Since no thread has been posted at all. I might as well just post it up myself. [-X

So anyone. Massa on pole, and kovy clearly showing no signs of injury.
Any predictions for tommorrows race.

Yeah, my predictions are:

1. Massa
2. Kimi
3. Hamilton (Maybe Kubi or Kovi)

I was impressed with Massa's performance, but I thought that Kimi was lacking in pace, which is weird because he was on top in Q2. I'm not sure about the "blocking" incident between Alonso and Massa in Q3, but I'll wait for the stewards to make a decision about it before I inject my commentary.

Overall, pretty good qualifying. I'm hoping for ANOTHER Ferrari 1-2.

Not a bad quali, brilliant performance in Q3 from Massa, he really does seem to love this place! Kovy bouncing back brilliantly after his bad crash, glad to see him doing well.

Hammy. Imo had a pretty damn amazing Q3. Faster than Kimi on the prime tyres, not too far off Kovy either, if he felt that comfortable on options i dare say Massa wouldnt be on pole. Fancy his chances of a podium, depending on how fast Kimi's race pace is.

Speaking of Kimi, he cant seem to get that something special in Q3 in Turkey. Last year he made a mistake, this time he lost a few tenths off his potential time.

Kubica wasnt as fast as i thought he would be after his first run.

Great quali from Webber to get him infront of Alonso.

Nakajima and Piquet dont seem to be near their team-mates in terms of pace. They both need to step up their game a bit, both going out in Q1 isnt good. Nick Heidfeld also needs to find some extra speed, he keeps being out qualified by Kubica, the potential is there in that BMW, he just needs to unlock it.

Should be a good race, i cant see anyone other than Massa winning it. Then it should be a good fight between the McLarens and Kimi, Kubica too if his race pace is decent enough.

Quali was quite good, but Kimi didn't do that well :(. He should be heavy on fuel tomorrow though. Well done to Kovy though, I hope he can finish that well tomorrow.

Well I'll know the result 2 seconds before any of you...

I'm down here in Istanbul right now, and plan to be on the first shuttle bus out to the track at 7am.

(oh yea) I hate Bernie Ecclestone more then ever too... He came down here and bought the track two years ago, then went and tripled the price of everything... It was even more ridiculous then last year!!!

Where's benny and mmf1? And i thought that the turkish GP was for the next week. This made me to lose the Q1.

Good news is that i saw the rest.

I don't like to speak for all the drivers. I like to say some good and weird things.

Did you see Hami powersliding his F1 at the left corner? That happened at Q2. Amazing skill from Lewis. I was really impressed for his correction. He did it so quickly. Damn. Exciting highlight.

Also, who observed Red Bull's strategy at Q3? They kept their F1 cars inside the pitlanes in order to do only 1 lap. Bad strategy, i suppose.

Wooo, Heikki beat Hammy :D

Urgh, I didn't do the thread and I had to tape qualifying because I was at snooker. I haven't been on the ITV website for weeks which is such a pain in the arse. I barely even knew Super Aguri pulled out for God's sake. My bad, and my apologies for not being in the thick of the F1 action when I really wanted to.

I haven't seen quali yet as I've only really just got home today, and I probably won't be able to say anything tomorrow because I'll be watching the race and then I've got loads of schoolwork and things to do...I'll be here to comment though, hopefully. :)

Well i'd say its deffinetly a Massa win in turkey tommorrow, unless somthing happens.
I doubt even Kimi can take both McLarens, but then again, I wouldn't put it past him.

I think BMW will deffinetly take a back row seat this weekend. They were fast from the start last year, but they actually seem a bit further off right now. But we'll just have to wait and see.

Too bad Barichello couldn't pull somthing out, but thats life. Maybe we can see an impressive 257th race from him tommorrow.

Vettel sure seems to have found a bit more speed this weekend, lets just hope he actually gets past the first lap for the first time this season.
But yet again, Sutil. What on earth is happening, last year he was wonderful, and this year I'm so disapointed. Lets just hope he can bounce back soon, and get himself a decent drive next year.

Yeahs for Kovy as well. I'd like to see him win, but just not this race. This race I want Massa to win.
I think right now, i'll not make predictions, but i do think McLaren could struggle, espically seeing them going around turn, they didn't look to happy.

Hamilton for the win,Mc laren cars were looking great on track

sorry guys... i had alot of stuff to do this week, hence missing out posting the Pre-GP thread. I'll step it up for next week.

Man, I think we're going worse this year than last year. Rosberg has only gotten into the top 10 about 2 times this year, and I haven't seen anything hugely positive from the team except for the fact that the car still looks awesomely great.

