F1 European Grand Prix: Valencia 2008
Posted by mcdo
im not digging.
Kimi's Valencia review:
Life would be much easier if you could always win. But sometimes it doesn't seem to go your way - whatever you try.
That's what happened to me in the last couple of races and it's not so nice. But it's not over yet. I'll keep fighting to get the results I want to achieve. One third of the season is still left and it's enough to fight back.
Obviously I would have never expected that all these street circuit races would so badly hurt our campaign to win the world championship again.
We had the first DNF in Melbourne, however we gained one point still. Then we hit that bump in Monaco and crashed into another car. In Montreal we had a good race pace but had to retire after the collision in the pit exit. This weekend we lost the engine in Valencia.
I went to the European Grand Prix with a good feeling. It's always great to have a race in a new place. Friday practise was good, I had a good feeling in the car. But Saturday was a little bit cooler and we struggled again in qualifying. We should have been more aggressive.
Obviously there has been a lot of talk about my qualifying problems. But in Hungary I just went wide in my final lap in Q3. Without that we would have easily been third. Then after that we got fourth place in Valencia, and after that I already knew the race was going to be difficult.
At the start you would need almost a miracle to get to the top from fourth place on the grid or further behind. We started from the worse side. Heikki had better grip and passed us. After that it was me against him for fourth place.
When you get stuck behind somebody, it's nothing but a struggle to try and attack towards better positions. The leader gains one second every lap - that's how it's been in the last few races for us.
We fought to get fourth place, but the only opportunity was, obviously, at the last pit stop. We went there one after the other, but I made a mistake. I left too early and one of our mechanics hurt himself. Of course, you hope something like that never happens. Luckily, Pietro is mainly okay. His toe was broken but it's not taking too long to heal. It's nothing serious and I hope that he'll be back at the track with us very soon.
After the stop we dropped to sixth place on the grid, and at the end of the day it would have been better than nothing, but then the engine blew. Without any warning. Suddenly we came from a corner and felt something was wrong. Then the smoke came out.
We knew we had to take a risk for Valencia and we did not finish the race. It's a shame, but it's useless to grieve over that. The result will stay and it's time to just look ahead. Now we have a test in Monza, and then comes Spa.
I love that circuit and, obviously, I would love to race there for the whole year long. Spa is the best of all the circuits and hopefully we can finally get the car working to the way I want it to work.
We go to Spa to win it again. If somebody has doubts concerning my motivation, let them doubt. One thing I can tell is, that right now I am more motivated than ever.
so Kimi and Ferrari knew that the engine maybe won't last the race but they took a risk and didn't work out and like some peopel said earlier that Kimi has motivation problems...haha not true
things just don't go his way at the moment maybe in the future he will get it worked out, if not this season then the next one.
Life would be much easier if you could always win. But sometimes it doesn't seem to go your way - whatever you try.
That's what happened to me in the last couple of races and it's not so nice. But it's not over yet. I'll keep fighting to get the results I want to achieve. One third of the season is still left and it's enough to fight back.
Obviously I would have never expected that all these street circuit races would so badly hurt our campaign to win the world championship again.
We had the first DNF in Melbourne, however we gained one point still. Then we hit that bump in Monaco and crashed into another car. In Montreal we had a good race pace but had to retire after the collision in the pit exit. This weekend we lost the engine in Valencia.
I went to the European Grand Prix with a good feeling. It's always great to have a race in a new place. Friday practise was good, I had a good feeling in the car. But Saturday was a little bit cooler and we struggled again in qualifying. We should have been more aggressive.
Obviously there has been a lot of talk about my qualifying problems. But in Hungary I just went wide in my final lap in Q3. Without that we would have easily been third. Then after that we got fourth place in Valencia, and after that I already knew the race was going to be difficult.
At the start you would need almost a miracle to get to the top from fourth place on the grid or further behind. We started from the worse side. Heikki had better grip and passed us. After that it was me against him for fourth place.
When you get stuck behind somebody, it's nothing but a struggle to try and attack towards better positions. The leader gains one second every lap - that's how it's been in the last few races for us.
We fought to get fourth place, but the only opportunity was, obviously, at the last pit stop. We went there one after the other, but I made a mistake. I left too early and one of our mechanics hurt himself. Of course, you hope something like that never happens. Luckily, Pietro is mainly okay. His toe was broken but it's not taking too long to heal. It's nothing serious and I hope that he'll be back at the track with us very soon.
After the stop we dropped to sixth place on the grid, and at the end of the day it would have been better than nothing, but then the engine blew. Without any warning. Suddenly we came from a corner and felt something was wrong. Then the smoke came out.
