Quote from peterules :

hehehe! I keep thinking that coz your retired i'm picking up an old man with a walking stick or something.

Also, Lisa said to me last night.... SHOTGUN :/ (I think i'm training her up too well)

I thought I was driving?

Quote from peterules :

lol it would fit perfectly.. I'm probably going to be leaving arounf 2/3 ish so will be on the M4 @ 4pm ish i think. depends how much Stormcloud holds me up lol (just messing mate)

I'll drive fast to catch you up :auto:

Oi!

Canning Town 1:30 ish - no problem!

What exactly is wrong with Steam? I've never had a problem with it.

Quote from BreadC :

how far would i have to deviate from m4?

10 miles ish I think.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f= ... 0.889206&t=h&z=11

It's the wrong side of Bristol for you I think

What's the train service like on Sunday from Cardiff to Bristol? How often, how long etc.

or if anyone with a spare seat if heading Bristol way on Sunday morning then let me know.

The rule is also there so that drivers who haven't yet passed the accident are not disadvantaged as the field is supposed to be neutralised. It can't be a free for all after the crash point as that puts pressure on cars that haven't made it there yet and would be unfair.

Quote from JCTK :

that would also create all sort of mayhem. Because the teams are only allowed one set of pit crew for both cars. It'll end up being a mess with cars queuing, some cars trying to come out, some is driving down the lane normally, some just parked waiting for his turn to enter the pit.

The FIA isn't much better themselves in writing the rule book. The drive through penalty have been around for nearly 10 years already. But it's only this year they finally realised that, shall the equivalent of a drive through is handed after the race, there is no way that it's worth the same time as a 10sec stop go!
And because the FIA has no common sense, a 10sec stop go is worth 25sec, and a drive through somehow worths 20sec...

1 car can pit per team per lap. Bingo. The order will get nicely shuffled as strategies will be split.

Just close the pits until the line has formed. If you are desperate to pit (for damage, puncture etc) then you may do so, but when the field is set for the restart you go to the back of the pack, so you fall behind all those who waited for the pits to open.

There's no issue with people running on fumes with the pits closed and if you close the pits then the only ones that can benefit are those near the bac, thus mixing up the order and promoting overtaking.

That, alas, will only happen once they stop letting the lunatics run the asylum by stopping letting teams write the rulebook.

Quote from JCTK :

They were NOT driving too fast.
The race control would set a "time" which drivers must adhere to on that particular lap when the SC come out. In order to avoid drivers driving too fast into an accident zone.

BUT, all the drivers involved was AHEAD of the crash, some were VERY CLOSE to the pit entry, such as Button. What do you expect them to do? STOP AT THE PIT ENTRANCE to adhere to the time and possibly cause a massive pile up at the pitlane entrance?

Nico Rosberg had the same thing last year, most probably at this same track, and got away unpunished.

If what Button said was correct then he should not have received any penalty, but they cannot all have been at pit entrance and it doesn't matter where they were in relation to the accident - the rules don't state it is a free for all once you're past the accident.

Also, all the guys that drove too fast in safety car conditions get a 5 sec penalty. That doesn't feel right, as they're breaking a safety rule, rather than just a sporting code (like weaving, or passing the safety car).

Maybe there were too many to punish properly, which would've have been 24 seconds (equivalent to a drive through). It does set a precendent maybe and means that it may become a tactical penalty, the gain being greater than the punishment, which is bad for sport.

Quote from three_jump :

Btw, can anyone explain me the idea behind Mercedes strategy for Schumacher?

He starts on hard tires (which can nearly last the whole race, see Kobayashi), pits under SC, a lap after the whole field pitted and changes to SOFT, just to change back a few laps later. Thats just stupid...

He was ahead of Kobayashi at the time, so would have been in-between the first two and the train. That would have given him clear air and the chance to finish 10-15 sec ahead of Kobayashi. Big mistake by Brawn.

After that, it didn't really matter. They took the opportunity to change back to hard tyres to avoid the Montreal thing where he had soft tyres on for way too long.

Quote from peterules :

Will be arriving sometime friday afternoon, hopefully staying till sunday. Planning on missing the traffic so probably be departing from london around mid day.

Any space in Das Bimmer? I'm mulling over what to do. I'm in Southampton on business on Thursday but might take the train to London that afternoon - maybe take in a show, happy-ending massage etc.

Back to topic - seconded!

Pete - when are you driving across?

I hadn't thought about that either!

Looking forward to it aswell

Team orders in place for Red Bull - both slowed considerably as Vettel had gearbox problems, but Webber wasn't in any particular trouble.

Wonder what would have happened if Webber was in front but struggling?

Rider market suggests that Rossi could end up on a Ducati next season. One might surmise that this year's bike is more suited to Rossi than Stoner and they are developing with 2011 in mind...

He'll definitely stick around for the return to 1,000cc

Garry McCoy has left FB Corse now... coincidence?

When McCoy was making monkeys of the best riders in the world in 2000 (albeit largely due to his genius switch to 16" wheels) he was riding a Red Bull Yamaha.

Colin's contractual commitments could be worked around, as could the rules that block Spies' move up. Toseland would be a retrograde step. Crutchlow? Maybe in Tech 3 if Colin moved.

There's one guy who's free that can still rip the track up; former MotoGP winner and WSB champ - Mr T. Bayliss. That would be mega.

Webber's move is something I used to do a lot in LFS when I drove and it usually worked, mainly because it put people in an unusual and uncomfortable position on track. Some people back off, some people do a Vettel (with not the same consequences in a game of course) and some people go for it anyway.

I even had one of the FM team hotlappers deliberately crash me on their server as revenge because when he overtook me I "wasn't supposed to be in to be in the middle of the track" so he got spooked and ran off the road.

One car width plus one inch - that's all you should expect. If you don't think it's enough room then back off. Lesson learned for Seb and a statement that Webber had to make. If he had just given the corner to Vettel that would have been a psychological blow he maybe could not recover from. This is Webber's one chance to win the WDC and everyone knows he's ready to mix it if he has to.

Quote from Boris Lozac :

Well they want us and Mercedes to respect that rule about not being legal to race if the SC car started the last lap.

The rule says nothing about if the safety car starts the last lap. It is about if the race is to finish under SC conditions. Slightly different.

It seems Charlie Whiting has cocked up the finishing procedure. Finishing under the Safety Car would, it would seem, involve the SC driving into the pit and no requirement for messages from Race Control. How can the race finish under the SC if Race Control state it is coming in. That, along with the green flags, would suggest that 40.13 would not apply.

What should have happened:

• No instruction on the SC from Race Control
  
• SC drives into pitlane
  
• Yellow flags remain
  
• Everyone tootles over the line
  

As it didn't, it seems a tad unfair that Schumacher gets punished. Alonso was clearly also racing at that point, whatever Domenicali said afterwards.

Well done Mark Webber! Seb's really on the back foot psychologically now. Wonder how he will react to being trounced twice in a week?

It's a shame they've sanitised the track in recent years, especially turn 1, the swimming pool section and La Rascasse.

Would be fantastic if they could get rid of the chicane so they could run through the tunnel and flat along the seafront to Tabac - might get to overtake then.

In the early 90s, yes he did. Mansell and Prost won championships in Newey Williams.

Don't know - haven't got work to book any flights yet. Could also go from Birmingham. Didn't realise you just wanted a driver so you could get hammered

The roof half open like that should provide some handy extra downforce.