F1 2008 season discussion thread

Welcome back to hi-tech formula one season of 2008!

This will be the main discussion thread for the whole season which kicks off in Melbourne on the weekend of 14 March 2008.

Last year's battle between McLaren and Ferrari is likely to resume once again in 2008. Ferrari starts as reigning constructors' and drivers' champion with kimi raikkonen. McLaren loses Alonso - who returns to Renault - after what was a year of controversy on and off track for not only alonso, but hamilton, team boss ron dennis and a whole host of other people involved in the spygate saga.

Hamilton will be keen to start the year strongly and maintain his superiority till the end to make up for the disappointment of 2008 when he lost the world championship to the flying raikkonen by just one point. however, will we see a repeat of the teammate rivalry of last year? hamilton will be paired with heikki kovalainen who is hamilton's contemporary in GP2 and is an equally fast driver. let's hope that mclaren does not impose team orders to prevent the teammate rivalry.

this time round, will BMW make further progress and star winning races? i do hope so, but the pre-season tests do not seem to indicate much... and both drivers and team principles making noises that they are not there yet. but after the opening practice at melbourne, BMW could very well take the awards as the biggest sandbagger of the pre-season testing sessions.

so let's get our discussions going on this thread as the season unfolds.
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Submitted by TheFazz on Sat, 15/03/2008 - 6:24pm.

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TheFazz:

opening qualifying seems to indicate that hamilton is well placed to win the 2008 championship as repayment for the championship he lost last year.

ferraris look a little disappointing, but the BMW of kubica is surprisingly quick. nice one.

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.572	1:25.187	1:26.714	14
2	4	Robert Kubica	BMW	1:26.103	1:25.315	1:26.869	15
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:25.664	1:25.452	1:27.079	13
4	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:25.994	1:25.691	1:27.178	12
5	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW	1:25.960	1:25.518	1:27.236	16
6	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:26.427	1:26.101	1:28.527	17
7	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:26.295	1:26.059	1:28.687	21
8	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:26.381	1:26.063	1:29.041	18
9	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:26.919	1:26.164	1:29.593	17
10	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:26.702	1:25.842	No time	18
11	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:26.369	1:26.173		13
12	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:26.907	1:26.188		10
13	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:26.712	1:26.259		13
14	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:26.891	1:26.413		13
15	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:26.914	No time		8
16	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:26.140			3
17	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:27.207			9
18	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:27.446			10
19	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:27.859			9
20	18	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	1:28.208			9
21	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:28.330			6
22	19	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	1:29.059			9

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15 Mar 2008 - 6:26pm

edwynlow:

Looks like our Kimirudin is not doing too good with the car having problem in Q1. Mulonso is doing alright with a slower car this year. But what happen to the son Tarkuma, not overtaking the dad. And our Luenson is also doing fine with his horse. Anyway, it's qualifying, and first corner in Melbourne is always a dangerous one. So let's see if all the cars are safe through the 1st corner..

__________________________

Consistency. "Do one thing at a time; Jules" - EL

15 Mar 2008 - 7:02pm

edwynlow:

Too bad Markeal have to sit by the pit and watch!

__________________________

Consistency. "Do one thing at a time; Jules" - EL

15 Mar 2008 - 7:03pm

naza:

edwynlow wrote:

Looks like our Kimirudin is not doing too good with the car having problem in Q1. Mulonso is doing alright with a slower car this year. But what happen to the son Tarkuma, not overtaking the dad. And our Luenson is also doing fine with his horse. Anyway, it's qualifying, and first corner in Melbourne is always a dangerous one. So let's see if all the cars are safe through the 1st corner..

Woi!...hahahahahaha!

