Conference krakar::f1

    
    The Lola F1 team announced today that it is withdrawing
    from this weekends Brazilian gp because of "financial and
    technical problems."
    
    The teams two cars will be flown back to their factory 
    and it is unclear whether they will take any further part
    in the rest of the season,
    
    cheers
    
    mark 

Not too surprisingly, Jacques wins.  Apart from an over enthusiastic attempt
to go around Schuie on the first start, he drove a nice solid race.  Lukcy
for him to get the restart though!  Berger showed great form and was
putting on the presure towards the end.

Interesting to see HHF only managing to qualify just infront of Hill!!!
I felt bad for Hill dropping out two laps from the end with his rear end
burning away (what caused that, anyone know?), but though he drove a
sensible and strong race, given that's his first full race in the Arrows.
Hopefully it will keep on improving.

It looks like the Constructors championship could be open to 3 or 4 teams
this year.  But, it's early days.

martin

>I felt bad for Hill dropping out two laps from the end with his rear end
>burning away (what caused that, anyone know?), 

That bowl of chili he had for lunch?

(sorry, couldn't resist)

--PSW

    Is F1 no longer on Eurosport or any of the joke SKY sports channels?

    I wonder if Frank Williams and Patrick Head regret their decision to
    hire H.H.F. On the present form it looks as if it mignt cost them the
    constructors championship.
    
                           Dennis
    

    Very lucky for Villeneuve that the race was re-started. HHF must have
    got a rocket up his rear, this is what was publically said:
    
    "Frentzen had a poor race, a poor weekend and we clearly have some
    talking to do," was the pithy verdict from Williams' technical
    director, Patrick Head. He added that he would also be having a word
    with Villeneuve - who survived another first-corner exit only thanks to
    a red flag and a re-start - because it is not the Williams way to have
    both cars disappearing on the opening lap.
    
    
    

    It's interesting to note that the 2 heroes of Melbourne (Coulthard and
    Frentzen) had a poor week-end. This leads to the conclusion that one
    needs a perfect balance to get good performance those days. And if
    something goes wrong in the preparation ... then forget about the whole
    week-end.
    
    This was also apparent in the Benetton performance: Berger obviously
    had found a good setup while Alesi was still struggling with a few
    parameters. The result was obvious both in qualifications and during
    the race. 

    Greg,
    
    JV didn't go out in the first start, he dropped to about 6th, still in
    front of HHF. He would have had a long afternoon but should have still
    been on the podium.
    
    I agree on HHF tho' - who will FW & PH look to sign to replace him by
    the time they get to Silverstone???
    
    Paul

Re .7

Interesting to note however that after the first non-start
Hill's machine had a new wishbone and new rear suspension fitted
on the grid in record time which would be impossible to give the
ideal setup he had worked on all weekend. So though I agree with
comments re set up being the most important- Coulthard definitely
had a problem re his set up- but Frentzen?? Somehow I do not believe
that this would give rise to such a poor showing in comparison to 
the other teams with underpowered cars and inferior chassis


Alan

    
    Wasn't it HHF who also went grass tracking with JV on the first start ?
    I remember thinking at the time, that it would make a nice advert for
    Renault Tractors...
    
    G.
     

	I thought that this race was a lot better than the 
	television director allowed us to see. There was a lot
	of close racing outside of the first couple of places
	which continued one way or another to the end of the 
	race where Hak,Schu and Alesi finished within a second
	of each other.

	-John

re .11
heartly agree
I was very frustrated with ITV coverage with the event
All advert breaks seem to concur with the action
Also the coverage of dogfights was non-exitant- why?
Since going from BBC and Eurosport we do not even get the Pit
timings- Whose problem? actual commentary is good but there is no real
backup to the action taking place

Alan

    Humph!
    
    In Brussels, it's not on the Beeb anymore, Eurosport seem to have lost
    it, which leaves me with TF1 in French, or Kanaal2 in Dutch, neither of
    which is very good. At least you get something!
    
    Cheers, Laurie.

    Well I guess HHF may now find out about the humane and sensitive driver
    management for which Williams are so well known. 
    
    On the other hand there were also some other pretty weak perfomances,
    e.g. from Coulthard and Irvine. It was good to see that Gerhard can
    still perform and that we may get Hill racing up where he ought to be.
    
    Did anyone see those in-car shots of Schu's qualifying laps? The man
    was very busy.  

    
    re .12
    
    It's fair to blame ITV for the advert breaks since they decide when
    they happen. 
    
    However, the pictures are provided by either Brazillian TV or by an FIA 
    hired team - and their race coverage was definitely crap. Can't blame
    ITV for that. The pit timings too are supplied by FIA/FOCA.
    
    Enjoyed Brundle's comments again. So much better than Palmer.
    
    
    Richard.
    

    .14�    Did anyone see those in-car shots of Schu's qualifying laps? The man
    .14�    was very busy.  
    
    In-car and out-car cameras were not enough to follow the Ferrari.
    Clearly, the chassis is a disaster and noone seems to be able to
    correct it with suspension settings. But, contrary to many drivers,
    Schumacher does not give up ! How could he get the damn thing on 1st
    row of the grid shows his great talents.
    
    With what I've seen last year + this year's 2 races I strongly believe
    the guy is 2 secs faster than the rest.  

    re .-1
    
    Schumacher is for sure the fastest driver on the track at this moment.
    
    BTW. Did anybody notice the new steering wheel in the Ferrari. It looks
    like the move the complete dash into the steering wheel including two
    or three LCD displays.
    
    Got to have one of those..... :-)
    
    Frits
    

    There was a Giorgio Piola drawing of the Ferrari steering wheel/command
    center in Autosport a few weeks back.  It has six LCD displays, several
    push-buttons, the shifter system, and six detent switches for things
    like mixture, electronic differential control, and electronic clutch
    control (shades of the NHRA).  Quite a complex piece.

    I guess this steering wheel is a direct result of the car's handling -
    there's no way on earth that Schu would want to risk taking one hand
    off the tiller!
    
    By the way, did the Ferraris run with last year's engines in the race
    and/or practice? I know they took some new engines but weren't
    expecting to race them.

    I believe they had the new engines for qualifications but raced with
    last year's version.
    
    The new engines will be used from now on.

	Surely the performance of the Bridgestone tyres in this 
	race was most significant. Panis in third and Hill leading
	Frentzen for some time were events well out of the normal
	form book. Also they say that that the Bridgestones would 
	have lasted the entire race, if necessary. This suggests
	that even more grip could be provided for the 'mandatory'
	half race maximum that the tyres would normally run.

	I remember that even before the season started a driver
	with experience of both types of tyre said that if one of
	the top teams were to go over to Bridgestone then they 
	would surely win the championship. On this evidence this
	seems true.

	There are rumours that Ferrari are toying with the idea,
	even to the extent of having tested the tyres. With the 
	existing contracts etc it seems most unlikely that any 
	could change mid-season, but you never know.

	-John
	

    ...and it sounds like the Bridgestone wets are really special.
     

    Sorry I'm late, but...
    
    Another good race. Williams clearly need to have a talk with both of
    their drivers. Villeneuve will be very hard to beat if he gets round
    the first corner. HHF was very disappointing after such a promising
    start in Melbourne.
    
    Great drives from Berger and Panis. Prost looks to be as good in the
    pits as he was on the track. I expect to see Panis in a winning
    position a couple of times this year, especially if any races are run
    in the wet.
    
    Edward.