SirSaxa
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Post by SirSaxa on Jul 6, 2009 13:36:06 GMT -5
This came up in Deadspin yesterday, but it bears repeating - you get nothing but trouble if you bring up Nazi analogies. Always a bad decision. Which is why the Nazis were chosen to be the "bad guys" in the Raiders of the Lost Ark" movie. The one group that the movie going public all over the world can agree are the bad guys.
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Jul 6, 2009 17:04:49 GMT -5
Bernie is a real character - a very odd fellow. He has a real disdain for the press and the masses, and he doesn't care at all what those people think about him. In fact, he seems to like the idea that the masses loathe him. A few years ago F1's doctor Sid Watkins (one of Bernie's good friends) wrote a book that included a section about Bernie. Bernie threatened to sue him if he wrote anything nice about him. His interviews are so rude that they're actually funny - they're full of one-word answers and very blunt, arrogant statements. He's probably does more harm than good for F1 right now, since his draconian copyright rules and his strategy of seeking profit over the sport's health have been problematic. But he's also an integral part of the soap opera. F1 simply wouldn't be the same without Bernie. Does he actually think Hitler as a good guy? Probably not. He enjoys riling people up. I do know that he doesn't like democracy - he thinks everything should be a dictatorship, with him as the dictator. You don't really believe that someone being quoted as saying "Hitler had the right idea" should just get off as "Bernie being Bernie", do you? This came up in Deadspin yesterday, but it bears repeating - you get nothing but trouble if you bring up Nazi analogies. Always a bad decision. I'm not defending him. I'd love him to go - even beyond the Nazi issue I think he's done a lot more harm than good for F1 recently. My point isn't that he should get off, it's that he will get off. There's no way to get Bernie out of power. He's not accountable to anybody. He designed F1's economic and power system himself, and he basically made himself dictator of the commercial side of the sport. The only way he'd leave is if he resigned, and he won't do that because he doesn't care what the public thinks about him. The F1 world's reaction to this has basically been to groan and roll their eyes. Nothing will come of it.
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Boz
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by Boz on Jul 6, 2009 19:52:22 GMT -5
Uh oh... now Bernie Ecclestone spouts off. A FEW SAMPLES Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone faced criticism from politicians and Jewish groups Saturday after being quoted as saying that Adolf Hitler "got things done."
He was quoted as saying that democracy "hasn't done a lot of good for many countries -- including this one."
Ecclestone also said the West had been wrong to depose Iraq's Sadam Hussein, saying: "He was the only one who could control that country."
Ecclestone, who owns F1's commercial rights, is no stranger to controversial remarks. He once said women should dress in white "like all other domestic appliances." sports.espn.go.com/rpm/racing/f1/news/story?id=4305770Isn't this pretty much what Marge Schott said? She was finished pretty much as soon as that happened, even though she held on for a couple more years, but as many of you have pointed out, I doubt there will be similar repercussions here.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Jul 6, 2009 20:49:04 GMT -5
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Jul 8, 2009 17:27:49 GMT -5
Well, now those remarks are well and truly in the past, because the FIA-FOTA war has blown up again. The FIA and FOTA agreed to a "peace deal" a couple weeks ago, whereby the FIA agreed to abandon their controversial rule changes, in return for the FOTA teams staying in F1. The FIA released an official 2010 entry list with all the FOTA teams on it, FIA President Max Mosley then said that the peace deal would allow him to not run for re-election in October, and FOTA called off their breakaway series. It all seemed perfect, and sure enough it was too perfect. FOTA put out a press release implying that they had won the war, and Mosley immediately fired off a letter demanding a public apology, saying that he was still in charge, and oh by the way he was reconsidering his decision to not run for re-election. The teams stayed silent, but then rumblings emerged about irregularities in the selection of the three new teams to join F1 next year. All three are getting engines from Cosworth, who signed a deal with the FIA to supply lower-cost engines. There have been mutterings that the FIA forced the new applicants to buy their engines from Cosworth, and any applicant who refused to sign up with Cosworth had their application immediately rejected. There have also been accusations of a conflict of interest with one of the new teams. Mosley's right hand man at the FIA has taken on a PR job at one of the teams, while still keeping his job at the FIA. But those were fairly minor squabbles compared to what happened today. The FOTA teams showed up at a meeting with the FIA and the five non-FOTA teams for next year to finalize the rules for next year. Upon arriving, the FOTA teams were told that they weren't officially entered for next year, and therefore they would not be allowed to vote on the new rules. The FOTA teams responded to this unexpected development by walking out and issuing an angry press release: www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76778
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Jul 9, 2009 12:40:11 GMT -5
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Jul 19, 2009 15:42:02 GMT -5
As great as racing is, it has a horrible dark side. Unfortunately, that dark side showed itself today as Henry Surtees, the 18 year old son of 1964 F1 World Champion John Surtees, died after a freak accident in a Formula 2 race: www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77088The younger Surtees had finished 3rd in the first race of the day. His crash occurred only a few hundred meters from a corner named for his father.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Jul 26, 2009 22:26:51 GMT -5
Well, Grand Prix racing tonight looks a lot different than it did 3 days ago, before this chaotic Hungarian Grand Prix weekend started.
