Moderators: Bill_Abner, ScoopBrady
Back brace. Protects the rider's upper spine during a fall.Rodster wrote:Hey guys what's with the hump on the back of a Moto GP rider? Is it for aerodynamics or to protect their heads during a fall?
I'm not too sure how to read it, but I'm inclined to think it's not quite as overwhelming as it might seem. Put it this way, he's not exactly riding a wave of goodwill among the larger member clubs - Germany's ADAC and the USA's AAA are threatening to withdraw from the FIA, Britain's MSA are 'respecting the decision' which is some way short of an overwhelming endorsement (Damon Hill, in his role as president of the BRDC, has already been quite vocal in his displeasure), and the Japanese are known to be quite unhappy too. The perception - and it's easy to believe this given the number of larger clubs against him - is that Max is surviving on the back of support from the smaller FIA member clubs, those with whom he has close links and with whom the FIA have financial ties, and since it's one vote per club regardless of size, that'd be enough.Rodster wrote:I'm surprised Mosley was overwhelmingly asked to stay after all the ruckus about the teams and Bernie asking him to step down. He has done some good things for the sport and one of them has been safety, no question.
Lewis is becoming more of a prat as the pressure increases. His insouciant apology to Raikkonen was a joke:GB_Simo wrote:Watching the highlights as I type, I'm struck by the efforts of ITV's interviewers to blame someone else for Hamilton's disregard of the pit exit procedure. "Should the team not have been telling you there was a red light?" they asked, and while they may have a point it doesn't excuse neglecting to ask whether Lewis should have seen the light himself or whether the sudden increase in closing speed might not have given him a clue. Saying that, a ten place grid penalty for France seems fairly harsh on Lewis and ludicrously harsh on Rosberg.
Constructors Points after Montreal, 2007:GB_Simo wrote:One thing I have noticed is that Fernando Alonso seems to be rising in people's estimation almost retrospectively, as if there's something about 2008 that's throwing his 2007 into focus. Given that McLaren are so far looking stronger than last year pretty much everywhere they race, at least on pace if not raw results, and that the 2008 Renault is yet to qualify highly while running anything like a sensible front-running fuel load, I'm not totally certain what that's all about.
Lewis ruined Raikkonen's race, yet showed little remorse for it. As Jimmy said, Hamilton is lucky that it was the phlegmatic Raikkonen he cornholed -- otherwise there could have been some real fireworks. That would have been nice to see.GB_Simo wrote:Bearing in mind that Hamilton's interview was conducted for the benefit of a worldwide audience and not Kimi Raikkonen, is it not enough to publicly state you've apologised and leave it there? Lewis felt he could have won the race, and said so - if that's his belief, and he was far enough in front pre-safety car to make that belief reasonable enough, then I'm alright with that. Quite how that, and the rest of the interview, then becomes not showing Kimi enough respect is something I'm afraid I need explaining to me.
That's what i've been saying for a while that Fernando took McLaren over the top last year and Lewis greatly benefited from his experience in setting up the race car. You can see him as the trash bucket Renault keeps moving up the qualifying grid.pk500 wrote: If anything, Hamilton's shoddy driving this season is making Fred Alonso look good. Let's face it: Alonso did masterful development work last year for McLaren, and Hamilton benefited from it with an almost faultless season. Now that Lewis is charged with the lead in development and is the team leader, we're seeing some chinks in the armor.
Take care,
PK
I did say that in terms of raw results, there'll be nothing there to back me up, but I don't just post these things blithely, mate. What I'll say in response is that the first McLaren home in Turkey last year was 26.1 seconds away from winning, as compared to 3.7 seconds this year on a disadvantaged strategy, and that from 7.2 seconds behind a coasting Raikkonen in Melbourne last year, the team won at a canter this year. As last year they won Monaco, Hamilton's pole margin in Canada was large last year and larger this year, and Spain (safety car), Malaysia (qualifying penalties) and Bahrain (Hamilton/Alonso accident) can't be fairly compared. Where their position relative to the opposition can be reasonably judged, I continue to maintain that they're closer. That Hamilton keeps hitting things and Kovalainen's car falls apart every hour on the hour is neither here nor there for these purposes, though inevitably the points scored are fewer as a result.pk500 wrote:How do you see the 2008 McLaren-Mercedes outperforming last year's car? I'm really struggling to see that, mate, by any measure -- pure pace or race performance.
If the car's getting better, though, then Piquet's getting worse. Not that it's impossible, mind...Rodster wrote:That's what i've been saying for a while that Fernando took McLaren over the top last year and Lewis greatly benefited from his experience in setting up the race car. You can see him as the trash bucket Renault keeps moving up the qualifying grid.
How small do you suppose Lewis felt at that precise moment?Rodster wrote:I cracked up when Kimi patted him on the back and pointed towards the pitlane lights.
It's not like Button has faced tough teammates since joining Honda in 2003:Smurfy wrote:By-the-way, I suspect I'm the only person in these forums who still rates Button quite highly as a driver. He's fared quite well against his teammates since his arrival at BAR/Honda and I can't think of a cleaner, fairer racer.
