370 posts shown.
Bradley Nelson2 said:The BMW strategists pulled off another masterclass for Robert Kubica 🙄
but it honestly doesn't matter because Nakajima went full kamikaze and finished him off—well, I assume that's what happened since we didn't get to see the replay.
Coulthard is such a moron; he’d never admit to having any actual experience because he drives like a complete rookie.
Truly brilliant tactics for Robert Kubica... I really have to wonder if those people even have brains.
And then you have Kamikaza just crashing into him...
I mean, what would Brichello have done if he had just ducked into the pits instead?
And what on earth is going on with these Ferrari drivers...
They could actually be quite decent...
But I sincerely hope they can get their act together soon...
I'm just worried they might start hunting for Fernando Alonso
if their performance stays this pathetic throughout the year.
Fernando Alonso, fastest lap on the final lap.🙏 🙏 🙏
Raymond Palmer8 said:it’s pretty obvious a huge chunk of these guys can't drive for beans without traction control...
I actually found Sebastien Bourdais quite impressive; the guy managed to hold off both Alonso and Heikki Kovalainen using last year's Toro Rosso 🙂 though, naturally, that only held true until the Ferrari engine decided to blow up...
Kovalainen is just a total pushover when it comes to racing; he let that guy in the SC drive him right out of second place.
I've said it from the beginning: Kimi isn't a driver. And he isn't.
Hamilton pulled it off because he had enough breathing room away from the circus, driving a flawless race to earn that first-place finish.
The only thing I can't wrap my head around is why Kovalainen just let Alonso past like that? Was it a speed error? Did the electronics glitch during a gear shift?
Looking at the replay... right now, having the older chassis is actually an advantage for STR, not a disadvantage...
Hats off to Alonso... man, he's fighting a car that is roughly 10 km/h slower through the corners than the McLaren🙏
They need to ensure equal treatment over at McLaren.😂 🤣
Heikki is looking about 4 or 5 laps stronger in qualifying than Hamilton, who drove a completely clean race
and still ended up only three tenths behind Hamilton in Q3.
Heikki 🙏 regardless of how much of a pushover he is
BMW just doesn't seem to have the pace during those long runs...
I'm really hoping Renault can squeeze more out of the tires with that new suspension setup
because the kind of speed they are handing to Alonso is just absolutely insane.
If things had gone even remotely our way during the start, Fernando Alonso might have actually fought for fifth or sixth place today, though he was dealt a truly rotten hand during Q2... he actually clocked a time that would have put him right through into Q3, but the officials tossed it out because of that red flag intervention...
we really saw enough flashes of speed to suggest we could hit a 1:25.7
but honestly, starting from the middle of the pack is a nightmare scenario given how crowded it gets; you're running with less downforce in that mid-field turbulence, and those bold tires just eat through the rubber faster when you're fighting for space...
it’s a small mercy, I suppose, that Glockov's penalty moved him over to the clean side of the grid...
Alan Perman: "Frustrating"
Saturday 15 March 2008, 12:22:00 | RF1 Paddock Pass
Fernando Alonso . Nelson Piquet . Melbourne
The chief engineer of The ing Renault F1 team reviews the team's qualifying performance. Despite the disappointing result, he remains confident of the team's potential.
Alan, the team endured a difficult qualifying session...
AP: Yes. Nelson did not have much luck as he was caught up in the yellow flags caused by Adrian Sutil as he was about to complete his flying lap. As a result he was eliminated. It's a shame because he was looking good to reach Q2.
And for Fernando?
AP: We knew that there was a problem with the differential and while Fernando was able to limit the damage in the first two sectors of his flying lap, he suffered in the last section of the course and lost 0.4s.
Frustrated?
AP: Yes, because we clearly had the potential to reach the final part of qualifying and to achieve a good performance.
How did the car behave today?
AP: We made some changes to the car which gave good results, especially in the last of the free practice sessions this morning. The car is well balanced, it's quick, and we should have found ourselves a lot higher in the classification if we had not encountered these problems.
Is the team in a similar position to this time last year?
AP: Not at all! A year ago we did not understand why the car was difficult to drive. This year we simply had some bad luck in qualifying.
How did you find the two types of tyre available?
AP: There are no surprises there: the softer tyre is quicker by about 0.2s but the hard tyre is more consistent.
And finally, what are your ambitions for the race?