Last year, F1 was pretty much dominated by McLaren and Ferrari. So if somebody had told you a year ago that a McLaren and a Ferrari would finish first and second at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, nobody would have been surprised. However, if you had made the same prediction a week ago, people would have called you insane. Both legendary teams had produced awful cars for this year. A second placed finish would have been a season-best for both teams, and a win was pretty much out of the question.
Similarly, if you had asked somebody a week ago what the biggest issue in F1 was going to be in the hours after the Hungarian Grand Prix, they probably would have talked about the FIA-FOTA war, Brawn GP vs. Red Bull Racing, or another McLaren controversy.
But the biggest talking point after today's Hungarian Grand Prix was flying debris. The subject was already on people's minds after the tragic death of young Henry Surtees in last weekend's Formula 2 race, and it became the single biggest issue in F1 after a bizarre sequence of events in Hungary.
It started in qualifying on Saturday, when popular Brazilian Ferrari driver Felipe Massa was hit in the head by a torsion bar that fell off another car. The impact knocked him at least partially unconscious, and the subsequent crash finished the job. He woke up by the time he got to the medical center at the track, but a thorough examination at the hospital revealed potentially life threatening injuries. Thankfully surgery was successful, but due to several skull fractures the doctors placed him in a medically induced coma. He was woken up this morning for a brain scan, which revealed no neurological damage, and subsequently put back in the coma, where he is supposed to stay for the next two days.
The race itself was expected to be a Red Bull Racing benefit. Renault's Fernando Alonso qualified on pole, but this was only because he qualified with a low fuel load, which would compromise his race strategy. Red Bull was 2nd and 3rd, followed by the surprisingly quick McLaren of Lewis Hamilton. At the start, Hamilton jumped into 3rd behind Alonso and the lead Red Bull of Mark Webber, who was followed by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. This was expected, as Hamilton and Raikkonen have the KERS hybrid power boost system, which gives their cars better starts.
The other half of the expectation was that the Red Bulls would quickly work their way back past the KERS cars and take a 1-2 finish after Alonso's strategy played out. Therefore, everybody was stunned when Hamilton simply drove past Webber a few laps into the race and set off reeling in Alonso. A few races ago the McLaren had been possibly the worst car on the grid, now it was running away from what many believe is the best car on the grid (the Red Bull).
Alonso pitted early as expected, handing Hamilton the lead. Alonso re-joined the race after his stop, but immediately slowed on the track. About halfway round, his left-front wheel suddenly fell off the car and bounced high in the air. Thankfully, it didn't hit anybody, but it cost Alonso a possible podium finish, and might cost him a lot more in the future. While the sight of a loose wheel bouncing across the track touched a nerve with a lot of F1 fans in the wake of the Surtees and Massa accidents, it's not particularly rare for cars to lose wheels after pitstops. Every once in a while a driver will take off from a pitstop before the wheelnuts are all on.
From that point on it was Hamilton's race to lose, and he drove perfectly. The only other surprise came when Webber had a small problem at his first pitstop, and Raikkonen slipped past into second place. Against all expectations, McLaren and Ferrari finished first and second in Hungary.
However, there was still one more twist to come. After the race, the race stewards announced that the entire Renault team will be banned from the next Grand Prix for allowing Alonso to leave before his wheelnut was on. While this penalty was more understandable in the wake of the Massa and Surtees accidents, it still came across as a knee-jerk and incredibly draconian penalty for an innocent mistake. As I said before, wheels come off F1 cars every once in a while, and nobody has ever been penalized for it before.
However, this penalty has led to rampant speculation about Renault's lead driver, Fernando Alonso. Many believe that Alonso is the best driver in F1, and a longstanding rumor says that he will drive for Ferrari next year. Alonso is Spanish, and he is hugely popular in Spain. The next Grand Prix is in Spain, but Renault won't be allowed to race (unless they win their appeal against their ban, which is highly unlikely). However, Ferrari will have an open seat due to Massa's injuries....
