F1 Japanese Grand Prix today on speed

[john@johnhudakracing]

Any other F1 junkies watch this? It was an amazing race! Watching some of the recoveries out there as they fought to keep it on-track in pouring down rain with next to zero visibility on shot tires... makes you realize the true face of talent!

Lewis Hamilton said it had to be the longest race of his life. If you haven't caught it.. it may be worth checking out!

 

[OneRedNSX]

i caught the last 20-odd laps... crazy stuff, especially the two cars going off-track, on-track, off-track, on-track passing each other on the last lap

 

[Jin1976]

I slept around 16th last lap. The rain was heavy. Nice to see the flow of rainwater when the car is moving.

 

[enigma]

Massa and Kubica on the last lap!!! WOO! That was a HELL of a battle. Looked like F1 of old! (Villeneuve vs. Arnoux)

Do not read if you haven't seen the race




















Race was very exciting to watch once it got underway... I don't know what got me more excited though--seeing the duel between Massa and Kubica or watching Alonso crash his McLaren. Also, damn that Nick Heidfeld for screwing Button up after a GREAT qualifying effort for the Honda. And WTF was Honda thinking when they had Barrichello pit when he had secured his only championship point all freaking year?!?! He had better have been completely out of fuel!

Also, Massa's "vibration" and Speed's commentary made me laugh my ass off. That was fantastic, lol.

 

[NSXrebel]

. And WTF was Honda thinking when they had Barrichello pit when he had secured his only championship point all freaking year?!?! He had better have been completely out of fuel!

They did the same thing at the Canadian GP earlier this year. He was, what, in 3rd place?

 

[92 white 0650]

Re: Pure Entertainment

Indeed a crazy event filled race. I was amazed that there weren't more total loss of control/heavy wall contact like Alonzo had. I kept expecting a red flag. A lot of goofy shit that made me scratch my head; like Ferrari not getting the word about mandatory full wets to start. And Vettel (B team) running into A team Webber (that was behind the safety car, right?). And Ralf coming back out after being in the garage for 12 laps. What was that all about? Sato taking off out of his pit on fire, and apparently everyone really knew it was just a little fuel on the outside that would burn out in the downpour !!! (I don't think I would have been that confident.) How about ole Phil Massa giving us a great show, but risking it all for one lousy point when he's already out of the running for WDC. And best of all? Spyker gets a point!! :wink:

I gotta hand it to Kimi. He was the Iceman passing all those cars coming from the back. Give that man the Hard charger award.

All in all, a welcome relief from the off-track B.S.

 

[scorp965]

Re: Pure Entertainment

Vettel (B team) running into A team Webber (that was behind the safety car, right?).

Perhaps the worst part of the race, afterwards Vettel made a comment referring to Hamilton doing a bit of a brake check, to bunch up the field, which caught Vettel off guard; horrible end to what could have been Red Bull's first victory.

And Ralf coming back out after being in the garage for 12 laps. What was that all about?

Perhaps Toyota was trying to obtain some kind of a return, in front of their home crowd, for what has seemingly been a horrible investment.

Spyker gets a point!! :wink:

I suppose a point is a point, but it would be better to have won the point on track, then to have been given it by marshal's after the fact. Still, a fantastic drive from Sutil.

Nobody ever wishes for personal harm to be done to a driver, but it would have been fantastic to have some kind of DNF for Hamilton, resulting in an exciting finish to this season. Unfortunately he seemed to have a genuinely good drive, the only possible area of concern was when Webber seemed to be preparing a challenge, but Vettel and the safety car ended any chance of that going anywhere. The first dozen or so laps were unbearable, but it was a surprisingly good race - it also seems Hamilton will be cruising, more or less, to his first WDC.

 

[NSXrebel]

Re: Pure Entertainment

Nobody ever wishes for personal harm to be done to a driver, but it would have been fantastic to have some kind of DNF for Hamilton, resulting in an exciting finish to this season. .... The first dozen or so laps were unbearable, but it was a surprisingly good race - it also seems Hamilton will be cruising, more or less, to his first WDC.

I too was hoping for a DNF for Hamilton, specially after seeing those brake checks. Those first dozen laps sucked, made the race go over the allotted time on Speed, so I didnt get to see the last lap and post race coverage. Or at least that's what my DVR recorded.

 

[swbatte]

First I love F1 in the rain. That really shows who can drive.

Second Massa and Kubica. Wow!!!! I wish the cameras were on them for the whole segment! F1 would explode over here with driving like that, I was out of my seat yelling at my TV.

Third, I was secretly hoping for a Hamilton DNF, to tighten up the points race, but Alonso DNFing, I'll take it.

Fourth, what a drive from Kimi!!!! WTF was Ferrari thinking with intermediates???? What would have happened with Kimi and Massa chasing down Lewis for the whole race? Good thing Massa needed to pit eh?

