****SPOILER****2004 Grand Prix of Europe

And away we go.

Hey, Live Timing does practice, too!

Friday practice results:

1 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.355

2 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:29.618

3 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:29.677

4 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.700

5 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:29.919

6 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:29.943

7 35 Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda 1:30.028

8 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:30.163

9 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:30.227

10 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:30.283

11 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:30.337

12 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:30.466

13 17 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:30.497

14 16 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:30.531

15 38 Ricardo Zonta Toyota 1:30.949

16 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 1:30.974

17 37 Bjorn Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth 1:31.780

18 39 Timo Glock Jordan-Ford 1:32.080

19 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:32.217

20 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:32.310

21 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:32.643

22 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:32.986

23 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:33.175

24 19 Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 1:33.393

25 40 Bas Leinders Minardi-Cosworth 1:34.538

Is McLaren back in the mix? Talk among yourselves.

Originally Posted by berford

Is McLaren back in the mix? Talk among yourselves.

No.


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Originally Posted by Patrick 520iAT

No.

Originally Posted by Patrick 520iAT

No.


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Are you kidding, even if they are fast today, they are gonna lost a couple of engines in the next day or so

Tomorrow is the true test.

As we've seen thus far, Saturday pace really seems to mirror race pace this year...

Originally Posted by berford

Is McLaren back in the mix? Talk among yourselves.

Could be. I also think that the blue and white good guys have started to improve as well. Michael seems a bit less than his confident self in his post practice commentary. I think that this could be the beginning weekend of the end of the evil red empire domination.





..and then I woke up.

Originally Posted by WILLIA///M

Could be. I also think that the blue and white good guys have started to improve as well. Michael seems a bit less than his confident self in his post practice commentary. I think that this could be the beginning weekend of the end of the evil red empire domination.





..and then I woke up.

Go back to sleep if that's the only way to retain those wonderful visions.

"You are sleeping, you do not want to believe.
You are sleeping."

The Smiths rule.


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Originally Posted by WILLIA///M

the blue and white good guys

Originally Posted by The Roadstergal

Okay, except for Ralf.

Originally Posted by mecklaiz

Are you kidding, even if they are fast today, they are gonna lost a couple of engines in the next day or so

Does anyone have engine failure stats for this year, by maker. (and is there a convenient place to find that sort of F1 stuff online?) I know Mercedes is really bad this year, but are they the worst in the field so far? I recall sometime around midway through 2003 season (I believe) when the SpeedChannel commentators noted that no Ford engines had finished a race yet--unless I heard them wrong.

http://www.pitpass.com/src/seasons/2...2004_index.php

Originally Posted by Alex Baumann

http://www.pitpass.com/src/seasons/2...2004_index.php

The stats there aren't exactly what I was looking for...but close. For example, races finished or laps completed is an indicator of engine reliability, but not entirely. Obviously other things go wrong and s-hit happens.

Thanks, Alex, it's a nice link and a new one for me.

Perhaps a "Favorite F1 site" thread would be in order. Oops have I just hijacked my own thread.

Here's to the guys in blue and white:

Originally Posted by Alex Baumann

http://www.pitpass.com/src/seasons/2...2004_index.php

He's gonna be a minimalist this weekend I guess.

Originally Posted by SteveT

He's gonna be a minimalist this weekend I guess.

Me ? No, I'll try to enjoy the success of my team, provided they won't get shooted out of the race.

Quote from Nick Heidfeld:

Originally Posted by Heidfeld

Nürburgring is always a special race for me. I had my first car test at Nürburgring, and I went here a lot when I was younger. It’s the race closest to my home in Moenchengladbach, and I did a lot of races here in Formula 3, Formula Ford and Formula 3000.

I was skimming the article, and I tripped and went sprawling over his hometown.

Here's to the guys in blue and white:

Here's to the guys in pastel blue and yellow!

Er, it doesn't have the same ring to it.

Originally Posted by Alex Baumann

Me ? No, I'll try to enjoy the success of my team, provided they won't get shooted out of the race.

Alex, I like that, "...shooted out of the race." I think, shunted out of the race might be better, but your translation is understandable. Alonso really wants Ralf's butt doesn't he? There's lots of hard feelings I suspect after last week, without two weeks to get over it.

Originally Posted by SteveT

Alonso really wants Ralf's butt doesn't he? There's lots of hard feelings I suspect after last week, without two weeks to get over it.

Well, actually, I like that. We need some action on the tracks (a la Prost vs. Senna).

Alonso wants Ralf... Montoya and Michael want each other... Trulli and Button want to win... Kimi wants to finish a damn race... this will be iiiinteresting.

Originally Posted by berford

Does anyone have engine failure stats for this year, by maker. (and is there a convenient place to find that sort of F1 stuff online?) I know Mercedes is really bad this year, but are they the worst in the field so far? I recall sometime around midway through 2003 season (I believe) when the SpeedChannel commentators noted that no Ford engines had finished a race yet--unless I heard them wrong.

Sorry, didn't mean to go off, I was rooting for McLaren... I'm a bit annoyed with them is all... I think THIS season they have been really crappy (bottom 3)

Well, I'm a McLaren fan as well and I blame Chrysler. I really don't remember when the two companies merged, but having anything to do with Chryler can't be a good thing. Just kidding of course. I know Chrysler has nothing to do with Ilmor, but I have to blame something. I was really hoping Kimi would take it to Michael this year. I think he is much better suited to race him tight than JPM. Besides, I'm Finnish. That said, McLaren topping the practice time sheets gives me no false hope.

Holy Pre-Qualifying Batman!!

Get a load of this!!!

Sato...

1:27.6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He puts more than a half second on Schumi!!

The official session will be *very* interesting.

Final Qualifying results:

1 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:28.351

2 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:28.986

3 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:29.135

4 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.137

5 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:29.245

6 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:29.313

7 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:29.353

8 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:29.354

9 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:29.459

10 17 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:29.697

11 16 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:29.706

12 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:30.797

13 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:31.431

14 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:31.604

15 19 Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 1:31.979

16 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:31.982

17 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:34.022

18 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:34.398

19 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas

20 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes


Oh, well.