Grand Prix Rejects

Actually, Virgin customers can find the coverage on Sky Sports 3's red button, which is also showing the coverage... Just in time for the start, by the looks of things!

They look a lot like sports cars at the rear now, don't they?

Can't say I'm surprised at who brought out the first two yellows, and why...

EDIT: You deserved that one, Carp.

SeaBass Train!!! !

Cynon wrote:SeaBass Train!!! !

Who is SeaBass supposed to be? Sébastien Bourdais?

Phoenix wrote:

Cynon wrote:SeaBass Train!!! !

Who is SeaBass supposed to be? Sébastien Bourdais?

Yes. People used to call him SeaBass in Champ Car.

I didn't find that massively engaging, I have to say, but then again a lot of it's what you're used to. I'm sure I wouldn't have found today's Grand Prix as interesting if I didn't know all the different characters and backgrounds involved.

Needless to say the first half was stupid and the last ten laps were stupid. The rest were ok. Good on Castroneves! Also, the onboard camera is incredible. Don't ask me why.

JeremyMcClean wrote:Needless to say the first half was stupid and the last ten laps were stupid. The rest were ok. Good on Castroneves! Also, the onboard camera is incredible. Don't ask me why.

They look like 1996 F1 cars onboard. And they looked amazing from the onboard point of view.

JeremyMcClean wrote:Needless to say the first half was stupid and the last ten laps were stupid. The rest were ok. Good on Castroneves! Also, the onboard camera is incredible. Don't ask me why.

The coverage was terrible. Easy ROTR for this...

...because the midfield was apparently an epic race, and not to mention a few key cars (Bourdais) dropped out with no mention as to what happened to them.

Typical ABC/ESPN though...

Wish I had Sky Sports now so I could watch IndyCar. As well as watch F1 live rather than rely on BBC RADIO!!!

S951 wrote:I am watching indy cars this year in sypport for rubens

I started to watch Indycar today (in streaming because in my country Indycar is broadcast just on pay tv), because of Rubens (he's one of my favourite drivers). It was a pleasure to see Sato racing (I didn't really know nothing about Indycar before a few months ago) and seeing him leading the race for some laps made my day! Unluckily he retired...

sooo who won? i didn't see the whole race

nome66 wrote:sooo who won? i didn't see the whole race

Castroneves.

woo good for him he was terrible last year....well at Baltimore at least

Will Power suffering from Lewis Hamilton's disease today. (I'm not in the lead anymore? bathplug it, phoning it in.)

F1000X wrote:Will Power suffering from Lewis Hamilton's disease today. (I'm not in the lead anymore? bathplug it, phoning it in.)

I think it's more akin to Hakkinen syndrome actually (as in a driver seems to lose interest when things start going even slightly wrong)

Wizzie wrote:

F1000X wrote:Will Power suffering from Lewis Hamilton's disease today. (I'm not in the lead anymore? bathplug it, phoning it in.)

I think it's more akin to Hakkinen syndrome actually (as in a driver seems to lose interest when things start going even slightly wrong)

Didnt that used to be called Rakkonenitis?

Anyway, it was nice to see Castroneves' nod to Wheldon.

CoopsII wrote:

Wizzie wrote:

F1000X wrote:Will Power suffering from Lewis Hamilton's disease today. (I'm not in the lead anymore? bathplug it, phoning it in.)

I think it's more akin to Hakkinen syndrome actually (as in a driver seems to lose interest when things start going even slightly wrong)

Didnt that used to be called Rakkonenitis?

Anyway, it was nice to see Castroneves' nod to Wheldon.

Nah, Hakkinen had the problem long before Raikkonen got into F1 (See 1999 European GP for a good case-study)

The excuses are in from Ruby!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98414

I was bothered by how often the commentators talked about having experience.

They've got a brand new, totally different car with a brand new, totally different engine, I'm struggling to see how anyone can have much relevant experience in this situation, aside from a bit of track knowledge and general single seater experience (which of course Rubens has in abundance).

I think experience is often overstated in motor racing, at least at the higher levels. We have seen the likes of Raikkonen or Hamilton enter F1 and immediately start going fast and in the case of champions drivers who start out slow and get faster with experience are the exception rather than the rule. Experience helps with avoiding mistakes and tactical blunders, but its no substitute for raw speed.

ROTR is Lotus Engines. So bad that most of their cars or just stunk in general.

I even made a joke on twitter during the NASCAR race asking if Landon Cassill's engine was supplied by Lotus themselves.

golic_2004 wrote:ROTR is Lotus Engines. So bad that most of their cars or just stunk in general.

And a potential contender for indy ROTY of this year. Lotus engines = Toyota engines of late 90s.

Cynon wrote:The excuses are in from Ruby!
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98414

What was all that nonsense blaming fuel conservation during the race? Hasnt that been a feature of F1 for a few years now? Perhaps he was hoping no F1 fans would read that particular one.

IdeFan wrote:I was bothered by how often the commentators talked about having experience.

They've got a brand new, totally different car with a brand new, totally different engine, I'm struggling to see how anyone can have much relevant experience in this situation, aside from a bit of track knowledge and general single seater experience (which of course Rubens has in abundance).