AP: With Fernando we will aim to score some points. With Nelson it's important that he can finish the race so that he can gain experience.
A deep dive Q&A with Fernando Alonso
By Fernando Alonso by Jonathan Noble Saturday, March 15th 2008, 07:54 GMT
So, I suppose we should finally address the elephant in the room regarding how qualifying actually unfolded, though honestly, my blood pressure is still recovering from the sheer predictability of the whole ordeal. It was one of those sessions where you sit there, watching the telemetry, and you just feel this mounting sense of frustration because everything seems to be unfolding exactly as the pundits predicted, which is precisely what makes it so exhausting to follow. You expect a certain level of tactical brilliance or perhaps a sudden surge from an underdog, but instead, we get this steady, almost rhythmic progression that feels more like a scheduled appointment than a high-stakes competition. It’s fine, I suppose, if you enjoy watching a script play out in real-time, but for those of us who actually care about the nuances of driver aggression and technical ingenuity, it felt somewhat hollow. It wasn't a disaster, per se, but it lacked that visceral, heart-in-your-throat tension that truly separates a legendary session from just another afternoon of data points being validated.
FA : Well, it wasn't exactly anything to write home about, really. We pushed that car to its absolute limit, honestly, we squeezed every ounce of performance out of it, and yet, this is the hand we’ve been dealt. We just couldn't find that extra gear needed to break into Q3, which is frustrating, to say the least, but we aren't going to sit around moping about it; we’re going to focus on putting together a solid race tomorrow, and then we'll take everything we learned and aim for a much stronger showing when we head over to Malaysia next Saturday.
I honestly can’t say if that red flag during Q2 hit me at a particularly disadvantageous moment, though I suppose one could argue it disrupted the rhythm, if you want to get technical about it. It felt like just as things were starting to settle into a predictable cadence, everything just ground to a halt, which is always a bit grating when you're trying to maintain focus. It wasn't necessarily a disaster, but there is certainly an argument to be made that the timing was far from ideal for anyone looking to maximize their session.
FA : Yes, it was a disastrous moment. I crossed the finish line and saw a 1:26.0 flash up on the timing screen, which led me to believe I had secured my position. However, they inevitably invalidated the lap because a red flag came out just a hundred meters before I hit the stripe. That being said, we can't simply hide behind excuses like that to fuel our motivation. The reality is that the result was poor because we lacked any real competitiveness, even during our second run.
So, back during the launch, you mentioned your gut feeling that Renault were One second behind The front Cars, and honestly, looking at the data today, it’s pretty clear you called it exactly right. I’m curious though—looking at how they've been operating lately, have you actually observed any tangible movement in their performance, and do you think we're actually going to see some real progress on the horizon, or is this just more of the same?
FA : Well, yeah. It’s a given. We ended up sitting about eight-tenths back from the leader after Q2, having clocked a 1m25.9s. When you look at that blistering 1m25.1s pace-setter, you realize we’re trailing by just under a tenth of a second, which is actually quite a pleasant little shock if I'm being honest. We've managed to close the gap significantly more than our initial projections suggested, and honestly, given how fierce the field is right now, it's impressive. It isn't just us, either; the density of the grid is incredible, and many teams are breathing down the necks of Ferrari and McLaren, so it really is good competition at the moment.
It’s honestly a bit soul-crushing to see that Renault were One second behind The front Cars today, sitting all the way down at ninth on the pace chart. It really makes you wonder where it all went sideways, doesn't it? You look at the data and it just feels profoundly depressing to witness such a massive gap when you realize how much potential they supposedly had earlier in the season. It’s one of those moments where you just have to sit back, sigh, and wonder if the entire technical direction is fundamentally flawed.
FA : Well, that is certainly something we need to examine with a fine-tooth comb. While it’s technically true that I came incredibly close to breaking into Q3, looking at the team's performance as a whole tells a much bleaker story, and frankly, it isn't fantastic. Finishing twelfth and twenty-first is just an unacceptable result by any standard, and we can't sugarcoat that. We knew from the jump that there was significant work ahead of us, and it's clear we haven't reached where we need to be yet.
