I'm surprised we don't hear more about Force India. They've gone from the joke that was Spyker to regulars in Q3. Even Luizzi seems better than when he drove for Toro Rosso.

 

Got an idea here ... howzabout formula 1 vs. nascar in Florence, SC?

A twin race ... first a grand prix style race thru the street of downtown Floence.

Then a 500 mile race at Darlington ... while spectators bring their shotguns to express their displeasure with drivers they don't like...

And the coupe de grace ... Sacha Baron Cohen reprising his role as the evil Jean Girard from "Talladega Nights"

 

hehe...on the shot gun comment

Yes, I forgot to mention Force India (and their ferrari engines of course) doing so well. Racing is so much more interesting when its not just 2 top teams...loving F1 a lot these past 4 years.

 

The half way stage has now been reached and the season is looking exciting and still open to four drivers with only 24 points seperating 1st and 4th.

Schmuacher has yet to impress, his team mate Nico Rosberg in an identical car is making mince meat of him.

Alonso is still a whinnng, sulking dirty driver and seeing him struggle is poetic justice. Kyobyashi made my day taking Alonso on the last lap at Alonso's home race in Valencia.

My money still rides with Jenson defending his title. Finishing in 4th at Silverstone from 14th on the grid was one hell of a good performance with a car that wasn't on the pace. If Maclaren can sort out the blown diffuser issues then they could be a serious challenge to Red Bull.

Looking forward to the second half of the season, Hockenheim next weekend.

 

Red Bull looks to be imploding... Rooting for Button, but I think Hamilton will come out on top... Very impressed with what Renault has become, now that the disgraced Piquet and Alonso are gone... I'd love to see Kubica or Rossberg stealing a couple wins in the second half of the season... While Red Bull is clearly faster, their inconsistent race-day execution has definitely kept this season exciting.

I originally expected Schumi to be a bust (true so far), and for Force India to be a podium contender (not really), but I never expected Renault to be so strong, nor for Mercedes to be runners-up to McLaren. Methinks Dr. Z isn't funding the Merc team as well as they could be, so that he can kill the program at season's end when they "fail".

 

I was happy to see Rubens do so well. Despite their glorious history, Williams has been lame the last several years. I hope this is the beginning of a revival.

 

Rubens was on the latest installment of Top Gear and drove the old "reasonably priced car" on the track. Not only did he lap faster than Button, Hamilton, Weber and Mansell did previously, he was also faster than the Stig, who had been the fastest ever in a hot lap in that car. I've always been a big fan of Rubens and he was just awesome on this ep of Top Gear.

As for the "real racing" I think Button just needs a couple of breaks to put a couple more wins together and he may well win the title again. But if Mercedes continues to improve the car in a way that suits Rosberg so well, and with a win giving 25 points these days, he could make some good headway in the standings - at least surpassing Alonso and maybe even one of the Red Bulls if they keep shooting themselves in the foot.

By the way, have you seen the Vodafone videos on YouTube with Button & Hamilton? They sure look like pals and, honestly, they have to get along reasonably well to look that comfortable in the videos. No way in hell you'd get Weber/Vettel or Alonso/Hamilton (or Prost/Senna) ever looking that buddy-buddy in a team video!

Ah shoot... the YouTube vids won't embed here. Links instead then!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zf40...layer_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8_2PKsj_0A

 

I know he's not a popular human being, but I picked him as an extremely competent race car driver...Alonso is coming...

 

Considering Ferrari have used up all of their allocated engines, I'm hoping realiability plagues Alonso and the Mclaren boys shine through and take the glory.

 

This thread has been remarkably silent as of late... one race to go, let's have some thoughts and predictions!!