Post Race thread

ralf fan · 23 Apr 2006, 13:53 (Ref:1592730)

SO Schumacher wins his first proper win since Suzuka 04.

Alonso second keeps the pressure in the championship

Great drive from Montoya. Shadowed his team mate all weekend in the T-car..super stuff...

Back to Schumacher... I was following the live timing while watching the race. MS was doing 24.8's in the first sector when ALonso was catching him. yet on the lap when Alonso pit and he needed to make the difference... MS pulled out a 24.0 in the first sector which was about par with what he was doing when he was at his fastest. Also his second sector was on par with his fastest. Stunning stuff.....where'd he pull those out who knows..!!

Knowlesy · 23 Apr 2006, 14:00 (Ref:1592743)

At the end of the day, Renault threw it away IMO with a frankly stupid pit call. What was it Symonds was saying about Honda the other day?

Montoya drove well I thought, much better than Kimi who seemed asleep. Quite what Ron was talking about after the race I don't know, because Raikkonen didn't do anything amazing on the live timing screens at any point. He didn't seem to have any real pace at all.

Honda lost the plot it seems!

Webber drove solidly! Rosberg, a bad weekend!

Fisichella and Barrichello were abysmal again.

Bye bye Yuji Ide.

Menelaos · 23 Apr 2006, 14:01 (Ref:1592745)

It's nice seeing a good driver back where he deserves to be. It was also nice seeing some fighting between MS and FA. JPM had a very good weekend, must be the first time he was by far better than Kimi. Kimi was not good. The race was ok, but we need at least SOME overtaking. Not Imola, of course, but.....

ralf fan · 23 Apr 2006, 14:04 (Ref:1592749)

Fisi and Rubens were very poor..I thought fisi wouldve been on a one stopper...

Also very dissappointed with Raikkonen.... there was a little burst of speed towards the end...but overall a poor showing..

Inigo Montoya · 23 Apr 2006, 14:06 (Ref:1592753)

Great drives by Alonso, Monty and of course, Michael. Disappointing drive from Fisi on one of his home circuits. He'll have to do better if he wants to lead the team next year.

ralf fan · 23 Apr 2006, 14:08 (Ref:1592759)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inigo Montoya

He'll have to do better if he wants to lead the team next year.

He'll also have to do some serious bribing to lead the team next year...

**Born Racer** · 23 Apr 2006, 14:21 (Ref:1592777)

A good race from Montoya, but he's looking fed up with McLaren's inability to unlock their supposed potential. I think they're gonna find it tougher this year simply because the top points are being shared between more teams.

Toyota seemed better this weekend, at least in Ralf's hands. I noticed from the in-car footage how much higher their engine note appeared compared to say Renault. Another solid race from Webber, but I do fear Williams won't be able to keep up with the pace of development of the big spenders.

Why did we not hear in-car radio? Do the teams get to choose whether it is aired or not? I don't necessarily think they should be able to.

An ok race from ITV apart from that major blunder when they missed the re-start

James Allen was alright today.

Dani Filth · 23 Apr 2006, 14:25 (Ref:1592782)

Quote:

Originally Posted by knowlesy

At the end of the day, Renault threw it away IMO with a frankly stupid pit call. What was it Symonds was saying about Honda the other day?

i don't think it was stupid . it was just Schumacher that was better ..

in most cases we've seen . Alonso was lighting fast on fresh Michelins .. . check past races . and they stayed shorter at the first pit and with Schu being very slow .. into the 27s .. conserved fuel .. alonso just didn't have more

Knowlesy · 23 Apr 2006, 14:27 (Ref:1592784)

Stupid was harsh, I think.

Let's just call it a poor gamble.

**Adam43** · 23 Apr 2006, 14:54 (Ref:1592801)

I thought it was clearly the wrong decision. Michael drove those in and out laps very well, but with a heavy fuel load I don't believe he could have responded to a series on low 25s from Alonso. We saw that after teh last stops, why did they think it would be different this time? The asfer option was to wait, but they got nervous at the slow pace.

Menelaos · 23 Apr 2006, 15:18 (Ref:1592827)

Quote:

Originally Posted by knowlesy

Stupid was harsh, I think.

Let's just call it a poor gamble.

I'll have to go with "stupid"

The problem is that IF Ferrari made the right choise, pit Schumi on the very next lap, there was no way Alonso would pass. And I don't think anyone should bet on Ferrari not making the right decision when it comes to strategy. Maybe McLaren would not do that well against Ranault, but Ferrari is incompairable when it comes to these calls.

Dutton · 23 Apr 2006, 15:30 (Ref:1592837)

IMHO, Michael was clearly struggling. I think his struggling pace was 1:26.5-1:27.2 (ish). Ferrari knew they had no hope of staying ahead if things took the usual route (i.e. Alonso stopping later).

Thus Michael backed off into the 28s to try and goad Renault into stopping early, as it represented the only opportunity to stay ahead. Put it this way: when Michael suddenly went faster by, IIRC, 0.7s after Alonso pitted I was not in the slightest bit surprised.

Renault made an obvious error bringing Alonso in. It may have been doable had they switched him to a splash-and-dash.

*****

All in all a pretty interesting race.

If only both the Hondas had had a bit of a better run...would've been interesting to see where they sat in the Mclaren/Massa/Fisi group.

It is annoying that we missed the re-start, as I would be very interested to know how it came about that Massa wasn't passed by Alonso. That surprised me.

Williams are presumably going to be reasonably please with getting 6th.

I am glad Albers was OK.