And it hurts me :( lol

Same here Timbit. Its hard seeing Rosberg go from the brilliant race in Australia, to this.
But hopefully he can make up for it in the race yet again, last in Barcelona.

I doubt anyone watched GP2, but we had a dog on the istanbul track. 3 of them actually i think. Of course Senna ended up hitting one, and lets just say hes got rather short temper. Its was strange, and I know they were deffinetly complaints about it.
But there are some dark clouds hovering over Istanbul. Imagine turn 8 in the wet.

Same here Timbit. Its hard seeing Rosberg go from the brilliant race in Australia, to this.
But hopefully he can make up for it in the race yet again, last in Barcelona.

He's a great starter, and if I remember correctly, the team have stated that the car is more of a race car rather than a qualifying car (whihc in this day and age, is pretty bad). But last year Rosberg was almost consistently in the top 10, but now it's looking pretty grim.

Of course Senna ended up hitting one, and lets just say hes got rather short temper.

His Uncle wasn't known for his enormous patience either :p.

Not only 1 but 3? How does even 1 get onto the track I wonder. Poor dog that got hit, but not much else that could have been done in the situation, really.

All the reports I heard were that it'd be a dry race, but it's been a bit of a wierd season weather wise. If it does rain, I'm gonna be gutted when I miss it!

That was epic. I really though Hamilton had a chance towards the end of the first quarter, and the tragedy with Kov. was only compensated by the fact that Hamilton beat Raikkonen to the line!

Yeah good race, strong perfermances from nearly every driver, actually. Those Ferrari's are still incredibly fast! I don't think the McLarens are as close they make out. Also, good, strong, races from the BMWs and also Alonso beating Webber :D

Aw dang I missed it. Figures since it was actually on at a reasonable time.

What can I say ??????



Nothing really


Kimi said he didn't feel confident with the car at the start of the race weekend but hey he his still leading the drivers championship so not all bad :D.


'Wonder kid' must have happy he got a podium place lol.


Pretty boring race overall.

I was sad about Raikkonen not being able to get Hamilton, but Massa's dominant performance made up for it. The BMWs did well, and most of the drivers put up a good fight if they were being passed.

FANTASTIC RACE for Hamilton finishing second with 3 PIT STOP,WOW!!!!

Face it Nephis, Kimi just wasnt on the pace of Massa or Hammy this weekend. I think you forget that "wonder kid" did an extra stop (on a cautious strategy) and still came out infront of your amazing Kimi!! :D

Haha. Well, once again, Massa does seem to own this track, when hes on it here he is pretty unstoppable, only really being pushed by a light charging Hammy. Definately had the measure of Kimi here, but i somehoe doubt that it will last for much longer. Kimi will come back at him in Monte Carlo.

An amazing drive from Hammy, through the first and second stint he was in a class of his own. Faded away a bit in his 3rd stint, i think he knew then that he wasnt going to be able to get the win so he decided to play for 2nd. Did well to keep Kimi behind him for the last 13 laps on the softer tyres which he clearly wasnt as comfortable on. Top drive from him.

Kimi by his standards had a relatively quiet race untill about 20 laps to the end. Still did very well to recover after loosing ground on the opening lap. Still leading the championship though so cant really complain.

Gotta mention Kovy, a simply stellar recovery drive from him after picking up a puncture into turn 1. Showed what a fantastic racer he is today, really impressed me. May have been on for 3rd without that puncture.

Only shame was Rosberg who i think i saw once during the entire race, and to be honest i had forgotten he was there. Its such a shame for him, hes probably one of the best drivers in the field but the Williams just isnt quite up there yet to show everyone just how competitive he can be. His day will come though!

Overall a pretty great race, had some brilliant overtaking, mostly from Kovy, some surprising and exciting strategy work from McLaren and a pretty exciting race.

Next!

Special word for Kovy, since he really did some fantastic overtaking.
Not only that, but he out qualified Lewis despite having about 4 laps of fuel more.
I'd say he would've been 2nd here, was it not for Kimi giving him a puncture. But hopefully he has better luck at Monaco.

But I need to yell at ITV here.
Yes I accept, Massa is far from the most consistent driver there.
But this from James Allen
Massa is untouchable in Bahrain, Istanbul and Interlagos, but we all know that he has his limitations: He’s never won a race where he wasn’t on pole and he’s not consistent over a season.
Those are just tracks hes won at. He owns Istanbul, theres no doubt about that, but in the same way Kimi owns Spa.
But that does not mean he can't win else where.
Also he was pretty consistent last year, and probaly could've won, had it not been for 3 engine failiures, and Ferrari forgetting to re-fuel him. That called unlucky, not in-consistent.

