Formula 1 2006 Season
 

This starts on March 12th in Bahrain, with a driver shuffle & smaller engines.

One personal disappointment is that it looks like Spa will be axed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/4632126.stm

- I think Bernie gets upset if the fans enjoy a race, too much :(

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Perhaps I should be surprised that there have been no comments on this thread in nearly 2 months, despite there now having been 2 races.

Or perhaps, having seen part of the latest procession, F1 far from being a spectacle has become too complex and costly for it to show relevance to Mr Average. In fact that's the point there just does not seem to be any real unpredictability as to what is likely to happen, and it's the foregone conclusion aspect that is a turn off.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

I entirely agree, the technology is fascinating, but when race results hang entirely on strategic use of that technology, it ceases to be a sport. Once again the immortal phrase, 'driver x has the faster car, but is finding it hard to overtake' :mad:

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

I used to be into it but like above it's got to techinical for me, the drivers no longer have a say, it's all down to pit stops and all that, it was ok last year when they could only use 1 set of tyres per race, what needs to be inplemented is gear changes with the drivers hands, none of the automatic gear shifts.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Our Jenson got poll today and i hope that he can win win his first Grand Prix :)

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

I'd like him to, but I woiuldn't put any money on it. Don't get me wrong, I like Jenson, but I can't see him winning... although he's got more chance of doing that than Coulthard, who couldn't even win if he was the only driver on the circuit!

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

What a great race that was, loads of action, shame about JB though...

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

I think that the decision to stop JB just before the finish line after that spectaular blow up, will cost them at the end of the season.

I loved F1 when it was on the BBC, but ever since ITV have taken it the coverage went from 1st class to z class.

I mean adverts that last 3-4mins that add up to about 25mins of ads during the 90 min race that a 3rd of the race taken up by ads.

Thank God I have Sky Sports and I can watch A1GP.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

The decision to stop him short of the line will save them a penalty placing in three weeks, so whilst it wasn't very sporting, it was a good strategic decision.

That said, JB proved yesterday what I've been saying for a couple of seasons now - he's a good driver, very fast, technically brilliant - but what he's not is the better than people like Kimi and Alonso. Kimi's amazing overtaking move on Button was and inspired bit of expertly calculated risk-taking and that's why Button will probably never win a GP.

Great race yesterday, some rather good exits too!

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Yes, the choice was a guaranteed 10th place yesterday, versus starting at best 10th at Imola, in 3 weeks. I was initially surprised he didn't coast over the line, but can see the reason for the decision to pull over.

Regarding the race, it was ok, I thought, but some strange anomalies - why was Fisichella so much slower than Alonso, how come Barrichello still can't get used to the Honda, why were the teams struggling so much with their tyres?

It will be interesting to see if Ferrari can improve at Imola, otherwise it looks like a battle between Renault & McClaren for the title.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

been enjoying the new season so far and even though Renault have won all the races there has been excitement in each one

still not sure on the final bit of qualifying burning off fuel for 10 laps at the start of the final 20 mins is hardley exciting

shame for JB yesterday but as soon as the race started he was on the back foot and it got worse and worse.. if Fisi hadn't stalled he wouldn't even of led a lap

Schuey crashing was nice to see and then he went into the wrong garage too :D

also interesting to note how much slower the car was without the bendy wings

still like to see abit more overtaking and but less technology on the cars

looks like the Torro Rosso's might be protected about by the other teams due to there V10s

Also in case no one knew Coulthard got 8th after Speed picked up a 25 second penalty after the race

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

The new qualifying system is far better than the previous one particularly if you attend the qualifying session. One car going past on its own every couple of minutes was hardly worth the cost of admission for the day. The burning off of fuel in the final session is puzzling though. Why not just let teams nominate their starting fuel load before the session and run on near empty for that last session as they used to do. I would like F1 to introduce the push to pass system as being used in A1GP and the USA.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

the reason for the burning off the fuel bit is as follows

Qualifying is designed to work out who is the quickest car and have that car starting at the front going down to the slowest car at the back.

If the cars start in that order then they tend to finish in that order as the quickest car at the front pulls away.

