http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/ Autoblog Comments for SPOILER ALERT: thrills, chills and spills at the Australian Grand Prix http://www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/Mar 17th 2008 10:27AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/Mar 17th 2008 12:24PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/Mar 17th 2008 9:17PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/15th, he navigated his way flawlessly around and through the wreck at
the beginning and hauled all the way up to 7th or 8th, then he ended
up scooting all the way to 3rd, then, right when he nabbed 2nd he had
his trouble.

I can't wait to see Raikkonen vs. Hamilton this season. :)

I was a little disappointed though, Massa seemed to lose control all on his own. (It looked like it was due to a wreck that happened near him, but they showed it slowed down and he just drove off a few seconds before the wreck beside him).]]>Mar 17th 2008 10:28AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/Mar 17th 2008 10:59AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/Mar 17th 2008 11:24AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/Mar 17th 2008 11:32AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/Mar 17th 2008 10:28AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/Mar 17th 2008 10:47AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/
how about nakajima who rear ended kubica under a safety car? thats a rookie mistake... or how about kovalainen who "accidentally" hit his "pit rev limiter" with one lap to go letting alonso pass his on the front straight....

obviously half the people posting here didn't even watch all of the race]]>Mar 17th 2008 12:04PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/
For anyone who wants to see it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH9Hv_VAd6k]]>Mar 17th 2008 11:00AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/
What happened to Alonso? Well his car looked almost undriveable and he seemed to be working 120% just to stay on the track.]]>Mar 17th 2008 11:25AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/Mar 17th 2008 11:31AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/
F1? It had a lot of wrecks.

I congratulate F1 on getting rid of traction control. Other than that, well, their product still needs some fine tuning. The announcers mentioned the Australian race lost $20M+ last year and the year before. It's no wonder to me.

I also am very surprised F1 has not taken a cue from NASCAR and emphasized their drivers more. Speed showed short clips from all the junior/rookie drivers, but they still are lucky to get any kind of interview from any serious contender. In ALMS, most drivers are interviewed before and during the race.

I also again am disappointed in F1's safety emphasis. People laud them all the time for their safety (mostly during wrecks) and I don't agree they deserve it. In (now departed) Champ Car, if you injure any member of your crew, you are disqualified, end of story. It's the only way to keep teams from cutting corners in the pits and taking risks with their team members' health in order to get out of the box faster. We saw at least one pit crew member injured with no penalty. We saw a driver drive over an air hose with no penalty. We (apparently) saw a driver exit the pits against a red light with no penalty.

Also I can't see how a car can score points if doesn't finish the race (sorry Sebastien).

Maybe I have rose-colored glasses, but it seems to me like F1 in many ways is coasting on their name.]]>Mar 17th 2008 11:35AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/Mar 17th 2008 1:28PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/Mar 17th 2008 2:11PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/
Re: safety: who do you want to blame for Barrichello pulling away too soon? Barrichello? That makes no sense. He left when the lollipop went up. The chief mechanic made the mistake, and what realistically can the FIA do? Ban the entire team?

Re: Barrichello: he was disqualified after the race. ]]>Mar 17th 2008 2:21PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/
Yes, the car should be excluded. It is excluded if the chief mechanic decides to increase the rev limiter pass the legal limit. It is excluded if the chief mechanic decides to lower the car below the minimum clearance. It is excluded if the chief mechanic decides to take out more weight than is legal. It shouldn't be excluded if the chief mechanic fouls up in a way that injures a crew member?

And no, I'm not comparing endurance racing to F1, I'm comparing Champ Car to F1. If I were comparing it to ALMS, I'd talk about fueling while changing tires. In Champ Car (now IRL?) you can't run over a hose. you can't run over your team members. the penalty for such safety issues is the same as it is for a driver not wearing the HANS device. Exclusion. If you let teams cut corners on safety to get ahead, they will.
]]>Mar 17th 2008 2:49PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/
But it is somewhat more entertaining if you prefer crashes to driving loops]]>Mar 17th 2008 11:45AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/spoiler-alert-thrills-chills-and-spills-at-the-australian-gran/Whenever a front row car starts at the back of the grid, they tend to get by the back markers quite easily. This was nothing extra-ordinary. Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Rubens B. are the most recent ones I seen do this. It was expected of him.

That Kimi got stuck behind Rubens for an eternity really frustrated him, he pounced on Timo and ended throwing the car off the track.

The car breaking was the kindest thing that could have happened to him. ]]>Mar 17th 2008 12:33PM