...3 cornered fight tomorrow between drivers of McLaren, BMW and Ferrari for round 1, Melbourne. This is turning out to be a very interesting 2008 GP! Cool

15 Mar 2008 - 11:07pm

TheFazz:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	58	1:34:50.616	1	10
2	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW	58	+5.4 secs	5	8
3	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	58	+8.1 secs	7	6
4	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	58	+17.1 secs	11	5
5	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	58	+18.0 secs	3	4
6	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	57	+1 Lap	13	3
7	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	55	+3 Laps	17	2
8	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	53	Engine	15	1
Ret	4	Robert Kubica	BMW	47	Accident	2
Ret	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	43	Accident	18
Ret	18	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	32	Transmission	19
Ret	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	30	Accident damage	20
Ret	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	29	Engine	4
Ret	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	25	Accident	8
Ret	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	19	Electrical	6
Ret	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	8	Hydraulics	22
Ret	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	0	Accident	14
Ret	16	Jenson Button	Honda	0	Accident	12
Ret	19	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	0	Accident	21
Ret	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	0	Accident	9
Ret	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	0	Accident	16
DSQ	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	58	+52.4 secs	10

amazing season opener for 2008. ok, hamilton had a comfortable win. but the battle behind was incredible. Thumbs up

alonso was the star managing to put the uncompetitive renault in 4th. Thumbs up alonso really manhandled the car throughout, and the opportunistic pass on kovalainen and raikkonen was classic. lucky for him too that kovalainen had a slight problem on the last lap, that allowed alonso to repass the mclaren on the pit straight.

strong solid race from heidfeld.. bmw looking good. Thumbs up

excellent race by rosberg. Thumbs up

sebastien bourdais did well to bring the toro rosso up to 4th before it blew up. Thumbs up

i am puzzled by kubica's form, as he never showed the speed he had in qualifying. another trulli / webber?

raikkonen made the race exciting, but made far too many errors. Thumbs down

the removal of the driver aids is a great plus. they should have done this long ago.

and, after a long time: many retirements!

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16 Mar 2008 - 10:13pm

edwynlow:

well the kimi on the F1 track, seems like he is not doing very well.. but the kimirudin on the karting track doing very well Eye

__________________________

Consistency. "Do one thing at a time; Jules" - EL

16 Mar 2008 - 11:02pm

naza:

edwynlow wrote:

well the kimi on the F1 track, seems like he is not doing very well.. but the kimirudin on the karting track doing very well

...Woi!...hehehe! (awesome tyres laaa!)

17 Mar 2008 - 1:29am

TheFazz:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:35.347	1:34.412	1:35.748	17
2	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:35.645	1:34.188	1:36.230	13
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:35.227	1:34.759	1:36.613	12
4	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:35.392	1:34.627	1:36.709	18
5	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:35.205	1:34.825	1:36.711	18
6	4	Robert Kubica	BMW	1:35.794	1:34.811	1:36.727	13
7	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW	1:35.729	1:34.648	1:36.753	13
8	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:35.440	1:34.967	1:37.009	18
9	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:35.983	1:35.140	1:38.450	18
10	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:35.891	1:35.000	1:39.656	20
11	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:35.847	1:35.208		15
12	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:36.058	1:35.408		12
13	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:36.074	1:35.562		12
14	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:36.198	1:35.622		15
15	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:36.111	1:35.648		15
16	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:35.843	1:35.670		13
17	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:36.240			9
18	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:36.388			9
19	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:36.677			8
20	18	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	1:37.087			9
21	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:37.101			10
22	19	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	1:37.481			9

well done to massa for the sepang pole. Thumbs up

the ferraris looking strong for sunday, but perhaps running a little light. Thumbs up

good to see heikki kovalainen matching hamilton and faster than the englishman throughout qualifying. Thumbs up

trulli's quailfying is truly magnificent. he really had pace today. Thumbs up

the bmw's appear to be off the pace this weekend, but perhaps their qualifying was run on a slightly heavier fuel load.

alonso really had to manhandle the renault, but so far so good for both reggie drivers.

and was muhaymin at the track today? held the rain long enough for qualifying to end methinks. tomorrow will be interesting.

__________________________

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22 Mar 2008 - 9:41pm

bosozoku:

Provisional grid (www.formula1.com)
At least three drivers will drop from their original qualifying positions on the grid for Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix. McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton both lose five places for impeding rival drivers in Q3, while Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima starts from the back after his ten-place penalty for a collision with BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica at the last round in Australia.

