ORANGATUANG
Wildfire
Not me!! he is taking the fun out of grand prix's....its boring seeing the same guy win..maybe there should put a chick in there racing she would sort out the men from the boys....
Oops Schummi did it again...
- Thread starter yudansha
- Start date
yudansha
TheGreatOne
"maybe there should put a chick in there racing"
The rules do not say that women are not permitted to compete in formula1.
Heather, there's a female racer now in Ford's and Mazda's league now ... but it will be long, long time before she could advance further up to Formula3000. Getting the Super License to allow you racing in the Formula1 is as easy getting being qualified to fly an F-15 but takes longer and requires more financial support.
Heather, you can go yourself and try to make it in. You start with GO-Karting. When you dominate locally, you need to find a sponsor and make a few calls. Then, you will be able to advance to the next stage. You have to be dominating every level of your progression before just having an attempt at Formula3000 (which you will have win just to be considered for the Super License).
It just happens that males are more dominant in this category. There is no gender preference in this sport what so ever (unlike in NHL that was challenged, eventually agreed for a woman to goal tend who did not succeed and was let go).
And Heather, you can never tell who's going to win a Formula1 race, because plans change on the fly and the strategy is that of chess but done at 300km/h ... very unpredictable.
The rules do not say that women are not permitted to compete in formula1.
Heather, there's a female racer now in Ford's and Mazda's league now ... but it will be long, long time before she could advance further up to Formula3000. Getting the Super License to allow you racing in the Formula1 is as easy getting being qualified to fly an F-15 but takes longer and requires more financial support.
Heather, you can go yourself and try to make it in. You start with GO-Karting. When you dominate locally, you need to find a sponsor and make a few calls. Then, you will be able to advance to the next stage. You have to be dominating every level of your progression before just having an attempt at Formula3000 (which you will have win just to be considered for the Super License).
It just happens that males are more dominant in this category. There is no gender preference in this sport what so ever (unlike in NHL that was challenged, eventually agreed for a woman to goal tend who did not succeed and was let go).
And Heather, you can never tell who's going to win a Formula1 race, because plans change on the fly and the strategy is that of chess but done at 300km/h ... very unpredictable.
yudansha
TheGreatOne
I am very serious about go-cart racing.
Every major city has at least one annual go-carting competition. That's where you can go to get noticed at least. After a few successful attempts, you may be on your way at starting a career out of that.
The majority come from wealthy families, since such sport requires quite a great deal of financial backing (and constant one at that) ... you don't need to have outside sponsors to start your own 'campaign' at challenging the existing competitiong, but those who are serious about this business may spend upwards of $100,000 a year of investment into the sport. The money doesn't only go towards maintaining your driving machine but also to pay the fees required to enter the competition. Also, if the driver gets a penalty during the race for violating some rule or other, it costs more money than if you were to similarly offend in such a way for real on the streets and get a ticket from a cop.
At the beginning, the monetary winnings aren't great (rather they're very minimal) ... but I guess at the beginning, the trophy means more to the racer than anything else as it's kids who start out doing this. As one advances up the ladder however, if very successful then yes, you can potentially support yourself barely with the winnings and without external sponsors. But believe me, in reality, it's the sponsors who hold all the cards.
Formula1 winnings range in the millions for the one who finishes first.
Here's Michael Schumacher's brief history of coming to formula1:
1990 Wins German Formula 3 Championship (a.k.a. Formula 3000).
1991 Formula One debut for Jordan, but moves to Benetton after one race. Takes four Drivers' Championship points.
1992 Wins the Belgian Grand Prix and finishes third in the Drivers' Championship driving for Benetton.
1994 Wins his first Drivers' Championship amidst controversy - colliding with nearest rival Damon Hill in the last race of the season.
1995 Wins his second Drivers' title with Benetton.
1996 Joins Ferrari and starts on the long process of turning the team's fortunes around. Finishes third in the Drivers' Championship.
1997 Finishes second in the Drivers' Championship - but is disqualified after a collision with eventual champion Villeneuve at the final race of the season.
1998 Takes the Drivers' title to the last race of the season but then stalls on the grid at Suzuka, losing the Championship to Mika Hakkinen.
1999 Crashes at the British Grand Prix and breaks his leg. Returns for the Malaysian Grand Prix and helps Ferrari to its first Constructors' Championship since 1983.
2000 - 2002 Wins a hat-trick of Drivers' titles, rewriting the record books of the sport in the process. Draws level with Juan Manuel Fangio on five World Championships and helps Ferrari to take the Constructors' crown in each season as well.
2003 Pushed hard by the likes of Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen after a poor start to the season, but fights back to clinch a record sixth drivers' title at the final round in Japan.
Getting into Formula3 ultimately always starts with go-carting (but you don't directly go from go-carts to Formula3000 ... it's a long way).
Every major city has at least one annual go-carting competition. That's where you can go to get noticed at least. After a few successful attempts, you may be on your way at starting a career out of that.
The majority come from wealthy families, since such sport requires quite a great deal of financial backing (and constant one at that) ... you don't need to have outside sponsors to start your own 'campaign' at challenging the existing competitiong, but those who are serious about this business may spend upwards of $100,000 a year of investment into the sport. The money doesn't only go towards maintaining your driving machine but also to pay the fees required to enter the competition. Also, if the driver gets a penalty during the race for violating some rule or other, it costs more money than if you were to similarly offend in such a way for real on the streets and get a ticket from a cop.
At the beginning, the monetary winnings aren't great (rather they're very minimal) ... but I guess at the beginning, the trophy means more to the racer than anything else as it's kids who start out doing this. As one advances up the ladder however, if very successful then yes, you can potentially support yourself barely with the winnings and without external sponsors. But believe me, in reality, it's the sponsors who hold all the cards.
Formula1 winnings range in the millions for the one who finishes first.
Here's Michael Schumacher's brief history of coming to formula1:
1990 Wins German Formula 3 Championship (a.k.a. Formula 3000).
1991 Formula One debut for Jordan, but moves to Benetton after one race. Takes four Drivers' Championship points.
1992 Wins the Belgian Grand Prix and finishes third in the Drivers' Championship driving for Benetton.
1994 Wins his first Drivers' Championship amidst controversy - colliding with nearest rival Damon Hill in the last race of the season.
1995 Wins his second Drivers' title with Benetton.
1996 Joins Ferrari and starts on the long process of turning the team's fortunes around. Finishes third in the Drivers' Championship.
1997 Finishes second in the Drivers' Championship - but is disqualified after a collision with eventual champion Villeneuve at the final race of the season.
1998 Takes the Drivers' title to the last race of the season but then stalls on the grid at Suzuka, losing the Championship to Mika Hakkinen.
1999 Crashes at the British Grand Prix and breaks his leg. Returns for the Malaysian Grand Prix and helps Ferrari to its first Constructors' Championship since 1983.
2000 - 2002 Wins a hat-trick of Drivers' titles, rewriting the record books of the sport in the process. Draws level with Juan Manuel Fangio on five World Championships and helps Ferrari to take the Constructors' crown in each season as well.
2003 Pushed hard by the likes of Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen after a poor start to the season, but fights back to clinch a record sixth drivers' title at the final round in Japan.
Getting into Formula3 ultimately always starts with go-carting (but you don't directly go from go-carts to Formula3000 ... it's a long way).
ORANGATUANG
Wildfire
Buggar that not this chick!!!!..I like watching not doing..
ORANGATUANG
Wildfire
What else Serena?..lol..And that "other" i like doing not watching..
yudansha
TheGreatOne
Payback (great Mel Gibson movie ... just like The Patriot :=))
LOOOL Serena!!!
and LOL Heather!!
Serena, the payback is the sponsor's advertising and commercial rights for the team. I'm not sure how it works with sponsors who 'back' the starting young drivers at the bottom of the ladder, but basically, when it gets higher up the ladder (i.e. Rally, LeMans, Indy, Formula3000, Formula1) the sponsors just ship in cash so that the cars that are driver can display a logo of their business. For example, if you take a look at Formula1 cars, every portion of the car has advertising on it (the better the team is doing the less 'colourful' the car is since then you'll just get a few but very big sponsors) ... the bigger the sponsor the bigger portion of the car that sponsor gets for his ad. Advertising is very expensive, especially when it comes to world class sports events. Sometimes, the sponsors are so great that the team includes their name as part of the team's name. For example, Marlborro is a huge Ferrari sponsor and the official team's name is Schuderia Ferrari Marlborro (it's not like cigars have anything to do with the engineering that goes into producing such spectacular flying machines).
I hope this gives you a bit of insight into the world of sports racing.
LOOOL Serena!!!
and LOL Heather!! Serena, the payback is the sponsor's advertising and commercial rights for the team. I'm not sure how it works with sponsors who 'back' the starting young drivers at the bottom of the ladder, but basically, when it gets higher up the ladder (i.e. Rally, LeMans, Indy, Formula3000, Formula1) the sponsors just ship in cash so that the cars that are driver can display a logo of their business. For example, if you take a look at Formula1 cars, every portion of the car has advertising on it (the better the team is doing the less 'colourful' the car is since then you'll just get a few but very big sponsors) ... the bigger the sponsor the bigger portion of the car that sponsor gets for his ad. Advertising is very expensive, especially when it comes to world class sports events. Sometimes, the sponsors are so great that the team includes their name as part of the team's name. For example, Marlborro is a huge Ferrari sponsor and the official team's name is Schuderia Ferrari Marlborro (it's not like cigars have anything to do with the engineering that goes into producing such spectacular flying machines).
I hope this gives you a bit of insight into the world of sports racing.
It wasn't me, I swear it!
Yes, it does. Thanks.
So, basically, it's like every other sport has ended up--plastered with ads and sponsors' names over everything, including the name of the event in many cases.
I actually did find that interesting--believe it or not!
yudansha said:LOOOL Serena!!!
Serena, the payback is the sponsor's advertising and commercial rights for the team. I'm not sure how it works with sponsors who 'back' the starting young drivers at the bottom of the ladder, but basically, when it gets higher up the ladder (i.e. Rally, LeMans, Indy, Formula3000, Formula1) the sponsors just ship in cash so that the cars that are driver can display a logo of their business. For example, if you take a look at Formula1 cars, every portion of the car has advertising on it (the better the team is doing the less 'colourful' the car is since then you'll just get a few but very big sponsors) ... the bigger the sponsor the bigger portion of the car that sponsor gets for his ad. Advertising is very expensive, especially when it comes to world class sports events. Sometimes, the sponsors are so great that the team includes their name as part of the team's name. For example, Marlborro is a huge Ferrari sponsor and the official team's name is Schuderia Ferrari Marlborro (it's not like cigars have anything to do with the engineering that goes into producing such spectacular flying machines).
I hope this gives you a bit of insight into the world of sports racing.
Yes, it does. Thanks.
So, basically, it's like every other sport has ended up--plastered with ads and sponsors' names over everything, including the name of the event in many cases.
I actually did find that interesting--believe it or not!
yudansha
TheGreatOne
That (the food :=)) looks SO good! Now I'm hungry!
Doesn't this just make you want to become an F1 driver?
The Mercedes-Benz McLaren caterer with pastries for the team (who had a successful weekend with the release of their new car):
http://www.formula1.com/
Doesn't this just make you want to become an F1 driver?
The Mercedes-Benz McLaren caterer with pastries for the team (who had a successful weekend with the release of their new car):
http://www.formula1.com/
yudansha said:Doesn't this just make you want to become an F1 driver?
The Mercedes-Benz McLaren caterer with pastries for the team (who had a successful weekend with the release of their new car):
http://www.formula1.com/
Who? Her or the pastries?
I know how you like your donuts.
yudansha
TheGreatOne
I thought I made it clear :=)) (the pastries ... and maybe her on the side?)
Mmm ... donuts!
Analysis - doubling up at the top
Champions extend lead despite strong Renault pace
Ferrari have exactly twice as many world championship points as their closest rival, Renault, following a one-three in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours. They have 158, Renault 79. BAR have 62. Interesting statistics, when you consider that Williams still have only 37, and McLaren 22, with ten of 18 races gone.
It’s been a tough season so far, and for some, all the effort that went into sending improved machines to France did not pay immediate dividends.
Let’s deal with Williams first, since their weekend was so unproductive yet had appeared to promise so much. Nobody knows what happened to the car that Juan Pablo Montoya drove in pre-qualifying, but they do know that it went fast enough to set the best time. Yet somehow, after Montoya admitted that a mistake had left him only sixth in qualifying, the car lost even more pace in the race and the Colombian couldn’t have hoped to finish better than sixth even if he hadn’t spun exiting the last corner at the end of the 17th/start of the 18th lap (he crossed the line while rotating). Schumacher set the fastest lap of all, with 1m 15.377, but the closest a Williams got to that was Marc Gene’s 1m 16.070s, and Montoya lapped in 1m 16.140s. He complained of neck pains, which were a corollary of his Friday accident, so perhaps the fact that he was not fully au point exerted an influence, but the team were deeply disappointed after the promise the revised aerodynamic package had so clearly shown on Saturday. Gene, meanwhile, lost places at the start while babying the clutch because of a problem, then had a clash in Turn Three with Webber.
Jaguar, too, showed glimmers of promise again without getting the big result, though Webber was giving Montoya a hard time for a long time, and set the fourth fastest lap in 1m 15.956s. Webber was full of enthusiasm for the R5, especially as debris in the brake ducts created its own special problems. The feeling at Jaguar was definitely one of progress again.
Minardi had little to celebrate, and nor did Jordan or Toyota, and lack of rear-end grip consigned both Sauber drivers to tough races that did not yield points. Climbing back up the order, however, McLaren went away feeling quietly confident again. On the face of it there was nothing new about sixth and seventh places, which merely repeated the results of Montreal and Indianapolis, but this time around the MP4-19B was much more competitive. Coulthard’s sixth place was only three seconds adrift of Button’s BAR, and Raikkonen set the third fastest lap in 1m 15.791s, which was within striking distance of Renault and Ferrari. The car isn’t a winner yet, but it’s a lot better and the team are moving in the right direction again after a massive amount of hard work.
Fifth place would once have been a big result for BAR, but these days they expect greater. Coming to this race they even dared to hope for the breakthrough win, but soon revised their aspirations to the podium. Button should have made it, too, and would have done had his car’s anti-stall not activated itself on his final stop and lost him two critical seconds. They added more points, to keep the team comfortably in third place thirsting after Renault, but yet another Honda engine failure for Sato hurt the quest for crucial points. They haven’t finished both cars in the points since Spain.
For Renault, the failure to win was desperately frustrating, because the R24, Alonso’s at least, had the pace (with second fastest lap of 1m 15.551s) to match the Ferrari. The reds are convinced they could have won anyway with the three-stop strategy, and they were probably right, but the Renault was superbly suited to the circuit on its Michelins and was a genuine contender for victory.
Silverstone next weekend will be fascinating!
formula1.com article;
Mmm ... donuts!
Analysis - doubling up at the top
Champions extend lead despite strong Renault pace
Ferrari have exactly twice as many world championship points as their closest rival, Renault, following a one-three in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours. They have 158, Renault 79. BAR have 62. Interesting statistics, when you consider that Williams still have only 37, and McLaren 22, with ten of 18 races gone.
It’s been a tough season so far, and for some, all the effort that went into sending improved machines to France did not pay immediate dividends.
Let’s deal with Williams first, since their weekend was so unproductive yet had appeared to promise so much. Nobody knows what happened to the car that Juan Pablo Montoya drove in pre-qualifying, but they do know that it went fast enough to set the best time. Yet somehow, after Montoya admitted that a mistake had left him only sixth in qualifying, the car lost even more pace in the race and the Colombian couldn’t have hoped to finish better than sixth even if he hadn’t spun exiting the last corner at the end of the 17th/start of the 18th lap (he crossed the line while rotating). Schumacher set the fastest lap of all, with 1m 15.377, but the closest a Williams got to that was Marc Gene’s 1m 16.070s, and Montoya lapped in 1m 16.140s. He complained of neck pains, which were a corollary of his Friday accident, so perhaps the fact that he was not fully au point exerted an influence, but the team were deeply disappointed after the promise the revised aerodynamic package had so clearly shown on Saturday. Gene, meanwhile, lost places at the start while babying the clutch because of a problem, then had a clash in Turn Three with Webber.
Jaguar, too, showed glimmers of promise again without getting the big result, though Webber was giving Montoya a hard time for a long time, and set the fourth fastest lap in 1m 15.956s. Webber was full of enthusiasm for the R5, especially as debris in the brake ducts created its own special problems. The feeling at Jaguar was definitely one of progress again.
Minardi had little to celebrate, and nor did Jordan or Toyota, and lack of rear-end grip consigned both Sauber drivers to tough races that did not yield points. Climbing back up the order, however, McLaren went away feeling quietly confident again. On the face of it there was nothing new about sixth and seventh places, which merely repeated the results of Montreal and Indianapolis, but this time around the MP4-19B was much more competitive. Coulthard’s sixth place was only three seconds adrift of Button’s BAR, and Raikkonen set the third fastest lap in 1m 15.791s, which was within striking distance of Renault and Ferrari. The car isn’t a winner yet, but it’s a lot better and the team are moving in the right direction again after a massive amount of hard work.
Fifth place would once have been a big result for BAR, but these days they expect greater. Coming to this race they even dared to hope for the breakthrough win, but soon revised their aspirations to the podium. Button should have made it, too, and would have done had his car’s anti-stall not activated itself on his final stop and lost him two critical seconds. They added more points, to keep the team comfortably in third place thirsting after Renault, but yet another Honda engine failure for Sato hurt the quest for crucial points. They haven’t finished both cars in the points since Spain.
For Renault, the failure to win was desperately frustrating, because the R24, Alonso’s at least, had the pace (with second fastest lap of 1m 15.551s) to match the Ferrari. The reds are convinced they could have won anyway with the three-stop strategy, and they were probably right, but the Renault was superbly suited to the circuit on its Michelins and was a genuine contender for victory.
Silverstone next weekend will be fascinating!
formula1.com article;
yudansha
TheGreatOne
Ralf Schumacher signs for Toyota, leaves Williams after five years
Ralf Schumacher signs for Toyota, leaves Williams after five years
at 8:43 on July 7, 2004, EST.
COLOGNE, Germany (AP) - Formula One driver Ralf Schumacher signed a three-year contract with Toyota on Wednesday, meaning he will leave BMW-Williams at the end of the season after five years.
Schumacher's move also means Williams will have two new drivers next season. Juan Pablo Montoya is switching to McLaren-Mercedes.
Toyota's two drivers this season are Olivier Panis of France and Cristiano da Matta of Brazil.
"We still haven't decided who will be Ralf's partner next year," said Toyota team chief Tsutomu Tomita.
Schumacher has won six races for Williams.
The brother of six-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is recovering from injuries suffered at the U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis on June 20, when he broke two vertebrae, and hopes to be back at the Hungarian GP on Aug. 15.
© The Canadian Press, 2004
Ralf Schumacher signs for Toyota, leaves Williams after five years
at 8:43 on July 7, 2004, EST.
COLOGNE, Germany (AP) - Formula One driver Ralf Schumacher signed a three-year contract with Toyota on Wednesday, meaning he will leave BMW-Williams at the end of the season after five years.
Schumacher's move also means Williams will have two new drivers next season. Juan Pablo Montoya is switching to McLaren-Mercedes.
Toyota's two drivers this season are Olivier Panis of France and Cristiano da Matta of Brazil.
"We still haven't decided who will be Ralf's partner next year," said Toyota team chief Tsutomu Tomita.
Schumacher has won six races for Williams.
The brother of six-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is recovering from injuries suffered at the U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis on June 20, when he broke two vertebrae, and hopes to be back at the Hungarian GP on Aug. 15.
© The Canadian Press, 2004
yudansha
TheGreatOne
Raikkonen storms to British pole
The Finn flies at last to put McLaren ahead at home
He has been on the pace all weekend, and just to prove once and for all that McLaren’s dramatic turnaround in fortune has not been a fluke, the Finn pushed his way to his third-ever pole position at Silverstone on Saturday.
BEFORE
AFTER
It proved to be a gripping session, after a farcical, and much criticised, pre-qualifying in which fears about possible rain (welcome to Britain in the summer) meant that everyone was going slowly in order to run early in qualifying just in case. The order was thus a little unusual, with Nick Heidfeld kicking things off followed by Christian Klien, Mark Webber [who unofficially as of today will be most certainly driving for William's BMW team] and Marc Gene [who still sat in for Ralph who's recovering from a crash two races ago]. Giancarlo Fisichella should have run second, but Sauber elected to take a bye as their man would in any case get a 10 grid place penalty for his engine change yesterday. He will start at the back.
Then came Juan Pablo Montoya, Michael Schumacher (who had spun yet again in pre-qualifying – his third off of the day [... what a joker our Schummi is: his explanation for the spin was for tactical reasons LOL), Takuma Sato, Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard. Schumacher’s [time] easily beat Montoya’s, Sato came up short with, but then Barrichello seized the initiative [and took over the lead]. Coulthard could not better that and had to settle for seventh.
Next out were the Minardis of Zsolt Baumgartner and Gianmaria Bruni, leading to agonising moments as the clouds grew darker and they did their laps. Cristiano da Matta managed, then came Fernando Alonso and Raikkonen. The Spaniard’s (Alonso) Renault needed an engine change after practice this morning, so he was in any case destined to lose 10 places on the grid from his eventual [time], but the Finn had no such worries and his [time] slipped beneath Barrichello’s best. It was confirmation that McLaren are back in the ballpark [with their new MP4/19B chasis and a new aerodynamic package].
Now fastest pre-qualifier Jenson Button’s worries increased, as the skies darkened further and he had to wait for Jarno Trulli, Giorgio Pantano, Olivier Panis and Felipe Massa to do their runs. Trulli recorded [his time] which would leave him fifth; Pantano came just ahead of Heidfeld’s (his Jordan team-mate); and Panis (of Toyota) which should have left him 11th. However, the Frenchman inexplicably impeded Massa’s ensuing lap, blocking him halfway round it and costing him a likely top 10 slot. The angry Brazilian’s [time] left him 10th behind Webber (now of Jaguar, but not for long as next season he'll be with William's BMW), but Panis’s time was subsequently deleted by the stewards because of his behaviour.
That set the scene for Button to go out, to the accompaniment of the fans’ air horns and cheers, but he couldn’t quite summon front row pace and had to settle for third place.
Jenson Button and his girlfriend (Louise):
The grid is thus: Raikkonen and Barrichello; Button and Schumacher; Trulli and Coulthard; Montoya and Sato; Webber and Massa; Gene and da Matta; Klien and Pantano; Alonso and Heidfeld; Bruni and Baumgartner; Panis and Fisichella.
