Thoughts on the Italian Grand Prix

[Tim]

Juan Pablo Montoya won his 2nd race of the season from start to finish (apart from the first pit stop). Just a few laps from the end he had a problem with his left rear tyre but managed to keep going and stay ahead of Alonso.
Kimi Raikkonen started from 11th and got stuck behind Villeneuve. He pushed hard once Villeneuve pitted but he had to make an extra stop to change his left rear tyre. Despite that he was catching Fisichella for 3rd before spinning and losing 4th to Trulli. Amazingly he managed to take 4th back and close in on Fisichella.
Fernando Alonso once again drove a perfect race but his car isn't as fast as the McLaren. To finish second and ahead of Raikkonen would be the best he'd hoped for.
Giancarlo Fisichella had a good race and recovered from his mistake in qualifying to finish 3rd.
The 2 Toyotas of Trulli and Ralf made it 5th and 6th and were 'best of the rest'.
Antonio Pizzonia who replaced Nick Heidfeld on Saturday morning managed 7th. An excellent result considering the circumstances and the fact that he was the first out in qualifying.
Jenson Button showed promise in qualifying yet struggled in the race and only managed 8th.
Ferrari had a poor result at their home race finishing 10th and 12th!

Amazing reliability with all the cars finishing the race!

Your thoughts ?

[Andre_Brasil]

Kudos to Alonso and to Renault.
This one is over... how unlucky can a man be?
I am old enough to have seen Chris Amon who was considered the most unlucky racer of his time.
Kimi beats him by far...

Another unlucky one this Sunday: Barrichello. He was doing very well for a Bridgestone racer and he would certainly score 1 or 2 points. It was a pity.

And how about Webber and Sato cruising through the pits side-by-side? I think both of them should have been penalized. If they touched there were people around that could get hurt.

Congrats to Pizzonia: a strong performance after such a long time from his last testing. It's a pity no team seems to be interested in him.

The McLaren's are on their own league. Kimi's pole with such a heavy load was astonishing. Unfortunately it's too late.
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Andre Bertrand
aabc01
Brasil

[mlittle]

Andre's right....I mean, what else can happen to Kimi? At Nurburgring, he's leading on the last lap when his suspension fails; here, his 1-stop strategy goes up in shredded rubber when his tire starts coming apart. At least now, it's become like a old-school 15-round heavyweight bout with a few rounds left. Unfortunately for Kimi, his luck ran dry today....and, barring any disasters, Alonso will be the WDC for 2005.
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[sgd]

Good Race! JPM winning was great, those final laps were really high-tension!!! Great!
Sad to see Kimi misfortunes... it would be a GREAT final races, would Kimi got closer to Alonso....
I don't agree with Andre_Brasil about MW-TS been penalized... I in fact liked it a lot! it's about raciong!

Pizzonia - Driver of the day!! no doubts.

BAR surprised me Also Toyota!!
about bad luck? Sato!

MCLAREN FOR CWC!!!!!!!!!!!! GO MCLAREN!!!!!!!
TOYOTA FOR 3RD IN THE CWC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO TOYOTA!!!!!!!

[lemon_martini2]

During the race I was sheltering in a Kids'Pirate tent with fellow picnicers trying to avoid the torrential rain coming down.I then managed to create havoc on the croquet pitch and then found I had locked myself out and had to scale a ladder,remove a pane of glass and climb through the bedroom window.

Oh and the race.Not bad-not exactly a classic.Pity the retirement rate is so low this year.10 years ago,you got 12 or 15 cars retiring in a race.And sort out the aerodynamics for next year so folks can pass each other.
Still,it's a new name on the winners'roll for this year.And it makes a nice historical quirk.Roll on Spa.I dread to think where I shall be watching that from...
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[Julian Mayo]

Sorry Andre, Kimi needs to have victory taken from him a couple more times before he can match Chris Amon.
Drive of the day? In the cicuit race Pizzonia; in the drag race Webber
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The Mountain is a savage Mistress.

