Australian Formula One Grand Prix

[m7ammed]

Well for me BMW are doing well this season so far much better than I excpected , but that was an exciting session and I can't wait until 2moros race

 

[Lee]

Great quali session.

I reckon Button is a hell of a lot lighter on fuel, he might keep the lead for the first stint but the Renaults will beat him on strategy.

BWM turned a few heads too with their performance, both cars in the final 10 shootout, aswell as Toyota. Shame about Massa loosing it, although I didn't really see him getting into the top 10.

And Ide needs a lesson in Formula 1, if a car which is part of the team who said they will lend support is behind you, move out the friggin' way! Rubens must have been saying a few brazilian words in that helmet.

 

[Omnis]

...Portuguese.




...Port-(****)u-guese.

 

[Impreza04]

I reckon Button is a hell of a lot lighter on fuel, he might keep the lead for the first stint but the Renaults will beat him on strategy.

Unless he wants you to think that, and he pulls a good April Fool

 

[Mr. Boy]

Nico will take the backfield in the butt and make it to at least third.

And then he'll blow his engine in the next race.

The Ferraris and Rubens have it pretty bad. Congratulations to Button for getting pole, but I think Alonso will beat him and Fisichella into the first corner.
And I think Raikkonen will be able to show his car's potential once he doesn't crash.

 

[livemusic]

I convinced my girlfriend we should stay home tonight so I get to watch the race!

Too bad thing aren't looking so good for Rubinho and Massa but they both have good chances of scoring points.

 

[Dougboy]

Hmmmm, ron dennis claims that both of the mclarens are uber heavy on fuel Lets just hope that the mclarens will be able to pass the two renaults. I dont see button being too much of a problem. If kimi can win from dead last, why cant he pull off a win from 4th

 

[liam2maps]

Ide. STUPID STUPID IDE. Ide practically blocked Rubens for his lap and thus Rubens was doomed. What was even more frustrating was that Rubens like Ide was driving a Honda. Obviously no co-operation there. Or maybe Ide can't read the "Honda" part on Rubens rear wing.

 

[Carl.]

Indeed, pay drives suck.

Why some drivers seem to wait at the very end of 1st or 2nd session to set good times is beyond me though... any track incident and you're out.

 

[livemusic]

More rubber on track, less fuel on tank... That's probably the reason they wait until the end.

 

[Roo]

Wooo! Button on pole!

... shame the Renaults are 2nd and 3rd. The start will be Canada '05 all over again.

Bad day for Ferrari.

 

[Carl.]

More rubber on track, less fuel on tank... That's probably the reason they wait until the end.

Yep, but that's also a very risky strategy, top 5 teams should at least set an "insurance" lap in the first minutes of the session...

 

[Kylehnat]

Ide. STUPID STUPID IDE.

The Super Aguris are definately slow, but Ide is almost a danger. He's 5 seconds slower than Sato, and Sato ain't exactly tearin' up the timesheets.

 

[liam2maps]

Several facts about Yuji Ide people may not know.

1// Ide is the only Formula 1 driver (including test and third drivers) who cannot speak English yet he drives for a team. You'd expect him to at least learn some basics but from what I hear (and this is pretty rock solid) he relays everything to a translator. Ide is now over 30 years old so he's had plenty of time. There's no excuse not to learn English. Now let's say from a business standpoint you want to market Japanese products to the world, what good would Ide do if he can't speak a single word of English.

2// Ide started his career when he was 15 or so (1990, Karting) and soon progressed to Japanese F3. In 6 years of Formula 3 in Japan he has failed to become champion. That's right 6. Now I am not fully up to date with Japanese motorsport but there is something called Formula Nippon which I suspect is the new version of Formula 3 in Japan and Ide has had 3 seasons there and has failed to win a championship there too. So 6+3 is 9. That's 1 year short of a decade, in 9 years he has failed to win the Japanese F3/Formula Nippon championship.

3// Now that's single seaters, let's try sportscar racing in Japan (JGTC, if I recall correctly). Ide has had 6 seasons in JGTC and surprise surprise he hasn't won the championship there either. So basically he hasn't won a single Japanese championship of any worth barring Formula Dream (if that is worth anything). I should also point out Aguri Suzuki is director of Formula Dream in too.

4// Ide is known in Japan as a ladies man, rather than a champion driver. Now if I was starting a new team I'd want someone who not only does the job but has no "excess baggage".

