Lewis Hamilton!!!!!!!!

robthehungrymonkey

When you think of where Kovaleinen (who im sure will come good) has been placing in arguably the best car, when Vettel/Alonso/Kubica have outpaced him, I think it shows how competitive this season has been.

Next year, with massive rule changes, and with hopefully Honda being up there (Ross Brawn effect, and writing off this season before it started to concentrate on 2009), BMW and Renault also looking good. We could have 4/5 teams capable of competing at the top end.

There was a stat I heard a few races ago, that it was the most similiar the pace between the top 15 cars as it has ever been in the history of the sport.

People romanticise the past, at the moment, it's pretty much as competitive as it's ever been. With both the last 2 world championships being decided by 1 point on the final day being proof of that.

Schumachers dominance seems to have given F1 this public image that it's ALL down to the best car. Everything else is a procession.

robthehungrymonkey

dondare wrote:

British cyclists won their weight in gold medals this weekend. Vicky won three.

Anyone see a damn' thing about that on the news? In the papers?

I think they'll get way more coverage than any other track cyclists ever before.

I think at the end of the day, F1 is more popular. Maybe not on a cycling forum, but...

Parsnip49

I have to laugh at the response to somthing like this on this forum.

NEWSFLASH - MORE PEOPLE IN THE UK CARE ABOUT F1 THAN TRACK CYCLING

Im not knocking Hoy at all, but isnt sports personality a BBC thing - payed for by the general public where they have to think of the masses.

If Alan Mcnish won it you would all go "who?" but he would fully deserve it, not really the point though, is it?

Next year may be closer due to less aero and slicks, but i doubt it, the KERS system will mean that the teams with megabucks will get ahead. I would put big money on beemer and kubica next year.

robthehungrymonkey

Parsnip49 wrote:

Next year may be closer due to less aero and slicks, but i doubt it, the KERS system will mean that the teams with megabucks will get ahead. I would put big money on beemer and kubica next year.

Still sounds good, Megabucks would include Honda and Toyota. I think Renault should be decent too, and added to the top 3 of BMW, Ferrari and Macca... Sounds good to me.

The worry is for the independants, Williams mainly.... The talk of the bigger teams supplying whole drivetrains to further reduce costs seems like a good idea though, the first one for a while.

Mettan

SCR Pedro wrote:

Hey there,

I am amazed that Sebastian Loeb's far greater achievment has received almost no press. What the hell? He's only the most successful rally driver ever.

Yes, Sebastian is a "genius" (and the most gifted multi-surface driver). For want of a better term, Loeb's essentially the "Best driver" on the planet at the moment (most in the know would agree with this). And congrats to Lewis for consistently performing under pressure throughout the season - he's a worthy winner of this years championship.

dondare

Parsnip49 wrote:

I have to laugh at the response to somthing like this on this forum.

NEWSFLASH - MORE PEOPLE IN THE UK CARE ABOUT F1 THAN TRACK CYCLING

Im not knocking Hoy at all, but isnt sports personality a BBC thing - payed for by the general public where they have to think of the masses.

Nothing to stop the BBC from devoting a few minutes to it or the papers from giving it a mention. No-one would mind being told that Britain could win 14 gold medals in one sport over one weekend, even if they weren't themselves cyclists.

Mettan

Paul Wind-Up wrote:

It simply means that Hamilton will now win BBC Sports Personality of the Year, on the only year when a cyclist ever stood a remote chance. Now he has won, Hoy will get 3rd (behind Adlington, because she is English and he is not) and cycling will slide back into anonymity once again. And F1 will have its 7th win.

Gutted.

Becky might still get it - she got Janet Evans's World record (longest standing) in the eight and faced huge competition in the four (and won both, becoming a Double-Olympic champion). Not sure about Chris's competition in some of the events, although he deserves to be knighted (he's done alot for the Sport over the years). Lewis consistently performed well but had an exceptional car.

toshmund

Find it strange how it was glossed over in the ITV coverage, how much time Glock lost on that last lap. If the boot had been on the other foot, and Felippe Massa had needed to finish 5th - and miraculously made up something like 18 seconds on the last lap. We would be in the middle of a right old furore! Cannot say I have seen any papers/media coverage of it since, but has it been explained why the Toyota slowed down so much? Surely not pit lane politics, and Toyota would prefer it to go to McClaren than Ferrari - told Glock to slow down, etc etc?

