I still think that the 10 places demotion rule sucks and I know it would have been doubtful that Alonso would have beaten Kimi if were on the front row.

We will not have had a battle in any case as JPM would have been ordered to let Kimi by as to not ruin his Championship and JPM would have been resigned to keeping Alonso off Kimi's back.

I agree with Luis the Renault car is extremely reliable it is a shame that Mercedes cannot make their engines as reliable.

@rds_correia

Lol, yes I agree Rui. I think they should crown Alonso now it is really just a formality now.

__________________
Regards.

Michael.

I would say that it has been a formality since 4 GPs ago...

@Luis
Sometimes we have to focus and ask the million dollar question: why.
Why was F1 created? For what purpose? What was the main objective?
It's written all over the books: to seek, research, develop the fastest car, period.
Secondary objective: to bring such new technologies found in F1 to the average everyday cars.
For a long time this has been changing and I am just getting sick and tired of watching rules that will only stand for 2 or 3 GPs such as the qualifying rules this year.
Or rules that will stand for 1 or 2 years when it comes to tyres...
How many new technologies have we seen lately applied to the everyday cars? I mean since '90s. I can't remember a single one...
This is getting such of a mess that one of these days we will see Monteiro or Doornbros wining the championship out of a stupid rule.
Something like: the engine will have one cillinder and dimensions should be inside 100mmx70mmx25mm .
This is not funny anymore.
Every season we see a new F1, a new sport because everything changes.
Yes, reliability is a major factor and I agree.
Drivers/cars have to finish the race to get classified.
But the whole meaning of F1 has been lost and I don't see how this can be changed for better.

@all
Someone said something about a Schumacher using the white line after exiting the pits in Monaco GP.
Clarification: drivers can put the wheels over that line!
Just just can't in some GPs.
And they only know if they are allowed or disallowed to do that in Friday morning briefing of each GP.
After Monaco's pit exit was changed (last year ?) drivers have been allowed to go over the line unless if it is a dangerous situation...
Can you see how many "ifs" this rule has?
This is why I'm getting sick and tired of this F1.

__________________
Rui

I like F1. point.
Doesn't matter what rules be.
Every year I learn new rules, and I enjoy F1.
Only important think, for me, is that rules are the same for all teams.

The thing that I find most funny of all is. No matter what rules the FIA brings in to slow the cars down the teams always come up with ways to work within the rules to make their cars even faster.

Take the grooved tyres they were supposed to slow the cars down by putting less rubber on the track but the cars are still hella fast although we all know that they would be faster if they were pure slicks.

I hear next year all the cars will have V8 engines which should slow them down slightly. I personally will mis the V10 engines but I am sure the teams will make some speed improvements somehow.

They need to work on the overtaking issue.

__________________
Regards.

Michael.

I'd like to know if all the above was true 3 or 4 years ago...
Of course that I know what your answer to my comment will be...
All that I can say is that I want to congratulate the Spaniards for having a new F1 champion .
It's only good for the sport to see champions from many different countries and I think Spain deserves it for I have seen many good Spanish drivers.
Hell, Sainz is still my rallye favourite driver.
But that won't change my oppinion on F1 and it's rules for the past 10 years or so.
And it won't change my oppinion on Alonso and his arrogance (haven't seen fingers in his hands lately).
Cheers

__________________
Rui

Kimi Raikkonen error in Brasil GP calification lap puts him in P5 in the grid for the race start.
Across the year I only saw one error of Alonso, crashing his car against a wall, but it is not the first of Kimi.
If there is not any problem with the car, today Alonso will be crawn champion (at least in the numbers).
My feeling is that he really deserves it more that Kimi this year.

And he is not arrogant, he has latin spirit, and remember that Im not spaniard.

I agree, I know that Rui doesn't like Alonso and I respect his point of view but I think Alonso has done a great job this season and did what was needed of him.

Renault have been extremely reliable and also deserve to have some praise also but Alonso won several races that were very important and Alonso also has had many 2nd places also to keep him in touch with the championship.

I am a bit annoyed with JPM for letting Kimi down twice while he was second in the other MacLaren as this would have made the championship more interesting and closer. Kimi and McLaren have both been unconsistent this season and engine reliability has also let Kimi down.

I think it is a fore gone conclusion that Alonso will be crowned F1 Champion of 2005 this season at Brazil.

I am still looking forward to this race I do like the track at Interlagos.

__________________
Regards.

Michael.

Im looking forward to the rest of season if Alonso wins today the championsit, as in left races he will throw all careful out, and really will push at max to obtain constructor coup also.

BTW it seems that the new engine (Renault) modifications will work fine, as I can see from calif and last free laps.

Yes this is true, Alonso will really be pushing to get that constructors championship for Renault, maybe McLaren can at least steal the constructors who knows. I look forward to seeing who grabs it.

This is very interesting info. I guess we will see how it gets on in Brazil.

__________________
Regards.

Michael.

Congratulations on Fernando Alonso for winning the 2005 World Championship.


Congrats also for the McLaren 1-2.

__________________
Regards.

Michael.

