European GP - Pain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Race Track

Gabriel · PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:16 pm

Frentzen will be the steward this weekend.

phil1993 · PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:04 pm

Something I learnt from the press conference today - Alonso never watched F1 when he was younger and only bothered to take a quick look at who was champion after each season

noikeee · PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:20 pm

Bleu wrote:

European GP quiz online:
http://www.sporcle.com/games/Bleu/f1-european-gp

17/20

SirVanhan · PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:56 pm

phil1993 wrote:

Something I learnt from the press conference today - Alonso never watched F1 when he was younger and only bothered to take a quick look at who was champion after each season

He's lucky because he has a lot of talent, but what Alonso said just underlines that today not every driver is a driver because he loves the sport.
How can you become a champion if you don't give all you have? This is a major problem for italian drivers. Italy is like the Mecca for karting, but being the central point of all the manufacturers doesn't mean a thing. Italian drivers start to race only because their fathers want to (maybe they had no chance at their times, or they weren't good enough, or they are already drivers). It's not the kid's passion, but the father's.
I was in Sarno, two years ago, for the karting world cup (when Alguersuari raced), and I remember that the younger children were more interested in videogames and other activities than racing. On saturday, I was doing some interviews, when I heard a guy screaming at his son. I went closer to their tent and I saw something I've always read about: the guy, a father, was INSULTING his son - 11 years old or something like that - because he wasn't fast enough. Sorry sir, but if your son don't want or can't race he can just go to school like everybody else. What's the problem?

Karan · PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:06 pm

Awesome first post! ryan86, you are my hero.

The scenery might be about as bland as Bahrain but Valencia definitely has a lot more semi-naked women in the audience so...

amq55 · PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:34 pm

phil1993 wrote:

Something I learnt from the press conference today - Alonso never watched F1 when he was younger and only bothered to take a quick look at who was champion after each season

That's why i have more respect for drivers like Chandhok. Real fans of the sport who know everything about it and just love to be there.

Omega · PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:58 pm

SirVanhan wrote:

a father, was INSULTING his son - 11 years old or something like that - because he wasn't fast enough. Sorry sir, but if your son don't want or can't race he can just go to school like everybody else. What's the problem?

same in Belgium. I heard a father yell at his son because he was only 3rd. The kid was hungry but couldn't get a pack of fries because he was too slow.

Harsh on the one hand, but maybe that kid will try that bit of extra harder in the next race that is needed to win.

Gaara · PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:59 pm

amq55 wrote:

phil1993 wrote:

Something I learnt from the press conference today - Alonso never watched F1 when he was younger and only bothered to take a quick look at who was champion after each season

That's why i have more respect for drivers like Chandhok. Real fans of the sport who know everything about it and just love to be there.

Yeaa, Karunipedia :lol:

Omega · PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:03 pm

amq55 wrote:

phil1993 wrote:

Something I learnt from the press conference today - Alonso never watched F1 when he was younger and only bothered to take a quick look at who was champion after each season

That's why i have more respect for drivers like Chandhok. Real fans of the sport who know everything about it and just love to be there.

It really doesn't make ANY difference to me. Alonso is a double champ, could have been 4 times and still going for it. He is part of F1, don't care at what age he started to love it.

bigears · PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 9:56 pm

I do respect Alonso in his own way with his acheivements during the Schumacher era.

But I do respect Chandhok in his own way of following and appreciating the history of Formula One.

I respect both drivers in a different way.

Brooney · PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 11:02 pm

F1 was never a big thing among Spaniards. It wasn't till Alonso got in that it got popular. There has never been a real great Spanish F1 driver before him. I don't find it that odd that he wasn't interested in a sport, that his nation had no name to show of with.

Artur Craft · PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 12:30 am

phil1993 wrote:

Something I learnt from the press conference today - Alonso never watched F1 when he was younger and only bothered to take a quick look at who was champion after each season

Quote:

Q. (Gary Meenaghan – The National) Jaime and Fernando, can you just talk a little bit about Spain's relationship with Formula One, when you were growing up, and what it was like, and also how it has developed over the years?

FA: Well, when I was a kid, Formula One was not important at all, or was not a sport we followed. I never saw a race on TV in my life until I was 17 or 18. I was already in Formula Nissan so when I was racing in go-karts I never saw a Formula One race; some news at the end of the year, who was World Champion, who was not World Champion but obviously we didn't know any of the names that were racing. Now, I think it's quite popular in Spain. People love this sport and it's true that it's quite complex, as Mark said, with some regulation changes every year etc. It's not easy for the fans to follow but anyway, I think they love their motorsport as we love motorbikes as well in this country. Generally, I think in go-karts and in different categories now there are many drivers so I'm sure that from now on the future will be much better for Spain and I'm happy because it's obviously my sport and something that I love and now I'm happy that the country shares this love as well.

Scirocco · PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 1:01 am

Quite strange. Wanting to get to F1 but never watched it.

Pablomartino · PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:48 am

Brooney wrote:

F1 was never a big thing among Spaniards. It wasn't till Alonso got in that it got popular. There has never been a real great Spanish F1 driver before him. I don't find it that odd that he wasn't interested in a sport, that his nation had no name to show of with.

Well don't be fool... Right that F1 is more popular now in Spain but we had a big racing radition in areas like Euskadi or Catalonia. i'm F1 fan since 1991 and now I work on Motorsports... Don't be confused, in Germany happened something similar with Schumi and now they have more racers.
It's totally logical...

trout · PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 3:41 am

Scirocco wrote:

Quite strange. Wanting to get to F1 but never watched it.

i've loved racing since i was a kid but nobody here in the states watched it (not sure it was even broadcast anywhere). my only real way of watching it now is on the live streams over the internet, which the internet wasnt really capable of back in the mid 90's

sounds like for alonso it just wasnt culturally available. he's still a douche

SirVanhan · PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 8:15 am

Brooney wrote:

F1 was never a big thing among Spaniards. It wasn't till Alonso got in that it got popular. There has never been a real great Spanish F1 driver before him. I don't find it that odd that he wasn't interested in a sport, that his nation had no name to show of with.

It's odd that he was racing but he wasn't interested in the sport. You race because you love the sport. It should work this way.

ellis · PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 8:25 am

SirVanhan wrote:

Brooney wrote:

F1 was never a big thing among Spaniards. It wasn't till Alonso got in that it got popular. There has never been a real great Spanish F1 driver before him. I don't find it that odd that he wasn't interested in a sport, that his nation had no name to show of with.

It's odd that he was racing but he wasn't interested in the sport. You race because you love the sport. It should work this way.

You can love the joy of racing without having to love specific series.

aerogi · PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 8:43 am

yeah, I loved playing football when I was like 10 years, but I didn't bother to follow it on tv. Hence I played football each day at school, at home, whenever I had time, but somehow I managed to completely miss the world cup 1986... which I will regret for the rest of my life... when I was 12 then I started to follow it on tv. It's not because you like doing something, that you must know everything about it. Alonso happened to be gifted with a great talent.

I like playing chess but I have no clue who or what is going on in the world of chess.

Tamburello94 · PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 9:01 am

FP1 underway. Those neon colours on the track hurt my eyes. Either it's the time of day or they're just too bright.

ryan86 · PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 9:04 am

Let's go down the city where the neon painted track is pretty.

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European GP - Pain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Race Track

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