Also, he did win Bahrain while not on pole position. Did he not, and probaly would've won at Germany last year from 3rd, had it not been for some messed up tyres.
So I really look forward to BBC coverage next year.


Now putting aside that.
It was a very good race overall. Plenty of overtaking. Good work from Lewis. But considering he had 9 tenths less fuel, its no wonder shot of past Massa, but it was good overtake none the less.
Roseberg again pushing as hard as possible, and the williams giving nothing back. But at least he was still in the points.

But next race should be interesting. Monaco. No TC, no second chances.
Honestly, BMW should be fast here, since its apparently the slow corners were they're fast. But then again so should McLaren, just look at last year.
But what about ferrari, they cliamed to have got back some time in slow corners as well.

So really Monaco, will be the most unpredictable, probaly most competitive race yet.
Also, Williams should be more competitive, so hopefully we can see Rosberg right up there.
Also, Force India, both drivers are extremly quich around Monaco, so that should be very interesting.
and what of Vettel. New STR03, can he be as fast as he was in Australia here. Hmm

Face it Nephis, Kimi just wasnt on the pace of Massa or Hammy this weekend. I think you forget that "wonder kid" did an extra stop (on a cautious strategy) and still came out infront of your amazing Kimi!! :D

Eh ????

I never said Kimi was amazing lol :D !!!


Well I heard Kimi damaged his front wing at the start of the race and he elected not to change it because it would have taken up valuable seconds in the race !!


YET, he still had the fastest lap so clearly he had the pace but I think alot of had to do with the start afterall it wasn't a good start by Kimi standards :).

Oh yeah what has happened to 'wonder kid' lately anyway ?????

It seems to me Kovi his giving him a good run for his money !!!!!

Just like Massa is giving Kimi the run around then ?

Just like Massa is giving Kimi the run around then ?

Uh yeah until Monaco when Mr Inconsistent (sorry Felipe Massa) rides back into town :cool: !!!

If Ferrari can't see Kimi is the better driver then well there is no hope for the F1 world lol :D !!!

Uh yeah until Monaco when Mr Inconsistent (sorry Felipe Massa) rides back into town :cool: !!!

If Ferrari can't see Kimi is the better driver then well there is no hope for the F1 world lol :D !!!

The F1 World is blind if they think that the "Wonder Kid" is the next MS...
That honour goes to the "Iceman":D

The F1 World is blind if they think that the "Wonder Kid" is the next MS...
That honour goes to the "Iceman":D

I like the way you think :D.

I think he has proven over the last couple of races he hasn't got it in him :).

I'm not saying he his a bad driver he isn't but the problem is people jumped on the bandwagon around this time last year and jumped to conclusions.

Now look where he his 3rd in the drivers constructors but surely if he was great he would be at the top of the table ????

Besides I don't want Kimi being the next Schumacher, Kimi might go all arrogant and bigheaded *cough WONDER KID cough* and I don't want that :) !!!

I like the way you think :D.

I think he has proven over the last couple of races he hasn't got it in him :).

I'm not saying he his a bad driver he isn't but the problem is people jumped on the bandwagon around this time last year and jumped to conclusions.

Now look where he his 3rd in the drivers constructors but surely if he was great he would be at the top of the table ????

Besides I don't want Kimi being the next Schumacher, Kimi might go all arrogant and bigheaded *cough WONDER KID cough* and I don't want that :) !!!
Then Kimi will keep cold...like his name...
...If Global warming exists, then why isn't the Iceman melting away????

I like the way you think :D.

I think he has proven over the last couple of races he hasn't got it in him :).

I'm not saying he his a bad driver he isn't but the problem is people jumped on the bandwagon around this time last year and jumped to conclusions.

Now look where he his 3rd in the drivers constructors but surely if he was great he would be at the top of the table ????

Besides I don't want Kimi being the next Schumacher, Kimi might go all arrogant and bigheaded *cough WONDER KID cough* and I don't want that :) !!!

If anything, this race proved Hamilton HAS got it in him, above and beyond those around him.

He managed to catch, and overtake, and pull away from Massa at a rate of a second a lap. He may have been lighter on fuel, but he was also on the hard tyre. Again, he did all of this, in what has been proven in the last few races as a slower car than that of the Ferrari's.

What Hamilton need's to do now is keep that consistency. He needs to keep up this speed, because simply put, he hasn't yet got a car to match that of the Ferrari's. At Monaco we will see if they have caught up or not.

