Brazilian GP talk/rant

[SD_GR]

I saw the Speed coverage. I was given an old compact radio that I use in my home gym, and it has a "karaoke" feature on it. This removes most of the vocals from a song. I wish my TV had a similar feature.

Hamilton looks very strong. I predict he'll be World Driving Champion either next year or the year after that. For Sunday's race I see Alonso in 1st. He has not hesitated to run opponents off the road if necessary, and he is more experienced. I find Raikkonen's chances are not as great, as the Ferrari team have shown a return to true form and have made gaffes recently, especially in inclement weather. If it stays sunny Raikkonen might do better, but I just have a feeling things will go wrong at Ferrari.

[RayfieldsWRX]

Apparently Hamilton and Button are in some trouble over the tires used in practice? Anyone know if there will be a penalty?

[Weasel 555]

latest news from F1 live:
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/index.shtml

While there is some discussion ongoing regarding the use of a second set of wet tyres this morning in practice, Hamilton used the super-soft option this afternoon to record a best lap of 1:12.767s, a tenth clear of Alonso who recorded his best lap in the final seconds of the session using the harder ‘soft’ Potenza.

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International

at the moment no word

[SonicWagon]

Speed TV is showing it at 11:30am Sunday EST.

TY

[Weasel 555]

3rd practice news
McLaren Mercedes led the way in Friday practice, but in dry and warm conditions this morning at Interlagos Felipe Massa topped the timesheets in his Ferrari with a best lap of 1:11.810s. A final quick lap from Lewis Hamilton vaulted him from 15th to second, demoting Kimi Raikkonen to third as the chequered flag flew.


read more:
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...20161358.shtml

[Weasel 555]

The tyre incident:
Lewis Hamilton has been fined (US) $21,000 by stewards at the Brazilian Grand Prix and had the offending wet weather tyre set confiscated after an inquiry at Interlagos on Friday.

The McLaren driver, as well as Jenson Button and Takuma Sato, received the penalty for breaching Article 25.3 of the sporting regulations by using more than one set of wet tyres in the rain hit morning practice session.

Hamilton, Button and Sato they can now head into Saturday practice and qualifying minus any grid position penalty.

Honda has no comment to make after Friday practice, while Super Aguri Honda Sporting Director Graham Taylor admitted the team had 'made a mistake'.

Over at McLaren and Team Principal Ron Dennis had stated the error 'did not provide any performance advantage.'

A similar situation arose in 2005 at the Monaco Grand Prix where Ralf Schumacher used a left front tyre in Thursday practice that had not been allocated to him. He received a half second time penalty to add to his qualifying time...

E.A.
Source GMM
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...19231017.shtml

[wrxwalsh]

qualifying on speed now! Q2 just started!

Matt

[SD_GR]

It won't be too bad for Sunday since it'll likely be dry anyway. Money sure does fly around though.

[Weasel 555]

The battle for the Pole Position this afternoon in Brazil was a close affair with home-town hero Felipe Massa getting the job done in his Ferrari by just over a tenth of a second from his nearest rival.

Massa is the only one of the top four on the grid who is not a championship contender in this, the final race of the season, as he aims to repeat his win from last year. Critically for Massa and his hopes of victory, it is championship leader Lewis Hamilton who lines up alongside him on the front row of the grid and not team-mate Kimi Raikkonen who starts third.

Massa’s 1:11.931s lap was actually faster than any other lap in the qualifying session indicating that he is on a relatively light fuel load. The same can probably be said for Hamilton who pushed very hard on his final run to move onto the front row.

Kimi Raikkonen’s final run saw him pass Hamilton who had just exited the pits. Perhaps a little distracted by the McLaren, he ran wide and lost those critical fractions of a second. For Fernando Alonso, it was a disappointing session as he never had the pace to challenge for the pole position, but still starts a competitive fourth as he chases his third straight title.

Speed TV is showing it at 11:30am Sunday EST.

[mycologist]

Already got it saved to the DVR. Screw TIVO....DVR is where it's at

oh yeah...hamilton FTW. Hopefully though, he will stay humble. Unlike some GP drivers I can think of.

Freakin' Tivo cut off the last sector of the final qualifying run by Hamilton

[SD_GR]

At the end of the day, it's still just a 2007 Mercedes. It's going to break down at some point.

Raikkonen did deserve respect as the only man to have won a GP from behind P2 at the start.

Why Hamilton decided to go racing in the middle of a GP is one of the great mysteries of the season -- a GP is the last place one would want to go racing, after all.

I wonder what Fisichella and Schumacher will be doing next year. I hope they drive for Ferrari.

[wrxwalsh]

what a great race and a exciting season!

Matt

[SD_GR]

Maybe Alonso doesn't want to go back to Renault -- he spent some time saying how fantastic the team and car were and how great his memories are of this season. I wonder what he'll tell the Spanish press on Monday. Too bad Seat aren't fielding a team, Alonso could have it all t himself.

I also wonder what Dennis and Hamilton will tell the UK press. Usually press conferences consist of the same guys that were reporting on a footballer's all-night drinking previously, but this time around an English team being fined more than the royals spend on florists, then having an Englishman lose the world driving title are all enough to get The Times involved.

Hamilton did well this year. He showed he's just as fast, and even more importantly, just as devious and even dirty as Alonso, and Alonso's got two world titles. He gave as well as he took both in the pit lanes and in the qualifying sessions, and when he managed to stay out of trouble he was very quick during races. His statements to the press and his actions in the pits have shown he's as much a diva as anyone, so he's found a good niche and will fit right in.

If anyone should feel violated, it's got to be Massa. He's the only man in a top flight car that was not a contender all year. I think he played teammate relatively well, but he had moments were he proved he could have put up a better fight, if not against the McLarens then certainly against Raikkonen. His rain racing needs some help, and his brother needs to shop for different shirts if he's going to be on TV again, but other than that, Massa could have been in a much better place.

[cavallino333]

Fantastic! It was a pretty exciting race in a very exciting season. Despite the political scandals it was some of the most exciting racing we've had in the last few seasons.

[big_sur]

so did we ever find out what happened to hamiltons car when he went over the curb?