Grand Prix Rejects

bighaydo

Mine was waking up in Melbourne, heading down to breakfast and finding the newspaper in the hotel lobby about Lewis Hamilton being busted for 'hooning'... ...then watching him from the granstand run a practice start in 3rd practice, with the circuit commentator telling us all he was "about to d...

bighaydo

...also might have influenced his mindset a little bit too. If he wasn't at his peak physically he mightn't have felt capable of extracting that little bit more that would have put him ahead of Vettel.

bighaydo

I've always gathered that the team bosses have this 'guy up front' mentality and wouldn't be able to see past the first couple of rows... so guys like Kovy or Koby wouldn't get a look in. My initial thoughts were that Massa was a little high up the list (which is a shame, because I wanted him to get...

bighaydo

Geez - I might be a rookie with a mountain bike but at least I don't come off so often! Mark's driven with injuries before, I remember him having a cracked rib at the beginning of 2005 as well as throughout 2009. Really hope he didn't throw away that shot at the title when he should have been wrappi...

bighaydo

Not sure if anyone's seen this one yet, but Autosport took a poll from the Team Principals and came up with the top 10 drivers for 2010: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88556 So, fresh from the prat perch: 1. Alonso 229 2. Vettel 220 3. Hamilton 196 4. Webber 146 5. Kubica 129 6. Button ...

bighaydo

Sauber010 wrote:I dislike how Helmet Marko will be stepping on the podium.

+1

bighaydo

I'm going to nominate Bridgestone - mainly because it's the last chance we'll get, but also that after all that time in F1, they didn't seem to be able read their tyres: something that was due to last 8 laps sure looked pretty handy underneath Jenson/Lewis/Sebastian. I guess Webber and Ferrari didn'...

bighaydo

There was a brilliant one from the local TV director on One HD in Brazil... Hamilton comes into the pits just as the music played to go to a commercial break. Despite the crew on the ground saying it was really important where he fed out onto the track, we got to see the pit stop right up to where h...

bighaydo

Also: Webber allegedly shooting his mouth off about favouritism - good thing or bad thing?

At least it sounds like he's bringing some aggro this weekend...

bighaydo

That Renault front wing endplate is looking less and less like a 'plate', but I suppose if it all lines up when viewed from below it should be fine... I know that Brawn got an early advantage last year for paying attention to this part of the car, and good to see Renault bringing updates this late i...

bighaydo

I think the last time that the local authorities meddled with the race weekend was in Australia in 2005 - Minardi received an injunction to run their cars to 2004-spec and all hell broke loose... they were threatening to take F1 away from Australia and all sorts. Funny thing about this game - they'l...

bighaydo

Hey everyone... apols for the late 'check in'. I've been around this site for a while now, and having seen the Paul Stoddart memorial forum I did as the Romans (Australians) do and started throwing my opinions around whether people liked it or not! I'm Hayden, from the NSW Central Coast of Australia...

bighaydo

The change was made under the current reliability upgrade system, not safety (and, for once, this really was about reliability and not a roundabout way of eking out more power). Whoops - I glanced at something about that a while back and must have got it mixed up with something else... Should be in...

bighaydo

It would be pretty low if they are copying from here - they would probably call themselves a professional journalist too!! But even if they are lifting stuff off this site, it is a testament to the quality of the writing here. Some of the articles and race reports here are a lot better than a lot of...

bighaydo

I just hope Red Bull are approaching this weekend with a 'Plan B'. If Vettel isn't in a strong enough position compared to Alonso, or if it is going to be a close run thing, they might need to throw the switch and back Mark mid-race. There would almost certainly be some attrition in the boardroom if...

bighaydo

I've noticed that Williams have been making some positive noises about Hulkenburg of late, but the rumours persist on the pay driver front. Maybe Williams are trying some reverse-marketing to see if there are any takers, and maybe get some more money if someone is interested in buying him out of his...

bighaydo

JV took a bit of a brusing on the first lap in race 1 - he got hit 4 times before the second corner! Unfortunately was a little anonymous from there, but good to see him enthused about racing for the first time in a long time. Biggest surprise for mine of the ex-F1 brigade was Sebastien Bourdais, he...

bighaydo

At least with Minardi they actually had a go at developing the car instead of bringing a one-size-fits-all package to every race... I don't know how much you could improve on the Dallara but they could at least try! Minardi used to be the first stop for all of the tech directors on a race weekend, b...

bighaydo

One of the favourite sayings of the Australian commentators is "The action is just heating up here at *insert track here*, so we will go to a commercial break. Don't go away." They are outstanding like that... My other favourite is "Don't go away, the pitstops for the leaders will be...

bighaydo

You mean the Dipper? But year most of the run down the hill is nigh-on impossible in an open wheeler with the low ride-height and all... I wouldn't mind seeing F1 at Surfers just for a one-off event to see how it goes. Yes, the Dipper. Thanks! And Surfers Paradise. Now that would be a really attrit...

bighaydo

I thought Heikki was doing alright against Lewis in the early stages of 2009 - but McLaren weren't winning so no-one noticed. Lotus seem to be going all out for 2011 - they'll have the Red Bull Technologies gearbox mated to the Renault engine, so they should be able to produce a slippery back end to...

