Author Topic: Official Racing Thread (Read 139008 times)

reina's eyes · « **Reply #540 on:** September 30, 2007, 11:34:55 PM »

Quote from: JFC on September 30, 2007, 10:22:30 PM

I'm too lazy to look this up, have there been any previous instances of a rookie driver winning the driver's championship?

JV (Jacques Villeneuve, not Jos Verstappen) I think. And possibly others, and also the first year the championship was held. For some it might be first full year.

Anyway, Lewis is proving to be the worst at losing the championship this year!

ggliff · « **Reply #541 on:** September 30, 2007, 11:57:31 PM »

^ hmmm

No rookie has ever become World Champion in Formula 1. In the 1960s and 1970s there were some meteoric careers but this was more to do with the fact that drivers were dying and thus there were more opportunities for new boys to make a big impression.

Race winners in their rookie seasons are pretty rare, but World Championship challengers are a very select group. Jacques Villeneuve was second in his first year in 1996 but he came from a background in high-powered Indycars and so started at an advantage. Further back in time Eugenio Castellotti, Jackie Stewart and Clay Regazzoni were all third in the World Championship in their debut seasons, while Ronnie Peterson was runner-up in the World Championship in his first full season.

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns19044.html

reina's eyes · « **Reply #542 on:** October 01, 2007, 12:11:44 AM »

Quote from: ggliff on September 30, 2007, 11:57:31 PM

^ No rookie has ever become World Champion in Formula 1.

... except for the first season. :-)

Thanks for the research.

ctz · « **Reply #543 on:** October 01, 2007, 06:45:41 AM »

The Japanese GP turned out be a great race, eventhough the beginning was kinda scandalous.

Hamilton probably can't drive bad enough to screw up his championship. Hamilton's driving was everything else than great, he spinned three times. Luckily Alonso was even worse and Ferrari's tactics were so wrong.

The first 10 laps behind the safety car was boring as hell. I understand that the race can't be started if helicopters can't take off, but it's the fog. Why to use safety car only because of rain? Many of the drivers were whining how they're not seeing anything and race should be stopped. What the hell?! If they don't have guts to drive, they can quit the race whenever they want --or drive slower.

The other thing I have to mention again is that nowadays many of the tracks don't have sand and concrete walls outside the track, but tarmac! Way too forgiving... In Fuji it was almost faster to drive off the track for better grip --the last corner where Massa overtook Kubica for example. Thogh it wasn't so bad yesterday, because we could see some good fights, but in general I like the fact that going off the track should cost you.

Also gongratulations for Kovalainen. He didn't make mistakes and deserved his first podium.

ggliff · « **Reply #544 on:** October 02, 2007, 05:16:33 PM »

Agree about the tarmac, seems there is no penalty for going off the track these days, not sure about the sand traps, but there should be something that takes a while to get out off.

And yes, good result for Kovalainen, nice guy, deserves it.

Tuffty · « **Reply #545 on:** October 07, 2007, 12:41:26 PM »

Guess the Championship isn't as clear cut as I thought! When I saw Hamilton get pole position yesterday, I thought, yep that's that, but genuinely surprised he had to retire in the race. Alonso said he needed a miracle to make a comeback, and he definately got one. Raikkonen won, so that leaves a 4 pt gap between Hamilton and Alonso, and a 7pt gap between Hamilton and Raikkonen going into the final race in Brazil.

Which is good, because as good a driver as Hamilton is, I didn't want the final race to count for nothing.

JFC · « **Reply #546 on:** October 07, 2007, 06:28:25 PM »

^ Indeed. The drama's always better when it's down to the wire.

EDIT: Hooray for replays! I can finally watch a race in it's entirety!

WTF Ralf Schumacher's leaving Toyota and Sebastian Bourdais is joining F1 next season?!??

ctz · « **Reply #547 on:** October 09, 2007, 08:42:45 AM »

Chinese GP was sure a good thing for the championship fight.

Still, an amateurish mistake from Hamilton... He has got everything so easily this season he wanted to triumph in China as well. Wise man would've just driven for the fifth place.

Quote

WTF Ralf Schumacher's leaving Toyota and Sebastian Bourdais is joining F1 next season?!??

Schumacher was probably just kicked out, but they left him some respect and chances to get to another team by letting him say he's gone by his own will... I'm surprised if he's driving F1-car next season.

ferrar1 · « **Reply #548 on:** October 21, 2007, 02:08:43 PM »

Last race of the season, i'm expecting a ferrari 1-2. But i really don't see Hamilton claiming his 1st world title since england lost to Russia in international, England lost to SA in rugby and maybe the English rookie won't get his way.

JFC · « **Reply #549 on:** October 21, 2007, 05:38:46 PM »

^ Yep, wound up Ferrari 1-2. Congrats to Raikkonen for winning his first driver's championship.

