According to ITV teletext the positions of the grid have been re-painted
to avoid the pole sitter being disadvantaged heavily by the bricks on
the track. Seems fair – though it is merely more ammunition for the
anti-Ferrari camp.
Fraser.
> Due to the fact that ITV are not budging on showing the USA Grand Prix
live
> I intend to boycott ITV between the hours of 6 – 9 pm tonight and suggest
if
> any other F1 fans feel as strongly about the lack of considering that ITV
> are showing F1 fans regardless of the many races in the past 13 years as a
> fan I have stayed up until the early hours to watch the action live.
> YOUR SUPPORT IS REQUIRED TO SHOW ITV A RATINGS WAR!!!
So, your boycott means missing shite like Coronation Street, Who Wants To Be
A Squillionare and some tosh by that shirtlifter Michael Barrymore ?. Who
wants to watch that dross anyway ?. Me, I’ll be sticking to Sky One and
Eurosport, praying that I won’t hear the result from Indy before those smug
gits Jardine and Rosenthal appear acting like we haven’t been put out at
all…….
Rob
The following spoiler space is here to prevent spoiling the race if you
are watching it on a time-delayed basis. A full race report follows.
The race fans in the US were prepared for something they aren’t used to
– cars racing under wet conditions. Johnny Herbert, meanwhile, decided
to further show how talented the F1 boys are by putting dry tyres on his
car, rather than the wets that the rest of the field were using. The
cars lined up on the grid, and the lights came on, and Coulthard got
away well, and then the lights went out. It was hardly a surprise that
it soon came out that Car 2 was "under investigation" for a suspected
jump start… Giancarlo Fisichella joined in the fun.
Into the lead was Coulthard, and pushing hard to keep Schumacher behind,
with Häkkinen in 3rd, and Button in 4th, with Trulli in 5th and
Villeneuve managing to get up to 6th place. Button pitted very quickly
and did Trulli – Trulli having a left-rear puncture.
Coulthard Schumacher Häkkinen Barrichello Villeneuve Frentzen
Lap 4 0.717 3.043 4.350 9.490 10.207
Alesi was also soon into the pits, and suspected to be going onto dry
tyres. Schumacher continued to harry Coulthard, whilst Coulthard
performed a masterpiece of Schumacheresque driving, keeping moving just
enough to keep the German behind. Barrichello soon pitted. Finally
Schumacher got by, but from the desperation of the attempts to get by,
you could just tell that comments would be coming later about unsporting
behaviour. Coulthard soon let Häkkinen through, whilst Herbert was now
the fastest driver on the track…
Häkkinen soon responds to this news, and is onto slicks, whilst
Coulthard and Fisichella get their 10 second stop-go penalty. Michael
Schumacher meanwhile kept out on the track… Ralf Schumacher was
starting to make progress, and was up to 7th by taking Barrichello, and
now charging after Villeneuve. Trulli had a dreadful stop, with it
taking around 26 seconds, whilst Jenson Button was the fastest on the
track, and a Minardi – that of Mazzacane – was now in 3rd place…
The dream of a lurid-yellow podium was soon over, as the other drivers
were put onto dry tyres, and the Minardi had to succumb to the
inevitable. Button’s dream was also soon over, as he managed to get the
car in the wall. Via a very bad radio link he said that he managed to
"hit something, then the engine died" – what or who was not immediately
obvious. Herbert was still charging on the track, and made easy meat of
Barrichello.
Michael Schumacher now pitted with 43 seconds over Häkkinen. Herbert was
now charging after a high-placed Diniz. The Brazilian went off under the
terrific pressure, and Herbert’s stock went up massively during the
race. Häkkinen was now also on a charge, and making a second a lap on
Schumacher. It was all for nought, as a fire appeared in the left-rear
side of the car – he pulled into the pit lane (not the smartest move)
and then finally pulled over to retire.
Herbert’s day was having a bit of a downer, as he pitted, had new tyres
and refuelled, and then the team had a damaged front wing to work on.
Ralf Schumacher was a good solid second, with Frentzen in third now,
making a German 1, 2, 3. Fisichella was not having a good weekend, and
spun off the track, but managed to rejoin. Verstappen, sadly, had an off
and managed to collect a wall in the process.
Coulthard managed to catch de la Rosa, and finally managed to get by him
in turn three, after failing at the end of the pit straight. A lap
later, Coulthard managed to catch Diniz and got by him at the end of the
pit straight.
Ralf was then into the pits for a routine stop, and from therein would
fall back from his 2nd place. Coulthard also pitted in 9.6s and rejoined
the race in 11th place. During his stop his car was rolling, which
pointed to a clutch problem at the start of the race.
