FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[KyrosV]

sorry my mind went blank, reading up to this point...

Yep, as soon as Steve Rider and Mark Blundell start making out

[AKR]

I think that Massa will win the WDC and the BMW's to strugle and the Torro Rosso's to be right up their with them.

I think BMW will finish strong. Kubica gets a new engine and gearbox. I think he gets a podium finish.

That would help Massa, so long as Massa finished first and Lewis Hamilton doesn't beat either of the Ferraris, BMWs and possibly Alonso. That would be a perfect top 5 finish to relgate Lewis Hamilton to 6th. Massa 1st and the other 4 in any order.

[darwin dali]

I think that Massa will win the WDC and the BMW's to strugle and the Torro Rosso's to be right up their with them.

I think BMW will finish strong. Kubica gets a new engine and gearbox. I think he gets a podium finish.

That would help Massa, so long as Massa finished first and Lewis Hamilton doesn't beat either of the Ferraris, BMWs and possibly Alonso. That would be a perfect top 5 finish to relgate Lewis Hamilton to 6th. Massa 1st and the other 4 in any order.

We are allowed to hope for this

[prozac26]

I think that Massa will win the WDC and the BMW's to strugle and the Torro Rosso's to be right up their with them.

I think BMW will finish strong. Kubica gets a new engine and gearbox. I think he gets a podium finish.

That would help Massa, so long as Massa finished first and Lewis Hamilton doesn't beat either of the Ferraris, BMWs and possibly Alonso. That would be a perfect top 5 finish to relgate Lewis Hamilton to 6th. Massa 1st and the other 4 in any order.

Yea, that would be OK.

Although Kubica will win, Massa second.

[juggles]

BBC Weather is quite interesting; it predicts heavy showers on both Saturday and Sunday, but the maximum temperature on Sunday could be almost 10 degrees Celsius more than on Saturday. Whatever happens, it sounds unlikely that rain won't play at least some part in weekend.

Surely bad weather would favour Hamilton. a) because he's a far more skillful driver in the wet than Massa anyway (b) because the chance of Massa not finishing in the top 3 greatly increases with rain.

Wet races this season (brackets indicate starting position):

Monaco: Hamilton 1st (3rd) to Massa 3rd (1st)
Silverstone: Hamilton 1st (4th) to Massa 13th (9th)
Belgium: Hamilton 3rd (1st) to Massa 1st (2nd)
Monza: Hamilton 7th (15th) to Massa 6th (6th)

On the face of the results you'd call them quite even in the wet. But when you take into account that Hamilton was a class above Massa at Spa, and even more dominant at Monza when both drivers were on extreme wets, you realize that even if they were on the same number of points going into the final round, Lewis would surely be the favourite to win the title if it rained.

Whatever the weather does this weekend, I'm looking forward to a nailbiting GP weekend in Sao Paulo.

[McLaren Fan]

It will be interesting to see how things pan out should it rain, particularly for me, for I've not given up hope of winning the race and constructors' title.

[headless]

Rain has been forecasted for most races this year. If it rains at Brazil then we might get an interesting result.

If so Ferrari will struggle. Alot.

[McLaren Fan]

Whether this is so certain now, I'm not completely sure. Whilst I don't think the F2008 will be superior to the MP4-23 in wet weather, I don't think Ferrari will perform as badly as before. A month or so again when they were testing in Italy, it began to rain, so they were able to do some work on the F2008's problems that day.

[headless]

Not gonna be banking on rain. That's exactly what they said about Shanghai and then they got my hopes up.

Yep, as soon as Steve Rider and Mark Blundell start making out that it is definately coming, it never turns up. China, Singapore, Malaysia and Magny-Bores all come into the frame here, and oh how badly did China, Malaysia and Magny-Bores need that rain?

But to be fair, there have been some great wet races this season.
More than normal?

[headless]

Whether this is so certain now, I'm not completely sure. Whilst I don't think the F2008 will be superior to the MP4-23 in wet weather, I don't think Ferrari will perform as badly as before. A month or so again when they were testing in Italy, it began to rain, so they were able to do some work on the F2008's problems that day.

