Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

If that can make you feel better, the new car seems to be really stable and safe to drive. No one touched the SAFER barrier in 3 days of open practice and 2 days of rookie orientation.

Problem im fearing is with easy draft it can create pack racing to an extent.

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

In the two races he actually finished, he was in the points, and ahead of his teammate. The races he didn't finish were not his fault.

Its mainly the qualifying performance thats being looked at, in that regard he is being destroyed.

Senna has never really shown any potential now and his had plenty of time, his finished.

Bottas should be in by Silverstone i reckon as long as Maldonado dominates him.

Quote from DieKolkrabe :

Left bracket?

Vasser beats Pruett and Dixon. Andretti beats Wheldon (despite Wheldon getting a lot of support though, he's both more recent and more in the public's memory and Mikey's remembered for his Newman/Haas days) and JPM beats Arie, JPM advances, as does Mikey, JPM to final

Right bracket?

Dario beats Diaz, Marlin beats Rojas (consider this, Sterling was a consistent 2002 Cup contender till his injury), Jamie Mac beats Kimball, Zanardi obliterates Rahal, Zanardi advances past Jamie Mac to semis and final beating out Marlin

I thought they where going by who did the Greatest in a Ganassi?

either way if you went for Greatest Driver it would have to be Montoya, but it would be Zanardi if you went by best Ganassi driver.

Quote from CSF :

Williams looked decent in testing. The Lotus went horribly at Monaco last year, so it's not an outrageous thought to think it will again this season.

That was due to the exhaust design though, it basically sucked on any tight track, im not sure if the track temp is Hot then they should be fast as that seems to be where the car is the strongest.

Quote from Yuri Laszlo :

Let's play this game and choose the best Ganassi driver ever, alright?

https://twitter.com/#!/EGRTeam ... 01303639648763904/photo/1

For the left bracket, I see Vasser beating Pruett and Dixon for a place on the semi-finals, against Montoya - if IndyCar fans have any common sense, they'll remember how crap Wheldon was when with CGR. Montoya has a much larger fanbase do to NASCAR, and is a way better driver, so I think he makes it to the finals against Zanardi, wjo obviously will beat Rahal, McMurray and Franchitti on the other side of the bracket.

Regarding the 500, Alesi seems to be slowly getting the hang of the car. During Practice 1 he was 'only' 11 mph slower than Newgarden, and ahead of Simona, who played the *crappy Lotus engine of the day* card today. Both Rubens and Michel Jourdain Jr. were faster than many veterans, with Rubens staying only 0.0007 seconds behind last year polesitter, Tagliani.

Keep in Mind with Wheldon, he was only good on the Ovals.

I don't have that much grasp on the History but Montoyas Rookie season was quite incredible and that was probably the last year CART had top talent.


Ill probably just say Zanardi.

Genassi has got the leg up on everyone when it comes to Ovals it seems so far.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Good news for your man Bourdais, Mustafur... Dragon is ditching Lotus for Chevy.

With DRR and BHA having already switched to Chevy and Honda respectively, poor HVM are the only full-timers left with Lotus.


Also:

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com ... lotus-signing-with-chevy/



Could this mean a Penske ride for 2013 if SeaBass does well? Replacing Briscoe, perhaps?

Thats essentially want I Ment before the season started, Dragon racing has been used by Roger as kind of like a Torro Rosso for Penske, with Chevy engines he should be able challenge up the front.

Im not really a Bourdais fan, i just want the top drivers in the best seats so we can have good championship battles, its a bit fustrating seeing good drivers like Bourdais, Servia and Pagenaud(even though with Honda engines he can compete) in lowish teams.

Last edited by Mustafur, Mon 7 May 2012, 23:23.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

And also, would you really see Bourdais in a Go Daddy commercial? Not really the kind of personality they are looking for, don't you think so?

Yeah lucky i don't get to see American Commercials from here.

Quote from TFalke55 :

I fear that Bourdais was not choosen due to his Peugeot involvement. He would have missed a couple of races if Peugeot hasn't pulled out of FIA WEC. I could think of GoDaddy.com combining their payments to have just one driver throughout the season.

Hinchcliffe was announced on January 11th. Peugeot pulled out of LeMans racing on January 18th.

You could of bet he knew way before that though.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Michael's driver picks are a bit strange sometimes. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but when you go from Dario/TK/Dan/Herta, to Marco/Danica/Mutoh, you can't expect to stay on top, surely?

