its a tie!

[bbt]

p.s. Pansin ko lang, talagang hindi matanggap ng iba dito that BOTH Schumi and Fisichella had switched down their engine RPM in the final laps when the podium order was already determined -- kahit i-post mo pa yung mismong interview nila. They kept insisting Alonso was beating Schumi with fastest lap times while the Ferrari was running on low rpm. That would be an insult to Alonso, if you ask me.

i think you might have misunderstood what i meant (though i might have implied the wrong things with the way i worded my statements). what i meant to point out when i said that alonso was continually posting the fastest lap times was that he was driving extremely well, and that he achieved second place not merely because fisi let him through, but also because of his skill as a driver. i meant to emphasize that alonso near the end was able to drive continually and progressively faster than anyone had been at ANY point of the race, and i think he should get full credit for that

[CVT]

Agree here that both MS and GF are conserving their respective engines for the Suzuka race. FA should have 'conserved' his, too. IMO, it was a futile chase...

What really 'troubled' me with Renault was the way GF was blocking MS when it was obvious that FA was really off the pace, after their first pitstops. If Ferrari were in that position/strategy,- I could imagine the uproar from everybody. Anyway, they saw it as 'part of the race' yesterday.

Suzuka will be very interesting!


:starwars:

[BoyFerrari]

What really 'troubled' me with Renault was the way GF was blocking MS when it was obvious that FA was really off the pace, after their first pitstops. If Ferrari were in that position/strategy,- I could imagine the uproar from everybody. Anyway, they saw it as 'part of the race' yesterday.

Now that you mentioned it, that incident was really amusing. It was one of the unusual entertaining moments.

Fisichella couldn't believe that Alonso was THAT slow, he nearly collided at Alonso's rear end at the turn because he was coming up too fast.

And then, for nearly a mile or two while blocking Schumacher, you can tell that Fisichella was having second thoughts whether to pass Alonso or not (I think the Renault pit crew was slow to radio him that Alonso was in trouble and it was okay to pass him). Any normal F1 car would easily slingshot itself pass a slow moving car such as this (and even considering this was his teammate and Alonso was not even blocking him). So the trio was stuck in a blocking game for a few miles until Fisichella took the cue and rocketed himself pass Alonso.

That incident was funny to me because I remembered those people who were allergic to team orders, and here you are in broad daylight. This is the first time I enjoyed watching this Shanghai GP. I generally don't like the circuit. It's too wide and there are no interesting landscape or whatsoever.

[weremanok]

i think you might have misunderstood what i meant (though i might have implied the wrong things with the way i worded my statements). what i meant to point out when i said that alonso was continually posting the fastest lap times was that he was driving extremely well, and that he achieved second place not merely because fisi let him through, but also because of his skill as a driver. i meant to emphasize that alonso near the end was able to drive continually and progressively faster than anyone had been at ANY point of the race, and i think he should get full credit for that

Alonso achieved 2nd place merely because Fisichella let him through. Period. Alonso indeed has skill but that did not secure his 2nd place finish. If Raikonnen was running in 2nd place at that time, I doubt that Alonso would be able to erase that 25 sec gap.

[Elroi]

ganda nga ng last race sa shanghai and i'm sure tuloy-tuloy yan sa last 2 races.. both teams (ferrari and renault) are vying for the 1st, 3rd and constructors..

despite having 6 DNFs and not winning a single race, baka magmilagro at humabol pa si kimi sa 3rd..

[bbt]

Alonso achieved 2nd place merely because Fisichella let him through. Period. Alonso indeed has skill but that did not secure his 2nd place finish. If Raikonnen was running in 2nd place at that time, I doubt that Alonso would be able to erase that 25 sec gap.

obviously he wouldn't, because raikonnen is a first driver, while fisi is only a second driver. raikonnen is a much faster driver than fisichella

[ARB]

here's a fact, if Alonso is really that good he could have been the champion by this time of the season! remember the winning run by schumi in 2004. But he is not like Schumi he is just lucky last year and the beginning of the year that Ferrari and Bridegestone were not up to par! If Kimi was not unlucky enough he could have given FA a run for the championship. lets see next year where FA will stand.

[mazdamazda]

what i meant to point out when i said that alonso was continually posting the fastest lap times was that he was driving extremely well, and that he achieved second place not merely because fisi let him through, but also because of his skill as a driver. i meant to emphasize that alonso near the end was able to drive continually and progressively faster than anyone had been at ANY point of the race, and i think he should get full credit for that

IMO you aren't also getting the point of the other posters.

If Alonso passed Fisi (due to the much beloved Team Orders) and drove like a grandma without trying to catch up with Schumi he would still end up in 2nd place. It doesn't matter if he was still 25 or 3 seconds away from Schumi - he still finished 2nd place.

