# *+*+*SPOILER*+*+*Time to rumble at Hockenheim



## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

Mr. Know-It-All said:


> Williams seems to have practice and qualifying pace this year but no race pace. :thumbdwn:
> 
> You guys hear the rumors about Eddie Jordan blocking Heidfeld's test drive and a possible seat in a William for this race/remainder of the year?


It's pretty clear that Eddie is out for himself not Nick.


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## richard (Apr 3, 2002)

Pinecone said:


> Sorry, but this year, and even the past couple of years, IMO, have had some of the greatest RACING in F1 in a LONG time. Maybe not for first, but within the pack for points positions, there have been some awesome dices.
> 
> If all you care about is who wins, then either become a Ferrari fan, or just guess that they won, you will be more right than wrong.


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## richard (Apr 3, 2002)

Sorry, hit the button to soon. Anyway, I must have memory loss because I don't remember too many great dices. A couple banzai moves by Sato livened things up, but the current state of F1 is horrible. When Michael can win from sixth on the grid or with a four stop strategy, without passing any cars speaks volumes. Even he said they went for a four stopper because stopping three times would result in having to pass too many cars on track. I'm getting to the point where the only excitement left for me is qualifying and I hate the new format.


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## racerdave (Sep 15, 2003)

Kinda what I was thinking... what scraps? I don't remember any Montoya-Kimi side-by-side duels or anything like that. Maybe running close to one another, but not dices.

Hopefully Monty (not counting on it) can jump MS at the start...


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## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

racerdave said:


> Kinda what I was thinking... what scraps? I don't remember any Montoya-Kimi side-by-side duels or anything like that. Maybe running close to one another, but not dices.
> 
> Hopefully Monty (not counting on it) can jump MS at the start...


The most side-by-side Kimi has done up to now has been with the wrecker after a blown engine. It still looks like McLaren has turned down the RPM to get reliability and save the engine. Having said that, they have made a big improvement. Now, to get MS they've got to apply more stress somewhere and we'll see what gives and if they do apply the stress. Williams is sort of an unknown. It's true their race pace hasn't been the same as qualifying, but they appear to have made some progress also. Apparently they ran some untested parts in England. That's got to be unusual.

The more teams who can move towards the front the more pressure on Michael and the less he can reduce the stress on his engine, the more he work has to do. If he wins under pressure so be it.


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## WILLIA///M (Apr 15, 2002)

Mr. Know-It-All said:


> Or punt his @ss in turn 1.




A podium tomorrow would be great. I'll be watching as usual and hoping for the best.


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## tim330i (Dec 18, 2001)

*German GP - Qualifying* 
07/24/2004

Weather: Dry, cloudy. Air 26 - 27°C, Track 42- 43°C, Humidity 58 - 60% 
Hockenheim (GER). The BMW WilliamsF1 Team pairing of Juan Pablo Montoya and Antonio Pizzonia today qualified in 2nd and 11th for tomorrow's German Grand Prix. For the third time this season, a BMW WilliamsF1 Team driver will line up on the front row of the grid.

Juan Pablo Montoya: 2nd (1.13,668 min)
Chassis: FW26 06 (T-car FW05)
It is really nice to be back at the front and to be in good shape again. WillliamsF1 and BMW have been working very hard and our package has improved a lot. Since Magny-Cours, we have had some new aero parts on the car and they have proved very successful. In my qualifying lap, I made a mistake in the corner before the stadium and so I lost a bit of time, which probably cost me pole position, and the chance of starting on the clean side of the track. Anyway, we have a very good race car. Actually, this is a much better car than I've had in the last few races so I think it's realistic to think we could get a podium finish tomorrow. Compared to how it handled during yesterday's Free Practice, it is easier to drive and is definitely more stable.

Antonio Pizzonia: 11th (1.14,556 min)
Chassis: FW26 07 
Obviously this is a disappointing result, especially when we did so well in pre-qualifying. In my final qualifying lap, the car felt different as we made some changes to it between the two sessions which made it unexpectedly hard to drive. I think we have a good race car though so we will try and score points tomorrow.

