fr3.5 silverstone

[Aysedasi]

The drivers/team managers could have brought the cars straight in - they need an SC now these days to tell them it's getting too wet for slicks?

[p-matt]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Well from what I witnessed the SC was already too late and after all the shunts etc so was the stoppage!

The rain was starting when they started and it was always going to be a big deluge.

Difficult call I know but SC should've been out end of lap 1, or race stopped so cars could change to wets. Don't want to take away from those who managed to an cope like Bianchi but we lost at least 8 cars early on when they were on the wrong tyres and that knocked the stuffing out of the race.

I tend to agree - they should have brought out the safety car earlier, but in saying that the rain did come in very suddenly.

I don't think they needed to red flag it though; they could have covered it with a safety car . It was very refreshing to see them release the cars on the restart much earlier than expected. The conditions were borderline, but it was great to see drivers demonstrating their skill in very wet conditions.

[ptclaus98]

Well, at least something was salvaged for Rossi this weekend. Should have been much better, though.

[p-matt]

Great second race. Quite pleased to see Bird and Bianchi get back in the championship fight

[chunterer]

Damn it, missed the results for this morning's effort as was on way to Mallory!

So matt I presume Bianchi and Bird has good races today?

What happened?

[pauln]

Originally Posted by p-matt

I don't think they needed to red flag it though; they could have covered it with a safety car.

I was at home Sat, marshalling Sun. Talking to colleagues about the Sat race, maybe one of the cars that went in at Luffield was moveable without a JCB/breakdown. Sure it probably could have been done under safety car, but the time taken would have eaten up the rest of the race. I think a red flag/restart is a better decision that the entire race under SC.

[p-matt]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Damn it, missed the results for this morning's effort as was on way to Mallory!

So matt I presume Bianchi and Bird has good races today?

What happened?

Yep, Bianchi bogged down at the start allowing Sorensen, Frijns and Bird to pass. Frijns didn't have pace all race (not sure what happened to him) and dropped to an eventual 9th by the flag. Bird passed him early on. Frijns held Bianchi up a bit when he was overtaking and da Costa managed to jump both of them. Sorensen was dominating out front but picked up a puncture on the final lap to give Bird the win. A real shame for Marco, as he's now lost 2 wins due to mechanical failure. Rossi had a superb drive from 25th to 5th by the flag.

Very encouraging to see the Arden Caterham showing very good pace. Both drivers are very strong, and have deserved better machinery. I wonder what Williamson would have been able to do if Red Bull kept him on.

[bella]

frijns got a flatspot on his tyre, and said towards the end he couldn't do right hand corners any more (iirc). he had a cracking battle with bianchi into copse, which was where da costa mugged the pair of them. bianchi had a bit of a moan about frijns' defending afterwards but they both drove responsibly and nobody fell off, so perhaps he was just whining because it lost him a position or two.

sorensen *really* deserved that win, he was robbed by misfortune - again. not sure a hole in a tyre from driving over debris counts as a mechanical failure, but it was seriously bad luck.

i'm not sure about williamson - it seems to have been a strange coincidence that the performance of the car and team has really picked up since the nurburgring, which was where da costa made his debut.

[Deemun]

I really don't think Williamson has become a bad driver overnight. He did a solid job in GP3 last season and I'm sure his results would have improved this year had RB stuck with him.

No denying he had a difficult start to his FR3.5 campaign but not all of his bad results were of his own making. I was very surprised to see him dropped especially with the likes of David Coulthard obviously being a fan and his ties with RB; you would have thought that may have had some bearing. I personally thought his dismissal was premature but one always wonders if there are other factors coming into play in these situations? Besides RB have certainly proved in the past that once their mind is made up then your days are numbered regardless. Look at Hartley for example even though Christian Horner liked him he was still let go.

I'm sure Lewis will re-group. At least he is competing in GP3 and many would love to be doing that!

[jondownunder]

I was at Silverstone so I missed this story when it came out:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101931

Robin Frijns Formula Renault 3.5 championship leader Robin Frijns has a new chassis for this weekend after his original car was destroyed in a testing crash earlier this week.

The Dutchman's Fortec Motorsports team was conducting a day of straightline testing at the Millbrook proving ground in England with a local driver familiar with the facility, but towards the end of the day he suffered a heavy crash which trapped him under a barrier.

The driver, who was knocked unconscious in the accident, was hospitalised, but according to the team he has since been released.

Sounds like a very lucky escape. Does anyone know who the "local driver" was?

[chunterer]

Hmm that was a topic of much debate at the weekend itself!
I think a lot of people thought it was Yelloly's car.
Whatever the case it appears that 'somebody else' was driving Robin's car who maybe shouldn't have been and it literally got tubbed.