11: GP of France
cracker196
07-22-2002, 02:40 PM
Sorry Ales, I just wanted to do a report on this race. No doubt you will do one of your own, especially after M.S. record-tying 5th world championship (note he also tied the record for most point-paying positions in a row - I think it is something like 16).
Despite racing on a circuit which does not encourage passing, this race was fairly eventful. Montoya again started from the pole, but could not capitalize. Disappointing race for Williams, as they were shown up by McLaren, especially Raikonnen, who was the man of the race. He almost got around Schumacher early in the race when Michael tried to pass Montoya, but all three kept the top spots.
Through a series of happenings, which included drive through penalties for Massa, Ralf S., Coulthard and Michael S. for crossing the white line exiting the pits, the lead changed something like 9 times by the end of the race. Montoya led most of the way until a slow second pit stop. Michael took the lead after Montoya's first pit, and flew away from the rest of the field, except for Kimmi, indicating Montoya was holding both them up, especially the Ferrari.
Kimmi took the lead after Montoya's bad pit and M.S.'s drive through penalty. He fought off the defending world champion for a number of laps, finally relinquishing the lead after he slid through a corner on oil left over from Alan McNish's Toyota.
Michael then led the final 5 laps and took his 61st win and 5th title (aided by Montoya's 4th and Barichello's inability to start at the beginning of the race). Fastest anyone has won the championship.
Final order:
1. M. Schumacher
2. Raikonen
3. Coulthard
4. Montoya
5. R. Schumacher
6. Button
Some notes:
Michelin seemed to keep up with Bridgestone, especially on the McLarens.
Button again scored with Trulli out of the race. Button will be going to BAR next year (bad move IMO, but maybe Honda can turn it around).
Montoya was driving real slow when he commanded the lead.
Coulthard got lucky finishing third. Raikonen seriously outperformed him.
What is the deal with Williams. McLaren, and especially Mercedes with the engine, seem to be making progress while it seemed inevitable from the start that Montoya could not hold onto the lead forever. Kimmi put up a fight, both Williams seemed to just be hanging on.
There is some controversy surrounding M.S. pass with five laps (or was it six) to go when Raikonen slid off the track. There was an investigation as to whether he passed under yellow, but the Stewards have decided the final results will stand. Who would be stupid enough to take away the record, title and win from Michael because of a questionable pass?
Barrichello is having the best season of any driver. How this man has 32 points and is in third in the Driver's Championship is beyond me. He has the WORST luck.
Congrats to Michael Schumacher.
Despite racing on a circuit which does not encourage passing, this race was fairly eventful. Montoya again started from the pole, but could not capitalize. Disappointing race for Williams, as they were shown up by McLaren, especially Raikonnen, who was the man of the race. He almost got around Schumacher early in the race when Michael tried to pass Montoya, but all three kept the top spots.
Through a series of happenings, which included drive through penalties for Massa, Ralf S., Coulthard and Michael S. for crossing the white line exiting the pits, the lead changed something like 9 times by the end of the race. Montoya led most of the way until a slow second pit stop. Michael took the lead after Montoya's first pit, and flew away from the rest of the field, except for Kimmi, indicating Montoya was holding both them up, especially the Ferrari.
Kimmi took the lead after Montoya's bad pit and M.S.'s drive through penalty. He fought off the defending world champion for a number of laps, finally relinquishing the lead after he slid through a corner on oil left over from Alan McNish's Toyota.
Michael then led the final 5 laps and took his 61st win and 5th title (aided by Montoya's 4th and Barichello's inability to start at the beginning of the race). Fastest anyone has won the championship.
Final order:
1. M. Schumacher
2. Raikonen
3. Coulthard
4. Montoya
5. R. Schumacher
6. Button
Some notes:
Michelin seemed to keep up with Bridgestone, especially on the McLarens.
Button again scored with Trulli out of the race. Button will be going to BAR next year (bad move IMO, but maybe Honda can turn it around).
Montoya was driving real slow when he commanded the lead.
Coulthard got lucky finishing third. Raikonen seriously outperformed him.
What is the deal with Williams. McLaren, and especially Mercedes with the engine, seem to be making progress while it seemed inevitable from the start that Montoya could not hold onto the lead forever. Kimmi put up a fight, both Williams seemed to just be hanging on.
There is some controversy surrounding M.S. pass with five laps (or was it six) to go when Raikonen slid off the track. There was an investigation as to whether he passed under yellow, but the Stewards have decided the final results will stand. Who would be stupid enough to take away the record, title and win from Michael because of a questionable pass?
Barrichello is having the best season of any driver. How this man has 32 points and is in third in the Driver's Championship is beyond me. He has the WORST luck.
Congrats to Michael Schumacher.
ales
07-23-2002, 03:08 AM
No problem. Here are a few words of mine.
The race was really eventful, but you have already described it in detail quite well.