As such the FIA and Bernie have tried to make it so that we have qualifying but don't have teh quickest car at the front.. hence all this fuel strategy stuff.. they knew the fuel would have to be burnt off during the session hence the 110% lap rule

my own opinion is that either you have qualifying and you have the quickest car at the front.. or you don't want the quickest car and the front and have ramdom grids.. random grids means no qualifying and pull them out of a hat or a Porsche Cup race of something.. trying to force the two together has led to about 5 different formats in the past 3 years which just hasn't worked

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

The simplest solution would be a return to the old qualifying, but with a time limit for using the laps to prevent the old wait-out situation, where only the minnows go out first.

Saw the qualifying once, don't think I'll bother again.

The fuel burn idea is just stupid, since it means they just waste time, and no longer have to balance "running a long first stint" with the qualifying penalty of the extra fuel.

Alternatively, to give the leader more of a challenge and keep it closer, get rid of qualifying and start in reverse championship order.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

A mate of mine says about formula 1 "What a waste of fuel."

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

After watching yesterdays 'race', I'm tending to agree.

The tweaking of the rules has done nothing to improve the spectacle, they need to sort things out so that overtaking is, at least, possible, be it 'push to pass', steel brakes, aerodynamic changes, whatever, something needs to be done, and fast.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Are you kidding? The last 2 seasons have been the closest in years, although the 'golden boy' Kimi kept blowing his chances and his team kept blaming it on his engine.. first time I've ever seen an abused and flat-spotted tyre blamed on a crap engine but meh. At least Schumacher has a chance of competing with Alonso this year, oh and to all those who say Schumi has lost it, he's been head to head with Alonso what? 4 times this year and Won twice.

I watched A1 GP and found it to be sh*t... they promised more overtaking than F1 and it has failed spectacularly to deliver based on what I have seen. I'd rather watch that american oval borefest.

Grand Prix Masters was good though, Go Mansell, shame BBC only had that one race and not the 2006 series.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

After watching the S***e coverage of the US GP, and subsequent lack of results I complained to ITV (I've blood pouring out of my mouth where I have bitten my lip.)

Does anybody know the details of that idepentant body that you can compain to?

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

well you can try ofcom and also the Dity office at ITV check the ITV web site for their e-mail address

the qualifying was on live but they put it on ITV 4 .. if you ever can't find it on ITV 1 always have a check through all their channels or just ask on here if it's being shown live

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

I also noticed that it ended somewhat suddenly this afternoon - presumably as more people would complain about Coronation Street being further delayed than would about not getting the F1 press conference afterwards.

I'd really love to see F1 without ads too - on the basis that there would be riots in the streets if ITV plonked an adbreak in the middle of play of an England football game.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

I am sure I remember ITV pledging never to show ads in the middle of a race when they took over F1. In fact, for a couple of seasons, IIRC, they did cut out the ads in the middle of the race, and simply had one long ad break at the end.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

no there has always been 5 ads during the race although in the last one there was 6.. the ads are even longer now though and at the start of each ad we get the swiftcover sponsor plus the ITV F1 bit too. i already know i'm watching ITV they don't have to tell me

could be worse just watched the boxing and they had an ad break in all bar 3 of the rounds

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

The season has started ?

Shows how much I watch it now.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Monty has gone replaced by De la Rosa

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/5168206.stm
shame really as he's one of the few drivers who will overtake on the track just shows were F1 is if a racer is kicked out and all those who just "wait for the stops" are still there

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

I know what you mean, but I also felt that recently the level of frustration was making him take that to a level, which was becoming dangerous. I think De la Rosa will be a much better team player.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

JPM is a quick racer - no doubts abut that, its his lack of consistency that fails him. I thought that when he moved to McLaren, him and Kimi would have blown the competition away, but only Kimi has.
Good luck to JPM in his new role.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

yeah. i'm glad de la rosa is back. he had a half decent season when arrows was reasonably quick

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

De la Rosa is a known quantity though we all know what he can and can't do.. i'd rather see Gary Parfett given a few races and would be even better to see Lewis Hamilton goven a few races after the GP2 season is over too

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Button may finally win a race !! :Yikes: :tu:

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

GET IN THERE !!!