Just another typical weekend in the Great Formula 1 Soap Opera!
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Jul 28, 2009 11:35:41 GMT -5
Massa's condition has continued to improve. He is awake and talking with friends and family. There are no signs of any brain damage. There were fears that his left eye may have been damaged, but he was able to open it and see through it today. Doctors are hopeful that he will make a full recovery, but they are still being cautious at this time.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Jul 28, 2009 18:24:37 GMT -5
Rumors are swirling that BMW are about to announce that they are pulling out of F1 at the end of the season....
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Jul 29, 2009 13:11:30 GMT -5
HOLY SH*T!!!!!
With Massa out for the next race at Valencia and maybe for the season, Ferrari needed a replacement driver. Some people speculated that they would use one of their test drivers, Luca Badoer or Marc Gene. Some said they might grab the recently-fired Sebastien Bourdais. Some said that they might pay the Force India team to take Adrian Sutil, Giancarlo Fisichella, or Vitantonio Liuzzi. Of the drivers on that list, only Fisichella has ever won a Grand Prix, and none of those drivers have ever raced for Ferrari.
But none of those drivers got the seat. Instead, Ferrari gave the drive to one of their 'consultants' - a 40 year old driver who retired 3 years ago. His name? Michael Schumacher.
That's right, the all-time record holder for World Championships (7), wins (91), podiums (154), pole positions (68), fastest laps (76), and pretty much every other record in F1 is coming back.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Aug 11, 2009 12:36:58 GMT -5
Ok, maybe not. Schumacher has called off his comeback due to injuries sustained earlier this year in a motorcycle crash.
Instead of a 7 time World Champion, Ferrari will replace Massa with their test driver Luca Badoer, who holds the dubious record for most F1 races started without scoring a point.
Despite his unimpressive record in F1, I'm actually quite a fan of Badoer. He came into F1 way back in 1993, driving for tiny and underfunded teams. He became Ferrari's test driver in 1998, and has been tremendously loyal to them ever since. Ferrari let him race for the tiny Minardi team in 1999, which ironically cost Badoer his best opportunity in F1, since he wasn't able to replace Schumacher at Ferrari when Schumacher broke his leg.
His most famous moment came later in the season, when he was running an incredible 4th place at the Nurburgring in Germany near the end when his car failed. The emotion was too much for the quiet Italian, who burst into tears.
On a brighter note, he did get to drive the Ferrari at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Olympics.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Aug 29, 2009 14:38:09 GMT -5
..... and just when you thought things were as strange as they could be this season, things get even stranger. The Force India team, owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, is the smallest in F1, and has the smallest budget. One of their drivers is Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, who is widely seen as washed-up. His highest grid position this season before today was 13th, but today he stunned the F1 world by qualifying his car on pole position for tomorrow's race. Even more shocking, it wasn't down to luck at all - Fisichella in the Force India was legitimately the fastest guy on the track.
Now Fisichella, who everybody thought would be out of F1 next year, is being mentioned as a possible Ferrari driver for the next race (which just happens to be in Italy), replacing the underperforming Badoer.
Once again, if you wrote a script for this F1 season, people would laugh at you!
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Aug 30, 2009 18:07:16 GMT -5
And in the race, Fisichella finished a strong 2nd behind Kimi Raikkonen, who took Ferrari's first victory of the season.
But the most interesting piece of news this weekend didn't have anything to do with the race at Spa, or even this season. The news tidbit that caught everybody's attention was a bizarre headline that the Renault team are under investigation for allegedly ordering one of their drivers to deliberately crash in a (successful) attempt to help his teammate win last year's Singapore Grand Prix.
The incident in question occurred on Lap 14 of the race. Renault's Fernando Alonso had just made a surprisingly early pitstop, and his teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. promptly spun on his own and crashed, bringing out a full-course caution. Under the full-course caution rules, the pack bunched up, so when everybody else made their pitstops Alonso (who had already stopped) took the lead, which he held until the end.
At the time, F1 fans and pundits joked that Piquet (who is an awful driver) must have spun intentionally to help Alonso win, but nobody took it seriously. For starters, it would require Piquet to do something right, which he was never capable of doing.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, and Renault fire Piquet after he continues to suck this year. Piquet immediately puts a multi-page rant against the Renault team up on his website blaming them for all his problems. Singapore is not mentioned, but this weekend the FIA quietly confirmed that they are investigating last year's race. This is the first time I can recall the FIA ever investigating a race from a previous season. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Piquet, now angry at Renault and not silenced by his contract, may have said something to them about what happened at Singapore last year.
