Another great race … Can’t wait for Brasil !

simon — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 08:51:00 +0000

Another week-end, and another post on Formula One. By now you know the deal : early wakeup equals Formula One while waking up ! And this race again was really interesting for its first 75% !
It was held in China, where again the weather played some nice little games with the drivers minds. Started under light rain, the track started to dry out. This caused good drivers to overpass others quite often during the first quarter of the course, and since the track offers some nice settings for that, it was real nice to watch. When the track dried out, drivers started using the slick tires (the one that can only work on dry tracks), just to realize that after 10 laps the rain came again, sending a few drivers in the grass. The great thing was that conditions where changing from laps to laps, and the drivers with wet/dry tires where having different difficulties on every lap. So the time between each driver where highly flexible, thus letting you hope for a great finish.
With all that, Hamilton was in first, with Raikonnen chasing him. Going out to change tires, Hamilton went off track and stopped, leaving the track all open for the former to win the course, in front of Alonso and Massa. Too bad for Kubica who was actually going to win it if he did not have a problem with his transmission. The last 15 laps where ran in this order, with no major changes and actions, which reminded us all how boring can Formula One be when there is no action !
The great thing is that the winner of this season championship won’t be known until the next and last course in Brasil. Basically Alonso could win it if he wins it, Raikonnen could triumph if the two McLaren were to fail, but for sure the one with the most chances is Hamilton, who for his first season as a driver could win the championship … Can’t wait for the 21st of October to see that !

Formula One or Stock Car Racing ?

simon — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 08:03:00 +0000

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Update : YouTube had to remove the videos due to copyright infrigments … I’m trying to find the video some place else …
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It was a long time since my last live F1 Grand Prix, but this Sunday I managed to catch the last 20 minutes of the 2007 Japan one.
For the past few years, I found out that the show was not as interesting as it used to be (more strategy, less action), and the retirement of Sir Schumacher did not really help me in waking up early to catch the live action !
Anyhow, on Sunday, after an hectic night, and an early wakeup thanks to my son, I watch that one ! Really hard conditions, with lots of rain. On board cameras where showing the difficulty for the drivers to drive and find the best curves on this slippery racetrack !
And then came the last lap … First the 2nd and 3rd driver, aka Kovalainen and Raikkonen, switch places two times to remain in the same order in a battle than reminded us all of good all times when overlapping was not an exception ! What a lap for the first one who is really in his first years of driving, on a car that has not proven much this year (Renault).
But the most amazing was the battle between Massa and Kubica !
Here is the video from outside view (Loooove the Japanese guys )

You see there that the racetrack was not really wide enough for those two guys, and that the lap was really closer to Stock Car than Formula One ! I still cannot believe that they did both finish the race on the finish line, and not in the gravels !
But even more impressing, is the onboard view of Massa’s car … Just old your breath people, because you are going to see why these people are considered the best drivers around :

Here are the two videos next to one another :

And what seems like a slightly longer version of the first one :

Simon's Mess » formula one

Another great race … Can’t wait for Brasil !

Formula One or Stock Car Racing ?