bighaydo

Did Prost intend on taking Senna out in 1989? It is hard to say. True, he did turn into the corner is a slightly odd way, and the fact that he got out of the car so quickly does perhaps seem odd. m This is the footage I was referring to earlier in this thread. Just look at the onboard from 00:50. B...

bighaydo

The things I never liked about some commentators was making their biases clear by making excuses for them... I'll always remember Murray insisting Damon Hill having a problem at Estoril in 1996 - he sure did -- his teammate destroyed him!! Admittedly there will always be a touch of parochialism in a...

bighaydo

Bernie will probably send his circus to whatever country is willing to divert taxpayer resources to fund it, but I suppose there was a reason for the Global Survey conducted at the end of 2009 and I hope it was to find out what the fans wanted from a market research perspective... but knowing how su...

bighaydo

a glory-seeking Manchester United type fan I hate people like that, and people who jumped on the Button bandwagon during 2009. ...or worse, the people that jumped on the Hamilton bandwagon from 2007 (with a complete disregard to the established stars and the sport's history!). I think that 'The Goo...

bighaydo

Weird thing is about Suzuka 1989 - what was the specific reason for Senna being DQ'd at the end? Was it for receiving external assistance, dangerous driving or for omitting the Casio Triangle when he rejoined the racetrack? I've heard accounts on all sides of the equation... I know Jean Marie Balest...

bighaydo

About the 1990 accident, Massa got away without a penalty in 2010... but I suppose they would have been far more draconian if the title was on the line and Liuzzi was in contention... 1989 - to my eye that was always Prost's fault - he was probably in a less generous mood about when Senna would send...

bighaydo

BTW, I now understand why the last section is so twisty... it's to negotiate between the skyscrapers and marina that AREN'T THERE. Bahaha.. that would make sense, even on the new Codemasters F1 2010 game, there's still large construction cranes on the track-side with the skeletons of structures-to-...

bighaydo

Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:2) How many tyre companies have been involved in Formula 1? Name all of them

This was in an old copy of F1 Racing I was reading the other day, so I know the answer... won't spoil the fun just yet, though!

bighaydo

In other words, design it for the spectators at the track. For sure for people at the track: when you're sitting in the stands it feels like seeing the F1 cars putting in laps it is such a rarity - even more so if you're trying to get some decent photos at the same time... Only problem with this is...

bighaydo

Dunno about you guys, but each race is making me a little nervous - anything can happen here! I just hope that we're not watching the Turkish GP played out over a full season... We have Korea next, which having driven it on F1 2010 is an unknown quanity - the two long straights in the first sector w...

bighaydo

Lewis Hamilton's lap was not only in the wet, but there was also OIL in certain patches on the course, Jezza was test driving a VXR Monaro and it emptied itsellf. I have a feeling he may return and if the track is dry he's going to beat Rubens' time. You sure that wasn't just a beat up by the BBC??...

bighaydo

I'm seeing the Australian race go to a few venues here: Mt Panorama, Albert Park, Adelaide... great circuits all. Would anyone vouch for an F1 twilight/night race at Surfer's Paradise? I went to a couple of Indy races there and the party scene is electric.. sure the circuit is a goat track, but this...

bighaydo

Teams favouring one driver over another. Theres plenty of anecdotal evidence emerging regarding the situation at RBR some of which go back to the Nurgburgring last year. Crazy. Anybody with eyes, ears and a reasonable knowledge of F1 must understand that this isnt how to get the best out of a drive...

bighaydo

They need Rubens as the no. 2 driver at Red Bull next year. hmmm... i thought Rubens was doing OK as number 1 at Team Willy at the moment. For all his promise as the "next-next Schumacher", Hulkenberg isn't doing that well. Could there be a number of times that Rubens outqualifies him by ...

bighaydo

My ROTR initially have been Vettel, although Helmut Marko has now taken the cake with his one-eyed view (whuh-oh!) on the incident between the Red Bull cars.

Either that or Di Grassi... the first man to be legitimately out-qualified by one of the HRT cars!

bighaydo

Not a good result for Red Bull... just about every commentator that was watching (bar Eddie Jordan, who must surely be looking to preserve any tenuous links he has to the sport in this day and age?) laid the blame at Vettel's door for the accident. I'll admit I'm a Webber fan, but I'm absolutely inc...

bighaydo

There aren't many who can do it. There's Tilke, obviously, who has the most experience, but competition is thin on the ground. Apex Circuit Design is one, but they've got a bit of a bad reputation since some of their projects in Russia and the Middle East have been late, and they pretty much design...

bighaydo

I reckon this season has a 1997 feel to it... that year Williams didn't exactly get off the the best start with a couple of silly mistakes despite easily having the best car. They consolidated around the Spanish GP and the rest of the pack slowly caught up towards the end...

bighaydo

The Autosport article mentions how Tilke has only been brought in to take a look at the circuit and has only recommended a couple of minor circuit changes (i'm guessing run-off areas and the like) and some infrastructure improvements (obviously the hotels, etc) so clearly the circuit itself must be...

Search found 45 matches