If Renault are found guilty of ordering Piquet to crash, they will likely face a very heavy penalty, which could cause the Renault company to pull out of F1.
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SirSaxa
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Post by SirSaxa on Aug 31, 2009 7:56:16 GMT -5
And in the race, Fisichella finished a strong 2nd behind Kimi Raikkonen, who took Ferrari's first victory of the season. But the most interesting piece of news this weekend didn't have anything to do with the race at Spa, or even this season. The news tidbit that caught everybody's attention was a bizarre headline that the Renault team are under investigation for allegedly ordering one of their drivers to deliberately crash in a (successful) attempt to help his teammate win last year's Singapore Grand Prix. The incident in question occurred on Lap 14 of the race. Renault's Fernando Alonso had just made a surprisingly early pitstop, and his teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. promptly spun on his own and crashed, bringing out a full-course caution. Under the full-course caution rules, the pack bunched up, so when everybody else made their pitstops Alonso (who had already stopped) took the lead, which he held until the end. At the time, F1 fans and pundits joked that Piquet (who is an awful driver) must have spun intentionally to help Alonso win, but nobody took it seriously. For starters, it would require Piquet to do something right, which he was never capable of doing. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, and Renault fire Piquet after he continues to suck this year. Piquet immediately puts a multi-page rant against the Renault team up on his website blaming them for all his problems. Singapore is not mentioned, but this weekend the FIA quietly confirmed that they are investigating last year's race. This is the first time I can recall the FIA ever investigating a race from a previous season. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Piquet, now angry at Renault and not silenced by his contract, may have said something to them about what happened at Singapore last year. If Renault are found guilty of ordering Piquet to crash, they will likely face a very heavy penalty, which could cause the Renault company to pull out of F1. another fascinating story. Question for you. Clearly Piquet would have been aware of all the kidding about "crashing on purpose" a year earlier. Could he be using that to fabricate the story to get back at Renault? Two problems with these scenarios. 1. Any such accusation would also implicate Piquet himself as well. 2. Crashing on purpose? I have never seen the crash, but despite all the protections built into these cars, crashing is still a dicey business and not something one is likely to initiate intentionally, at least, I wouldn't think so. The risk to one's own life and limb would be pretty significant.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Aug 31, 2009 18:04:59 GMT -5
It's entirely possible that Piquet is using the issue to get back at Renault. Like I said before, he was very bitter about the way the team treated him. Another thing to remember is that Renault's boss Flavio Briatore has always had a very contentious relationship with FIA President Max Mosley. Mosley is retiring at the end of this year. Is he just capitalizing on his last chance to go after Briatore? It's possible. Both those issues you raised are indeed things to consider. Like I said, something like this has never happened before. Here's the best video I could find of the crash: www.fastfever.com/?vid=403
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SirSaxa
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
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Post by SirSaxa on Aug 31, 2009 21:36:31 GMT -5
It's entirely possible that Piquet is using the issue to get back at Renault. Like I said before, he was very bitter about the way the team treated him. Another thing to remember is that Renault's boss Flavio Briatore has always had a very contentious relationship with FIA President Max Mosley. Mosley is retiring at the end of this year. Is he just capitalizing on his last chance to go after Briatore? It's possible. Both those issues you raised are indeed things to consider. Like I said, something like this has never happened before. Here's the best video I could find of the crash: www.fastfever.com/?vid=403Thanks Stig... the accident doesn't look to dire and "COULD" have been intentional. I still don't think it was, but it at least is conceivable given the nature of it. I guess Piquet is nothing like his dad. too bad for him.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Sept 4, 2009 21:38:49 GMT -5
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Sept 9, 2009 18:58:35 GMT -5
Some pretty remarkable details emerging in the Piquet crash case: www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78446Renault admit that they discussed the idea of Piquet deliberately crashing, but said it was Piquet's own idea. Briatore also said that he was the victim of an extortion event by the Piquet family. Like a lot of F1 stories, this one just keeps getting stranger and stranger....
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SirSaxa
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Post by SirSaxa on Sept 13, 2009 7:43:13 GMT -5
The following story provides a general update on Formula One teams. The Stig undoubtedly knows all this and may not find the article very illuminating. Still, for the general reader population, I think it is a net positive to see stories like this to keep everyone informed. EXCERPT Behind the atypical results in this Formula One season, with lesser-known teams winning while the bigger names struggle, there is a somewhat overlooked phenomenon: great racing teams continually change, regenerate and restructure. Rebuilding Refreshes Formula One Teams
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