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[Britprog]

Legard was on top form this weekend: http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2nizhn5&s=6

Good god, he is horrendous..... I don't believe that i'm gonna say this.... bring back

Spoiler

James Allen

 

[kharma45]

Good god, he is horrendous..... I don't believe that i'm gonna say this.... bring back

Spoiler

James Allen

James Allen is a God next to him, he's horrendously bad.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

Great race, but Schumacher was an absolute cunt. I wanted to see him hit a wall. Hard.

 

[navanman]

I would love James Allen back, he is an excellent F1 writer and commentator on the sport. Sure he got blasted for his pro-Hamilton bias but fucking hell, Legard is dire.

Its like he got overwhelmed today with all the action. He completely missed the Button overtake of Alonso too.

 

[S. L.]

i missed most of the race, but great win for hammy!
unfortunately a disastrous weekend for my fantasy league team

 

[Bobo]

I will not be able to watch the Canadian GP, but that's because I'll be attending the Le Mans 24 heures.

Just a tip for the fantasy league players though: every race this year that I've been unable to watch has been a McLaren 1-2. Just sayin'.:lol

If you don't mind me asking. What are your plans for the weekend of 25-27 June. :lol

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

What an experience! Found PRIME FUCKING SEATS!!

 

[Dibbz]

lol I thought it was just me who thought that commentator was nuts :lol

Good race today. God knows what RBR were trying to do keeping Webber out there for that long. Did they think they would just keep pulling away like that?

 

[Goldrusher]

 

[scarybore]

Really frantic race with action throughout the field, my favourite race of the year so far. Must have been an amazing spectacle in person.

http://i46.tinypic.com/6on6n6.gif

I (Rannoch F1) went up three places to equal twentieth, certainly surprised me since my drivers were Petrov and Kobayashi. :lol

 

[mil6es]

I would love James Allen back, he is an excellent F1 writer and commentator on the sport. Sure he got blasted for his pro-Hamilton bias but fucking hell, Legard is dire.

Its like he got overwhelmed today with all the action. He completely missed the Button overtake of Alonso too.

haha I saw that to, I was like I swear button just did alonso, aren't they gonna say anything????

 

[Pimpwerx]

[]http://i46.tinypic.com/6on6n6.gif[/]

Sweet! I finally got the top spot. There's so many people I'd like to thank. I'd like to thank my mom and dad for birthing me, and.... Take a long, hard look at it guys. It's the last time 1st place changes hands. PEACE.

 

[Igo]

Awesome. I (Igo Racing) didn't change a thing from Turkey and still gained a place with a decent points haul. Hopefully I can put that money I saved to good use.

 

[Jinjo]

If you don't mind me asking. What are your plans for the weekend of 25-27 June. :lol

I'll be gone on raceday again. :lol

I'm a McLaren supporter and I'm debating to never watch a race again. :lol

 

[keyboardcat]

first time I've ever seen a race from an American broadcaster.

drawing those yellow circles to explain shit like they do in football?

what. the. fuck.

 

[Dead Man]

I got decent points, but fell two places, a couple guys around me got >1000 pts! Well done whoever you are.

 

[Koshiro]

Good god, he is horrendous..... I don't believe that i'm gonna say this.... bring back

Spoiler

James Allen

I absolutely hate the guy. I always switch to Five Live commentary now because of him. Damn him for making me miss out on Brundle's commentary. Still, Crofty & Davidson are AWESOME.

 

[jey_16]

great race, they need to screw up the tires more :lol....Hamilton is cruising at the moment

also.....fuck those stupid backmarkers for screwing up Alonso's race.....do you know what a blue flag means you idiots

 

[Pimpwerx]

first time I've ever seen a race from an American broadcaster.

drawing those yellow circles to explain shit like they do in football?

what. the. fuck.

Matchett can be good at times. Sometimes the diagrams he draws help illustrate a design element we normally can't see with our eyes. I quite like the Speed team. PEACE.

 

[Lucius86]

Sweet! I finally got the top spot. There's so many people I'd like to thank. I'd like to thank my mom and dad for birthing me, and.... Take a long, hard look at it guys. It's the last time 1st place changes hands. PEACE.

