Conference krakar::f1

    
    And I wont be there, but I will be for the practise session on 
    Thursday :-)
    Anyone else going, I will be at St Devott (sp)
    
    Mark.

    
    I'll be there for Monaco, at Casino Square.
    
    Wendy.
                                

    I'll be there at the start/finish line.
    
    
    
        the starter
    

    re .1
    
    Mark, I'll probably see you at the Ste Devote chicane stand. 7:00 am

    
    
    
    
    
    Johnny Herbert in a Sauber was fastest after second practice 
    for Sunday's  Monaco Grand Prix.   
    
    Herbert was just ahead of the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher 
    with world championship leader Jacques Viulleneuve third in 
    a Williams                    
    
    The Jordans of Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher 
    were 4th and 8th  with Eddie Irvine 12th in the second   
    Ferrari.                               
    
                       
    (from Aertel)
    

    
    Following on from last.
    
    Fretzen had a big slide into the barriers this morning 
    according to Reuters, Damon was 9th "apparently happy
    with his set up and feeling good about possibly going 
    a bit quicker!!". The weather reports for the coming days
    also say it could be unpredictable which hopefully 
    should throw a spanner into the works,
    
    
    could be an interesting few days,
    
    cheers
    
    mark.
    

    
    
     THURSDAY'S OPENING PRACTICE TIMES      
    
                                                              
    
                        1 J Herbert    (GB)  Sauber   1:21.188
    
                        2 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari  1:21.330
    
                        3 J Villeneuve (Can) Williams 1:21.445
    
                        4 G Fisichella (Ita) Jordan   1:21.463
    
                        5 G Berger     (Aut) Benetton 1:21.573
    
                        6 M Hakkinen   (Fin) McLaren  1:21.675
    
                        7 H-H Frentzen (Ger) Williams 1:21.885
    
                        8 R Schumacher (Ger) Jordan   1:21.939
    
                        9 D Hill       (GB)  Arrows   1:21.962
    
                       10 J Alesi      (Fra) Benetton 1:22.010
    
                       11 D Coulthard  (GB)  McLaren  1:22.020
    
                       12 E Irvine     (NI)  Ferrari  1:22.072
    
                                                              
    
                                                              
    
    John.
    
                                      

     Practice report from Gale Force....
    
    
    Formula 1: Monaco Grand Prix
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Johnny holds off Michael
    ------------------------
    [Thu May- 8 14h15 CET]
    A thrilling first free practice session for the Monaco Grand
    Prix left Johnny Herbert with the fastest time follwed by
    Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve.  Heinz Harold was
    last  seen track side collecting the pieces of his car.
    
     The first half of the session started at 11am in a bright
    sunny Monaco first on track were the two Jordans of Ralph
    and Fisichella, as  usually just about everyone came out in
    the first few minutes then returned straight back into the
    pits.  Nakano was the first driver to run a few laps and
    rapidly brought his time down from 1m 42.087s to 1m 33.616s.
    Jean Alesi was the next serious lapper bring the fastest
    time down into the 1m 26s region.  Then came Villeneuve who
    dropped it to 1m 24.656s.
    
     The rest of this one hour session saw Frentzen as the man
    to beat with both Villeneuve and Michael always seeming to
    get into trafffic on their fast laps.  At the end HH was 1m
    23.187s, with Michael at +0.383s and Hakkinen at +0.448s
    followed by Villeneuve, Barrichello (brilliant) and Irvine.
    
     The second half of the two hour session began at 13h00 with
    Michael out first but once again being foiled by heavy
    traffic. Ten minutes in to the session Hakkinen took the
    fastest time to 1m 23.124s (-0.063s) despite being at +0.2s
    in the chicane.  A few minutes later Katayama was seen
    rolling to a stop inside the tunnel with mechanical
    problems.  HH  then broke the time down twice more to  1m
    22.417s just as the red flags came out.  No drama - its was
    just to remove Katayama's car which was in a dangerous
    position.  The current standing were: Frentzen, Hakkinen,
    Panis, Michael, Barrichello, Villeneuve, Irvine, Alesi,
    Coulthard, Berger, Fisichella and Hill.
    
