Musings of an American F1 fan...

[Lacy Lodmell]

Greetings everyone,

I've been dying to BS with a fellow F1 fan about the season so far, but I haven't found any fellow fans in my new town. Thus, I thought I might share some random thoughts with the FSAE community, as a good many of you watch F1.

First off, and I hope I don't turn anyone off of this thread by saying this, I'm a Ferrari fan. I know, I know, not original, but I didn't have posters of BMW's or Mercedes or (God forbid) Renaults on my walls as a kid. Besides, as an American fan it's hard to pick a team as we have NO representation in the big show. Anyway, as gut-wrenching as it is to watch the red team flounder this season, I think I'm having a much better time than last season when they dominated. It's not too exciting to see your guys go 1-2 from flag to flag for most of the season... but for Michael's brawl with Fernando at San Marino, I was screaming like an idiot. The pass Schumi pulled on Rubens at Monaco was awesome (although not so much in retrospect, as it probably contributed significantly to Rubino's desire to leave). And smashing the opposition at Hungary qualifying made my girlfriend think I had lost my mind. So, I'm wondering: should I hope Ferrari keeps sucking next season so I have something to cheer at once in awhile? Hum.

Three words: Red Bull Racing. I think I've cheered more for DC this season than for either Ferrari pilot. I remember Pat D'Rat saying something on the boards a couple years ago about DC losing his drive after his plane crash. Who would've thought he could get it back by downgrading from McLaren to a Jaguar spray-painted blue and yellow. Keep it up, ol' chap! Now, RBR needs to stop screwing around, dump 'Tonio (I'm sure Midland or someone else would pick him up) and sign Christian Klien for next season. And Scott Speed as third driver. I think that would do more to heal the Indygate wounds than anything: our own American driver honestly whipping a car around the track, and not just as a publicity stunt.

WilliamsF1: Does anyone else think that Sir Frank should give ol' Jens the finger and sign Nick Heidfeld TODAY before BMW grabs him? That's a driver that surprised me this year. And I'm getting tired of JB's fifteen-year old-girl tendencies (Today, I like Williams. No, no, BAR. No, wait: I just love money and attention!) And a Hell Yeah! to Cosworth for scoring a Williams contract. I was actually sad to see Red Bull go to Ferrari power after the rock-steady reliability (if not screaming horsepower) Cosworth had brought them this year.

Toyota: all I can say is, it's about time. I guess it's true that money can buy anything, including F1 success (or at least the right human resources to lead you to it).

Renault vs. McLaren-Mercedes: Good show, boys. I don't even know who I want to win, but it's been fun watching. It will be nice to have two world champions racing next year. Oh, you say, there are two racing this year? I wouldn't say JV is really racing so much as wasting fuel and looking bad compared to Felipe. Sorry Jacques, you shouldn't have come back. Montreal is a nice town, and I'm sure your restaurant needs a lot of managing...

That's all I got. Nothing original, but I need to bounce this stuff off somebody who knows who the hell I'm talking about. My girlfriend isn't so receptive to F1 talk ("You like Ferrari?" she asks me two weeks ago, after two years of dating and F1 watching). Let the bashing/agreeing begin!

[Edited to correct spelling and grammar idiocy.]

[Lacy Lodmell]

Greetings everyone,

I've been dying to BS with a fellow F1 fan about the season so far, but I haven't found any fellow fans in my new town. Thus, I thought I might share some random thoughts with the FSAE community, as a good many of you watch F1.

First off, and I hope I don't turn anyone off of this thread by saying this, I'm a Ferrari fan. I know, I know, not original, but I didn't have posters of BMW's or Mercedes or (God forbid) Renaults on my walls as a kid. Besides, as an American fan it's hard to pick a team as we have NO representation in the big show. Anyway, as gut-wrenching as it is to watch the red team flounder this season, I think I'm having a much better time than last season when they dominated. It's not too exciting to see your guys go 1-2 from flag to flag for most of the season... but for Michael's brawl with Fernando at San Marino, I was screaming like an idiot. The pass Schumi pulled on Rubens at Monaco was awesome (although not so much in retrospect, as it probably contributed significantly to Rubino's desire to leave). And smashing the opposition at Hungary qualifying made my girlfriend think I had lost my mind. So, I'm wondering: should I hope Ferrari keeps sucking next season so I have something to cheer at once in awhile? Hum.

Three words: Red Bull Racing. I think I've cheered more for DC this season than for either Ferrari pilot. I remember Pat D'Rat saying something on the boards a couple years ago about DC losing his drive after his plane crash. Who would've thought he could get it back by downgrading from McLaren to a Jaguar spray-painted blue and yellow. Keep it up, ol' chap! Now, RBR needs to stop screwing around, dump 'Tonio (I'm sure Midland or someone else would pick him up) and sign Christian Klien for next season. And Scott Speed as third driver. I think that would do more to heal the Indygate wounds than anything: our own American driver honestly whipping a car around the track, and not just as a publicity stunt.

WilliamsF1: Does anyone else think that Sir Frank should give ol' Jens the finger and sign Nick Heidfeld TODAY before BMW grabs him? That's a driver that surprised me this year. And I'm getting tired of JB's fifteen-year old-girl tendencies (Today, I like Williams. No, no, BAR. No, wait: I just love money and attention!) And a Hell Yeah! to Cosworth for scoring a Williams contract. I was actually sad to see Red Bull go to Ferrari power after the rock-steady reliability (if not screaming horsepower) Cosworth had brought them this year.

Toyota: all I can say is, it's about time. I guess it's true that money can buy anything, including F1 success (or at least the right human resources to lead you to it).