Congratulations Fernando Alonso 2005 F1 World Champion

First of all, congratulations to all the Spaniards and fans of FA .
After all it's not everyday that you see your fellow country man wining such an important sports championship title.
In the past decades of F1 history we have seen champions coming from almost every big country out there but unfortunately we hadn't seen one coming from Spain yet.
And I say that was about time!

@Michael,
Yes indeed.
I don't like FA and I won't try to hide it.
If you ask me he is full of sh$t and is simply a lucky bastard.
Almost reminds me in '86 when the champion should have been either Mansel or Piquet - who were the fastest and most consistent drivers out there - and in the last race Prost comes in to claim the title slow as a turtle...simply ridiculous!
Not that Prost wasn't a great driver but because everybody knew that he wasn't worthy of such title in that particular season.
If you read Alonso's comments in the first half of this season you might have cought something like I did:
If that's not being arrogant then can someone explain me the real meaning of arrogance?
He seems to ignore that during the previous season this same McLaren had done more than 20.000Km of testings without being used in a GP and that in the pre-season the same car (already with 2005 specs) had done nearly 10.000Km of testings.
If that's not working their ass off with that car, can someone please explain me what is?
What can a driver do when an engine decides to collapse right before (or during) the race?
What can a driver do when a tyre decides to collapse in the last 2 laps of the race loosing 10 points and starting the next race qualifying in the last (actually first) position?
Does this have anything to do with a driver?
If an engine can't take the stress then that's up to Mercedes to build an engine that can last the whole race.
If a tyre can handle a whole race then that's up to Michelin build a tyre that can last the whole race.
The driver CAN and should pass information to his race engineer and to the factory if he sees any glimps of a problem before it happens.
The driver CAN and should try to catch these problems in testing sessions of the pre-season but we all know that some things only show up when the real season starts.
So to me these words from FA are pure arrogance even because his team mate also had some gremlins in his car this year.
Tell me something, aren't both cars supposed to be iddentical?
In that case does this mean that even FA and GF did the work as they should?
You see, if you do your math properly you will find out that Kimi handed Alonso 65 championship points.
From those 65, 40 were handed in a direct golden plate meaning that Kimi lost them and Alonso won them out of Kimi's lost.
So I don't like FA but that doesn't extend to his fans or to the rest of the Spaniards.
For all those people my congratulations.
To FA, well I hope him the best in his career.
Though I still can remember when back in the promotional formulas Tiago Monteiro would lap Alonso.
For those who might have missed it Tiago Monteiro has finished 16 races out of 17 this year earning a place in the Guiness Book of records along with Alonso's youngest to win a championship .
If you count his last year World Series races Tiago has finished some 26 or 27 races in a row.
If he was Alonso, next year he would be in Renault as a test driver and in 2008 he would be one of the two official drivers.
But Tiago won't be that luck because he doesn't have millions of $$ to pay for his seat coming from Telefonica.
And that's why he might not have a seat for 2006 .
Appart from all that I am very curious to see who will win the teams championship even knowing that JPM has been a disaster in the past couple of races before Brasil.
But bottom line, don't BS me that Alonso is a natural born champion as Carlos Sainz or other great Spanish sportsmen because he simply ain't one of them
And remember that that is not something that you can develop or learn.
That's something that you're born with .
And to me he is still some light-years behind MS or KR driving capabilities, but hey that's just me .
In normal circumstances anyone of these two can obviously be half a second faster than him and that's what F1 is all about: being faster.
Cheers

__________________
Rui

@Michael,
Don't misunderstand me, I'm not trying to change anyone's mind.
I'm simply showing facts.
BTW look at your sentence:
You say he did what was needed from him.
Oh boy, is that what you're supposed to say from a world champion?
When you're talking about a world champion you should be saying how fast he was better than the others and how smart were his tactics against the others.
You're not supposed to say "he was ok" or "he did what was needed".
The truth is you're not as excited as you could be if it had been another contender, or am I wrong here?

@Pro,
Done deal.
Since you say you're in Palma de Mallorca and you speak Spanish I wrongly deduced that you were Spanish.
Please accept my apologies for that.
On the other hand re-read your above sentence.
Do you mean that all Latin spirit people show off how many times they win?
Take this as an example: I'm Portuguese, plenty of Latin spirit inside me and I am not arrogant and I hate arrogant people.
If he was counting his world titles and he had gone past 7 I could almost forgive him for his arrogance because he would be the best.
But he is merely counting won races and to get to seven he has to wait at least 6 more years .
By then hopefully with 30 years he might have learned some manners...
Cheers

__________________
Rui

@rds_correia

Hi Rui,

You make some excellent points there my friend.

I do believe you are right Alonso had most of the luck this season as both McLaren's to me were the superior car and certainly the faster car.

Kimi had a lot of bad luck this year and JPM with his accident didn't help either as Kimi could have done with him to help out also.

I had to laugh, the Renault team said that they brought more gadgets and other stuff to make the car go faster for the Brazilian GP yet they were still miles off the pace compared to McLaren in that GP and the McLaren cars cruised home.

Next year should be interesting.


