Formula 1

[Dirk Gently]

Well I thought I'd better start a thread on this.

I'm interested even if no one else is.

Anyone else interested in the fastest car sport?

[Paul Hayes]

I'm a big F1 fan, have been for about 12 years now. Looks like this year's shaping up to be a close contest between Ferrari and McLaren, which is good. BMW might start snapping at their heals as the season goes on, too.

I think Massa will probably win tomorrow, though.

[Dirk Gently]

Well Kimi won Australia but only got third in Malaysia. 10 pts & 6 pts.
Alonso got second in Aus but won in Malaysia. 8 pts & 10 pts.
Hamilton got third in Aus but got second in Malaysia. 6 pts & 8 pts.

Alonso 18 pts.
Kimi 16pts.
Hamilton 14 pts.

A win next for Hamilton?

[Dirk Gently]

You were right Paul, Massa won.

1st Massa
2nd Hamilton
3rd Raikkonen
4th Heidfeld
5th Alonso

Alonso 22pts
Hamilton 22pts
Raikkonen 22pts
Massa 17pts

[Paul Hayes]

Decent race today, lots of enjoyable stuff. A shame two great drives from Coulthard and Davidson came to naught when their cars failed on them, but Coulthard and Webber also will have been pleased with the speed that their Red Bulls showed. McLaren and Ferrari do indeed seem to be the class of the field, but Heidfeld's pace was better today, making it seem like my prediction that BMW will sooner or later join those two in jostling for wins won't be too far off.

Three drivers all sharing the lead of the championship - not a bad start to the championship!

[stephenhannan]

Interesting race yesterday at another of Herman Tilkes yawnfest circuits ( Istanbul excepted )

Brilliant Win by Massa. I suspect he must have had his mentor MS on the blower after the last pit stop to have teased Hamilton into thinking he could be caught.

Hamilton will pay for his charge under the two race rule and may end up with a blown engine before the end of the next race. A wise experienced head would have had him settle for second after the last pit stop.

Kimi drove well, preserving the engine and settling for a fair third.

Heidfeld was a super drive, my drive of the day. probably cooked it for the next race but a point had to be proven and the man did so.

Alonso continuing to prove to be a master. Settling for a realistic 4th or 5th from the outset. I bet his motor was tuned right down from the first pits if not before to give the maximum chance at the next race. A Master who plays the long game.

Shame for Mark and David

A super S**T or bust race for Anthony who now must be considered the team leader over Sato.

Honda???? A new paint job please as so far their earth friendly credentials suggest that they must be running on Bio Ethanol.

Toyota with money to burn, hampered by the "Kaizen" method of working that creats mediocrity as the norm fail to impress and yet both Trulli and RS know how to perform.

To sum Up.

My money is still on Alonso to acheive what MS failed to do and that is to win the World Championship 3 times on the trot after changing Manufacturer. Oddly if you recall both Alonso and MS won their first to championships under Fabio.

Still the season starts properly soon when the band arrives to Europe and development continues

[Kaybee Bailey]

Alonso's career so far is basically the same as Schumacher's but without the controversy. I hope he can follow through and become a true great.

OK, so F1 and me in a nutshell: Started watching in 1994, vividly remember weekend from hell... back in the day I was a Damon Hill fan so while I respect Schumacher's driving ability I think his numerous and unashamed attempts to run people of the road tarnished his career. After about 1999 we had a bit of a rut with the Schumacher/Hakkinen years which were a little predictable, but the last couple of years have been refreshing and this season is shaping up well. It's nice to see a few teams and drivers in the mix, especially with the decent rookies coming in too.

On Hamilton, I'd love to see him come through this season and win the title as a rookie, but it won't happen. With the long calendar you need experience to get through, but he's definitely one for the future. It's funny, I remember seeing him on Newsround when I was 11... this kid has been signed by McLaren. You get that all the time on kid's TV, Man U sign kid seen playing beach football, little James hopes to grow two foot and play in the NBA etc. Lewis Hamilton is the first one I recall who's ever made it.

[stephenhannan]

O.K. whats the odds for Barcelona?

Two up for Massa, or a first for Hamilton ( I think not see above )

Fernando to show his skills, or Kimi to Blast off into the sunset?

Ferrari showed true form here in testing early this year but after 4 weeks development may have helped some of the lower runners who have struggled with Bridgestones.

a great circuit which due too being one of the major testing venues has been ruined by teams over understanding of the circuit and therefore left with a procession rather than a Race.

Can be changed by the vagaries of the weather but for once I hope it is fine. A selfish comment as my Wife is down that way for the next week, and I do wish her good weather.

what I would like is either a Massa or Fernando victory. Massa because Ferrari is the team I have supported for 30 years or Fernando because he is way the best driver on the grid. ( despite driving for my hated Mclaren team. )

Long shot on Heidfeld with an unusual pit stop stratagy.

