Archive for July, 2005

Another opportunity missed. McLaren had 1–2 in the pocket, and then Montoya’s car broke. :( Oh, damn.

After many, many races, we have witnessed a race where McLaren had 101% perfect strategy and they outsmarted everyone, even Ferrari. After the Q, I knew what Ferrari is trying to do. Schumacher had low fuel, and intention was to be at front and to getaway from everybody else on the track where overtaking is practically impossible. There was only one overtaking when Alonso passed one of Minardis and even that close call which says enough.
But what McLaren did was awesome thinking. Knowing that they have a fast car, they gave Kimi low fuel, I believe somewhere close to M.S. This gave Kimi a good starting position, he took advantage of it and passed Juan and Trulli and was able to follow Schumacher. However, no overtake was possible and McLaren called the move of the day: bring Kimi in, very early (lap 11) and give him solid amount of fuel – he stayed 8.3s which was fuel intake for around 20–22 laps – and then let him race across the clear track with no one to slow him down. He was fractionally faster then M.S before the stop (or at least even) and there was no sense to tow behind. Ferrari kept strict to their tactic and gave M.S. lower fuel in first pit (there was no time but I think it was around 6s) with clear intention of getting even further away until the second stop. But no luck.

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Bloody hell…if it isn’t a mechanical failure, then it’s a driver error. When it’s not a driver error, it’s a mechanical failure.
Montoya screw it up yesterday, ruining what could be a very nice start of the race, a long overdue 1–2 McLaren start. But he made it up today, driving good and utilizing the car’s speed to the maximum. He made 8 places in first lap which is great by any standard.
Kimi actually never finished this Grand Prix – he always DNFed for one reason or another. And this year, just like two years ago, he was leading the race, no one could touch him, and then the bitter disappointment. Two years ago was the decisive moment when Schumacher went too far ahead to catch him until the end of the calendar and this time is probably the moment when Alonso goes too far ahead…
Especially when having in mind that next race is Hungary GP, the track I personally dislike (practically no overtaking opportunity at all), track where Renault was always good and track where Alonso got his first victory. I would be surprised if he does not win there again.

Race was not very interesting until the last laps when Fisico got close enough to Schumacher for overtaking. M.S. drove great, not letting him pass for several laps, but the lack of grip he experienced combined with ever lighter Renault made his position impossible to defend. The eventual overtake was quite clear, as Schumacher seem to have realized that the game is over.
Williams continues to struggle, while BAR looks back in the business, although I would still wait at least one more race to really say something affirmative about it. Button’s move to Williams seems pretty bad road to take…Williams starts each season with many difficulties, but manages to find its pace somewhere around middle of the season. This year it seems it’s getting worse.

In other news, Minardi is open for selling, but only if clear numbers are presented, Stoddart says. The F1 itself (actually SLEC that controls F1′s commercial rights) seems to be open for selling – again only if good money is put to the table.