Malaysian GP Race discussion

[CarlosFerreira]

what would happen with bernies medal system if the race only goes half the distance ??
will they only get half a medal (will they need to cut them before the presentation) or will they get a full medal

Maybe they'd get a diploma for participating.

[RejectSteve]

What would be the advantage of crawling around behind the safety car? Is that somehow more interesting to spectators than the cars sitting on the pit straight? I can't think of anything more ridiculous than sending the drivers out to complete 12 laps in those conditions just to get to the 75% distance.

I was thinking back to the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix when the safety car lead the first 20-odd laps. Starting the race under the safety car and finishing are two completely different things but it isn't like we never finished behind a Mercedes before. At the two hour mark, the only problem would have been the dark.

Ending a race early when it didn't have to raises my ire and smells of NASCRAP.

[ImissJORDAN]

Incidentally, did you see the interview BBC did with Bernie. He looked a bit frail, I thought.

...

I also enjoyed the following bit of commentary, Legard - 'Gosh, he's spun off AGAIN', Brundle, - 'Its a replay Jonathan'.

Good race, pity it was cut short.

Hah! That was painful. Proof that Legard is trying to be you know who. Legard's a hell of a lot better than James Allen, but still plays at being Murray Walker a bit too much for my tastes.

Bernie really is looking frail, quite hunched, and also sounds a bit more despondant than any time I've ever heard him speak before. As for the race, I thought it was a super showcase of the new regulations, in terms of overtaking, cars clearly using KERS on the back straight in the dry, and just generally a far more interesting new F1 order.

[McLaren Racing]

Raikkonen having an ice cream and Coke while everybody was out, wet and shivering, waiting for a restart!

Kimi is my hero.

Well, a, seemingly rather confused, ferrari pr man said it was a KERS problem that put Raikkonen out.

[BB01]

What would be the advantage of crawling around behind the safety car? Is that somehow more interesting to spectators than the cars sitting on the pit straight? I can't think of anything more ridiculous than sending the drivers out to complete 12 laps in those conditions just to get to the 75% distance.

I was thinking back to the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix when the safety car lead the first 20-odd laps. Starting the race under the safety car and finishing are two completely different things but it isn't like we never finished behind a Mercedes before. At the two hour mark, the only problem would have been the dark.

Ending a race early when it didn't have to raises my ire and smells of NASCRAP.

Why would you restart a race just so that it could be run under safety car to make up the number of laps? That's not racing to me.

[CarlosFerreira]

I was looking at podium pictures, and it was clearly night! Did you see the shadows behind Button? They couldn't see didly squat on the track!

[Ross Prawn]

Well, a, seemingly rather confused, ferrari pr man said it was a KERS problem that put Raikkonen out.

I don't think he was confused, I just don't think he wanted to admit that Kimi had sodded off. Very cool of Kimi, you had to smile.

[CarlosFerreira]

Well, a, seemingly rather confused, ferrari pr man said it was a KERS problem that put Raikkonen out.

I don't think he was confused, I just don't think he wanted to admit that Kimi had sodded off. Very cool of Kimi, you had to smile.

~

I heard that as well. Kimi did have a couple of KERS problems during free practice and qualifying (the first caused a lot of smoke and him running away from the car). Kimi went through a lot of water after it started raining. Maybe there's some fuse in the car that goes off when there's any short circuit?

[Ross Prawn]

Kimi did have a couple of KERS problems during free practice

Indeed. To be fair to Kimi, I would not have wanted to be sitting on top of a KERS battery in the pouring rain either. These things are not car batteries from the local garage, typically they are full of lithium and all sorts of nasty chemicals, and they run at about 200C. Kimi was quite right to leap out of the car when one started smoking during practice, and pretty brave to drive the thing for half a lap with a burning container of corrosive chemicals about six inches from his private parts.

[CarlosFerreira]

Kimi did have a couple of KERS problems during free practice

Indeed. To be fair to Kimi, I would not have wanted to be sitting on top of a KERS battery in the pouring rain either. These things are not car batteries from the local garage, typically they are full of lithium and all sorts of nasty chemicals, and they run at about 200C. Kimi was quite right to leap out of the car when one started smoking during practice, and pretty brave to drive the thing for half a lap with a burning container of corrosive chemicals about six inches from his private parts.

True. The commentators were saying that over 20 minutes after he parked it, the area still had a foul stench and no-one wanted to be around. Progress hurts.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Might not be race related but this what the championship would have looked like should the race had gone over 75% distance:
Drivers Standings
1. J. Button: 20 points (+5 points)
2. R. Barichello: 12 points (+2 points)
=3. J. Trulli: 11 points (+2.5 points)
=3. T. Glock: 11 points (+3 points +1 position)
5. N. Heidfeld: 8 points (+4 points)
=6. F. Alonso: 4 points (0 points. First driver not to benefit from 75% marker)
=6. N. Rosberg: 4 points (+0.5 points +1 position)
8. M. Webber: 3 points (+1.5 points +1 position)
=9. S. Buemi: 2 points (0 points -1 position)
=9. L. Hamilton: 2 points (+1 point +1 position)
11. S. Bourdais: 1 point (0 points)

Few changes of note:
[*]Trulli and Glock would have been on equal footing should the race reached 75% distance. Trulli is currently half a point ahead
[*]Webber would have leapfrogged Buemi should the race reached 75% distance. Webber is currently behind by half a point.
http://www.f1-facts.com/statistics/regulations_comparison
Play around with the different seasons and regulations and see who would have won under what circumstances

[rffp]

BTW, if F1 would use Berne's "winner takes it all" points system, how would the result count? A full victory for Button or only half victory?

[XurizManson]

Damn, i missed the start! Was 5:00 AM in Brazil at the beggining.

[TomWazzleshaw]

That just made my day Xuriz.
But the truth is Barrichello does have the outright pace to take it to Button. The only problem is Jenson is way more conisitant than Rubens and that is why Jenson is leading the championship and not the other way round.

[XurizManson]

Agreed, dude. I would be happier by seeing Rubinho winning the WDC, but i like to see Jenson destroying all those old paradigms.

[Alianora La Canta]

Under Bernie's rules, the race win would still be a race win as long as at least two laps were completed (less than that and the entire race result is wiped - not that it's happened yet, but the possibility exists in the Sporting Regulations).

[noshpit]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niqb301M46E

another occurence of mclaren bringing sport into disrepute