| Discussion Archive: |
| by sperry at 2:30 pm, Nov 16 |
The silly season is finally over. McLaren's protest against the final round's results was dropped by the FIA Court of Appeals, making Kimi Raikkonen the official 2007 Formula 1 World Champion!
This also concludes our fantasy championship. Placing first with 342 points is sperry, followed by motoring at 325 points, and taking the final podium position is Olivier at 318 points.
Based on our 50%/30%/20% split for more than 10 participants, sperry will receive the $150 first prize, motoring will receive $90, and Olivier will pocket $60. If the winners would email me at sperry@seccs.org with their preferred paypal account information, I will transfer your prizes ASAP!
I'd like to thank everyone for a great season! This board will remain up for a while for people to review standings and chat about the season. If anyone has some suggestions for next year, please feel free to email me, post here, or on seccs.org. I hope everyone will come back for the 2008 season! |
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| by sperry at 5:55 pm, Oct 28 |
The final race has been completed, but the season is not quite over...
Kimi Raikkonen put a fitting exclamation point on the '07 "silly season" by winning the final race of the season which was enough to move him from third to first in the driver's championship. He was the longest shot of the three drivers mathematically able to win the championship, and was able to do so only with his teammate Massa's second place finish over Alonso, and Hamilton's poor finish due to a transmission problem that may or may not have been driver error.
But, since this is F1, the story's not quite over. Apparently several of the cars that placed between Hamilton and Raikkonen had illegally cool fuel in the cars. The stewards decided not to penalize the effected teams, but McLaren has appealed the decision... so it seems this season will be officially wrapped up in a court room, which is fitting considering the rest of the antics this season.
For now, sperry has the fantasy championship, motoring is in second, and by making some terrific picks for the last race, Olivier jumps into third. Since the appeal outcome may effect our final standings, we'll just have to wait until November to wrap things up officially on our fantasy championship, but all in all the fantasy season this year was really fun and had quite a few lead changes and fights for position throughout the season. Hopefully many of you will be willing to come back for "silly season" '08!
Please feel free to make any comments and suggestions for changes for next year! And congratulations to Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari for their championship wins, and to our own top fantasy league participants! |
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| by Kevin at 5:27 pm, Oct 23 |
| Ouch... I tied Nick, Mike and Olivier with 9 winners, and I only beat Pat because he missed picks for 4 races! |
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| by sperry at 11:19 am, Oct 22 |
| Thanks! I'm still waiting on the results of the McLaren appeal... then I'll wrap things up and make it official. |
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| by Milan at 7:00 am, Oct 22 |
| Congratulations Scott! |
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| by sperry at 7:45 pm, Oct 20 |
| Ha! I gotta have my boy for his home GP! ;) Maybe he'll run Alonso off the track in T1. *snicker* |
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| by motoring at 7:41 pm, Oct 20 |
| Scott - you sneaky little turd. Saving a Massa pick for that last race. *sigh* Good planning on your part. |
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| by sperry at 3:26 pm, Oct 9 |
| Kazuki Nakajima has been made available for the next round in the Williams-Toyota. |
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| by nKoan at 10:27 am, Oct 8 |
| Looks like Wurz won't be driving in Brazil. The announcement for the replacement driver will be made tomorrow. I'm bet they are going to give Kazuki Nakajima a shot. |
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| by sperry at 10:50 pm, Oct 7 |
While it helps my fantasy points, I was absolutely heartbroken to see Hammy get high-centered in the gravel.
I felt worse than after Michael's mechanical that lost him the championship last year. I hope this doesn't do Lewis in, or he'll have recurring nightmares for the next decade about that two feet of gravel he had to drive through to make it back to the tarmac. |
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| by sperry at 10:36 pm, Oct 7 |
It was another wet one in China, and like Japan, the wet weather added some intrigue and surprises to the race.