[Dirk Gently]

Accidents aside it'll be a Ferrari or McLaren top 3 to be honest, but at least its not a one horse race like it has been in the past.
Winner could be any of the top 4 but my ideal finish would be Hamilton 1st, Alonso 2nd, Massa 3rd & Raikkonen 4th but to be honest it could be any order of those 4.

Alonso 22pts
Hamilton 22pts
Raikkonen 22pts
Massa 17pts

[Dirk Gently]

Poll was taken by Massa.

First two rows of the grid looks like this:-
Massa
Alonso
Raikkonen
Hamilton

[Dirk Gently]

Well Massa wins a second race in a row & Hamilton gets a forth podium in his first 4 races. I'm not sure that's been done before, I fairly sure it hasn't.

1st Massa 10 pts
2nd Hamilton 8 pts
3rd Alonso 6 pts
4th Kubica 5 pts
5th Coulthard 4 pts
6th Rosberg 3 pts
7th Kovalainen 2 pts
8th Sato 1 pt.

11th Davidson
12th Button

Drivers leader board.
Hamilton 30 pts Youngest ever leader of the Drivers title.
Alonso 28 pts
Massa 27 pts
Raikkonen 22 pts
Heidfeld 15 pts
Kubica 8 pts
Fisichella 8 pts
Rosberg 5 pts

Good race all round.

[stephenhannan]

Todays title: Fantastic Felipe

What a brilliant race won in a true Schumacher fashion. Felipe Looks, learns and wins.

What price now on the 2007 championship?

Kimi Car breaker. haven't I been saying this all along. When will they all catch on?

Hamilton surprised me. Honestly I thought he had cooked the engine at the last race but a fantastic second although never really troubling the leader.

Fernando. oh! Fernando from calculating genius to hothead coupled to a completely McLarenesque cock up with tyre selection.

Life in the old dog award to David Coulthard. Considering I thought all through the 90's that the guy was overated. I take it back for his marvelopus drive. That Red Bull is going to spring some surprises this year.

BMW. Their acceleration out of the corners amazes. I reckon it might just be worth putting a long shot bet on one of their cars winning at either Monaco or Hungary.

Nico proves that the Williams could be back towards the front if only, if only.

First European race proves little . Maybe we do see a reemergence of Ferrari Domination?

Maybe the Newey effort is now starting to take effect?

Maybe Alonso is having some trouble. But have we not seen arguments ( In the 80's and 90's over RD's preferences)

hints from Martin that MS may Race again??????

Perhaps Kimi gets the hump at not inheriting without effort MS's position at Ferrari and runs to the hills with MS stepping back in supporting Massa as he did Irvine in 1999?

The season now starts to get political ( Big Smile )

[Paul Hayes]

BMW are looking surprisingly good still - putting Honda to shame, certainly (mind, you, so are Super bloody Aguri!). I think BMW could be heading for a win towards the end of the season, especially in a race of attrition.

I know everyone's writing Hamilton off as a genuine title contender, but I honestly think it looks like the championship could be between him and Massa. We shall see.

[Dirk Gently]

I know everyone's writing Hamilton off as a genuine title contender, but I honestly think it looks like the championship could be between him and Massa. We shall see.

The one thing that might go against Hamilton is if Alonso keeps up with him on the points front. If it's possible for Alonso to win the title & it only need Hamilton to move over to make it happen then I think Hamilton will be told to do so...even at the expense of his own title hopes.
It's not fair but I think McLaren have brought in Alonso to win the title & he only went to them on the understanding that he was the team leader/number one driver.

So if Hamilton wants the title & the team to give him their full backing then he needs to continue to build his lead over his team mate so by the last Grand Prix he can't be passed by Alonso.

All in my opinion of course.

[stephenhannan]

Wow Monaco!!! Look at the sights!!!!

I do not think this should be on the calendar as a race for the world Championship as frankly all of the cars are now designed in such a way that Monaco is an anomally for them.

I suggested earlier that we could see a first BMW win here.

Don't get me wrong I do not want to see this race dropped but introduced as a " Celebrity Race" with teams permitted to build highly modified versions for this one only.

The winner would be awarded a "Blue Ribband" prize. Serious yes! but with an element of fun as well. Monaco gets too serious at times under the present scheme.

[Dirk Gently]

with teams permitted to build highly modified versions for this one only.

I'm sorry but that's never going to happen. The small teams would be the ones to suffer & it would be unfair.

I'm not convinced that Monaco should stay on the calendar to be honest.
The only race is to see who gets on pole, after that its a procession, unless someone crashes or breaks down.