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):
Juan did a good job in today's qualifying and is now in a good position starting the race from second place on the grid. His lap time also shows that the improvements we've made to the car are starting to take effect. Hopefully we will now be able to have a strong race tomorrow. Although Antonio put in the second quickest time in the pre-qualifying session, he unfortunately didn't manage to put together a good lap in the final qualifying. It is now going to be tough for him to gain positions in the race, but he has to push hard to get points.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
Pre-qualifying was excellent and qualifying was good for the team. Juan Pablo will start from the front row, although his qualifying lap was not ideal in the third sector. In pre-qualifying, Antonio was as quick as Juan but he was too careful in the final session. I believe in the race Michael Schumacher will be the favourite, but we will see very close competition behind him.


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## berford (Sep 10, 2002)

racerdave said:


> Kinda what I was thinking... what scraps? I don't remember any Montoya-Kimi side-by-side duels or anything like that. Maybe running close to one another, but not dices.
> 
> Hopefully Monty (not counting on it) can jump MS at the start...


 :thumbup: Let's hope so.


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## Jetfire (Jun 20, 2002)

It's good to see the "big three" back in the front for this race. Looking forward to seeing how they end up at the checkered flag.


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## Rich_Jenkins (Jul 12, 2003)

They're off! Looks like business as usual for the guys in Red.

Shame about Rubens, outbraked himself, I guess :dunno:


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## Jetfire (Jun 20, 2002)

Ouch. Kimi's wing flew away like it hated him.  He's quite the fighter for never wavering from his commitment to McLaren after this season.


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## Patrick (Dec 23, 2001)

Right.

Time to go mow the lawn ...


-


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## Jetfire (Jun 20, 2002)

Well, I thought it was a good race. Lots of passing, some great action right behind Trulli, a scary moment that took out a major contender for the win, etc. etc. etc. It's the kind of race that makes me look forward to the next one.

Yeah, MS won. You can look at it two ways: You can be annoyed that he won once again, or you can raise a glass to him and his team for pulling off a perfect race once again. I'll never understand how they can pull that off when Barrichello loses a front wing, gets stuck behind backmarkers, and punctures a tire in the same exact race. Talk about lucky...it's almost like MS isn't human. :eeps:


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## PhilH (Jun 7, 2002)

For the first time in at least a year I didn't watch qualifying and I only saw about 10 laps of the race. I had to log in to bimmerfest to see who won since I missed the end. :yawn:


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## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

Disappointing to see JPM get such a terrible start. The FW26 still looking inconsistent though both JPM and AP did pretty good laps in the last stint. Since they go into a three week testing ban, I guess there won't be much progress between now and Hungary.

I wonder if Heidfeld really has any chance of getting a seat at Williams next year. He's now openly talking about how upset he was to not be able to test at Jerez. The Jordan is so bad it's hard to judge where he is.


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## tim330i (Dec 18, 2001)

*German GP - Race* 
07/25/2004

Weather: Dry, sunny. Temp: Air 27°C, Track 46°C, Humidity 39% 
Hockenheim (GER). In a very exciting and eventful race, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team today secured six Championship points thanks to Juan Pablo Montoya's fifth place and Antonio Pizzonia's seventh position, his best Grand Prix finish to date.

Juan Pablo Montoya: 5th 
Chassis: FW26 06 
Best time: 1:14,446 min (lap 10, 7th overall)
What a bad start I had! The clutch didn't bite soon enough on the start and then I just had so much wheel spin and the car didn't go anywhere. I had no grip at all and lost a cool five positions. I also had some blistering problems on my rear tyres and it came to the point where driving the car was very, very hard since it was pointy and unpredictable. Actually, this prevented me from catching David Coulthard in the last part of the race. I came very close to him, but then I didn't feel I could make it. I am, of course, a bit disappointed because when you start from second you expect a podium finish. We did score some points today though which is very important for the team.