Of course the biggest news was Hamilton's off on the pit lane, planting him into the gravel trap and out of the race. Raikkonen and Alonso, the only two drivers not mathematically eliminated from the championship, capitalized as much as possible by finishing one-two. Now only seven points separate first from third in the driver's championship with just the season finally to go!
On a happy note for the young German, Sebastian Vettel recovered nicely from last week's incident behind the safety car to come in fourth. Button hauled his Honda into fifth. Liuzzi, Heidfeld, and Coulthard rounded out the points paying positions.
With Hamilton's demise, sperry increased his lead over motoring, and lisaab's round winning 25 points pulls her to within one point of MikeK who currently holds the last paying position in the fantasy standings.
Next up is Brazil. Felipe Massa's home race, where he'll likely be driving for a second place finish behind his teammate Kimi's car if possible. Kimi needs to make up seven points on Hamilton for the championship, while Alonso will be looking to gap him by four points. It all comes down to Interlagos, two weeks from now! |
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| by nKoan at 10:32 am, Oct 1 |
| Man, midway through the race was looking pretty good for me. Woohoo for zero points! |
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| by sperry at 12:23 pm, Sep 30 |
| Please note, there was a 25 second penalty for Liuzzi that dropped him to ninth. STR is appealing, I will make sure the standings remain up to date. |
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| by sperry at 12:33 am, Sep 30 |
Fuji Speedway picks up where it left off 30 years ago with a sodden and hectic Grand Prix.
Shenanigans abounded leading to some very unusual race leaders including young Sebastian Vettle in the STR, and Aussie Mark Webber. At one point, all four Red Bull cars were in the points. But that came to a heart-wrenching end when Vettle crashed into pseduo-teammate Webber (running 3rd and 2nd at the time) behind the safety car.
When all was said and done, the points field was fairly traditional, with only Hekki Hovalenian's 2nd place finish, and Alonso's first retirement of the season mixing things up. Hamilton turns his pole into his fourth win of the season, and Raikkonen charged from the equivalent of a dead last start to take 3rd.
In our fantasy standings, today was the pay-off day for those that have been playing things safe all season. sperry, motoring and lisaab all score in the 20's, which is pretty difficult this late in the season, sending sperry and motoring to the top of the standings. With two rounds remaining, barely any points between the top two and still some picks in their arsenals, it's going to be a nail-bitting Chinese grand prix in just one week! |
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| by nKoan at 9:01 am, Sep 29 |
| Wow, a 3 way tie if they finish like they qualified. |
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| by sperry at 8:23 am, Sep 28 |
| Please note, the deadline for Japan was off by about 18 hours. Picks are due TONIGHT, 10pm PDT!! |
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| by sperry at 10:10 pm, Sep 18 |
Ferrari turns around the shaming they got at their home GP and dominates Spa! Kimi leads wire to wire, Massa takes second. With McLaren's penalty for spying, the Ferrari 1-2 clinches the manufacturer's championship for the Scuderia.
Alonso finishes third after an aggressive turn one kept him in front of Hamilton who finishes fourth.
Things are really getting tight in the fantasy championship now. Only 13 points separate the top 7 participants. The big spenders are scrounging for mid-pack points, while the frugal players are tearing their hair out trying to pick the race winner out of the big four to maximize gain as they rocket up through the standings.
