Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

[tom_b]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Thanks, John. Just been through the mornings coverage recorded on my Sky+ to see that. Well what a chaotic and exciting race it was, so much action and so many upsets.
Australian GP Top 8
1: Alonso (Passed Button on lap 3 and stayed at the front for most of the race to win)
2: Raikkonen (Kept at the front but championship disadvantage increased by 2 points)
3: R.Schumacher (Suffered a drive-through for speeding in the pit lane but used safety cars to his advantage)
4: Heidfeld (Scores BMWs best finish of the season)
5: Fisichella (Benefitted from Buttons last second retirement)
6: Villeneuve (Couldve been slightly better without the engine penalty)
7: Barrichello (Dismal race but scores 1st Honda points)
8: Coulthard (Promoted to final point after Scott Speed passed him under yellow flags caused by Liuzzis crash)

Retirements
9: Button (Engine failure 2 corners from the end of the race)
14: Montoya (Bounce from final kerb shuts down his Mercedes engine)
15: Monteiro (Unknown mechanical problem)
16: Liuzzi (Alledgedly hit by Villeneuve but lack of evidence doesnt cheer up the Italian)17: M.Schumacher (Hits wall on exit of final corner after running wide)
18: Webber (Transmission problems retires the local hero in front of his home crowd while leading)
19: Klien (Suspension damage on entry of turn 9)
20: Trulli (Spun by Coulthard)
21: Rosberg (Broken rear wing and radiator damage from shunt with Massa)
22: Massa (Crashes in 1st corners)

Drivers Championship (Round 3/1
1: Alonso (2
2=: Fisichella & Raikkonen (14)
4=: Button & M.Schumacher (11)
6: Montoya (9)
7: R.Schumacher (7)
8=: Heidfeld & Villeneuve (5)
10: Massa (4)
11: Webber (3)
12=: Barrichello & Rosberg (2)
14=: Coulthard & Klien (1)

Constructors Championship (Round 3/1
1: Renault (42)
2: McLaren (23)
3: Ferrari (15)
4: Honda (13)
5: BMW (10)
6: Toyota (7)
7: Williams (5)
8: Red Bull (2)

So round 4 at the San Marino GP, Imola begins on Sunday April 23rd. More motor racing action next weekend with round 2 of the MotoGP championship at Qatar on Saturday April 8th on BBC 2 with highlights from Round 5 of the World Rally Championship in Corsica, highlights on Sunday April 9th on ITV 1.

[tom_b]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Also some non-related motorsport news I also forgot to mention, this coming Saturday, its that time of year again at Aintree, the John Smiths Grand National, the biggest horse race of the year. Last year 7-1 favourite Hedgehunter won (I got a few winnings from that) but what chance this year? Race coverage at Aintree on BBC1 from 1:30pm on Saturday with the John Smiths Grand National race starting at 4:15pm.

[armadrillo]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Horse Racing = Bordom

[jamesb]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

i noticed that aswell john, very clear eh? maybe the tv company should give us fixed grid lines on our onboard shots to see whats moving clearly?

also noticed a good article about your brother in motorsport magazine, very interesting indeed, but not as interesting as the article on gas turbine racing cars a few pages later.

(Message edited by jamesb on April 04, 2006)

[big_nipper]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Got this in an Email today:-

Button injured in a horrific F1 accident.
Shocking!!!

Along with proof, see profile.

[ewan]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

lol

[kodster]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

@ Mark

@ Glen - not necessarily. I personally think its fun. Ive been to Woodbine Racetrack a few times...or is this just an opinion?

[armadrillo]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

@ Kody - i was thinking from a tv point of view. I only tend to watch the grand national and then only if im in and not busy. Never been to a race track but friend said its quite good. I would imagine it is very similar to the Dogs. Been there once for a works do and had quite a fun evening.

Back onto F1.
Mike Gascoyne has been suspended by Toyota Due to a fundamental difference of opinion with regard to the technical operations of its Formula 1 team.
Seems like Toyota have hit the panic button pretty quickly after the a poor start to the season.

[kodster]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Hopefully Toyota can recover from this...if not theyre pretty much screwed. I think Renault have a good chance in the Constructors championship.

[tom_b]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Soz about the delay, been trying out my new game, TOCA Race Driver 3 & relaxing from a Grand National celebration where the 2 horses I backed, Hedgehunter & Clan Royal finished 2nd & 3rd, if only I picked Numbersixvalverde. Anyway, horse racing aside, here are the results from the Tour de Corse & the GP2 season opener at Valencia. Heres what happened in each, starting with the WRC.

WRC Top 8: Tour de Corse
1: Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Kronos Citroen) 3h43m5.4s (A strong result which makes me think that this was a well deserved win considering the last two wins were handed to him on a plate. Still someone has to pick up the spoils. Hope hes put under pressure soon)
2: Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautainien (Ford) +29s (Struggled here in comparison to Catalunya)
3: Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Kronos Citroen) +1m48.7s (Electrical problems on 1st stage but tremendous fightback to final podium spot. I hope Sordo can find more sponsorship to continue beyond Argentina)
4: Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford) +1m59.2s (Escapes collision with rock face on final stage to scrape 1st drivers points since Monaco. Come on, Mikko)
5: Alex Bengue/Caroline Escudero (Peugeot) +2m47.7s (Best Corsica finish)
6: Xavier Pons/Carlos del Barrio (Kronos Citroen) +3m10.2s (Unable to keep 3rd in afternoon stages on day 1 before being passed down to 6th)
7: Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor (OMV Peugeot) +5m1.3s (Steady result)
8: Stephane Sarrazin/Stephane Prevot (Subaru) +5m21.9s (Top Subaru man, as asphalt tyre tester, hell have a lot of homework to do before Germany in August)