Fair enough. I hope so because I would love to see Ferrari pick up both championships again.

[7UpJordan]

sorry my mind went blank, reading up to this point...

Yep, as soon as Steve Rider and Mark Blundell start making out

Not gonna be banking on rain. That's exactly what they said about Shanghai and then they got my hopes up.

Yep, as soon as Steve Rider and Mark Blundell start making out that it is definately coming, it never turns up. China, Singapore, Malaysia and Magny-Bores all come into the frame here, and oh how badly did China, Malaysia and Magny-Bores need that rain?

But to be fair, there have been some great wet races this season.
More than normal?

I think it's been mentioned that this has been the wettest F1 season since 1995. But yes there have been some great wet races, Silverstone especially was worth getting absolutely soaked for.

[headless]

I guess it would have been.
It was definately worth sitting in the dry watching it. Although I would haev 400% rather have been there.

[McLaren Fan]

From autosport.com:

Massa edges Hamilton in first practice

By Matt Beer Friday, October 31st 2008, 13:32 GMT

Felipe Massa beat his title rival Lewis Hamilton to the fastest time in opening practice at Interlagos, after a very close battle between the championship combatants.

It was McLaren driver Hamilton who held the advantage for most of the session, which took place on a mostly dry track occasionally made slippery by drizzle, before Massa's Ferrari edged ahead by 0.190 seconds in the closing minutes.

The title contenders remained in the garages for the first half of the session, allowing the Toro Rossos, Renault's Nelson Piquet and Toyota's Timo Glock to lead the way early on.

But once the front-runners emerged, it was Hamilton who got up to speed fastest, quickly putting in a 1:12.495 to move to the head of the times.

Massa appeared to lack the McLaren's first lap pace, but edged ever closer - narrowing Hamilton's advantage first to 0.193 seconds, then 0.062, 0.047 and eventually 0.014 seconds.

With the light but persistent spots of rain starting to make the track treacherous, it looked like Massa might have to settle for a tantalisingly close second place, but the Brazilian then threw in a 1:12.305 on his final run to beat Hamilton by nearly two tenths of a second.

The Briton was unable to respond, locking his brakes and flat-spotting a tyre on his next flying lap.

Raikkonen, who had a quick spin when the track was at its slickest, was just 0.012 seconds slower than Hamilton in third place, with BMW's Robert Kubica pushing Hamilton's McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen back to fifth.

Renault duo Fernando Alonso and Piquet took sixth and eighth, split by Red Bull's Mark Webber, as the final top ten spots fell to Nick Heidfeld (BMW) and Glock.

Pos Driver Car Time Laps
1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:12.305 24
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:12.495 + 0.190 23
3. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:12.507 + 0.202 18
4. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:12.874 + 0.569 24
5. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:12.925 + 0.620 20
6. Alonso Renault (B) 1:13.061 + 0.756 25
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:13.298 + 0.993 24
8. Piquet Renault (B) 1:13.378 + 1.073 39
9. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:13.426 + 1.121 28
10. Glock Toyota (B) 1:13.466 + 1.161 33
11. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:13.600 + 1.295 24
12. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:13.621 + 1.316 23
13. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:13.649 + 1.344 30
14. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:13.676 + 1.371 28
15. Button Honda (B) 1:13.766 + 1.461 13
16. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:13.806 + 1.501 24
17. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:13.836 + 1.531 30
18. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:13.861 + 1.556 19
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:14.704 + 2.399 21
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:14.821 + 2.516 21

All timing unofficial

Well, it's looking like another McLaren-Ferrari scrap for the win. BMW may have made some steps forward with Kubica being near the top of the time sheet. It could be close between Renault and they.

[Denthúl]

Has anybody been watching the practice sessions on ITV's site? The helmet-cam view that you can see from DC is amazing! It's as if you're watching through his eyes.

[McLaren Fan]

Has anybody been watching the practice sessions on ITV's site? The helmet-cam view that you can see from DC is amazing! It's as if you're watching through his eyes.

I've got it on now, too. It's great to be back at good track again, rather than the average Fuji and awful Shanghai.