Well done Jenson. :cleader:

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

JB has won his first race after 113 attempts

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Good grief. I've given up watching F1 'cos nothing interesting ever happens, and look what I missed.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Well done Jenson ................does the whole ran get repeated anywhere ???

Mike

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Well I missed most of the accidents due to yet more adverts.

But during the first hour of non racing there was one advert (poss 2)

---------- Post added at 15:40 ---------- Previous post was at 15:40 ----------

repeat on ITV 2??

Highlight at 11ish ITV1

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Just goes to show what a really good driver JB is when car performance in terms of sheer speed is factored out by poor track conditions. :)

Well done JB, great drive and lets hope for many more. :erm:

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

And when the three best drivers all exit the race early!

I've never head any doubt the Button is a fast and competant driver, what he's not is a racer, but he pulled it out the bag yesterday and all kudos to hum...a deserved win, a good strategy and a good drive.

In fact it was a very exciting race all round.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Even a blind dog will find a bone eventually :rolleyes:

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Kubica has been disqualified for having an underweight car so MS gets the final point

he had bald tires with no thread at all and he should have been disqualified for dangerous driving with De la Rosa and Hiedfeld but then it is MS so can't expectt he FIA to take any action against him :D

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

That's really unfair, and a little ignorant IMO. Jenson has been consistently let down by Honda this season. For once, they got their tactics right. Jenson is a superb driver, who drove a blinding race yesterday. He was knocking seconds off Alonsos lead and would have caught him anyway, even if he hadn't gone off.

The telemtry data in F1 proves that Jenson is the smoothest, faultless driver in F1. And yesterday he proved it :tu:

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

:tu: JB is a great driver who has been let down by very bad cars and the nature of Fortmula one these days.. you don't need a good driver just a good designer.. he's one of the smoothest drivers out there as he showed yesterday and at Spa a few years ago when he was on inters and when everyone else went onto them they couldn't get near his times

i think Jenson was one of the few drivers out there yesterday that didn't have any pff track moments and he made it look like a dry race from the start whereas even MS had a few slides and moments

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Exactly. JB's drive was spotless, perfect and faultless. The conditions yesterday really shows the skill of the drivers, rather than just how good the car is.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Id say Schuey was still one of the best drivers out there. I'd have loved to see the others do as well as he did with the same state tyres.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Sure, Shuey is a fabulous driver, you can't deny it. But recently, he's been an appalling bad sportsman (or cheat, even). He should've let Heidfeld past way before he did, he screwed up qualifying times for others at Monaco, the man's a law unto himself. He needs to retire after this season IMO.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Isn't part of being a good driver knowing when to change tyres or look after the ones you've got ? Not just rely on the pit crew to decide it all for you ?? :erm:

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

errmmm the driver is not the whole package so its not just Button that made the win, the car, the team and the driver make the package. After 113 attempts if he was any good he would have been poached by a decent team and therefore would have had a good team and equipment.

The telemetry shows he's the smoothest and faultless driver!!! Rubbish, where has this been published? Being the smoothest doesnt mean your the fastest if your not using the equipment to its max. Yes two drivers in the same car driving to the max would show the smoothest to be fastest but it has to be at the max.

---------- Post added at 11:44 ---------- Previous post was at 11:43 ----------

The conditions showed the drivers skills in a particular condition and nothing else

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Don't watch much F1 do you? :rolleyes:

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Having spent 5 years working for a GP team, your right, i no longer watch GP.

I watch motor racing thats competitive (ie where the equipment is all the same) and not ruined by money.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

As much as I support your patriotic support for button, I'm afraid to say that W&C is correct. He's a great driver, yes, but he's not the best. That's not to detract in any way from his deserved win yesterday, but I have a feeling that it will be a long time before we see another from him.

And looking at the final podium it was a sort of victory by default really wasn't it? Still, great race, lots of action, lots of overtaking and a good result for the boy Button!

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

I don't support Button through F1 - Alonso has my interest more than anyone else. But as usual, a Brit does well, and out come the slaggers.

