the blind sow finally found an acorn

[John Z Goriup]

There's a reason the Belgian F1 Grand Prix @ Spa - Francorchamps is so often the best race of the year, and today's edition proved it yet again.

What a fun morning it was:

1. It's been a long time since we've had a dry, sunny Belgian GP...it allowed racing and wasn't decided with pit strategy.

2. There was a proper first corner carambolage, but no-one got hurt.

3. The "unmotivated slacker" ( as the rabid Italian press refers to Kimi R.) saved the Scuderia's bacon. They'd never live down the humiliation of a season without even one victory

4. the F 60 KERS seems to work, as demonstrated by Kimi's pass on Fisi right after the safety car came in. On the other hand, if the Force India car had KERS I think Fisi would have won today

4. Force India, Eddie Jordan's old outfit, looked pretty good all weekend. I believe Fisichella actually put pressure on the Ferrari....the gap never grew beyond 2 seconds. Bravo ! Wonder what they did with the car or whom they hired to improve it so dramatically.

5. Lewis H. went home empty handed !!

6. Rubinho's M-B engine actually held together to the finish line, I didn't think it would

7. Renault had the good sense to call Fernando in before he lost a front wheel again as a result of another botched stop. Time for a re-design, Flavio,.......hopefully before Monza.

Monza holds all the potential to be an even better race. Can't wait

JZG

[Mark Morrissey]

Wow, nice summary. Spa is amazing, right?
I remember the TV guys were talking about Alonzo's pit problems with his front left but didn't someone run into him in that area earlier in the race? And what happened to Barrichello at the start?

[Jim Garfield]

Mark, you're right. Alonso's wheel problem was a result of the first corner incident, I'm suprised the announcers didn't pick up on that.

As for Barrichello- I'm pretty sure that the policeman asking if his car was supposed to be that loud distracted him at the start.

[John Z Goriup]

QUOTE Jim Garfield --Mark, you're right. Alonso's wheel problem was a result of the first corner incident, I'm suprised the announcers didn't pick up on that.

Jim,

actually one of them, I think it was Matchett, did mention it, but perhaps no one was paying attention to him because at about the same time Peter Windsor came out with the most outrageous statement of the whole Spa weekend......when he stated that he felt it was Raikkonen's first turn off-track escape maneuver (when he went wide to avoid a sliding car), which set the entire chain reaction of spins and collisions in motion.

I replayed and studied that first-turn incident in slow-motion over and over and by no stretch of the imagination can one reasonably conclude that it was Kimi's fault. Obviously the stewarts agreed since there was no mention of a penalty or investigation. I think it was just a bad call on Windsor's part as a TV commentator........but it does give one pause when you consider that next year he will be a team principal and then it will mean something when he complains and protest other drivers moves.

[Gumby]

I think it's time for Peter Windsor step down from commentary and concentrate on his own F1 team for the next year . Ron

[Mark Morrissey]

I'm pretty sure that the policeman asking if his car was supposed to be that loud distracted him at the start.

Good one. Too funny Jim

[naparsei]

4. the F 60 KERS seems to work, as demonstrated by Kimi's pass on Fisi right after the safety car came in. On the other hand, if the Force India car had KERS I think Fisi would have won today

True, but keep in mind, without KERS, Kimi would have a very different weight distribution in the car, and might have qualified higher and/or run the same/quicker pace. KERS is great for passing, but it does compromise handling. We will never know, and Fisi definitely had the pace to win.

Rubens also took a detour. He avoided the Grosjean/Button/Hammy pile up. There was at least one other off track move for position during the race, but I can't remember it at the moment - after all, the race was an entire day ago...

[Bummler]

The biggest unanswered question out of the weekend is if Fisi is going to get he offer to drive the Ferrari for the rest of the season. He certainly made a strong case for it on the track yesterday and his being Italian doesn't hurt either...

[John Z Goriup]

True, but keep in mind, without KERS, Kimi would have a very different weight distribution in the car, and might have qualified higher and/or run the same/quicker pace. KERS is great for passing, but it does compromise handling. We will never know, and Fisi definitely had the pace to win....

Slightly different weight distribution, probably, mildly compromised handling, yes, I'll concede that, but very different weight distribution, compromised handling to the extent it's a handicap.....most likely NOT. The 2 heaviest components of the Kers system are mounted as low and as centrally as possible, to minimize the effect on weight distribution and handling. In addition, Ferrari has been building their cars lighter than the mandated minimum weight limit for years, (but still robust enough to pass FIA crash testing) thus enabling them to bring weight up to the FIA min. by bolting in ballast plates in various locations, to be able to significantly alter handling characteristics to suit various tracks. Deleting some of the ballast altogether allowed Ferrari to maintain a gross weight that hasn't ballooned excessively & is really quite competitive. Conversly, that's also part of the reason they do well at some tracks and are hopelessly outclassed at others, because they sacrificed some of their ability to fine-tune handling characteristics to individual circuits by moving ballast. That pretty much leaves only aero tweaks and fuel loads ( pit strategy) to adapt the car to various tracks. More evidence of the minimal effect of the Kers system on the Ferrari's handling is their almost unique ability to run the "green stripe" tires for longer stints than anyone else, fairly conclusive proof that handling and tire loading seems to be more benign than certainly McLaren who seem to have a devil of a time with the super-soft tires. Please note there wasn't a very large weight difference between Kimi's F60 and the lightest of the cars on a 2-stop strategy on the grid on Sunday morning ...... quite managable in fact, and in the race both Kimi and Gian Carlo came in simoultaneously for their first pit stop, indicating nearly identical fuel loads at the start.

The entire justification to Ferrari to take the time and trouble to make KERS work has been the undeniable lowering of lap times with the system as opposed to the same car without it. Don't forget, they are allowed limited testing during the season and have appearantly used their alloted milage wisely.

I hope this doesn't come across as being argumentative, because I certainly don't want to repeat the bitter, embarrassing experience of my recent squabble about Deep Sixes. I'm just stating my position on Ferrari's use of Kers for the sake of civilized debate. In short, I'm convinced that for Ferrari the Kers system has been a "net upside" decision......once they got it to work reliably.

Barring FIA rule-tweaking, I predict next year you won't be competitive without it.

JZG

[John Z Goriup]

The biggest unanswered question out of the weekend is if Fisi is going to get he offer to drive the Ferrari for the rest of the season.

Well, looks like that question has finally been answered this morning (US time). Force India have released Fisichella and it now appears almost certain he and not Luca Badoer will be driving the 2nd F 60.

We'll see how much better one aging Italian driver in a Ferrari he has never even sat in can do as opposed to another aging Italian who has spent years of his working life developing the car.

JZG