Let's not pretend that we know the facts. "He was acting on orders from on high", etc. and all that rubbish.
Although the evidence seems to point to an intentional crash, there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever about where the idea originated from, whether Briatore and/or Symonds approved the idea, or who else might have been involved and to what extent.
The hearing is on the 21st. Hopefully the truth will out. But seeing that it's the WMSC we're talking about, I'm guessing this might go all the way to the ICA.
The sad thing about all this is:
1. Nelsinho Piquet's racing career is effectively over, unless it is a self-run operation or within Brazil.
2. Formula One's sporting image has been tarnished yet again, by another scandal.
3. Regardless of which party in the matter is correct, everyone loses to some degree.
========================================================
Having said all that, it seems Flavio Briatore is pulling no punches about this:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78467
and
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78478
This thing is sure to get extremely ugly.
Although the evidence seems to point to an intentional crash, there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever about where the idea originated from, whether Briatore and/or Symonds approved the idea, or who else might have been involved and to what extent.
The hearing is on the 21st. Hopefully the truth will out. But seeing that it's the WMSC we're talking about, I'm guessing this might go all the way to the ICA.
The sad thing about all this is:
1. Nelsinho Piquet's racing career is effectively over, unless it is a self-run operation or within Brazil.
2. Formula One's sporting image has been tarnished yet again, by another scandal.
3. Regardless of which party in the matter is correct, everyone loses to some degree.
========================================================
Having said all that, it seems Flavio Briatore is pulling no punches about this:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78467
and
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78478
This thing is sure to get extremely ugly.
Last edited by samjh, .
The Middle East is the biggest export market for Holden. Commodores sell well there.
Do you work? If so, spread the word to your work colleagues. If you work for a large company, contact your HR department and perhaps they can send out email notices about it to everyone.
I'm more inclined to think Piquet is stupid enough to have made up his side of the story than to think Briatore is stupid enough to have instructed Piquet to rig the race.
Briatore, for all his faults, is shrewd enough not to expose himself to such an obvious blackmailing opportunity. Piquet Junior, on the other hand, has shown plenty of times that he is prone to speaking without adequate employment of his higher-order thinking abilities.
Having said that, if it turns out Briatore and Symonds were privy to Piquet's deliberate crashing (if there exists enough evidence to prove the crash was deliberate, rather than a mere error), their reputations will be tarnished. This is particularly the case for Symonds, who is widely regarded to be as an honest character among F1 management.
Briatore, for all his faults, is shrewd enough not to expose himself to such an obvious blackmailing opportunity. Piquet Junior, on the other hand, has shown plenty of times that he is prone to speaking without adequate employment of his higher-order thinking abilities.
Having said that, if it turns out Briatore and Symonds were privy to Piquet's deliberate crashing (if there exists enough evidence to prove the crash was deliberate, rather than a mere error), their reputations will be tarnished. This is particularly the case for Symonds, who is widely regarded to be as an honest character among F1 management.
Because he is a former world karting champion?
A win for Liuzzi will be extremely interesting, mainly because the guy has never been even within spitting distance of a podium in F1, and has been slagged a lot.
But for me, I'll be watching Fisichella and Ferrari very closely. Italian track + Italian driver + Italian team? I think I'm already hearing the Tifosi from here, on the other side of the planet.
And I could take that as a petty threat. However, English is my second language, so I am very forgiving when members who do not use English as their main language misunderstand what is written in these forums.
English-speakers commonly say that a "car lurches forward", when there is too much deceleration too suddenly. You are right that it is not an accurate expression, if you interpret it literally. It's a form of colloquialism.
When you accelerate, the car lurches backwards as its centre of gravity is moved backward. In other words, the chassis accelerates at a slower rate than the wheels, and the car seemingly tips backward on its suspension.
When you decelerate, the car lurches forward as its centre of gravity is moved forward. In other words, the chassis tends to want to continue forward while the wheels slow down and attempt to bring the car to a stop, so the car seemingly tips forward on its suspension.
Am I sensing a "lost in translation" moment here between English speakers and non-English speakers?
People thought similar about Spa (including me), which also has its fair share of heavy braking zones followed by long flat-out sections. The thing about Spa is that heavy braking zones lead into simple corners and long flats, ideal for KERS. At Monza, the heavy braking zones lead into chicanes and short flats, which makes KERS usage dubious.
I think Monza won't really advantage KERS cars. They will obviously be useful for blocking, but not necessarily for overtaking (except off the starting grid).
After all this hype, I hope he does well. Otherwise... he'll go from hero to zero in the space it takes for a bullet to travel from a grandstand to the Ferrari pit garage. 
A lot of cars would do that if you don't match revs properly, like if you downshifted from 5th to 3rd while still on the brakes and not applying any throttle.
Hah! Fisi looks as though his birthday and Christmas has arrived all in one day! 
As for the helmet, it should just be Ferrari red with
painted on top.
As for the helmet, it should just be Ferrari red with
painted on top.Nope, it's still not necessary.
If you need to heel-toe in order to maintain the balance of the car, you're heading into the roundabout too fast. Your braking should be completed before doing the gear change:
- Brake to reduce speed. Brake to stop, but look for an opportunity to go.