Vivid

Toshmund wrote:

Find it strange how it was glossed over in the ITV coverage, how much time Glock lost on that last lap. If the boot had been on the other foot, and Felippe Massa had needed to finish 5th - and miraculously made up something like 18 seconds on the last lap. We would be in the middle of a right old furore! Cannot say I have seen any papers/media coverage of it since, but has it been explained why the Toyota slowed down so much? Surely not pit lane politics, and Toyota would prefer it to go to McClaren than Ferrari - told Glock to slow down, etc etc?

Not when he's running a Ferrari engine.

fto-si

Vivid wrote:

Toshmund wrote:

Find it strange how it was glossed over in the ITV coverage, how much time Glock lost on that last lap. If the boot had been on the other foot, and Felippe Massa had needed to finish 5th - and miraculously made up something like 18 seconds on the last lap. We would be in the middle of a right old furore! Cannot say I have seen any papers/media coverage of it since, but has it been explained why the Toyota slowed down so much? Surely not pit lane politics, and Toyota would prefer it to go to McClaren than Ferrari - told Glock to slow down, etc etc?

Not when he's running a Ferrari engine.

Glock running a Ferrari engine????? What in a Toyota????

Or have I misunderstood here?

dsmiff

Pretty sure the team award will go to cycling unless of course it is for the GB Olympic team?

If Hamilton doesn't get sports personality I’d be very surprised fantastic driver, still not the complete article (needs to keep his head, and I think we all knew he would make it difficult for himself this weekend or is it just Mclaren?), but what a talent and he proved that you can overtake in F1. Massa though impressive hasn’t really brought anything new into F1, he has just put in some solid performances in what I think has been the better car (Ferrari did after all win the constructers).

I remember when Mansell won it for "not" winning the title - now there was a genuine personality - at the time I hated him as it attracted the "football" element into F1, Silverstone was never the same. I remember speaking to a guy in the grandstand and had to tell him that Martin Brundle was also a British driver, kind of summed up a lot of the crowd..

Vivid

fto-si wrote:

Vivid wrote:

Toshmund wrote:

Find it strange how it was glossed over in the ITV coverage, how much time Glock lost on that last lap. If the boot had been on the other foot, and Felippe Massa had needed to finish 5th - and miraculously made up something like 18 seconds on the last lap. We would be in the middle of a right old furore! Cannot say I have seen any papers/media coverage of it since, but has it been explained why the Toyota slowed down so much? Surely not pit lane politics, and Toyota would prefer it to go to McClaren than Ferrari - told Glock to slow down, etc etc?

Not when he's running a Ferrari engine.

Glock running a Ferrari engine????? What in a Toyota????

Or have I misunderstood here?

I managed to misread a whole chapter lol, ignore everything i said.

I was referring to Toro Rosso's engine contract with Ferrari.

Lagavulin

dsmiff wrote:

... Ferrari did after all win the constructers.

I reckon you've got to attribute a chunk of that to Heikki. Yes he had a nasty smash at Barcelona and bore the brunt of the McLaren reliability issues but he's had at least the second best car on the grid at most races and frequently trailed in 5th thru 8th or even out of the points. I reckon Ron Dennis thought he was buying another Kimi or Hakkinen and will be rather disappointed with his new found Finn.

stage_fright

The BBC will go large on Lewis at SPOTY just to talk up the fact that they have the Formula One coverage in 2009. If we then take into the account the fact that we are dealing with the audience who voted a minor royal as the winner a couple of years back after the Beeb told them what she had done all year - I would expect no one else to have a chance (even though Lewis is a worthy contender).

Mark Alexander

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/camb ... 705686.stm

robthehungrymonkey

Toshmund wrote:

Find it strange how it was glossed over in the ITV coverage, how much time Glock lost on that last lap. If the boot had been on the other foot, and Felippe Massa had needed to finish 5th - and miraculously made up something like 18 seconds on the last lap. We would be in the middle of a right old furore! Cannot say I have seen any papers/media coverage of it since, but has it been explained why the Toyota slowed down so much? Surely not pit lane politics, and Toyota would prefer it to go to McClaren than Ferrari - told Glock to slow down, etc etc?

I think ITV ran out of time at the end. The race started 10 minutes late, but the coverage finished on time (i think).

Glock was slower because the last lap was one lap too many for his dry tyres. Although, he did still make up places from not changing like everyone else. The only other car on dry tyres was Trulli, who incidentally was slower than Glock on the final lap.