Singapore GP Thread ***SPOILERS***

Remember Felipe has had far more mechanical problems than Lewis this season.
Not been a fan of him previously but his pace in Singapore before the pitlane feckup was awesome and in general this season he has been excellent when it hasn't rained.
I see some here don't want him to win the championship (Kimi fans, Mclaren fans and Bruno ), i doubt he will now but if he does i will be very happy for him as i believe he deserves it as much as Lewis does.

Massa improved significantly last during last two -three months. IMO he deserves the title more than Lewis, but this season is going into strange direction. I have never seen a season (not even 1999) where all championship contenders and their teams made so many mistakes. And the fact that we now have 5 different teams and 7 different drivers that have won the race and nearly every driver climbed the podium, even NP makes this season even stranger. Is it because eveyone is focused on '09 and the new regulations, is it that they are so evenly matched that everyone is pushing the envelope and thus making so many mistakes, or is it simple that we have reach a point where no significant improvement on the cars is possible and they are all inside 1 sec because they are actually doing great job. So it is one or other. Or is everyone doing exceptional job, or is everyone failing constantly. Because we have nothing solid to compare this performaces to.

the fact that NP crashes a lot tells me they are all doing great job, but the poor NP cannot keep up.

but then again the pitstop blamage tells me they are all failing constantly.

Strange season.

And frankly I feel sorry they will change the rules because racing became amazingly interesting. New regulations might as well bring back one team domination.

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Stan Wrote:
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> Stan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > yeah let it pour down so that Piquet will be
> the
> > first driver to crash out like a n00b
>
>
> i see i was right

From now on when we start a race thread, we should have a section which is called "Piquet Crash Prediction"

Nickv Wrote:
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> I think it's good to have bumpy tracks. F1 drivers
> should be challenged on a circuit. Easy tracks
> without bumps are mostly boring races. Track
> surfaces shouldn't be smooth. How's a smooth track
> challenging? It won't, because you know it's gonna
> be piss easy because there are no bumps to make
> mistakes on.
>
>
> 7) Heikki: Same car as Lewis but he can't produce
> the same performance? I won't count on him to be a
> top driver in F1...
>
> Ha, the irony...

Agree with you on this Nick, this bumpy track really made a great spectacle for everyone. We got the sparks we wanted after a while (IIRC, Bruno i thought you wanted to see more sparks?) and created a great race to watch with many people locking up too much and still overtaking someone (Trulli ). And Bruno, Heikki and Piquet, do you really want that comparison again?

J i m Wrote:
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> Bruninho Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That guy (an arrogant prick, did i
> > mentioned it before?)
>
> I dare say that you probably have.
>
> However have you actually ever met Felipe Massa?
> Somehow I doubt you have. I on the other hand have
> on more than one occasion and I've found him to be
> one of the most friendly and open drivers in the
> paddock, where the majority of the winners will
> completely blank you, Massa does not, he is
> actually quite the gentleman just as is another
> one of your arrparnt disgraces, Rubens
> Barrichello. Nelsinho Piquet on the other hand
> completely blanks you.
>
> It doesn't escape my notice for a man who has
> probably never met the guy and who even refuses to
> acknowledge that he has a name, then labels that
> man as a "arrogant prick". Yes that's quite rich.
> I could make a suggestion as to who really is the
> "arrogant prick", but I shall leave it hanging in
> the air.

This is true of Felipe. No matter what position he starts in or however important the race is, he always talks to Brundle and even if he doesn't want to and gives a little insight into the race.

Monza972 Wrote:
> Agree with you on this Nick, this bumpy track
> really made a great spectacle for everyone. We got
> the sparks we wanted after a while (IIRC, Bruno i
> thought you wanted to see more sparks?) and
> created a great race to watch with many people
> locking up too much and still overtaking someone
> (Trulli ). And Bruno, Heikki and Piquet, do you
> really want that comparison again?

To be honest if Nelson had a good qualy and race Bruno would probably be praising the circuit. As for his laughable attempt at putting down the track because of it's bumps, Detroit and Phoenix were bumpier tracks, had a similar layout and were great according to him.

mikef1 Wrote:
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> Remember Felipe has had far more mechanical
> problems than Lewis this season.
> Not been a fan of him previously but his pace in
> Singapore before the pitlane feckup was awesome
> and in general this season he has been excellent
> when it hasn't rained.
> I see some here don't want him to win the
> championship (Kimi fans, Mclaren fans and Bruno
> ), i doubt he will now but if he does i will be
> very happy for him as i believe he deserves it as
> much as Lewis does.


Most of the Kimi fans actually want Massa to win they don't like Lewis I hope Massa will win he has been better than Lewis this season.

I also think mclaren hoping it rains says it all really, thats the only way they think they can beat ferrari.

Lewis is good in the rain but he aint no god. Japan last year I think Webber would have won and Kubica was faster. China we all know what happened there.

I think its silly to hope for rain as anything could happen.

I was thinking about the quality of the championship contenders this year. And the problem is that the top 2 teams have good, but not the best drivers. IMO the top 3 drivers in the field are Nando, Kubica and Vettel, and they just dont have the cars to do the job. Put it this way, if any of those 3 was in the Ferrari, providing the team didnt keep making monumental cockups, they would be runaway title winners.

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Renault#1Fan Wrote:
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> Despite being a Renault supporter I have to say
> Piquet sucks. Singapore was an awesome race and to
> say that Piquet's race was ruined by Renault race
> engineers is crap. Others ran heavy, yet Piquet is
> the only one who lost control and crashed out.