Button won that race by driving perfectly, and (for once) Honda having thought their tactics through. Not a default win really. You don't have to be the best driver to win (fwiw I think MS is the best driver for a long long time) - it's a mixture of conditions, car, tactics and driver all together. And they finally did come together for Button yesterday.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Sadly I have to agree that JB, whilst a good (even great) driver, does not have that 'magic' element of say Alonso or Raikkonen that makes for race winning drives. He has the potential no doubt, but he has yet to find that special something that makes the difference. :(

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Why is it that in this country when any of our sportsman win something the critics come out to belittle their achievements? Schumacher was nowhere in the early stages and even though he got up to second he was overtaken by de la Rosa towards the end before dropping out. Alonso although in the lead would not have won this race as Jenson was catching him and would, in my opinion, have passed him. So Jenson would have won this race even if the main contenders had not dropped out. Let us not forget that he started in 14th and, in winning, beat Nigel Mansell's achievement of winning this race from 11th.

I think we should also recognise another Brit's efforts in this race. No, I don't mean DC finishing 5th, good as his performance was. I refer to Anthony Davidson making his debut in the commentary box. He displayed the sort of techical knowledge that has become Martin Brundle's trademark. Well done Anthony!

Perhaps we should also remember that that Martin Brundle started over 180 races without a win and Mark Blundell competed in 61 without standing on the top step. These were 2 great British drivers who went on to achieve wonderful things in other branches of motorsport. Jenson however has outshone them in the pinacle of motorsport - F1. So let's give credit where it's due. Great drive, Jenson.:nworthy:

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Have you heard of Specsavers? In one sentance you're calling me a 'slagger' (charming) and in the next you're quoting the bit where I said his win was "deserved".

And then you almost quote verbatim what W&C said which you had a go at him for. Are you having hot flushes?

And for the record, I was proud to heard the national anthem playing for the GP winner yesterday, and I was happy to see him win. It's just that being realistic, I feel it's unlikely we'll see it happening too often.

Basa puts his finger right on it...Button is great, one of the best, if not THE best of the rest. But he doesn't have the x factor (for want of a better description) that sets him above anyone else. And there's nothing wrong with that, Coulthard has made a great career out of being a solid great driver without being THE best and the race needs those drivers as much as anyone else.

Well I guess it's personal taste. Personally I like comentators to talk about the subject in hand rather than turning a discussion about another de la Rosa overtaking Shoemaker into a monologue about how great Jenson Button is. I know he's loyal to Honda and his drivers, which is why he should have been allowed nowhere near the commentary box.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

the problem is in F1 at the moment the driver counts for very little you need the team of engineers and designers to get it right and give you a winning car before a top driver can even come close to winning.. just look at Massa hardley the greatest driver ever but in a Ferrari he can keep pace with MS most of the time

Button has never really had a car capable of winning he's had one that has been close a few times but never quite there.. over one lap in qualifying he's been able to make up for that and put it on pole but as the car hasn't been a winner he hasn't been able to convert that into a win

none of his team mates have ever won a race in the same car either or even come close and Rubens is a former race winner and he could only make fourth

on his first visit to Spa he qualified third ahead of his team mate which shows he has the ability

without a race winning car he's had to wait for the right circumstances to be able to win.. you can only beat those that are out there and that's what JB did on Sunday.. at the end of the day he crossed the line fine and no one else can take that away from him

the way the Hondas are going at the moment it might take awhile for the circumstances to fall into place for him to get another win but that isn't anything to do with Jenson

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Just read there now that Webber is off to RBR for Next season: http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=36987

There goes my Prediction of Webber and Alonso for Mclaren. Honestly though would like to see Raikonnen and Alonso together next season, but too much smoke surrounding Raikonnen heading to Ferrari.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

No, you need to make your mind up - as soon as you had typed 'deserved', you went on to type 'win by default' - which one was it?

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

so far this season

Montoya has gone to NASCAR :Yikes:

JV has left now and looks like not getting a drive for next season :-(

Webber of to RBR with the new Adrian Newey car along with DC.. should be a good car to drive next year if they can get the engine deal sorted out

must say i thought Kubica had a great drive at the weekend just wish it wasn't in place of JV

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Talking of Kubica (good drive, but lost his point for the car being too light) - why did his lost point go to MS??? MS didn't even finish the race!!! Why didn't it go to Tiago Monteiro? Is there a rule I missed out on?