The full provisional grid is as follows (the final grid will be published as usual by the FIA on Sunday morning - we will bring you details of any additional changes):

Pos	Driver	Team
1	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari
3	Jarno Trulli	Toyota
4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber
5	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber
6	Mark Webber	Red Bull
7	Fernando Alonso	Renault
8	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren
9	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren
10	Timo Glock	Toyota
11	Jenson Button	Honda
12	David Coulthard	Red Bull
13	Nelson Piquet	Renault
14	Rubens Barrichello	Honda
15	Sebastian Vettel	Toro Rosso
16	Nico Rosberg	Williams
17	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India
18	Sebastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso
19	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri
20	Adrian Sutil	Force India
21	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri
22	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams

23 Mar 2008 - 2:35am

TheFazz:

bosozoku wrote:

Provisional grid (www.formula1.com)
At least three drivers will drop from their original qualifying positions on the grid for Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix. McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton both lose five places for impeding rival drivers in Q3, while Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima starts from the back after his ten-place penalty for a collision with BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica at the last round in Australia.

wow. the mclarens on row 4 and 5. should make this interesting. certainly heidfeld had to navigate a mine field of slowing down mclarens on his own hot lap. i wonder if heidfeld had the pace (1:36.753) to trouble the mclarens on merit. best guess is he may have lost a couple of tenths on his hot lap as a result - which would have put hit ahead of kovalainen's 1:36.613. so - justice is served? we'll see today. Thumbs up Cool

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23 Mar 2008 - 9:54am

TheFazz:

round 2/2008 - Malaysian GP. Sepang (result)

well done to kimi raikkonen for the win. good strong race from kubica. another good finish for kovalainen and trulli. disappointment for hamilton and heidfeld who both had better pace than some of the cars ahead of them. great race by webber and alonso with cars which were no where on the pace.

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	56	Winner	2	10
2	4	Robert Kubica	BMW	56	+19.5 secs	4	8
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	56	+38.4 secs	8	6
4	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	56	+45.8 secs	3	5
5	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	56	+46.5 secs	9	4
6	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW	56	+49.8 secs	5	3
7	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	56	+68.1 secs	6	2
8	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	56	+70.0 secs	7	1
9	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	56	+76.2 secs	12
10	16	Jenson Button	Honda	56	+86.2 secs	11
11	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	56	+92.2 secs	13
12	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	55	+1 Lap	17
13	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	55	+1 Lap	14
14	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	55	+1 Lap	16
15	19	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	55	+1 Lap	21
16	18	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	54	+2 Laps	19
17	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	54	+2 Laps	22
Ret	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	39	+17 Laps	15
Ret	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	30	+26 Laps	1
Ret	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	5	+51 Laps	20
Ret	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1	+55 Laps	10
Ret	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	0	+56 Laps	18

__________________________

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23 Mar 2008 - 4:41pm

TheFazz:

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	14
2	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Ferrari	11
3	Nick Heidfeld	German	BMW	11
4	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	McLaren-Mercedes	10
5	Robert Kubica	Polish	BMW	8
6	Nico Rosberg	German	Williams-Toyota	6
7	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Renault	6
8	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Toyota	5
9	Kazuki Nakajima	Japanese	Williams-Toyota	3
10	Mark Webber	Australian	Red Bull-Renault	2
11	Sebastien Bourdais	French	STR-Ferrari	2
12	David Coulthard	British	Red Bull-Renault	0
13	Jenson Button	British	Honda	0
14	Timo Glock	German	Toyota	0
15	Nelsinho Piquet	Brazilian	Renault	0
16	Takuma Sato	Japanese	Super Aguri-Honda	0
17	Giancarlo Fisichella	Italian	Force India-Ferrari	0
18	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	0
19	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Honda	0
20	Anthony Davidson	British	Super Aguri-Honda	0
21	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Ferrari	0
22	Sebastian Vettel	German	STR-Ferrari	0

__________________________

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23 Mar 2008 - 4:59pm

TheFazz:

Kubica poles BMW's first!

