The Official 2007 SECCS Fantasy Formula 1 League!

[sperry]

McLaren won't appeal the WMSC penalty:

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2007/...wmsc-decision/

Good for McLaren to suck it up, and move on with life. I'm sure they could have at least gotten the fine reduced (considering how massive it was) on an appeal. I just hope the reason they're not appealing is 'cause Ron Dennis is an upstanding guy that just wants to do what's best for his sport, and not 'cause there's more info out there that may have gotten his driver DSQ'd as well.

Assuming McLaren's really taking the high-road, I think it makes Ferrari look kinda like a spoiled brat... Bitching about the original decision in order to get the Manufacturer's Championship handed to them instead of going out there and earning it, which they are capable of.

[MattR]

The Spyker sale to an Indian Billionaire was made official today. No word on planned changes for this year's team, but I would expect some big changes for 08. The New Spyker chassis showed HUGE improvements at Spa, with Adrian Sutil running as hi as 12th place and looking very racey.

[sperry]

Oh... my... god...

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlin...22154959.shtml

So, can McLaren now sue the FIA for their $100M back?

[Kevin M]

That.... is... awesome!

[Nick Koan]

Oh damn.

Alonso to Ferrari (Rumor)

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/09/24/b...ri-for-40-mil/

Massa talking to Toyota

http://www.crash.net/news_view~cid~1~id~154835.htm

Wow.

[sperry]

Massa at Toyota would kinda suck. I'm really starting to love watching Massa drive, and I'd like to see him in a top tier team. Not that Toyota is a back-marker team, but they're certainly not Ferrari or McLaren.

To be honest, Massa and Hamilton at McLaren would be ideal to me as a fan. For some reason I see their personalities working in the teams favor even if they're fighting amongst themselves for "team leader", rather than this Alonso/Hammy garbage.

[Kevin M]

Kimi + Alonso would be fun too.

[Nick Koan]

Originally Posted by BAN SUVS

Kimi + Alonso would be fun too.

Fun in the same way that watching prima donnas in a fist fight is fun.

[Kevin M]

Ed Zachary.

[Nick Koan]

Gonna have to update my predictions.

McLaren - Lewis Hammilton, Adrian Sutil
Ferrari - Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen
Renault - Hekki Kovalinen, Nelson Piquet Jr
BMW - Nick Heidfed, Robert Kubica
Toyota - Jarno Trulli, Felipe Massa
Honda - Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello
Williams - Nico Rosberg, Kazuki Nakajima
Red Bull - Mark Webber, David Coulthard
Toro Rosso - Team Sea-bass
Super Aguri - Taku and Ant
Prodrive - Timo Glock, Gary Paffett
Orange India - Roldan Rodriguez, Lucas di Grassi

[skimonkey30]

im burning all my ferrari gear if alonso comes to the scuderia

[Pat R.]

Originally Posted by skimonkey30

im burning all my ferrari gear if alonso comes to the scuderia

+1

Thankfully the only Ferrari gear I have is a book of matches!

[skimonkey30]

Originally Posted by Pat R.

+1

Thankfully the only Ferrari gear I have is a book of matches!

can i borrow one?

[MattR]

nick, I think your picks are pretty close to what will actually happen. Sutil is on the hot list right now, especially after his drive in Spa, he's getting noticed. You really think Paffet will finally get a seat? I hope so.

[MattR]

I am anti Alonso as well, i used to respect the guy, and I believed that a lot of these stories were just media hype, but now I see that he's truly a baby who instigates drama.

[Nick Koan]

Originally Posted by MattR

nick, I think your picks are pretty close to what will actually happen. Sutil is on the hot list right now, especially after his drive in Spa, he's getting noticed. You really think Paffet will finally get a seat? I hope so.

Yeah, the last two are really up in the air. I think both Prodrive and Spyker (whatever it turns into) will be pulling mainly from GP2 and current test drivers. Sutil going to McLaren is a longshot as well, but I really think he's got a good shot. He's shown that he has the potential to be successful in a good car, and the fact that most of the other decent drivers have already signed makes me think he's on the short list to occupy the second McLaren seat next year.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by MattR

I am anti Alonso as well, i used to respect the guy, and I believed that a lot of these stories were just media hype, but now I see that he's truly a baby who instigates drama.

The one time I was impressed by Alonso was his drive in '05 (at Interlagos IIRC) to hold off Michael and lock-up the championship. He did a fantastic job of being just fast enough to keep from being passed, but slow enough to ruin Schumacher's chance of capitalizing on fuel load. I thought it was a brilliant drive and deserving of a world championship.

