310 replies to this topic

[HSJ]

Originally posted by peroa
G. Rosato

I suspect he's a big Kimi fan. Last year I saw him (on TV) looking at Kimi (in a McLaren overall) in such a way (like in awe, or whatever), that it seemed clear KR was going to Ferrari, even though it had not yet been made public. What's his job at Ferrari anyway? Does he work on Kimi's side of the garage?

[brakedisc]

Did Massa have his engine turned dow to conserve things for Germany.

[yr]

Originally posted by brakedisc
Did Massa have his engine turned dow to conserve things for Germany.

When he was slow in second stint? Hardly. He had positions to gain still in that race.

[MikeTekRacing]

Originally posted by HSJ

...

welcome back

[AFCA]

Originally posted by HSJ


I suspect he's a big Kimi fan. Last year I saw him (on TV) looking at Kimi (in a McLaren overall) in such a way (like in awe, or whatever), that it seemed clear KR was going to Ferrari, even though it had not yet been made public. What's his job at Ferrari anyway? Does he work on Kimi's side of the garage?

Why don't you read the thread properly ?

Originally posted by AFCA

It's Gino Rosato, a Canadian with Italian roots. He's like the bodyguard of the drivers (and sponsors/vips) when they walk through the pitlane and especially the paddock. Todt can call him at any time to help and organise his life as a teamboss, he's a bit like the jack of all trades of the race team.

He doesn't participate in pitstops btw, he's no mechanic.

[Mauseri]

Originally posted by rodlamas
I am still shocked by Massa's performance drop from his first into his second stint.

His car took those midfield cars like magnets. I think he was on a very aggressive engine strategy, and in the second stints he saved it for the next races.

[Suzy]

Watching Massa scythe through the field was one of the high spots of the race for me. Each time I came round I was counting how many cars he'd passed and he just kept on going. It was a brilliant performance. What would he have achieved if his car hadn't stalled? Who knows but I think he would have caused a major upset on McLaren territory.

Rosberg seemed be be going well for a while - another one making up positions. Then he and DC just seemed to get stuck together for lap after lap.

As for Hamilton, Alonso and Raikkonen it seems amazing that all three led the race at different times. Alonso managed to jump Hamilton during the first round of pitstops; okay Lewis fluffed it a bit but he never really seemed to recover. And then Kimi jumped them both - and he seemed happy afterwards.

Further down the grid Toyota seemed to be having a good race and it was a pity to see them both retire. They had been one of the big positive surprises of qualifying (as opposed to Rosberg being the shock disappointment) and I really hoped they'd finally achieve something.

Kubica's spirited defence of 4th place got the crowd roaring too - but I think quite a few people found themselves torn between wanting Kubica to hold off Massa but also wanting Massa to get that 4th place!

Finally - blatant self-promotion. The first batch of my GP pictures are online at http://www.flickr.co...0134290/detail/ More shots to follow at some point and yes I do know that they need labelling. So, does anybody here have a GP2 cars/helmets/driver mugshots spotters guide... Jackman????

[HSJ]

Originally posted by AFCA


Why don't you read the thread properly ?

Sorry, I did read the thread, but that piece had escaped my attention. (Amazing!)

[AFCA]

Originally posted by HSJ


Sorry, I did read the thread, but that piece had escaped my attention. (Amazing!)

It's ok.

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How AMuS sees the Ferrari-McLaren fight develop track by track:

Nürburgring - Predicting a favourite here is just as difficult as predicting the weather in the area. The lay-out with its slow corners should favour McLaren though the rough asphalt should benefit Ferrari.

Budapest - The track is slippery, the pace remains low - it seems the perfect circuit for the McLaren engineers. A victory for anyone else but Hamilton or Alonso would be a surprise.

Istanbul - The Turkish GP should suit Ferrari better. The tarmac is rough and offers a lot of grip, the trackcharacteristics are favourable for a Ferrari victory as well.