"Today, qualifying was a gamble," added Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport director. (... yeah ... right ...
)
And a great British Grand Prix is in prospect.
formula1.com
One of the reasons to watch tomorrow (Sunday, July 10th) @ 7.30AM (Eastern U.S./Canada time) on Speed Channel:
The Finn flies at last to put McLaren ahead at home
He has been on the pace all weekend, and just to prove once and for all that McLaren’s dramatic turnaround in fortune has not been a fluke, the Finn pushed his way to his third-ever pole position at Silverstone on Saturday.
BEFORE
It proved to be a gripping session, after a farcical, and much criticised, pre-qualifying in which fears about possible rain (welcome to Britain in the summer) meant that everyone was going slowly in order to run early in qualifying just in case. The order was thus a little unusual, with Nick Heidfeld kicking things off followed by Christian Klien, Mark Webber [who unofficially as of today will be most certainly driving for William's BMW team] and Marc Gene [who still sat in for Ralph who's recovering from a crash two races ago]. Giancarlo Fisichella should have run second, but Sauber elected to take a bye as their man would in any case get a 10 grid place penalty for his engine change yesterday. He will start at the back.
Then came Juan Pablo Montoya, Michael Schumacher (who had spun yet again in pre-qualifying – his third off of the day [... what a joker our Schummi is: his explanation for the spin was for tactical reasons LOL), Takuma Sato, Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard. Schumacher’s [time] easily beat Montoya’s, Sato came up short with, but then Barrichello seized the initiative [and took over the lead]. Coulthard could not better that and had to settle for seventh.
Next out were the Minardis of Zsolt Baumgartner and Gianmaria Bruni, leading to agonising moments as the clouds grew darker and they did their laps. Cristiano da Matta managed, then came Fernando Alonso and Raikkonen. The Spaniard’s (Alonso) Renault needed an engine change after practice this morning, so he was in any case destined to lose 10 places on the grid from his eventual [time], but the Finn had no such worries and his [time] slipped beneath Barrichello’s best. It was confirmation that McLaren are back in the ballpark [with their new MP4/19B chasis and a new aerodynamic package].
Now fastest pre-qualifier Jenson Button’s worries increased, as the skies darkened further and he had to wait for Jarno Trulli, Giorgio Pantano, Olivier Panis and Felipe Massa to do their runs. Trulli recorded [his time] which would leave him fifth; Pantano came just ahead of Heidfeld’s (his Jordan team-mate); and Panis (of Toyota) which should have left him 11th. However, the Frenchman inexplicably impeded Massa’s ensuing lap, blocking him halfway round it and costing him a likely top 10 slot. The angry Brazilian’s [time] left him 10th behind Webber (now of Jaguar, but not for long as next season he'll be with William's BMW), but Panis’s time was subsequently deleted by the stewards because of his behaviour.
That set the scene for Button to go out, to the accompaniment of the fans’ air horns and cheers, but he couldn’t quite summon front row pace and had to settle for third place.
Jenson Button and his girlfriend (Louise):
The grid is thus: Raikkonen and Barrichello; Button and Schumacher; Trulli and Coulthard; Montoya and Sato; Webber and Massa; Gene and da Matta; Klien and Pantano; Alonso and Heidfeld; Bruni and Baumgartner; Panis and Fisichella.
"Today, qualifying was a gamble," added Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport director. (... yeah ... right ...
)And a great British Grand Prix is in prospect.
formula1.com
One of the reasons to watch tomorrow (Sunday, July 10th) @ 7.30AM (Eastern U.S./Canada time) on Speed Channel:
ORANGATUANG
Wildfire
Yeah i hope that spin out will be repeated in the race and Michael is OUT..on the first corner would be good or even better on the last lap..so michael can spin,spin, spin out.