h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Picture the scene... a young boy sits on his father's knee, gazing intently at the television, which shows two dozen brightly coloured cars zooming round and round a track. As the cars come to a halt and the race ends, the boy turns to his father, a look of bitter disappointment on his face, and in a voice quivering with emotion, he asks:
"Daddy, what was it like in the old days when drivers other than Michael Schumacher used to win races?"
His father frowns, sits in silence for a minute, then replies:
"Sorry son, I can't remember that far back."

Zoom-zoom!

I say let him win this one just to set the new world record for consecutive wins, and then let's have a battle for the championship. There are a lot more potential winners this year than I've seen since since the good old days when men were men and cars were manhandled.

Thank gosh, the F-1 web sites aren't doing any 'moderating'. Or, heaven forbid, that Murray Walker might have to remember to say Shuey drives the [red car from Italy] and Eddie is [the green one owned by Americans with an old English brand name] and Trulli, Frentzen, Villeneuve and Panis all have [engines manufactured by Nipponese automotive interests]. 'Prost' would be [deleted by moderators] as a foreign drinking expression.

Ok guys we shall find out soon enough.

*says nothing in case anyone is thinking of watching the re-run*

Great race. Full of surprises as always.
The year ahead is looking exciting. BAR,Jordan,BMW,all have the potential to be fully competitive and Sauber and Arrows have the speed to hang in and stop it being a runaway in every race.
I just wish the Italian anthemn wasn't so ...oh what's the word ...long. It's like two tunes in one.
*wanders off humming Uber Alles*

Surprises, where??? I mean M****** S********* (name deleted incase anyone is watching hte highlights later) won again. Ok so there was teh skid pan that was lap 4. Well if you are going to hold a Grand Prix in a country where monsoons can hit and there has been rain on the afternoon of the 18 March for each of the last 10 years what do you expect. Mind you the surprise was that Marques survived the downpour and then completed the race. *faints*

*grins and waves her Ferrari flag*

Well I thought it was an excellent race! One of the most entertaining since Nurburgring 99 It was great to see Verstappen do so well and fend of the traditionally better cars and to see Schumi and Barrichello drive through the field like that was great. There was more overtaking in todays race than in most of the past years races put together

Mind you I wouldn't mind seeing Button and Irvine being more succesful but if the Jaguars really will take 5 years to get on form it's going to be a long wait...

I was surprised both Schuey and Barrichello said it was the rain that put them off track... rather than fluids from a Nipponese engine. Otherwise Olivier Panis would have to take more heat than when he was sailing backwards thru the flames from the explosion. Coulthard saw it for what it was... a kamikaze gymkanna course. (Now if you still haven't seen the race it'll be worth watching, or rewatching. Don't miss the classic 'Italian pit-stop'. Best since the three-wheeled Eddie in 99).
Not only was there more passing than in any five races last year combined, it was done more often, by more drivers than normally pass in a season. Ralph had to come from the back of the field. Michael and Rubens did too. Jos the Boss came from the back to 2nd at one point. Frentzen and Trulli gained several places and Coulthard came up from tenth. And Mika moved from 4th to 5th with little effo... no that's not fair. I have finally come to respect Hakkinen. He too has won from the back of the field in the past. And he is one of but five men who have ever 'really passed' Schumacher since 93.

A**e, Bloody Red cars.

*stops waving Ferrari flag in case Menza gets more annoyed*
Well who did you want to win it? (Other than Verstappen or either of the Minardis of course )

And does anyone know how Hakkinen's suddenly so much slower than Coulthard and yet they still brought in Hakkinen first for new tyres?

Have the two ferrari drivers said it was water then? It wasn't even raining much at that point either, I was sure it was oil from Panis's BAR as you could see the racing lines on the track and they took the same line as where Panis went off.

It must be said that watching the both the Accursed Red Ones go through the gravel trap was good fun.

Hummph...
*waves Ferrari flag*

You're right Tink, from the overhead shot it was very obvious that Panis' oil slick almost wrecked the red Italian cars. But, at the post race interview they both said it had just started to rain and expressed surprise that it became slick so quick it caught them out. Then Coulthard explained how he was right behind them and saw it was oil, and how he and Frentzen managed to avoid, but then spun off together at turn 15 in the monsoon that followed.

*Boy that Menza's some grumpy, eh? Did he get moderated or summat?*

I meant Trulli not Frentzen - jeesh!

I'm not grumpy, it was just funny watching the formation understeer display.

*Puts on her Ferrari hat as well*
Hummph...again!

Really? Was that in the press conference? I kinda saw that on the live race but they never showed it on the highlights. What coverage do you get JWF? Is it still Murray and Martin?

Yep, it's the so called 'world-feed' visuals with English commentary by Murray and Martin. This year Murray is in his glory! A wise old man, able to laugh at his own foibles, he is much more relaxed now that he sees his retirement in the offing. He no longer has to compete with his 'sidekick'. And now poor Martin just sounds testy and frustrated whenever he corrects Murray's misspeach and Murray just laughs it off.
I was gonna post about a dozen F-1 websites here and ask if anybody knew any others I haven't discovered yet but I guess that is not allowed anymore. C'est la Beeb.