      When the track opened again it was Ralph that put the fire
    into everyone he knocked nearly  half a second off HH with a
    magnificent 1m 21.939s (-0.478).  Then the flood gates
    opened   at HH took the time down by -0.006s, then
    Villeneuve by -0.004s, then Frentzen by -0.042s  and Michael
    by -0.136s (he was at -0.641s at the chicance but then came
    up behind  Villeneuve at the pool).
    
      With 10 minutes to go Hill had moved to 6th and Herbert
    had taken  the fastest time from Michael by -0.142s, his 1m
    21.188s was the fastest of the day.  The shunt of the day
    came 7 minutes before the end when HH slide at  the corner
    just after Rascasse (start of the start straight) and
    slammed into the barriers.  He destroyed his car but was
    uninjured.
    
      Final standing: Herbert, Michael, Villeneuve, Fisichella,
    Berger, Hakkinen, Frentzen,  Ralph, Hill, Alesi.
    
    
    Session: 1st Free Practice
    Track Times:
    
    Pos  Driver          Team       Lap Time
     1  J.Herbert       Sauber      1m 21.188s
     2  M.Schumacher    Ferrari     1m 21.330s
     3  J.Villeneuve    Williams    1m 21.445s
     4  G.Fisichella    Jordan      1m 21.463s
     5  G.Berger        Benetton    1m 21.573s
     6  M.Hakkinen      McLaren     1m 21.675s
     7  H.Frentzen      Williams    1m 21.885s
     8  R.Schumacher    Jordan      1m 21.939s
     9  D.Hill          Arrows      1m 21.962s
    10  J.Alesi         Benetton    1m 22.010s
    11  D.Coulthard     McLaren     1m 22.020s
    12  E.Irvine        Ferrari     1m 22.072s
    13  R.Barrichello   Stewart     1m 22.370s
    14  N.Larini        Sauber      1m 22.383s
    15  P.Diniz         Arrows      1m 22.622s
    16  J.Verstappen    Tyrrell     1m 23.056s
    17  O.Panis         Prost       1m 23.096s
    18  M.Salo          Tyrrell     1m 23.483s
    19  J.Magnussen     Stewart     1m 23.810s
    20  J.Trulli        Minardi     1m 25.178s
    21  S.Nakano        Prost       1m 25.350s
    
       ---- 107% ----               1m 26.871s
    22  U.Katayama      Minardi     1m 29.353s
    
    All information is unofficial
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    GALE FORCE F1 - the fastest results service on the Internet.
           See our web page at http://www.monaco.mc/f1/
            Please send your comments to f1@monaco.mc
     

    As expected Prost is having some talks with Mr Honda Jr, the boss of
    Mugen. Mugen supports Shinji Nakano while Prost would like to have a
    real driver in the the 2nd car to support Olivier Panis in the 1st car.
    
    Prost is ready to have Emmanuel Collard (with support from Elf) jump in
    the 2nd car, pending Mr Honda's approval.
    
    Prost is also looking at giving a test driver seat to Gianni Morbidelli. 

    
    
     Heh Patrick,
    
     Where were you yesterday ? I didnt see you,
    
     Mark.
    
     PS: Those Stewarts make a thundering ROAR going up to Casino !

    
    
    Late brakers appeared to be Panis and M. Schumacher, cant remember who
    it was that was a "forget to braker", nice run off neatly missing the 
    tyres, an impressive spin and back onto the track.  This was not nearly
    as exciting as the Porche Supercup driver who planted his car into the
    arnco, made a very nasty mess of the front end !
    
    Couldnt see the new picine S from where I was
    
    Track temp was 18 degrees, air temp was 16.5
    
    Mark.   

	A long time since Williams made such a bad error of 
	judgement. Even on wet tyres the cars were no good.
	Ferraris late change to wet settings was pretty obvious
	to all and paid off handsomely. It seemed to me that
	Schumacher(M) only raced for half a dozen laps and then
	eased off (13 second lead in two laps!).

	Serious brain fade in McLaren cockpits. I think Coulthard
	lost it diving inside of Villeneuve out of the tunnel when
	he only had to be a tiny bit patient, and Hakkinen came up
	to the chicane at such a rate that he was never ever going 
	to get around it anyway.

	Great day for Stewart but for the most part the race was
	about as dull as the weather.

	-John

I thought the race was far from dull, there was so many spills, 
people runnng wide etc etc, funniest race I've seen for ages!

