This post will review the results from the European Grand Prix from Valencia, Spain on August 23, 2008. If you do not want to know the results, do not read this post.





It was somewhat of an uneventful race in Valencia. Felipe Massa was just plain dominant. Lewis had nothing on him. It was interesting to find out that Lewis nearly pulled out of the race due to illness (autosport.com - F1 News: Hamilton says he came close to not racing). No excuses though. Massa was simply better today. He ran nearly a perfect race. He now has 4 wins on the season - and but-for the engine faiure in Hungary he would have 5. He is making it very difficult to take the Vettel/Alonso to Ferrari rumors too seriously.

I am not sure what is wrong with Kimi Raikonnen. Even before his engine failure he was just not showing the pace we are used to. Maybe he is seriously entertaining retirement even though he has resigned for next year. His contract for next year may be gamesmanship by Ferrari to keep the press guessing as to what their next move will be. With his retirement today he slips to 3rd in the WC race. But never - and I mean never - count out the Iceman. That accident in the pit is like salt in the wound.

Lewis ran a good, solid race. He stayed with Massa during the first stint but could not keep up with him in the second stint. Once Lewis put Kubica away I never got the feeling that he was really pushing to catch Massa. It wouldn't have done any good. Massa was too quick today. But the McLaren was very stable under very hard braking and seemed to be running well. We'll have to see what happens in Spa and those nice elevation changes. Lewis widens the gap in the WC race by a point. He is not safe yet.

Kubica remerges and once again puts BMW in the Grand Prix picture. Even though he did snag a podium, he was over 30 seconds behind Lewis. Despite his fine performance it is still just a two-team race in F1. I liked Kubica's poise when he caught the debris in his intake early on. He didn't let it throw him. His pit stops were quick and the tire changes were smart. Good race overall for Kubica.

The real kudos of the day go to Trulli, Vettel and Glock all finishing in the top 10. Toyota is coming on like gainbusters. It is good to see. Vettel is getting so much positive press. He has eclipsed Sutil as the best up-and-comer in F1.

I thought it was sad when over half the crowd left after Alonso retired on the first lap. That was an expensive ticket too!

Not really a classic race today. It will draw a lot of discussion in the press but the top 10 finishers were basically the top 10 qualifiers. Any race where most - if not all - of the action takes place in the pits is not a classic Grand Prix.

Can't wait until Spa!

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 57 1:35:32.339 1 10
2 22 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 57 +5.6 secs 2 8
3 4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 57 +37.3 secs 3 6
4 23 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 57 +39.7 secs 5 5
5 11 Jarno Trulli Toyota 57 +50.6 secs 7 4
6 15 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 57 +52.6 secs 6 3
7 12 Timo Glock Toyota 57 +67.9 secs 13 2
8 7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 57 +71.4 secs 9 1
9 3 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 57 +82.1 secs 8
10 14 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 57 +89.7 secs 10
11 6 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 57 +92.7 secs 15
12 10 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 56 +1 Lap 14
13 16 Jenson Button Honda 56 +1 Lap 16
14 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 56 +1 Lap 18
15 8 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 56 +1 Lap 11
16 17 Rubens Barrichello Honda 56 +1 Lap 19
17 9 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 56 +1 Lap 17
Ret 1 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 45 Engine 4
Ret 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 41 Accident 20
Ret 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 0 Accident damage 12

 

Barrister, from one formula 1 fan to another, I truly reading your posts regarding the grand prix(s). Keep up the good work.

It's pretty interesting to see Hamilton at 2nd place even though he had a fever. Hopefully he'll win this year.

 

Thanks! I get the feeling sometimes like I am talking to myself in here. I would love to build up the F1 community in here. I know there are a lot of F1 fans that frequent the site. I wish they were more vocal.

I think that Lewis will win the WC this year. But it is going to be a true fight to the finish. He seems to be working with a new mental approach more geared towards winning a WC rather than just thinking about the race at hand. For example, look at how he pushed today but could not catch Massa. Earlier in the season he may have tried something stupid and put himself out of the race - kind of how Raikkonen is doing now. Today, however, he did just enough to finish second and expand his points lead. He also gave McLaren two top 5 finishers to narrow the constructor's race a bit as well. I think he showed a lot of maturity. He learned rom Raikkonen last year that if you hang around in the top 3 good things can happen for you.

