F1 Turkish GP 2009

[DooberRoni]

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk279/DooberRoni/F1turkeyPost.png

Tuesday PM - just getting setup - more as we git 'er done!

[ÜberDoober]

Geez! More of this "I'll get done when I get around to it crap"? Lazy bastard!

Seriously, this is the 5th year of the Turkish GP and I have seen every one. Being probably the best Hermann Tilke track of the bunch with corners that are becoming famous, or at least well known, in their own right like the fabulous quad apex turn 8 where the drivers pull a sustained 5g's. Many fans are ranking this quadzilla right up there with Spa's Eau Rouge.

In four previous races, there have only been two winners. First was Kimi Raikkonen, still in the Mclaren/Mercedes, with Felipe Massa taking the last three victories in the Ferrari. Will there be any new surprises from the Scuderia? Will this be the race where get things sorted? Is there a chance in hell that Massa will win again? We'll just have to wait and see.

Now it is time to cry:
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/whychange.jpg

Sure, I'll still torture myself by getting up at 4:00am for qualifying on Saturday and if I feel spunky at 4:00am on Friday for practice but the race will be on the FOX network this week and will not be shown live. This really screws with my program but the good news is it opens up a window of opportunity for a decent motorcycle ride early Sunday morning!


:transport-040: except I wear a helmet!

[ÜberDoober]

NO INTERNETS THIS MORNING - After totally missing everything that happened on Friday trying to recover from my hard drive crash, this is just what I need today.FWIW, the digital tv box in the bedroom won't even get SPEED, thank goodness my computer TV uses standard analog cable.

Q1 is underway
+ A wee bit of sliding around going on out there
+ 4 minutes to go and Hamilton is on the bubble
+ Wow!

Knocked outters: Hamilton, Piquet, Buemi, Bourdais, Fisichella
Sutil makes it into Q2 for the first time in his career. I am surprised that Bourdais hasn't been replaced yet.

Glad it isn't MotoGP this weekend and I'm not able to see it because my farking Internet is down. I've been putting up with this for about 2 months. Sometime between 3:00 and 6:00, three or four days a week, it does this crap. Usually by 8:30 or 9:00 all is back to normal. I went for a week and it was flawless so I thought it cleared up. Power cycling the modem isn't working and is only frustrating me more.

While I'm ranting, let me heap some praise on Windows 7. I set my "new" system up to dual boot XP Pro and Windows 7 and loaded all my apps, Office 2007, Corel Graphics Suite, Photoshop, Microsoft Expressions and Visual Studio and a million other little trinkents and tools into both environments and restored my backed up data, also into both. It took my about 25 hours. With every change, I expected to hit a glitch with Win7 but to my surprise, it took everything I threw at it, had drivers for my printers and my sound card that XP took quite some futzing around with to get working and is just plain faster than XP everywhere. I've not been the biggest fan of Vista but all my complaints have been addressed with Windows 7 although the new taskbar will take some getting used to. I've yet to approach the task of getting my racing sims and other games installed but Nvidia has just released video drivers for Win7 so maybe there's some hope?

Track is green for Q2.
+ The Brawn's are still looking solid
+ Vettel is a contender
+ Massa well up on Raikkonen
+ Webber just goes out with 4 minutes left
+ 2 minutes to go - all 15 cars on track
+ Clock is out - Trulli to P1!
+ Vettel goes to P1 again - looks like the guy to beat

Vettel, Trulli, Button, Massa, Raikkonen, top 5.

Knocked up: Heidfeld, Nakajima, Glock, Sutil, Kovalainen
Track is green for the last 10 minute session
+ Prime tires seem to be the hot ticket over the options
+ Trulli up half a second in the 3rd sector - probably running on fumes
+ Button purple in sector 1 and 2
+ It's 5:10 and starting to get light outside - need to get out and do some yard work
+ Vettel to P1 by a 10th with 4 minutes remaining
+ Alonso has a big messy slide but hangs on to it
+ Red Bull's are both looking good
+ Clock is out
+ Webber to P1, Button to P1, VETTEL TO P1!!!

Vettel, Button, Barrichello, Webber, Trulli, Raikkonen, Massa, Rosberg, Alonso. Tomorrow is going to be a dogfight. :)

[ÜberDoober]

SHOWTIME ON FOX! :mad:

Even though I know the results, I'm watching it like I don't.

[LittleAlguy]

I don't know the results so I'll be shocked and awed by anything that happens.

[LittleAlguy]

Seeing Hamilton in the back AGAIN = :(

[ÜberDoober]

If they leave the cars sitting on the grid while they play commercials, they will overheat. :winky:

Did they just say Hamilton has no points? Hmmm? I thought he had a few.

[ÜberDoober]

Wild start. Glock coming back on track like he did was nuts!

[LittleAlguy]

Awful start from Barrichello. Nice start from Trulli.

Button got by Vettel for the lead.

[LittleAlguy]

If they leave the cars sitting on the grid while they play commercials, they will overheat. :winky:

Did they just say Hamilton has no points? Hmmm? I thought he had a few.

He does have a few. That was a mistake by them.

Oops, you won't go fast going that way, Vettel.

[ÜberDoober]

Kovalainen all over the place to block Ruebens.

Ah ha! Vettel had an off.

[ÜberDoober]

That looked like Ruebens start in Melbourne.

[LittleAlguy]

Button is pulling away and has an edge on fuel. That's a recipe for winning.

[ÜberDoober]

When the early season predictors said that history was on Button's side for taking the WDC, I poo pood the idea. Now, it is starting to look like the stats don't lie.

[ÜberDoober]

OH RUEBENS!

Can't believe the car isn't damaged.

[LittleAlguy]

He sure got away with that one.

Rubens wasn't so lucky there. Still managed to minimize the damage.

[ÜberDoober]

He sure got away with that one.

Not the next one though. :ack2: He's driving like a madman but I think it's funny and kind of cool.

[LittleAlguy]

Looks like that 2nd set of tires is working better for Vettel (or the 2nd is worse for Button).

He's going to blow by Button in a couple of laps.

[ÜberDoober]

Great. Vettel gets to Button's diffuser and then they cut to commercial. :realMad:

[LittleAlguy]

Ooo, a shift in strategy by Red Bull. Another early stop.

[ÜberDoober]

Ooo, a shift in strategy by Red Bull. Another early stop.

Interesting. Hope it works out for them? Seems like a good call since he couldn't get around Button.

[LittleAlguy]

This should be a good finish.

Unless, I'm mixing things up.

[LittleAlguy]

Glock is coming right up on Rosberg...and pits.

Vettel is coming, though like Glock, he's to stop, too.

First ever DNF for Brawn as Barrichello is game over.

[ÜberDoober]

Barrichello out. Must be gearbox?

[LittleAlguy]

Hmm, could he pass Webbo for 2nd?

Nope.

Button takes #6 out of 7 races.

[ÜberDoober]

Another one for Button and Brawn!

Great finish by the Red Bull drivers too. I wonder if Vettel was heeding his instructions to stay behind Webber?

Well, there were a few exciting moments but certainly not one of the more exciting races. Raikkonen and Hamilton just looked terrible and it's got to be psychologically tough to go from hero to zero in seven races.

Gonna watch the end of NASCAR then the GP2 race now. :)