    What happened to Hill?His own fault or was he taken out?
    Is there any limit to the wing area or placement btw?Are the winglets
    on the Tyrell actually any good?Questions,questions..

Re: Hill

  According to CEEFAX one of the Benettons lost it on the first lap
  which caused Irvine to brake very suddenly and Hill hit the back of
  Irvine damaging a wheel.

  I bet Frank Williams is not a happy man at the moment. His drivers and
  team are far from infallable this year. He has a real battle on his
  hands with the Ferraris this year and a couple more cock ups could see
  some heads rolling.

  Rgds, Steve.
  


    From Atlas F1
    
    Schumacher used the T-car which is set-up for a wet weather race.
    
    
    Schumacher: "Everything went the right way today. It was perfect. I
    used the right tyres and team chose the right strategy. After my good
    start it was an easy race for me. In the short time before the start I
    decided to switch cars, which was the right choice. Realistically, I
    did not think I could win; I thought second place was possible, but in
    the wet anything can happen. On lap 53 I locked the front wheels and
    although I might have got round the corner, I decided not to risk it
    and took the escape road. We are leading both championships but there
    are still 12 races to go."
    
    
    
    John.

    Having lived in the area for 8 years I was very surprised to hear some
    teams start with dry setups. The East wind on the Riviera means rain 
    and rain and rain ... no exception. At 13:30 it was clear that the wind
    was blowing from the east ... 

    Ferrari
    Just about perfect. Nice to see the master at work. If rain really is a
    great equalizer, then all arguments about who is faster than whom can
    fall silent now.
    
    Williams
    Only Williams can shoot themselves in the foot that way.
    
    Mclaren
    See Williams. Post-race interviews left me with the impression that the
    bungled tyre choice was very much a management, rather than a driver
    decision.
    
    Benetton
    Who?
    
    Jordan
    Hothead Ralf needs to take some lessons from big brother. Fiziko did
    well under difficult conditions.
    
    I have enjoyed every race so far this season!
    
    Edward.

    Regarding the Schumacher brothers.
    
    I wish the commentators would get their act together with the names.
    They seem to forever be saying 
    
    "Schmacher, Michael Schumcher"
    "Schmacher, er Ralf"
    
    Why not refer to them simply as "Ralf" or "Michael".
    
    Anybody with the smallest F1 knowledge will know who they are refering
    to.
    
    Royston

re.21:

>    Just about perfect. Nice to see the master at work. If rain really is a
>   great equalizer, then all arguments about who is faster than whom can
>   fall silent now.

Schumacher had an advantage due to being in front - clear vision makes 
quite a difference. Secondly, the slick shod tyred cars got in the way of 
the rest the field. Thirdly, the runners behind Schumacher were very close 
to his pace in lesser equipment. Oh, and 'just about perfect' hardly 
describes the fishtailing around Schumacher did, and didn't he go off at 
one corner?
    
Dave.

>    Given the track conditions and the car setup (I'm sure it was not set
>    for full rain ie with soft springs/dampers and no anti-roll) Michael

I read that Schu  was in the spare car which had been fully set up for wet
weather. Can anyone confirm this?

rgds, Steve.

Re:  Schum in the backup car setup for wet.

Yes, I can confirm.  Heard it officially from our radio
network F1 commentator.  That's good planning if you ask me.

/Mario

	As reported by TopGear -


       "Schumacher chose the 'wet' car while Williams started on slick
        tyres, advised by a weather expert, now presumably floating in the
        harbour, who assured the team the rain would hold off."

	
	The TV Video just shows Hill running into the back of Irvine
	who had stopped to avoid one of the Benetton cars which
	had shortcut the chicane. This was a pity since this was the 
	best chance he's likely to get for a good place this season.

	-John


	

    I just got back from a couple of weeks in the USA and spent Saturday
    afternoon watching my tape of the GP (there was only a boring old
    football match on the box!!!). I enjoyed seeing the Schu "expressing
    his talents" and Barichello's second place. The first time I ever saw
    him was in the Opel Lotus support race to the very wet 1988 British GP,
    and he beat the rest by so much that we wondered if he was running an
    illegal car.
    
    I still get the feeling that we haven't yet found out how the various
    teams are really stacked up against each other this year. Or maybe
    McLaren and Benetton really have become mid-field racers, overtaken by
    Jordan and Prost and at least matched by Stewart.