2008 Chinese GP - Race 17/18
- Thread starter rpstewart
- Start date
rubbish. they hit wheel to wheel, how did it damage his undertray etc...... magic?
It was confirmed on the commentary and you could see chunks of body work coming off during the first pitstop.
Massa's wheel hit the side pod of Lewis's Mclaren from what I can make out.rubbish. they hit wheel to wheel, how did it damage his undertray etc...... magic?
someone retired from that today so its possible. for get who tho.
rubbish. they hit wheel to wheel, how did it damage his undertray etc...... magic?
Not entirely true. The video footage released by the FIA shows Massa's front right wheel slamming into Hamilton's left side pod. The force of that was enough to spin him around. The contact with his rear wheel was secondary to the initial impact with the sidepod.
The barge boards were probably damaged by skipping over kerbs - but that was no fault of Massa.
Was the Toyota of Trulli. Abit of a re-run of what happened with Bourdais and Massa last week, im supprised he wasnt given some form of punishment for causing an avoidable accident, forcing another car off the track and taking him out of the race. By my calculations (im just interpreting the rules as I see fit here) Bourdais should be starting the next race with a 5 lap penalty
By preventing a joker change for the last race teams are stopped from producing a 1 race special. Joker changes for the rest of the season still have to last two races.
McLaren now understand how Massa managed to get past Raikonnen on the straight. The shark fin engine cover that Massa was using improved the aerodynamics for slipstreaming over the traditional engine cover that Raikonnen was using...
Did anyone notice how McLaren retired Heikki and Ted Kravitz said it was due to the brakes and he said it with some authority as though he had been explicitly told that by one of the mechanics?
Then Ron Dennis later denied it had anything to do with the brakes but was due to a "air pressure problem with the engine"... Haha!?
I think McLaren just fiddled the rules there to ensure Heikki gets a nice shiney new engine for Brazil
Maybe they will try to swindle it further so that "just to be on the safe side" they have to change Hamilton's engine too?
Then Ron Dennis later denied it had anything to do with the brakes but was due to a "air pressure problem with the engine"... Haha!?
I think McLaren just fiddled the rules there to ensure Heikki gets a nice shiney new engine for Brazil
Maybe they will try to swindle it further so that "just to be on the safe side" they have to change Hamilton's engine too?
I didnt even notice they were running different covers untill watching the replay of the pass. I had always believed the whole point of the fin was to improve the car yet Kimi was running better without it. Also Rob Smedley summed things up quite well concerning Heikki, completely outclassed by Hamilton today.
A team could pull a 1 race special at any point in the season should they so wish.
Surely having a spare engine at the end of the season which you can use for a bit of extra boost is a good reward to designing a reliable engine?
How? They're not allowed to change the engine spec. It's the same now as it was at the beginning of the year *snigger.....*
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Yep it should be.
But Ron Dennis said Heikki's poor race pace was due to his first stint having mismatched tyres causing understeer. That's how, they say, Alonso got past him.
What's most amazing is that... even with Heikki getting poor traction out of that corner down the straight he could not recoup his lost time from the Mercedes power unit. The Renault kept up and infact overtook him... shocking. I am impressed how Renault has improved their engine so much in the last few races.
I daresay that McLaren's engine failure at Fuji will be a good excuse to get some power upgrades pushed through the FIA red tape process.
The "air pressure problem" too.
Seems to me McLaren are trying to blame as many things on the engine as possible to get leverage space with the FIA for doing development on their engine over the winter
Not necessarily "the same". But more "in cooperation with the latest approved engine specification held by the FIA"
The FIA allows engine specification changes - it's just that there is a lot of red tape and checks surrounding it. Each change probably needs a 100 page essay from the manufacturer detailing why and how it will improve reliability.
I think it was a by product of the damage caused by Massa - after all they ALL skip over the kurbs with little damage usually done
Did anyone notice how McLaren retired Heikki and Ted Kravitz said it was due to the brakes and he said it with some authority as though he had been explicitly told that by one of the mechanics?
Then Ron Dennis later denied it had anything to do with the brakes but was due to a "air pressure problem with the engine"... Haha!?
I think McLaren just fiddled the rules there to ensure Heikki gets a nice shiney new engine for Brazil
Maybe they will try to swindle it further so that "just to be on the safe side" they have to change Hamilton's engine too?
Possibly - but is it worth the risk of the FIA (after all they are so unpredictable) and also McL know the current engine is working well, but with a change of engine there is potential for that to have a technical issue (possibly more likely than one that has already gone thru a race weekend) , its not unheard of for a new engine to have a unpredictable failure
Wasnt it due to the new front wing on the Renault (over the last few races) just making the downforce working better producing a better car - not necessarily an improved engine?
I have to admit I thought the engines where totally locked down - I didnt realise changes where possible (even with the huge accompanying documentation), I really hope these standard engine/drive trains are blocked by the teams because that implementation sounds garbage
From itv-f1 website
Im probably reading the above wrong, but that kind of indicates that Ferrari and everyone else who has Interlagos as the 1st race on that engine has to use the same engine at Melbourne in 2009?
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Is it not possible that Alonso was simply running with less wing, hence, allowing him to be quicker on the straights? Dont forget also, that coming out of the corner, he picked up a little slipstream, which also helped him get past Heikki.
Wow , having just woke up and checking the usual websites i find Hamilton still has the race win, how freaky is that
thinking the exact same thing
Wow , having just woke up and checking the usual websites i find Hamilton still has the race win, how freaky is that
Surely there must be something wrong?