First qualifying session I’ve missed in literally years!
I say put Schumacher in Massa’s car. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Broken suspension and all?
Seriously, though, what are the rules here? Can the team put someone else in instead of Massa? If so, do they simply take his position or start at the rear or the pit lane?
This from a James Allen tweet: Willi Weber has ruled out a Michael Schumacher return to Ferrari, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport
I don’t think so for the Hungarian GP (because he wouldn’t have qualified- I may be wrong, as Massa is listed on the grid, but as a DNS), but certainly for any upcoming races Massa will miss.
It was a good race, with a decent amount of thrills and spills. Poor Alonso! Mind you, I reckon Hamilton would have caught him regardless. And I reckon Piquet’s out.
When the wheel came off, did you see that it was heading towards a guy who appeared to be asleep?
You know, it seems to me that F1 would benefit a lot if there were an entrance to the Pits sometime after turn 2 or 3, depending upon the track. And straight-through garages. This would mean that cars like Alonso’s could return to the fray, plus deal with those who get damaged at the start.
Renault got suspended by the race stewards for the Valencia race for the tire adventure. Perhaps the officials looking to make an example of someone/anyone after the Surtees and Massa incidents. Any bets on how long before Bernie intervenes and makes sure Alonso’s back on the grid in Spain?
It does seem to be an overly severe penalty, considering that they were already punished by the fact that Alonso’s race was ruined. And of course they didn’t do it deliberately anyway.
Spaniard Alonso off the ticket for Vanecia? The threat of a football-style riot and lost revenue should just about guarentee him pole! 
So the rest of the season is about to get very interesting indeed…and I was so looking forward to Luca Badoer… 
Too bad we have to wait so long for Valencia.
Schumacher returns and BMW calls it quits after '09. This season gets stranger/more interesting every month.
Remember: You heard it here FIRST!
Schumi/Kimi Ferrari Team? I’m sportin’ WOOD!
It’s a good thing Button has such a head start. Might only lose by a few points now…
This season just gets weirder and weirder…
Listening to my car radio I heard Bernie E. listing all the reasons why Schumacher would not be driving for Ferrari again…
With Alnoso out of the Valencia race I would have thought La Bernie would be thrilled that what was going to be a pretty under-attended event is now going to be a blockbuster! With no testing allowed it’ll be a crap-shoot for Michael. Sure he can run last year’s car all he wants, but the aero changes to this year’s car alone should make it a significantly different proposition. Looking forward to the moment of truth…
So they mentioned in the paper (Independent, earlier in the week) that Alonso might be going to Ferrari next year. Who will they be dropping to make room? Surely Massa, if he returns, is now a massive favourite in everyone’s hearts…
Schewie coming back has definitely added some more excitement to the last part of the season. Along with McLaren finally getting their act together, it will provide a fantastic distraction to Button slowly (inevitably) losing the championship lead.
Raikkonen’s “I could give a shit” attitude makes him the easy pick, naturally, if Massa recovers 100%. Of course, he’s under contract for 2010 and he might have to be paid to go away, but I’m sure Ferrari would pay that penalty for the chance to bring in Alonso next year when he’s available. I can see that they might rather have a guy who looks like he’s always pushing himself to the limit over a guy who may be on the limit but only rarely looks like he’s really trying. Last week the Speed guys mentioned the latest paddock rumor was that Kimi may be headed back to McLaren in 2010.
So what’s the deal with folks who detest Schumacher? Is it just that he won a lot, or was the guy a prick? Maybe both? Some other F1 forums have had some folks decrying the return of Schumacher with a lot of booing and hissing.
Well he is a bit of a dick on the race track. For the neutral it’s all fun and games but if he tries to knock your guy off the track it starts to sting a bit.
F1 could do with an injection of personality. I saw the MotoGP post race press conference the other day after Donington and American, Colin Edwards, who came second, started out with “well that was bullshit! I wouldn’t wish that race on my worse enemy let alone ride in it myself.” There were other comments about his arse puckering each time he approached a corner because he didn’t know if he’d be able to stay on the bike or not. Can you imagine any of the F1 guys saying that? Loosen up guys!
He likes to cheat. Plus he comes off as pretty freaking pompous, in my eyes. Look at the way a guy like Alonso talks and carries himself and then look at Schumacher. Blech.