing in every single race till imola. their results for the past 3 race have been mediocre, but the car didn't break down. just went he was leading the race, the car HAD to break down. with these sort of luck, its hard to see why kimi won't smash a $60,000 steering wheel.

but really i don't know whether is kimi pushing the car beyond the limits or what but his car seem to break down a lot more than his team mates as far as i recall. last season was pretty bad for him but as far as i remember, DC finished races alot more than kimi. besides, cars that break down are normally so called the "2nd driver car". you'll realise RB car will break down more often than michael.

 

[cyclonite]

kimi's driving style is very kind on machinery wan... cannot be caused by his driving la.

 

[BlackSamurai]

Guess this tell the secret for the reason why alonso is slow at front.

http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=84164


News
25 April 2005
Alonso had engine problem

The secret is out -- Imola winner Fernando Alonso tackled the entire weekend with an engine problem. All event, Renault insisted that the Spaniard's near-total absence from the practice track was due to trying a 'different strategy.'

"I guess we can now reveal the full truth," 23-year-old Alonso said in northern Italy. "From Friday we had some problem."

The V10, also used to win in Bahrain, was turned-down during the grand prix. "I did not expect to win," FA added.

Engine chief Denis Chevrier, meanwhile, said the fact that Fernando could win with a used and unwell engine is 'another expression of his huge talent.'

 

[edgar_raphael]

great drive by MS. Really unexpected!

In the last 2 laps I was thinking, he sure can overtake Alonso, but I can see that Alonso is trying very very hard on his nerves to block MS's way, so many times I saw Alonso trying so aggressively to prevent MS from overtaking. He even challenged his 1st position to a dangerous stake where he almost hit over the nose tips of the Ferrari.

All i can say is, he is very aggressive and not surprise to see him in the 1st podium 3 times in a row for this season.

 

[eddie]

can somebody tell me how the hell did mr. shoemaker go 2secs faster per lap.... :ph34r: than mr butang and alonso....... :o

 

[[Joc]]

Originally posted by eddie@Apr 26 2005, 01:27
can somebody tell me how the hell did mr. shoemaker go 2secs faster per lap.... <!--emo&:ph34r:--><img src='style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle'
alt='ph34r.gif' /><!--endemo--> than mr butang and alonso....... <!--emo&:o--><img src='style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle'
alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[snapback]927601[/snapback]​

its those round black things... that we call TAYAR/tyres... and i would believe that this track rewards mechanical grip way more than aerodynamics. As i've read, someone said mr. shoeman was right at the rear wing of AhLunsok...... well that's cause they were both braking into a very slow corner (5th last corner/ near the end of sector 3) where mechanical grip is more important than aero. If you notice, the other part SCHUmaikai was near again is at the hairpin!! Aside from that, he's always 3-4 car lengths away.... so... wanna know if the F2005 is damn good aerodynamically? Look out for the next race in Barcelona, Spain. Any car that has bad aero will be uncovered there! Only conclusion i'm drawing from this race is

1. Bridgestone upped their game
2. The F2005 is very good mechanically (well they were last to bring their new car out, so there's definitely more development.)
3. Schumaikai has bloody good stamina even though he's 36yrs-old

 

[BlackSamurai]

bridgestone always having better performance than Michelin at cooler temperature . And now the F1 is back to europe, which also helps Ferrrari performance.

Plus, Imola is Ferrari home GP, their factory is just miles away from the circuit and they conduct lot's of testing there. All these fact, actually help Ferrari to have a stunning race last weekend.