The Motorsport Thread (was the F1 thread)

Well, apparantly Piquet is gone now, he seems to have reported it himself on his own website and given a very damning account of the way Renault treated him, Flavio in particular.

Either Lucas Di Grassi or Romain Grosjean will get the seat with my money being on Grosjean.

^I bet your thinking of Monaco 84 were Senna in the Toleman was hunting down Prost. Little known fact is that the third placed driver Stefan Bellof in the Tyrrel was catching the pair of them.

With Moss I was mostly reffering to his early years where he resolutely stayed loyal to poor British machinery that had no hope of beating the Alfa's, Maserati's and Ferrari's until he joined Mercedes. After that it was a case of being beaten by Fangio and poor reliability that cost him the title in following years. 

There's been a lot of drivers that on their day have been pretty much unbeatable, but those days dont come often because of either a lack of opertunity or an inability to access that level regularly. Over the years I dont think there have been many drivers that could get to that level on a regular basis, and those that could make up a list of names of people that have won most of the titles of the last 59 years. Of the drivers that will line up on the grid at Valencia in 3 weeks, Schumacher, Alonso and Hamilton seem to be the only ones that I would rate at that level, and Alonso is the only one I have no questions about (Shumy becaus he hasnt been in F1 for 3 years, Hamilton because its only his 3rd year). I dont like comparing era's because its usually misleading, the cars used to be more forgiving to drive than now but harder, and far more dangerous, to take to the limit of what they could do. These days the science of both driver fitness and car design have allowed for cars that can be regualarly taken to the limit and as such its far more difficult to win in poor machinery. And its always been the case that you needed a good car to win titles, Stirling Moss didnt win any ina Connaught no matter how hard he tried.

JJ, I'd like to point out that in the first half of 94 at least, the Benetton was definitely the best car out there, that Williams was a real pig and its no coicidence that Senna spun out of the first couple of races that year. The 95 Benetton was definitely inferior to the Williams all year. 

Don't overestimate Schumacher.  No doubt he was (is?) a very good driver but he had the right machinery at the right time.  There have been better drivers than him in the past and I dare say that there are better drivers than him now.  Hamilton is almost unbeatable when things are going right for him and I'd be loath to say who out of him and Schumacher would win given identical cars.  I'd also say that Nigel Mansell and possibly Keke Rosberg were better drivers than either of the above mentioned as they could make a poor car win.  Mansell's move from F1 to CART was nothing short of spectacular and something that Jaques Villeneuve could not replicate in reverse.

sleeper wrote: Luca Pacchiarini wrote: I don't want to spoil anyone's excitement, but I think Button winning the championship is as likely as Alex Yoong returning to F1 and win all the races with a three lap margin, driving blindfold, with no arms and with a large rusted spoon inserted through his throat.  I look forward to seeing you eat your words! Would you like Ketchup with them?

Well that car was pretty damn loose for a while. I mean 3 straight races where he failed to make it out of first qualifying session? Overcoming a bad car is one thing but I think ONLY Schumi could do anything with that.
Anyway, obviously Hami's season is done....but I hopefully McLaren is turning the corner and he can salvage some good.

I was just saying you never know what can happen. In '07 Lewis was on the easy track to that tile, (and in reality was the best driver that year) and look at what happened there.

Besides 7 races left. Max points possible = 70
Button has 70 points, and 6 wins. Michael would have 7 wins.
It may be a .0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% chance
But schumi could technically still win the championship


Edited by JJLehto - July 30 2009 at 19:07

You under estimate sir.
This is the guy that won the title in 94 in Benneton. And that car was not good, since all his team mates sucked.


And of course, Schumi wont win....(I think )
In reality, unless Button/Brawn really falter he is on the fast track.
But Lewis was also on the fast track in 07 so ANYthing can happen. Should be good!

I was partially joking about Schumi....but I actually think he COULD win the title.
Even with 2 and a half years out...if anyone could it'd be home.
Though I wouldn't put it past him to..."bump" Rubino out of the lead, even though they are no longer team mates
And seriously, go Webber!

Oh I think Button will get it.

I just think those two have the best chance after him.

That's the thing with Schumy, he'll accidently touch the side of Barrichello (it's always him) and take him out and he won't get penalised for it. 

Edited by James - July 30 2009 at 12:52