[Russell Sheldon]

Another great drive, but shame on Michael! Did he really have to make it look so obvious that he was just out to play? I felt rather embarrassed on the part of Kimi et al.

Eighty Grand Prix victories, 6 times World Champion. Can anybody else even get close to him? Obviously not.

At least it was fun (funny) to watch.

Kind regards

Russell

 

[Doug]

It was quite good. I found the ITV commentary interesting and TV camera work exciting to watch.

There were so few drop-outs that the race was quite congested virtually to the finish.

Ferrari are so good with their French/English/German/Italian blood. How long will it last and what will it take to better them?

We even got to see a little of the SLK Safety car

 

[Russell Sheldon]

Um umm...

"Ferrari are so good with their French/English/German/Italian blood"

F1 is very much a team effort, but I don't think that Rory Byrne gets the recognition he rightfully deserves. Ever since the South African joined the Scuderia from Benetton in 1997, he has played a major role in bringing them success. He has certainly come a long way since his first creation, the 1982 F1 Toleman.

In 1986, when Toleman were bought out and renamed Benetton, Byrne continued to design top class F1 cars, before leaving to take on a new role designing Reynard's F1 chassis. When the Reynard F1 effort failed to get off the ground, he returned to Benetton and designed a car that gave Michael Schumacher back to back World Titles in 1994 and 1995.

When Schumacher left Benetton to join Ferrari, Byrne was enticed to follow. His first Ferrari F1 chassis design was the 1998 car, which took Schumacher oh so close to the driver's title.

Byrne's 1999 design, the F399, gave Ferrari the Constructor's Championship, despite Schumacher being sidelined by his accident in the British GP.

His F1-2000 took all the honours the next year, with Ferrari winning the constructor's title and Michael Schumacher winning the drivers title. Byrne's F2001 was all conquering, giving Schumacher and Ferrari another double world title, and his F2002 took all the honours again the next year, with Schumacher and Barrichello winning 15 of the 17 GPs.

Last year's F2003-GA again brought double world titles for the Scuderia. Byrne's latest creation, the F2004, at this stage at least, seems unbeatable.

No doubt Ecclestone will have a word with Ferrari to slow things down a bit, so as to protect his income from television rights….

Kind regards

Russell

 

[Fergy]

QUOTE No doubt Ecclestone will have a word with Ferrari to slow things down a bit, so as to protect his income from television rights…

I almost detected a hint of sarcasm and cynicism in there, Russell.

 

[Scott B]

I gather Rory had all but left racing to go diving in 1995/6, but was persuaded back atteh thought of a Schumacher/Ferrari effort. Then, it was a risk to bring Ferrari back to some prominence. Hard to believe now.

 

[Guest]

I have to agree with Russell, I also think that Rory Byrne get over looked and he is so important to the team success. For this what is making them almost imposssible to beat as a team the fact that everybody is so talented.

RR

 

[jonny s]

A lot of the Phoenix lads were down there from Friday until after the race. I`ll be interested to see if they really enjoyed it. I`ve always loved F 1 but the sooner a few more drivers get competitive then the better.

 

[Larry LS]

F1 race? Another Yawnnnnnneeeerrrr Wake me up when there is a race!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

 

[astro]

personally I enjoyed this one a lot, best one since monaco in my opinion.

First place is fairly predictable, but I still like seeing someone with such ability and a great team behind him perform in race conditions; 2nd place - its so up for grabs, especiall since mercedes/mclaren have finally got their new car & engine together. Button, Barrichello, Alonso, Trulli, Raikonen, Coulthard, Sato, Montoya- any of these could be there.

What are the 'interesting' classes of racing that you guys are watching, and what makes them exciting?

 

[tDI_Fahrer]

I'm a Shumi fan since he raced in his number 19 Benetton back in the days...
I saw every race then... I stayed at home for F1... or I recorded it and watched afterwards... but the last years... it isn't fun to watch anymore... It's time some-one is good enough to battle Shumi in his Ferrari...

What I do watch now... is ETCC, and GT-races... The speeds aren't that high, but those cars and times are very much alike... and they have to battle more for their places... They have to brake eachother out... Too bad there aren't more professional brand-teams that take part of these races... Next to the 320's, 156's, Toledo's, and some focusses and 307's... it would be nice to see the new S40 from Volvo, VW Bora's, Audi A4's, new Astra's...

I like the principle more too... take a normal streetcar... make it raceble... with certain regulations in mind... and drive... Spectators have more feeling with the races because there is a race-car on the track, based on their car that they will drive home afterwards...

Greetz

Gunther

 

[vfr750]

What are the 'interesting' classes of racing that you guys are watching, and what makes them exciting?

If you get the chance to see the World Superbikes from Laguna Seca yesterday, (I'm sure it will be repeated on Eurosport this week) there was some of the most exciting dicing ever in Race 1. I haven't watched Race 2

Bike in general racing often gets criticised for too much overtaking

Such a pity Scaley couldn't capture this with their pathetic bikes.

I also love historic car racing for the nostalgia and beauty of the machinery.

John

 

[philjf1]

Well i have been quite lucky to goto two f1 races this year,

i went to monaco gp and sat on the exit of the swimming pool (right where sato blew up

) and yesterday i went to silverstone.

I could not believe the amount of people, i arrived at the circuit at 7.15 (fairly early, the last 5 years i have arrived at fairly the same time) and the place was rammed, i ended up sitting on a grass verge on the exit of vale, appauling view, but thank god there was a screen there.

The race seemed good, i didnt have the fantastic coverage of itv

but i had the awesome sound of the bmw engine

it was a good race, i felt kimi had a good chance when safety car came out, but thank god he did, coz schumi didnt have to stop again ? im not sure some1 have to confirm that for me.

I was just so happy to see the popularity of F1 on the up!

btw, i wouldnt really reccomend silverstone for new people if they wanna see an f1 race sit at the bus stop at spa!