Antonio Pizzonia: 7th 
Chassis: FW26 07
Best time: 1:14,586 min (lap 65, 10th overall)
All in all I'm happy with my performance today although I got stuck in a lot of traffic during the first two stints which cost me a lot of time. When I was on my own, I could put in some quick lap times but it wasn't enough to catch Webber in the last few laps. I still scored two points so I'm happy I could do that for the team. I think the potential is there, I just need some more race experience. After all, I drove my last Grand Prix more than one year ago.

Sam Michael (Technical Director WilliamsF1): 
It is good having scored points with both cars and it is nice to see Antonio picking up some points as well. We had a poor start on both cars so for the next race we will be looking to make improvements on this. In general, the cars performed better in this Grand Prix, so the latest car developments have demonstrably improved our performance. The pit-stops were good once again and helped the strategies work.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
The first compliment has to go to Michael Schumacher who dominated this race. The second goes to the Hockenheim circuit. The track layout encourages overtaking and today we saw a lot of interesting duals. With regards to our race result today, it doesn?t mirror our increased competitiveness, which we saw in yesterday?s qualifying. Antonio drove a good race but Juan Pablo made a poor start. He later managed to climb through the field to finish in fifth, despite struggling with some blistering on the tyres which didn?t help when he was trying to overtake the cars in front.


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## richard (Apr 3, 2002)

Now that was a great race. I don't pay much attention to Michael anyway...he's never dicing with anyone, rather pass in the pits. In any case, they were some great battles. I was really surprised, since even David Hobbs mentioned the new Hockenhiem is hard to overtake on. I was pleasantly surprised that the German director had the decency to not follow Michael and concentrate on the good battles on track.


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## The Roadstergal (Sep 7, 2002)

Whoever was handling the camera feed actually followed the cool racing action, wherever it was. Props there. I would be furious if I were Kimi. Poor guy. He was a serious contender today.


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## Mr Paddle.Shift (Dec 19, 2001)

Woah..fellow F1 fans....

And no one talks about how the fans (mostly in red caps) cheered when Kimi crashed before Turn 1? Wait...let me recall, they stood up, waved and cheered EVEN before Kimi came to a halt? 

What's with that? Surely some of you folks can comment on that.

Again, not to open a can of worms. Just to learn along as I am still planning to become a F1 driver. Hence, I need to know if it's ok to give them the finger salute. AFAIK, FIA has NO regulations wrt to that....yet.


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## Jetfire (Jun 20, 2002)

Mr Paddle.Shift said:


> Woah..fellow F1 fans....
> 
> And no one talks about how the fans (mostly in red caps) cheered when Kimi crashed before Turn 1? Wait...let me recall, they stood up, waved and cheered EVEN before Kimi came to a halt?
> 
> ...


 Yeah, that was totally classless. But if German F1 fans are anything like most NASCAR fans, a crash is just another event to behold. Shrug...I didn't like it, but I won't hold it against them.


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## The Roadstergal (Sep 7, 2002)

Mr Paddle.Shift said:


> And no one talks about how the fans (mostly in red caps) cheered when Kimi crashed before Turn 1? Wait...let me recall, they stood up, waved and cheered EVEN before Kimi came to a halt?


That.
Was.
Vile.

Yeah, I cringed when I saw that. It was so classless.


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## berford (Sep 10, 2002)

SteveT said:


> Disappointing to see JPM get such a terrible start. The FW26 still looking inconsistent though both JPM and AP did pretty good laps in the last stint. Since they go into a three week testing ban, I guess there won't be much progress between now and Hungary.
> 
> I wonder if Heidfeld really has any chance of getting a seat at Williams next year. He's now openly talking about how upset he was to not be able to test at Jerez. The Jordan is so bad it's hard to judge where he is.


I don't recall ANY good starts for Williams this year. It seems like they always lose a few positions before the first turn. I can't imagine the problem being reaciton time. So what the heck is wrong with the car that it can't get out of the blocks? Can anyone explain?


