Grand Prix Rejects

dr-baker wrote:

redbulljack14 wrote:Here's another one, Jonathan Palmer was a great commentator.

I became a fan of F1 while he was alongside Murray Walker. Didn't put me off, but Brundle is better.

He's an alright commentator. Brundle is leagues ahead of him though.

East Londoner wrote:

dr-baker wrote:

redbulljack14 wrote:Here's another one, Jonathan Palmer was a great commentator.

I became a fan of F1 while he was alongside Murray Walker. Didn't put me off, but Brundle is better.

He's an alright commentator. Brundle is leagues ahead of him though.

He's just not as good in comparison with Hunt and Brundle, as his time was between theirs.

redbulljack14 wrote:Here's another one, Jonathan Palmer was a great commentator.

Agreed - whilst he wasn't particularly exciting, he was perfectly suited to commentating on the era when refuelling was re-introduced. With all due respect to Murray Walker and James Hunt, can you imagine them keeping track of a race with differing fuel strategies as effectively as Palmer?

Gilles > Jacques

Villeneuve, for the unknowing.

JeremyMcClean wrote:Gilles > Jacques

Villeneuve, for the unknowing.

I don't think that's an unpopular opinion. Unless, of course, you actually meant that Jacques was better, in which case you want a '<' sign instead.

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:

JeremyMcClean wrote:Gilles > Jacques

Villeneuve, for the unknowing.

I don't think that's an unpopular opinion. Unless, of course, you actually meant that Jacques was better, in which case you want a '<' sign instead.

In Canada, if I said that to a JV fan, I'd get knocked down easily! (Or at least at my uncle's house. He's a hugggeee JV fan...)

Klon wrote:Actually having this much F1 races is bad, as it the value of a race drops. I'd even sacrifice one or two "traditional" GP to reduce the number of races to 15.

I have said it before and I still hold that viewpoint. It should not be that I, as a fan, actually am quite grateful that summer break has arrived.

Klon wrote:

Klon wrote:Actually having this much F1 races is bad, as it the value of a race drops. I'd even sacrifice one or two "traditional" GP to reduce the number of races to 15.

I have said it before and I still hold that viewpoint. It should not be that I, as a fan, actually am quite grateful that summer break has arrived.

20 races is just about right. It does not overwhelm (though is close to do so) and this many races (should) allow for more variety.

Williams was perfectly right to deny BMW a bigger control of the team - even the current bad state of the team is better than their situation would have been at this time when going with BMW.

Klon wrote:Williams was perfectly right to deny BMW a bigger control of the team - even the current bad state of the team is better than their situation would have been at this time when going with BMW.

At the time I understood BMW wanted to buy out Williams. If that was the case, then damn straight right they're better than that.

Am I the only fan who turns Martin Brundle off and switches over to Crofty and Anthony Davidson on Radio 5 Live on the red button? Brundle is sooooooooo slow to realise things that happened several laps ago, and he acts like a complete know it all, when in fact he clearly doesn't. And does nobody else find it grating when he keeps shouting Vettel with one L ? In fact, when I was on holiday in Spain, watching the Hungarian race on spanish channel La Sexta, I found the race covergae to be even better; no incorrect calls from Brundle about what tyres everyone was on!

I am slightly bored by the I am slightly bored by Nick Heidfeld joke.

cretoxyrhina wrote:I am slightly bored by the I am slightly bored by Nick Heidfeld joke.

For me, it keeps being slightly funny.

jpm wrote:Am I the only fan who turns Martin Brundle off and switches over to Crofty and Anthony Davidson on Radio 5 Live on the red button? Brundle is sooooooooo slow to realise things that happened several laps ago, and he acts like a complete know it all, when in fact he clearly doesn't. And does nobody else find it grating when he keeps shouting Vettel with one L ? In fact, when I was on holiday in Spain, watching the Hungarian race on spanish channel La Sexta, I found the race covergae to be even better; no incorrect calls from Brundle about what tyres everyone was on!

You're definitely not the only one, I do it as well!
In fact, I would like to see the BBC get Croft and Davidson to do the television coverage for next year.