It's going to be a fierce battle to the finish! Japan's brand new Fuji Speedway in two weeks could be the monkey-wrench that makes or breaks the season! |
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| by nKoan at 10:00 pm, Sep 18 |
| Argh, I'm just tumbling down the leaderboard. |
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| by tysonK at 3:28 pm, Sep 14 |
| I'm looking for people in the stands this race! |
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| by sperry at 11:34 am, Sep 13 |
| Just FYI for those not reading the F1 news sites: Looks like McLaren's been stripped of all manufacturer points due to the spying scandal. But the driver's points have been left untouched, so there will be no effect on our fantasy championship. |
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| by PatR at 10:07 pm, Sep 12 |
| My season hinges on it raining on Matt's honeymoon. |
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| by nKoan at 10:20 am, Sep 10 |
| Now, lets see if I can stay on top with nothing but crap picks :p |
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| by sperry at 11:53 pm, Sep 9 |
| No way, I scored a second point from Button! |
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| by sperry at 11:51 pm, Sep 9 |
McLaren overcomes their off track problems and the Ferrari domination of the last round to score their first one-two victory at Monza. Alonzo takes the pole/fast-lap/win hat trick, Hamilton scores a second-place finish, and Kimi Raikkonen rounds out the podium. Poor Massa ended his day early with a mechanical. Monza's results reduce Hammy's championship lead to only 3 points.
In our own standings, the frugal are starting to make up ground on the early spenders. Tahoe C5 scored a massive 32 points, vaulting him up the standings. The next five finishers in Monza all come from the lower half of the championship, thus tightening the overall standings.
Thinks will certainly be interesting for our next round, Spa, in just one week!
And just a reminder, keep an eye on the stands as Milan, MattR and motoring will all be in Belgium watching the race from Eau Rouge! |
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| by nKoan at 10:22 am, Sep 4 |
| Sweet. Well, at least I can say I was in first place for a little bit. |
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| by MattR at 10:52 am, Aug 31 |
| OMG! Milan's seats are 22 and 23, ours are 24 and 25. What are teh odds of us going all that way and sitting next to each other in the stands! hahahah. |
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| by MattR at 10:11 pm, Aug 29 |
| I don't know! haha. In other news, SPa tix came via FedEx today. Milan, we are in Gold 4, row 35, seats 24, 25. Where did you guys end up? |
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| by sperry at 2:11 pm, Aug 29 |
| Matt, I'd say you were looking great if you hadn't run out of Rosberg picks. How will you ever handle the last 3 rounds when he podiums each race? ;) |
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| by MattR at 11:35 pm, Aug 28 |
| Man, this race is getting close!!!!! There are some people rallying quickly. |
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| by sperry at 10:19 pm, Aug 28 |
Man, I picked the wrong Ferrari and the wrong McLaren... I would be tied with Tyson if I had switched it up!
Also, I added an "average points per round" column to the picks stats page on the participant details page. |
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| by sperry at 10:13 pm, Aug 28 |
It's back to reality in Turkey. For once, a pretty straightforward race. Massa's fantastic final Q3 lap put him on pole, and from there it was wire to wire for his second Turkish win in a row.
Kimi Raikkonen was able to turn his 3rd place start into a second place finish by beating Hamilton at the start with softer tires and a cleaner track, giving Ferrari the 1-2 finish.
Alonso capitalized on Hamilton's puncture to make up a few point in the Driver's Championship by finishing 3rd.
The ever faster BMW team was able to score points with both drivers as Heidfeld finished 4th and Kubica finished 8th.
Kovalainen and Rosberg finished 6th and 7th to round out the rest of the points paying positions.
Ferrari takes a 1-2 moral boost into their home race, Monza is next! |
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| by MattR at 9:53 pm, Aug 27 |
| Did anyone see the Turkey race? It was good. |
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| by MattR at 9:52 pm, Aug 27 |
| Okay!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| by sperry at 3:04 pm, Aug 22 |
| Turkey is this weekend! Don't forget to make your picks! |
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| by sperry at 7:46 pm, Aug 5 |
Another fitting round complete for the "Silly Season".
This weekend's shenanigans revolve around Alonso's 10 second blocking of teammate Hamilton in the pits during Q3 resulting in a 5 spot penalty. Hamilton's inherited pole position gave him a lights out to checkered flag sweep of the race, and his third victory of the season. With Alonso's 4th place finish, the McLaren intrateam rivalry is certainly getting hot.
