*** 2007 United States GP ***

[Vansquish]

Well...that was actually a pretty fun race, I'm not sure how much of the battle that Fisichella was in made it to the TV coverage, but it was pretty excellent. Fisi ended up dropping down to 19th and then working his way back up to 10th. It was an exciting drive to watch and from where my seat was, I could see most of the passes he made (I could see from turn 13 down the front straight and through turns 1-7). The battle between Kimi and Massa was pretty intense too, though it would've been even better had the race gone another 10 laps or so. In any case congrats to Lewis, excellent drive and hopefully just one of many to come!

[TopGearNL]

Originally Posted by dani_d_mas Originally Posted by TopGearNL Im just waiting for the news-article in which F1's Lance Bass states that he had team orders to let Hamilton win In the catalan coverage, they connected when someone - not spaniard - was asking Ron Denis if there were some sort of team orders or if he had forbid his drivers to battle between them. He was really pissed with that question... saying there have never been team orders at McLaren

Typical Alonso, I bet he said that it wasn't a surprise that Hamilton was doing better then him since he's British and the team is British too eh?

[TopGearNL]

Originally Posted by saadie Originally Posted by TopGearNL Did you guys see the Marshall that dropped the Blue Flag? yeah 2 blue flags dropped .. one was stuck under the left sidepod on trulli's car ...

Haha, what a bunch of amateurs

[saadie]

shhhhh .. nobody say anything to americans ..

[blue8]

Conclusion from Planet F1:
3) Ron Dennis Will Earn His Money This Year, Part Two
Nonetheless, the inevitable upshot of Alonso announcing that he does not feel "totally comfortable" at McLaren was fresh reports predicting a move to Ferrari.

One expanding school of thought is that both Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen went in the wrong direction last season. Whereas Raikkonen's sheer pace and familiarisation with the McLaren set-up may have unsettled Hamilton, Ferrari could have adorned Alonso with the preferential treatment that he evidently believes his status as double World Champion deserves.

If he is beaten by Hamilton this season, there must be a strong possibility that his petulance will manifest itself through a transfer request.

- This of course is doubtful. Ferrari never expressed wanting Al0nso in their team. If anyone had to transfer, I'd want Hamilton in Ferrari together with Massa since they seem to get along quite well.

4) Jean Todt Is Stuck On Repeat
'Ferrari will turn their misfortunes around at the next race in France, according to team boss Jean Todt' - Planet-F1, 18 June.

'Todt: 'Ferrari will bounce back at Indy'' - Planet-F1, 12 June.

'Ferrari boss Jean Todt has insisted that McLaren's dominance in Monte Carlo was a one-off' - Planet-F1, 29 May.

5) It's Now Or Never For Ferrari
Between Spain, where Felipe Massa cruised to victory in mid-May, and Monaco, where he certainly didn't, Ferrari lost over half a second to McLaren.

Martin Brundle's suggestion is that the team sparked their own decline by mistakenly introducing a hybrid car during those two weeks. Ferrari return to testing this week at Silverstone armed with the "new developments" that will define the rest of their campaign. The stakes could not be higher. Either they recover the ground they lost to McLaren or their season will surely sink into mediocrity.

-- I really hope testing this week on Silverstone would greatly benefit Ferrari. I just don't want McLaren to dominate this year unchallenged. Ferrari, or any other team, should at least put up a good fight

[novass]

Originally Posted by saadie shhhhh .. nobody say anything to americans ..

At least we got a race :prr: Besides, a lot of those corner workers come from all over the globe so it was probably one of Alonso's fans trying to get the flag stuck in his car instead of Trulli's so it would give Alonso an excuse as to why he was losing.

[TopGearNL]

^^ Thats cold

[5vz-fe]

Yeah, Planetf1 don't particularly like Ferrari / Schumi. Still remember their MS secret diary.

[novass]

Originally Posted by TopGearNL ^^ Thats cold

I saw the replay of how the flag got on the track and it looks like the guy seriously just threw it out there. Its not like his job was hard, all he had to do was wave a flag. I don't know how he managed to screw that up.

As much as I like Hamilton and would like to see him win, this is getting a little boring. I would rather see Hamilton have to fight for the win than do it practically uncontested. I am finding myself more interested in the battles taking place down the field.

[TopGearNL]

^^ Yeah it did actually look like he threw it deliberately.

The Dutch commentator of the race actually said, ''maybe they need gloves with Velcro to keep a hold of those flags''

[novass]

^^

Did you see the pigeon that got creamed too? That damn thing disintegrated

[TopGearNL]

Originally Posted by novass ^^ Did you see the pigeon that got creamed too? That damn thing disintegrated

Haha, yeah it reminded me of this actually http://video.google.nl/videoplay?doc...arch&plindex=0 :shock:

[blue8]

Originally Posted by novass As much as I like Hamilton and would like to see him win, this is getting a little boring. I would rather see Hamilton have to fight for the win than do it practically uncontested. I am finding myself more interested in the battles taking place down the field.

I completely agree with this. While I don't want to take anything away from him, Hamilton has been very fortunate so far. I'm not saying his seven podiums out of seven races (including 2 wins) was achieved by chance but, rather, the circumstances he's in has been conducive for success. McLaren is very strong this year and the MP4-22 has been reliable. His ability to withstand pressure has given him an edge over Al0nso but we haven't really seen how he would handle difficult situations like car troubles or charging from the back of the pack, etc... He probably can do it, but I really want to see it THIS season.

[novass]

Originally Posted by TopGearNL Originally Posted by novass ^^ Did you see the pigeon that got creamed too? That damn thing disintegrated Haha, yeah it reminded me of this actually http://video.google.nl/videoplay?doc...arch&plindex=0 :shock:

HAHA ya I remember that. Silly rabbit....

Originally Posted by blue8 Originally Posted by novass As much as I like Hamilton and would like to see him win, this is getting a little boring. I would rather see Hamilton have to fight for the win than do it practically uncontested. I am finding myself more interested in the battles taking place down the field. I completely agree with this. While I don't want to take anything away from him, Hamilton has been very fortunate so far. I'm not saying his seven podiums out of seven races (including 2 wins) was achieved by chance but, rather, the circumstances he's in has been conducive for success. McLaren is very strong this year and the MP4-22 has been reliable. His ability to withstand pressure has given him an edge over Al0nso but we haven't really seen how he would handle difficult situations like car troubles or charging from the back of the pack, etc... He probably can do it, but I really want to see it THIS season.

Ya I just want to see a little more action. Hopefully someone will step up and give him a run for his money because at this rate we don't even need to watch the race to know who's gonna win, we can just watch qualifying.

[sameerrao]

I agree with Dani. The only questions in my mind are: How good a car developer is he? And can he handle a poor handling car - be still able to score good points finishes with it? Both super strengths of Schumi.

I believe Hamilton will do well in these criteria too. It's just a matter of him facing these situations.