1: Hamilton
2: Raikkonen
3: Kubica

Hamilton
Massa
Kubica

I see it being similar to last weekend if Lewis or Massa keep Kimi off the front row. If Kimi is as disinterested as he was then, I think Kubica will get past him comfortably.

Kimi
Massa
Lewis

expat wrote on Jun 2^nd, 2008 at 4:50pm:


Copycat

Hamilton
Raikkonen
Kubica

Hmmmmm.

Going on the Ferraris pace at monaco, it would be hard to not back them for a one two. But that pace was really only shown in qualifying at monaco..

Hamilton
Massa
Kimi

Looks like it could be another wet race this weekend. So I'm concerned about my predictions LOL

A slight funny thing in FP1, Jenson Button decided to turn the wheel at about the 50 metre board, the car finally turned just at the corner. I think thats what you call understeer to the extreme

True:)
The other things from today seem to be. Trulli's seemingly never ending spins. Seems like they are happening every other lap. And thats been both sessions. 
Lewis almost hit a Gopher at the hairpin, and has almost hit the wall of Champs twice.
And apparently the news from the paddock is, DC will retire this year and move to the BBC. With Vettel going to his seat alongside Webber.

I find it very interesting that no one is giving the ferrari's a chance. Even though they are flying round

...with a Mac and a BMW in the top two, and Hamilton just lowerd the bar with a corker of a lap in the dying seconds!

What happened to Massa? Seemed it just died on him?

indeed, Kubica could be the dark horse of the weekend, if he can stick it on the front row...

Despite attempts to watch FP3 (and failing) according to autosport, Rosberg ended up quickest, vettel had a (seemingly big?) shunt, although none broke into the 1.15's like they did yesterday.

Roll on qualifying! Is Brundle driving the Lotus this week? Im sure ive seen it lined up amongst the selection of cars hes 'testing'

here we go again the lewis hamilton show

thats quite an odd quali. Either the Ferrari's are super heavy or Lewis is really light.

Cant tell with Massa as they didn't show his laps, but Kimi certainly messed up his entry to the hairpin on both his laps.

Craig. wrote on Jun 7^th, 2008 at 12:27pm:



The exit wasn't much better either. To be fair, Lewis pulled it out of the bag. I wonder if we can write of Kimi again. Maybe he'll just retire. Tomorrow.

Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton

Whats the chances of this not going ahead tomorrow???? Notice a few Drivers are 'whining and bitching' about the track (ok they have some reason i guess!)

I recall spa from 1985 (i think!) when they all went home and  it happened later in the year for similar reasons...although F1 was highly commercialised by then, it wasnt the TV monster its become today where 'the show must go on' aka Indy 2005.

Although Ferrari are also in the 'bitching and whining' club this time. But that could just be excuses for a pretty bad day at the office...

Maybe they can lay some fast setting stuff overnight or somthing? Although i think they did that before at other races and it ends up just as bad......

todayshorse wrote on Jun 7^th, 2008 at 6:02pm:

see my post a few back, pretty much said the same great minds and all that
They lay the quick setting stuff every year, by lap 20 its gone and we're back to the normal. What they need to do is dig that entire part of the track up and relay it completely. They keep doing the temporary fix and because it's differant to the rest of the section of track, it fails to set properly. I'd like to see that hairpin tightend, it would mean a straight run then to the final chicane, none of that right left kink just after, it would mean more overtaking into it, and more overtaking into the final chicane. And because the cars are going through it slower and for a shorter time that track is less likely to get torn up.

WHY WAS THE RED LIGHT OUT?!!!

The Ruptured Duck wrote on Jun 8^th, 2008 at 1:43pm:

Mic covered it.
Stupid damn Lewis, stupid Mclaren and stupid Force India (Yes I know for a fact they were putting a voodoo on Ferrari for monaco)
Oh well at least we're looking at a new winner.

Bloody hell, they are still saying "how well Lewis did" No he didn't he made a mistake and frankly had a terrible race. Silly man

Well done to Kubica though, great race and he deserved the pole

I love how they tried to defend Lewis for it.
I'm sorry but last year Massa and Fisi were both black flagged and crucified for running the red light, same GP so you'd have thought this year it would be clear in their minds. How do you miss a stationary car for crying out loud? Red light I could understand but two rather large cars infront of you?
I'm fairly certain Lewis will get a grid drop for france, had Kimi not been there he was going to run the red light and would have been DQ'd. Nice to see when it came time to brake he chose to change direction and aim for Kimi...

Craig. wrote on Jun 8^th, 2008 at 3:31pm:


That's exactly what I said when I saw it happen.....rather convenient 

.mic

The Ruptured Duck wrote on Jun 8^th, 2008 at 3:59pm:

No and no.
this has always happend with the safety car. While the train of cars, and the safety car is within the area of the pits the pit light will remain red.  Once the safety car and the remaining cars on track have cleared the area ( i believe in canada that means just as the safety car arrives at the first chicane) the light will return to green.
This is what happend to massa and fisi last year. The safety car and race cars were long clear but the light remained red. They went out and were disqualified. In this case the safety car was just passing the pit lane exit and so the light was rightly red.
I'm seriously annoyed as it's made the championship battle a 4 way thing for no reason what so ever. Lewis was so worked up about losing a couple of places in the pits that he wasn't focused on the race itself. Sucks for Kimi but I guess what comes around, as they say, although this is a differant situation entirely, at least sutil can claim justice.

All I can say is whoops. Messrs Hamilton and Rosberg were at fault and deserve their penalties.