- If you are clear to enter the roundabout, you first make sure you're not travelling too fast to negotiate the roundabout.
- Then your right foot should move to the accelerator to match revs, while your left foot operates the clutch, so that gear changing is done smoothly without upsetting the balance of the car.
And it's not slow either. When done correctly, your entry speed will be well within safe pace, and you'll be on the throttle at or even before turning in. It's certainly not the FASTEST way (that will be using trail-braking and heel-toe, racing style), but the road is not as predictable or sterile as a race track. Margin of safety needs to be greater, and the slower entry speed is the price one pays for that safety.
No.
(Explanations below are grossly over-simplified. Be nice if you're going to nit-pick.
)Double-declutching (or double-clutching, depending on which country you live in), is supposed to match the speed of the drive shaft to the speed of the gear you are going to be engaging.
Heel-toeing performs a different purpose: to match the speed of the of the clutch plate linked to the engine, to the new speed of the clutch plate linked to the gearbox after a new gear is selected, as quickly as possible.
DD'ing helps to smoothly engage each gear to the collar, which is connected to the drive shaft. If the collar does not engage a gear properly (either due to a faulty synchromesh in a car so equipped, or due to lack of proper DD technique in non-synchromeshed cars), then you get "grinding" of the gears.
Heel-toeing helps to smoothly engage the clutch for each gear shift, preventing unnecessary clutch wear, and also helping to relieve some pressure from gearbox itself as a result. It also helps to maintain the balance of the car as optimally as possible, and prevent power-induced skids.
Note, however, that you DO NOT NEED to heel-toe, under any circumstance apart from racing. In normal road driving, or even in police pursuits or anti-ambush driving, the best practice is to performing braking and gear changing as separate actions.
Last edited by samjh, .
Well, think of it this way: Fisi winning pole for Force India made F1 history. His performance in Ferrari probably won't.
Not exactly nice. I think some debt write-offs were involved. Force India owed Ferrari a lot of money for unpaid engines, and I think Fisi was given in exchange for making that debt balance zero.
So who's replacing Fisi? Liuzzi?
You won't know you're DD'ing correctly until you drive a car that has no synchromesh.
Briatore: "Nelsinho, you have to finish the race. Don't crash this time!"
Piquet: "What?! But, but... that's IMPOSSIBLE!"
* crashes *
Timing is nice and convenient. Piquet Jnr gets the kick, and then accusations of foul play involving him from last year surfaces...
I call BS on this. Innocent until proven guilty. Flavio's reputation is as clean as soap scum, but even he doesn't deserve to be dragged over hot coals for a crime he did not commit.
It seems far more likely that there are certain factions in and around F1 who wants to see Flavio go down. They've found an ally in disgruntled Nelsinho and are moving to take advantage of it by fabricating some crap about Singapore, and help Nelsinho play the victim even more. The fact that Flavio is not in good terms with the FIA (particularly after he went against Mosley in the 2005 Indy fiasco) plays to their advantage even more. Disgusting.
I call BS on this. Innocent until proven guilty. Flavio's reputation is as clean as soap scum, but even he doesn't deserve to be dragged over hot coals for a crime he did not commit.
It seems far more likely that there are certain factions in and around F1 who wants to see Flavio go down. They've found an ally in disgruntled Nelsinho and are moving to take advantage of it by fabricating some crap about Singapore, and help Nelsinho play the victim even more. The fact that Flavio is not in good terms with the FIA (particularly after he went against Mosley in the 2005 Indy fiasco) plays to their advantage even more. Disgusting.
Last edited by samjh, .
Gosh, I barely kept my position. There is definitely more pressure when you're leading!
Monza is going to be very interesting. Personally, I'm hoping for rain.
Monza is going to be very interesting. Personally, I'm hoping for rain.
Just throw some dice.
We have about as much chance of predicting the result as predicting the next number.David Coulthard also said Kimi gained no advantage.
So FIA = nothing wrong with Kimi, BBC Sport = nothing wrong, David Coulthard = nothing wrong. Given that all those entities have more collective knowledge about F1 racing than perhaps all of us here combined, I'll take their judgement at face value.
So FIA = nothing wrong with Kimi, BBC Sport = nothing wrong, David Coulthard = nothing wrong. Given that all those entities have more collective knowledge about F1 racing than perhaps all of us here combined, I'll take their judgement at face value.
Well done Kimi! (Honestly, is everyone so petty?)
Awesome work by Fisichella and Force India! The bookies must be banging their heads on their desks.
That was a solid drive from Vettel. He had a good strategy, but had to work hard to pull it off.
Now, the BMWs... are they back in the game? They seem to come and go.
Toyotas... ugh. Disappointment is too kind a word. Not really Trulli or Glock's fault. Faulty fuel rigs are a pain in the butt.
Awesome work by Fisichella and Force India! The bookies must be banging their heads on their desks.
That was a solid drive from Vettel. He had a good strategy, but had to work hard to pull it off.
Now, the BMWs... are they back in the game? They seem to come and go.
Toyotas... ugh. Disappointment is too kind a word. Not really Trulli or Glock's fault. Faulty fuel rigs are a pain in the butt.
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG