Formula 1 2004 (1 Viewer)

[Seth Paxton]

Um, they just agreed on at least 2 more years the other day, so why would you say this might be the last one? The story was reported at least in the Indy Star.

It's the biggest venue on the circuit and makes an excellent combo with Canada for non-NAs to travel for a double-dip.

The course is getting resurfaced this year, the race and facillities get nothing but praise from the teams, and generally they love coming here. By most accounts the whole thing has been a home run unless you were really counting on instantly winning over the NA crowd.


I haven't seen the TIVO version yet, but the time it took to get Ralf out (and what was with the freaking ambulance parade lap???) was a joke compared to the 500, especially since he wasn't even really hurt. You think they took that long with Stan Fox or even Mario just during testing? Hell no.


Another boring race in terms of competition although down in our seats across from the first few turns (Indy turn 4) the crowd stood and gasped when Rubens and Michael almost touched, they were ready to see someone beat Mike.

This was by far the worst USGP for cars going out, especially via wrecks. I think with Ralf it might have been more a case of freaking out over wrecking at speed, something Indy drivers do on a regular basis (meaning 200+ even though Ralf wasn't that fast yet) but rarely happens in F1. Of course any type of wreck can come out bad, but generally you see few injuries per "hard" wreck during the month of May (practice, qually, or race).

I think the Alonso wreck was just as nasty taking a near speed direct left into the wall thanks to the flat.

By the end of the day it looked like a used car lot down by us with 6 cars off the circuit there, which included us getting a nice close up of Webber pulling his rolling fireball down to the safety crew in front of us..."I say, could I trouble you gents for a spot of water".


And how about Panis and Sato on the "back straight", they and Trulli all were going at it pretty hard and each came close to wrecking their way out of it. Trulli was off circuit several times as I recall.

 

[JeremySt]

Seeing Ralf motionless in his car, with no one coming to his aid.... I had a bad feeling there for a bit. Very glad to see he is OK. Frightening crash....



I am a Williams fan, but this year has been rather dismal 2 weekends in a rown with disqualifications... Ralf multiple crashes... Both drivers set to leave.. It will be nice to have feeling of "starting fresh" next year.

 

[JeremySt]

Seeing Ralf motionless in his car, with no one coming to his aid.... I had a bad feeling there for a bit. Very glad to see he is OK. Frightening crash....



I am a Williams fan, but this year has been rather dismal 2 weekends in a rown with disqualifications... Ralf multiple crashes... Both drivers set to leave.. It will be nice to have feeling of "starting fresh" next year.

 

[Mario Bartel]

The thing I don't understand is, last year Bernie pulled the Canadian GP from the schedule, citing our new tobacco advertising restrictions, but the race was reinstated when the Canadian and Quebec governments ponied up millions of dollars of extra "compensation" for "lost revenue" from the absent tobacco logos, yet none of the tobacco sponsors were allowed to fly their colors in Indy either; so, did Bernie sucker us?

 

[Mario Bartel]

The thing I don't understand is, last year Bernie pulled the Canadian GP from the schedule, citing our new tobacco advertising restrictions, but the race was reinstated when the Canadian and Quebec governments ponied up millions of dollars of extra "compensation" for "lost revenue" from the absent tobacco logos, yet none of the tobacco sponsors were allowed to fly their colors in Indy either; so, did Bernie sucker us?

 

[Chris Derby]

Well, Ferrari wasn't allowed to fly their Marlboro logos because that brand already sponsors a team in another US series. I think the AG only allows for one.

I wasn't really paying attention to anybody else.

 

[Chris Derby]

Well, Ferrari wasn't allowed to fly their Marlboro logos because that brand already sponsors a team in another US series. I think the AG only allows for one.

I wasn't really paying attention to anybody else.

 

[BrianShort]

I think Ferrari was the only team that couldn't display their Marlboro advertising. I think most of the rest of the tobacco advertisers are European brands, which aren't advertised anywhere else in the US.

 

[BrianShort]

I think Ferrari was the only team that couldn't display their Marlboro advertising. I think most of the rest of the tobacco advertisers are European brands, which aren't advertised anywhere else in the US.