Now, some thoughts:

1) Why on earth was there a safety car for the first Force India incident, and not the second, which was arguably more dangerous, or are the drivers not responsible enough to be trusted to slow down to a sensible speed for waved yellow flags.

2) Pit lane discipline needs to be sorted out. Kubica was out of his box and coming down the pitlane. The Ferrari lolly-pop man should not have released a car that leads to the situation of having two cars paralleling each other in the pitlane. In this case it could be seen as a mitigating circumstance as it appears to have confused LH and NR both moving to the left to follow the red car (Ferrari) which has pulled to the left to pass the stationary BMW?

Either way, the safety car is becoming too much of a player. As Mark Webber (IIRC) said. It's time to make the drivers take some responsibility for keeping their eyes open (at all times Lewis ). Charlie Whiting's decided too many races in the recent past.

Well done Kubica though. Well chuffed to see him on the top step.

Quote:


It was all a Force India plan. Sutil stops at the side of the track, and as he gets out pushes a button on the steering wheel linked to a gas lighter in the left front brake unit, forcing a fire marshal onto the track, and also the devil (aka the safety car). Meanwhile agent X and agent Y, employees of Force India take Mike Gascoyne and Vijay Mallya's gold plated plant pruners, and which the wheels are being changed, cunningly (in the fashion of a very cunning secret operative) cut the brake lines in the the McLaren and the Williams, forcing Lewis (and as a back up Nico) into the back of a helpless Kimi...

Revenge is sweet for Force India!

C wrote on Jun 8^th, 2008 at 5:41pm:


Hmm, do I sense some foul play from Force India?

Indeed Craig, Hamilton wasn't paying any attention at all, but surely he must have noticed that the two cars in front of him were stationary....how could he miss them? 

Ah but Matt,
Schumi never made a "mistake" like that 
In general his collisions were out on track at speed and he didn't really try to hide what he did Ala 97. in that case he was stripped of the title quite rightly, the monaco one cost him the title almost certainly, so he got what he deserved.

In this case Lewis cant even stand up and say it was his fault and accept the blame, best he can do is "oh, well i'm sorry if I ruined Kimi's race"
What do you mean IF, of course you did, and even then he was being arrogent, "oh we were cruising to an easy win" No you weren't Kimi was closing down Kubica at a huge rate per lap, would have jumped him in the stops and at the pace he was going would have had Lewis in the second stops.
And just to top it off to show how big of a prat he is, his comments in his talk to Ryder before the race discussing his dads car accident, "i cant undertstand how someone can crash a car at 30mph"  Bet he does now.
Yes every one has accidents, most will hold their hands up say they made a mistake and move on. However this is the second time in less than a year that Lewis has blown it in the pits because he was under a bit of pressure. China last year, there was no need to rush, all he needed was to pick up points, so what if he lost the race, those points even back in 6th would have won him the title. But "mr head strong" blew it. And now this, again he got passed in the pits, but if he was so sure and so confident that it was a cruise to victory then being in 3rd after all that shouldn't have mattered. But nope, lets hurry on down without paying attention. Even though ron had told him the light was red.
This years title is going to be won on consistency, not out and out wins. And from the way this season is going so far, Robert Kubica or Felipe Massa are the ones who come the end of the season could be fighting it out for the championship.

And a final one, Bravo as always to the ITV team on a stellar job, We could start with Martin badgering Bernie on the grid, thats going to help your chances next year, he's got the circuit owner standing 3 feet away from him, do you honestly think Bernie will bad mouth it.
Then that useful pitlane reporter Louise, great question for Lewis, "at least it is some consolation, that if nothing else you took your main title rival out with you"
Yet Schumi parks it at monaco and they hound him the rest of the year claiming he should have been banned from the championship. But they are encouraging that
Nice job by Ted I think it was, winding up an already obviously upset Alonso into swearing on live TV.
And then we come to James Allen, I think a whole new topic is needed on this idiot.
How many times did he manage to put Robert Kubica down this race.
"coming back to a place where many thought he should have been killed in his accident last year" Sure he appreciates the constant reminder
"well he's not quite brad pitt" As Kubica is standing there on the podium

from his colum
He was focused on the flow of cars moving towards the exit and didn’t see that Kimi had stopped. He missed Kubica by inches, but – luckily for him – hit his main title rival, who could not score any points as a result.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/68181

Wonder when his brain will kick in and tell him its a good idea to keep your mouth shut when you've just screwed up.

From that autosport article:
Quote:


Well everyone else did . He needs to learn to admit he is wrong sometimes

Craig. wrote on Jun 10^th, 2008 at 9:09am:



Maybe a marshal with a big red lollipop in a clown outfit would stand out for them   It works for the pit crews (except the clown outfit)

Matt

Craig. wrote on Jun 10^th, 2008 at 10:37am:



The probability of cocking up is directly proportional to the number of people watching and in this case, a couple of million F1 fans

Matt

I think what would have been better would have been a humble approach.
Saying he expects to be able to fight it out with the others. BMW wont talk about being title contenders despite leading one of them and being close in the other. Ferrari still say they respect and are wary of the challenge the other teams pose despite a 20 odd point lead over Mclaren and having won the most races this year.
I've got no problem if he says, oh we can win the races that are coming up, but to say he will be unstoppable is just stupid. He's only won 2 of 7 races so far.
He'll have the 10 place drop in Magny cours which will give him an excuse for that. The race I think that will define the season is Silverstone.

LOL - Wonder who will be brave enough to go for a Hamilton win in France????

I think it could be on personaly!!!