It was an uphill battle for Nelsinho this entire weekend, especially since those mechanical gremlins during yesterday’s practice sessions left us with almost no track time to work with. On top of that, this layout in Miami is notoriously unforgiving and technical, which doesn't help matters. We’re planning to turn things around as we head toward Malaysia, too. Look, sure, we didn't make it into Q3, but let's be honest—we are actually much closer to those top-tier teams than anyone predicted before we even touched down here.
To be perfectly honest, I find myself wondering why anyone would even ask that, as if there’s some grand mystery to solve here. It really shouldn't come as a shock to anyone who has been paying even the slightest bit of attention to the current state of things, because we all know that Ferrari and McLaren and it is good competition at the moment, but the consistency just isn't there. I mean, you look at the data and the sheer lack of pace compared to the leaders, and it becomes an incredibly obvious situation rather than some sort of statistical anomaly. It's almost frustrating how predictable these shifts in the standings can become when you realize the technical gaps aren't being closed nearly as fast as the pundits would like us to believe. I've been sitting here thinking about the trajectory of their season, and frankly, seeing them miss out on those top three spots feels less like a sudden upset and more like a slow-motion realization of where they actually stand in the hierarchy.
FA : Well, I have to admit, I’m a bit caught off guard here. Like I mentioned earlier, Massa managed to pull fifth in Q2, and even after I put together a solid lap, it looks like we might still be trailing him by about four or five tenths. Honestly, that’s just not something any of us saw coming.
It seems to me that while McLaren has certainly shown some strength lately, BMW Sauber are more or less at the same level, especially considering Kubica was P1 in first qualifying and then secured P2 in the second qualifying session, which leads me to believe that his second position in Q3 isn't just some fluke caused by a light fuel load or any other technicality. The BMW was quick in Q1 and Q2 as well, so one might argue we should have expected a bit more from Ferrari, though I suppose there is still the possibility that they will show up and be incredibly strong tomorrow.
If you’re asking me what kind of outcome would actually leave me feeling satisfied after tomorrow's race, I suppose I have to look at the broader landscape of the grid rather than just picking a favorite, though my patience for mediocrity is running thin lately. Honestly, I don't need a miracle; I just need to see some actual tactical competence from the pit wall, because watching them fumble basic strategy feels like a slow descent into madness. It would be enough to see a podium finish that wasn't handed over on a silver platter due to someone else's catastrophic error, provided the car actually holds its own when the tires start degrading. I’ve spent far too much time watching drivers struggle with setups that clearly weren't optimized for the track conditions, so seeing a clean, decisive run where the driver isn't fighting the steering wheel every single corner—that’s the dream, really. It’s about consistency and dignity, things that seem to be in increasingly short supply these days.
FA : Well, looking at where we’re sitting on the grid, I think we need to be pragmatic about our goals; we should be aiming for nothing less than a points finish. We have to remain grounded here and acknowledge that we aren't exactly at peak performance just yet, though we are certainly going to push ourselves to move beyond that 11th spot. Honestly, regardless of where we land, the objective for tomorrow is to fight our way into the points, especially considering the caliber of drivers trailing me—it's going to be an absolute nightmare trying to hold off someone like Kimi Raikkonen or Mark Webber. We essentially have a two-fold mission on our hands tomorrow: we need to aggressively claw back any lost ground while simultaneously defending our position against Raikkonen and the rest of that pack.
I find myself constantly circling back to this specific dilemma, and frankly, I suspect most people are overlooking the nuance required to actually answer it properly. When you look at the data from the practice sessions, there is a glaring discrepancy between how the car handles that sudden burst of energy during a single flying lap versus how it settles into a rhythmic, sustained pace once the tires reach their optimal operating window. It’s one thing to have a rocket ship for sixty seconds, but if the degradation kicks in prematurely, you aren't really racing; you're just waiting for the inevitable collapse. In my estimation, the current setup seems heavily skewed toward that immediate, aggressive grip, which usually suggests that the long-run stability is going to be a bit of a nightmare once we hit the mid-race stretch. We see this pattern repeatedly where a car looks like a dominant force in qualifying, only to turn into a sitting duck during the stint transitions because the aero balance shifts too drastically as the fuel load lightens. While some might argue that the raw speed will allow them to build enough of a gap to defend, I am inclined to believe the long-term pace will struggle to match that initial brilliance, and quite frankly, anyone telling you otherwise hasn't been paying close enough attention to the telemetry trends.
