European Grand Prix

[ALBundy]

What a day of racing with F1 at its best! Its a pity that Kimi had a bad front tire and hence the suspension failure. Looks like Alonso is the firm favorite to win the championship with a mammoth 32 points lead. And BMW Williams is doing great, Heidfeld especially. Cant say much for Webber except that he seemed to be over-rated...just like Ralf Schumacher.Heidfeld rumoured to join "BMW" next season...http://www.planetf1.com/news/story_19718.shtml

 

[MeanStreak]

What a sad day indeed for Kimi and McLaren :cry: Was on my feet on the final lap.. alas, it had to give way with 3km to go.

 

[fabianyee]

that's F1 Racing...

remember the one where Mika Hakkinen's McLaren broke down with another half lap to go??? that race was handed over to Schuey Snr...

But for Kimi's case, it's a matter of WHEN, cos can really see the tyre vibrating to the max... imagine driving the car with such vibration at over 250kph.. the poor guy's hand must ve been shaking for a while from all the vibes...

 

[MeanStreak]

Wonder if he had slowed down, would he have finished the race??? Could have scored some points instead of none??? :dunno:

 

[ALBundy]

Yup, Mika had a blown engine in year 2000, US Grand Prix if I remember correctly :beaten:

As for Kimi's case, it was case of when and whether he could bring back the car in one piece and 10 championship points, well they took a gamble and lost at least 8 championship points.

All in all congrats to Alonso and these are exciting times for F1 rather than being the normal boring victory procession drives by Ferrari pilots!

 

[MeanStreak]

Only thing is, in the post race interview, Alonso failed to admit that he got lucky. :hmmph:

 

[affan66]

I think that Kimi should have changed the tires. It was outright dangerous. If he had been a second closer to Button, he might have crashed into Button and endanger someone else. The stewards should have done something too.

Just like we advise people to be careful of what we do on the road and make sure our cars are safe, F1 should have done the same. Kimi knew of the dangers. He should have gone for the tire change and still get points. GREEDY!!!!

 

[OSFlanker]

Originally posted by MTek1318@May 30 2005, 02:00 PM
Only thing is, in the post race interview, Alonso failed to admit that he got lucky. :hmmph:

Kimi's suspension failure is not luck (bad for him, good for Alonso). Earlier he went off track, damaged his aerodynamics and flat spotted the tire. In general, the car really got thrased by Kimi - so it was a matter of time before something happened. If Kimi did finish the race, that WILL be luck. Alonso drove a cleaner race and preserved his machinery better, which is down to strategy.

 

[fabianyee]

I think the FIA now should be having meets to counter future occrurences...

The commentators were also been tokking in regards to the tyre wear on that track... in the past, the cars would be changing at least 2 sets of tyres and some 3...

but it's difficult to enforce forced tyre change by the race stewards.

 

[ALBundy]

I supposed Kimi had pushed his car to the limits due to McLaren's perception that Heidfeld was closing fast on him. He flat spotted the right tire trying to lap Villeneuve which showed how much aggresion he was driving the car with. Of course, if McLaren had known that BMW was actually on a 3 pit stop strategy and hence explains the speed of that car, Kimi would have driven a cleaner race.

 

[OSFlanker]

Originally posted by ALBundy@May 30 2005, 02:43 PM
I supposed Kimi had pushed his car to the limits due to McLaren's perception that Heidfeld was closing fast on him. He flat spotted the right tire trying to lap Villeneuve which showed how much aggresion he was driving the car with. Of course, if McLaren had known that BMW was actually on a 3 pit stop strategy and hence explains the speed of that car, Kimi would have driven a cleaner race.

Wasn't it Alonso who was closing fast on Kimi? He was 7 secs behind Kimi with 7 laps to go then going into the last lap the gap was less than 2 secs. Heidfeld pitted with less than 10 laps to go and was in 3rd place when he came out.

 

[ALBundy]

Kimi flat spotted his tyre when Heidfeld was fast closing in on him ma. If he had known the williams was on a three pit stop strategy, he probably wouldnt have flat spotted his tyre while lapping Jacque Villeneuve.

 

[MeanStreak]

Originally posted by ALBundy@May 30 2005, 03:08 PM
Kimi flat spotted his tyre when Heidfeld was fast closing in on him ma. If he had known the williams was on a three pit stop strategy, he probably wouldnt have flat spotted his tyre while lapping Jacque Villeneuve.

It was obvious from the 2nd pit stop timing and fuel intake predictions, both Alonso and Heidfeld are on three stop strategy. Its just amazing how the McLaren crew did not realize this.

 

[MeanStreak]

Even the commentators failed to realise this and the 3rd stop caught them by surprise!!!

 

[ALBundy]

Yup...but then again even the commentators was taken by surprise that Williams was on a 3 stop strategy. On when Heidfeld pitted did they realised that Williams pitted early in the race and then their pitstops were very brief. Maybe everyone was busy watching the race as the leads kept changing hands. Great race!! :yes:

 

[fabianyee]

Originally posted by MTek1318@May 30 2005, 03:24 PM
It was obvious from the 2nd pit stop timing and fuel intake predictions, both Alonso and Heidfeld are on three stop strategy. Its just amazing how the McLaren crew did not realize this.

Heidfeld pitted with 29 laps remaining but the fuel calculation was that it can only last 22 laps...

Anyway, i would say Kimi pushed too hard and paid the price....

will see what comes for Montreal...

 

[Jules]

The results only prove one thing to me....NEVER GIVE UP UNTIL THE FLAG FALLS.....and for this - Alonso desered the win and it has nothing to do with luck.

 

[MeanStreak]

Originally posted by fabianyee@May 30 2005, 03:28 PM
Anyway, i would say Kimi pushed too hard and paid the price....

He pushed hard becoz there he wasn't fed with proper info by the crew

 

[ALBundy]

Originally posted by Jules@May 30 2005, 07:30 AM
The results only prove one thing to me....NEVER GIVE UP UNTIL THE FLAG FALLS.....and for this - Alonso desered the win and it has nothing to do with luck.

 

[OSFlanker]

Originally posted by MTek1318@May 30 2005, 03:26 PM
Even the commentators failed to realise this and the 3rd stop caught them by surprise!!!