Micheal could of Got Bourdais for Danica's seat as that ride had been fully payed for the 2012 season anyway, i know Hinchcliffe is doing pretty good but i think Bourdais would of been good enough to Challange Power considering the car is basically at Penskes level.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Just playing the devil's advocate here, but are we sure that Bourdais would have been on the grid if it wasn't for Lotus?

Here's my point: Lotus has been very supportive to their customer teams, by paying them chassis, and other expenses. Dragon has come a long way during the winter, basically going from a 1 car part-time operation, to a 2 cars full-time team. Without Lotus' help, would have they been able to have 2 cars this year? Let's not forget, unlike Katy Legge, Bourdais is bringing no cheque - even if his presence probably helped Jay Penske to get the 2nd TEAM money program.


But yea, wherever you look at it, this whole Lotus saga is very painful to watch. What a shame to have such talented, likeable teams and drivers wasting their time and their money, due to an outside factor they can't control. Definitely a big black mark on what has otherwise been an excellent season start.

I understand in that regard, but you would think a Driver like that could of Landed an Andretti or KV seat or something.

but yeah he has no money so i get it, hopefully he can show enough(to sponsors) to get in a better team for next year.

First race this season i got to watch fully from flag to flag, and i must say the camera work is Tragic every time there is an incident they show a little bit then cut away to something of no significance and never cut back to it.

Power was never Challenged, Takuma driving epicly with the unusual conclusion of finishing the race.

Franchitti seems to be back on hes game again though so maybe he can come back to mount a challenge later in the season.

Another Pole from Power as it looks like Franchitti has found hes grove again.

I feel sorry for Bourdais, a driver like that shouldn't be driving a car which is equalivent to a virgin or HRT in indy terms.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99235

Quote from IsaacPrice :

Also...Why would Red Bull let them pit the lap before? If they went out into the pits, they would have just pitted too. That and Horner was saying that Kimi would have came out behind Webber. Not sure if that is actually true, though.

when your behnd its easy to sneak your way into the pits without the guy in front of you going in as well.

I guess the term for advantage means short cutting.

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

In the live feed it definitely looked as if Alo had the nose in the second time.

have to agree here, im thinking he lifted once he hit the dirt.

Quote from Mattesa :

From a pace perspective it's pretty clear to me that McL has it the most consistently so far. Ferrari doesn't. Merc, RB, Lotus are somewhere in between and possibly in that order. I can make no claims as to how that'll play out in future race results... Which is why I'm lovin this season so far.

Consistant yes, but they haven't had the fastest overall package since Melbourne, so it proves nothing.

Lotus had the fastest package here from on overall point of view considering how far back they started, its just once the track rubbered in more they lost that advantage, similar to Mercedes in China, only they had the luxury of being at the front of the grid at the start.

I know Ferrari are pretty much out of it right now, but i doubt Mercedes ability to stay up the front in the next few races, they have been quite slow before china, where as Lotus seemed to always had pace only hindered by bad luck and bad strategy.

I think Next race should give a better picture of our front guys but at this point im feeling its Mclaren, Red Bull and Lotus that have the packages to propell out of this group.

Quote from Mattesa :

For a dog of a car Alonso sure is doing well... So far.

The pecking order still seems to lead with McL, despite what happened today.

I disagree, from this point on we have no idea what the **** is going on.

No one has shown that they understand the tyres yet for a period of time, so there is no real indication of whats going on.

This is season is becoming really intresting.

Good job By Ricciardo there.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Who said there will be 4 stops? Apart from Mustafur of course.

A 4 stops race would sure look silly. But if I recall correctly most were predicting 3 stops in China and it turned out that 2 was the way to go. So let's just wait and see shall we?

To be fair though, It was much colder then it was last year, so it wasn't as bad.

Bahrain is in the middle eastern desert which is like the hottest place in the planet, and with sand blowing onto the track the grip is never there.

We haven't seen this track with Pirellies yet so it could be intresting, But this track was pretty bad even on the Bridgestones so im just putting two and two together here.

Lets just say its lucky they are not using the full layout, as the grip on the extended part is tragic.

4 stoppers would be a million times better then the shite we saw in 2010.

Quote from N I K I :

lol what a sheeet, 4 stops hahahah. Bublegum tires would last longer than Pirelli. No srsly why are they so stupid and don't bring some normal tires for conditions. Bringing same bloody tire everywhere, must be someone stupid at that Pirelli. TBH the whole Italy has gone bizarre lately.. Ferrari, Ducati, Pirelli, not good at all.

They where just doing what they where asked to do.

Im expecting 4 stoppers for the race.

Extreme heat and slippery surface will make the tyres burn Significantly faster then China.