^ Ken your compairing apples to oranges... When Robert beats Mikko, Seb, Jari, and Petter, I will completely agree with you. Fact of the matter is, the talent pool Kimi is up against is much deeper than what Robert was facing. Not taking anything away from him, thats still a great accomplishment. Just saying its hard to make the leap, you just put out there...

 

Well, I do not NO if all the "big Rally boys" were racing but this rally was part of the FIA European Rally Championship so I assume it was more than Ken Block and the like...so R U saying if Kimi entered same, he would have been 1st to 3rd?


Later, Ken

 

Not saying that. All I was trying to say is the talent pool is much deeper, the competition much more fierce.

 

Existing drivers that:
(A)are definitely going either out or change seats for '11'-
(1) Petrov...poor driving will be his undoing despite Russian GP in '14'...statements like these (http://formula-one.speedtv.com/artic...uture-manager/) R dead giveaways for his future at Renault
(2) Hulkenberg...Maldenado's $10m makes this happen
(3) Heidfeld...just a seat warmer for incoming Perez and Telmex $$

(B) may be out or change seats
(1) Schumi....Haug says out, Brawn says he stays..Brawn may prevail
(2) Sutil....when U say things like this, http://formula-one.speedtv.com/artic...n-adrian-sutil it is a sign U want out or team wants U out

Some changes R in for the new teams but still too murky to see anything definitive.

Later, Ken

 

I can`t blame Renault for dumping Petrov. I mean if you had a chance to sign Kimi... why wouldn`t you?

Is Norbert Haug really saying Schumi is out? I thought he was one of the people who were saying he was staying "for sure"... and that he had plenty of "race" left in him?

 

So how are you liking the game???

 

Haug is leaning to have Schumi go but putting a good face to the contrary...other Mercedes brass think another driver is needed especially since they may not even hold the fourth spot in the construc. race.

Later, Ken

 

Do you think Schumacher really is "done"? Did the Formula 1 world pass him by?

Honestly tho... if anybody was out of a sport for a number of years... I'm sure it would take them a while to get back in stride.

 

Honestly I think is baloney how teams keep changing drivers without giving them the necessary time to grow. With no testing, the newer drivers don't get adequate time behind the wheel to grow and nuture their skills.

I don't see Schumi leaving, especially with the 2011 car being designed to his specs and liking. Petrov showed some pretty good aggressive driving during 2010, yeah he made a few mistakes which resulted in DNFs but that's what being a rookie is all about. Hulkenburg going is also a shock. He showed some pretty good pace towards the end of the season.

 

I would rate it as a good game. It's got a couple of annoying features to it and falls a bit short of being a real sim to be called great, but I'm still playing it.

Top of the list annoyances would be things like "flypaper" barriers on some tracks, the magical spin-inducing kerbs on some tracks, and the f-ed up pitstops. I've had a couple of races now where I go into the pits in the top 5, and they hold my pit release until everyone has gone past, landing me in 24th. My team also managed to f-up a tire change and forced me into a 3-stopper once. The ghosting of cars when inbound for pit is also ghey, especially when you get 'passed' going into the pit.

On the plus side, they did a good job modeling the tracks, and it's the first F1 game I've played that does a credible job with the engine note. I need to mess around with the settings some more to explore different difficulty levels, but as I said, it's an ok game so far. For my money Forza 2 is still the best sim I've played on a console. I really wish Codemasters would come out with an updated version of TOCA racing.

l8r)

 

This track, being just laid down two weeks ago is slick...Friday Practice 1 showed that but with Practice two rubbering in. However, if rain hits this track there is going to be oil, and lots of it, coming up from the new asphalt and, as of today, rain is forcast for Sunday. If this occurs, look for some "slipen and a sliden" with some probable crashes..something that puts chills up Weber's spine.

Later, Ken

 

I'm sure Webber will have plenty of company. I'd think that all of the top five drivers except maybe Button are heavily opposed to a rainy event there.

 

Track seems too narrow to me, could just be the barriers.

Hopefully it'll produce a good race. We'll find out...

 

I'm really surprised by how close the barriers are to some parts of the track... considering that this is a brand new track. I know places like Montreal and Monaco have close walls... but those are old tracks. Nowadays they seem to provide as much run off as possible... so I'm surprised to see the walls right beside the track like that.

 

No shockers after quali... The race should be interesting.