Formula 1 is great

Monday May 30, 2005 at 1:12 pm | Filed under Sports

F1 Raikkonen-1
Some of you know that I’m following the Formula 1 season this year. If fact I’ve been keeping track of a lot of the open wheel series lately. But while others were watching the girl lose (and take a bunch of people out in the process) in Indianapolis, I was watching a great race on the Nurburgring circuit in Germany. The F1′s put on a great show with a crazy start to the race that had about 6 cars involved in a crash. Kimi Raikkonen (pictured here) lead the whole race until a flat-spotted tire generated enough vibration to break the front suspension of his Mercedes McLaren. This happened on the last lap! 2nd place at the time, Fernando Alonso, was catching him as he babied his tire and tried to limp to the finish. He had to push to keep P1 and as we crossed the start/finish line to complete the last lap of the race… well, you can see what happened. Great race!

Just a couple of reasons why I dig F1 so much…

Variety – There are drivers from all around the world, and currently there are no American drivers racing in F1. The cars are from at least 10 different manufacturers and it’s amazing to see the machines they put out on the track each week. Two tire makes compete as well.

Strategy – The thinking behind staying within F1′s strict rules system, and finding as much advantage over your competitors as possible is great fun to watch. Pit stops, driving style, tire use, and team tactics all play into the overall strategy for any team on race day.

Drivers – Sure there’s a variety of drivers, but the skill level at which they perform is, in my opinion, well above that of other open wheel racing leagues. The other thing that is cool about the drivers is that you actually get to hear from them at the end of each racing or qualifying session. There are interviews with the top 3 finishers which always crack me up. The drivers have so much confidence, and they’re not afraid to point out the shortcomings of their competitors, even if they’re sitting right next to them.

If you get the Speed channel, you may want to check out some F1 races, or maybe even visit F1.com.

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3 Responses to “Formula 1 is great”

  1. Monique Says:
    May 30th, 2005 at 6:10 pm

    I must admit that I’ve enjoyed some of these races too…but shhhh! Don’t tell Joe!

  2. Danny Says:
    June 6th, 2005 at 12:06 pm

    What an end to the European GP! I knew Kimi was nursing that tire, but I thought for sure he’d end up with the hat trick. It was the best crash of the day (always something fun in F1…unless someone gets hurt). Even better than Alonso getting the win was Rubens on the podium (only the third time for Ferrari this season, and only one of those from Schumacher…odd).

    I love the leading Spaniard, but realize he had two races handed to him by Kimi’s retirement. Putting the points where they should be, Fernando would only have an 8 point lead instead of the 32 points he’s got on the Fin. But still, Alonso is the only driver to score in every race…gotta give him some props for that.

    Advice for all TiVo users: add “Formula 1″ to your wishlist! You’ll love the show.

  3. Joe Says:
    June 6th, 2005 at 5:47 pm

    Good insight, Danny. I was hoping you’d find this post! After not following the sport for so long, it’s cool to see all of the changes that have happened since I followed it. That was the 80s though and I was just a kid. I’m sticking with Ferrari and I hope they turn it on in the 2nd half of the season. The Bridgestones can’t be that bad, and they should be getting the kinks out of the ’05 car pretty soon. I don’t think Fenando’s out of reach, but he’s gonna have to have a few DNFs for even Kimi to make it interesting.

    Looking forward to Montreal this weekend.