Monza - The highspeed track isn't comparable with any other circuit. The cars drive with extremely low wing settings and there's only braking in four corners and a couple of chicanes. Only after the Monza, test shortly after the summer break, one can come up with a reasonable prediction.

Spa Francorchamps: This one is clearly for Ferrari. Already in July Massa and Raikkonen steadily set best times. At fast tracks the Italians clearly have aerodynamic advantages (strange they're not more positive about Ferrari's chances at Monza then... - AFCA)

Fuji: The curvy track should slightly benefit McLaren. Despite the long straights the teams will need to drive with relatively a lot of wing, like in Indianapolis.

Shanghai: The track has similar characteristics as the Nürburgring. Again: the rough surface is a benefit for Ferrari while in the slow corners the McLarens should go faster. Good prospects for an exciting race.

Sao Paulo: Should the fight for the title go to the wire then McLaren would have the better cards. The MP/4-22 simply copes better with the many bumps that are in the circuit.

So the second part of the season offers good and bad tracks for both teams. McLaren is on top in both of the championships so Ferrari should catch up also winning at a McLaren-track. But before the WC/WCC decision a lot of test and race mileage is still to be done. Big technical steps forward and technical malfunctions should obviously also be taken into account.

[AFCA]

- The big surprise of the first part of the season is Hamilton with 9 podium spots out of 9 races. It's surprising too that McLaren leads both championships while Ferrari has had more race wins, pole positions and fastest laps.

- The Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers had the most DNF's. Liuzzi only finished 2 races, Speed just one more (6 from all the DNF's were accident related, no other drivers couple does so bad in this respect). Big brother Red Bull Racing had a lot of DNF's as well, on average Webber and Coulthard only made it to the finish once every two races.

- McLaren clearly has the most reliable car. Both drivers finished in every 9 races, in the points that is. Both drivers completed 2.713 km without a failure. Second place is for Renault, Ferrari is third in the list.

- Hamilton is on top of the list as far as leading km is concerned. In total he lead the races for 171 laps (754 km). Then comes Massa with 725 km. From the other teams, only two drivers shortly led a race. Kovalainen did so in Indianapolis for 5 laps and Heidfeld in Malaysia for 3 laps.

- Hamilton was in front of Alonso on the starting grid 5 times. Massa is in front of Raikkonen. Schumacher looks particularly bad, only once he was in front of Trulli. The same goes for Wurz, he's been beaten in qualifying by his teammate Rosberg 8 times.

- The most consistent qualifying driver is Hamilton. He started on pole three times and never qualified worse than fourth place. Massa has the most pole position though, 4 times he was the fastest in qualifying.

- Both Massa and Raikkonen have three fastest laps. In the remaining three races the McLaren drivers were the fastest.

[AFCA]

Liuzzi: ''We’re already past the middle of the season and we have to hurry up and understand what’s going on. The championship seems long, but it’s short in the end, especially when you are this condition that you never end a race.''

''We are collecting gearbox failures, and that’s not what we should be doing. The new seamless shift failed in Scott’s car at Magny-Cours, and again in mine at Silverstone. We’ve got a lot of work ahead. We’re trying to improve the speed, that’s for sure, but even with the standard gearbox we had problems. It’s not a matter of this gearbox being faster, it’s just a matter of us being unreliable.''

In the last race in Silverstone Liuzzi had the added problem of having a pain in his backside caused by something coming adrift in the cockpit.

''It was a terrible race, because from lap 15 onwards something fell off from the cockpit and went behind my back – I had a big piece of plastic behind my ass, and it was really painful, especially with the high speed corners.''

''We also had a lot of understeer so we couldn’t really achieve what we wanted from the car and push as we wanted. If I could have kept the pace of the first 10 laps it would have been a good race, I could have been able to follow Alex Wurz and fight with the Hondas. And then I had the gearbox failure at the end anyway.''