cdynaco

I was watching practice at Monaco and they had a cam on Alonso doing standing start practice. He typically has pretty good starts. So it was interesting to watch his method. This is my impression:

He starts off with engine revved and really didn't let off the throttle as he upshifted 1,2,3. For the speed before the upcoming corner I think he wanted to stay in 3rd. But when the wheels would start spinning from too much torque, rather than let off the throttle, he would up shift to 4, then 5, so the upshift would stop the wheel spin. Then back down to 4, then 3rd where it seemed he originally wanted to be. Thought that was interesting (and effective).

Maybe they all start that way.



(On a side note off topic, caught a bit of Indy Qualifying. 227mph! Wow!!)

cntchds

Cool to hear about his starting procedure. Too bad he couldn't utilize that during the race. As an aside I found this when browsing some post race interview articles.

I was amazed that Ricciardo was within spitting distance of Alonso, Kimi had just laid down fastest lap of the race, and Ric pulled 15 seconds on Alo in the last 8 laps of the race. I was almost expecting Alo/Ric to be fighting for third by the end, but then Ric just flew away. That quote seems to show why that wasn't the case. No brakes on one side and managed to do several laps to the end. Good on him.

Also, great job by Marussia and Jules Bianchi getting their first points in F1. Big step for a small team, and I'm glad that Bianchi snaked past (bumped his way through?) Kobayashi to get to those points.

I don't know what Kimi was thinking with that pass on Magnussen. Maybe he thought K-Mag wouldn't put up a fight and let him take a wider line, but in my opinion Kimi just ruined the race for the both of them. You take a wide line at the Fairmont Hairpin and it is still at full lock for a lot of it. I don't know how he thought he could take such a tight line and still make that unless he expected to give it a goose to rotate the rear. On one hand I think Kimi was probably thinking "If I don't make this pass, I get no points. If I don't make this turn and hit the wall, I get no points." Maybe worth the risk, but I don't know why you wouldn't just wait until the harbor chicane where it's fairly tried and true to make a pass. Maybe that wasn't possible because of a speed delta between the McLarens to the Ferraris in the tunnel? Who knows.

Anyway, I thought it was the most enjoyable race at Monaco I've seen, and I'd highly recommend it if you missed it. It actually had me awake the entire race (started at 5:00 am here) whereas I fell asleep at lap 8 of Spain which I usually find entertaining.

cdynaco

Watched GP2. They still run V8's!! :musictomyears: (Instead of those fart boxes lolol)

mfc133

One thing's for sure, Hamilton needs to stop whining. His team gets a 1-2 finish and he still pouts the whole weekend.

StangMahn

His complaining stems from the fact he was pretty well screwed over in qualifying when Rosberg went off. He had the fastest sector one time, but wasn't allowed to finish. At a track where passing is mostly impossible, a pole is crucial to winning.

cdynaco

Seems like the rule should be changed that prevents a clean lap when somebody (intentionally or not) screws up in front of you on the last qualifying lap.

cntchds

Indycar (apparently) has a rule where if you cause a yellow then your fastest session time is discarded. This would be a good way to ensure drivers wouldn't intentionally cause yellows.

StangMahn

Agree. And I don't understand the yellow anyway. Rosberg was off track in a designated area. Why the yellow? If he was sideways in Rascasse, then yeah, sure; but this situation? No.

mfc133

I mean I understand why they want stopped cars off the course, but with only a minute left in the session they should have just kept it green.

I don't think it was intentional, he just over-cooked it into that turn. He did the same thing during the race at that same turn, locked his brakes up but was able to recover.

cntchds

The reason there was a local yellow is because the car blocked the runoff area. If another came in too hot after Rosberg they would have plowed into a car rather than being able to use the runoff area safely. I think it was the right call to have yellows there.

StangMahn

That's the thing though, he was off course, down in a run off area.

I'm not thinking it was intentional either, but it could have been. Those guys are good enough to be able to lock it up and make it look convincing.

mfc133

Crazy finish for the Canadian GP. What did you guys think of the Massa-Perez crash? I saw they penalized Perez five grid positions for the next race.

StangMahn

I don't understand the penalty. It was a bad accident, but I think it was hardly intentional.

Hammy just can't get a brake (pun intended) this year. That spark plug issue in Australia, the qualifying debacle in Monaco, and now this. And I really hated it because Rosberg just seemed to give up. I don't think Hamilton ever would have given up to settle for second, especially with the perfect season hanging in the balance like that.

mfc133

I don't know about Rosberg giving up, he was nursing a broken car and he still got a 2nd place finish out of it. He had the same problem Hamilton did, failed MGU-K unit. This caused them to lose straightline speed and overwork the brakes.

StangMahn

I mean giving up in the sense that he pulled over and slowed down to let Ricciardo go by. At least stay in the racing line and make him take it for heavens sake. If it's for 5-6 place, that's one thing, but we're talking about the win here.

MDkid92

thought this was crazy as well. I doubt very much that it was intentional as well, as it looked to be a malfunction with the brakes. But who knows, sucks for him just cause that's a bit of room he needs to make up now. I was also disappointed with Hamiltons race as well.

Moustang

The penalty was totally justified. There is no doubt that Perez went left into Massa rather than following the track through the right hand bend.

cdynaco

I disagree.
I have repeatedly watched it frame by frame the day of the wreck and before this post, as well as again today at Austria practice. Although Perez was easing left, Massa actually momentarily turns into Perez (moves to the right) just before impact and hits his LR tire! If anything Massa should have veered left because he could clearly see Perez was easing left of Vettel.
It's as if Massa was thinking he could undercut (to the right) Perez for a moment because his real focus was setting up for the next turn to seek Vettel, then tried to correct left but it was too late. Boom!
Hence the re-review...

cdynaco

That restart at Silverstone was bogus. Why bother with a safety car if they're not going to keep them paced properly? Where were the Stewards??
In the end it didn't matter but if Nico wouldn't have gone out that gap should not have been allowed.

mfc133

Yeah F1 doesn't quite have the rolling start down like Indy Car does. If that was an Indy race they'd be doing the restart again. Luckily next year they go to standing restarts.