 

[CharlesD]

Those 2-3 minutes before anyone got to Ralf were very disturbing, they need to look into what took so long & fix it, pronto. I read on Atlas that they are already doing 320kph through that corner (aprox. 200 mph... they only gain 10mph or so all the way down the front straight) so that would have been a huge hit. From the replay of Ralf in the car afterwards it looks like he tried to climb out of the car right away but was obviously in pain when he did so & the track worker made him stay in the car.

Its good to see Sato on the podium, though. He's still a little wild at times but a lot of fun to watch.

 

[CharlesD]

Those 2-3 minutes before anyone got to Ralf were very disturbing, they need to look into what took so long & fix it, pronto. I read on Atlas that they are already doing 320kph through that corner (aprox. 200 mph... they only gain 10mph or so all the way down the front straight) so that would have been a huge hit. From the replay of Ralf in the car afterwards it looks like he tried to climb out of the car right away but was obviously in pain when he did so & the track worker made him stay in the car.

Its good to see Sato on the podium, though. He's still a little wild at times but a lot of fun to watch.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Yeah, but even still Indy cars NEVER go below 200, actually much higher than that even, and all their wrecks look as bad as Ralf's.

At the race I was disgusted with how much was being made of it because I had strong doubts that it was really that serious. My doubts were justified.

Considering the lack of injury the only thing I can figure was that the wreck left him wedged in the car in a way that they couldn't get him out. OR, as I suggested, Ralf was crapping himself after being in a real Indy wreck, something that F-1 drivers rarely experience, and was concerned after feeling back pain. When you aren't used to wrecks like that I can see where you might think "wow, that pain must be serious" whereas Indy drivers tend to think "shit, I need to go get the T-car in the show now, hurry up and get me out of here".

It was tough for me to feel real concern after seeing a wreck that Sarah Fisher would even jog away from.

Of course some small wrecks do result in serious damage just by a fluke, such as Dale's wreck at Daytona.

The silliest thing was the "parade lap" in the ambulance around the circuit. I still don't understand that.



Yeah, Williams had about as bad a day as you could want. Tough season for them.


Some cool stuff from last night. Our visiting family and friends had rooms in the Omni downtown (we'd put them up but biz paid for the rooms already). Turns out that the Omni was also host to the WILLIAMS crew (obviously not the drivers nor Frank, who stay in the Cantebury where most stars stay in Indy).

Also in the Omni, David Hobbes and the rest of the announcing team. So as we sat having pre-dinner cocktails the team comes pouring in for drinks (20+ guys) and the announcers went strolling by head to some dinner. Also, I guess JPM went to dinner on FRI night at Palomino's, a very public location, rather than being run off to some hidden location or posh spot with private areas.


June is hella better than September for racing. The weather was perfect. Now if only we can move the 500 into June too.


And here's the link to the story about F1's continuation at Indy

 

[Seth Paxton]

Yeah, but even still Indy cars NEVER go below 200, actually much higher than that even, and all their wrecks look as bad as Ralf's.

At the race I was disgusted with how much was being made of it because I had strong doubts that it was really that serious. My doubts were justified.

Considering the lack of injury the only thing I can figure was that the wreck left him wedged in the car in a way that they couldn't get him out. OR, as I suggested, Ralf was crapping himself after being in a real Indy wreck, something that F-1 drivers rarely experience, and was concerned after feeling back pain. When you aren't used to wrecks like that I can see where you might think "wow, that pain must be serious" whereas Indy drivers tend to think "shit, I need to go get the T-car in the show now, hurry up and get me out of here".

It was tough for me to feel real concern after seeing a wreck that Sarah Fisher would even jog away from.

Of course some small wrecks do result in serious damage just by a fluke, such as Dale's wreck at Daytona.

The silliest thing was the "parade lap" in the ambulance around the circuit. I still don't understand that.



Yeah, Williams had about as bad a day as you could want. Tough season for them.


Some cool stuff from last night. Our visiting family and friends had rooms in the Omni downtown (we'd put them up but biz paid for the rooms already). Turns out that the Omni was also host to the WILLIAMS crew (obviously not the drivers nor Frank, who stay in the Cantebury where most stars stay in Indy).

Also in the Omni, David Hobbes and the rest of the announcing team. So as we sat having pre-dinner cocktails the team comes pouring in for drinks (20+ guys) and the announcers went strolling by head to some dinner. Also, I guess JPM went to dinner on FRI night at Palomino's, a very public location, rather than being run off to some hidden location or posh spot with private areas.