Since then, I've seen less and less brilliant driving, and more winning due to circumstance. Last year's championship was won only because Ferrari had some bad luck. If it had come down to brilliant driving in '06 rather than "who had the least bad luck" Michael would have chewed Alonso up and spit him out on the way to #8 and a retirement championship.

After seeing Alonso become more and more of a whiner and a punk... it hurts more and more that Michael didn't beat him for the championship last year.

[Nick Koan]

STR docked their 8th place finish from last night. Sutil gets his first point!
Liuzzi gets a 25 second penalty for passing under yellow.

[url]http://www.crash.net/news_view~cid~1~id~155180.htm[/url]


Also, Vettel gets a 10 grid spot penalty for his shennanigans.
[url]http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2007/9/6904.html[/url]

Also Webber and Vettel are sharing some nice words. Vettel almost blames Hammilton too.

Vettel:
“I made a good start and the race was going well. Then, with the final safety car, I was behind Lewis and Mark and exiting Turn 13, I looked to the right and saw Lewis going really slowly, I don't know why, but I thought he had a problem.

“Probably he was heating his brakes. Then, by the time I looked forward again, I was already in the back of Mark's car and I think he had also reacted to Lewis. I apologise now to Mark because I ruined both our races.”

Webber
“That was a completely disastrous finish. Vettel was a bit wild behind me during the first safety car period and then did a very good job of hitting me very hard under the second safety car. I think today he will have learnt a very valuable lesson.”

“We were in very, very good shape to challenge Lewis for first today. We were strong and I didn't make any mistakes despite the tricky conditions, cars were aquaplaning and the visibility was very poor. Fernando's crash caused the second safety car stint, which bunched everyone back up again. That wasn't great; I would have liked to have continued to the end of the race.”

[Dean]

The world feed sucks!!!! The coverage of the battle at the end was hideous.

I'd love to see a well edited version of it.

[Nick Koan]

Yeah, I love hearing the broadcasters saying "No, don't cut away. Argh"

And another battle that didn't get televised was that Kimi got around Heikki for a few corners, but Heikki says he re-passed Kimi a few corners later.

[url]http://www.crash.net/news_view~cid~1~id~155154.htm[/url]

That would have been a cool battle to watch as well.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by Nick Koan

Yeah, I love hearing the broadcasters saying "No, don't cut away. Argh"

Agreed. It was all part of the same thing they should have been covering on the last lap. They had been following the closing gap for 2 laps and then decided to follow Hamilton as he drove around alone... And they apparently didn't even have it on "tape" to go back to and show us. If this is the premier racing league, why do they have third rate video coverage week after week? Lowest bidder? Speed manages to cover battles throughout the field in ALMS, GT, Touring car, etc. with 3 guys and some camcorders.

Is it a dedicated F1 video crew or is it a different crew for each country? Either way, somebody needs to be fired.

[Nick Koan]

Each country has a different company take the pictures for the world feed. So, Fuji TV can take full responsibility for the third rate video coverage.

Anyway, in other spoiler news:


Hammilton is under investigation for his safety car tactics. There is new evidence that may actually link his driving to the Vettel/Webber crash.
[url]http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/071004133219.shtml[/url]

Also, here is a video of the crash from a different angle than speed showed us
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeOklNLuUoU[/url]

[sperry]

Okay, so F1 opens an investigation based upon a video on YouTube... then makes YouTube take the video down citing copyright.

Give me a break.

[skimonkey30]

Originally Posted by sperry

Okay, so F1 opens an investigation based upon a video on YouTube... then makes YouTube take the video down citing copyright.

Give me a break.

the one in the f1-live article is still up

[sperry]

Originally Posted by skimonkey30

the one in the f1-live article is still up

I saw the article on GPUpdate, and the link there was down:

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2007/...-vettel-crash/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hWIfBkVQUk

And, after watching the F1 Live link... I don't see how anything's Hamilton's fault. Sure he slowed the pace, but he was way off line... Webber and Vettel were fine to roll past him temporarily in the name of not crashing. But Webber put the binders on unnecessarily hard, and Vettel was tailgating, which IMO is where the fault lies.

No offense intended to Vettel, he's not a bad kid, but he should have known people will heat the brakes behind the SC, and if you follow closely at least be off-line from the guy in front. Hell, that's not just basic race-craft, that's basic driving in traffic knowledge. I bet if Vettel had had a plain-old normal driver's license for more than 2 years, that accident wouldn't have happened. I really feel for the kid, 'cause he had a real shot at a podium spot that race... but if he's that quick in the wet (the great equalizer), if he ever gets a front-row car under him, he'll be back.