A1GP: Netherlands 2006
Race 1 was boring, a twelve lap sprint race, that has a time limit of 20 minutes, that is barely worth mentioning - in fact it's barely worth running - apart from the fact that Switzerland had their fastest qualifying time removed for a technical infringement, moving Great Britain up to fifth on the grid - where they would stay for the entire race.
So, they didn't explain anything about how the grid is decided for the feature race other than it's derived from your qualifying performance, your sprint race performance and the sprint race fastest laps. All I know is the top five places on the grid were as they finished in race one, and the rest of the grid being somewhat random!
The Feature race has a standing start - as opposed to the rolling start of the sprint race - and each Nation has to make one compulsory pit stop between laps 8 and 20. The race lasts for 45 laps or 70 minutes, whichever comes first. Today it was the 70 minutes - in which Sky Sports did not go for any advert breaks - due to rain coming mid race. The safety car came out just as teamGB were coming out from their pit stop, bollocks, thought I, that's stopped any chance of a good finish. But then A1GP pulled a master stroke, no pit stops allowed whilst the Safety Car is on the track! This obviously bunched the feild back up, leaving Great Britain the first of the cars that had stopped, theoretically meaning that when all of the cars in front went for a stop , teamGB would lead! Unfortunately, Pakistan made a hash of the restart, allowing France to pull out a huge lead by the first corner! Then it started to rain and that really put that cat amongst the pigeons, and the gremlins in Sky's satellite feed and we lost pictures! When we got them back, everyone had pitted for wet weather tyres except for USA who stayed out on slicks for the entire race. The US were gradually overtaken by five cars - including the Netherlands who at this point lead, but it all came together when they suddenly came to be six seconds faster a lap when the track dried, then everyone except the Netherlands dived back in the pits for slicks! The Netherlands still lead, but the US, France and Germany catch up eventually and overtake. Germany win in front of the US and Australia, teamGB rolled in eighth.
I do have one problem with the Sky coverage - John Watson. He was crap when Sky had the interactive F1, and he's crap now. He can't read the race, he can't tell the difference between the cars, and he shouldn't bloody commentate! However, I think it's more to do with ex-drivers becoming commentators. Just because James Hunt could, and Martin Brundle can, do it, they all think they can - but they can't!
Compton GP Star Drive Phil Giebler [teamUSA]
So, they didn't explain anything about how the grid is decided for the feature race other than it's derived from your qualifying performance, your sprint race performance and the sprint race fastest laps. All I know is the top five places on the grid were as they finished in race one, and the rest of the grid being somewhat random!
The Feature race has a standing start - as opposed to the rolling start of the sprint race - and each Nation has to make one compulsory pit stop between laps 8 and 20. The race lasts for 45 laps or 70 minutes, whichever comes first. Today it was the 70 minutes - in which Sky Sports did not go for any advert breaks - due to rain coming mid race. The safety car came out just as teamGB were coming out from their pit stop, bollocks, thought I, that's stopped any chance of a good finish. But then A1GP pulled a master stroke, no pit stops allowed whilst the Safety Car is on the track! This obviously bunched the feild back up, leaving Great Britain the first of the cars that had stopped, theoretically meaning that when all of the cars in front went for a stop , teamGB would lead! Unfortunately, Pakistan made a hash of the restart, allowing France to pull out a huge lead by the first corner! Then it started to rain and that really put that cat amongst the pigeons, and the gremlins in Sky's satellite feed and we lost pictures! When we got them back, everyone had pitted for wet weather tyres except for USA who stayed out on slicks for the entire race. The US were gradually overtaken by five cars - including the Netherlands who at this point lead, but it all came together when they suddenly came to be six seconds faster a lap when the track dried, then everyone except the Netherlands dived back in the pits for slicks! The Netherlands still lead, but the US, France and Germany catch up eventually and overtake. Germany win in front of the US and Australia, teamGB rolled in eighth.
I do have one problem with the Sky coverage - John Watson. He was crap when Sky had the interactive F1, and he's crap now. He can't read the race, he can't tell the difference between the cars, and he shouldn't bloody commentate! However, I think it's more to do with ex-drivers becoming commentators. Just because James Hunt could, and Martin Brundle can, do it, they all think they can - but they can't!
Compton GP Star Drive Phil Giebler [teamUSA]
Labels: A1GP
posted by Leo @ 8:44 pm
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