Congrats you bastard :lol

 

[S. L.]

supersweet, remained third even with the abysmal RBR performance and didn't even do all that bad compared to all you MCL guys. Now I'm pretty confident for the next races

 

[operon]

supersweet, remained third even with the abysmal RBR performance and didn't even do all that bad compared to all you MCL guys. Now I'm pretty confident for the next races

I moved up one spot to 10th and thankfully got a couple of bets right only for vettel not making 3rd I had all 3

 

[Deadman]

My gamble on McLaren worked quite well this weekend, I won't be changing my engine and chassis again this year. Due to bets working out + money from this race i have 13mil to spend too.

 

[Leunam]

Matchett can be good at times. Sometimes the diagrams he draws help illustrate a design element we normally can't see with our eyes. I quite like the Speed team. PEACE.

I like them too. The fact that they decided to add tons of information for newcomers to F1 for this race was actually really cool as well.

Really enjoyed the race. Probably the best race of the season yet.

 

[AndyD]

I like them too. The fact that they decided to add tons of information for newcomers to F1 for this race was actually really cool as well.

Really enjoyed the race. Probably the best race of the season yet.

I would agree it was the best race but Fox's coverage was abysmal.

 

[Leunam]

It felt like there were more commercials than usual but the commentators were the same guys on the Speed channel. I think they did fine.

 

[AndyD]

It felt like there were more commercials than usual but the commentators were the same guys on the Speed channel. I think they did fine.

I meant the lack of pre race coverage, commercials during post race celebration, cutting off the interview with Alonso. If they just add about 30 minutes to the coverage it will be far better.

The commentators are fine I think. I like them.

 

[Leunam]

I meant the lack of pre race coverage, commercials during post race celebration, cutting off the interview with Alonso.

Oh yeah, that. :lol

Don't know how I forgot about that stuff. I was baffled when I watched the race come on and they were already on their formation lap.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Here are the awesome $500+ weekend pass/seats that I bought*

*

Spoiler

sneaked into via cheap ass general admission tickets

 

[Chris R]

Matchett can be good at times. Sometimes the diagrams he draws help illustrate a design element we normally can't see with our eyes. I quite like the Speed team. PEACE.

This was more of a case of him dumbing it down for the general Fox audience. I mean every now and then on a regular Speed broadcast he might do that to highlight something very quickly, but not as much as he did on Sunday.

 

[DieselRainbow]

Finally, the photos from a great race!
McLaren 1 - 2!

 

[Variable]

Here are the awesome $500+ weekend pass/seats that I bought*

*

Spoiler

sneaked into via cheap ass general admission tickets

Haha, you can see my dad in that last shot.

 

[DrM]

So, Ferrari will use RBR style exhaust in Valencia. That will be interesting to see.

Also, Mclaren COULD introduce huge upgrade before Silverstone.

 

[navanman]

I know its an ad and all a bit staged but Vodafone have a great video on Youtube of Hamilton & Button trying to put together an F1 car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zf40OzfwOo

 

[spoon!]

thats pretty cool

 

[Fowler]

I laughed at the

Spoiler

coffee

part.

"What, two?"
"Two and a bit."
"WHAT?!"

Still... nothing beats Hamilton/Alonso for Mercedes. That it came out RIGHT when they started fighting only made it even better :lol

 

[moojito]

That's an awesome advert. "What does this do?!" "I've no idea!" :lol

 

[DrM]

Ferrari used some 'promotion shooting' time to test new RBR style exhausts (picture at link) and new front wing :lol Mercedes did the same stuff earlier this season.

Mclaren will do one or even two straight line tests right after Valencia for their huge Silverstone upgrade.

Some people call this cheating, but you can only do very limited number of laps (50 km) and tyres are different. Teams can get some idea how upgrades will work, but the only way to proper test this stuff is on free practice.

 

[Fowler]

Ferrari used some 'promotion shooting' time to test new RBR style exhausts (picture at link) and new front wing :lol Mercedes did the same stuff earlier this season.

Mclaren will do one or even two straight line tests right after Valencia for their huge Silverstone upgrade.

Some people call this cheating, but you can only do very limited number of laps (50 km) and tyres are different. Teams can get some idea how upgrades will work, but the only way to proper test this stuff is on free practice.

And let's be honest: F1 is all about, if not cheating, then bending the rules to your advantage. Amusingly clever solution.