I could come up with more but I think these are strong valid points. Just to the friendly moderators here I am not personally attacking Japan, I am just discussing my dislike for Ide. I know he's a rookie and yes they make mistakes but he's had a VAST amount of experience, more than Rosberg.

Quite potentially his inability to speak English and understand commands (when he was asked to put the car into opposite gear he even failed to understand that, Blake should be able to back me up on this if he saw the spin and heard the radio), his accident prone nature and his lack of ability makes him a danger to Formula 1.

If this driver doesn't change his mindset it's possible we could see something horrible in the future where he hits a marshall or something.

 

[Omnis]

Why did Aguri Suzuki hire Yuji Ide?

To make Sato look good. That is all.

 

[qwazy|06]

here's a question for you guys;

as the season progresses, do you think BMW-sauber has a chance at winning a race?

 

[Carl.]

here's a question for you guys;

as the season progresses, do you think BMW-sauber has a chance at winning a race?

That would require a lot of bad luck happening at Mclaren, Ferrari, Honda and Renault... don't think so.

 

[Kylehnat]

here's a question for you guys;

as the season progresses, do you think BMW-sauber has a chance at winning a race?

No, but if Kubica's lap times are indicative of what the car is capable of, they have promise for the next couple of years.

 

[Blake]

Quite potentially his inability to speak English and understand commands (when he was asked to put the car into opposite gear he even failed to understand that, Blake should be able to back me up on this if he saw the spin and heard the radio), his accident prone nature and his lack of ability makes him a danger to Formula 1.

This is very strange, though. His team simply would not relay commands to him in English – this is F1, and even Super Aguri isn’t run by complete idiots.

 

[Famine]

Just to the friendly moderators here I am not personally attacking Japan

I'm pretty sure no-one thought you were...

Ide IS a waste of space. The fact he's acquired a Super Licence and has done two races AND qualifying AND practices and not yet discovered where reverse is - given his propensity for needing it - is staggering.

 

[Kylehnat]

For all we know, the Super Aguri may not even have a reverse gear. Arrows was going to put one in, but they never got around to it...

 

[amp88]

For all we know, the Super Aguri may not even have reverse. Arrows was going to put one in, but they never got around to it...

9.4 Reverse gear :
All cars must have a reverse gear operable any time during the Event by the driver when the engine is
running.

Anyway, it is a terrible state of affairs when a driver takes so long to get into reverse. I hope if he doesn't improve soon Super Aguri will see sense and replace him with a more competent driver...

 

[Kylehnat]

Anyway, it is a terrible state of affairs when a driver takes so long to get into reverse.

If it's anything like a Mazda transmission, it might take 10 tries to get it into reverse

 

[amp88]

If it's anything like a Mazda transmission, it might take 10 tries to get it into reverse

Yeah, my 406 can be a bit stubborn about engaging reverse sometimes too. I can just imagine Ide now trying to press the button down with both hands trying to get it go go in.

I wonder why he didn't just switch off the TC and boot the throttle to spin it round before he started to try to inch forward and turn it normally. He looked to have plenty of room to do so from where he first came to rest.

 

[The359]

Several facts about Yuji Ide people may not know.

2// Ide started his career when he was 15 or so (1990, Karting) and soon progressed to Japanese F3. In 6 years of Formula 3 in Japan he has failed to become champion. That's right 6. Now I am not fully up to date with Japanese motorsport but there is something called Formula Nippon which I suspect is the new version of Formula 3 in Japan and Ide has had 3 seasons there and has failed to win a championship there too. So 6+3 is 9. That's 1 year short of a decade, in 9 years he has failed to win the Japanese F3/Formula Nippon championship.

You have to win championships to be a decent driver?

Kimi Raikkonen has won how many World Championships? 0
Michael Andretti has won how many Indy 500s? 0
Jean Alesi won how many Grand Prixs after 200 tries over 6 seasons? 1
Championships? 0

3// Now that's single seaters, let's try sportscar racing in Japan (JGTC, if I recall correctly). Ide has had 6 seasons in JGTC and surprise surprise he hasn't won the championship there either. So basically he hasn't won a single Japanese championship of any worth barring Formula Dream (if that is worth anything). I should also point out Aguri Suzuki is director of Formula Dream in too.

He also ran with the privateer Calsonic team in JGTC, which has won races, but never a championship.

