Awesome job by Hamilton this afternoon,very impressive.Great to see Barrichello on the podium as well.But what happened to the Ferrari's ?,apart from a small stint by Raikkonen just before the first round of pit stops they were rubbish (particularly Massa who was super rubbish !).Great race,just what the championship needed.

From the angle we were shown, Hamilton was at least level or past so Vettel would have had to have given way because Hamilton was on the line. You would think if Hamilton had tried to take the corner, he would have collected Vettel and both would have been out. It's too tight there for 2 cars and as Kovalainen showed, if they both stubbornly refuse to give way, running off the track is inevitable.

On the debate as to whether he gained an advantage, there may well be a case but I just can't see how 2 cars make it through that corner side by side and the 2 drivers in question are young and not going to lift. McLaren were obviously not convinced there was any wrong or they would have asked Hamilton to let Vettel back through.

Ferrari were always going to win that one. Good battle between Trulli and Kovalainen for 3rd. The BMW's were poor all weekend and Alonso's mistake cost him a point to Piquet.

The Hamilton penalty incident. I think the stewards were harsh and Hamilton was on the racing line and past or at worst level. They didn't show an angle but there is no way that 2 cars are getting through that chicane so he could have been avoiding an accident. That probably cost him points.

Silverstone in 2 weeks and I'm (hopefully) going to be there. If I don't make it, I'll be posting here that weekend...

So, practice has Ferrari with the fastest time of the day and Alonso fastest in the 2nd session. If no one can get near that Ferrari time (no one was within 4 tenths of it), it could be a Ferrari walk with Hamilton at least in the middle of the pack.

Grandprix wrote:
> It just shows up the inconsistency of the stewards. Raikkonen
> takes Sutil out of the race in Monaco and gets no punishment. You
> may well argue that Raikkonen lost control but he was careless.

In Monaco, if Kimi hadn't held onto his slide and had smashed into the barrier in the braking zone, the car behind could well have ploughed into him and ended his race as well. Would Kimi have been held responsible for that? No, probably not. So just because Kimi's accident took out some ahead of him rather than someone behind, it shouldn't make any difference. Kimi had an accident in unknown conditions - it was the first time through there after the safety car had come in.


> There are lots of things about this incident that leads me to
> believe that punishment was harsh. Hamilton was easily the
> quickest driver so his elimination was the race is harsh
> punishment enough.



> The light is probably not that clearly visible when others cars
> are stopped. Circuits should look at putting the light high up so
> it's easier to see. Also, Kubica was out of his pit box first and
> beat Raikkonen out of the pits. Raikkonen should not have parked
> side by side to Kubica because the pit lane is single file. It
> left nowhere for Hamilton to go to avoid an accident.

In Canada the conditions were ideal - dry and clear. This whole thing about lights is a load of tosh. For a start the blue light means that faster cars are coming along the main straight - reminding LH that the snake was still going past. Secondly, and more importantly, there were two cars STATIONARY in front of him. Even if the light was green, he would have had to have stopped as he had no other option - no room to do anything else!

As for Kimi & Kubica being side by side - Ferrari's pit is right at the end of the pitlane - at most of the tracks they never rejoing the proper pitlane as such before they've left the pit. Plus in other races we've seen cars side by side down the pitlane.

Lewis made a mistake. It's as simple as that. He is a bloody good driver, but no matter how good you are, at some point a mistake will be made. It's nothing to be ashamed of - just accept it. When interviewed he should have said "I've been a plank and cocked up. Sorry everyone." But he didn't.


> The crazy thing about the punishments is Rosberg tapped
> Hamilton, who was already out of the race and then he had to pit
> for a new nose cone so his race was ruined. How did that justify
> the same punishment as Hamilton?

He got a penalty for the same reason - having an avoidable accident. If either of them had been paying attention when they were drving down the pitlane none of this would have happened. The pitlane is a dangerous part of the track with all the people and equipment in such close proximity. Extra care should be taken and neither of these drivers did that.


> I found it funny that Raikkonen managed to call Hamilton stupid
> for his accident and said Monaco was a different story. You keep
> telling yourself that Raikkonen if it helps you sleep at night.

In my view it's a completely different set of circumstances. Heh, guess who out of us is the Kimi fan & who the Lewis :-)

Haha! What an entertaining race. I can't believe the reaction in some places, and on some forums. Some serious Lewis lovers about refuse to accept he just made a mistake. Trying to blame the lights etc. Only, there were two stationary cars right infront of him.

What a wally.

It just shows up the inconsistency of the stewards. Raikkonen takes Sutil out of the race in Monaco and gets no punishment. You may well argue that Raikkonen lost control but he was careless.

There are lots of things about this incident that leads me to believe that punishment was harsh. Hamilton was easily the quickest driver so his elimination was the race is harsh punishment enough.