I agree with this - I quite like Renault too, but they have got what they deserved to a degree - they could have had Kovy alongside Alonso this year, but they chose to put someone in there who they knew wouldn't push Alonso. Maybe next year they will try two strong drivers.



RedSam
Winner: Not the Nickv Comment of the Year 2009
Due to the voting system in Germany, Governments are always made up of coalitions of different parties. At the last election, an almost unprecidented result saw the CDU/CSU (rough equivilant of the Conservatives) go into Government with the SPD (rough equivilant of Labour)

I don't think the track was boring like Valencia
actually I think the track was excellent................FOR ME TO POOP ON

==============================

Red Sam Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Renault#1Fan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Despite being a Renault supporter I have to say
> > Piquet sucks. Singapore was an awesome race and
> to
> > say that Piquet's race was ruined by Renault
> race
> > engineers is crap. Others ran heavy, yet Piquet
> is
> > the only one who lost control and crashed out.
>
> I agree with this - I quite like Renault too, but
> they have got what they deserved to a degree -
> they could have had Kovy alongside Alonso this
> year, but they chose to put someone in there who
> they knew wouldn't push Alonso. Maybe next year
> they will try two strong drivers.


Don't you think that Heikki perhaps saw a vacant seat at Mclaren as being a better bet than the somewhat slower Renault? Also what was to suggest pre-season that Nelson would be so utterly carp, i thought he would be quite good but i was sadly dissapointed.
In any case i'm certain that drivers like Lewis and Fernando like to have team mates to beat and not just play second fiddle.

Thought I'd read it here, but apparently not.

Massa's mechanic did give him the green light to go. Obviously, but you can clearly see the mechanic lift his thumb up off his 'pad', and the light changes to green only to immediately put his thumb down again, and the lighting system changes back to red, just as the Ferrari is leaving the pit-box.

There's little chance Massa would be looking for it changing back (he's many other things to look out for on leaving the box), so clearly that's where the main problem lies. Not in the system itself, but in the cancellation of it. He'd have noticed a big lollipop slamming down in his face (whether quick enough, I don't know, as Button showed at Imola), and in retrospect it might not have gained him more than a couple of positions over where he ended up, and Kimi certainly would have ended up last.

I always thought that the signal was on the small side...perhaps if it were bigger, it would make it less dificult to see.

HakkF1 Wrote:
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> I don't think the track was boring like Valencia
> actually I think the track was
> excellent................FOR ME TO POOP ON

LOL! glad to see you back HakkF1! :D


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

HakkF1 Wrote:
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> FOR ME TO POOP ON

If you had one shot, to hump everything you ever wanted... poodles... terriers... those Chinese dogs with the bald asses...

...would you take it?

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

You have to remember that the cars are made for the drivers there, what i am saying is kubica could jump in the mclaren and find it does not suit him so that comparison that kubica in a mclaren could be winning i just dont fair. I agree Kubica has made very few errors but he has not been under pressure really.

Vettel at the start of this year really did not look to great.

I do agree though Alonso in a mclaren or ferrari would be winning, but we did see last year he found it hard to beat lewis. But this year I think he would have beaten him due to less errors. Last year though Alonso made a number of errors but he has found his spark again this year and is happy again.

Kovy is having problems with the mclaren that he should not have next year.

I dont know if any of that makes sense I know what i am trying to say.

marcl Wrote:
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> You have to remember that the cars are made for
> the drivers there, what i am saying is kubica
> could jump in the mclaren and find it does not
> suit him so that comparison that kubica in a
> mclaren could be winning i just dont fair. I
> agree Kubica has made very few errors but he has
> not been under pressure really.
>
> Vettel at the start of this year really did not
> look to great.
>
> I do agree though Alonso in a mclaren or ferrari
> would be winning, but we did see last year he
> found it hard to beat lewis. But this year I
> think he would have beaten him due to less errors.
> Last year though Alonso made a number of errors
> but he has found his spark again this year and is
> happy again.
>
> Kovy is having problems with the mclaren that he
> should not have next year.
>
> I dont know if any of that makes sense I know what
> i am trying to say.

Alonso has been performing well at Renault by the amount of freedom he gets compared to the ones he got at McLaren last year. Macca were on the tail of Lewis and were always helping (imo) get Lewis then best possible race. El Nano and Lewis weren't even talking come end of the season because of the atmosphere that Lewis created in the team. Compared to Fernando, Lewis was at McLaren for a very long time.

There was an interview with Alonso the other week on F1-live and he said he has no problem with Lewis, they are not friends and did not get on that well but he blamed the team more than Lewis.

I think now both are leaving it in the past.

I was happy alonso won on Sunday he bloody deserved it, and I bet that shocks a few people that I said that lol. I felt bad for him on Saturday as well. See what I want from F1 is racing at the front with as many drivers as possible fighting for the win etc. Yes I have my fav driver and team who does not but I have learnt a lot this year and dont even mind ferrari anymore.

marcl Wrote:
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> Yes I have my fav driver and team who does not

*puts hand up*

The thing with Heikki is that he really got caught out in the pits as he had to queue up behind Hamilton. The thing is though is that Kimi had to do the same but made his way back up to 5th. He really has faded in pace though since his win.

_______________________________________________________________________

Also kovy had brake problems in the race, seems like he had a few problems.

I hope he ups his game in the last few races, mclaren need him to score points.