In general a really quite competitive race through the field, IMHO. I think people cannot reasonably complain about it, seeing as there were a lot of cars close together...but, alas, I am sure it was the worst race ever.

Shoe-maker · 23 Apr 2006, 15:33 (Ref:1592842)

You'd have thought Symonds would have known better from all those times he was at Benetton when they outmanouevred Williams. Great win for Schumacher and hopefully Ferrari can put together a consistent run.

DeoValente · 23 Apr 2006, 15:39 (Ref:1592850)

I jsut couldnt stop remembering how nice racing at this track was before the chicane's. Once flat out from rivazza all the way to tosa..people overtaking each other...what a shame. A well, on to the next grand procession at the ring and then barcelona. Nice places where cars cannot overtake.

ferrari looked the **** man...if it wasnt for that hick up mid race they wouldv ended with a 1-2.

Dutton · 23 Apr 2006, 15:44 (Ref:1592852)

The hiccup mid-race? You mean both cars being 1.5-2 seconds off the pace for the final 2/3s of the race?

The Nurburgring has produced a fair whack of overtaking through the years.

BootsOntheSide · 23 Apr 2006, 16:16 (Ref:1592908)

If Renault had kept their heads they would have realised what Ferrari were doing - the way Fernando was blocked by Massa earlier should have been proof. If Fernando loses the title by 2 points (unlikely, he's still the dominant man, and has been the fastest driver for 4 races out of 4) he will be even more irritated by today.

The actual race wasnt great, because overtaking is so difficult in these cars, and there were no interesting circumstances to produce a different race.

Dutton · 23 Apr 2006, 16:21 (Ref:1592912)

I thought Massa was slowing down to block Alonso, but then he went a bit quicker again.

Alonso could have gone quicker, for sure, but he never got remotely into Massa's gearbox (like he did with Michael later).

He must've chosen to hang back, which is fine, but since he chose to sit a distance back it isn't like he was directly held up per say (he chose to follow at a distance).

**Peter Mallett** · 23 Apr 2006, 17:15 (Ref:1592964)

Pretty tedious really and we have'nt even got a driver of the race thread which tells us something.

M Coupe · 23 Apr 2006, 20:34 (Ref:1593117)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Pretty tedious really and we have'nt even got a driver of the race thread which tells us something.

Brundle also refused to name one today as well.

slicktoast · 23 Apr 2006, 20:50 (Ref:1593127)

Well, I went to mow the lawn after the first pit stops of the majors were complete. Good choice. When I played back the DVR, it started to rain outside. Nice parade except the MS/FA "battle" where the pass couldn't get done on the track OR the pits...

I love that four times a year (in the US) I get to hear the commentator tell us who is turd, during the F1 races.

Honda: 2nd to 7th, 3rd to 13th. Sometimes qualifying isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Glad to see that the acrobatic team at the back of the grid pulled off a safe trick in the F1 circus.
All in all a fantastic race---MS won!

**Spudgun** · 23 Apr 2006, 23:16 (Ref:1593276)

Quote:

Originally Posted by M Coupe

Brundle also refused to name one today as well.

It was a strange one today. Nearly everyone had an off day.

What got me was the Italian TV director. Pretty much just coverage of the front and not much else. We saw a replay of Albers and Liuzi and Albers and thats about it. The yellow flag indicator would come up on top of the screen, but nothing. I know who's winning is pretty important but I'd like to have seen a bit more of what else was going on!

Marbot · 23 Apr 2006, 23:36 (Ref:1593287)

Ferrari (or is that Bridgestone) still seem to have some serious tyre issues,a slip up in qually could have seen the red team have a thoroughly miserable weekend.As it is they were fortunate and were ahead of their rivals when the tyre problems began,they might not be so fortunate next time.Michelin still seem to have the better tyre despite the work done by Ferrari and others.

rocketracer · 24 Apr 2006, 00:22 (Ref:1593309)

As dutton mentioned, i think it was a clear case of MS and ferrari realising they werent quite quick enough to sprint to the finish in 1st place, so manoeuvred their way to the win - ie michael was quoted as saying he ran at his own pace rather than pushing. In my opinion, he was toying with Alonso / renault knowing full well he couldn't be passed, brought FA back to a situation where had alonso waited another lap or two to pit, they would be placed back in traffic of 3rd / 4th place which set off the panic button at renault and they lost out. I got the feeling Michael still had some pace up his sleeve if needed (but wasn't really tested) as was shown by his faster in-lap.. hes shown time and again that he is one of the best at realising when to be quick and when to hold steady...

Although, we don't know for certain that renault had more fuel and could go later - this was only based on FA first stopping later - maybe michael realised the tyres were off so lessened revs to go a little longer in the stint? he had alonso covered, though he knew his cars pace was limited due to the tyres... so put the flame under the renault lads and saw them squirm under pressure, and roll over pretty easily..

Thoroughly enjoyable to see the master showing the apprentice that pace isnt the only way to win a race!

Shoey · 24 Apr 2006, 01:06 (Ref:1593328)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocketracer

Thoroughly enjoyable to see the master showing the apprentice that pace isnt the only way to win a race!

Yeah, there's also being in front on a track you can't pass on.

deejay · 24 Apr 2006, 01:23 (Ref:1593335)

Yes great tactical driving by Schuey. It was a pleasure to watch him orchestrate it, and a nice pay back for the same race last year.

More proof that Schuey was sandbagging is evidenced by the last few laps, when Alonso slipped up and dropped back a couple of seconds Michael picked up his pace to keep him from catching up again.

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