posted Aug 26, 2008

Was the worst grand prix of the season. So dull....I'm loosing interest

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posted Aug 26, 2008

Have to say I agree with most of the people on this thread: the track was boring and uninspired, no overtaking, and without doubt the most uneventfull GP since, well, probably 2004.

I saw a little bit of it in qualifying, before work intervened, and I found it very dull. Someone remind me of why we now have TWO dull, boring and uninspiring Spanish tracks?

Ah! Bernies ever flawed commercial thinking. God bless him!

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posted Aug 26, 2008

They did not allow me to paddle into the dock with my multi mill. boat.....haha

No, but seriously they did not allow people to bring their boats into the dockyard. Only Vijay and Flavio were allowed to bring their toys in.

What a shame as DC could have chattered his Monaco line boat with some nice chicks on board

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posted Aug 26, 2008

I think I will disagree with the majority here. I thought the track was distinctive but with strong overtones of Montreal. The views of the harbour were different, while the buildings are "industrial heritage" stuff and not (to my eye at least) unpleasant.

The drivers seem to feel that it is a challenging and interesting track, if a bit stop - go, which however means that it is technically challenging with all teams having to opt for a compromise set up to cope with high speed elements and slower corners.

The high speed elements dominated this time and again my personal opinion is that it is good to have an "engine track", where grunt is more important than downforce, added to the calender.

Unfortunately the race was dull, not because of the inherent quality of the track but because of the current state of the cars. It did show up the big differences in engine power at the moment, with Ferrari and Toyota looking strong and Renault and Honda in real bother.

The real test will be next year. GP2 showed that this is a track that can be raced on and next year we are promised F1 cars that will be better for racing.

A far better track than Hungary or Barcelona and with the capability of delivering interesting racing without totally relying on bad weather. I suspect that we will all come to love this circuit in time. I will not weep if Valencia eventually supplants Barcelona as the sole Spanish GP.

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posted Aug 26, 2008

Deputy dawg, you forgot some €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€!!

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posted Aug 26, 2008

What a disgrace of a circuit, looked appalling on TV, brought us a dreary race and a result which changes very little in the points. I`m getting a little sick of Bernies hold over F1 and the general corporate-ness of things. We all accept that the cars are mobile billboards, the drivers are likewise with appearances and overalls, motorhomes likewise etc etc but yet again we have a race served up simply to take the spectators euros. There seems very little heritage left in F1 now, I`m not against change and modern events but do feel that someone needs to protect the heritage and the value that heritage brings. Without it future generations will not be able to trace the origins of the formula at all. I thought the weekend just gone was sad, very sad for F1 on lots of levels.

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posted Aug 26, 2008

what was everyone expecting, it was designed by hermann tilke who tbh hasnt designed a top entertaining track as a whole and only the odd good corner. They need to get some aerodynamists in too help in the creation of new tracks

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posted Aug 27, 2008

Ferrari themselves have admitted "overtaking was impossible" leading to them not risking changing Kimi's engine.

What would have made it more exciting would have been if Massa had been given the conventional drive through penalty rather than a fine of 7000 euros - what a big fine that is for Ferrari!

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posted Aug 27, 2008

It was crap. Too wide, too open, too many fast flowing corners, and not enough chances to overtake.

The only way anyone was going to gain position was either off the startline, through the pits, and through retirements. That's not racing IMO.

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posted Aug 27, 2008

Lets get this straight shall we? The circuit looks nice. The area looks like once redeveloped it will look the part and it looks fantastic to drive - especially the bit leading up to the final corner. However there are only 20 F1 drivers and a worldwide audience of millions. Do we go by what the drivers want or by the entertainment factor because there was absolutely none to that race whatsoever. The FIA has actually done it. They have created a circuit that is worse than the Hungaroring.

The only points on that track where overtaking is anywhere near possible is ruined by the fact that there are barriers to close on the exit - at least montreal and melbourne don't have this problem. Anyone who watched the GP2 will know that everytime anyone tried to overtake round that circuit at least one or both drivers ended up in the barrier. When this race comes up next year I think I'll watch paint dry - it's more entertaining.

My only hope is that the FIA get wise and drop the circuit in favour of a RACING circuit. Fat chance of that though. In Ecclestone's own words "It was my idea to come to Valencia." Still I can dream.....

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