FA : Yes, I believe that’s the case. However, being stuck in the back of the pack is an uphill battle from the get-go because you're essentially forced to punish your tires just to stay competitive. When you're running with reduced downforce and constantly battling the dirty air coming off the cars ahead, it puts an immense amount of strain on the rubber. Given how the current technical regulations have shifted everything, you really have to be much more disciplined with tire management than we were last season; it's a delicate balancing act that becomes incredibly punishing when you aren't leading the charge.
One small slipup during braking or just a momentary loss of traction, and the whole thing goes sideways, so we are definitely looking at a fascinating race. Since this is the season opener, we’re dealing with a fresh set of regulations, which means there are a dozen different variables to account for tomorrow.
Q. Are you curious about how the race start is going to play out tomorrow?
FA : Yes, it’s going to be an interesting one, though honestly, I don't think anyone truly has a handle on it right now. Every single team is currently scrambling to deconstruct and analyze the data from everyone else's testing sessions, trying to figure out those little technical advantages, but we won't actually see the truth until the lights go out tomorrow.
Getting a clean launch is a nightmare because everything about these cars is incredibly finicky, whereas making a total mess of it is far too easy. My philosophy is pretty straightforward: just don't overextend yourself, stay composed, and simply wait for someone else to blink and make a mistake.
Q. Is it going to be a struggle to stay focused during the start with all that engine noise coming from the field?
FA : Not really, I wouldn't say so. At the end of the day, managing wheelspin comes down to your intuition with the throttle and monitoring the RPMs. Since we can keep a constant eye on the revs right there on the digital display, the sheer volume of the other cars shouldn't really disrupt our process much at all.
Arthur Doyle70 said:I find it highly unlikely that Alonso is some lone visionary in the entire F1 paddock who single-handedly realized how fast the BMW is; it’s almost at the point where they'll be snatching wins, and frankly, every single team—regardless of how much they might try to deny it publicly—is constantly monitoring their rivals and crunching the numbers to compare lap times across every conceivable metric and variable, because that is simply what statistics dictates, so whatever Alonso chooses to say to the press doesn't mean he's the only one who saw this coming.
and besides, it really doesn't matter,🤷😉
if it truly didn't matter, you probably wouldn't have felt the need to jump in and reply to my post in the first place...
They can watch all they want, but plenty of people have been asked directly who has the pace...
I mean, look at Trulli, who was out there claiming Ferrari was in a league of its own and that the championship was already decided, then you have Kimi being incredibly cautious and saying it was far too early to call anything,
even the Ferraria test drivers were busy speculating that Renault was hiding serious performance under the hood...and so on and so forth...everyone gets asked, yet nobody was pointing the finger at BMW...
but we'll just have to wait and see how they handle the tire degradation and those long runs...
Bradley Nelson2 said:Oh come on, Alonso, I’m telling you, Kubica is going to take the championship within the next eighteen months🙂
and obviously, I was talking about this current season😁
Oh, please... you're clearly just a die-hard Kubica supporter...
Granted, Alonso is actually one of his closest friends
but my point is that Alonso realized something nearly
a month ago that everyone else completely missed over here...
He saw that the BMW is significantly faster than those testing numbers would ever suggest...
And those technical hiccups they were dealing with? That was nothing more than a calculated design gamble
that is perfectly fixable—which, as we've already seen, it is...
But hey, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out in the long run.
Andrew Bennett54 said:hm, it’s pretty obvious McLaren walked away with the biggest wins here; BMW had a really solid showing, especially Robert Kubica; having two Toyotas in the top ten is actually quite decent🙂; Red Bull finished 8th, while the best Renault sat at 12th—just a tenth behind the Red Bull—and the Hondas just completely missed the mark again...
It turned out exactly how Fernando Alonso predicted...
he was most worried about qualifying...
he seems incredibly happy with how the car handles during those long runs, even though
the single-lap pace is giving him a hard time...especially when they put
those new soft tires on...
he ran into differential issues during Q2...
and he only managed to pull off one decent flying lap in Q2...
I'm reading that he was actually faster than Jarno Trulli up until the final sector, but then those differential problems hit...
I find that believable, considering he was quicker during the third practice session than he was in Q2
and I truly believe he could have clocked somewhere around a 1:25.8 or 1:25.9
but as it stands, with that 12th place time in Q2, he ended up just six-tenths behind 5th place Felipe Massa...