The next series of laps had minor incidents, with Fisichella retiring,
and Schumacher stopping, whilst Ferrari played mind-games with Jordan by
dodging out of the pits and then back in, forcing Jordan into an earlier
stop than planned for Frentzen. Barrichello then pitted a few laps
later, whilst Ralf Schumacher stopped again with a pneumatics problem,
and needed the system recharging. It was his 5th stop of the race…
By lap 64, with only a few laps to go, the battle for third was very
strong, with Frentzen leading Villeneuve, and the latter not being
especially happy about it. Villeneuve tried everywhere to get by, and
was having none of it. He finally made an overoptimistic lunge at the
end of the pit straight, and had to brake rather severely and shoot off
the track. Frentzen continued on majestically in 3rd… Alesi’s rather
impressive race was over with a slightly overcooked Peugeot deciding to
seize as he attempted to park it sensibly. It wasn’t only those down the
pecking order who had problems with their cars or themselves, with
Schumacher giving himself a fright and going off track. He rejoined and
continued on to the flag. For third, Villeneuve was soon on the back on
Frentzen again and tried like mad to get by – but failed, probably
through trying a tad too hard.
1. Schumacher
2. Barrichello
3. Frentzen
4. Villeneuve
–
Stephen M Baines http://www.motorsport.org.uk
A service of Vollansport – http://www.vollansport.com
Why was the Marlboro logos missing from the Ferrari teams equipment?
TF
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P
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P
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R
Just to put at rest the mind of anybody who might have seen the US GP
already despite ITV’s best efforts, the mechanic hit by Mazzacane
during his pit stop, Sandro Barrini, is OK, he only has a bruised
ankle.
Full race report is available on my website.
Federica Massagrande – Webmistress of FedeF1
f…@dont.spam.me.com (dont.spam.me := fedef1)
http://www.fedef1.com/
The only blemish was that they didn’t give Coulthard his stop go penalty
until AFTER he was passed by Schumacher. David CLEARLY jumped the start and
I don’t it should have taken them several laps to determine this. Drivers in
the past have been notified at the end of the first lap that they have
received stop-go penalties for less obvious incidents.
Dare I say that the stewards in order to spice up the proceedings for the US
market waited for David to bring Michael back to Mika to prevent Michael
from running away at the start? A dangerous situation as Coulthard had
nothing to lose now that he is no longer in championship contention.
Therefore any incident between him and Michael would benefit Mika. Hence
Michael’s comment’s at the post race interview about Coulthard’s
unnecessarily aggressive tactics to keep him behind. A dangerous situation
considering Coulthard has a problem with Schumacher and is something Michael
should never had been subjected to.
Other than that a great result for Formula 1.
FF
Interview between RTL5 and Mika Salo is not a direct quote but you’ll get
the idea. Last line from Salo is a quotation.
RTL5: Do you think Friday practice should go?
MS: Yes. Just Saturday Practice and qualifying.
RTL5: But what about the fans?
MS: Pause… Who cares.
The fact that Mika doesn’t care about the fans confuses me. Is that a true
professional or someone "the public" should not support.
Tony
FIA Formula 1 World Championship – Round 15
US Grand Prix, Indianapolis
Race Report
BAR HONDA CELEBRATES TWO-CAR POINTS FINISH IN US GRAND PRIX
Sunday 24 September 2000
A stunning performance from Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda delivered the
team’s most competitive result of the year in the US Grand Prix at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway this afternoon. Honda-powered driver Jacques
Villeneuve was involved in a race long battle for third position and after
73 laps of uninterrupted action, the Canadian missed out on the team’s
first podium finish by less than half a second, but was still delighted to
take fourth place for the fourth time this season. BAR Honda team mate
Ricardo Zonta also gave a stunning display, climbing from 12th on the grid
to finish in sixth place and claim a world championship point for the
second consecutive race.
Morning rain at the ‘Racing Capital of the World’ had left the track in a
semi-wet state and gave the 250,000 fans their first experience of
open-wheel racing in wet conditions at the historic venue. The race got
underway with the field running on wet tyres, but no further rain fell and
by lap ten most drivers had switched to grooved tyres as the track dried
out.
Villeneuve and Zonta, starting with a one-stop strategy and a wet set-up,
had a full fuel load and high downforce wing settings to help the car
handle well around the tight infield section of the track. Inevitably, the
tactic reduced the straight-line speed of the BAR Honda 002, but both were
able to keep the pace of their rivals and as the fuel load lightened, the
Honda drivers were among the fastest lappers on the track.
