And that my friends.....

[Jimster]

Is why Michael is a great, just what a stunner of a drive, made for a thrilling race in what has been an absolute stunner of a season (Much better than the last 2 snoozefests). Massa was flawless, as was Button. Alonso took the WDC, but that was more or less sealed going into this race.

How about the Super Aguris as well? Sato 10th ahead of about 7 cars and Yamamoto 7th in the fastest lap chart. That's a stiff middle finger to all those who were taking bets as to which race the team will fold into themselves...


And now I find something useful to do with the next 4 months



Always A1GP I spose...

[-The Stig-]

Excellent race indeed... I only caught the last half of it, but it was great.

[2.2 Straight six]

i would've liked to see him take the victory, or even the world title.

shame he's going, he's a great driver.

i have to say, what raikonen (or whoever it was) said at pele's presentation was disgusting, and showed more than bad sportsmanship.

[DinanM3_S2]

Regarding the race-
Schumi was plagued by bad luck this weekend and still pulled out 4th place. He went from fastest lap ever in second round qualifying, to not doing a single qualifying lap in the last session, then quickly passed the BMWs, Rubens, and Fisi for 6th only to have Fisi puncture his left rear tire sending him all the way to the back of the pack, but by the end of the race he had passed everyone that wasn't on the podium, including Fisi and Kimi. Simply an outstanding race on his part. Massa had a nearly flawless weekend and looks to be the sole source of personality from Ferrari next year. I'll look forward to rooting for him next year. Fernando had a typically good race and Button was outstanding. Again, if Honda can figure out their car they could be in a great position next year to win races. Speed and Sato were the last two driver's worth mentioning, both doing a great job today.

Regarding the Season-
It was a great season for racing with all sorts of twists and turns. Renault started strong but come the US GP they started to unravel. Michael looked great the rest of the season and would have undoubtedly won the WDC if it wern't for the engine at Suzuka and the qualifying this weekend. Not to take away from Alonso, who had a nearly flawless season himself. It might not be next season, but this will not be his last championship (hell, maybe we'll see him at Ferrari someday). Massa had a great first season with Ferrari especially in the second half of the season so long as it wasn't raining. Fisi must have been a bit dissapointing for Renault, which is probably scary for them because their new #1 guy couldn't beat Ferrari's #2. Kimi's year can be summed up by his frustrations with McLaren. McLaren just wasn't on the ball this year and they'll need to figure out how to get back into competition with Ferrari and Renault to keep Alonso happy. Early in the year it didn't look good for Button, but by the end he had almost twice the score that his teammate Rubens had. Add that onto his first win and I think he did about as good as he could of this year and can look forward to a good next year. The suprising team from this year was definitely BMW. Its the team I want to root for but couldn't. Beating the best funded team in F1 was quite a feat and losing JV in favor of RK turned out to be in their favor. Let JV go drive in ovals. In the end, the year was all about Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. An awesome battle throughout the year. I think Fernando and Briatore said it best in the end-

"It has been very close... I think it was good to fight with him. I always said that to become champion when Michael on the track was valuable than when he retired. I was extremely lucky to win the last two championships he raced in. We all wish him the best for his new life. For us, it has been a pleasure to race with him."-Fernando Alonso

"I think today we have to show great respect for Michael Schumacher, because what he's done today will go down in the history of F1. He was flying. I don't know what he had but he was literally flying. We've won a difficult championship against an extrememly difficult rival, Ferrari, so congratulations to them too for keeping the title open even too much."-Flavio Briatore

Regarding next year-
I expect (and hope) it to be even closer then this year and to involve more teams in the title hunt. I expect both Kimi and Alonso to start the year slowly as they need to grow accustomed to new teams and new cars. I expect Jenson Button to start strong alongside Massa and Fisichella. In all honesty, who knows what will happen, I just plan on next year looking very different from this year.

[Jimster]

Originally Posted by 2.2 Straight six

i have to say, what raikonen (or whoever it was) said at pele's presentation was disgusting, and showed more than bad sportsmanship.

What was it that he did?

[DinanM3_S2]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4oQ74qoFCQ

I just thought that it was amusing. Kimi cracked a joke.

[Jimster]

Wtf? LOL, I didn't think I'd ever hear Kimi crack a joke with the media....

[DinanM3_S2]

Here is Speed TV's year end summary video-
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0U5MKW7nWLc

Best 2006 video I have seen so far

[-The Stig-]

That was suprisingly good.

and @ Kimi