2012 Formula 1 Gran Premio Santander d'Italia

Juihi · PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 11:27 pm

Some more tweets from Emerson Fittipaldi about the 1971 Italian GP

Quote:

@emmofittipaldi
Got to Lotus garages w/ a lot of faith in God. Said a positive+enthusiastic hi to Colin and Peter. Mechs had yellow smiles full of tension.

@emmofittipaldi
Warm up time, had to break in new brake discs/pads. After 3,4 laps I started to push,Colin and team had improved the car a lot for the race.

@emmofittipaldi
My car was understeering a bit with full tanks, but the chicane direction change was much better.I was confident, all perfect, fast #F1 car.

@emmofittipaldi
As I made my way back to the pits, I felt a cold sting on my back. Big problem: fuel tank was leaking, panic! No time to fix it for the GP!

@emmofittipaldi
I went to the motorhome, Chief Mechanic Eddie Dennys said “we’ll try to change it for a new tank, we’ll do anything to get you to the grid”

@emmofittipaldi
Got in the trailer, turned off from it all, and kept thinking to myself: I am not going to lose my balance.The car will be ready. #F1 title.

@emmofittipaldi
I still had maximum adrenaline running in me and all the sensors in my body at 110% ready, physically, mentally and spiritually I was ready!

@emmofittipaldi
Only a few minutes for pit exit to close,Eddie came and said ‘your car is ready’! I ran and sat really quickly on my Lotus 72,it felt great.

@emmofittipaldi
Everything in the car was made for my body,it was perfect.I knew, that day all who helped since I started making steering wheels in Brazil..

@emmofittipaldi
When I finally made it to the grid, from there on I did not want to speak to anyone, just concentrate on my mission of winning on that day.

@emmofittipaldi
Starting from 6th, I knew I had to be very careful for the first 3 laps not to risk my title and the Italian GP right there at the beginning

@emmofittipaldi
Regazzoni - Ferrari in front of me, Hulme on my left, Revson behind me w/ McLaren. @MarioAndretti Ferrari on my rear left, just behind Hulme

@emmofittipaldi
Fast start, we’re off, crazy #F1 start as always, and I was careful. As I completed the 1st lap, team signaled me Stewart was already out.

@emmofittipaldi
Jackie out, good, but I did not want to settle to just finish the race to secure the title. I wanted to win the Italian #F1 GP at #Monza !

@emmofittipaldi
I knew my car would be very quick from mid race on, it was set for the last 20 laps, that’s what happened, I started to close in the leader.

@emmofittipaldi
Was going to be hard to pass Ickx/his Ferrari, and I was ready for the challenge. But as I got closer he’d a mechanical failure and pitted.

@emmofittipaldi
So now I had to manage the lead to get the win/title..the last 10 laps of this #F1 GP at Monza were the longest 10 racing laps of my life!

@emmofittipaldi
My subconscious had some questions during those 10 laps at Monza, was the engine sounding ok? Is the gearbox engaging gears the right way?

@emmofittipaldi
Is the car vibrating?How about brakes?Adrenalin running at the limit of limits,3 laps to go,mix of emotions,too much for just 1 human being!

@emmofittipaldi
I kept asking for my Russian blood to control my Brazilian blood, which was about to explode. Emerson, keep your cool, less than 3 laps.

@emmofittipaldi
I started the last lap, title+win very close, driving the car very light,delicate, as not to have problems with gearbox, brakes or engine!

@emmofittipaldi
I entered the Parabolica, last lap,only a few meters from the checkered flag, I thought: if engine/gears brake now, I’ll make it in neutral!

@emmofittipaldi
That’s when I saw Colin Chapman jumping on the track,throwing his hat in the air, celebrating another Lotus win but also my World #F1 Title!

@emmofittipaldi
I didn’t have radio,on the lap back to the pits I was screaming and crying in the cockpit w/ lots, lots of emotion. My first F1 World Title!

@emmofittipaldi
The weekend started very difficult, dramatic, with accidents, car changes, problems, but at the end I was awarded the world title + the win!

@emmofittipaldi
I made it to the pits, Italian fans started invading the track.I parked the Lotus in our box, saw my family, parents, brother, Maria Helena

@emmofittipaldi
..everybody was screaming and jumping and crying in joy...my father had broadcast the race to Brazil, it was our country’s first #F1 title..

ellis · PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 11:59 pm

codename_47 wrote:

Apparently the drivers have been bitching about the speedbumps in the chicanes saying they damage the cars...

Well, just don't use them then, dolts.

Make em bigger, Charlie

No, Micheal made a comment that if you go off then you have to go over some pretty harsh bumps. And if you go off at speed then they'll launch you pretty badly. We seen in the GP2 race a car hitting one sideways at relatively low speed and getting tossed in the air. And the ones on the apex are even worse.