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

yeah that is abit annoying.. if you retire with three laps left or one lap or something then you are classed as the first car to finish on that lap so Michael was in front of Monteiro.. although really he should have had a penalty for cutting the chicane with De La Rosa and keeping his position.. plus dangerous driving with Heidfeld too

several times you see on the screen an incident involving car x and car y but with MS this never even gets looks at by the stewards.. a few years ago at Indy it looked like he passed JB into turn one under a yellow but this never even got looked at either then

ok MS got a penalty for overtaking under red flags but in the end this turned out to be no real penalty at all

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Brown paper bags being passed under 'Little Chef' tables springs to mind here....:mad:

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Here we go again. I should have known better than to praise 2 Brit's in one reply. I won't bother to go on about DC's achievements as it will only result in some criticism heading his way! Point proven I think!!

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

think that shows the nature of F1 really.. DC and also JV have been doing some brilliant driving this year .. better that Fisi and Kimi have been doing.. but as they aren't challening for wins or points they don't get praised often enough

just hope Newey builds a dream car and DC and Webber can fight for poles and wins next year

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

It was both. He drove well and would have finished fourth or fifth if the usual suspects hadn't come off. Button didn't come off, the car drove well, he drove well and he deserved to win. But he had no control over the others not having a good race. So it was both.

It was a biased commentary from one of Button's team mates. I'm not having a go at him for that, if anyone from honda was in the same place I would have expected the same loyalty...note the word loyalty...it's a good thing.

But for accurate and informative commentary about someone other than the Honda drivers, it was not much clout. And that's ITV's fault. Bring him on as a guest sure, but not a commentator please.

I wish people would read the whole of my post before jumping on their soapbox.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

let's ignore the biased commentary by him for a second and criticise him for setting a new world record for saying "graining" the most times in a 5 minute spell during qualifying

and while villeneuve has driven better this season, i'm glad to see the back of him

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

So with Schumacher going and Raikonnen taking his place, what do you all think.
Personally I think Kimi is the best driver, other than a poor car he would have won the championship last season and this year, the car is nowhere as near to either Ferrari or Renault.When Kimi is at Ferrari, he will win loads of races and I would not be surprised if he takes the champiuonship in his first season.

Schumacher, i think he is going at the right time. although he is keeping on a role at Ferrari he still would have put up a great fight for the championship in the next couple of seasons also.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

I don't agree with Kimi being the best driver. And even though I cannot stand the man, in any way shape or form, MS is the best driver in the world, and has been for a long time. I'm glad he's going though...his skill was being overshadowed by his non-personality and very bad sportsmanship.

I would love to see JB in a Ferrari or a Renault. You'd really see what he can do then.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

My Mistake, i meant to say, Kimi is the best driver after Schumi.
I personally dont like schumacher nor Ferrari. I also think that if you put any half decent driver into Ferrari, they are bound to win races..

Well here is hoping for Mclaren next season to put up a strong showing.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Didn't really work for Barrichello. :erm:

For a long while Williams and McLaren were THE teams to beat and I'm sure they will come back to the fore soon. :)

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

it's always difficult to say who the best is.. for me i'd go for Varzi or Nuvolari but alot of people wouldn't even know who they are

in the modern era you'd have to say Schuey is the best, although he never really had a Senna or a Prost to deal with

what annoys me is that for such a great racer he's never really had to shown that much race craft as he can just "wait for the stops" that's why i'd put him behind alot of the other greats out there

if McLaren can build a decent car that lasts races and Fisi and Kovallienen can do a decent job at Renault it should be a great season next year

Massa has actually given Schuey a good run for his money this year and i don't rate him at all so that says alot about his retirement really.. will be interesting to see the gap between Massa and Kimi

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

The mac isnt a bad car this year its just not a race winning car. It will be good to be finally rid of schum, kimi wont really fit in at fezza and i doubt he'll stay there for much more than a year or two. Massa is quick but is prone to making silly errors and although he's improved this year monza proved he still makes silly mistakes.

As for Button he'll be living his career out at Honda I doubt any other team would touch him with a barge pole after his contract weezelness.

