Post Race Thoughts

[Snrub]

Great race. At first no one was able to pass, so it was a slow start. It appeared that some serious rubber started building up on the track, maybe that's why they started passing.

Bourdais may have had some bad luck and made some mistakes, but he's shown how good he is. He's got huge talent. Another guy like JPM who was foolishly overlooked in the current state of F1. At this point I wouldn't say he's as good as JPM, but that's because JPM has a birth defect allowing superhuman reactions. Bourdais is certainly top F1 team material. Despite the problems he ran a cleaner race than Bruno and certainly makes Bruno look bad. I'm glad Bourdais has gotten poor results at the start of the season, otherwise he'd walk away with the championship.

Bruno is Mr. Not so cool. He was not very impressive and didn't really do much in terms of lap times. It's unfortunate that's he's accumulated as many points as he has.

Even though Haberfield wasn't as fast this time (car), he showed real maturity. Drove a far better race than Bruno. He let Bruno make the mistakes and was there to capitalize.

Manning was VERY fast, but made quiet a few mistakes. Jourdain is just getting better and better. Dominguez has continued to show his improved form.

One thing I noticed was that besides the massive front straight grandstands it was kinda empty crowd wise.

[Omega99]

Tag made the podium on a brand new team. Kudos my man, kudos indeed. He'll win this year before the season's over. I think this has been, by far, the most impressive of the new teams and the mixed levels of experience seem to be working very well together.

I'm also very glad to see Fernandez put in a top 5 performance. Maybe the dismal luck he's had since near the beginning of last year is finally turning around...

Good work Mr. Yoong. The naysayers may no longer say nay.

Manning and Moreno are looking good, but I would have liked to have seen more out of Hunter-Reay. Maybe next race.

Oh yeah, way to go PT! It's your turn for the Championship.

[NiceGuyEddie]

I don't know if I saw it correctly, but it looked like Dominguez was on a massive payback-campaign concerning Manning. At the end when Vasser got round, in the replay it showed him getting hit bij Manning (causing him to spin), while a car similar to that of Dominguez had obviously hit Mannings quite hard. Can anyone confirm?

[ascarracinguk]

it wasnt mannings fault the way i saw it

[BSchneiderFan]

It does look, at this early stage, like it might finally be Paul Tracy's year, and I, for one, would be very happy with that.

[enemy-ace]

I thought Dominguez's move of Manning was a little optimistic. Mario has found some speed this year, but with speed you must learn control. He's had a couple of incidents so far this year.
Tracy looks very strong. His biggest challenge will come from the Newman-Haas team. Bourdais is very quick but must settle in better. I think the best thing for him would be not to bag pole and have to race with the pack and finish. But as he has said before "I am aggressive, I am a racing driver" (I love that quote), so I think he'll just keep pushing. Bruno looks a little unsettled by his new superquick team-mate. He needs to focus on himself and get the best from his car. He'll become stronger as the season progresses.
Rocketsports are performing well, and TAG looks like he's at home there. Johnson Controls must be very happy.
Monterry is a tough track, very slippery. It really didn't get rubbered in till well into the race. The rookies were up against it at this track. Long Beach will be a whole new ball game.

[Bizzo5000]

All I know is Carpentier's attempt at a two car pass was priceless. If he could have some how pulled that off........

[macdaddy]

Hard to believe that this was the first time anybody's won the opening two races since Rick Mears did it 21 years ago!

Not a bad race, but to be honest I had expected much more passing.

During the pre-race, Varsha made note that if PT had withdrawn his provisional-pole car in an attempt to qualify on Saturday, he would not only have lost his front-row start, but he would have also lost the bonus point. Another nuance to the new rules that I wasn't familiar with.

[Liz]

Darren Manning seemed to be magnetically attracted to accidents waiting for a chance to happen. How did he happen to be in the way every time somebody lost it?

Bruno, you need new medication. Tony Cicale could help you. Never mind Bourdais. Until he learns to make a pit stop without hitting anything or anybody, spinning, stalling the car, or coming in at the wrong time, he is just another fast kid with potential. Even if he wins every pole position this year, he's still not going to win the championship if he can't finish a race.

Speed Guys, stop trying to stir up trouble between the drivers. Haberfeld and Bruno both said "It's over, forget it!" and Fernandez/Dominguez have also moved on. This isn't NA$CAR. We don't want punch-ups by the roadside.

TSN, get a clue! When a Canadian driver wins a race, you need to stick with it to the end! Junior A Hockey can wait. Nobody's watching that but their parents anyway.

Why is it that 91,000 people in the seats counts less in some people's minds than 91,000 people watching on TV? Didn't the people in the seats pay to come there and sit all day? Couldn't the tv watchers be playing Battleship or yammering on their cell phones while the TV remains unnoticed in the background?

[BootsOntheSide]

Originally posted by Liz
Why is it that 91,000 people in the seats counts less in some people's minds than 91,000 people watching on TV? Didn't the people in the seats pay to come there and sit all day? Couldn't the tv watchers be playing Battleship or yammering on their cell phones while the TV remains unnoticed in the background?

LOL!
Well put Liz.

[429CJ]

If only Tracy had gone off, my personal one man fan club would have celebrated a Jackpot.
2. Jourdain
3. Tagliani
4. Fernandez

[Snrub]

Bourdais has made some minor mistakes, but lots of other driver have too. Again, imagine if he'd come in on the first stop like everyone else. Totally different race. I have little doubt that he would have won. As far as I'm concerned it has been the failing of NH to teach him the ropes. He certainly can't learn this stuff from Bruno. Bourdais is fast enough that he can make these mistakes now and he'll catch up later. It's a long season.

[f1manoz]

Bourdais just made a balls-up mess of that race yet again. Too eager to create an impression early on, but he was left out to dry by some daft Newman-Haas tactics. Bruno was just inconsistent...

PT was serene and unstoppable. Patrick also drove well despite his obvious pain, but the move near the end of the race was a tad silly!

Jourdain continues to improve in leaps and bounds. A first win is surely just around the corner. Would have been great to see him win in Mexico though. Would have been a week-long celebration.

Tag's did very well with a team in its second race.

Manning was impressive, as was Dominguez until he decided to throw his car over the Brit.

[enemy-ace]

Bourdais was actually called in to pit when everyone else did, but he didn't hear his radio. Something about the environs at Monterry made it difficult for some teams to relay info. Players for instance called PT to pit just as he was passing the pits because that was where the radio calls were most audible. When Bourdais is able to complete the package he will be very strong; it is a long season.