We knew we had to take a risk for Valencia and we did not finish the race. It's a shame, but it's useless to grieve over that. The result will stay and it's time to just look ahead. Now we have a test in Monza, and then comes Spa.
I love that circuit and, obviously, I would love to race there for the whole year long. Spa is the best of all the circuits and hopefully we can finally get the car working to the way I want it to work.
We go to Spa to win it again. If somebody has doubts concerning my motivation, let them doubt. One thing I can tell is, that right now I am more motivated than ever.
so Kimi and Ferrari knew that the engine maybe won't last the race but they took a risk and didn't work out and like some peopel said earlier that Kimi has motivation problems...haha not true
things just don't go his way at the moment maybe in the future he will get it worked out, if not this season then the next one.that proberly explains his bad pace>>> engine reduced to save it?
marcl schreef:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I dont think so, he just never really found a good
> set up. Even on a clear track he was lapping
> slower than the leaders.
>
> It would have been so close with Kovy coming out
> that last pit stop but I think Kovy would have had
> him.
>
> I still think kimi is ferrari's best bet for the
> championship and the next 2 races will show that.
> Massa has got better yes but I dont rate his
> chances at Spa and lewis was not that great there
> last year same goes for Monza.
yeh, but if you reduce the revs of the engine to save it abit you will be slower, even on a clear track
-------------------------------------------------------
> I dont think so, he just never really found a good
> set up. Even on a clear track he was lapping
> slower than the leaders.
>
> It would have been so close with Kovy coming out
> that last pit stop but I think Kovy would have had
> him.
>
> I still think kimi is ferrari's best bet for the
> championship and the next 2 races will show that.
> Massa has got better yes but I dont rate his
> chances at Spa and lewis was not that great there
> last year same goes for Monza.
yeh, but if you reduce the revs of the engine to save it abit you will be slower, even on a clear track
finally the ferrari looks a beaut after a long time
Ugly as always.. Toyota looks pretty nice with oldskool frontwing wich they are using.
Kimi, so, Massa Fernando Sebastian is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?
Wow, what a refreshing change
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You know you want to. [judgegrudge.mybrute.com]
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You know you want to. [judgegrudge.mybrute.com]
God, I love Monza (and other low-downforce circuits).
________________________________________
Some say... he's even smaller than 20kb.
And some say... he's so offensive he could get you into trouble...
The only thing we know is that he's called...
THE SIG
Felipe Massa, World Champion 15:34:11pm- 15:34:21pm.
________________________________________
Some say... he's even smaller than 20kb.
And some say... he's so offensive he could get you into trouble...
The only thing we know is that he's called...
THE SIG
Felipe Massa, World Champion 15:34:11pm- 15:34:21pm.
This weekend Felipe Massa completed 100 gps ( first win of the new circuit and subsequently hat-trick is really a good gift)
Congratulations Felipe! :P
Curious fact is that every single race of his career in F1 were powered by Ferrari, even in Sauber days ( as they used the Scuderia's engines)
PS: in the cake (is it a cake??¬¬) photo notice Kimi is the unique with empty hands
.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2008 05:51AM by Rodrigo007.
Congratulations Felipe! :P
Curious fact is that every single race of his career in F1 were powered by Ferrari, even in Sauber days ( as they used the Scuderia's engines)
PS: in the cake (is it a cake??¬¬) photo notice Kimi is the unique with empty hands
.Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2008 05:51AM by Rodrigo007.
Slash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> LOL, he drank it before the photo...
I guess its more like he have already warning from team and he is not allowed to drink even 1 glass on GP weekends..
Not even water because who knows what he would mix into it.
Kimi, so, Massa Fernando Sebastian is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?
-------------------------------------------------------
> LOL, he drank it before the photo...
I guess its more like he have already warning from team and he is not allowed to drink even 1 glass on GP weekends..
Not even water because who knows what he would mix into it.
Kimi seems really happy too :S And the guy right on the teamphoto (with the jeans) is making signals to someone to hit felipe with a curveball it seems
________________________________________
Some say... he's even smaller than 20kb.
And some say... he's so offensive he could get you into trouble...
The only thing we know is that he's called...
THE SIG
Felipe Massa, World Champion 15:34:11pm- 15:34:21pm.
________________________________________
Some say... he's even smaller than 20kb.
And some say... he's so offensive he could get you into trouble...
The only thing we know is that he's called...
THE SIG
Felipe Massa, World Champion 15:34:11pm- 15:34:21pm.
Sapo schreef:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Kimi seems really happy too :S And the guy right
> on the teamphoto (with the jeans) is making
> signals to someone to hit felipe with a curveball
> it seems
thats kimi's happy look yes
-------------------------------------------------------
> Kimi seems really happy too :S And the guy right
> on the teamphoto (with the jeans) is making
> signals to someone to hit felipe with a curveball
> it seems
thats kimi's happy look yes
From ITV F1 pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz
Having played a key role in disrupting both drivers’ races in Valencia, you must wonder whether it’s really worth the tiny advantage it gives Ferrari.