Renault vs. McLaren-Mercedes: Good show, boys. I don't even know who I want to win, but it's been fun watching. It will be nice to have two world champions racing next year. Oh, you say, there are two racing this year? I wouldn't say JV is really racing so much as wasting fuel and looking bad compared to Felipe. Sorry Jacques, you shouldn't have come back. Montreal is a nice town, and I'm sure your restaurant needs a lot of managing...

That's all I got. Nothing original, but I need to bounce this stuff off somebody who knows who the hell I'm talking about. My girlfriend isn't so receptive to F1 talk ("You like Ferrari?" she asks me two weeks ago, after two years of dating and F1 watching). Let the bashing/agreeing begin!

[Edited to correct spelling and grammar idiocy.]

[RickyRacer]

Hey Lacy,
I don't really have a favorite team in F1 but if I were forced to choose, I would have to say Red Bull Racing. This is for 2 reasons. First, the team is the left overs of the last time Ford was ever involved in F1. Second, because they are trying to get an american presence in F1. As for drivers, I would have to say I like JPM. He is a confident balls out driver who is out for one reason, winning races. He was never afraid of going after Schumi.
The Monaco pass Schumi did on Rubens directly contributed to his leaving Ferrari. I read that on that day he went and spoke with BAR. I agree that it is great to see Cosworth get a a contract and even better with an established team such as Williams, even though they have struggled. I hated seeing RBR go to Ferrari because I don't want anyone to have any influence on them. The rivalry between Renault and McLaren is great to see.

Ricky
Cal State Long Beach Racing

[Schulberg J]

I'm with you. DC's my main man.

jason

[Lacy Lodmell]

That's all you guys got? (Thanks Ricky and Jason). I imagined some Ferrari bashing including some "they deserved it," and maybe some "Go McLaren" or "BAR rocks" from the Brits. Perhaps a hurrah for Mark Webber from the Aussises. Huh. Guess nobody cares about F1 anymore. Maybe I'll start watching NASCAR.

[Charlie]

All I can say is I went to my 3rd USGP this year, and although I love the technology, I hate the current state of the sport.

I'm waiting patiently for the GPWC, I'll gladly lose Ferrari to be able to do away with Mosley and the like.

[ben]

I have a confession to make, I actually watched the British Superbike championship races from Silverstone instead of the Turkish Grand Prix th other week. Ok so we're in the process of overhauling Michelin to hopefully win the BSB title, but it was beter racing full stop.

As for four wheels, the only thing I currently make time for is the ALMS/LMES. Portland, Road America and Silverstone were awesome and the cars are frankly more interesting.

Ben

[Z]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Lacy Lodmell:
Perhaps a hurrah for Mark Webber from the Aussises. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
He'll need more than a hurrah to get him out of the deep poo he's in at Williams!

How many right(?)-rear flats can a team have in one race? They interviewed Sam Michael (the Aussie TD) during the coverage and he must have mentioned "Michelin" a dozen times. Funny that none of the other Michelin teams had that problem?

And at another race earlier this year (forget which - they're late at night, through an amber haze...) the Williams cars were bouncing along a straight stretch of track while all the other cars were dead smooth...

What's wrong with Williams???

Z

[Lacy Lodmell]

I don't understand Williams' problem at all. The Speed Channel commentators were blaming their slowness on poor downforce levels compared to the rest of the field (I seem to remember someone at Williams admitting to being behind in aero) and yet they don't seem to consistently suck on high and medium downforce tracks. And Mark Webber qualified very well for the first seven races, then both he and Nick Heidfeld went to crap.

That right rear bit was bizarre. You would think a team as experienced as WilliamsF1 would know better than to set up their car to rub the rears on the wing endplates (or whatever it was they were doing). Then again, the USGP proves again that highly experienced racing organizations (read: Michelin) can completely miss the boat on something huge.

Suddenlee, I figured you would weigh in on this thread. Got an opinion on the "new" DC??

[Eddie Martin]

Williams have been pretty strange this year. They are obviously lacking downforce compared to the McLarens and Renaults which has hurt. Webber was a lot better in qualifying than Heidfeld for the first 7 or so races but when the red mist comes down in a race he would become a bull in a china shop. Heidfeld seemed to keep a steady pace and then profit from others mistakes which has helped his point's total.

It is interesting that since Canada they have been slower, compared to before Canada. Could it be that BMW have turned down the engines a bit since they knew the partnership was over and they didn't want to see their engines lunching themselves every sunday. (BMW seemed to have big problems in hot weather). Seems the heads are starting to role with the sacking of Gavin Fisher.
Z, I think it was Bahrain that the Williams were bouncing all over the place while most other cars were riding the bumps better.

I hope that Kimi can get closer to Alonso in the points, he has had lots of mechanical problems this year.

I'm surprised that Montoya and Fisi have been so convincingly beaten by their teammates, although both are getting better and were closer to their teammates in Turkey.

Red Bull have been a bit odd, changing second drivers regularly. They have been helped by a better Cosworth engine but I still think they need to improve in qualifying.

Sato is pretty much on the way out, BAR have lost their patience with him. The only thing that has kept him in F1 is the fact he has a Japanese passport. Can the other BAR pilot, Button, sink his reputation and credibility any lower?

I have had a lot of respect for the Ferrari team over the last couple of years but what goes around comes around. They had a tyre advantage last year and now they don't. Their breaking of the testing agreements is also against the spirit of the competition.

F1 needs to get more direction and better planning, too many people are looking out for themselves instead of the good of the sport.