Whilst I understand the need for these kerbs to stop drivers from cutting corners and to stop drivers gaining an advantage when going off, they completely contradict other safety rules. Kerbs have been kept low to stop them launching cars which go off before entering a corner. Now we have low kerbs, but huge humps which do the same thing...so why bother with the low kerbs now then?

The drivers raise valid safety concerns with these bumps.

Juihi · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 1:39 am

I don't know what was so bad with what they've had in the past, they've already screwed Mitch Evans race in GP3

Ian-S · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 1:39 am

easy fix, replace the curbs with grass & gravel.

oh...

codename_47 · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 1:48 am

Still rather them the way they are now than giving them a free pass to cut the chicane if they even feel they can slightly get away with it.

Hopefully tomorrow they'll be as wary of the sausage kerbs as they would be if there were gravel there, then job done by avoidance.

Ian-S · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 1:54 am

I sometimes roll my eyes so much at these things that I nearly pass out. I mean they've spent years going on and on about improving safety then they go and stick these things on the runoff, those thick red sausage kerbs have the potential to kill someone if the conditions are right, yet for all the safety advancements they seem to be ignoring the obvious.

Gaara · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 1:59 am

They tarmac'd the runoff because gravel can cause rolls, the drivers take shortcuts because they can and so they stick these sleeping policemen to stop them doing that but they're much worse than gravel traps they've replaced... genius FIA.

Ian-S · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 2:13 am

Yup, I like Knockhill's solution at Duffers, make most of it grass/gravel but leave a cars width strip of tarmac through the middle so if they do happen to make a mistake and can keep it under control, there's a get out of jail free card, but the risk of trying to cut the corner on that thin strip outweights the reward.

I think whoever thought all this up got overly obsessive about gravel as gravel itself rarely causes rolls, usually when a car rolls in gravel it's because it's either been launched over a raised lip as it enters, or it's used something else as a launch ramp before it's got to the gravel (or it's a tin top that's dug in which is a different kind of problem), for the most part, single seaters are too light to dig in in gravel.

Artur Craft · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 2:23 am

phil1993 wrote:

Anyway, here's how tall Pau Gasol is compared to the aforementioned Fred
pbs.twimg.com/media/A2SU306CcAA6Tlv.jpg

Is Ferdinand/Fernando shortened to Fred in UK? I always thought it was a short for Frederik/Frederico

SFM · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 8:40 am

Ian-S wrote:

easy fix, replace the curbs with grass & gravel.

oh...

WAY to simple

phil1993 · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 9:03 am

One thing I don't like about Monza is how short the race is - usually about 1hr 15! Still, the 2 hour mega night race next

Tobias · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 11:39 am

when the chicane of Imola received a new lay-out for 2006, there was no more kerb on the exit. Just some green astroturf (spelling?). I like that idea actually. Because in effect, kerbs allow cutting of the circuit to a small extent.

Gaara · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 11:43 am

"Fat guy, sacked you years ago" Horner
"Flavio?" Herbert

:lol:

ellis · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 11:48 am

phil1993 wrote:

One thing I don't like about Monza is how short the race is - usually about 1hr 15! Still, the 2 hour mega night race next

I think it should be like Monaco, where the distance is changed to give it a proper distance. Extend Monzas by another 15-20 minuted IMO.

Tobias · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 11:52 am

I do agree on this yes. Given the 1:20 lap about 65 or 70 laps seems appropriate.

Tom · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:05 pm

The exit of Ascari bugs me. There's a point on the track after the chicane you could stand and not get hit by any cars as they all put four wheels completely off the circuit onto tarmac runoff.

At least put "pretend grass" there, or something slippery-but-not-destructive, as this will make the corner flat out depending on the balls of the driver, and it'll set up overtakes down towards the Parabolica easier as cars either mess up through there or a following driver simply has learnt themselves a better line.

Knowing you can go flat out through it because there's a nice space of tarmac for you to run completely off track onto makes it a little dull.

Not upsettingly dull, just one of those pointless irritations.

StefMeister · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:14 pm

Isn't the tarmac on the exit of Ascari a part of a short track layout or something?

Tobias · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:15 pm

that's correct. But just say you can't put all four wheels of the track and it should be alright... right?

Fabs · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:16 pm

Anyone know if Alonso's car is fixed for the race ?

ellis · PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:19 pm

Alonsos car will be fixed. Parc Ferme rules allow you to repair broken parts.

Ascari chicane bugs me since this year they've decided to punish a driver who made a pass on tarmac on a corner exit. We might as well not have a rule book, and just make it up as we go along. If Vettel passes Button around the outside of Ascari, will he be punished again?

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2012 Formula 1 Gran Premio Santander d'Italia

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