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Nick_L

By Nick_L
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Cheeko

Cheeko

Posted
Posted

It can't be long before Schumacher actually manages to not go off or crash and turn his performance into a proper result, he should've been 6th and did really well to hold on to 8th, we were shaping up for a nice battle before his spin.

A good result for him and a slight step up in performance for the merc and he could be back in the thick of it.

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mexos

mexos

Posted
Posted

It won't be on pay TV. I hope 5 don't have plans and BBC get it cheaper.

I would hazard a guess that a hugely cut price deal for the beeb would still be more than C4 or 5 could manage. We can only hope no one else steps up to the plate and Bernie is forced to pretty much give it away to the beeb.

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myoozikk

myoozikk

Posted
Posted

I think Bernie is probably pretty keen for it to stay with BBC. Viewing figures are up (which means he can get more money from sponsors) & it's extremely popular with the UK fans. The big thing i took from reading Bernie's biography is he's always playing games & nothing is quite what it seems. I'd be very surprised to see it move from the BBC & if it does i think it would be the BBC's call not Bernie's.

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ryodi

ryodi

Posted
Posted

Considering how hyper sensitive the BBC is these days I'm guessing it depends on how high pitched the Daily Mails campaign of bitching about how expensive it is and how it means antiques roadshow and Dads Army aren't being shown instead. I really hope it stays, I dread to think how bad it would be if it ended up on Five.

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Sidewaysbob

Sidewaysbob

Posted
Posted

Acceleration, that's what you need in Hungary.

Back in the day, at the dawn of video games, the driving sim used to be a pretty simple affair, it was a couple of pixels moving between a long flowing line to mark the track. You went left and right as the track flowed out of the screen and you crashed into other blocks of pixels every now and again.

As things progressed the pixels started to look more and more like an actually car and the tracks started to be a different colour to the rest of the screen. Soon as well as other cars, there was stuff at the side of the track to crash into.

Time past and soon it was possible to start setting up the car. This would usually mean a simple choice between acceleration and top speed. You either went like a rocket off the line, or pulled the leading car back on the straights. Those that knew the dark arts always went for acceleration, because the corners are where you win and lose a race. There were never enough long straights to pull out enough of an advantage to stay in front of the accelerating cars.

Things haven’t really changed much over the intervening years, being able to go fast is one thing, but getting through the corner as fast as possible and being able to accelerate out of the corner is still where races are won and lost.

Which brings us to the Hungarian GP, a place that has one long straight and a couple of high speed corners, but mostly miles and miles of technical little corners that need precision and patience not blood and guts. Oh and usually very hot weather. In short … this is Ferrari territory.

The Ferrari isn’t the fastest car in a straight line and it’s not the quickest through the fast corners, but goes off the line like lightening and can get the power down efficiently out of the corners. Their KERS unit is okay, not as quite as good as the Mclaren unit but more reliable than the Redbull lump. Their ace in the hole is that they have one of the best drivers in the game at setting up and thinking through a race in Alonso. Love him or loath him you have to admire his ability to work a car through its problems and shortcomings. His ability to give a team direction is second only to his ability to divide them.

The Hungarian track is all about being consistent, the driver needs to flow around the circuit carrying as much speed into and out of. It doesn’t get much use for the rest of the year so the track is pretty dusty and green for the first Friday practice and comes to the drivers as the weekend progress. It’s an evolution process of setting the car up as the grip improves.

Hungary marks the end of the first half of the season before the month long holiday for the teams. So the front runners will be testing lots of new bits to get some sort of idea where to develop the cars after the enforced break.

Around the paddock it’s all been rather quite, only the on going implosion of Renault has kept the headline writers happy. The team principle, Eric Boullier , has come out to say the team needs to get it’s finger out and deliver on some of the potential they showed at the start of the season. The fickle finger of fate seems to be pointing towards the drivers for not delivering with Senna jnr getting a Friday test drive in Hungary, whilst the word on the street is that the floppy haired failure Grosjean will get another crack of the whip when Petrov gets fired. Are either of these two any better than Heidfeld and Petrov? Not a chance, but they are much cheaper and the cost would appear to be the deciding factor here. Once again, Money people not understanding the passion of motor racing non-shocker.

So then back to the point of all this. Acceleration, that’s what is required here and I think Ferrari are now on a par with Redbull, the updates at Valencia appear to have made the difference with the Red cars much much closer to where Redbull are, Massa had the other car up behind the top three until a wheel nut cost him an extra second in the pit top let Vettel through,.. If it’s hot then the Ferrari is going to be a no brainer for the win.

Webber always chokes when the chips are down and Vettel can’t overtake for toffee, if the Ferraris or McLarens can nail qualifying then Redbull will have another disappointing weekend.

