Somehow, I don't feel like posting here anymore after reading teh title.....

meh, you seem to forgot the legacy of Colin Chapman and the Lotus team. yes, the team have died, but without them, there will be no F1 cars that shape like these today. Lotus ARE worth mentioning.

sad to see two of the best team dissappearing because of money problem. I also miss uncle ken of Tyrell too. his cars was always revolutionary.
and i still don't get it, why did the FIA leave out McLaren from the GP Association, when they are the 2nd most successfull team behind Ferrari? Was it because Ron was the leader for the GPWC?

Budget iwse, Ferrari is unbeatable. Phillip Morris will pump in money that many teams dream of. But Macca is not to be toyed. We stole Alonso from under Briatore's nose and Vodafone from Ferrari

I am. Mass Damper? what Mass Damper? Alonso drove like he's on fire yesterday.

Need to clarify 1 thing. Please change the thread title as McLaren is no longer known as the "West McLaren Mercedes" but as "Team McLaren Mercedes". Also, next season it is "Vodafone McLaren Mercedes".

Newey designed this season's car before he went to RedBUll as his contract ended in April

not many noticed it, but Ron has lead McLaren half of it's 40 years of existance, so never underestimate Ron Dennis.
Amazingly in '98 FIA has once shown that they can be just as cruel to McLaren as they did to Renault this season when they banned McLaren's revolutionary braking cooling system that they used in Australia. What was weird is that the reason it was banned is that many teams don't have the budget to develop that kind of system, which lead to these questions
1 - Don't every team try to outdo each other in development? why ban an item that a team has develop legally and within their own budget citing 'it's too expensive for other team'?
2 - The team that complained of the system was Ferrari, which also marks the first era of speculation that FIA and Ferrari was working together.

Some great innovation that McLaren has introduced to the sports
- Monocouque Chassis using Carbon Fibre
- Rear Brake system
- Zero keel
- Barge Board
- T wing
- Side Chimney

well, truth be told, If it was not for that Senna incident in '94, the rules was not this strict. the irony was that the drivers association was dreamt by senna after the death of Roland Ratzenberger the day before. He told Prost that he was tired of the danger that the drivers are going through. The most ironic thing was that now it is lead by Schumacher.... not that I have anything against him, but his move to damage Hill's car in Adelaide seems like a joke to Senna's memory during his year of death.

I doubt that. the only time that McLaren looks menacing was at Monaco and Hungary, where speed is not that important.

Only Ron is hoping that Kimi is not going....
hope Ron can convince him

Schummi: Anything new on your car?
Kimi: why? whine to the FIA after this?

anyways, that was lame. I still can't believe that the steward punishes Alonso for that. C'mon, I see cars that are closer than that but are not punished. Even if Schummi wins the WC this year, it's hollow. WTF were they thinking? This sports has enough conterversional decisions now, and this does not look good for the FIA's image.

and for those who still feels that Alonso is guilty, look at the qualifying fact again.
1. The laptime is around 1.22. He went out of the pit with around. 1.26 remaining.
2. He need to cross the line before the clock reaches 0.
3. he needs about 2 second to speed up and get the heat back into his tyre, which leave him around about 1.24
4. He crosses the line with about 2 seconds to spare.

Thus I doubt in no way he can impede Massa's lap. I mean he has to push the car to get within that time. Any logical thinking man can see that. this is crap. I won't watch any of the remaining races after this.

This post has been edited by linkinstreet: Sep 11 2006, 11:31 AM

That was a no brainer. the car was not even 1 metre apart. Alonso and Massa was at least 6 cars apart

True. and for the downforce to be affected, the cars have to be line astern for it to be noticeable. Massa has himself to blame for going to slow.

2003 you mean.
But from what I see, there are one driver that I rate higher than Alonso and Kimi right now, and he's not even in F1 yet. He's the Ron Dennis protogee Lewis Hamilton. He just blew the competitors in F3 and GP2. I just hope that he can do the same in F1, as from what I can see, only Fernando and Kimi is worth mentioning next season. No disrespect to other drivers, but they are not usually that consistent as these 2 are.

On fernando, I don't think he has any problem with his attitude. I mean he's usually calm and not prone to any outburst, bar the monza's debacle. This was the first time I see him genuinely mad, and I don't really blame him.

Weiheng, the JV and Fisi incident, it was less than 100m. use the braking markers to check.

This post has been edited by linkinstreet: Sep 13 2006, 11:08 AM

DC was shaving at the Spa Franchorchamps

I think in '08 Lewis will be ready for F1. And that when the whole fun will start.

I'm still a McLaren fan, no matter who drive, but I also will support a good driver, no matter which team they drive. Heidfeld, Button, and Rubens are high on my non McLaren driver chart

As a team leader, yes, Kimi will never be as good as Schummi, who can make a team revolve around him. but as a driver, I think for a guy who just have one year of single seater race experience prior to F1 and immedieatly becomes a front runner even in a car that is slow (remember '03? when he used a one year old car to challenge schummi to the title?) is a very good driver. Thus I'll say this. As a driver he's better than Schummi. Next season should be a good battle between him and Alonso. and in '08 we might see Lewis Hamilton in the fray

I'll say schummi is a good driver, but still not the best. His acheivements are overhyped. for one, all of his records are set when F1 drivers have more races to drive, and more points to gain. Remember that during the times of Prost and Senna, winners will only get 9 points. Now they got 10.

Thus the only thing that he really can boast about is Win/GP entered.

Look at the comparison of Poles
Schummi - 68/247 = 27%
Senna - 65/162 = 40%!!!

the numbrs does not tell the bigger picture. Fangio won 5 WC when he was near 50! If F1 had started earlier than 1950, he could have easily won more. Not to mention that he also raced in many more races like the Mille Migilia rally. Schummi cannot compare to that.