The light is probably not that clearly visible when others cars are stopped. Circuits should look at putting the light high up so it's easier to see. Also, Kubica was out of his pit box first and beat Raikkonen out of the pits. Raikkonen should not have parked side by side to Kubica because the pit lane is single file. It left nowhere for Hamilton to go to avoid an accident.

The crazy thing about the punishments is Rosberg tapped Hamilton, who was already out of the race and then he had to pit for a new nose cone so his race was ruined. How did that justify the same punishment as Hamilton?

I found it funny that Raikkonen managed to call Hamilton stupid for his accident and said Monaco was a different story. You keep telling yourself that Raikkonen if it helps you sleep at night.

Kubica was well due a win IMO.He drove flawlessly as he did in Monaco (and indeed as he has done so all season).Shame for Hamilton but these things happen,at least he hit he right car !.Good to see newboys Glock and Piquet going much better then they have done so far and a great job by DC.

Hamilton seemed easily quickest in the final sector of the lap where everyone else was struggling. Obviously fuel loads will play a part in that but the track seems very slippery and with the track breaking up (again), it's only going to get worse.

A few might be gambling with a lot of fuel perhaps with an eye to the weather and thunderstorms in the area.

The FIA is funding these smaller countries so that is why they probably voted to keep Max in. Not biting the hand that feeds or something to that effect.

The FIA deal with lots of things like road safety, technologies etc. I had a brief look for a list of things they do but I couldn't find anything. Anything I did find was pretty vague.

The FIA is also involved with the motor industry but we only really hear about them in motorsport.

Talk today suggest that Mosley only really had support from about 5% of the member nations. The German and US make around 60% but they only had 1 vote each.

Mosley survives and it would seem like a lot of the smaller nations that are receiving money from the FIA voted to keep him in office. The bigger companies are not happy and it seems like there could be a split and possibly the demise of the FIA.

It has to be considered one of Raikkonen's worst performances, particularly when he started putting in fastest laps after he crashed into Sutil. Also one of his worst when you consider that he was controlling the World Championship and in one moment, he is chasing again.

Grandprix wrote:
> Urgh, I can't believe what happened to Sutil. He deserved that
> 4th place and he ends up with nothing thanks to Raikkonen, who
> was rubbish today.
>

Couldn't agree more.I was gutted for Sutil,his giant killing act was the drive of the year so far for me .Can't believe he has not jumped right up the shopping lists of some bigger teams with that performance.I can see him in a Red Bull,Renault,BMW,Toyota etc. next year.At the start of the season Hamilton named him as well as Rosberg and Kubica as the guys he expects to give him a hard time over the next few seasons.As for Raikkonens performance today,perhaps the least impressive of his career ?.

I found out the results of Martin Brundle's appearance in the Formula Palmer Audi series at Spa. He finished 8th in race 1, 7th in race 2 and 6th in race 3. He beat his son twice and lost once. The reports say he was in a race long battle in the last 2 races and lost out both times.

Heh, it would be great if Martin went on to win it. :)

Good race at the weekend. Shame Kovalainen got a puncture from Raikkonen but that's the way it goes.

Monaco is going to be a tough test. Gearboxes have to last 4 races now and Monaco requires a lot of gear changes. Most cars will be on their first or second race on the gearboxes so it could cost a few cars in the next race or 2.

Qualifying changed to take into account that Super Aguri are gone. 5 cars eliminated in the first 2 sessions instead of 6.

Gearbox problems for Raikkonen early but I can only really see Ferrari winning the race. McLaren do seem fairly close on practise pace but I can't see them finishing ahead of Ferrari unless they go out.

A Ferrari dominated season would only be okay if Massa could match Raikkonen on a regular basis. Massa seems to have tracks where he excels, which aren't that many and then can't touch Raikkonen at the rest of the tracks.

Good to hear that Kovalainen is okay, especially after reports of the impact being 26G of force.

Everyone seems to think that the writing is on the wall for Super Aguri. I miss the old days of 26 car fields.

Nah, I think it was more a case of Ferrari controlling the race. They only pushed when they needed to. Hamilton was never going to be able to overtake them and he never really got close enough to have a go. I still think they have traction issues. First and second sectors were comparable to the Ferraris but the last sector, the slowest, they were not competitive.

I think Hamilton was more concerned with Kubica as he seemed to have a similar pace. He probably wouldn't have got passed either but that's how it goes. Spain tends to be a bit misleading because the times are usually very close but I do think Ferrari have an advantage and it could be worth half a second on some tracks. McLaren have work to do.

As is usually the case in Spain, the times are all pretty close. That is probably why Alonso and Renault went with what I think is less fuel.

It does seem to me that McLaren haven't quite fixed their problem. They were losing time in the last sector, a slower part of the track and good traction needed.

Ferrari will be the most pleased. As long as Alonso doesn't get in front of them off the line, they will probably walk it and some of the faster cars behind Alonso may get compromised.

You would think the midfield will be the main action area as I really don't think there is much between them at all.