Comparing his end laps to the other parts of the race isn't logical also... I mean he is on slick tires with less fuel and a drying up track at the end portion while during the first part of the race they were using intermediates in wet conditions while having a full fuel load.

Note also that he will be using the same engine in Suzuka (since he blew up his last one). Let's see the reliability of his "worn" engine against the fresher engines of Schumi & Fisi.

No one is disputing the talent of Alonso or of any top driver in F1. But elevating it in light of Ferrari's brilliant pitstop strategy, Schumi's overtaking manuever against Fisi, and Renault's Team Orders for Fisi to stand down is a bit too much for most people here including me.

[empy]

wahehe...bwiset tong Renault team orders nawalan tuloy ng panumbat kaming mga anti-ferrari :hihihi:

[CVT]

I was watching the replay last night. (We do not have electricity nor cableTV during the actual race).

It was really a daring overtake maneuver by MS vs. GF, as he(GF) exited the pit.
Two wheels on the grass.

And GF could have initiated contact,- you know.... Whew!


:starwars:

[IPSG_SlimShady]

Alonso only wasted his engine in the final laps, that's the only thing he accomplished. But I can understand why he did that -- he wanted to be as close to Schumacher as possible in the hope that he can induce Schumi to panic and make a driving error.

But he was simply too far to make any difference. And in fact, evenif Alonso caught up with Schumi, I am sure Michael can block him for 3 more laps and still win the GP (remember, they are driving on the dry racing line to avoid a spin, so Alonso doesn't have much room to overtake anyway).

So tactically speaking, ALonso's "driving-like-hell" effort was foolish.

[Horsepower]

it definitely was

[DoctorDoom]

The fastest lap time ever recorded by a Formula 1 car in the Shanghai Circuit was from Michael Schumacher in 2004. He was clocked at 1'32.238. Compare that with Alonso's 1'37.586 last Sunday. So it's not like Schumacher lacks the skill or car to match Alonso's fast times. And this is not Qualifying, so the drivers are not really paying attention to each others' lap times down to the last millisecond. As long as you are in front, the rest should be at your back eating your dust.

All these praises on Alonso's fastest lap times are just overrated and exaggerated. Scan the Official Formula 1 website and tell me how many record fastest lap times did Alonso had in all the circuits in the calendar. Even Montoya had more fastest lap records than Alonso.

[IMm29]

Go Schumi!

It was interesting to watch how GF and FA bottled up MS when the 3 were just meters apart. Obviously there were 'orders' at that point since it was quite easy for GF to pass FA, but he didn't. But I take my hat off to GF, on his outlap, for resisting the urge to close the door on MS and his 2-wheels-on-grass-manuever.

Nice race. If you had watched it till just the middle part, you would have been surprised with the ending. Same as for the middle runners, 4th - 7th places weren't decided till the end.

[sirmykel]

Agree here that both MS and GF are conserving their respective engines for the Suzuka race. FA should have 'conserved' his, too. IMO, it was a futile chase...

What really 'troubled' me with Renault was the way GF was blocking MS when it was obvious that FA was really off the pace, after their first pitstops. If Ferrari were in that position/strategy,- I could imagine the uproar from everybody. Anyway, they saw it as 'part of the race' yesterday.

Suzuka will be very interesting!


:starwars:

every race is interesting

[BoyFerrari]

Last year, the most exciting race was the Suzuka GP.

This year, the most exciting race so far was the Hungarian GP.

Let's see how Suzuku will perform this time if it can top Hungaroring.

[CVT]

And it's forecasted to rain in Suzuka during qualifying,(and possibly during the race(?))....

Bridgestone needs to burn the midnight oil on their tyre issue!


:starwars:

[vhenok]

Ganda ng race....

OT: Kahit nilalagnat ako nun, akala ni esmi magaling na ako coz panay ang hiyaw ko, bakit daw pag watch ako F1 para akong nanunuod ng boxing...


What a way to end MS's career....a great fight until the last 2 races. At least maganda ang laban ngayon unlike a couple of years back, middle of the season pa lang meron nang champion.

I'm not a fan of neither MS or FA, nor Ferrari or Renault, but I'm a BIG fan of F1 - the game/sport itself period.

With the changes in some rules, I think this was all the result...

A great season....great races and great drivers!

Sana ganito lagi ang F1 in the coming years!

[weremanok]

obviously he wouldn't, because raikonnen is a first driver, while fisi is only a second driver. raikonnen is a much faster driver than fisichella

How much faster? About 8 secs a lap faster? Are you saying that Alonso can only catch up on second drivers?

[bbt]

How much faster? About 8 secs a lap faster? Are you saying that Alonso can only catch up on second drivers?

hindi naman, but he'd have a much harder time catching up to raikonnen than fisi