Man, too bad Hamilton had that (I'm assuming) steering thing happen to him near the start of the race. It pretty much took him out of the race for 1st. Must have hurt even more that he was a lap down and right behind Raikkonen when he crossed the finish line.

Tuffty · « **Reply #550 on:** October 21, 2007, 06:22:08 PM »

Congratulations to Raikkonen! I admit, I saw the chances of him slim indeed, but he pulled right though it and Masa graciously allowed his team mate to win.

I'm sure Hamilton must be cursing McClaren though. When you look back on it, just imaginie how important it would have been if he at least finished the race in Shanghai. He'd be the one on the top podium, not Raikkonen. Must be feeling really frustrated at the minute. Although it's not the fairytale the media was hoping for, there's always next year, and many more to come. Has to be said though, great season of F1!

ggliff · « **Reply #551 on:** October 21, 2007, 07:05:57 PM »

Well done and congratulations to Raikkonen. Gutted about Hamilton, but what a great first year. If Lewis was not going to win I am glad the Ice Man did it, at least Alonso did not win

Masa · « **Reply #552 on:** October 21, 2007, 07:45:12 PM »

Congratulations, Kimi!

ctz · « **Reply #553 on:** October 21, 2007, 09:30:35 PM »

Yep, Gongrats to Raikkonen! What a surprise. Unbelieveable that McLaren actually could screw the driver's championship after all. But again, we saw that in today's F1 championships are won by teamwork. And this year Ferrari got that a lot more than McLaren. Kimi should buy Massa couple of drinks

But this was a great season. The fight for the championship was tight till the end. After the season opening in Australia, everyone was sure that Raikkonen will take the championship with no problems. However, in the end his win was the biggest surprise after all.

I hope next year Renault will make a comeback to the top and we'll see three teams driving for the championship... I can't wait!

ferrar1 · « **Reply #554 on:** October 22, 2007, 03:09:34 AM »

KIMI's DA MAN !!!!

Yay for Ferrari 1-2 and most importantly, finally a driver's championship title under his belt for the iceman. He totally deserved it with his hot and exciting driving style from the mclaren days. The 1st turn was the deciding point of the whole championship IMO with Kimi overtaking Hamilton and then Alonso overtaking Hamilton as well from the outside.

From then on Hamilton's confidence looks broken as he ran out wide twice and with the mclaren cars not matching the ferraris, it was always going to be a ferrari 1-2. SWEET

reina's eyes · « **Reply #555 on:** October 22, 2007, 07:28:52 PM »

Interesting the contrast between ferrari and mclaren.

Masa totally supported kimi in this his home race after demonstrating he had the potential to be the faster of the two from the start. Lewis was racing his teammate when he didn't have to and it cost him.

So now there's a protest on fuel temperatures concerning some of the cars that finished ahead of hamilton though the stewards had decided there is no conclusive violation.

With the championship now hanging on that it will be interesting to see what lewis has to say about the protest as well as how he saved his rookie mistakes for the end of the season.

Ultimately I'll be happy to see kimi get the title. Hamilton was amazing and will be great to watch in the future. It would be nice to see alonso in a team where he's happy and not tainted by discussions of pilfered technical data. And with any luck another year will see masa with another strong shot at the championship himself.

tsutomo · « **Reply #556 on:** October 22, 2007, 08:03:32 PM »

hamilton lost to himself and his innexperience. ron dennis put his coins in a youngster rathen than two times champion alonso. mclaren and specially HE paid for that. next season if alonso signs with renault again, we'll see renault and ferrari figthing for the title, not mclaren.

Tuffty · « **Reply #557 on:** October 22, 2007, 08:57:01 PM »

This decision by McClaren to appeal against the fuel temperatures is crazy. I agree with Alonso, it would be embarrasing for Lewis to win in that fashion. And it wouldn't be fair to take the points off the BMW drivers, because how were they to know? Let's face it, Hamilton's 22, if he wants to he can have a long career ahead of him and I have no doubt he will win the Championship at one point, perhaps many times. For now, I'd just admit defeat, drop it for this season and start again next year.

reina's eyes · « **Reply #558 on:** October 22, 2007, 10:22:33 PM »

^^ Interesting point about the drivers.

We KNOW that alonso was involved in the spy scandal, yet it was only the constructors championship that was impacted as a penalty. So even if the bmw team got hit with a constructors penalty, the drivers could still retain their drivers points. Besides the stewards seemed justified in dismissing the issue at the time. Only if there is evidence bmw tried to do anything counter to the rules would there be a basis for the penalty. Is mclaren just clutching at anything they can or do they have some evidence? (Doubtful.)

ferrar1 · « **Reply #559 on:** October 23, 2007, 02:29:07 AM »

Mclaren is just what we normally call a sore loser.

If anybody tries to say Kimi won it because Hamilton commited mistakes bla bla bla, Alonso did what bla bla bla, I'll ask him to look at the No. of race wins (not podium) Kimi has compared to the rest.