Comments on: F1 blogs & more: Rain again?

By: the limit

the limit — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:22:17 +0000

A nice article on Heikki Kovalainen’s role at McLaren, and Ron Dennis’ denials that Kovalainen is simply a ‘backup’ man to Hamilton.
Sadly, if the season persists as it has been of late, that is exactly what Kovalainen will be. This could, if managed right by Ron Dennis, play into McLaren’s favour.
If the championship, for instance, came down to a fight between Hamilton, Massa, and Raikkonen, then Kovalainen could have the capacity to act as a spoiler.
I can remember how Felipe Massa acted out this particular role last year in Brazil, to much success. With the two Ferrari drivers in championship contention, Massa may not be so obliging this time round.

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:45:17 +0000

The “rain predicted” thing is from FOM. I don’t trust their predictions, since it’s in their financial interest to predict a wet race. According to Windguru, the rain prediction for the Hungaroring is wishful thinking. Apart from a little drizzle at about 1am on Friday morning, no rain is predicted for the weekend (though it will be hot, overcast on Friday and Saturday and therefore quite muggy). The teams running fins will be pleased to note that very little wind is predicted.

By: Becken

Becken — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:46:56 +0000

My mate INTERNET was right. Massa just confirms that Ferraris has the same McLaren´s device that increases the engine torque:

http://blog.estadao.com.br/blog/livio/?title=massa_diz_que_como_mclaren_a_ferrari_tam&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments

QUOTE (poorly translated):

“…They can get their system behind the steering whell and everybody can see. You can have the same device but set up it in a button on steering wheel…”

By: M Smith

M Smith — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:20:10 +0000

I’m hoping for a wet race otherwise it will be a complete bore-fest. Not as bad as Spain, but a bore-fest none the less.

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:43:54 +0000

2008 Hungarian Grand Prix weather watch in the forum

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:59:37 +0000

> Emerson Fittipaldi on Brazilians in F1: “It’s time Brazil had more drivers at the top of the sport.” Is three not enough?

And Bruno will be number four next year… and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if this is who’s next after him: http://www.indycar.com/pro/drivers/driver.php?driver_id=414

By: Becken

Becken — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:34:49 +0000

Another issue: is very interesting the Lewis´s interview today in Autosport. This could confirms that Lewis have made a great step forward in terms on set up skills and the evolution of the car on this last races has his inputs.

This could explain Heikki struggling with his set ups on last races while Lewis can take any bit o the car´s development:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/69531

EXTRACT:

“…Q: What have you done to help find the sweet spot?
HAMILTON: “I have spent a lot more time with my engineer, analysing things and trying to work out where we have gone wrong on weekends. With the team, they always have the determination and the power to keep on pushing with some new parts and components for the car.

“What we’ve done when we came to tests, at Hockenheim, Silverstone and Jerez, we’ve really extracted the most from the tests. That is all due to reliability, making good parts. And with all that we’ve made some good steps forward.”

Q: And you’ve put a lot of hard graft in at the factory on the simulator?
HAMILTON: “No, not the simulator. With the engineers, trying to work out the set-up and where we really think we need to be going with that. It is something, at least from my side of the team, my engineering group, pushing my set-up in a certain direction and it has started to pay off.”

By: Becken

Becken — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:20:53 +0000

I liked to see that Nick Heidfeld is almost guaranteed to race for BMW in 2009:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/69528

QUOTES:
“…Q: Are you relaxed about your future?
HEIDFELD: “Yes. I am now. I had some problems but we turned things around and I am quite happy with how it is going so far. And I have to say, the backing I had during these weeks and months from the team was very good, and that helped me – to know that they stand behind me…”

By: Sush

Sush — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:57:14 +0000

I have issues regarding the allan henry article.

its titled Heikki, but its got almost nothing to do with him. This is why I love this site more than any other, Keith doesn’t trick me into an article stating “prawn cocktail* defies Alonso” before chatting about tyre wear.

*boy do I love prawn cocktail.

By: Dan M

Dan M — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:55:31 +0000

My favorite part is that they made him take a breathalyzer. Could you imagine driving down the side of the road and seeing Schumacher taking a sobriety test?

Well, maybe Ralf.

By: Noel

Noel — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:43:22 +0000

Tommy B… I regularly see drivers having to ‘catch’ the car from an oversteer… there have been plenty of replays of on-board footage where the back end steps out and the driver has to correct it.

There’s been plenty of spins due to overcooking it, and people running wide onto tarmac run-off due to lack of grip. So I’m not sure what you mean?

By: TommyB

TommyB — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:22:51 +0000

Did anyone here what Martin Brundle said during the British GP? It was something about “all the great races these days are on track changing conditions or rain. Why don’t the lower the grip levels of the cars”

I think this would be a good idea, i mean even without traction control the cars still look like they’re on rails. How many people in normal conditions do you see actually ’spin off’ these days

By: DG

DG — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:20:16 +0000

Do Bridgestone supply tyres to GT Racing or F3? How will they know if they have the right compound to take to Valencia?
Will other races be held under lights at Singapore or is it at that ‘wait and see’ period while Bernie checks his sums?

By: cyanide

cyanide — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:59:41 +0000

“Martin went on: “The officers asked me to wait in my office while they spoke to him. An officer came in and said ‘This guy’s claiming to be Michael Schumacher’. Then another told us she’d seen his ID and it was him.”

He still didn’t apologise. The police realised I wasn’t too injured and told us to swap addresses, then he just got back in the van and drove off without even looking at me. He was arrogant.”

Hahaha! Priceless!