 

[DrM]

All teams do this stuff, but some teams (like Ferrari) are under much more media coverage.

Also, Pat Fry will join Ferrari next year, according to Gazzetta dello Sport. He left Mclaren earlier this season.

 

[navanman]

Taking pointers from the great Canadian GP 2 weeks ago,. Bridgestone have decided to change the tyre compounds for the next 5 rounds (European leg).
They are putting bigger gaps between the prime and options.

Bridgestone has altered the choice of tyre compounds on offer for five forthcoming races on the F1 calendar.

The move is an attempt to re-create the conditions which produced an unpredictable and exciting race in Canada last week.

In the German Grand Prix drivers will have to use both the super-soft and hard tyres during the race for the first time ever.

It will also be the first time F1 has raced on the current configuration of the Hockenheim circuit using slick tyres.

Bridgestone has also changed its tyre allocation for the Hungarian, Belgian, Italian and Singapore Grands Prix compared to what were used last year.

At the Hungaroring the super-soft and medium tyres will be used instead of super-soft and soft compounds.

At Spa-Francorchamps and Monza Bridgestone will supply soft and hard tyres where last year soft and medium compounds were used.

And at Singapore the choice of tyres will be super-soft and medium – last year the teams had super-soft and soft tyres.

Bridgestone’s head of motorsport tyre development Hirohide Hamashima said:

The major interest of this allocation announcement is that we are bringing the hard and super soft compounds to Germany. The characteristics of the Hockenheim circuit allow us to bring the compounds from the extremes of our softness range.

This will give us very good data for evaluation and will be interesting for those who have called for a bigger difference between the allocated tyres.

 

[navanman]

Thanks for DrM for the heads up, James Allen has picked on the story.

It has been reported in the Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy that Pat Fry, formerly one of the two chief designers at McLaren, is to join Ferrari.

If this proves to be the case, then he is latest in long line of engineers to move between Maranello and Woking. It is a well trodden path for engineers, especially for aerodynamicists. This year John Iley came to the UK, while Nicolas Tombazis has moved both ways.
Fry was in an alternating design role at McLaren with Tim Goss. This year’s car is Goss’, last year’s and the 2007 car were Fry’s. He was due therefore to be in charge of next year’s McLaren.
He left McLaren a few months ago and most observers in the paddock reckoned that he was heading for Toro Rosso to be reunited with Giorgio Ascanelli, his old mentor from Benetton days.
But it was also suggested recently that Fry was looking for a role within an F1 team which might offer him a slightly less intense life. He has been at the coal face for many years, as David Coulthard’s engineer back in the Hakkinen/Coulthard years and more recently shouldering the responsibility for design.
A move to Ferrari, especially in a position of responsibility, would likely be very intense, so it will be interesting to see how hands-on a role he takes.
Ferrari is due to unveil it’s new technical package in Valencia this weekend. The idea is to add a lot more downforce to the car to try to compete with Red Bull and McLaren in particular. The team has got very sidetracked since the start of the season with developing a drag reducing rear wing and still hadn’t perfected it on the last iteration of the car.
We will analyse Ferrari’s new package in depth in the LG Technical Report here on the site later this week. Initial indications are that it features the in-vogue blown diffuser, pioneered by Red Bull, whereby the exhaust exits are placed low and feed a slot in the diffuser for additional rear downforce. McLaren and Mercedes are due to unveil one of those soon as well.

Also I came across an interesting piece about F1 cars that never races and it mentioned the most famous of them all; the MP-18 by Newey.
Guess whats its most famous feature was? Side exhausts & blown diffuser; a concept he perfected on this years RB6.

 

[Deadman]

Interesting on the tyre front, it seemed to me it was more a characteristic of the track that caused the shake up of the strategy, rather than the tyres themselves. It also may be that now the teams have seen what happens when tyres wear excessively that they all know the best strategy and use the same one too.

Alonso to win this weekend i think.

 

[DrM]

Alonso to win this weekend i think.

Possible, if this RBR style exhaust works and if rear suspension doesn't melt due to heat stress :lol Or engine and gearbox fails again (they will use 5th engine this week, according to some rumours, old engines will be used in FPs)

I think that we will see battle between Mclarens, RBRs and Alonso (Massa is just worthless this year). Mclaren will bring some new parts (but nothing like we will see in Silverstone), RBR will also use upgrades.

but something is for certain - race will be boring.