June is hella better than September for racing. The weather was perfect. Now if only we can move the 500 into June too.


And here's the link to the story about F1's continuation at Indy

 

[CharlesD]

I for one don't care how fast Indy cars go. You know for me at least having nasty looking wrecks, whether or not the driver is hurt, is not an essential part of racing. I would prefer not seeing any wrecks frankly. Racing is not some pissing match on who has the biggest, fastest crashes.

 

[CharlesD]

I for one don't care how fast Indy cars go. You know for me at least having nasty looking wrecks, whether or not the driver is hurt, is not an essential part of racing. I would prefer not seeing any wrecks frankly. Racing is not some pissing match on who has the biggest, fastest crashes.

 

[Bruce N]

Seth, you must've been pretty close to us. We were in Stand J, section 15, in the first row. Would've been nice to be higher up but I'm not complaining. My friend called me at 8pm on Friday night and asked if I wanted his extra ticket. We left the next morning.

I've seen lots of racing and even get on the track on my own bike during "track days" and I thought the race was pretty exciting. I enjoyed it immensely. I've been wanting to see an F1 race for years and I was not dissappointed.

The downtown was jumping on Saturday night. My friend and I went looking for some dinner and found it all by accident. Monument Square, the center of town, was closed of for a Councours de Elegance car show and there were tons of people. The perfect weather didn't hurt either. It was beautiful.

Bruce

 

[Bruce N]

Seth, you must've been pretty close to us. We were in Stand J, section 15, in the first row. Would've been nice to be higher up but I'm not complaining. My friend called me at 8pm on Friday night and asked if I wanted his extra ticket. We left the next morning.

I've seen lots of racing and even get on the track on my own bike during "track days" and I thought the race was pretty exciting. I enjoyed it immensely. I've been wanting to see an F1 race for years and I was not dissappointed.

The downtown was jumping on Saturday night. My friend and I went looking for some dinner and found it all by accident. Monument Square, the center of town, was closed of for a Councours de Elegance car show and there were tons of people. The perfect weather didn't hurt either. It was beautiful.

Bruce

 

[BrianShort]

I was reading F1-Live.com this morning and they were completely overexaggerating Ralf's crash. They called it horrific, and said the cockpit was the only thing left of the car. The crash I saw took off the rear wing and smashed in the rear end a bit. You would at least think the announce team on Speed would be used to seeing wrecks like that, since they must see IRL or NASCAR races.

Very surprised at how long it took for anyone to get to him though... can't they open up the track walls every so often to drive vehicles through? In every NASCAR or CART or Indy race I've seen, rescue vehicles are on scene almost the instant the car stops moving. Is the slow response the fault of IMS, or F1?

Brian

 

[BrianShort]

I was reading F1-Live.com this morning and they were completely overexaggerating Ralf's crash. They called it horrific, and said the cockpit was the only thing left of the car. The crash I saw took off the rear wing and smashed in the rear end a bit. You would at least think the announce team on Speed would be used to seeing wrecks like that, since they must see IRL or NASCAR races.

Very surprised at how long it took for anyone to get to him though... can't they open up the track walls every so often to drive vehicles through? In every NASCAR or CART or Indy race I've seen, rescue vehicles are on scene almost the instant the car stops moving. Is the slow response the fault of IMS, or F1?

Brian

 

[Keith Mickunas]

I have to think it's F1, Indy is just too good about stuff like that. They must have insisted on their own safety crews, and their sub-par performance is in-line with what normally happens at F1 races. They never respond quickly enough to fires or wrecks.

Seth, I think you're really downplaying Ralf's wreck. It was pretty bad. He hit the wall dead on at an incredibly high rate of speed. Granted the Indy cars wreck that bad too, but I doubt anyone would just hop out of the car in that situation. If he's as bruised as they're saying, and may even miss the next race, the amount of pain he was feeling in the car might have been significant, and if he rushed out and had broken something in his neck or back, it could have caused some serious trouble. And like you mentioned, some accidents like Dale Earnhardt's or Ayrton Senna's, end up being much worse than they appear. It should never take that much time for medical people to arrive.