Tony's Blog

Let's face it, no one likes the pass for the lead to be done in the pits, but that has been the way road racing works many times. Ferrari pulled it off and they have proven to me that San Marino wasn't a fluke like last year. Bridgestone seems to have a handle on the tire situation finally and the 248 is working well.

Renault I think has also come back to the pack a bit. Watching Fisi not on the podium when his car isn't in the garage shows that Alonso is getting the most out of the car. Sorry to say it Fisi, it doesn't matter how much Villeneuve held you up in qualifying, you ain't getting the most out of the car.

It was also good to see Massa get on the podium, Rubens in 5th, and Rosberg in 7th after starting last. Good drivers with hard luck getting a good result.

So what is up with Mclaren? The car is clearly not up to what it was last year. Despite Montoya's engine blow up this weekend, the Mercedes isn't blowing up nearly as much as it did last year. Seems odd that the new v8 and better reliability than the old v10. One can suspect they aren't pushing it as much this year.

For next race the question will be how well Michelin performs. The comments on the Speed TV broadcast mentioned they may have been suffering from tires that were not right for the temperature. Apparently Bridgestone figured that out, or guessed right.

Suprises

Ferrari keeping pace

Disappointments

Webber, how many hydraulics failures can one man have?

RedBull/Toro Rosso: 4 cars, 3 retirements

Same old story

Honda qualifies well, but falls back during the race.

Will someone get Super-Slow Aguri off the track or give them last years BAR chassis, this is ridiculous

So I remember watching Alonso and Schumacher in the 2005 battling for the win of the San Marino race. I was in a cafe in Barcelona surrouned by Catalonians and Germans rooting for their favorite driver, I'll let you guess which ones. Definitely a hilight of my European trip, but back to racing.

Last year's race gave reason to believe that Ferrari was back. We all know now that Ferrari was no where near the pace of Renault or McLaren. San Marino was such an aberation that everyone that wanted to believe Ferrari had the speed kept point to that race.

So this race Schumacher is ahead and Alonso couldn't get past him. Where was McLaren? Are we to believe they suddenly are slower than Ferrari? I think not. After some mixed results this season so far for Ferrari, are we to believe they have suddenly got the pace back? I think Ferrari just knows this track like the back of their hand and know the best tire for their car on that track. To me, Ferrari is still 3rd and maybe even behind Honda. Let's see what happens in Nurburg in the next race. I bet we will see Renault and McLaren in front.

I think if you took Ferrari out of the race, the results were typical with many of the other races results this year.

Suprises

Ruben's started third!

Disappointments

Ruben's was 5th after the start and never had the speed.

The lollipop man for Honda sent Button with the fuel rig still plugged in an not a hit of moment from the refuelers. There was no reason to send him.

For those who like wrecks, you got them. Low gripe because of cold temperatures and little runoff area made for an interesting race. It could have been more interesting if Kimi could have made time on Alonso and Webber didn't have a transmission failure. But there was enough interesting racing going on elsewhere in the field that it made for a pretty entertaining race.

It was amusing to listen to the onboard radio for Renault telling Fisi that Alonso is going 2 seconds faster a lap and that isn't acceptable. Don't they remember that all cars don't handle well in traffic? F1 insists on not using the undertray for downforce, therefore the wings generate turbulence. Even if Alonso was lapping traffic, that is a lot easier than competitive traffic.

I think the best moment of the race had to be watch Button's engine blowup in the a fireball. Seeing the onboard camera from Fisi's car shows how dirty his visor had to be. Some question Honda telling him to stop short of the finish and lose championship points.. I guess we'll all know how good of a move that was if they score well in the next round. No matter what they decided, I think hindsight was the best move :)

Suprises

There wasn't a blown Mercedes engine this weekend.

Ferrari unprepared by making the wrong tire choice.

Disappointments

I can't say I was overly disappointed by anything in this race. Massa exit was disappointing, but it wasn't his fault. Maybe the disappointments should be more about qualifying position that put him in that spot.

Rubens did have a very disappointing grid position, but ended in 7th. So since his string of disappointing races, getting points is a positive. Look at it this way, he beat his teammate in this race.