Italian GP 2009 - Monza

[Richard]

Great race on so many levels.

Kimi showed that McL have a problem with Kovi. They need someone like Kimi. Whilst Kimi had a slower car, he held his place ahead of a faster Sutl. Meanwhile Kovi in a KERS car lost ground to slower cars. Trouble is that Kovi seems to loose his sense of place when it comes to hard racing.

Meanwhile the Brawns showed Kovi had the perfect fuel strategy. I said yesterday that McL had both strategies covered, the leading 2 stop car, and the leading one stop car. If Kovi had been able to hold his place, then he would have won.

McL need a steady Kimi style driver to cover the options while Hamilton does his banzai act. He'd probably be less of a banzai driver as well, the two would hunt as a pair, reducing the current tendency for Lewis to do his Rambo impression.

[ESPImperium]

Great race on so many levels.

Kimi showed that McL have a problem with Kovi. They need someone like Kimi. Whilst Kimi had a slower car, he held his place ahead of a faster Sutl. Meanwhile Kovi in a KERS car lost ground to slower cars. Trouble is that Kovi seems to loose his sense of place when it comes to hard racing.

Meanwhile the Brawns showed Kovi had the perfect fuel strategy. I said yesterday that McL had both strategies covered, the leading 2 stop car, and the leading one stop car. If Kovi had been able to hold his place, then he would have won.

McL need a steady Kimi style driver to cover the options while Hamilton does his banzai act. He'd probably be less of a banzai driver as well, the two would hunt as a pair, reducing the current tendency for Lewis to do his Rambo impression.

A Rosberg suits that role perfectly, but i have a feeling that he is Brawn bound. Altho, if McLaren were to get a steady driver, one that can hold his pace, and give as good as he can get, whilst being consistant, Nick Heidfeld may be the answer, altho he is older, he fits that role perfectly. And he has been classified for arround 40+ races in a row now, a safe pair of hands he would be for the McLarens.

[ringo]

Kubica would do well well in a Mclaren, but he is another Rambo driver. He can be more aggressive than webber and Hamilton when he is ready. We don't need 2 guys like that on a team, but Kubica and Hamilton sounds like a WDC waiting to happen.

[ESPImperium]

I was thinking about Kubica as well, but the fact hes a rambo driver said to me no.

I was thinking that if Williams get Kubica for next year, and put him with Hulkenberg, thats a couple of rambo drivers. So i could see Trulli going there personally.

Kubica will go to Renault, if they are still in the sport, with Grosjean.

Im starting to see a driver line-up for 2010 emerging now.

Brawn: Button/Rosberg
Red Bull: Vettel/Webber
Ferarri: Massa/ TBC- Either Alonso or Kimi
McLaren: Hamilton/Heidfeld
Toyota: Glock/ TBC - If Kimi gets paid off at Ferarri, i recon here could be his home.
Williams: Trulli/Hulkenberg
Renault: Kubica/Grosjean (If Alonso goes to Ferarri)
Force India: Sutil/Liuzzi
STR-Ferarri: Buemi/Algusuari
Campos: De la Rosa/ Young Guy from GP2
Manor: 2 british drivers
USF1: 1 American driver, the second being a well know name to F1
The team formarly known as BMW Sauber: Youre guess is as good as mine.

[Ray]

I was happy to see Lewis driving the wheels off and it really sucks he wrecked. I think he should have backed off and collect the points for the WCC. He gained absolutely nothing for himself or the team by pushing that hard and crashing. They lost even more points to Ferrari in the WCC when they could have had two cars score points instead of one. I was very happy to see him drive like that, and I was cheering him on, but he lost sight of the big picture.

[Conceptual]

This track belongs to the BOSS this weekend.

He has the best line through the chicanes and Parabolica.. It is going to be an easy win for the #1 driver!

See, this is exactly why people shouldn't run their mouth.

How well did your subjective reality turn out today?

[Conceptual]

How do you feel now? Over exuberance from the BOSS ends him in the wall you could ve almost heard him crying! Kimi gets the podium once again Beat that BOSS

He was kicking ass and talking names the whole race .. By the end he had 20 odd seconds on Kimi, superb driving to gain time, never dropping the pace. Still the BOSS when you look at all the predictions about Kimi and Heikki getting the better of him.

Yeah unlucky on the last lap with the spin out (whatever caused it. not driver error though) but that's what happens when you are that good; the only thing that can stop you is your machine or Nature itself! 8


Great Race by Barichello and Button though. The one stop was definitely the better strategy. Lewis Kimi and Sutil raced their hearts out to no avail.

Is that why he crashed out of third place, after starting from pole with the best KERS system and highest HP engine in the field?

See, this is why I don't support any one driver/team. It helps me to avoid asinine remarks that have no basis in reality...

[ringo]

I would also blame the team for not reigning him in. I have a feeling Whitmarsh was impishly curious enough to play russian roulette with this driver. He knows Lewis very well, he knew the stakes were high.
The race engineer had all authority to say "ok Lewis easy now, 2 laps left take the 6 points", like any sensible team would do, but no, the team went after the guilty pleasure of the Hamilton on the limit spectacle. And whenever Hamilton is ordered to gain a couple tenths, he sees red, goes into berserk mode and is blindly going to drive every lap like a final qualifying lap.
He is too pure,thinks its all about the passion and the drive, just get the damn points and call it a day!!

[Conceptual]

3rd is a lot better than not finishing at all. Hamilton could have kept it on the road if he just calmed down and realized that there was no chance of him catching Button.