Epic bump but
GGGGGRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSJJJJJJJJJNNNNNNN has no place in F1.
Sutil would commit career suiside by going to Williams.
I am starting to dislike Paul Di Resta.

eurobrun wrote:Sutil would commit career suiside by going to Williams.

BUT if Williams do recover to their former glory and Sutil spearheads that charge he would have one hell of a legacy when his career is over.

Oh dear, I'm in a "unpopular opinion" mode...

Williams is going down FAST. Raikkonen would commit career suicide by going there.

Senna is probably being hampered by his own mechanics. I think Renault is banking on Kubica returning, so they're trying to get rid of Senna as much fast as they can.

I don't think Wickens can make a significant impact on F1.

I don't think GGGGGRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSJJJJJJJJJNNNNNNN will get a F1 seat.

I think Kubica will retire, then comeback and not be very good.

If Bernie wants Korea out of the calendar, then the Korean GP was a huge waste of money.

Force India is a horrible team.

Mercedes will be like Toyota - Big Budget, Big Dreams, Small Delivery

HRT will stay in F1 for about 10 more years.

Sergio Perez is a bloody fantastic driver. He's better than Kobayashi!

JeremyMcClean wrote:Sergio Perez is a bloody fantastic driver. He's better than Kobayashi!

Better than Kobayashi? - Definitely as of late

Bloody fantastic? - He's good, but I wouldn't go that far.

JeremyMcClean wrote:Williams is going down FAST. Raikkonen would commit career suicide by going there.

Hasn't Raikkonen done that already by refusing to go to Australia and getting himself chucked out of the WRC championship classification?

redbulljack14 wrote:

JeremyMcClean wrote:Sergio Perez is a bloody fantastic driver. He's better than Kobayashi!

Better than Kobayashi? - Definitely as of late

Bloody fantastic? - He's good, but I wouldn't go that far.

He's hampered by bad machinery, thus masking his talent.

dr-baker wrote:

JeremyMcClean wrote:Williams is going down FAST. Raikkonen would commit career suicide by going there.

Hasn't Raikkonen done that already by refusing to go to Australia and getting himself chucked out of the WRC championship classification?

True point Now that I think about it, he committed career suicide just by showing up at 2010 Rally Sweden!

JeremyMcClean wrote:Oh dear, I'm in a "unpopular opinion" mode...

Williams is going down FAST. Raikkonen would commit career suicide by going there.

I agree with you fully there - whilst a couple of years ago, when they were still modestly successful, it could be argued that a partnership with a major manufacturer could have helped drag them up the grid (as in the BMW-Williams era before things turned sour), the team really does need overhauling pretty thoroughly, as does their technical base. Still, the comparisons that come to mind all to easily - the original Team Lotus, or Tyrrell - are hardly flattering, since those teams ultimately were fated to go one way only...
Kimi could be a double edged sword for the team, since a good driver alone does not transform a team - we've seen how few comebacks have worked out - though to be honest Kimi is at least in a position where it doesn't really matter what he does now (he's already won the title he was after, and most of the things he has tried his hand at, like rallying and oval racing, probably won't be effected by a return to F1).

JeremyMcClean wrote:Senna is probably being hampered by his own mechanics. I think Renault is banking on Kubica returning, so they're trying to get rid of Senna as much fast as they can.

I don't think GGGGGRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSJJJJJJJJJNNNNNNN will get a F1 seat.

Yes, Renault probably are hoping that Kubica will be fully fit and show the form he had of old, but it is still unclear whether that'll ever happen (Renault will not wait forever for him). As I've said before in other threads, I think that Bruno might be retained for the team sine his sponsorship is potentially more valuable than what Grosjean can bring to the team, but if Bruno doesn't ramp up his performance overall in 2012 then Grosjean might get the nod mid season.

JeremyMcClean wrote:Mercedes will be like Toyota - Big Budget, Big Dreams, Small Delivery

I'd disagree about that so far because, as things stand, Mercedes is not going down the same route as Toyota - Toyota tried to do everything from scratch (even down to forging their own pistons when even outfits like Mercedes and Ferrari turn to specialists, mostly Mahle, for parts like that), whereas at least Mercedes are trying to build on an existing team.