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	4	Robert Kubica	BMW	1:32.893	1:31.745	1:33.096	12
2	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:31.937	1:31.188	1:33.123	12
3	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:32.750	1:31.922	1:33.292	13
4	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:32.652	1:31.933	1:33.418	12
5	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:33.057	1:31.718	1:33.488	12
6	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW	1:33.137	1:31.909	1:33.737	15
7	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:32.493	1:32.159	1:33.994	19
8	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:32.903	1:32.185	1:34.015	22
9	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:32.793	1:32.362	1:35.057	17
10	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:32.947	1:32.345	1:35.115	17
11	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:33.194	1:32.371		12
12	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:32.944	1:32.508		12
13	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:32.800	1:32.528		15
14	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:32.975	1:32.790		15
15	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:33.415	1:32.915		15
16	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:33.386	1:32.943		15
17	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:33.433			7
18	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:33.501			5
19	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:33.562			9
20	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:33.845			6
21	19	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	1:34.140			9
22	18	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	1:35.725			5

well done to Kubica and BMW for getting their first pole position since the formation of the BMW team a few years back. Thumbs up

as a Bimmer fan, this is a great achievement as it shows that the team is making good progress. however, there is no doubt that the ferraris and mclarens are still very strong, so BMW will have to sustain the performance throughout the season.

the mclarens seem to be a little short on pace to the ferraris. i would expect the ferrari to clinch the win (perhaps massa this time if he does not mess things up), and for kubica on the podium. my guess: 1st Massa, 2nd Kimi, 3rd Kubica.

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6 Apr 2008 - 11:38am

TheFazz:

well done to massa, kimi, kubica and heidfeld! my predictions were spot on. Smiling

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari		Winner
2	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari		+3.3 secs
3	4	Robert Kubica	BMW		+4.9 secs
4	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW		+8.4 secs
5	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes		+26.7 secs
6	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota		+41.3 secs
7	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault		+45.4 secs
8	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota		+55.8 secs
9	12	Timo Glock	Toyota		+69.5 secs
10	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault		+77.1 secs
11	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda		+77.8 secs
12	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari		+1 Lap
13	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes		+1 Lap
14	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota		+1 Lap
15	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari		+1 Lap
16	19	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda		+1 Lap
17	18	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda		+1 Lap
18	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault		+1 Lap
19	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari		+2 Lap
Ret	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault		+17 Lap
Ret	16	Jenson Button	Honda		+38 Laps
Ret	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari		+ secs

with this, BMW now leads the championship for the first time! Thumbs up

Pos	Team	Points
1	BMW	30
2	Ferrari	29
3	McLaren-Mercedes	28
4	Williams-Toyota	10
5	Toyota	8
6	Renault	6
7	Red Bull-Renault	4
8	STR-Ferrari	2
9	Honda	0
10	Force India-Ferrari	0
11	Super Aguri-Honda	0

__________________________

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6 Apr 2008 - 9:26pm

edwynlow:

Purely has proven that BMW does not have the pace when it comes to racing. But they have shown a big improvement in their performance keeping up with the leaders Ferrari and smashing those McLarens aside.

Good run for Kubica and thumbs up for Massa.. Reckon he won't be complaining about Ferrari not being on his side this time. And I would say Kimi was just running so cool on the track.. Just pure consistency.

__________________________

Consistency. "Do one thing at a time; Jules" - EL

6 Apr 2008 - 9:34pm

saa73:

way to go BMW!...they throw great parties too...I like! Sticking out tongue

6 Apr 2008 - 10:26pm

reinmuster:

The series will heading to Spain for the start of European rounds..

So after 3 fly away races, who's your choice for this year's WDC?

Safe bet, it's Kimi Raikkonen.

__________________________

Late braking, fast exiting..

19 Apr 2008 - 9:56am

bosozoku:

Kimi please Cool

19 Apr 2008 - 11:07am

naza:

...kimi but only if he drives a McLaren.

19 Apr 2008 - 4:27pm

reinmuster:

it's not gonna happen, isn't? Laughing out loud

__________________________

Late braking, fast exiting..

20 Apr 2008 - 11:50pm

alfagta:

me bet on kimi too!

__________________________

alfa romeo,once u luv it,it will be forever!

21 Apr 2008 - 9:27pm

edwynlow:

i rather bet on Kimirudin!!!!! Sticking out tongue

__________________________

Consistency. "Do one thing at a time; Jules" - EL

21 Apr 2008 - 9:44pm

naza:

edwynlow wrote:

i rather bet on Kimirudin!!!!!

...hello bro, you might lose your bet come rd 5.....hehehe!

21 Apr 2008 - 11:19pm

reinmuster:

Kimi wins again.

__________________________

Late braking, fast exiting..

28 Apr 2008 - 10:58pm