Formula 1 2006

[Monk Rocker]

It was Button that forked out to get himself out of that contract.

[Guest DustyDeviada]

I diagree' date=' I believe Buttons performance this weekend was first class, soncond row of the grid behind the ferarri's and finishing fourth was a good result far a team with not the best chassis on the grid. [/quote']

Starting third and finishing fourth is not "first class" by any stretch of the imagination.

And as for their chassis being not the best on the grid, Honda were certainly confident of pole and a victory ahead of the race, they've been fastest in practice all winter, fastest in practise on Friday and Saturday and Jenson himself admitted that third on the grid was "not where he thought he would be", ie he was expecting pole.

[GraemeC]

But he signed another legally-binding contract with Williams for 2006' date=' then started sulking that he didn't want to go there and BAR ended up paying Williams 30m to keep him thats why he's disloyal.[/quote']

Hmm, correct me if i'm wrong but wouldnt the term loyalty be used for someone who sticks to someone, you know like staying with the same team for several years?

[Guest Les Stroszek]

Its not very loyal if you break a contract like he has done. He gave his word to Williams that he wanted to join them then back-tracked when it suited him, thats not loyalty in my book. Also he signed a contract in 2004 to drive for Williams in 2005 behind BAR's back when he already had a contract with them for the following season so I don't think hes been loyal to BAR/Honda in the past either.

[GraemeC]

Starting third and finishing fourth is not "first class" by any stretch of the imagination.

And as for their chassis being not the best on the grid' date=' Honda were certainly confident of pole and a victory ahead of the race, they've been fastest in practice all winter, fastest in practise on Friday and Saturday and Jenson himself admitted that third on the grid was "not where he thought he would be", ie he was expecting pole.[/quote']

I dont see much point in arguing about this but dont you understand the politics of motorsport, the chest beating, the keeping your best times off season to yourself tricks....

F1 is all about stratagy these days, all about fuel loads, tyres, conditions.....I bet honda are fucking delighted with 4th.

quote;

Gil de Ferran

Sporting Director

Honda Racing F1

"Jenson drove a brilliant race, pushing hard throughout and showing that we had very similar pace to the leaders. Unfortunately he had a clutch problem at the start which dropped him back and ended up compromising the whole race. Rubens was running well early on but he lost the use of a gear which wiped out his chances. We come away from Bahrain disappointed with our final result but at the same time very encouraged by the performance of our car and drivers and looking forward to Malaysia."

[Guest Les Stroszek]

While we disagree over team loyalty I agree with most of what you said in that last post, Graeme. I think he drove a good race though not a brilliant one Alonso, Raikonnen and Rosberg drove brilliant races.

[GraemeC]

While we disagree over team loyalty I agree with most of what you said in that last post' date=' Graeme. I think he drove a good race though not a brilliant one Alonso, Raikonnen and Rosberg drove brilliant races.[/quote']

Although Raikonnen is a miserable faced mumbling bugger, he shows amazing ability, and yes I was well impressed with Rosberg, I watched the race at work and predicted a win for Alonso, he was blocked three times before turn one, if he hadnt been I suspect he'd have led from start to finish.

[Monk Rocker]

What did folks think of the new qualifying format? Two 15 min sessions of mayhem, followed by 15 mins of prosession, then 5 mins of carnage? Better than single lap shoot out though?

[AttackTimCozine]

My favourite comment was from Fisecella 1.30pm Sunday TV

"Yeah, It's facking sheet"

Class.

[Guest DustyDeviada]

Its not very loyal if you break a contract like he has done. He gave his word to Williams that he wanted to join them then back-tracked when it suited him' date=' thats not loyalty in my book. Also he signed a contract in 2004 to drive for Williams in 2005 behind BAR's back when he already had a contract with them for the following season so I don't think hes been loyal to BAR/Honda in the past either.[/quote']

Absolutely right, there is no way that you can call what he has done "loyalty" when he would have been driving for Williams last season if BAR hadn't gone to the courts to force him to honour his contract.

And I can't say I'm surprised at the Honda boss putting a brave face on it, but I really can't agree that starting 3rd and finishing 4th was a good drive.

Good luck to him, I'd love to see a British driver winning races and challenging for the title again, but I have not been impressed by the way he has handled his contracts and I've yet to really see it on the track from him either.