[Dirk Gently]

Grid looks like this:-
Pole Alonso
2nd Hamilton
3rd Massa
4th Fisichella
5th Rosberg
6th Webber
7th Heidfeld
8th Kubica
9th Barrichello
10th Button

Kimi decided to prang his car in the second session.
Coulthard got a penalty for not letting a car on a fast lap pass him while he was on an out lap.

[stephenhannan]

Kimi Car Breaker crunches car.

What price now on Ferrari continuing to adopt an uncharacteristic even hand with both drivers.

If Kimi continues to stomp off at every failure the ever critical Tifosi and more important the Italian press will continue to pour scorn and Massa will be favoured if he continues to rack up useful points.

The drive from Massa was brilliant on a track where the long wheel base Ferrari was not supposed to excel.

As Martin Brundle said at the last race " Have we really seen the end of Michael Schumacher" or might a return be on the cards later in the season to support a Massa Charge for the title? Remember I said it first

Alonso wonderful as ever and Hamilton continuing to star. The order of position was probably just as well as the RD interview after the quali rather indicated RD's inability to think about two drivers. It was sort of "Yes Alonso did well too" Is this the start of disturbance in The MClaren camp? I might yet see Alonso in a Ferrari in the longer future.

My bet on BMW now looks a little forlorn, however stranger things have happened especially if there is rain tommorrow. Chances will improve if Alonso and Hamilton take each other off on the first corner.

Silly old David. I really thought that he had left his observational problems well behind especially after Spa 1998.

Nico ! Nico ! Great for Williams and proving that sopmething from Toyota can be successful. You just need a little British and Scandanavian know how.

( Can we call Nico Scandanavian or is he really German? )

You know I can't recall what happened to Anthony. Brave on old Liuzzi... Wonderfull one off in the first session. Reminiscant of the old "Monza Gorilla". Prize to who ever can recall who the "Monza Gorilla" was except you can find it if you look up Swedish or was it the Dutch grand prix winner 1975. The only man to cross the line and crash.

[Dirk Gently]

1st Alonso
2nd Hamilton
3rd Massa

Alonso 38 pts
Hamilton 38 pts
Massa 33 pts
Raikkonen 23 pts
Heidfeld 18 pts
Kubica 13 pts
Fisichella 12 pts
Rosberg 5 pts


Shame Hamilton wasn't allowed to do 2 or 3 laps more before his second stop which by my calculations he should have had the fuel for. He could have taken the lead but I got the feeling that the team didn't want that.

[Paul Hayes]

Shame it didn't rain during the race - got pretty dull towards the end, really. If only Hamilton and Alonso had been driving for different teams at that point!

[Paul Hayes]

Canada this weekend - the Ferraris often go well there, but it's also a circuit that sometimes throws up a surprising result, and there are often safety cars, so anything could happen. It's hard to see a winner coming from outside of Ferrari or McLaren, but if things get just a little spicy then the BMWs could be in there.

[Dirk Gently]

Canadian Grand Prix starting grid

1. HAMILTON McLaren
2. ALONSO Mclaren
3. HEIDFELD BMW
4. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
5. MASSA Ferrari
6. WEBBER Red Bull
7. ROSBERG Williams
8. KUBICA BMW
9. FISICHELLA Renault
10. TRULLI Toyota
11. SATO Super Aguri
12. LIUZZI Toro Rosso
13. BARRICHELLO Honda
14. COULTHARD Red Bull
15. BUTTON Honda
16. SPEED Toro Rosso
17. DAVIDSON Super Aguri
18. SCHUMACHER Toyota
19. WURZ Williams
20. SUTIL Spyker
21. ALBERS Spyker
22. KOVALAINEN Renault

[Paul Hayes]

Ouch. My neck hurt just *looking* at that replay. Horrible.

I hope to goodness that Kubica is okay. He's one of the very best young drivers around, and in interviews always seems a very pleasant and personable chap too.

[Paul Hayes]

Kubica's manager told Louise Hamilton he was speaking, so fingers crossed he should be okay. Although just as they cut to the adverts, Ron Dennis was telling Hamilton that Kubica had broken something.

As for the result... Blimey! What a race. Four safety cars, wasn't it? People falling off all over the shop... Sato passing Alonso!

But well done to Hamilton, Heidfeld and especially Wurz for keeping their heads. (On one stop and surely running on fumes at the end for the latter!). Hamilton's result reminded me of the days when Schumacher would come through the chaos, always oddly unscathed!

[Dirk Gently]

Hamilton won! Nice one son!

Kubica has a broken leg apparently. Alonso gave away that second place by trying too hard. The berk! Still, a good lead for Hamilton in the Drivers table.