San Marino GP, Imola (***SPOILER***)

PLAYLIFE

PLAYLIFE

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Fellow Frogger
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We arrive at Autodromo Enzo E Dino Ferrari, the 4th round of the 2005 F1 championship.

Will Renault continue it's unbeaten run? Alonso is up for his hat-trick this race and an even more commanding lead in the championship. This is one of the two home races for Ferrari, can they bounce back with their new car? Have they solved all their problems? Can McLaren put together a good weekend, they do have the pace but have compromised their Race results with poor qualifying. The Heidfeld-Webber battle continues, who will come out on top? Will Jacques be able to step up a notch or three from his very ordinary season beginning?

Free Practice will start later in the early evening ~7pmEST.
 
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IMHO Alonso is the favourite for this race, because, apart from his Renault being so fast this year, the fact that Alonso won the last race means that he will be last out in Saturday qualifying, whereas Shui will be one of the earlier runners. In dry weather, being last out is always an advantage as the track "rubbers in" and temps are usually on the rise as the session unfolds. A good grid position is especially important at this track since overtaking is so difficult here.

If it turns out that Shumi can conquer this disadvantage and grab pole, he'll be sensational in the early laps, but may fade in the latter stages of the race if Bridgestone havn't yet fixed their wear problems. But, if they could get Barrow into grid pos # 2, he could sandbag to hold everyone else up, so that Shumi can get a sufficient lead to insure against any tire issues that arrise later in the race.

But we can't write off Fisi. He will be using the new, "B" spec engine upgrade, and will have the added incentive of racing in front of his home crowd. He may also benefit from Alonso's misfortune if it turns out that Bahrain has damaged his engine.

Renault's strongest competitor for victory is likely to be Kimi's McLaren, provided they've got their qualifying problems sorted. Unlike Shumi, Kimi's Saturday qualifying run will be towards the end of the session, which will help in his quest for a decent grid position. McLaren's race pace is excellent.

Dark horse could be Button. Since going away and licking their wounds, BAR have set some blistering times in the last round of tests, and it looks like they might now have their reliability problems sorted. Button was phenomenal here last year.

I can't see Jaques suddenly setting the world on fire. He's been off the pace for a few years now.
 
Although I think Renault will be at the pointy end, I wouldn't write off Toyota.

They had some aero upgrades in the wind between Bahrain and Imola, and Gagoyne seemed unusually upbeat (in a coy kinda way) in a recent interview with ITV.

My grid would be Alonso, Trulli, Mika....

That would be a great first corner :D :D :D
 
So after Q1 we have Kimi on provisional pole, Alonso 0.003 seconds back in P2 and Schumacher a further 3 tenths back in P3. Will either of the top 3 short fuel themselves to jump up a place on the grid in Q2 later today? Top 13 are covered by only 1.1seconds so Q2 shall be an exciting session.
 
Well yet another surprise in Q2, with Schumacher making a mistake on his lap and will be starting back in 13th position.

Kimi cliams his first pole of the year followed by Alonso, an impressive Button and Webber in P4. Sould be a cracking race.
 
San Marino GP

Rain had been forecast for the event, but the rain looks like holding off although the max temp of 11 degrees C will probably not make tyre wear an issue for either Michelin or Bridgestone.

Today: Overcast. High 57F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph.

Tonight: Rain likely. Low 49F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.

The start will be a ripper. Probably a lighter fuelled Benz against a rapidly launched Renault! First corner tears?
Fischi was disappointing in Q1 and a bit better in Q2.
Barrichello has P9, MS has P13. Given that Imola is a hard to overtake cicuit the red cars may get points, but won't be stellar.
I hope Ferdy can heep it on the black-top. Maybe Fischi can be a spoiler to MS.
 
With about 45 mins to go, it does look like the chance of rain will probably not eventuate. It is dry now with a bit of a breeze, overcast, but the rainband appears to be a little too far away to effect anything.