Meanwhile, Ferrari fought with their own difficulties, with poor Massa getting hung out to dry by his pit crew forgetting to put gas in the car during Q2. Massa never recovered from the poor grid position and finished 13th. Raikkonen was left to fight for Ferrari's points and chased Hamilton all day to a second place podium.
Nick Heidfeld overcame BMWs normally poor low-speed performance to hold off Alonso for third.
We stay in Eastern Europe for the next round, Turkey is in three weeks! |
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| by Kevin at 7:37 pm, Aug 5 |
| I need to remember to make terrible F1 picks on Autocross weekends more often! |
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| by zpeed at 8:46 am, Aug 5 |
| never mind, I just re read the news, just the team point no the driver point that effect by that. |
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| by zpeed at 9:25 pm, Aug 4 |
| What happen if Alonso win? Did he get point or no point by his action in qualify. |
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| by nKoan at 8:35 pm, Aug 4 |
| Yeah, thems was some shenanigans. |
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| by nKoan at 4:39 pm, Aug 4 |
| Doh, I guess Scott didn't allow HTML code in the comments section :p |
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| by nKoan at 4:38 pm, Aug 4 |
Shenanigans? Check out this. The stewards made an interesting ruling on the shenanigans.
<a href="http://www.crash.net/news_view~cid~1~id~152431.htm">Article (spoilers)</a> |
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| by MattR at 4:27 pm, Aug 4 |
| I'm going to go watch Qualy now, I heard there were some shenanigans. |
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| by PatR at 9:39 am, Aug 4 |
| Alonso is a douchebag |
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| by sperry at 11:32 am, Jul 31 |
| Vettle updated as a Toro-Rosso driver. Poor Scott Speed got the shaft on that deal. |
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| by MattR at 10:45 pm, Jul 26 |
| We need more Canadians! |
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| by sperry at 9:51 am, Jul 26 |
| Yamamoto is added! It's good to see more Japanese drivers, we've got enough Germans already. ;-) |
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| by MattR at 8:50 am, Jul 26 |
| Yamamoto!!! |
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| by Milan at 10:40 am, Jul 23 |
| yay, double post! |
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| by Milan at 10:40 am, Jul 23 |
| WEB, WUR, and COU... Just did not see this one coming : ( |
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| by Milan at 10:32 am, Jul 23 |
| WEB, WUR, and COU... Just did not see this one coming : ( |
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| by sperry at 7:11 pm, Jul 22 |
The crazy weather of the Nurburgring strikes! After a crazy qualifying session that saw Hamilton into the wall during Q3, the race began under sunny skies, only to turn to pure pandemonium as the rain began to pour during the first lap. Apparently, because the rules require cars to be fitted with their selected tires 5 minutes before the race start, everyone was caught out on dry tires in a deluge. Only the Spyker of Winkelhock came in with nothing to lose from last place to start from pit-lane on intermediates.
With the red flag coming out to clean up the water-induced carnage, the re-starting order was jumbled seemingly randomly, but as the race wore on, the familiar faces appeared at the top of the running order, save Hamilton who spent the whole race running purple laps trying to get his lap back. Unfortunately for Ferrari, Kimi had a "hydraulics failure" (the joke is that the hydraulics failed when the engine stopped running for lack of fuel).
Just as my DVR stopped recording, Alonso made a pass on Massa in during the second wet stint in the closing laps of the race for the win. Mark Webber took his second podium of his career. Alex Wurz and D.C. rounded out the top 5. Hamilton finished in 9th just out of the points changing the shape of the season championship.