Yes, he burst onto the scene with Williams and showed bags of "potential", but he's had 100 races now - it's time to deliver.

[Sarah]

Button was unlucky? Wasn't like he started last, yet still couldn't even manage a podium. I was pleasantly surprised both Mclarens made it to the end for the first race.

When Alonso came out of pits ahead of Michael jumped off the seat with excitment.

Hopefully Kimi will qualify better from now on, will be able to see how close the top three are in a straight race.

[Guest b-bert]

kimi must be one of the most unlucky men alive!

[Guest Les Stroszek]

You need luck to be a sucsessful F1 driver - Schumachar has always seemed like the luckiest bastard ever getting away with things that other people wouldn't, Alonso seems to share that trait. I still think he can come good, theres a long way to go, but he's playing catch up again.

[Paranoid Android]

Anyone else up at 5am to watch today's race? This was the first one of the season i've properly watched. A really good race, Raikkonen and Montoya on the first lap was cool. Another win for Alonso though, he's already lookng odds on for the championship.

Als odid they explain how Montoya managed to lose 2 or 3 places under the first safety car?o_O

[Scootray]

Anyone else up at 5am to watch today's race? This was the first one of the season i've properly watched. A really good race' date=' Raikkonen and Montoya on the first lap was cool. Another win for Alonso though, he's already lookng odds on for the championship.

Als odid they explain how Montoya managed to lose 2 or 3 places under the first safety car?o_O[/quote']

I haven't seen it as yet, but maybe he went in for a pit stop? I dunno. Then again, he'd lose more than a few places for that under a safety car.

[Lemonade]

Fuck me what a brilliant race! Edge of the seat from lap 1, and oh my god am I gutted about Button, engine blowing up on the last corner is just so unlucky, love the way he kept going to the line even though there was 5ft flames coming from the back of his car, though he didn't cross the line cos he'd lose 10 places at the next race, ah well better luck at Imola Jense!

[Lemonade]

Anyone else up at 5am to watch today's race? This was the first one of the season i've properly watched. A really good race' date=' Raikkonen and Montoya on the first lap was cool. Another win for Alonso though, he's already lookng odds on for the championship.

Als odid they explain how Montoya managed to lose 2 or 3 places under the first safety car?o_O[/quote']

I think he was in the pits when the safety car came out.

[Scorge]

am I gutted about Button

That wager about him not winning a race on merit is still open, thought he was piss poor yet again, personally......

[GraemeC]

That wager about him not winning a race on merit is still open' date=' thought he was piss poor yet again, personally......[/quote']

Do you think the Honda is a race winning car?

[Guest DustyDeviada]

Do you think the Honda is a race winning car?

Maybe not, but surely it can't be that far away if it can get pole with a similar fuel loads to the Renaults.

I don't know whether it's a problem with the car or with Button, but he was particularly crappy at the restarts. Honda need to sort it out, Alonso's already running away with it.

[Paranoid Android]

I think he was in the pits when the safety car came out.

The only time he went into the pits under the safety car was when he had to queue behind Raikkonen wasn't it?

[GraemeC]

Maybe not' date=' but surely it can't be that far away if it can get pole with a similar fuel loads to the Renaults.

I don't know whether it's a problem with the car or with Button, but he was particularly crappy at the restarts. Honda need to sort it out, Alonso's already running away with it.[/quote']

The thing is, if it were as simple as that all the cars would be capable of winning, it was very obvious to me that the honda could only perform when the tyres reached a certain teperature, I thought it was amazing how well the Honda and Button performed at the start.

When the SC was used the tyre temperatures dropped so much he had little or no grip.

[Paranoid Android]

I find it strange how they were affected so badly by the temperature drop comapred to other cars which had the same tyres.

[GraemeC]

I find it strange how they were affected so badly by the temperature drop comapred to other cars which had the same tyres.

But there are 101 factors which effect the way a car handles and drives, suspension design and setup and aerodynamics all have a bearing on the performance of the tyres. When you think of what a tyre has to do, 600bhp has to be transfered to the tar through four tiny patches of rubber that contact the track.

Every team has their own way of acheiving this, its all compromise and thats why in F1 the development engineers are the most important guys on the team.

[Guest Les Stroszek]

I just can't believe Montoya managed to spin off at the last corner before the start of the race. Not his greatest moment.