4// Ide is known in Japan as a ladies man, rather than a champion driver. Now if I was starting a new team I'd want someone who not only does the job but has no "excess baggage".

What does this have to do with driving?

I could come up with more but I think these are strong valid points.

No, they aren't. They're half truths that neglect to mention his successes.

I'm not defending Ide, and agree he's out of his league in F1 at the moment, but it's stupid to only tell people the "bad" stuff about him instead and leave out any mention of what talent he does have.

 

[MustangSVT]

According to wikipedia:

Räikkönen had a long line of success in karting from the age of ten, including placing second in the 1999 European Formula Super A championship. He also competed that year in the Formula Ford Euro Cup, and by the age of twenty, he had won the Formula Renault Winter series, winning the first four races of the year. In 2000, he dominated the British Renault Championship, where he won seven of ten events. After racing in the Formula Renault series later in 2000, Räikkönen had won an astounding 13 of 23 events — a 56% win rate.

He won a Formula REnault Series, and he dominated the British Renault Championship (all open wheelers I assume), so he's been champion in 2 series before he came into F1.

Alesi was born in Avignon, Vaucluse. Starting his career with a passion for Rallying rather than racing, he graduated to single seaters through the French Renault 5 championship. In the late 1980s he was very much a coming man in motor racing, winning the 1988 French Formula 3 title, and following it up in 1989 with the International Formula 3000 crown, both after duels with his rival Erik Comas.

Alesi won a French F3 championship and International F3000.

Yuji started his racing career in 1990 with kart racing. In 1991, he won the Kantou National Cup Kart Championship. 1992 saw him claim second place in the Regional Kart Championship East Kantou Series A1 Class and he also won the Japan Kart Grand Prix SS stock class National GP. A year after that, in 1993, he joined the All Japan Kart Championship Series Formula A Class. He then moved to the All Japan Formula Three Championship Series. In 1999 he came second in the All Japan GT Championship GT300 Class Series. He was also the Formula Dream Series Champion. In 2002 Yuji joined the French Formula 3 series and finished in seventh place. The following year, 2003, he joined the All Japan Championship Formula Nippon Series and also finished seventh. In 2004, he claimed third spot before going on to win the Super Endurance Race Class3 Series. He finished his Formula Nippon career in 2005 by finishing in second.

He came in 7th in French F3 and in 2003 7th in Japan Formula Nippon, and in 2005 he finished 2nd.

On the other hand for example, Rosberg won GP2 last year. Davidson won the European F3 in 2001 (champion). Even Sato has won the British F3 in 2001. How many times has Ide won a open wheeler championship? Well none so far. If you're gonna drive in F1, I think you should at least really impress in a open wheeler series and most likely have won one already.

 

[amp88]

In Perry McCarthy's book (Flat Out, Flat Broke), he says that when he was trying to get his Super License, one of the conditions was you had to have been F3000 champion or national F3 champion. Now the requirement is a certain amount of testing and convincing the FIA you're not dangerous (not sure how Ide slipped through ).

Alesi also had 32 podiums in F1 (and a lot of reliability problems including those below)

Engine 19
Gearbox 9
Suspension 6
Electrical 4
Transmission 4
Fuel System Problem 3
Clutch 2
Halfshaft 2
Hydraulics 2
Out of Fuel 2
Brakes 1
Differential 1
Tyre 1
Wheel Bearing 1

 

[DQuaN]

Woooo! GO JENSON!!!!

The race starts in 2 hours, but i should go to bed! What are the odds that a Renauld will be leading into the first corner?

I could put money on it. I'll find out tomorrow. Night all.

 

[The359]

On the other hand for example, Rosberg won GP2 last year. Davidson won the European F3 in 2001 (champion). Even Sato has won the British F3 in 2001. How many times has Ide won a open wheeler championship? Well none so far. If you're gonna drive in F1, I think you should at least really impress in a open wheeler series and most likely have won one already.

My proint is saying that he's bad because he spent 6 years and didn't win a championship, as if you're supposed to win championships in order to be considered good.

His posts also don't mention where he finished in each championship.

liam2maps is trying to make him look like he's nothing, while in reality he has done some things.

 

[VTRacing]

Several facts about Yuji Ide people may not know.

4// Ide is known in Japan as a ladies man, rather than a champion driver. Now if I was starting a new team I'd want someone who not only does the job but has no "excess baggage".

Aha, like "Ide" Irvine at Jaguar!!