Ferrari. Quite dominating. Even though Rubens god stranded at the start, the other car won the race ;) The stratedy was well thought-out, allowing to overtake montoya in the pits twice. Even the drive-through penalty didn' stop them from winning.
Williams. They seem to be losing out tom McLaren now. 5 poles in a row and no real race results to show for it. The basice rule of racein is that the car that is agressive on the tyres is faster ... for one lap. My theory is that Williams have made the car that is too agressive on the rear tyres and fades quickly in the race. If it hadn't been for the nature of the track, Montoya would heve been passed by both Kimi and MS.
McLaren. Good to seem them up there, especially after the disaster (understatement of the year!!!) of Silverstone. kimi drove a great race, but I won't go as far as saying that he deserved the win more than MS. Aferall, it was he himself who slid off the track on oil. MS also made is mistek - the white line - bu managed o win the race. I was actually waching the race with a Finnish friend of mine, and he said, although disappointed of course, hat it was probably good for Kimi to be pressured by Schumacher, and getting the second place. It's all learning. I agree. After the race, though, some McLaren team members looked as sore loser and whigners. DC, for one, wasn't one of them. He congratulated MS on the championship and wasn't at all bitter. Thiumbs up, Dave. kimi was obviously disappointed and IIRC "forgot" to give due congratulatiuons on winning the race and the championship (although one of the first things MS told at the press conference was hat Kimi drove an excellent race). but Ron Dennis made the whole team look bad. He was close to tears! And insead of filing a formal complaint about what he thought was an illegal passing maneuvre, he started whigning to the press. And the press, justly so, called him a whigner!
Now the yellow flag incident. I don't like that you forgot to mention tha Kimi was off the track (with all four wheels!!!) at the time MS passed him, so there was no passing under yellow flags, the stwarts reviewed the incident and said it was 100% legal. And I agree. And everyone should, i think, as it is too obvious.
Other issues. I think Briatore is making a mistake getting rid of Button. I think Button is making a mistake going to BAR (as much as I like dave Richards). This team is not gong forward. If rumours are true, Toyoa were interested in his services, but he chose against them. Oh well. one good driver already killed his career there, and now Jense goes and signs a 3-year contract! As for Arrows, well, as sorry as I am for (almos) losing another F1 team, Tom got what he deserved. All the games with Prost that he played, getting rid of Jos the way he did - it just backfired. I hope somebody goes and purchases the team.
That's it for now, folks.
The race was really eventful, but you have already described it in detail quite well.
Ferrari. Quite dominating. Even though Rubens god stranded at the start, the other car won the race ;) The stratedy was well thought-out, allowing to overtake montoya in the pits twice. Even the drive-through penalty didn' stop them from winning.
Williams. They seem to be losing out tom McLaren now. 5 poles in a row and no real race results to show for it. The basice rule of racein is that the car that is agressive on the tyres is faster ... for one lap. My theory is that Williams have made the car that is too agressive on the rear tyres and fades quickly in the race. If it hadn't been for the nature of the track, Montoya would heve been passed by both Kimi and MS.
McLaren. Good to seem them up there, especially after the disaster (understatement of the year!!!) of Silverstone. kimi drove a great race, but I won't go as far as saying that he deserved the win more than MS. Aferall, it was he himself who slid off the track on oil. MS also made is mistek - the white line - bu managed o win the race. I was actually waching the race with a Finnish friend of mine, and he said, although disappointed of course, hat it was probably good for Kimi to be pressured by Schumacher, and getting the second place. It's all learning. I agree. After the race, though, some McLaren team members looked as sore loser and whigners. DC, for one, wasn't one of them. He congratulated MS on the championship and wasn't at all bitter. Thiumbs up, Dave. kimi was obviously disappointed and IIRC "forgot" to give due congratulatiuons on winning the race and the championship (although one of the first things MS told at the press conference was hat Kimi drove an excellent race). but Ron Dennis made the whole team look bad. He was close to tears! And insead of filing a formal complaint about what he thought was an illegal passing maneuvre, he started whigning to the press. And the press, justly so, called him a whigner!
Now the yellow flag incident. I don't like that you forgot to mention tha Kimi was off the track (with all four wheels!!!) at the time MS passed him, so there was no passing under yellow flags, the stwarts reviewed the incident and said it was 100% legal. And I agree. And everyone should, i think, as it is too obvious.
Other issues. I think Briatore is making a mistake getting rid of Button. I think Button is making a mistake going to BAR (as much as I like dave Richards). This team is not gong forward. If rumours are true, Toyoa were interested in his services, but he chose against them. Oh well. one good driver already killed his career there, and now Jense goes and signs a 3-year contract! As for Arrows, well, as sorry as I am for (almos) losing another F1 team, Tom got what he deserved. All the games with Prost that he played, getting rid of Jos the way he did - it just backfired. I hope somebody goes and purchases the team.
That's it for now, folks.
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