Btw have you guys heard of the new motor sport league called A1? I like the look and the rules of this sport, all cars are equal and with the emphasis on overtaking, check out the site below:

http://www.a1gp.com/main.php?hf=Yes

__________________
Regards.

Michael.

Hi Michael ,
I'm putting an end on the F1 issue talking.
It's worthless .
You see drivers championship is settled and constructors championship is for girls :P.
Anyway IMHO there are a lot other motorsports much more interesting than F1.
GP2 and A1 are very good examples of that.
I saw the A1 - Brands Hatch race and I just loved it.
A sprint race and a normal race are just perfect .
And those boost buttons that only work for 30 seconds for the whole race are just what F1 might need to get out of this big "overtaking" issue.
I would only ask for one thing and that is to know - in real time while they're racing - how many boost seconds they still have.
Because all I could see on TV was how many times a given driver had used the boost button.
You see Michael, the only real handycap is that this is a Nations Cup other than that it promisses to be a very interesting championship to follow.
Hey, and they're even coming to Estoril on the 23rd .

__________________
Rui

Hi Rui,

Yes I like those overtaking boost buttons also and that Brands Hatch race was excellent the crash between those two drivers were spectacular also.

I am losing my love affair with F1 as there and to many rules and politics spoiling the sport I love, you may as well have drone cars running round the track.

As for A1GP I am very interested in seeing how this pans out as this to me looks more like my cup of tea where motor sport is concerned.

More driver skill involved all cars equal, the overtaking boost button great stuff.

I am happy that it is coming to a great circuit like Estoril, I hope it is televised so that I can see that one.

If it is not televised in my country, then I hope you can let me know how the race went.

__________________
Regards.

Michael.

Yep, you just said it all: skills, equal cars and lots of overtaking .
You bet I'll let you know all about that race, but I'm sure your ITV will broadcast it.
BTW, is Eurosport broadcasting these A1 events?

Cheers

__________________
Rui

Hi Rui,

I don't know if Eurosport is broadcasting this but I shall look into it, I hope ITV does broadcast this as they do F1.

Btw I know you don't want to talk F1 anymore but did you see the Japanese GP?

To me this was by far the best race of the season, plenty of overtaking and for me the man of the day was Kimi.

Coming from the back of the grid to win? This shows the awesome power of that McLaren F1 machine. Also Kimi's overtaking maneuver (I think I spelt that right :P) was awesome, right on the last lap.

For the first time this season I finally enjoyed the F1 race. Michael Schumacher had a good race also and played a big part in the final outcome.


What did you guys think of it?

__________________
Regards.

Michael.

I agree.

IMO quite better was alonso schumi overtake on C130 corner on lap 20!!!
This was a great race for Kimi, but in balance i think Alonso is better driver than him. Think about all forced errors than Kime had over the season.

@Michael,
Indeed a very good race.
As usual, Japan presents us races with lots of entertainment.
Kimi was the man of the day, as IMHO he was the man of the championship.
In the F1 world a man cannot win without a machine and a machine cannot win without man.
But sometimes it gets pretty obvious even for a small child who the best man is and why he doesn't win.

@Luis,
I don't want to enter in direct argumentation with you or anything close to that.
In fact I am convinced that you don't want to argue with me too.
And we both now that we fully disagree on this matter.
But I cannot let go on some things that I see in your post.
I for one can't remember any forced error from KR.
Can you?
I can remember several electrical problems, engine problems, thorn tyres and many other problems.
But besides the error done going veeery wide on a slow corner (maybe in Austria?) that might have lead to a blown tyre I simply can't remember a forced error.
BTW when he went wide he was not being pushed by Alonso or by anyone else.
He was confortably leading a race with at least 15-20 seconds for the 2nd placed!
I said, I say and I will always say that FA is not worthy of this title.
I keep my oppinion that KR gave enough proof during the whole season that this title was meant for him.
At this stage FA is still miles away from MS or KR and I don't see this changing in the near future.
Furthermore FA gave us enough proof of his qualities as a person while showing us fingers in races that he won (thankfully not too many...) and with his remarks about how KR didn't finish races because he didn't do his homework as he should.
These are some of the most notorious notes on his personality but there are a lot more than this.
His overtaking monouvre over MS on the R130 corner has got as much of big balls as it has got of retard.
If both cars touch over there, both drivers are dead period!
It doesn't matter how much safer these F1 cars are with all the safety measures taken in the past 10 years.
If they touch they are dead. FA knows it and MS knows it.
But simply put MS is not as stupid as FA.
On the other hand I have to agree that the manouvre is very nice for us F1 fans.
I say that if FA wants to get killed while he is still young, then by all means, he can ask the Italians to give him back the tamburello corner and he can run into the wall such as Ayrton did.
But he can do it alone by not jeperdising a fellow F1 driver that could show him 7 fingers of World Championships won rather than GPs won.
Bottom line: it was a very enjoyable GP and where KR gave a clear demonstration of who the champion should have been.

@Michael & Luis,
Be sure that this was my last post in this thread.
We could open a new one about A1 or GP2 or anything else and I'll be pleased to participate.
But not in this one any more.
Cheers

__________________
Rui