Chinese Grand Prix

[Dave P]

Any thoughts,

I think its gonna be one of the most exciting races of the year, with all the new drivers, team swaps, and a new course.

The drivers all seem to love the course, which is good to see,

I think Corner 16 is going to play a huge part. Although it was only practice last night, a lot of drivers didnt seem to be getting the hang of it as it is a very tight corner compared to the rest of the track. A lot of drivers going off course.

And the best part of this weekend:

http://www.formula1.com/photos/270x240/tvimages/2004/chinese/fripic1.jpg

JV IS BACK :thumbsup:

[speedracer]

Originally posted by Dave P

JV IS BACK :thumbsup:

If he wasn't all over the place ;)

The course looks great and the laps times are fast :thumbsup:

[fast95pony]

Qualifying tonight !! too bad I'm at work :banghead:

I'm really looking forward to this race ! :thumbsup:

[rage2]

yea, I'm sitting patiently for qualifying to start! I have to watch it in the other room tonite cuz the wife is sleeping, she works the real early morning shift.

[Alpine Autowerks]

can't wait to see20 cars dicing it through the snail turn

[boi-alien]

Well that wasn't too bad of a qualifying session. I'm suprised at Shumi spinning out like that on turn 1 though. It looked like the rear-end just went out from behind him.

[rage2]

Driving god got owned by China. Yellow power! :rofl:

[ninjak84]

Rubens! :clap:

[Team_Mclaren]

kimi!! front row!

[JAYMEZ]

What the hell happened with MS?

[rage2]

“I am not really sure what happened when I spun. We usually have to fight some understeer in that corner and we had not changed much on the car since the morning session. At the moment, the data does not provide an answer, so we will look into it. I don’t know if it was my fault or not, but if we don’t find something on the car then maybe it is down to what is between the fuel tank and the steering wheel! It is hard to say what I can do tomorrow, from this position. One thing is certain, it will be a big challenge. I had to come through the field in Monza and honestly, I was hoping it was the last time this season that I would have to do that. Now, I will just have to try again. I am not angry, just disappointed.”

[iceburns288]

Originally posted by rage2


Hey that's pretty cool. I like his answer and he admits it might have been his fault he's just not sure. I wonder what Montoya would have said if he had spun...


Originally said by JPM
When the car spun today it was so weird to me, I was driving perfectly as usual when the car just slipped out. I'm about to have a chat with my mechanic, who will be fired in 24h, to find out what he did wrong.

;)

[BigMass]

Its going to be an awesome race. Schumacher is going to have to pass JV at one point during the race. Sparks are going to fly. The first lap is going to be good no doubt. Drivers are going to have to try and figure out how good the passing locations are pretty quickly.

[rage2]

Prediction : Barachello 1st, Schumacher 2nd.

The teams have already said it after monza. Ferrari finally showed their true colors. They've been sandbagging during the whole season of domination ;).

Every other team has a LOT of catching up to do. They're not even close to Ferrari at all.

[hyperwhite]

i heard that the other teams think during the last race ferrari just changed the engine maps on their cars to make them even faster. Is that possible? to dominate a whole season not even using full power!?!?!? and are they even allowed to change the engine maps mid-race?

[hyperwhite]

BTW: my pics, Rubens 1st, Jenson 2nd, Shumi 3rd, Kimi=Kablammo!

[rage2]

Originally posted by hyperwhite
i heard that the other teams think during the last race ferrari just changed the engine maps on their cars to make them even faster. Is that possible? to dominate a whole season not even using full power!?!?!?
Yes, very possible. And probably true. They were clocking some crazy top speeds for Monza, the fastest track on the calendar.

Originally posted by hyperwhite
and are they even allowed to change the engine maps mid-race?
Drivers can change it. Pit can't do it for them.

[hyperwhite]

^ they were puting in some amazing laps, i was watching the live timing on f1.com and they were going almost 2 seconds a lap faster than the leaders. But its still mind boggling to think that they have only lost 2 races and haven't been running full power :eek:

[rage2]

Well, Monaco they can't win even with more power because its too hard to pass. Spa, they really didn't have to push for a win anymore, they already pretty much locked both championships.

Monza was different. It was the Italian GP. They HAVE to win that one, so next thing you know, the secret's out :).

[hyperwhite]

i wanna see Shumi's trap speeds on that 1.2 Km straight. starting from the back he's gonna need that extra power

[rage2]

They didn't show trap speeds last night for the faster guys. Weird.

[hyperwhite]

did anyone here see villeneuve hit 20,000 rpm yesterday :eek:


edit: the anouncer just mentioned that Shumi changed his engine. this should be interesting

[rage2]

schumi's starting from the back anyways, so it doesn't matter what he does hehe.

And yea, I saw the telemetry yesterday. 20,000 fricking RPMs! :eek:

[Alpine Autowerks]

nobody drives through backmarkers like the robot

[rage2]

The robot's a bit buggy this weekend... ;).

[Alpine Autowerks]

bad case of Hong Kong Dong ?

[hyperwhite]

this is really gonna be close

[Alpine Autowerks]

you must be wild for Honda's run

[hyperwhite]

holy FAWK! my palms are all sweaty, that was intense. 1.4 seconds from P1 to P3. and jenson wants to leave honda why??? :dunno:

edit: haha, and for shits and gigles shumacher puts in the fastest lap of the race on the last lap :rofl:

[boi-alien]

well that was exciting... looks like yellow power got the best of shumi :P

[Alpine Autowerks]

Originally posted by hyperwhite
and jenson wants to leave honda why??? :dunno:


cuz richards is giving JB the same shaft that he used on JV

it is SO BAD that other teams owners say that DR is an embarrassment to F1.

[Team_Mclaren]

that was a close race, a race without MS is proved to be a lot more exciting!!! a :thumbsup: to ruben for the win, button and kimi were right behind him all race long!!!

[CKY]

OMG headlines in italy racing magazines "MS didn't finish top 3" MS haters out there should really celebrate this very special race.

[BigMass]

Sauber needs to tear up JVs contract while they still have a chance

Seriously, it was JVs first race in a year so im sure he's shaking off some rust. We'll see how he does in Japan and Brazil. He is driving a car that has the potential to win, so no more excuses.

[rage2]

I dont think the renault has the potential to win. It has the potential to be 3rd. He made a few mistakes, but not bad considering how little time he's had in the cars (due to the 1 engine rules).

Ferrari pretty much have a lock on 1st and 2nd unless their drivers fucks up.

[Team_Mclaren]

so rage.... hmm, do u have that "dvd" ... cough cough

[cloud7]

JV did ok... first race back... don't expect too much... getting pass Webber would have been nice though... Renault had a terrible weekend... never really found the pace. I think he should do slightly better in Suzuka.

[boi-alien]

i just don't think renault has the pace to keep up with the hondas. Alonso had an amazing launch but he just died off after the launch.