Welcome to the TEAM! It is always great to meet new F1 fans. You got some rep from me as well.

Take care!

 

Watch the first lap and yuou have watched it all. It was one of the most boring races I have ever watched. Lately I just tivo the race and fast forward till the end. I have been a fan forever, but lately I just don't watch.

Formula 1= no passing

 

Massa was on form, and it was good to see him recover from the engine blow-up in Hungary. It was a shame to see Kimi's engine go. Going in to spa, it's going to be interesting to see how Ferrari plays the fight against Hamilton. Spa is Kimi's track, but Massa has been on fire, and right now looks like he's got the best chance to stick the fight to McLaren.

 

Glad to see there's more F1 fans here. I have to agree that the race was rather boring from the start. If I remember correctly, I don't think I saw one pass for position on the track? THat's just no good for the sport and the fan base. THere's too many tight right, left turns not allowing anyone to challenge for position. Either way, I was upset to see Kimi grenade his engine. Not sure what's going on with him, but it seems like he doesn't have his head in the game. His retirement may be the truth. As far as the championship, It's definitely between Hamilton and Massa. I'm a Ferrari fan, but I don't like Massa much. So I'm kind of torn between the two drivers. Looking forward to Spa in 2 weeks!

 

Raz. I can see where you're coming from with the lack of passing and it is definitely annoying in some repspects, as it is the most likely reason why F1 hasn't caught on in the states where NASCAR has constant passing. Also IMO part of the lack of passing is the fault of Bernie selling grand prixs to the highest bidder in effect creating a bunch of the same types of circuits created by Hermann Tilke.

All of his circuits have the same style of long straights leading to huge braking zones going into tight turns and sometimes a series of chicanes. This means the only opportunity for a pass is usually under braking. Compared to the classic tracks like Silverstone, Spa, Monza, and Imola these new circuits don't flow very well.

Part of the fun for me though is watching how the strategies unfold in the pit stops. From that aspect it is kind of exciting because you never truly no whose light and who isn't, and how the cars are going to make use of their tires. The safety car rule is quite frustrating too, because it catches so many people out.

At least for next year we can hope for more passing as the aero rules will take effect and f1 makes the switch back to slicks... finally. It looks like the series is heading to a better direction now with these moves in addition to banning TC.

 

Most often I post my F1 stuff in the Pit Stop section of the Forum. Unfortunately, that has failed miserably. Glad to see a few fans come in this section. From now on, check the Pit Stop section first and let's get things rolling down there.

You have to love F1 for the technology of the cars. There will never be much overtaking as long as teams have to spend $500 million to become competative with a team from scratch. Look at the race in Valencia. Even though Kubica placed third and stood on the podium, he was 30 seconds behind the second place finisher Hamilton - and never really came close to catching him after the first stint. At third place Kubica is just "the best of the rest." It is still just a two team race.

What F1 needs is to allow new teams to purchase both a customer engine AND a customer chassis. That would allow new teams to enter F1 and become competative without the incredibly steep investment it takes to build a team from scratch. If we could get 25 teams on the grid with 10 - 15 of them actually competative, you would see as much - if not more - overtaking in F1 as in NASCAR. It is the competative balance that prevents the type of motor competition most hunger for. In an ideal world, you would have 28 - 30 teams in F1 and have "knock-out qualifying" be actually that and eliminate the slowest 5 teams from competing on race day. Then you award WC points to those who qualify on the pole.

I would like to see more overtaking too. But for now, my passion comes from a 2.4 liter engine that can produce 900 horsepower - NATURALLY ASPIRATED! That just make me happy all over.

 

I do like F1 for the history and the marques that are involved but the lack of overtaking and the awful times the races are on just make it hard for me to tune in. I would rather watch the ALMS sunday afternoon. I do follow who is doing what and tivo the starts when I cannot watch a race because it's on at 3am or something crazy. I love your passion Barrister and the 2.4 900 horse engines, they are something special.