How Good Was the Race?

[DNQ]

On a scale of 1-5, how good was the race? I'd rate it a 3.5. San Marino was a 2, but I quite enjoyed this race. We saw Fernando's great drive, keeping the prancing horse honest, Firman, da Matta and Webber opening their points balance, some impressive racing between Ralf/JPM, Alonso/Ralf (that was a great scrape), and even between Firman/Fisichella (anyone notice Firman overtake Fisi?). Not a bad race at all.

If that was the worst F1 races could be, then I'd be happy.

[enemy-ace]

I give it a 4! Kimi was a non-starter unfortunately but the battles in the mid-field were good fun to watch and the pace of the Renault was excellent. It almost reminded me of those classic Mika-Michael battles.

[Speed]

Better than average I think... 4 !

[GP Racer]

A 4! Great action with alot of passing, just the way it should be! Loved to watch Ralf lock em up, Alonso was terrific, points for DaMatta, and Firman, but best of all, TGF and Ferrari on top again!!

A real good one, keep em coming!!

[f1manoz]

I think it was pretty good even though a Ferrari won.

Battles throughout the field, a superb drive by Alonso, Ralf 'Mobile Chicane' Schumacher, Jordans battling Minardis, da Matta scoring, Webber doing well, incidents, action.

Good stuff.

[Peter Mallett]

Average to poor.

[bcobbus]

Like others I voted for it being a GOOD race. It was actually entertaining, but nothing to really put it in the history books...

[ASCII Man]

Jacques' car fails again... what a surprise!

On second thought it wasn't that bad.
Could someone possibly change my 'Bad' vote to 'Average'?

[ozrevhead]

it was great - 4 id give it

alonso was great and would of won if RALF handn't blocked him!

as for mark webber - WHHHHHHHHOOOO HOOOOOOOO! Great to see him rewarded for a great start to 2003!

[jetsetter]

I'd give it a 4, i thought it was the best F1 race in Spain for a long time.

[DNQ]

Yeah that's the thing, 1991 and 1996 have been pretty much the only oustanding races at this circuit, so it was nice to see a good race with a bit of passing, strategy, etc. I enjoyed it.

[badoer fan]

It was good. Not excellent, but I've seen much worse, and better. I think it often depends on what happens to 'your' drivers. For me, I had Fernando going really well, and both Minardis still running.

However, thew highlight of the race was turning over to 3-day eventing during the adverts and seeing a woman fall head first into the lake

[Damon]

I very much enjoyed it. Quite a few nice battles and Alonso's efforts to try to keep with Schu was great. It would have been that little bit more entertaining to watch Kimi battle through as well but we can't have everything. If you didn't enjoy that race I'd say stop watching because you won't get much better in the dry these days.

[mac]

Great drives from Michael, Fernando, Cristiano, Webber and Firman!

[John Turner]

Justin's was pretty good too, Mac.

Although I'll no doubt get castigated for this, I also thought Ralf's drive in wayward Williams displayed competitiveness, a lack of which he has been often criticised for.

[golem]

I thought it was excellent to good. Why? It was bone dry, on supposedly the most predictable, over tested track and yet it produced some top racing action. I was expecting to switch off half way once I saw what strategies where being used.

Top jobs by Renault and Toyota. Their cars have come a long way. Williams put in a good team performance, with 2 finishers. We had Wilson fight drive like a devil whenever he could to gain places and hold onto it like a man possesed, Firman do the same to hold Button and Heidfield down, Ralf under pressure do the same against DaMatta who pulled himself off the bottom to prove his worth and make some nice moves on a super defensive Ralf, nearly making some stick but I'd say pulling out to keep his points.
(2 in the hand worth more than three before YOU'RE in the bush)
And of course, Michael doing a top job, and Rubens doing a good job but not getting his setup right.

Overall a damn good show.

[gringottsdirect]

I voted 4, best Spanish dry race for a while.

[racer69]

Nothing Special

[Kex]

It would have been better if they had just restarted the race rather than sending the safety car out.

[Mark Webber]

I voted for GOOD its a good as Spain can get really . A few stand outs like
Webber lonely solid drive , Da Matta ( if he was going to have a good race it was always going to be a spain), Alonso good solid drive , Ralf again put in a good drive , as to Firman & Wilson .
Ferrari not as shock & awh as we all though but a faily easy win from MS in any count. RB's car looked very skatey

[Lee Yue Yang]

Pretty good although it was a shame that they did'nt restart the race and give Kimi a chance to start the race in the spare car...

[Bononi]

*yawn*

Apart from DaMatta and Alonso...

[BootsOntheSide]

I gave it a 4. There was lots of close racing, the strategies played out interestingly, and Alonso really starred. Great drives by Da Matta, Wilson and Firman added to the fun.

[Red]

Ok, now I'm confused. 63% votes went to a good race.

So what makes a race great (or boring)? Is the new rules? Hmmm.... lemme think, Kimi Raikonnen was forced to start last because he made 1 mistake. He raced 10 meters, 0.05 seconds worth. Certainly that did not improve entertaining.

Should be the track then. I'm even more confused. Quite indeed, that track does not have chicanes and is not designed by Tilke. Then again, that track it's renowned for being a dull track.

Work with me guys, why was Imola boring, and Barcelona was a good race? I'm not interested in "crashes" or "overtakings". Pretend I'm Maximillian Rufus Mosley and I'm trying to find a perfect receipt for a perfect Formula 1 race. So, what happened? What can be changed? (yeah-yeah: don't even bother with "ban refuelling". Funny races happened when 3 pitstops are a norm, and you will soon see 4 pitstop strategies and by the end of season 5 (five) pitstops.

[Lee Janotta]

I gave it a 3. No real changes at the front, but a good amount of tension, and some good action.

Last year's was a 1.