There was a chance, and he did not even have to pass him, just outdrag him out of the parabolica to the start/finish... and he had KERS to help him with that. He was already within 1 second and was catching JB's draft.

Not much of a chance, but a slight one, losing 3rd place for a driver out of WDC contention is not that big a deal.

...except for throwing away a 4 million dollar car for your idiocy, and the after race interview with Whitmarsh showed that he is NOT Hamilton's biggest fan...

[andartop]

This track belongs to the BOSS this weekend.

He has the best line through the chicanes and Parabolica.. It is going to be an easy win for the #1 driver!

See, this is exactly why people shouldn't run their mouth.

How well did your subjective reality turn out today?

C'mon mate, don't feed the troll..

I have to admit, up until the last lap Lewis was driving his socks off. Unfortunately for him, his team and his fans he got a bit carried away.. But I guess he's still learning.
I was most amazed not to see a big crash during the first lap! What with all the mixing of KERS and non-KERS cars, different strategies, a couple of inexperienced drivers, wide front wings and higher kerbs I was certain there would be a pile-up on the first or second chicane, but only Webber paid the price.. amazing driving by almost everyone!
Other than that it must have been the most boring Monza GP for some time..
Here's hoping Rubens will really keep pushing to take the fight for the title right to the last GP.
Well done to Kimi as well, he finally seems to be over the Schumi curse and able to score even when He is present!
I was expecting Fisico to finish in the points, but still, not bad at all compared to Badoer. I guess he'll get there eventually, and I think he might surprise some people in Suzuka or Brazil.

[Conceptual]

I would also blame the team for not reigning him in. I have a feeling Whitmarsh was impishly curious enough to play russian roulette with this driver. He knows Lewis very well, he knew the stakes were high.
The race engineer had all authority to say "ok Lewis easy now, 2 laps left take the 6 points", like any sensible team would do, but no, the team went after the guilty pleasure of the Hamilton on the limit spectacle. And whenever Hamilton is ordered to gain a couple tenths, he sees red, goes into berserk mode and is blindly going to drive every lap like a final qualifying lap.
He is too pure,thinks its all about the passion and the drive, just get the damn points and call it a day!!

That is exactly the type of personality that leads to a teams demise much more than its domination.

For all of his races in F1, Hamilton still makes rookie mistakes.

[jamsbong]

It is interesting to see that some of the drivers struggle for grip at the opening laps. Vettel and Kovi lost many places. I suspect the tires weren't at the right temperature. Both of them used hard tires.

It is amazing that these tires can work so badly when it is slightly not in the right conditions.

Good race overall! the Brawns did their thing like the way Ferraris used to do. They pushed hard and yet their cars didn't fall apart.

I feel sorry for Hamilton but at the same time I feel that it looked like he is being kind and let a Ferrari to the podium...

Weber is also entertaining in his unique manner.

[Terrible3]

I was happy to see Lewis driving the wheels off and it really sucks he wrecked. I think he should have backed off and collect the points for the WCC. He gained absolutely nothing for himself or the team by pushing that hard and crashing.

It was exciting to see him close into JB at the end but there were two few laps for him to make any real charge on JB. Lewis kept the pressure on in the hopes that JB would choke.

On the flip side with Lewis crashing it does allow Vettel to get some much needed points.... one at that.... I really wish the RB cars would return to form to make the end of this season interesting. At least Rubens is pushing hard, and I love him for that. If he takes the WDC it would be epic.

[ringo]

I would also blame the team for not reigning him in. I have a feeling Whitmarsh was impishly curious enough to play russian roulette with this driver. He knows Lewis very well, he knew the stakes were high.
The race engineer had all authority to say "ok Lewis easy now, 2 laps left take the 6 points", like any sensible team would do, but no, the team went after the guilty pleasure of the Hamilton on the limit spectacle. And whenever Hamilton is ordered to gain a couple tenths, he sees red, goes into berserk mode and is blindly going to drive every lap like a final qualifying lap.
He is too pure,thinks its all about the passion and the drive, just get the damn points and call it a day!!

That is exactly the type of personality that leads to a teams demise much more than its domination.

For all of his races in F1, Hamilton still makes rookie mistakes.

I don't think the team is wholly responsible but it has to feel good when you tell a driver he has to push to make up 4 seconds in 2 laps when you know its almost impossible, then he actually ends up doing it. It's pretty tempting to ignore the risks and let him go at it.
His mistakes aren't necessarily rookie mistakes. He goes where most experienced drivers on the grid dare enough to go. Not many drivers on the grid seem to be trying to prove anything these days. His problem is his priorities and partly his luck. He messes up in the most inopportune times.
But hey, Vettel, another mistake prone driver, gets a point off him today, could make the difference.

[PlatinumZealot]

This track belongs to the BOSS this weekend.

He has the best line through the chicanes and Parabolica.. It is going to be an easy win for the #1 driver!

See, this is exactly why people shouldn't run their mouth.

How well did your subjective reality turn out today?

Hello.. did you see the other predictions?

KOVI FOR FIIIIRST PLACE!!! Kimi second?!

I think I made my prediction before Qualifying. I had no Idea of fuel or strategy... Not everybody could see those two Brawns overtaking Kovi like that. But I was correct in saying that neither Kimi nor Kovi nor Sutil stood a chance if it's drive for drive.

First place for Lewis would have happened if it wasn't for those meddling Brawns.