 

[S. L.]

Interesting on the tyre front, it seemed to me it was more a characteristic of the track that caused the shake up of the strategy, rather than the tyres themselves. It also may be that now the teams have seen what happens when tyres wear excessively that they all know the best strategy and use the same one too.

yea but they can reproduce that by intentionally making shitty working tyres. Bridgestone's PR guys are probably less than happy about that plan thou :lol

 

[Pimpwerx]

The tire issue bugs me in that it's artificially shaking things up. I don't like making a part intentionally shitty to make passing possible, but whatever. If it makes for the same show as last race, I will get over it by lap 2. PEACE.

 

[Pimpwerx]

Overtaking stats at this link:

Per year:

[B]Season	Overtakes[/B]
1983	607
1984	666
1985	657
1986	581
1987	558
1988	493
1989	547
1990	494
1991	495
1992	406
1993	392
1994	289
1995	297
1996	186
1997	285
1998	207
1999	260
2000	279
2001	230
2002	235
2003	303
2004	277
2005	204
2006	287
2007	270
2008	260
2009	244
2010	277+

Here are the stats per track. This confirms one thing. Valencia is a fucking turd of a track.

[B]Circuit	     	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	Dry Avg	AVERAGE[/B]
Shanghai	17	15	41	38	9	60	81	13.67	37.29
Fuji            -	-	-	46	24	-	-	24	35
Montreal	15	12	7	17	16	-	65	22	22
Interlagos	36	6	16	21	21	25	-	17	20.83
Istanbul	-	26	27	16	11	11	29	20	20
Hockenheim	27	9	20	-	19	-	-	18.75	18.75
Monza           39	11	12	9	31	7	-	9.75	18.17
Spa             17	26	-	15	20	11	-	14.33	17.8
Sakhir          12	11	34	18	13	15	21	17.71	17.71
Melbourne	9	5	23	8	12	25	41	13.67	17.57
Nürburgring	11	21	8	29	-	18	-	14.5	17.4
Suzuka     	20	14	14	-	-	11	-	14.75	14.75
Sepang     	13	7	16	10	5	28	24	12.5	14.71
Silverstone	11	6	6	13	30	9	-	9	12.5
Monte Carlo	5	11	16	2	21	7	5	7.67	9.57
Hungaroring	4	11	29	3	3	7	-	5.6	9.5
Indianapolis	15	0*	5	14	-	-	-	8.5	8.5
Magny-Cours	14	4	5	6	9	-	-	7.6	7.6
Yas Marina	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	6	6
Singapore	-	-	-	-	10	2	-	6	6
Catalunya 	6	2	7	5	2	2	11	5	5
Imola	     	6	7	1	-	-	-	-	4.67	4.67
Valencia	-	-	-	-	4	0	-	2	2

PEACE.

 

[Dead Man]

Interesting stuff. PEACE.

Surprise surprise, Montreal leads the dry average, for tracks with more than one running. 1996 surprises me, I remember that as a good year for exciting races, maybe I am just getting old! :lol

 

[DrM]

Ferrari signs Fry as assistant tech chief

The Ferrari team has confirmed that Pat Fry will join the Italian squad at the start of next month, following his exit from McLaren.

Fry, 46, worked for the McLaren team as chief engineer, before leaving the British outfit earlier this year following 18 years in the team.

Ferrari confirmed on Tuesday that Fry will join on 1st July, when he will start working in the new role of assistant technical director.

Fry will report directly to technical director Aldo Costa, while the current structure of the technical department remains unchanged.

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh said last month that he was confident his team would not be hurt by Fry's exit.

"Pat's been with the company for about 18 years, so he's made a great contribution to the team over a number of years," said Whitmarsh.

"I think it was probably good for him, the right decision for him to take a bit of a break, take a breather. I think he's worked very hard for the team for a number of years.

"Within our team, then, I think we've got quite a bit of a talent and depth, so in these situations it's a great opportunity for someone younger, maybe hungrier, to come along and replace all of us.

"We're all replaceable. I think the process will be the same but we're manned with fresh new engineers."

Autosport

His main reason for leaving Mclaren - somebody else got promoted instead of him :lol

 

[Leunam]

Bonus question is up. Stupidly easy this time around.