The Honda isnt a bad car either and I really am starting to get fed up with the commentators and there ability to make excuses for Button.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

These days is it really a case of who is the best driver? The race result is largely determined by who has the best back room staff, strategists and pit crew.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

But they're not - his driving is almost always faultess. The main prob with honda is the top speed of the car -on average, approx 12kph less than Renault. No good at all. Stick Button in a better car and they'll be no need for excuses.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

very true.. i'm sure this will be proven next year when we get the new Adrian newey designed Red Bull

i don't understand why the only driver who hated all this technology and strategy stuff was Senna.. he knew it made an average driver closer to him and wanted it gone from the sport.. since him no other driver has stated how crazy it is

i think at most the driver accounts for about .5 to 1 second a lap whereas a top designer can bring in 2-3 seconds

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

w00t - Alonso came up with the goods in Suzuka and surprisingly Ferrari had reliability issues. If Alonso can get at least 8th place in Brazil then it's another world title under his belt :woot:

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

It was very much a Motson-moment wasn't it...in the warm-up to the race one bright spark commentator said that Ferrari were so reliable, they hadn't had an engine failiure in over five years...and booom! Engine failiure. Quite a race expected in Brazil now though...looking forward to that.

On a separate note, I was listening to Radio One last week and they very kindly gave me notice that they were about to tell me the F1 result from China before I'd actually seen the race. So I duly switched off the radio for a couple of minutes until the danger had past.

Yesterday morning, I was listening to Radio 2, no warning at all, straight from the last news story into, "Fernando Alonso has won the...."

Boy did I swear! Still a pretty good race though.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

have to say i think justice has been done here.. over the course of the season Alonso has been the better driver.. or had the better package under him anyway, until outside forces decided to interferre

don't forget that Schuey shouldn't have got any points from hunhary due to his race barging tactics and cutting across chicanes so take that point away and the title will already be Alonso's

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Well, I didn't predict today's winner, but I'm glad that he did get it, and that Alonso got the title. Was worried that Jenson was gonna try something stupid and end up taking himself and Alonso out, leaving Massa to suddenly have "unexpected technical problems" thereby handing the win to Schuey.

Saying that, Schuey did do well to claw back as much as he did after his little set back :D

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

It was a very good race, there was some excellent driving, I was so pleased that Button got a podium place from a p14 qualifying position - Martin Brundle's exposition on different driving styles may have explained why Button managed that, on a bumpy, multisurface track, where other drivers did not :)

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

After Saturdays qualifying, I thought the only winner would be Massa, with Schumacher right behind him, then if alonso got into trouble or DNF, Schumacher would fly past massa to take the champion. Schumacher, although i am not a great admirer of the guy, drove a brilliant race and deservered to finish where he was.
I think Alonso was the more consistent driver between both of them so am glad he took the championship.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Well after several year of ITV P**s poor coverage (The Japanese GP was the final nail in the coffin) going to yet another advert and coming back to find that Schuey had car problems and was pulling off the track.

I will NOT be watch another GP on ITV unless they stop showning ad during the race. I mean the hour befor the GP there is one advert but as soon and they get ready for the parade lap adverts come fast and furious.

There is on average 20 mins of adverts per race, nearly a third of it.

Plus putting the qualifying on ITV4 (Why didn't they cancel that piece of cr@p x-factor), luckily I can get ITV 4.

So from now on I'm 100% A1GP on Sky Sports.

PS
Does anybody know the name of the company that you complain to about TV companies (website/contact details)?

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

you can send a mail to the duty office.. which i think is dutyoffice@itv.com and then there is OFCOM as well

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

I thought that Jenson made a big mistake by not trying to take Alonso. Alonso would most likely have let him past rather than ending up having a coming together which took them both out of the race.

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

Yeah, definitely... I'd have done the same in his position.

Actually, in his position I'd be sh*tting myself and crying for my Mummy :cry: :D

Re: Formula 1 2006 Season
 

And apart from that, it was yet another example of why we need one set of film crews, production staff and a director for the season. The (presumably local) director was appalling, ignored 3/4 of Shoemaker's amazing climb back through the pack, most of the significant pit stop exits and half of the pit stops had no stopwatch running on them. Dreadful.

But a stunning end to the race season, thoroughly edge-of-seat stuff.

Not sure about this freeze on development rule that's coming in now though.