Malaysian GP 2009 - Race 2/17

MarcLister · 6 Apr 2009 at 19:02

gord said:
Thats what I was thinking of MarcLister! Good work.

I actually thought it was 2005 or 2006 he was a challenger. Not 2003. :eek:

dannyjo22 · 6 Apr 2009 at 20:11

MarcLister said:
I actually thought it was 2005 or 2006 he was a challenger. Not 2003.

He was in 2005, runner up to alonso as I said earlier. Reliability cost him. He was awesome in 2005.

Kimi should have won the title twice before he eventually did. Poor luck and reliability cost him. Many of my friends think he's a car breaker and no coincidence his car always gave up.

The year he actually won the title is the worst I'd seen him drive for many years. Finally some pay back for those unlucky years.

Berger · 6 Apr 2009 at 20:23

Anyone on the grid given the right car could win almost, they are all world class drivers and you dont get to be in F1 by being a noob.

As for the compare the driver to their team mate, the team mate never gets the same level of support as the #1 driver, except maybe in the case of Ferrari last year, both drivers did OK but not fantastic, yet it was the Hamilton show over at Mclaren.

MarcLister · 6 Apr 2009 at 20:26

dannyjo22 said:
He was in 2005, runner up to alonso as I said earlier. Reliability cost him. He was awesome in 2005.

Yes I know. I was saying I thought the year he challenged Schumacher was 2005 or 2006.

My memory failing me. I know he finished 2nd to Alonso but he was 21 points behind? Quite a fair margin. In 2003 he was 3 points behind Schumacher. Something that winning the European GP that year could have helped with?

sunama · 6 Apr 2009 at 20:29

Duke said:

Fantastic!!!

Kimi just doesnt like to do any more than he has to, i.e. turn up on race weekends and race the car...no interviews, no schmoozing, no testing - just racing. I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did at McLaren, given that they are/were corporate/sponsor oriented.

I honestly wonder how long he will remain in F1. This year is turning into another indifferent year and next year Alonso could well join them.

sunama · 6 Apr 2009 at 20:32

robbiemc said:
If anyone deserves the title of 'journeyman' it's surely Kimi - he's in it for the money and nothing more.

To me, it seems he is in it for the glory of turning up on race weekends and hoping he gets a good result. If its turning pear shaped, he doesnt want to work hard and get the best possible result - something we see Hamilton doing, where he works hard regardless of how his car is performing.

Obviously, the money helps.

dannyjo22 · 6 Apr 2009 at 20:40

MarcLister said:
Yes I know. I was saying I thought the year he challenged Schumacher was 2005 or 2006. My memory failing me. I know he finished 2nd to Alonso but he was 21 points behind? Quite a fair margin. In 2003 he was 3 points behind Schumacher. Something that winning the European GP that year could have helped with?

Oh yeah sorry. He was often much faster than Alonso in 05 but the car kept failing hence the 21 points. If the car hadn't failed he would have won the title easily. Alonso was just mr consistent that year in a very reliable car.

Was it in 2003 they were forced to change the tyres as well which didn't help the mclaren? The michelin fiasco?

MarcLister · 6 Apr 2009 at 20:52

dannyjo22 said:
Oh yeah sorry. He was often much faster than Alonso in 05 but the car kept failing hence the 21 points. If the car hadn't failed he would have won the title easily. Alonso was just mr consistent that year in a very reliable car.

Yeah. It is conceivable that for an engine retirement in the 2003 European GP and poor car reliability in 2005 he could have been a double world champ. Could have meant he wouldn't have left McLaren for Ferrari. I remember reading somewhere after the 2007 season that McLaren employees found Kimi's title win bittersweet. Sad they didn't win it for themselves but happy that Kimi finally got a title after they couldn't give him a car capable of winning it.

dannyjo22 said:
Was it in 2003 they were forced to change the tyres as well which didn't help the mclaren? The michelin fiasco?

Nope. Now your memory's failing.

That was 2005.

deuse · 6 Apr 2009 at 22:22

I have just been reading about Mox Mosley
who wants to bring in just one engine for Formula One,
World Rally Championship and Formula Two.

And also about Mercedes-Benz maybe pulling out of F1
could this be our last season of REAL F1 racing? I hope not.

arknor · 6 Apr 2009 at 22:38

gord said:
Thats what I was thinking of MarcLister! Good work.

I agree. I think its a bit of a catch22 for Kimi. He is too laid back and although its funny and entertaining for viewers he is becoming a bit of a joke. I dont think he is too bothered to set up the car. He would much prefer to get to the race and have had someone set the car up perfectly.. jump in it.. and drive its wheels off.

If its not perfect I dont see his passion to get it right. He just brushes it off and has an ice cream. Next race please..

yea i cant really see him beeing in f1 for much longer if he doesnt start to realise how lucky he is.

if i was team principal of ferrari i would have told him straight get back on the grid and stop lounging around like some playboy idiot!

eddie irvine was more professional

btw i bet it doesnt please the sponsors either some of them were probably furious

MarcLister · 6 Apr 2009 at 22:39

deuse said:
I have just been reading about Mox Mosley
who wants to bring in just one engine for Formula One,
World Rally Championship and Formula Two.