Also, by contrast Mercedes are not throwing money at the team to fix their problems as they have made it clear that they do not want to make the mistakes that Toyota did. If anything, it is quite the contrary given that Mercedes has the smallest budget and lowest head count of the top four teams (said to be around $130 million for the budget and around 430 technical staff - the reason why they've been able to recruit more aggressively recently is because they are currently operating under the limits in the Resource Restriction Agreement, where the headcount is limited to 450).

JeremyMcClean wrote:Sergio Perez is a bloody fantastic driver. He's better than Kobayashi!

Perez is certainly putting Kobayashi under pressure this year, and that form does seem to have driven some rumours that Ferrari are now showing signs of interest in Perez (especially given that Bianchi's career in junior series has stuttered recently).
His overall performance has improved noticeably in the latter half of this season, especially in part because Kobayashi, by his own admission, struggles in qualifying and therefore spends much of the race, and his strategy, on trying to rectify that deficit.
Mind you, points are scarcer now thanks to Force India, Renault and Toro Rosso in particular coming on strong (though James Allen has indicated that the reason for Toro Rosso coming on song seems to be thanks to the transfer of information from Red Bull to Toro Rosso over the design of blown diffusers...).

Here's a couple: I miss the A-1 Ring (that's in its 1997+ layout) and I'm also sort of missing refuelling given how this season is going. Without it, there are too many copycat strategies.

James1978 wrote:Here's a couple: I miss the A-1 Ring (that's in its 1997+ layout) and I'm also sort of missing refuelling given how this season is going. Without it, there are too many copycat strategies.

This. I always liked the races at the A1-Ring, apart from the shite at the finish of the 2002 race

East Londoner wrote:

James1978 wrote:Here's a couple: I miss the A-1 Ring (that's in its 1997+ layout) and I'm also sort of missing refuelling given how this season is going. Without it, there are too many copycat strategies.

This. I always liked the races at the A1-Ring, apart from the shite at the finish of the 2002 race

YES! I loved that circuit, the worst thing is that I started following F1 properly in 2004, and the last race there was 2003. I did race the circuit on games beforehand, and have seen highlights of those races.

A1-Ring also had the best scenery of any track, ever. It was sublime.

The A1-Ring isn't too bad, I'd rather see Jerez (yes, referring to that again) or even Imola. But I wouldn't mind the A1-Ring coming back. Better than Valencia!

I believe the track has been reopened this year and had run a couple of races in this year's F2 season. I do believe the race went on without a hitch.

JeremyMcClean wrote:The A1-Ring isn't too bad, I'd rather see Jerez (yes, referring to that again) or even Imola. But I wouldn't mind the A1-Ring coming back. Better than Valencia!

I believe the track has been reopened this year and had run a couple of races in this year's F2 season. I do believe the race went on without a hitch.

I think it reopened mid-May. Red Bull had a few demo runs and the track looked fine. I know F2, DTM and I think MotoGP are holding races next year. But the FIA haven't deemed it fully applicable for F1 standards. Shame really, I loved that track. If Tilke designed the 1997 onwards layout, it's definitely his best one.

AdrianSutil wrote:

JeremyMcClean wrote:The A1-Ring isn't too bad, I'd rather see Jerez (yes, referring to that again) or even Imola. But I wouldn't mind the A1-Ring coming back. Better than Valencia!

I believe the track has been reopened this year and had run a couple of races in this year's F2 season. I do believe the race went on without a hitch.

I think it reopened mid-May. Red Bull had a few demo runs and the track looked fine. I know F2, DTM and I think MotoGP are holding races next year. But the FIA haven't deemed it fully applicable for F1 standards. Shame really, I loved that track. If Tilke designed the 1997 onwards layout, it's definitely his best one.

Yeah, Tilke designed it.

AdrianSutil wrote:I think MotoGP are holding races next year.

I didn't know that, I'll be looking forward to seeing it back on telly again in that case though!