I think experience is often overstated in motor racing, at least at the higher levels. We have seen the likes of Raikkonen or Hamilton enter F1 and immediately start going fast and in the case of champions drivers who start out slow and get faster with experience are the exception rather than the rule. Experience helps with avoiding mistakes and tactical blunders, but its no substitute for raw speed.

I couldn't agree more. Case in point, where the hell was Castroneves last year? Non-stop seat time in crap-wagon and he just couldn't keep it at the front. Level the field with a new car, and you get to see that he hasn't lost any pace. Hinchcliffe did a good job too, and he wasn't even in the race last year!

CoopsII wrote:

Cynon wrote:The excuses are in from Ruby!
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98414

What was all that nonsense blaming fuel conservation during the race? Hasnt that been a feature of F1 for a few years now? Perhaps he was hoping no F1 fans would read that particular one.

That is Rubens implicitly saying how unfair Indycar championship has been on him. He can't really help it to blablablaing his excuses to the press.

Wizzie wrote:Helio on pole and Rubens beats Dario

Well, so much for being unfair to Rubens...

i'll give rubens 3 more races before he starts finishing in the top ten.
he should be in the winner's circle by baltimore

who's watching this now? they actually sound alright to be fair

Solid race so far. These cars race well against one another.

i'm so happy that Barrichello was in the top ten today!
adding a lotus to that is icing on the cake!

The new Indycar website is toss. Ive just spent about ten minutes trying to see the full race results and now Ive given up.

CoopsII wrote:The new Indycar website is toss. Ive just spent about ten minutes trying to see the full race results and now Ive given up.

True, it's a mess. But this little nugget shines through:

Lotus, which currently supplies engines to five entrants, will add a sixth [Indianapolis entry] likely for former Formula One driver Jean Alesi. He has been serving as a test driver and ambassador for Lotus.

http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/April/4-1-Bernard-expects-34-at-Indy.aspx

Looks like Alesi still has the itch. To retire from 1st or 2nd place with a car failure.

Sublime_FA11C wrote:Lotus, which currently supplies engines to five entrants, will add a sixth [Indianapolis entry] likely for former Formula One driver Jean Alesi. He has been serving as a test driver and ambassador for Lotus.

http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/April/4-1-Bernard-expects-34-at-Indy.aspx

Looks like Alesi still has the itch. To retire from 1st or 2nd place with a car failure.

Lotus as the new Buick/Menard

I approve of this.

nome66 wrote:i'm so happy that Barrichello was in the top ten today!

This made me really happy.
Unluckily Sato retired...

F1000X wrote:

Sublime_FA11C wrote:Lotus, which currently supplies engines to five entrants, will add a sixth [Indianapolis entry] likely for former Formula One driver Jean Alesi. He has been serving as a test driver and ambassador for Lotus.

[url]<a href="http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/April/4-1-Bernard-expects-34-at-Indy.aspx">http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/April/4-1-Bernard-expects-34-at-Indy.aspx</a>[/url]

Looks like Alesi still has the itch. To retire from 1st or 2nd place with a car failure.

Lotus as the new Buick/Menard

I approve of this.

Jean Alesi is awesome.

Sublime_FA11C wrote:

CoopsII wrote:The new Indycar website is toss. Ive just spent about ten minutes trying to see the full race results and now Ive given up.

True, it's a mess. But this little nugget shines through:

Lotus, which currently supplies engines to five entrants, will add a sixth [Indianapolis entry] likely for former Formula One driver Jean Alesi. He has been serving as a test driver and ambassador for Lotus.

http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/April/4-1-Bernard-expects-34-at-Indy.aspx

Looks like Alesi still has the itch. To retire from 1st or 2nd place with a car failure.

Excellent first post!

Sublime_FA11C wrote:

CoopsII wrote:The new Indycar website is toss. Ive just spent about ten minutes trying to see the full race results and now Ive given up.

True, it's a mess. But this little nugget shines through:

Lotus, which currently supplies engines to five entrants, will add a sixth [Indianapolis entry] likely for former Formula One driver Jean Alesi. He has been serving as a test driver and ambassador for Lotus.

http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/April/4-1-Bernard-expects-34-at-Indy.aspx

Looks like Alesi still has the itch. To retire from 1st or 2nd place with a car failure.

as a true Indy500 fan and 90's era purist, the idea of 34 car grids horrifies me, but at least it isn't 1997
my only gripe is that they won't be testing in Indianapolis for the first session of practice in May. they are setting up for failure. do they refuse to test on ovals or something?

CoopsII wrote:Excellent first post!

Thanks

I've been visiting the main site for years and i enjoyed reading the forums recently. Just haven't had anything usefull to post before. I know Alesi is regarded around here as a proven racer to say the least, and despite some cases of brain-fade he has proven that he can win. But the car...

So i was surprised that the indy story wasn't picked up here and decided it would come as a nice surprise. Certainly surprised me.

I don't know what to make of it though. Out of top class open wheelers for quite some time and completely unfamiliar with oval racing. And even if Indy is not what it used to be, it's still a strange challenge to take on at his age. Mario did well in CART despite ageing and faced good opposition in the 90s until he called it a day at the tender age of 54. So age is not the problem and i don't know what is, but i never thought it was possible to see the words Indianapolis and Jean Alesi used together.

But if he was testing for Lotus, and presumably tried ovals i'm not surprised he wants a go. I think ovals just clicked for him as they do for some drivers.