And also about Mercedes-Benz maybe pulling out of F1
could this be our last season of REAL F1 racing? I hope not.

What Max Mosley wants and what Max Mosley gets tend to be quite separate. Unless he's paying for a spank.

Can't see the manufacturers agreeing to that. How would an F1 engine suit a WRC car and vice-versa? Too much difference in the series to allow a standard engine er standard?

Would have thought Bernie would have more say than Max in this. And it would take a few years to research and agree rules on this as it wouldn't just affect F1 but two other racing series so you'd need to control intra-series strife as well as inter-series strife. :cool:

deuse · 6 Apr 2009 at 22:46

MM says this

"It would work in turbocharged form for F1 and then all the way down to naturally aspirated form for the lesser
categories and in a turbocharged or naturally aspirated form for the World Rally Championship."

The guy should be shot.

Skeeter · 6 Apr 2009 at 23:05

deuse said:
MM says this

"It would work in turbocharged form for F1 and then all the way down to naturally aspirated form for the lesser
categories and in a turbocharged or naturally aspirated form for the World Rally Championship."

The guy should be shot.

Hes clearly not an engineer.

MarcLister · 6 Apr 2009 at 23:08

deuse said:
MM says this

"It would work in turbocharged form for F1 and then all the way down to naturally aspirated form for the lesser
categories and in a turbocharged or naturally aspirated form for the World Rally Championship."

The guy should be shot.

*facepalm*

So wouldn't this mean the engines would be quite different, even if they are the same at heart? The necessary gubbins to get each engine working would be totally unique to each formula?

deuse · 6 Apr 2009 at 23:17

It could be like the old cosworth 2.0ltr engine
not to bad on its own but shove a turbo on and did go some what.

Bennah · 7 Apr 2009 at 07:28

First post in here for a while, since qualifying actually, I wonder why

I just hope that things at Ferrari change, and change very quickly!

*runs away*

Scania · 7 Apr 2009 at 07:59

Entai said:
The trouble is when you get the reverse situation no driver will want to compete in that kind of a formula.

When Formula Palmer Audi first started out in 1998, Johnathan Palmer wanted to create a motorsport spectacle, in which there was a completely level playing field, with regard to equipment, so that driver talent was the only thing that stood between a driver doing well or not.

The cars wre designed and built to be completely identical in every respect, apart from a few driver dependent adjustments, such as bump and rebound, anti roll bar settings, tyre pressures, brake bias settings and a few others.

For the first couple of years, the series pulled in a lot of very good up and coming drivers, a lot of who have gone on to be big names in all sorts of other series, even making F1 in one case.

However the series became far too good for its own benefit. Eventually the cars were so identical in performance that the only difference between getting first place on a grid, and last place, was the sole fact, that the last place bloke was a slower driver than the first place bloke, end of.

What of the BMW M1 Procar Championship? - It served as a support series for Formula One, and included many Formula One drivers of the era in identical cars.

The series ran for two years, with Niki Lauda winning the 1979 season, and Nelson Piquet in 1980.

I'm sure I've read that drivers were fighting for places to compete in the series! :confused:

Wicksta · 7 Apr 2009 at 09:55

R420LA6X2/4MNA said:
What of the BMW M1 Procar Championship? - It served as a support series for Formula One, and included many Formula One drivers of the era in identical cars.

The series ran for two years, with Niki Lauda winning the 1979 season, and Nelson Piquet in 1980.

I'm sure I've read that drivers were fighting for places to compete in the series!

You can't really compare a 'fun' racing series on the side with their main job though, that's the difference. Current F1 drivers race in the Race of Champions but as it's not their main discipline they can accept coming second a bit more.

schumi84 · 7 Apr 2009 at 09:58

Bennah said:
First post in here for a while, since qualifying actually, I wonder why

I just hope that things at Ferrari change, and change very quickly!

*runs away*

I'm with you sir. Absolute shambles at the weekend, hope things improve in China (will no doubt be staying up to watch it

)

Did laugh when Kimi was there in his shorts eating an icecream

.

Congrats to Button though, thought he was mental to renew his contract at what was the Honda team, but so far looks like it has paid off.

Happy for Heidfeld too, hoping he has a good season even though the BMW looks a bit of a handful.

JUMPURS · 7 Apr 2009 at 10:45

Hamilton trying to find a way out of McLaren?

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_5156831,00.html

I don't think Ferrari will take him, as they will be taking Alonso when Kimi retires, especially with Santander going to be sponsoring Ferrari shortly. And they wont have Hamilton and Alonso team mates again, and even then i can't see Ferrari binning Massa.

I seriously can't think of where he would go to or who would take him, which is quite shocking considering he is WC. The only option would possibly be Brawn next year if Rubbins retires, but he would be 2nd driver to JB.