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| by nKoan at 6:40 pm, Jul 22 |
| Hehe, I guess my experiment to pick no big names didn't pan out as planned. |
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| by tysonK at 5:01 pm, Jul 22 |
| good race. |
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| by nKoan at 12:12 pm, Jul 22 |
| Wow, craziest start in a long time. |
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| by tysonK at 7:35 pm, Jul 21 |
| love my picks this round. |
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| by nKoan at 6:34 pm, Jul 21 |
| Ouch. |
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| by PatR at 11:35 am, Jul 21 |
| I tried to make my picks @ about 4:50 am today and it was locked out already. |
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| by MattR at 10:10 pm, Jul 20 |
| I heard Heidfeld's child is going to be born sometime this weekend, but he's racing! I supose I understand, I mean, the Dr.'s do all the work anyway. |
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| by MattR at 10:09 pm, Jul 20 |
| I will... |
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| by Milan at 3:07 pm, Jul 20 |
| *wife |
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| by Milan at 3:07 pm, Jul 20 |
| Oh, and Olivier is not going because his MAY give birth that day. He obviously doesn't have his priorities straight... : ) |
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| by Milan at 3:05 pm, Jul 20 |
| The most famous turn in motorsports being the Corkscrew? Matt, yeah we should go grab a beer before going. you can email me at msperka@meshcreative.com |
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| by MattR at 10:44 pm, Jul 19 |
| Looks like Lewis Hamilton has the Flu for this weekends race. |
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| by MattR at 10:43 pm, Jul 19 |
| I said I forgot my damn A. Besides, I'd rather be in the shitter in Spa than home on my couch watching it on TV :) |
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| by sperry at 5:41 pm, Jul 19 |
| Matt's screwed! He bought tickets to sit at Eu-Rouge... which is actually out behind the men's room, instead of Eau-Rouge the second most famous turn in motorsports. |
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| by MikeK at 10:21 pm, Jul 18 |
| They charge you double for that |
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| by MattR at 8:45 pm, Jul 18 |
| "eau-rouge" sorry I forgot my a. |
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| by MattR at 8:44 pm, Jul 18 |
| Milan, we are also sitting in Eu-rouge Gold 4, that's cool. |
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| by MattR at 8:41 pm, Jul 18 |
| Sounds good, We should meet up at some point before heading over there... |
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| by sperry at 11:41 am, Jul 18 |
| Markus Winklehock has been added as a confirmed driver for Spyker for this weekend's GP. |
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| by Milan at 11:11 am, Jul 18 |
| Great. Monica and I are going for sure also. We have our tickets for Eau-Rouge Gold 4. We should try to hook up. |
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| by MattR at 8:27 am, Jul 17 |
| Yes, We are going for sure, we have our trip 95% planned, and our tickets at Eu Rouge have been paid for..ouch. |
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| by Milan at 6:24 pm, Jul 16 |
| So Matt and (sorry, don't know Motoring's name) are going for sure? I'm still thinking about going with Olivier. |
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| by MattR at 4:27 pm, Jul 13 |
| I got this bitch...Okay, probably not, but it should be fun to watch the different strategies this season. |
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| by Kevin at 9:18 am, Jul 13 |
| Literally. |
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| by sperry at 6:57 pm, Jul 9 |
| Looking at the season points vs. available drivers, my money is on MattR for taking this one the distance... |
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| by sperry at 6:55 pm, Jul 9 |
Well, what can be said about Silverstone without bringing up all the espionage talk? Ferrari showed that they're still championship caliber with Kimi's brilliant strategic win, and that they've still not completely matched the recent excellence of McLaren with Massa's aborted start. Poor Lewis Hamilton's 9th straight podium left his hometown fans a bit jaded with his bobble in the pits, but much respect for his admission of the fault during the driver's interview.
In our own points race, it's interesting to see the swing in points from the folks that went big early (zpeed's 2 points) vs. those that have been holding on to some big-name drivers (MattR's 25 points). It's going to be close down the stretch!
