To busy working for a Respectable Financial Institution to do much of anything here anymore I'm afra...
To busy working for a Respectable Financial Institution to do much of anything here anymore I'm afraid.
Member since:16.07.2000
Reviews:292
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A slight break in form for this F1 review, as rather than sitting at my computer with a glass of something citrus based, I find myself munching on Presunto Ruffles (Agora Onda Maiores!) and sipping Casal Mendes on a balcony, somewhere near the most south westerly corner of the Iberian peninsular. This is of course means I couldn’t watchthe race on my beloved ITV, more on that later though.
* The Track *
Very similar in style to Hockenheim, Monza’s nature is very much stop. Go. Stop. Go. Twisty bit. The tracks chicanes can often cause chaos and I’m sure I don’t have to remind everyone what happened last year.
If you’re taking your home made Formula One car to Monza it’s probably a good idea to just take the rear wing off to reduce drag as much as possible for the long straights. It wouldn’t hurt to paint your car red and pretend you’re Italian. Less chance of being pelted with missiles from the grandstands that way.
* The Results
– About time *
1st – Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams) - Qualified 1st 2nd – Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) – Qualified 6th 3rd – Ralf Schumacher (Williams) – Qualified 4th 4th – Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) – Qualified 3rd 5th – Pedro De La Rosa (Jaguar) - Qualified 10th 6th – Jacques Villeneuve (BAR) – Qualified 15th
Seven none point scoring finishes
* The Race – Im Monza mit Nikki Lauda *
Despite the blight of launch control, there was actually some action at the start. Montoya and Barrichello did little but threaten to cause action. The brace of Schumachers behind however did have a bit of a tussle that finally finished in the order it started with the elder, more annoying brother in the lead. All eyes though were on the charging Benetton of Mr Button. Jenson must have been very busy patting himself on the back after his excellent start because he failed to notice the oncoming braking point and promptly took himself and the hapless Jarno Trulli out of the race.
In the ensuing chaos and general corner blockage that followed, poor Mika Hakkinen found himself stuck in the escape road, loosing places hand over £50,000 steering wheel.
Further compounding McLarens mysery, a few laps into the race David Coulthard blew up. Well, obviously David himself didn’t blow up, but his Mercedes engine did. McLarens misery was later completed when Mika to retired from mechanical gremlins.
This left a battle at the front between Montoya, Barrichello and Snr. Schumacher in that order. Barrichello seemed the class of the trio as both Schumacher and Montoya seemed a bit scrappy, putting wheels on the grass and wobbling around. It was during one of these wobbles that Rubens finally passed Montoya. This seemed to wake Juan a touch and his blocking of Schumacher seemed a touch more effective, although Montoya’s (lack of) performance was a bit of a surpise – surely he had to be on a one stop strategy, with the Ferrari’s stopping twice? Indeed, both the red cars pitted, leaving Montoya lapping in the lead. However it seemed to me, that when Montoya stopped it was neither one or two stop time and he also didn’t stop for what seemed like long enough to go to the end of the race. I was at a loss without hey-guys-honey-monster-allan to work it out with his ‘maths’. Certainly Ralfs stop was more in keeping with a one stop.
* Heroes *
Juan Pablo Montoya – About damn time I feel.
BMW – Hey guys, both your engines made the distance!
ITV F1 ‘CREW’ – Missed you guys… Group hug! (Including Beverly Turner :P)
Rubens Barrichello – A solid drive that only failed to create tears (A win) because BMW finally did their job.
* Villains *
Alex Young – A touch harsh perhaps, but in light of some of the impressive debuts we’ve seen in F1 that was a bit amaturish.
* Rubens Barrichello Award for Dumbest Moment of the Race *
And the award goes to… Jenson Button. Eyebrows were raised when it was announced that Jarno Trulli would be partnering Jenson Button at Benetton. After all, Jenson has had a bit of a habit of pushing Jarno off the road. No doubt the aforementioned eyebrows crawled off their respective faces when they saw him doing it again.
* Random Mixed Feelings Award *
RTL. Thanks for showing the race in this here foreign nation but…
The commentators spoke proper German, not pigeon German so I failed to follow it and even found that hard. Huge and I mean H U G E commercial breaks. I’d flick over to another channel called RTP1 (Or 1RTP – I never did figure that out) who always went to adverts 30secs after RTL and came back about two minutes before RTL. Although RTL did show the F1 ‘invision’ during ads they didn’t do it all the time. The Comentators. OK, I wasn’t expecting a German version of Murky Talker and friends (Indeed, a German Murray would have given me a headache) but these guys were so laid back! There were periods where nothing was said for several minutes! They also don’t have a studio, just a guy-on-tarmac talking to people. Sort of like an hour long grid walk. Speaking of grid walks, I could have sworn I saw Martin Brundle try and walk through guy-on-tarmac during his grid walk. Or was that just me pinning for ITV…
More in two weeks, on ITV!
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The same classic F1 reviewing formula that we know and love! Great op, cheers, Timmy.
alexandrapontecaille 22.09.2001 00:04
i worked in Monaco during the Grand Prix and i went deaf for about 1 week after...i am not a big fan of F1 but i'd like to try one of those cars.
good op
Alex
MichelleScott 21.09.2001 20:18
It's all boring to me. Enjoyed the op anyway though!
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Sep 21st, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