I love it because I used to be really good at it on F1CC, sadly when it was on the calender was during the period when I wasn't paying that much attention to F1, something that I'm kinda sad about now!

dr-baker wrote:Hasn't Raikkonen done that already by refusing to go to Australia and getting himself chucked out of the WRC championship classification?

Nope - his team is out of the teams championship. He as a driver, is still in the drivers champ.

Colin Kolles needs to come back from home, such is the boredom of this season, so we can tell him to go home once again.

Minardi liveries from 2001-2005 were dull as shite.

East Londoner wrote:Colin Kolles needs to come back from home, such is the boredom of this season, so we can tell him to go home once again.

Minardi liveries from 2001-2005 were dull as shite.

Always thought the 2002 was nice. But I'll agree with the others.

Jenson Button is the most talented racer in the field.

Button is the only F1 driver that is capable of winning the Indy 500, barring a fluke result.

This thread was, post by post, looking more like "popular F1 opinions" with everyone agreeing to each other opinions. Thank HWNSNBM that Cynon passed by! To compound it, we only need Klon to come by and say that Barrichello is the most talented driver to race in F1 from the current crop!

Vitaly Petrov is a mediocre driver and if rumours are to be believed, Lotus Renault will start next season with him alongside Grosjean, who I trust will demonstrate that fact quickly.

People talk about his 'improvement' this season, but all its really amounted to is not crashing as often. Apart from the first two races where the car was quick and I'm 100% confident Kubica would've challenged for victory, he's really done nothing. And his own team know this - Heidfeld was basically sacked for not putting him away. As if they decided "well, if we're not going to get near Mercedes for 4th in the WCC, we might as well collect some money in the process from Senna."

Cynon wrote:Jenson Button is the most talented racer in the field.

Been more impressed with Jenson not winning the WDC with McLaren than I was when he did win it with Brawn.

DanielPT wrote:This thread was, post by post, looking more like "popular F1 opinions" with everyone agreeing to each other opinions. Thank HWNSNBM that Cynon passed by! To compound it, we only need Klon to come by and say that Barrichello is the most talented driver to race in F1 from the current crop!

Hey, I am not that bad - I do think that Vettel and Alonso are better than him...

But while we are at it: as much as I want to, I cannot like Kobayashi. He's just a poor man's Takuma Sato.

Klon wrote:

DanielPT wrote:This thread was, post by post, looking more like "popular F1 opinions" with everyone agreeing to each other opinions. Thank HWNSNBM that Cynon passed by! To compound it, we only need Klon to come by and say that Barrichello is the most talented driver to race in F1 from the current crop!

Hey, I am not that bad - I do think that Vettel and Alonso are better than him...

I know, I'm just messing around!

Klon wrote:But while we are at it: as much as I want to, I cannot like Kobayashi. He's just a poor man's Takuma Sato.

I like Kobayashi and I congratulate you for that deeply unpopular opinion! But I also must say that this less than stellar year of his and Perez matching him (and giving him a beating in qualifying) made me think that he, despite all his racecraft, lacks raw speed to make him something more than another Japanese F1 journeyman... And may HWNSNBM forgive me!

Cynon wrote:Jenson Button is the most talented racer in the field.

Button is the only F1 driver that is capable of winning the Indy 500, barring a fluke result.

Just out of curiosity, why do you believe that Button would be the only driver capable of winning the Indy 500? Is it because he has proven to be quite adept this year at choosing the right strategy in uncertain conditions (given how the Indy 500 often revolves around strategic refuelling decisions)?

If you bear anything from another driver on your helmet (unless it's a one-time tribute) you don't show respect to said driver, you only show that you haven't done anything of value in your racing career.

Exceptions: Familymembers. (Hill and Senna)

Myrvold wrote:Exceptions: Familymembers. (Hill and Senna)

Nope, that is not an exception. Bruno Senna wearing the title years of his uncle on top of his helmet screams "I am pathetic and have never been worth anything in my life so far" every time it is on the screen. Now, I don't mind the helmet colours; if he cuts that numberwang I won't say anything anymore.