- 24 Aug 08, 16:19#61534Well, that was a race that promised so much but delivered absolutely nothing. The race was processional and there were no crashes to rev things up a bit with a safety car period.
Massa put in another good drive, once again making Raikkonen look a complete nobody. It's now time for Ferrari to give Massa their backing for the drivers' title. Raikkonen is clearly not interested and, in my view, certainly not deserving of winning the title. You could argue that Massa is not as gifted as some of the other drivers, but at least he is knocking his pan and doing all he can for himself and the team. He's certainly earned my repsect for that. Ferrari did the right thing in not asking Massa not move out of the way for Raikkonen. Yeah, Raikkonen's strategy may have been affected, but he was well out of the equation and it perhaps shows that Ferrari are now leaning towards Massa. Also, Ferrari need to abolish this smart-arse pit-release system they have and bring back a good old-fashioned lollipop man. That would have prevented both pitlane incidents today.
Hamilton drove a very intelligent race once again today. Hamilton could probably have got closer to Massa, but that would have meant driving the car like a nutter, which was precisely the wrong thing to do given the high temperatures, the bumps on the circuit and the softer tyre compounds. Kovalainen is really starting to annoy me now. This is the time of the season when I was expecting him to come strong and show us what he can do, but he was again outclassed by Hamilton. He is making it more difficult for Hamilton to win the drivers' title by not even challenging the Ferraris and is seriously hindering McLaren's chances of winning the constructors' championship. He's had his period of grace, now I think it's fair for McLaren to be asking him to deliver. He has the potential and I'm still willing to give him more time and see how he does next season, but I'm also not prepared to hide the fact that I think he should be doing substantially better.
Kubica showed his class again, easily out-racing Heidfeld and adapting very quickly to the bag or something that was affecting the handling and performance of his car.
It was good to see Williams get a point today, which is really the best they could have hoped for under normal circumstances. Nakajima's mistake didn't cost them too much, for he was not going to be in the points today anyway. Thankfully for Williams, Renault had an unlucky weekend, partly because of Nakajima, partly because Piquet is not up to standard and partly because their car is not fast enough, and also that Red Bull had a poor weekend. Toyota, however, had another decent weekend and are favorites to get forth in the constructors' title in my view.
Vettel was my driver of the day and weekend, however. He showed his class by adapting the odd conditions in qualifying, learning the circuit much faster than many of the other drivers, outclassed Bourdais on a circuit you would expect him to do reasonably well on given his experience in North American racing, and didn't do much wrong all weekend. Had he not have made a small error in qualifying, he could have finished another place or two higher.
Ayrton Senna: WDC 1988,
1989, 1990, 1991
McLaren: WCC 1974, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1998,
1999, 2007McLaren: WDC 1974, 1976, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1998, 1999, 2008
I think he is starting to prove his WDC potential, And proved me wrong.
A bit worrying on many fronts.
I am extremely dissapointed, and I fear that Singapore will be the same. I think Tilke should design a track with no overtaking in mind, because everytime he designs one with overtaking in mind, it's a boring race. Better yet, he shouldnt design tracks at all.