I'm telling you... things are getting more chaotic than ever
I see a fundamental issue with the qualifying format... just speaking generally...
Adrian Sutil ended up blocking half the track toward the end of Q3 and completely ruined
Alonso's final lap...
with all these more frequent spins, this kind of thing is only going to happen more often
Jason Campbell70 said:I honestly have a feeling they aren't even going to make it through the first turn.☕
Kimi is just Kimi, I suppose; sometimes you simply run out of luck.😢
It would appear, though I hate to be the one to say it, that they’ve actually run completely out of fuel...
It’s honestly just incredibly stupid, and what a massive waste of everything involved...
I’ll be honest with you, I can't quite wrap my head around when the gaps between them actually became that massive.
The cars just seemed so small...
And then there’s the obvious misery of it all, though I suppose that's a bit of an understatement, given that almost everyone seems to be struggling just to maintain any semblance of control over their cars lately.
And then there's the matter of the massive tire degradation we're inevitably going to see; honestly, that's where the real fight is going to happen, and it should make for some pretty damn interesting action.
Flavio Briatore regarding his lineup: ''We were anticipating times in the high 1:27 range. As it turns out, Alonso could have hit those marks if he hadn't been obstructed by Nakajima initially and then Glock later on. Nelson dealt with gearbox issues, which forced us to strip the unit down, costing him a massive amount of time.''
Symonds discussing Nelson: ''What happened with Nelson this morning was essentially a driver error, though we genuinely suspected something else might be afoot when we realized he just couldn't pull away from his parked position.''
Briatore returning to the subject of the tires: ''We had to confirm for ourselves that those soft compounds only hold up for a single lap before heavy graining sets in. They are fundamentally the same tires we used last year, but it's obvious the temperatures just weren't hitting the same levels. That's what makes the difference.''
Symonds: ''We’ll just have to wait and see! Melbourne is no easy track to learn, I even think it's the hardest one now Suzuka has been taken off the calendar. We aren't pointing fingers at Nelson for his blunder; honestly, it could happen to any driver. However, the engine stalling right after the incident wasn't ideal. A quick inspection in the pit box revealed a technical glitch, so we were left with no choice but to swap out the gearbox.''
''The shifting wind conditions are making the hierarchy even harder to decipher. From my perspective, we still haven't truly grasped what the Formula 1 look like. Lewis Hamilton was quicker than anyone anticipated, while Ferrari is still keeping their best assets hidden. Webber's performance in the Red Bull was noteworthy, though it feels somewhat artificial to me if I'm being honest.''
''Following the testing in Barcelona, I was quite eager to see what Toyota brought to the table, and based on how they performed today, they appear to be firmly entrenched in that tight midfield group. In Barcelona I said: on Friday in Melbourne we'll know how things stand. Now, I find myself saying: we won't have a truly clear picture until after the final practice session concludes.''
Morgan Murphy7 said:I can see my guys are looking predictably fast
especially since 🙏N. Piquet
really stood out there.
I’m a bit skeptical...
It’s going to take them some time to find their rhythm, and N. Piquet needs a little more breathing room to settle in. 😁
Just look back at how Heikki struggled last year when the TC was an issue...
I’ve been scouring through the commentary on various news sites lately...
Alonso seems quite happy with the long runs...
The real headache is those opening laps of every stint.
The car becomes incredibly difficult to handle the moment they slap a fresh set of tires on it.
On top of the well-documented issues—like waiting on that new suspension setup meant to boost performance and help squeeze more out of the Bridgestone rubber
this new complication is cropping up too...
Word is that Alonso is using brakes similar to what he used during his Renault days, though apparently, they’ve ordered the exact same spec he used last year at McLaren, which both McLaren drivers are currently running...
Generally speaking, braking and corner entry remain a tricky part of the game.
It would be all too easy to end up graining the rear tires,
particularly once the rubber starts to wear down.
That’s going to be a major factor where things could go sideways...
and it applies equally to every single driver on the grid.
Even Lewis, aside from that one hot lap, was sliding all over the track.
Everyone seemed to be dealing with significant instability, so the human error factor
could easily lead to a few surprises, regardless of how fast the cars actually are.
Alonso sees qualifying as the biggest hurdle right now because of these specific technical struggles...
Those solid long-run paces might just be rendered useless if they end up stuck with poor starting positions due to qualifying.