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mexos

mexos

Posted
Posted

I think Grosjean has more than justified another crack. Heidfeld is ripe for the chop. I'd keep Petrov over him anyday. Going to be interesting to see if they can get the Mclaren to work here - if they can then maybe a half decent challenge can be mustered for the second half of the season.

I want wet/changeable races for the rest of the season. :ph34r: Make it so Bernie.

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Dudley

Dudley

Posted
Posted

I think Grosjean has more than justified another crack. Heidfeld is ripe for the chop. I'd keep Petrov over him anyday.

Thing is, they can't possibly be stupid enough to make the same mistake twice can they?

"Grosjean is great but did badly because he was stolen from a leading GP2 campaign and dropped in mid season with no testing, so let's fix that by stealing him from a leading GP2 campaign and dropping him in mid season with no testing".

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mexos

mexos

Posted
Posted

Thing is, they can't possibly be stupid enough to make the same mistake twice can they?

"Grosjean is great but did badly because he was stolen from a leading GP2 campaign and dropped in mid season with no testing, so let's fix that by stealing him from a leading GP2 campaign and dropping him in mid season with no testing".

Maybe, but he's got a few years more maturity and experience to help him deal with it this time. In a way it's a no loose scenario. It's not like he's going to do worse than Heidfeld is it. And if he blows away Petrov, you've got a contender for a seat next year.

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Dandy_Sephy

Dandy_Sephy

Posted
Posted

Considering how hyper sensitive the BBC is these days I'm guessing it depends on how high pitched the Daily Mails campaign of bitching about how expensive it is and how it means antiques roadshow and Dads Army aren't being shown instead. I really hope it stays, I dread to think how bad it would be if it ended up on Five.

If the viewing figures are high, I'm not convinced they will give in to the grannie brigade.

The British GP had 5million viewers.

European grand Prix had 4m

Canadian grand Prix had 6m for the Race and 4m for Qualifying, and 5m for the race repeat/extra coverage (not sure which) on BBC2

Monaco had 5m

This of course doesn't count people viewing on the red button, which is where a substantial amount of coverage is. In comparison, Top Gear as an example of a popular motor based show does 5-6m.

Things like Antiques roadshow will be watched no matter what time they are shown. If they are shown on BBC2 or moved an hour or two on BBC1 they will still be watched (Dad's Army is a perfect example too). The BBC has to show a range of programming, so angry Mail readers aren't going to have as much sway as you might think. The BBC would have fully known the cost and potential feedback issues when they signed the deal in the first place, so they aren't going to bow to minority pressure. They have to consider the F1 audience as much as they consider the Antiques Roadshow audience. Additionally as the sport doesn't operate all year round, doesn't (always) happen every week when it does, and occurs at different times depending on where the race is taking place, it's hardly a massive drain on the schedule.

Let's not panic just yet. :quote:

edit: Ch5 don't have the audience to afford to put on such a expensive show. Their biggest programme during Silverstone week was 1.6m, I doubt they get enough in advertising fees to afford more than a couple of races

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Dudley

Dudley

Posted
Posted

Maybe, but he's got a few years more maturity and experience to help him deal with it this time. In a way it's a no loose scenario. It's not like he's going to do worse than Heidfeld is it. And if he blows away Petrov, you've got a contender for a seat next year.

He could very, very easily do worse than Heidfeld yes (Who is 5-2 up on Petrov in races they both finished). And almost certainly would even if he's considerably the better driver.

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Dudley

Dudley

Posted
Posted

I think the Renault situation is entirely about money and whose willing to buy the seat unfortunately <_< Apparently the chap that "bought" the team last year, Gerard Lopez, has yet to actually put the money on the table.

And if true that's slightly unfortunate because other than a couple of not especially profitable car companies, he's the only decent size sponsor on the car.

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mexos

mexos

Posted
Posted

I don't really understand how some of the teams are actually operating. Virgin, HRT, Sauber all have fuck all sponsorship on the car. And then you've got Lotus carrying almost exclusively sponsors from Fernandes companies.

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Bushtopher

Bushtopher

Posted
Posted

So I'm off to the race at Hungary this weekend - getting very excited, and can't wait to be on my way!

Just wondered if anyone here had been to this race before, and if so - any tips? Either for the race itself (getting to/from circuit etc) or things to do in Budapest of an evening?

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mexos

mexos

Posted
Posted

I must be the only person that dislikes Budapest. Pretty sleezy and very run down. Which is 100% fine if it has some charm, but I didn't find any :( +1 for the goulash though, it's yum :)

It's also seems to be the stag/hen do capital of the world. Which means being asked if you want 'fuckee suckee' at 10am on the main shopping street! :wacko::lol: It never stops, and certainly doesn't seem to be confined to one area like Amsterdam. Feels a bit like Essex. :lol:

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