Centurion

Once again the rookie is on fire in his McLaren-Mercedes. The team set up a perfect pit stop with about 3 minutes left on the clock in Q3 qualifications. This was enough time for Lewis to warm up the tires and get that hot lap in just bumping Kimi down by 0.2 sec. As a result the kid sits on pole for tomorrows race.

Since the terrifying crash, Robert and his BMW have been on a charge. Again he performs better than his teammate Nick. They will start on 5th and 9th.

Last years winner at the British GP, Fernando, sets the quickest times in all 3 sectors of the circuit. Alas, he wasn't able to do them all in Q3 which is where it counts. He starts in 3rd.

Here's how the grid looks for race day:

1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
2 Kimi R?ikk?nen Ferrari
3 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes
4 Felipe Massa Ferrari
5 Robert Kubica BMW
6 Ralf Schumacher Toyota
7 Heikki Kovalainen Renault
8 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault
9 Nick Heidfeld BMW
10 Jarno Trulli

There hasn't been a British winner at Silverstone since 1996, but the fans there have more hope this year. You should have seen everyone jump on their feet when Lewis crossed the line. I thought the stadium was going to collapse.

BetterMakeWay

Yes indeed Centurion and now i kind of understand Alonso's frustration. I now know that the team has much more heart for Hamilton than for him and i'm almost sure that what he complained about was true, that the team is favoring Hamilton.

Of course i'm not Alonso's attorney here and when results are that close in a qualifying and in the race it's clear that there is a difference in driver performance. Here i admit that Hamilton has proven himself. A lot of voices say that Alonso is not even now used to the new Bridgestones when going 110% as he needs to face Hamilton. He was more used to the Michelins, and the same voices say that this was the same strike from what Renault suffer. But coming back to the Alonso vs Hamilton discussion i feel his pain now. A new, younger, rookie came in and performed very very well. In fact that 's the whole sparkle of Hamilton, he didn't make any mistake from day one and that kind of a consistency wins you the championship. Hamilton is very very good i give him that, i had an eye on this guy from the time he started to make the rules in GP2, and he took those series step by step and it shows. On the other hand he came in a british team, and already found a car very well prepared by Alonso with hard work. So i understand now Alonso's fury when there's really some suspicion that the team is favoring Hamilton.

Some voices even say that Alonso is not nr. 1 driver anymore. Not officially of course, but let's face it the team loves Hamilton more. You wouldn't have seen people from Mclaren jumping their asses up and down if Alonso got a pole. But Hamilton is special....and by this i understand Alonso's complaint. But i agree some stuff he said out of pure defense or smth like that, cuz when the team favors the other guy you either have a bad car, or longer pit stops or things like that, but when cars are 99,9% the same and the pit crew works like a charm then i suspect there's no longer a thing about team favoring. One thing is true though: The teams loves Hamilton more.

I'm pleased in a way that Robert qualified in a good position, although i'm still waiting for the time when BMW will really fight Ferrari and Mclaren as a serious contender and not just the leader of the B group. It's clear BMW is the third power in F1 but i want more than that. Heidfeld surprised me when he almost didn't not make Q3. I suspected smth was wrong and 9th place confirms that. It appeared he had some problems with the tires, which at first didn't deliver very well and towards the end they started to suffer from graining. Heidfeld will have tomorrow alot of work to do to gain more positions but i suspect the Renaults can be beaten. At least i hope for him to clear one of them from the good starts he has. While for Robert well i hope Ralf will not do smth stupid, and will probably best keep up with the 4 guys ahead.

Interesting race for tomorrow. Interesting to see how Alonso will drive and what will be the strategies. It seems he has now the resources to aim for a nr 1 finish, not like in the last races but we'll see.

Iceman

They are not!

BetterMakeWay

Then i ask you this: would you see the whole Mclaren team jump up and down if Alonso would have made it to Pole Position?!
Answer:NO. This proves that they are loving him and caring him more. And it's normal, Hamilton is their child.

With love comes support.

PS: Ice am i on your ignore PM list?

Iceman

They would have jumped too! If Alonso would have finished this way, but he finished earlier, and then there was a Ferarri that was faster. Finally Hamilton crossed the line and was first. If Alonso would've been in his place they would have jumped too, definately!
Just think about all the pressure that is on the team right now. Then look at how fast they were today, and how fats other teams were. They were totally surprised when Hamilton got the pole, and because this was achieved in this dramatic way, they jumped.
And now I have to ask you: Who jumped? The one that really jumped was his father! And some of the people that only work with Hamilton! The others celebrated extensively, what is OK under these circumstances.
We have an extremely good coverage here on pay-tv and I can assure you, they are NOT more behind Hamilton than Alonso. They support BOTH equally.

Anyways, I would instantly fall in love with McLaren Mercedes if they would support Hamilton more than Alonso, because Alonso is just a st***d mofo.


Ignore list? I don't have anybody on ignore...

BetterMakeWay

I sent you a PM. Doesn't matter anymore...

Back to he topic you have some points there. We'll see how the race gets and how the championship ends up.

Why do you consider Alonso a "st***d mofo"?

BetterMakeWay

Well that was a nice race. Interesting to see the strategies chapter at which it seems Ferrari was superior to Mclaren. It seems Hamilton almost reiterated the mistake of Sutil almost running with the hose still attached in the 1st stop. Alonso learned perfectly from Raikonnen strategy and stayed the most, and took the leadership. Then in the 2nd pit the positions changed between Kimi and Alonso. Hamilton was left behind at more than 35 seconds. Loved the battle between Kubica and Massa, and i'm so glad my fav driver kept his spot despite having a slightly less performant car. Also Massa's recovery run was astonishing. The guy is very good at this.
So some things cleared up with yesturday's qualy. The P1 of Hamilton was a result of very light on fuel, same for the results in qualy for the Renaults.

Iceman

And, after this race, do you still think the McLaren team is behind Hamilton and doesn't care about Alonso?

BetterMakeWay

Nope. But they love Hamilton more. They do and that's that, doesn't necesary mean that they favor Hamilton. Untilli see either team orders, or poor pit stops, or anything like that i will assume anything is ok. But it's proven, that Ron Deniss' baby is for sure the one that gets more love.

Iceman

Ron Dennis loves perfection, nothing less than perfection.
He doesn't prefer any driver. Never did, never will.

Hamilton doesn't get more love. It might look like it, because Alonso is a sc**bag and nobody likes to talk to him, but they treat both drivers equal when it comes to the job/race.