A quick recap: Driver arrives to a red light; once the front and rear jacks are removed, signifying that the front and rear wheels have been replaced and secured, the red light is joined by an amber.
When the fuel hose disconnects, the driver gets a green light and is free to leave the pits.
Kimi Raikkonen’s case is very clear. He went before the fuel hose was removed, and before the green light was shown.
Felipe Massa was given a green light, but it was really the chief mechanic’s fault for not using his override switch to keep the lights on red, as another car was coming down the pit lane, so it wasn’t safe to release Massa.
There was an element of arrogance in Ferrari’s defence. They implied Adrian Sutil was only a backmarker who should have got out of the race leader’s way.
Is it possible the chief mechanic saw the other car but thought a Force India wasn’t worth holding his driver back for?
In Massa’s case, a mid-race drive-through penalty might have been too severe, yet you have to ask why the stewards were not consistent in their decisions, having given Karun Chandhok a drive-through penalty for the same infringement in the GP2 race the day before.
Back to Raikkonen’s case. One must ask why the highest-paid driver in the field – and the reigning world champion – made such a novice’s mistake.
Kimi was in a pit stop battle with Heikki Kovalainen at the time, so was desperate to get out of the pits ahead of his countryman.
He wasn’t looking in his mirror, so I can only conclude that he felt the first thud of a fuel hose being partially disconnected, and just went.
Ascribing emotions to Kimi Raikkonen is impossible because he doesn’t really have different emotional states.
He let out an unexpected laugh when I asked him on Thursday whether he felt he was back on form.
Clearly this amused him; I got the feeling I had just asked the same thing his boss had just asked him, or I had inadvertently reversed the situation and it’s not down to him at all, but down to the team not providing him with a fast car.
Or has he found out that Fernando Alonso or Robert Kubica have signed for Ferrari, with the deal to be announced at Monza?
Whatever, Kimi hasn’t won a race for eight events now, since Barcelona in April.
More significantly, he’s only scored 28 points since that race, compared to Felipe’s 46 and Lewis Hamilton’s 50.
Kimi should be strong next time out at Spa. If he doesn’t win there, he’ll struggle to retain his title.
LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat
Having played a key role in disrupting both drivers’ races in Valencia, you must wonder whether it’s really worth the tiny advantage it gives Ferrari.
A quick recap: Driver arrives to a red light; once the front and rear jacks are removed, signifying that the front and rear wheels have been replaced and secured, the red light is joined by an amber.
When the fuel hose disconnects, the driver gets a green light and is free to leave the pits.
Kimi Raikkonen’s case is very clear. He went before the fuel hose was removed, and before the green light was shown.
Felipe Massa was given a green light, but it was really the chief mechanic’s fault for not using his override switch to keep the lights on red, as another car was coming down the pit lane, so it wasn’t safe to release Massa.
There was an element of arrogance in Ferrari’s defence. They implied Adrian Sutil was only a backmarker who should have got out of the race leader’s way.
Is it possible the chief mechanic saw the other car but thought a Force India wasn’t worth holding his driver back for?
In Massa’s case, a mid-race drive-through penalty might have been too severe, yet you have to ask why the stewards were not consistent in their decisions, having given Karun Chandhok a drive-through penalty for the same infringement in the GP2 race the day before.
Back to Raikkonen’s case. One must ask why the highest-paid driver in the field – and the reigning world champion – made such a novice’s mistake.
Kimi was in a pit stop battle with Heikki Kovalainen at the time, so was desperate to get out of the pits ahead of his countryman.
He wasn’t looking in his mirror, so I can only conclude that he felt the first thud of a fuel hose being partially disconnected, and just went.
Ascribing emotions to Kimi Raikkonen is impossible because he doesn’t really have different emotional states.
He let out an unexpected laugh when I asked him on Thursday whether he felt he was back on form.
Clearly this amused him; I got the feeling I had just asked the same thing his boss had just asked him, or I had inadvertently reversed the situation and it’s not down to him at all, but down to the team not providing him with a fast car.
Or has he found out that Fernando Alonso or Robert Kubica have signed for Ferrari, with the deal to be announced at Monza?
Whatever, Kimi hasn’t won a race for eight events now, since Barcelona in April.
More significantly, he’s only scored 28 points since that race, compared to Felipe’s 46 and Lewis Hamilton’s 50.
Kimi should be strong next time out at Spa. If he doesn’t win there, he’ll struggle to retain his title.
LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat
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