Off to the famed Nurburgring in just two weeks! Will the German drivers and teams step it up for their home race? |
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| by sperry at 6:38 pm, Jul 9 |
| But Milan, you could have hung out with MattR and motoring... they'll be there... those bastards! ;) |
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| by Milan at 3:24 pm, Jul 9 |
| Argg... $700 per ticket??? Forget it! |
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| by Milan at 12:36 pm, Jul 9 |
| I'm going to be in Belgium in September... Mhhh I wonder if I should go see the race. : ) |
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| by Kevin at 9:29 am, Jul 9 |
| Man, I needed that. 37 points- with no help from Sato! |
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| by sperry at 9:20 pm, Jul 2 |
| It's going to be really interesting to see if you can hold us off zpeed! I would have a pretty good chance at you if I hadn't missed Spain, and done so poorly in Canada. |
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| by zpeed at 11:16 pm, Jul 1 |
| Now I'm all out of the driver. Let's see how fast everybody catch up. |
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| by sperry at 7:58 pm, Jul 1 |
| I added a "driver performance" list to the driver details page that lists the driver's point per round. |
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| by MattR at 6:30 pm, Jul 1 |
| hahah. zpeed is out of everyone... |
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| by sperry at 4:15 pm, Jul 1 |
That it for France, and potentially the last French GP for the next few years unless they work out that Paris race.
Ferrari turned the tables on McLaren. Perhaps the F2007 likes the high-aero more than the low-aero of Canada and Indy, but whatever the reason, Kimi takes his second win of the season since taking the opening round in Australia by passing his teammate Massa in the pits during the second stint of the race. Massa's second place finish gives Ferrari their first one-two finish of the season. Hamilton was on the podium for the eighth straight race of his career, but for the first time ever, finished lower than he started.
I our own standings, zspeed and skimonkey take the season lead away from MikeK for the first time this season. But with 8 rounds complete, some drivers are becoming unavailable for picking to those that have been willing to use all the heavy hitters early. You know, like MattR being out of Rosberg picks... what will he do!? ;)
Just one week from today is Silverstone, Lewis Hamilton's home race! |
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| by sperry at 3:26 pm, Jul 1 |
| I got a point from Button!!! |
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| by nKoan at 2:49 pm, Jul 1 |
| Damn, how about that first lap of the GP2 race. |
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| by nKoan at 12:37 pm, Jul 1 |
| Good job Albers! |
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| by PatR at 12:01 pm, Jul 1 |
| Sweet! 30 points despite not using any McLaren picks. |
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| by MikeK at 9:17 am, Jun 28 |
| <spite spite spite> |
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| by MattR at 8:13 am, Jun 28 |
| Don't spite me! |
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| by MikeK at 8:49 pm, Jun 27 |
| If you live in Europe maybe |
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| by MattR at 11:37 pm, Jun 26 |
| France is near! |
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| by MattR at 10:41 pm, Jun 18 |
| Rosberg cost me net 4 points. |
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| by sperry at 11:36 am, Jun 18 |
The US GP is history!
Another McLaren dominated race, Hamilton continues his streak of never finishing lower than he started, and that means for the second race in a row, his pole position means race victory. Alonso made it interesting for the lead, but was not able to take it from Lewis, and places second. The Ferrari fellows round out the top four: Massa in 3rd and Raikkonen in 4th. Kovalainen, Trulli and Webber finish 5,6,7. And the only BWM in the points was Kubica's ride driven by the 19 year old Sebastien Vettel.
We're back to Europe in two weeks for the core of the F1 season: France, England, and Germany. Get you selections in for Magny-Cours! |
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| by sperry at 11:27 am, Jun 18 |
| Man, Rosberg's blown motor cost me 5 points! |
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| by MattR at 8:48 pm, Jun 17 |
| w00t! Only seven more rounds 'til SPA!!!! |
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| by MattR at 12:33 pm, Jun 16 |
| A lot of people appear to have picked Vettel. Probably a good move since it's techincally a free pick of a top 6 car. |
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| by nKoan at 10:44 am, Jun 16 |
Man oh man, Go Vettel!
Looks to be a McClaren/BMW battle this week. |
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