[JayVee]

That was a good race all the way to the end.

Although I wouldn't have minded seeing Alonso The Cute win, I am very happy with second Alonso was nearly matching Montoya all race. He squeezed everybit of performance out of that car!
Raikkonen, unlucky. Ok well isn't he lucky that his engine didn't fail 4 laps later ? Isn't he lucky that his engine has failed him when he is able to recover ? Didn't Montoya have a similar number of failures this year ?
If driver style cannot cause engines to fail I'd say Sato last year was really unlucky!
Raikkonen's tyre problem was because of his one stop strategy, his car was just too heavy.
His spin was unlucky too ?

And those who started a rumour about Alonso punting off Raikkonen, well he had a chance but he as always is a gentleman!

Good to see a Williams score points

Barrichello pitting for a tyre, reckon that was a team order

The title at Spa is very possible
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I'm back and yes supporting Alonso "The Cute" in the Ferrari!

[JayVee]

Oh and the TV commentary sucks!

Even Brundle who I used to respect is starting to sound like the crazy James Allen.

How biased can you get! Button was going backwards in the BAR yet "he is looking strong here"
And all the "feel sorry" for Raikkonen. Just because he is driving for McLaren!

We need unbiased reporters or at least decent Aussie ones, at least then it is our coverage our commentators (and julian will be happy with all the Webber talk then )!
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I'm back and yes supporting Alonso "The Cute" in the Ferrari!

[F1greyhound]

Well,

our czech commentator was telling us that Ralf had passed both Ferraris after 3 laps...........took him until lap 11 before he reported the correct order without any comment how Ralf had been passed again........thats just 1 example, the man is free of understanding F1 big way. Jesus, this guy really sucks, he is even worse than the german RTL guy!

The race, well you cant but give the drive of the day to Kimi, a devastating pace and unlucky to lose a victory here due to his tyre problem. The WDC would probably go Fernandos direction anyway but now the battle is but over.

Another to impress was Antonio who not only replaced Nick really well but actually pretty much put Marks abilities into perspective. Sorry folks from down under, youll have to wait for a WDC from Oz for some time...

Ferrari - disappointing would be an understatement.


Regards, Tomas
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YOURS IN SPORT

[rah]

the antonio v webber battle was over years ago.
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Ok, Lewis may win the WDC in 07, but Sato will beat him in 08.

[Julian Mayo]

[sgd]

Some comments i did before and now from James Allen for those who like to say that Ferrari lack of pace is all up to Bridgestone...

[mlittle]

Normally, I'd disagree with sgd about Ferrari's woes, but I agree with him that Ferrari's performance this year has just been awful. Forget the problems with Bridgestone(Indy notwithstanding) or with the seeming squabbles w/in the team....there needs to be changes within the Scuderia or next year there'll be more disappointment for Ferrari and its' fans. At least with Barrichello going to BAR-Honda he now get a chance at a WDC long denied him due to being Ferrari's 2nd.
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[Kapel]

Brilliant & patient drive from Montoya!!!
May he win all the remaining races this year & close on Kimi in championship!!!

Well done Alonso. A calm & composite drive from the youngest F1 champion.It would be nice if he could win the championship with a win.
Fisi drove really well for his third & deserves well for 4th position in WDC.

Kimi's race was unfortunate if one looks at a strategy he went for & the risk he took eco-driving in the first part of the race.I'm suprised to see similar tyre problem on the Mclarens,who were considered to be one of the most leniant on tyres

Toyota didnt impress me,but it'll good for them to be ahead of Ferrari by the end of the season.

Pizzonia did brilliantly,wonder where Webber got stuck

Loved the first part of the race when Rubinho didnt let Michael pass,even when Schumi was faster.!!!!! Shame he couldnt finish in points

BAR is not cut out for lowdownforce anymore ...

Reliability of cars have increased tremendously(except mercedes )
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An F1 Idiot!!!

[Julian Mayo]

Webber got a crinkled car.
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The Mountain is a savage Mistress.