Returning to the scene of his 1995 Indy 500 victory, Villeneuve was
cheered all the way by the North American fans as he battled with
Frentzen’s Jordan and Barrichello’s Ferrari throughout the race. He sent
them wild on lap 40 as he rose to third place, but almost immediately an
uncharacteristic error saw him spin and lose the place to Barrichello.
After a stop for fuel and tyres, Villeneuve had 20 laps to catch and pass
Frentzen to claim his first podium finish for BAR Honda. With seven laps
remaining, Villeneuve picked up a tow from the German down the long main
straight and dived up the inside into the first corner. Unfortunately, he
carried too much speed into the turn and ran across the grass, losing his
hard-won place. Villeneuve reeled Frentzen in again before the end, but
despite a nail-biting climax, he could not find a way past and had to
settle for fourth place.
Despite an early electronic failure, Ricardo Zonta drove another faultless
race, as the back-up electronics system did its job perfectly. He was able
to keep pace with the two-stoppers ahead of him and benefited from his
one-stop strategy to lie seventh after his stop for fuel and tyres. The
Brazilian hunted down his fellow countryman, Pedro Diniz, in sixth place
but before he could overtake, the Sauber man retired allowing Zonta to
enjoy an unchallenged run to the flag in sixth place.
Jacques Villeneuve Position: 4th
"Today was a lot of fun and we were really quick in the race, but it’s
frustrating to get so close to a podium. I made a couple of mistakes, but
it probably wouldn’t have made a difference in the end. I wasn’t really
close enough to pass Frentzen but I just decided there was no sand trap
and no tyre wall, so I’d take a chance. I lost track of where the corner
was and as soon as I touched the brakes I knew I was not going to be able
to stop. We were a lot closer to the pace of the McLaren today and the car
was much better than in qualifying."
Ricardo Zonta Position: 6th
"It’s a great result for the team to get both cars in the points and I’m
pleased to finish in the top six for the second race running. In the early
laps the other cars were faster because of our wing settings and fuel
load, but I could keep up with them and we were then faster as the race
went on."
Takefumi Hosaka – Managing Director, Honda R&D
"Obviously we are very pleased to get this result. It was very exciting
for us and for the fans to see Jacques battling all through the race for
third place and the lap times today show that the car was very
competitive. However, we are just as pleased with Ricardo’s race. He
suffered an early electronic failure, but the back-up system that the
Honda engineers had prepared yesterday worked perfectly and he drove a
fantastic race."
Jordan Mugen Honda and Heinz-Harald Frentzen celebrated their second
podium finish of the year, after a thrilling battle with Barrichello and
Villeneuve. The German’s result made up for the disappointment of team
mate Jarno Trulli who retired from the race on lap 13 with a mechanical
problem.
Honda’s home race, the Japanese Grand prix, takes place at the Honda-owned
Suzuka Circuit on Sunday 8 October. BAR Honda will test at Silverstone
this week, 27-28 September.
Championship Standings after 15 of 17 rounds
DRIVERS
1 M Schumacher Ferrari 88
2 Hakkinen McLaren 80
3 Coulthard McLaren 63
4 Barrichello Ferrari 55
5 R Schumacher Williams 24
6 Fisichella Benetton 18
7 Villeneuve BAR Honda 14
9 Frentzen Jordan-Mugen Honda 11
10 Trulli Jordan-Mugen Honda 6
CONSTRUCTORS
1 Ferrari 143
2 McLaren-Mercedes 133
3 Williams-BMW 34
4 Benetton-Playlife 20
5 Jordan Mugen-Honda 17
= BAR Honda 17
7 Arrows 7
8 Sauber 6
9 Jaguar 3
24/09/00
–
Formula One Cartoon Archive
http://www.foca.co.uk
k…@foca.co.uk
That doesn’t sound like a bad plan, however Coulthard wouldn’t have take place
in such a plan i guess. Even though he’s not in the championship, i think he
would have wanted to race for himself, to win, and to prove that he is an
excellent driver.
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
Richard S Beckett wrote:
> x-no-archive: yes
> After watching that start, it occurred to me that maybe David Coulthard had
> been "told" to jump it.
> It would have been a good plan, if Mika had managed to pass Michael, but
> unfortunately Micheal got past David too soon.
> What do you think?
> R.
> I saw the piece Tony is referring to and Mika actually said "who
> cares about the fans". Even the reporters of RTL 5 were slightly
> shocked by that remark. I don’t know in which perspective I have to
> put that remark though. Maybe Salo was bored by yet another reporter
> asking him the same question and had a go with him. I for one don’t
> take his remark that seriously.
> the Wizard
Perhaps Salo was bored, perhaps he wasn’t. The fact of the matter is that
the fans views mean zero to the decision process. The men who sign the TV
contracts are the ones who matter, not the people who watch…
Rob
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