Rain and strong wind will turn this race into a lottery.
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Rain and strong wind will turn this race into a lottery.
slightly off-topic, but I see that Mclaren have forbid their crew from wearing shorts this year. They claim they want to present a better corporate image to sponsors etc. Which of course is all nonsense imo. Its just another example of ron Dennis trying to be stuffy old gent, and does more to dampen team morale if anything. I mean why would you want your crew relaxed and eager to work, rather than hot, uncomfortable and getting more heat for an untucked shirt than anything else.
I hear the crew is being fitted for dinner jackets . . . :DQuote:
Originally Posted by truefan72
Meanwhile, down at Team James Hunt the order of the day is cargo shorts, tie-dyed t-shirts, flip flops, and weed. j/k
Before the season starts... I thought I would recall my own most special memories from season openers.
2012 - RBR had dominated the previous season. So it was a surprise to see them suddenly down in 5th and 6th! Mercedes was fast, even if slow in the race. And Grosjean was 3rd! An unexpected qualifying session.
2009 - Friday Free Practice left an impression that the top three teams were Brawn, Toyota and Williams. People were left scratching their heads, because even Ferrari - who had been considered competitive in winter testing - wasn't at the front. And qualifying confirmed the stunner. Even Red Bull could beat all the works teams! Together with Brawn and Williams. A shocker. Then we had a messy race with tyres that hardly lasted (for the first time such experiment was used!). Brawn confirmed its great form, but Vettel and Kubica were challenging. Toyotas and Hamilton made their way from the back to podium contention.
2008 - based on winter testing everyone expected the domination of Ferrari and McLaren to carry on. But BMW Sauber and Kubica stunned in qualifying, almost taking pole position. Second on the grid. In the messy race of 7 finishers Heidfeld confirmed BMW's good form with second place, Rosberg got podium. Bourdais was 4th before retiring - strange that his best ever F1 race happened to be the first one, but it created an impression that he was the real deal. :) Reigning champion Ferrari had a mess of a race with both drivers spinning. First race without a TC after a long time by the way.
2003 - new rules, which demanded to qualify with race fuel. Created some unusual orders in qualifying. Ferrari dominated, but Frentzen in the Sauber was fourth on the grid and Panis in the Toyota fifth. Really was unsure, how good or fast anyone is. :p : The race was messy, it went all wrong for Ferrari, which indicated the difficult year they were going to face. McLaren had qualified in midfield (I think they were 11th and 15th on the grid), yet went on to win in the weather and safety car mess.
2002 - Schumacher won, that was sort of ordinary. But half of the field was wiped out and people, who qualified at the back and escaped the midfield chaos, like Irvine in the Jaguar, Webber in the Minardi and Salo in the Toyota, all got points. Alex Yoong finished his best ever 7th. :p :
Great memories there.Quote:
Originally Posted by jens
I loved 2002 to see so much of the backmarkers during the race was a treat. Remember Irvine being a Lap behind the top 3 and a Lap clear of Webber. Webber getting those points and the cheers of the crowd when Salo spun late on leaving Minardi to claim those points.
2005 was nother decent race. After the crazy Qualifying we saw Villeneuve running 4th and Red Bulls up the field, and fast cars coming from the back.
1999 Another crazy race, 7 or so finishers.
1998 My jaw was on the floor when Mclaren lapped the field, luckily it was a one off.
1997 was quite chaotic too. Frentzens brakes exploding and a first corner incident leaving Mclaren to win their 1st race since 1993.
Where do you see that?Quote:
Originally Posted by truefan72
If it's in your head or imagination please don't bother to answer
As for now I will be very suprised if Fernando or Lewis winn this race.
It was mentioned during FP2 on Sky..Quote:
Originally Posted by Natalie.S
thanks acescribe, I wasn't even going to bother responding to her,Quote:
Originally Posted by acescribe
Some folks like to make fools of themselves, be it uninformed posts, or ramblings about hamilton that are not based in reality
Nice memory posts from Jens and Steveaki :)
Mine are slightly different.
One of my favourite races of all time was, strangely, the 2000 Australian Grand Prix. In the thread about the seasons we most anticipiated and looked forward to, I chose 2000, and it was just brilliant to finally see these new cars and driver combinations in action, and see who was competitive.
That race had the stunning Orange Arrows climbing well up the field before retiring, Salo running a very strong 7th in the Red Bull early on, the debut of Jenson Button (only just turned 20) who ran 6th before retiring in the closing stages. And it nice to see the new clean BAR Honda score their first points - for both cars. Also Ferrari were looking closer to McLaren than ever. The field behind the top cars seemed extremely close, and this promised a great season.
The 1999 weekend was also fascinating, and brilliant to see Eddie Irvine win his first Grand Prix, Frentzen doing so well after lean times and de la Rosa scoring for Arrows on his debut.
The 2003 race was interesting: As Martin Brundle said in the commentary "I genuinely have no idea who is going to win this race".
2005 was a very good one, being a HUGE Fisi fan. I was figuratively biting my nails all the way. No-one knew if the tyres weren't going to suddenly 'drop off the cliff' so to speak, and he never held much more than a few seconds lead throughout. The Red Bulls and especially Coulthard were mighty and Schumacher wasn't any faster than Raikkonen as they were both down the back early on.