McLarens seem to work better on the hard tyre anyway. It was pretty obvious that Hammy wasn't going to win the race unless Massa made a mistake.... ITV got sooo hyped about Hammy winning, and I said at the beginning he was going to do a 3 stopper and, therefore, that place would be regained by Massa.

Also, McLaren are now saying that Kovi would have won if he hadn't of got a puncture. I find that a bit difficult to believe, the Ferrari's are still faster...

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=42627

If anything, this race proved Hamilton HAS got it in him, above and beyond those around him.

He managed to catch, and overtake, and pull away from Massa at a rate of a second a lap. He may have been lighter on fuel, but he was also on the hard tyre. Again, he did all of this, in what has been proven in the last few races as a slower car than that of the Ferrari's.

What Hamilton need's to do now is keep that consistency. He needs to keep up this speed, because simply put, he hasn't yet got a car to match that of the Ferrari's. At Monaco we will see if they have caught up or not.

That isn't true. Hamilton passed Massa and pulled away because he was lighter on fuel, and he was using the soft tyres. This was before his SECOND STOP in a three stop strategy. On this THIRD STOP, he put on hard tyres, and he couldn't really match Massa's pace.

Wrong. Here's a video for you.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YPYxuk2XLrk

That very clearly shows, that he was on the hard tyre, and massa was on the soft tyre, and that Hamilton was faster.


Also cheeky, I wouldn't say the Mclaren works better with th hard tyes, I'd say Hamilton works better with the hard tyres. Kovy has show what they can do with soft tyres, and that's why he could have posibly won, but he would have had to really race Massa for it, which is a shame, because that would have been excellent to watch.

I think Hamilton seems to have a problem with the Soft tyre due to his extreme driving style. He is very aggresive, very direct steering, and a loose rear end. The graining of the soft tyres (the tiny balls of rubber on the surface of the tyre) probably have a bigger effect on him than anyone else. He is more comfortable driving gung ho with the hard tyres than the soft. The slick tyres apparently will decrease graining a lot, so, we will see what happens then.

Wrong. This video show's it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YPYxuk2XLrk

That shows Hamilton clearly on the hard tyres, and Massa on the softs.

Yeh, Hammy was on the hards when he was pulling away from massa at a rate of knots, only 13 laps to the end was he on the softs and was just about able to keep Kimi at bay.

I agree with Sparky on his tyre choice, i think usually on a 1 lap do or die lap he is faster on softs, but after that his driving style eats them up too fast.

Yes 'wonder bread' did both first and second stints on hard tires and then the final on softs, because mclaren is afraid of how the car treats these soft tires (not to good). But yeah clearly he was faster, lighter or whatever, the dude was flying despite not being able to do sector 3 worth a damn. i still hate the guy with all I posses but he deserved that second place.

Dont get how you can hate someone you dont know personally but oh well.

No. The real point is that Hamiliton had to get past Massa.
He had 9 tenths less fuel, and didn't have to worry about preserving tyres, and as we all know, the hard type can be faster, and so it was.
Lewis of course had a huge advantage at that point.

and theres no point saying, if he could of got the soft tyre to work that good. Cause he didn't, and thats that.
It was still a good race from him though, because he had to constantly push.

Wrong. This video show's it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YPYxuk2XLrk

That shows Hamilton clearly on the hard tyres, and Massa on the softs.

Woww....

I got the tyre strategies for Ferrari and McLaren messed up...

*hits himself with dumb stick*

Just to switch gears a bit. I just read on one of my F1 websites,that
Max Mosely will be attending the Monaco GP. All the team principles,
have been heard, as saying they will avoid Max at great lengths, it'll
be interesting to see what kind of effect his presence will have if any
at all. After all Max does have home in Monaco. This will be his first
appearance at a GP, since his sex scandal became public knowledge.

Nevermind them avoiding Mosely.
Now it seems Mosely is unwelcome at Monaco. The prince of Monaco has apparently said hes not "offically welcome"
That kind of thing just settles it. Mosely has no chance of retaining his position. Its not matter of what hes done, but how badly his reputation has been tarnished.
its hard to have a president that isn't even welcome at his own events really.

Yup, if the races you are in controll of dont want you to come and watch them, that says it all really.

This has just reminded me that I had a dream last night that Max Mosley was murdered, dont have a clue why but i woke up and was like "wtf?! did that happen?!!" Dont think it will come to that but cant see him staying as president much longer.

I think that if and when Mosely steps down or is "ousted" from office,
Jean Todt would make a great President. I recall last season when the
rumor of Mosely "stepping down" in the near possible future, that Jean
Todt would be a great candidate for the job. Now that Todt is no longer
Team Principle, of Ferrari, it could be possible.