Best of Brits (or as I should rename it, the Matthew Wilson Watch )
17: Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr (Stobart VK Ford) +27m4.2s (Off on day 2 proved costly but recovered under SupeRally rules)

Retirements (Im not mentioning co-drivers
1: Jari Matti Latvala (Off on stage 6, broke his thumb in the impact, poor Jari)
2: Luca Betti (Off on stage 6)
3: Kris Meeke (Engine failure on stage 7, any costly dent to his JWRC charge)
4: Pavel Valousek (Mechanical on stage
5: Francois Duval (Off into the scenery on stage

WRC Drivers Standings (Round 5/16)
1: Loeb (46)
2: Gronholm (35)
3: Sordo (20)
4: Stohl (13)
5: P.Solberg (10)
6: Bengue (9)
7: Hirvonen (7)
8=: Carlsson, Gardemeister & Sarrazin (6)
11=: Atkinson, Galli, Pons & H.Solberg (5)
15=: Kopecky & Radstrom (4)
17=: Duval, Katajamaki & G.MacHale (3)

WRC Manufacturers Standings (Round 5/16)
1: Kronos Citroen (59)
2: Ford (56)
3: Subaru (3
4: OMV Peugeot (21)
5: Red Bull Skoda (11)
6: Stobart VK Ford (10)

JWRC Drivers Championship (Round 3/9)
1: Aava (14)
2: Beres (12)
3: Tirabassi (11)
4=: Andersson & Prokop (10)
6: Rautenbach (9)
7=: Casier & Sandell (
9: Meeke (6)
10=: Kara, Kosciuszko, Pressac & Valousek (5)
14: Pinomaki (4)
15=: Burkart & Zachrisson (2)
17: Bonato (1)

Next WRC Event: Rally Argentina, April 30th (Support Events: JWRC & PWRC)

Now the GP2 results from Valencia.

Race 1 Top 8 (F1 Scoring with 1 point for pole and 1 point for fastest lap)
1: Nelson Piquet Jnr (Piquet Sports)
2: Lewis Hamilton (ART)
3: Adrian Valles (Campos)
4: Nicolas Lapierre (Arden)
5: Jose Maria Lopez (Super Nova)
6: Gianmaria Bruni (Trident)
7: Michael Ammermuller (Arden)
8: Ernesto Viso (iSport)
Fastest Lap: Lapierre (1m22.16

Race 2 Top 6 (Scoring 6 down to 1 with 1 point for fastest lap. Top 8 from Race 1 reversed)
1: Ammermuller (Arden)
2: Viso (iSport)
3: Lapierre (Arden)
4: Piquet Jnr (Piquet Sports)
5: Bruni (Trident)
6: Hamilton (ART)
Fastest Lap: Piquet Jnr (Unknown)

GP2 Drivers Championship (Round 1/11)
1: Piquet Jnr (16)
2: Lapierre (10)
3: Hamilton (9)
4: Ammermuller (
5=: Valles & Viso (6)
7: Bruni (5)
8: Lopez (4)

GP2 Teams Championship (Round 1/11)
1: Arden (1
2: Piquet Sports (16)
3: ART (9)
4=: Campos & iSport (6)
6: Trident (5)
7: Super Nova (4)

Next GP2 Meeting: Imola (22/23 April, support event to the F1 San Marino Grand Prix)

[jamesb]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

I heard a whisper that honda have empolyed the sugarbabes to sit on the pitwall on the last lap of races from now on.

in the event of more engine failures they are available to push the button

on a serious note, toyota just got rid of their best asset, and yes im including drivers in that.

[kodster]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Man...Toyota arent gonna recover from that, are they? :sad:

[armadrillo]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Well i think Toyota might just recover.

Jarno trulli just went fastest at todays test in Barcelona attended by all the teams apart from Midland(hmm big loss there then).

Time will tell if it is just a fluke!

[jamesb]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

the effects will not be immidiate, loosing mike will be a huge blow towards the end of the season, and next year. the year after that whichever team gets him will see the benefits, and so toyota will have them to deal with. Personally I see mike as the best designer in f1, but that is a personal opinion, so people like Adrian Newey obvously come into the same league.

[tom_b]

Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

Qualifying for tommorrows San Marino GP is as follows:

1: M.Schumacher (Breaks Sennas record of 65 poles)
2: Button
3: Barrichello
4: Massa
5: Alonso
6: R.Schumacher
7: Montoya
8: Raikkonen
9: Trulli
10: Webber
11: Fisichella
12: Villeneuve
13: Rosberg
14: Coulthard
15: Heidfeld
16: Liuzzi
17: Klien
18: Speed
19: Monteiro
20: Albers
21: Sato
22: Ide (Last chance saloon apparently)

Also GP2 saw British hopes dashed in this weekends 1st of 2 races, Adam Carroll hit the barriers and Lewis Hamiliton was black flagged for passing the safety car, will he race tommorrow? Ill bring all the GP2 results tommorrow. But also what chance a Honda win? I wouldnt bet on it, not on Ferrari turf.