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[Stephen]

Does anyone have a driver of the day then? I was left rather unimpressed by it all.

[Selcouth_Feline]

Probably Schumacher for me, just because he had a slower car than Alonso yet Alonso was unable to get past him

[simac]

Difficult to call, maybe JPM - a good solid race (although slightly boring) and podium finish after a bad qually.

[darwin dali]

Probably Schumacher for me, just because he had a slower car than Alonso yet Alonso was unable to get past him

Agreed. I wonder what it was though: the first stint he was faster than anybody else (his fastest lap of the race was almost as fast as FA's). The second stint he was really slow and during the third he was so so. They're investigating. MS doesn't think it was the tires (or only the tires)...

[darwin dali]

Interesting tidbit by Pat Symonds
So what was the key?
“The really significant thing was that on the free lap after Fernando pitted, Michael showed he had some performance in reserve. On the lap we pitted, he did a lap of 1:25.7 – where his average speed in the ten previous laps, was 1:27.4. The lap-times during the second stint had not suggested he had that performance in reserve.”

Is it frustrating to get beaten by such a fine margin?
“I think that's what motor racing is all about to be honest. Hats off to Michael and Ferrari, because they pulled a blinder! From our point of view, we could have run our planned strategy and still finished second. But it would have been an unsatisfying second place, because there would have been a ‘what if' factor because we hadn't explored every option available to us. As it was, we tried everything we could – and it didn't come off because we saw two cars with very equal levels of performance, battling for the win.* As I said yesterday, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained.’ But in this case, nothing lost either.”

NB: the ‘ideal' laps for each driver – produced by adding together their best three sectors, and which indicates the ‘ultimate' potential performance of the cars – were 1:24.524 for Fernando and 1:24.502 for Michael.

[Stephen]

Very interesting, Renault underestimated Ferrari tactics.

[certom]

for me, the best driver of the day was nico rosberg...from the last to the seventh.. ithink that if he had made only one pit stop he would have finished in 5 or 6p...

[Stephen]

Yeah, he's showing all the talent that his father had, good drive.

So certom, you been an F1 fan for long?

[darwin dali]

Just FYI, the first part of this thread was about Imola, now you're talking about Nürburgring. Fine with me. Though I still say MS was the driver of the day - not because he won, but how he (and Ferrari of course) pulled it off.

[certom]

hi stephen! excuse me for my english, i'm not very good in using it,i'm studying it at school but i hope to improve it in a few years...i'm an 18 yr-old italian boy, and a fan of Ferrari since i was 9! i have the walls of my room full of posters,photos,calenders,car models and anything else that has to do with Ferrari...but i am very passionate in the history of F1 too...in particular,i love the 50's and the 60's,but Lauda times too...and about Nico, i'm following him since the times he drove in gp2,and i'm very happy for his results, also because he is not an excited deb,i think that he will have success..in Ferrari, why not???

[Stephen]

Hi Certom, sounds like you're a real F1 fan - you're very welcome on the forum.

So you think Schumacher can win the championship for Ferrari again this year?

[certom]

well, till 2 weeks ago i thought that alonso would have been the champion again but now i believe in a return of Schumi! and for the next year...there is going to be the magic team Schumi-Kimi, and alonso will be at Mclaren..if the team will be as this year is, he has no chance to win the title!
in theme of pilots-market, is it true that Schumi has signed for a two year contract with Ferrari?

[certom]

sorry, i've just seen the topic about this subject...

[darwin dali]

Ciao certom, benvenuto da un altro ferrarista, in effetti sono di più un tifoso di MS. Speriamo che sarà campione del mondo un'ottava volta!