I'd say Kimi was light on fuel also. Just had a look at Schumacher's error, and it seemed that he simply out-braked himself into Rivazza. Albers spin was fairly spectacular given where he lost the car, well before he arrived at the corner.

Apparently MS is on the softer compound with RB on the harder stuff. I'd be guessing to say that everyone is on a 2 stopper, with possibly Fisi and the two Red Bulls on a 1 stopper. Be interesting to see if BAR really have that pace or if they're short fueled.
 
Was just revealed before the start that Renault have concerns over Alonso's engine - apparently they were thinking of changing it last night, but ended up leaving it.

Also Williams have concerns over Webber's engine.

I'd expect a few engines to pop tonight.
 
What with Fischi???

Fischi has just retired from the race. Only a few laps in, what's going on.Alonso is single handedly carrying Renaults F1 hope this year. They want to get both cars/drivers reliable as much as possible for the rest of the year.


HKP smells a rat...or fast prancing horse...mid race, Schui is flying??
Not a good thing :nownow:
 
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Those last 20 laps, and especially the last 10 laps were amazing :D the best 10 laps of racing I’ve seen in a long time, no speed from Alonso, but a lot of good defensive driving, and just enough acceleration to keep the Ferrari at bay.

Schumacher was giving it to him, but Alonso had the nerve not to fail under pressure.

In the end Schumacher made the mistake and Alonso came up with the win.

:renplak: :renplak: :renplak: :renplak:
 
That was an amazing finish. I'm kinda disappointed because i follow ferrari...but then again how disappointed can you be with such a good contest....
 
I have no nails left, amazing finish!

Looks like the rest of the season will be Red, hope renault can be reliable and continue to get good points.

Webber, I am afraid, is not as good as I hoped, he just makes too many mistakes. Attkinson will be our next champion.
 
measured the heart rate... 140bpm! LOL...

we're gonna hear for SOOO much that Ferrari was such a faster car, blah blah... can we just remind them:
a) we've won EVERY race this season
b) its NOT the fastest car, its the first to the finish, its not checkers its chess :p

w007!
 
What a fantastic race. I think that Fisi must have had some sort of problem as the car tended to keep pushing through the gravel trap until he hit the wall - Have to keep posted on the net for a bit of news there.

The last 12 laps were some of the best I've seen from F1 in a very long time. Let's hope there's more of it!!!!

Would have been interesting however to see how Raikkonen would have gone and what sort of fuel strategy he was on. The more the merrier I say!
 
nate said:
measured the heart rate... 140bpm! LOL...

we're gonna hear for SOOO much that Ferrari was such a faster car, blah blah... can we just remind them:
a) we've won EVERY race this season
b) its NOT the fastest car, its the first to the finish, its not checkers its chess :p

w007!
Click to expand...
All the cliches work here, ...the winner takes it all......no prize for second Schui :tongue:
Go Alonso.... :banana:
 
Engine age comparison????

The combination of Schuemaker and Ferrari once again proves to be almost invincible 12th to second...some sort of minor miracle. :mad:


The boys at Renault will be doing some serious development in the next fortnight I sumize

If this is to be Ferrari's season from here on it will be a great year for F1.

One question, what was the comparison in engine ages for this race?? Was the Ferarri on a new one and Alonso on last races engine?? No reference was made to which??

:renplak: :drivin: :bounce:
 
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The Alonso Renault was using the engine from Bahrain (run in 50 degrees C heat). That result is at least a good indicator to the Renault team in regard to engine trends / performance after two races.

I am not sure about the Ferrari engine - as there was no comment about it being a fresh engine, or ex Bahrain also. Unless I missed hearing something during the race?

It will be interesting to hear what happened to Fisichella's car, as all seemed to agree that there was no driver error.

Barcelona in two weeks is a sell out, and I think Alonso fever will be rampant.

Cheers,
Kim.
 
Thanks for that Kimdeb.
I tried the F1 website, but after the intro I get an error message saying website not found :confused:
Would like to know if Schuemaker retired in Bahrain!
If he did and was running a fresh engine, the Renaults are more than competitive.
 
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