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## The Roadstergal (Sep 7, 2002)

The engine seems to pull fine in the straights, but they've had problems all year with handling and launching. Montoya seems to be doing everything but get out and push to even get it in the points this year.


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## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

berford said:


> I don't recall ANY good starts for Williams this year. It seems like they always lose a few positions before the first turn. I can't imagine the problem being reaciton time. So what the heck is wrong with the car that it can't get out of the blocks? Can anyone explain?


They don't have launch control any more, but they do have traction control. I don't think traction control can work at the start though. There's been some discussion regarding what Renault might have that gives them such a jump. Renault of course isn't talking, but there has been some thought that they've got some sort of programmed clutch application. The Williams problem may have to do with the clutch system and the power curve of the engine. They do practice starts though.


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## berford (Sep 10, 2002)

SteveT said:


> They don't have launch control any more, but they do have traction control. I don't think traction control can work at the start though. There's been some discussion regarding what Renault might have that gives them such a jump. Renault of course isn't talking, but there has been some thought that they've got some sort of programmed clutch application. The Williams problem may have to do with the clutch system and the power curve of the engine. They do practice starts though.


It's just that they seem to be completely outclassed in the launch, and with what are presumably brilliant engineering talent, they should have been able to solve the problem by now. The can get on the front row from time to time, but losing 6 places by the first turn is disgusting. And they'll never win a race dropping back to 7th at the start. At least not when MS is at the front of the grid.


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## richard (Apr 3, 2002)

You don't supposed the Williams' have a CDV do you? Seriously, I don't remember any of the four different drivers ever making a good start this year. They certainly aren't up to Renault's standard, and I don't think they are on par with any of the top teams.


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## Mr. E (Dec 19, 2001)

The result of the races was another yawner, but like Roadstergal said, at least the director kept the cameras on the great racing action instead of the boring red car out front. Kudos to the race coverage, although I expect the German spoonface-osi are probably fuming and complaining that they didn't get to see those uncontested Schumacher laps on TV.


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## Raikkonen (Jan 20, 2004)

all I know is that Raikkonen was robbed... He took on more fuel than MS and could have stayed out roughly four more laps which would have made it interesting... How can your wing come off!?


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## berford (Sep 10, 2002)

Raikkonen said:


> all I know is that Raikkonen was robbed... He took on more fuel than MS and could have stayed out roughly four more laps which would have made it interesting... How can your wing come off!?


Sh!t happens...


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## WILLIA///M (Apr 15, 2002)

SteveT said:


> The Williams problem may have to do with the clutch system and the power curve of the engine. They do practice starts though.


I think that's it too. It was interesting to note that Hobbs and Matchett were talking about the BMW engine and how it really didn't have a power curve but more of a spike like a turbo engine.

Fun race to watch with more action in the pack than expected. Button drove a great race. The [email protected]^ (that's FW26 in colorful language) again was not up to qualifying pace in the race. It's all about next year now I think.


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## berford (Sep 10, 2002)

WILLIA///M said:


> It's all about next year now I think.


There's no better time to work on next year than this year, IMO.


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## Raikkonen (Jan 20, 2004)

William's are as bad as I remember them right now... and everyone thought Montoya made a mistake going to McLaren. ...of course Kimi will destroy Montoya so it really does not matter that he is goign there, but at least he'll get a good car for second place.


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## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

Raikkonen said:


> William's are as bad as I remember them right now... and everyone thought Montoya made a mistake going to McLaren. ...of course Kimi will destroy Montoya so it really does not matter that he is goign there, but at least he'll get a good car for second place.


You mean he can sit with Kimi next to the track after his failure? McLaren has improved the car, but they haven't done much yet. As to how JPM and KR will be as team mates, only time will tell what happens to either one.


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## WILLIA///M (Apr 15, 2002)

Raikkonen said:


> .. of course Kimi will destroy Montoya..


:lmao:


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