It is possible yes. And I cannot help but think that either Mosley is going to retire or get ousted from the office. If everyone in the sport things you are a disgusting person and does not want you near his race weekends, then the only thing to do is to leave office. He is old enough now so he can retire and forever wipe his ass with $50 notes he has ''borrowed for green technologies'' from other teams.

It will be interesting to hear SteveFX's viewpoint on the Mosley scandal. I don't think I've heard his comments (or I might have missed them.)

Anyway as for last week's race, sorry I haven't commented much. I was wondering, since the threads have dwindled a little bit of late, I might continue to write big posts, or cut them down a little bit, it's all up to you guys. It just seems that when I write a huge post, the thread kinda ends if you get me. Back at the start of Australia 2007, we had 175 replies for the race thread, which was brilliant. Now we're not getting as much. We need Schumacher to come back out of retirement and have a duel with Alonso! (Lol Cheeky good times, good times!!)

So, do you reckon I should cut down, or just write what I feel like writing? Just want your opinion fellas (and ladies, where are my manners.) Each and everyone of you is damn knowledgable and you know what you're talking about, I just don't wanna write loads and then nobody comment me back on what I'm saying; I don't want the thread to end there if you get me.

Anyway as for the race last weekend, Massa did a wonderful job in winning. As he said on the Thursday, he does own this track, and he proved it. Pole and the win, faultless performance. Although he was put under a fair amount of pressure on Lewis Hamilton in the opening stages of the race. I, like a lot of people, thought Massa was going to run away with it but he didn't. Hamilton actually passed him on the racetrack (cue hollering at the TV and punching fists in the air from me, I do get generally excited at motorsport you know). If Hamilton didn't go onto the three stop strategy, he might have had a shot at the victory, even though I don't think he would have been able to pass Massa due to having a heavier car, which may have meant just ''following'' Massa, which we all know is bad for F1 cars, so that point is up for discussion.

Ferrari's Raikkonen, not at his usual best, didn't really do aswell as he should have done this weekend, and he has a tough test next weekend as I recall the Ferraris were 53 seconds slower over a race distance than the McLarens at the Principality.

Ah.

As for BMW, they had a bit of an under par weekend by their standards aswell. In qualifying, in Q2, Kubica was 2nd, only a smidgen behind Raikkonen and I thought he could have gone for it. Maybe they fuelled ol' Rob (gah, he's only 23) a bit heavier in an attempt to maybe leapfrog Raikkonen's Ferrari or one of the McLaren's? Maybe. Anyhow, they still got 4th and 5th, which I suppose isn't really under par, but they did still have a good race.

Apart from Hamilton taking Massa, nothing much else happened really apart from Fisichella thinking he was a skateboard and Nakajima was a ramp at Turn 1, Lap 1.

Although there was a good move on Button by Piquet (come on Button!!!), hanging him out to dry near the end of the straight and taking him...which brings me onto this.

Was that the best moment of Piquet's season? An overtake on Button. I was listening to the post race Podcast (the Radio Five Live Chequered Flag 1, download it, it's brilliant) and they said that Piquet has to step up his game or he may lose his F1 drive. I have to agree. He is being outraced and outclassed by Alonso. Nelson was extremely quick in GP2, and in a moderately paced Renault, he is nowhere. Renault have a few drivers which might get an oppurtunity, and if Piquet doesn't get it into the points soon, maybe Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds will give him the hurry up? We'll have to wait and see.

Also bring up another point: Bridgestone's tentativeness arguably cost Hamilton a better shot at victory. Lewis only went onto the three stop to reduce the time on each set of tyres after his delamination at last year's race, which personally I think is lame. Just go balls out with your strategy and if the worst comes to the worst, well bad luck, at least you tried your best. I know this is a brilliant 2nd place coming off the back of some sporadic race results, but maybe he thought McLaren could have been a little more aggressive? A two stop with fast laps on both tyres (which he proved) may have put him in contention for the victory.

Oh well, that's done and dusted now, looking forward to Monaco everyone!? Hell yeah I am!

Don't be daft fella. Write what you feel. You are the backbone to these threads whether you like it or not, and we are merely the skin and bones. It's your big ass threads which helps most people understand what happened in a race, and why we talk about it so much.

I've also been dwlinging in my posts, but that's due to a new job, 20 hours a week, also having college, and exams coming up, my free time amounts to virtually nothing. Don't you worry though, in those six weeks holidays, it'll be back to the good old full on debates that we use to have, if I'm not to busy getting drunk or massive lol.