Finally - I feel for both Red Bull drivers. I mean ouch!

Ok one more - go Spyker! What a drive!

Great race, best of the season for sure.

 

[NSXLuvr]

WOW - That was awesome. I wish all the races were in the rain. It highlights driving talent over $$.

 

[Ski_Banker]

Wow Wow Wow.

What's with all you Hamilton haters?? To see him WIN that DRIVERS RACE (I know, he had pole...) simply shows how talented he is.

Wasn't there a F1 vs. NASCAR thread recently? Lol. Owned.

 

[jozer]

it was one of the the most unpredictable race. after hamilton got clipped i didnt think he was going to be able to finish and if he did i didnt think he will make it to 1st because of his accident but he managed to pull it off. im a bit disapointed because ive always been an alonso fan since his battle with raikkonnen for the championship in 2005. It sucks that he crashed. It could of been a pretty close race through the end had that accident would of happened. Now alonso is really going to have pull some new trick up his sleve. Hopefully not another pit stall trick

 

[NSXrebel]

it was one of the the most unpredictable race. after hamilton got clipped i didnt think he was going to be able to finish and if he did i didnt think he will make it to 1st because of his accident but he managed to pull it off. im a bit disapointed because ive always been an alonso fan since his battle with raikkonnen for the championship in 2005. It sucks that he crashed. It could of been a pretty close race through the end had that accident would of happened. Now alonso is really going to have pull some new trick up his sleve. Hopefully not another pit stall trick

More like pull something out of his .... :wink: :biggrin:

 

[swbatte]

Wow Wow Wow.

What's with all you Hamilton haters?? To see him WIN that DRIVERS RACE (I know, he had pole...) simply shows how talented he is.

Wasn't there a F1 vs. NASCAR thread recently? Lol. Owned.

I don't think we're hating on Lewis. We just want to see a really tight driver's championship, so it's decided on the last lap of the last race.

I'm just bored of knowing who will win it with 3 or 6 races left in the season. He's an impressive driver no question.

 

[BD]

Lewis is going to win the championship, unless his car breaks during the next two races.

Alonso's reign is over, at least for this year.

Regardless, it was a cool race to watch; the rain really add some good touch to a tight race.

 

[92 white 0650]

Re: Hamo almost disqualified

I too was hoping for a DNF for Hamilton, specially after seeing those break checks.

Rumor has it the race was not official for 7 hours while the stewards considered a possible penalty against Hamo for those brake checks. What triggered that was Vettel was called into a meeting with the stewards for his rear-ending of Webber, and he blamed it on Hamo's unpredictable actions.

Varsha or Hobbs said something about trying to get some heat into the brakes after the long slow safety car period. On the surface that sounded OK, but it seems ridiculous to me that they'd have any residual heat in the brakes after such pathetically short brake usage and then such a long cold run down the straightaway at 180+ mph.

 

[92 white 0650]

Re: And we thought it was over?

Rumor has it the race was not official for 7 hours while the stewards considered a possible penalty against Hamo

Well, I guess Bernie was pissed that the drama for the season end was dwindling not building, so apparently the case is not closed. Well, OK, maybe the Youtube video posted by a spectator (and later removed at F-1 management's insistance) was new evidence. Lord knows the TV coverage was atrocious.

Edit: a copy of the Youtube video was accessible as of 5 PM PDT today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QJurnfxRm4

 

[fannsx]

If they penalize Hamilton, then I want FIA to defend me aganist insurance compny the next time I run into another car's rear end on the street.

The safety car had a very hard time to keeping the pace needed for the F1 cars in that heavy rain. Hamilton was following the safety car very closely.

 

[NSXF1]

So on a restart, you are not allowed to slow the field? Every restart behind a pace car I've seen, the leading driver is looking for an advantage, and the second and third are trying to make sure they can jump him just as they cross the start. The difference here was visibility sucked and<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice"
Vettles inexperience on rolling restarts got the best of him. Shame for Webber.

Kimi was more proof of the wheels falling off the Ferrari cart, now that Ross is gone. I can't see the problem with the intermediates happening on Ross's watch. Poor Kimi, he seems to have the Jean Alesi curse?

Lewis may be over hyped, but when you look at his driving, the number of mistakes _he_ has made in this race, compared to every other driver, including Kimi, and his year in general, he deserves to be champion.

As long as it isn't Alonzo. He has stepped into the M Shcumi mold of win at all costs and has shown for the first time how he responds under real pressure from a team mate. After selling out his team in his failed blackmail scheme to be #1 driver, a DNF in every remaining race would not be a shock. No Manufactures Title to win? (thanks to the Ferrari International Assistance org)

Good luck in your next team Fernando.