Official GRcade F1 thread (Lewis 2008 WDC)

[Stig]

*Sneaks back from holiday*

I've always said the points system should be exponential, as in one more point gained per position gained (if yagetmeh) and all positions on the track to earn points apart from zero points for last place.

i.e. Something like:

20th - 0
19th - 1
18th - 3
17th - 6
16th - 10
15th - 15
etc..

The only problem is that the points totals over the season would be huge and not as 'neat'. Also, if a team drops out (a la SA), however rare, it'd mess the system up a bit.

BUT, I think the main thing behind my idea is that it'd encourage people to overtake (and overtake...) as they'd want to get more and more points per position.

Excellent idea.

Will never ever be put in practice though.

[Stig]

Oh, and shouldn't you be telling us all about your weekend?

[captain red dog]

In some ways, without traction control this title will be worth more than any over the last 10 years.

Yes, and for Massa to win it would be, quite honestly, unbelievable.

Yet I absolutely agree with captain red dog. He has come under heavy criticism and/or skepticism ever since he joined Ferrari and I don't think it has ever been truly justified. I hope he wins this year, just so he can say that he proved practically everybody wrong.

Yes, of all the top 4 drivers (Kimi, Massa, Alonso and Hamilton) he has attracted by far the most heat over his abiliity. Take Hockenheim for example, some people were calling for him to be sacked after he let Hamilton by, whilst ignoring Kimi who was struggling to stay in the points.

I love his Brazilian flair, and anyone who tells Alonso to "f*** off and learn to drive" is a legend in my book! I think this year I'm going to get behind him. I love supporting the underdog.

[Pancake]

I love his Brazilian flair, and anyone who tells Alonso to "f*** off and learn to drive" is a legend in my book! I think this year I'm going to get behind him. I love supporting the underdog.

What? I must have missed that! When did that happen? Nurburgring last year? It's fudging brilliant!

[shas'la]

*Sneaks back from holiday*

I've always said the points system should be exponential, as in one more point gained per position gained (if yagetmeh) and all positions on the track to earn points apart from zero points for last place.

i.e. Something like:

20th - 0
19th - 1
18th - 3
17th - 6
16th - 10
15th - 15
etc..

The only problem is that the points totals over the season would be huge and not as 'neat'. Also, if a team drops out (a la SA), however rare, it'd mess the system up a bit.

BUT, I think the main thing behind my idea is that it'd encourage people to overtake (and overtake...) as they'd want to get more and more points per position.

pix, write up of weekend plz. thnx

[jamcc]

Excellent idea.

Will never ever be put in practice though.

Cheers! It was something I dreamed up at work one day when bored. A co-worker agreed it would be successful, so I hung on to the idea.

Oh, and shouldn't you be telling us all about your weekend?

pix, write up of weekend plz. thnx

I was gonna try to avoid this, seeing as it went so horrifically wrong for Kimi.

I also let 2 of my mates take the photos and videos as they had better 'equipment' and I thought I'd let them do the work! So pics (and, possibly, videos) will be incoming.

The weekend wasn't as good as last year, for me. Last year was sunny and just absolutely perfect. This year, as you well know, was a washout (apart from the Friday practice; we didn't get up in time for the first practice session). The thing is that, apart from the obvious downside of rain compared to sun was that:

1. Kimi would probably have won in sunny conditions. Friday practice and then the drier later stages of the race showed that.

2. Monza is a park... And the rain turned it into a muddy mess. One of my friends described it as like being at a music festival, which was apt (as we had the free roaming tickets). Which was just such a pain after the lucious weather of last year.

Continuing on point 2, on the Saturday, after quali we walked freaking miles, through the crowds and mud from the front entrance down to the first turn (must have taken about 20 minutes), in order to witness the impending carnage that would result from the GP2 race (following quali), only for the race to begin under the safety car and there to be barely a crash at all. How demoralising!! To top that off I then went to get a kebab type thing which cost me 10 Euros!! I just looked at the woman ignoring her pointless Italian and went "you what?!" with a look on my face.. Before walking off in a huff, trying to enjoy the worryingly pink looking 'meat' I was eating, as much as I could.

We sat at the same place as last year, just before the pit entrance. It's a great spot as you see the cars flying out of the Parabolica turn or diving into the pits, and there is a screen opposite.

On the Friday, there are no designated seets, so we went to the Ascari chicane which was class. The tickets for the grandstand we were in are apparently very expensive, and it was obvious as to why!

Sorry about the disorderly write-up and lack of photos, but that's just a quick effort. I will happily answer any questions.

Edit - we went to the McLaren and Toyota 'stands' near the entrance. Got a pretty cool photo of 4 of us around a McLaren car, with each of us at a tyre, doing a fake tyre changes (they only had two tyre change guns, so we pretended on the back tyres! They had a few tyre lying around, so I asked the guy if I could carry one as though I was gonna put it on the car, but he said no, to which I did a scarily Italian style WTF reaction too!

The Toyota stand was brilliant (same as last year). They had 2 F1 simulators, which I couldn't be arsed to queue for, but looked class. I couple of my mates tried it, but were useless at. They had loads of 'babes' in race suits too, one of which was a strawberry floating 11/10 in my eyes. She was stunning!! I got a photo of her (like a real perv), but stupidly didn't get one of myself with her!

[captain red dog]

Well sounds like you had a very interesting time Jam! Did you enjoy it then? You seem a little downbeat about it this year?

Were you sat at the exit of Parabolica by the pit entrance during the race then?

How prepared were you for the weather? Sounds like a lot of people were caught out by the freak rain since it hasn't happened before during the F1. Hope you didn't get too wet.

[JV]

McLaren boss jumps to Kovalainen defence
17 September 2008

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh has jumped to the defence of Heikki Kovalainen after the Finnish driver struggled to match or even fight with Sebastian Vettel for victory in the Italian Grand Prix.

Kovalainen looked disappointed after the race, having finished second and never looking like being in contention.

"Heikki has no reason to feel disappointed - the reality is that he didn't put a foot wrong all weekend and looked blindingly fast in dry, damp and full-wet conditions; fuel-corrected, he would have been on pole position comfortably," Whitmarsh said.

"He struggled a little with visibility in the early stages of the race and had a few difficulties with his tyres and brake temperatures, but we are not disappointed with his result," he added. "Let's not forget that Heikki is fearsomely quick but is still very much developing his approach. We have a clearly defined programme for him in the weeks and months ahead and feel certain that he will only grow stronger."

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2008/09/ ... en-defence

This sounds the same as we have heard all year, doesn't it? I know Heikki is in his first season at McLaren but I really do believe he has been rather under-par most of the year. Despite this, the team have constantly backed him up. Either they have a real long-term plan for the guy, or they are just putting on a very good public face. Just throwing it out there, but I wonder if they believe Hamilton may be teased into going to Ferrari (or similar) in a few years time and they are trying to develop another 'quick Finn', just as a back up.

[captain red dog]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Hamilton go to Ferrari. His old GP2 boss was Jean Todt's son, and Bernie would be very keen to get publicity for F1 for the first black driver in a Ferrari.

[JV]

Hamilton in a Ferrari would be interesting, even if only to see the reaction from the Italian public. A significant amount of Italians views on people from certain ethnic backgrounds is interesting, to say the least.

[captain red dog]

It probably depends on how successful he is. When Schumacher went there in 1996 I remember the Tifosi weren't too pleased but after he won them so many titles they adored him.

[Eighthours]

1. Kimi would probably have won in sunny conditions. Friday practice and then the drier later stages of the race showed that.

I don't think so. He had one of his "missing" weekends. He's done that fastest-lap-at-the-end-of-the-race thing a gazillion times now this season in mediocre performances, and not only in the wet.

[Fishfingers]

I still think there should be one point awarded for fastest lap.

[JV]

I still think there should be one point awarded for fastest lap.

How about a point for pole position as well?

[shas'la]

Point for most over takes.
Point for fastest pit.
Point for coolest helmet design ( YOU DECIDE).
Point for most air during a crash.
Point for being in Ferrari.

etc..

[JV]

-10 points for being Lewis Hamilton.

[shas'la]

-10 points for being Lewis Hamilton.

[captain red dog]

I'm happy with just points for the top finishers. Pole and fastest lap are completely meaningless come the end of the race.

[Fishfingers]

[youtubeuk]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nOl_p3gyrD0[/youtubeuk]

[Peter Crisp]

+100 points for being Jensen Button.