Riverside International Raceway Legends of Riverside Film Festival and Gala
Dan Gurney is attending the show later this week at Riverside, which held one F1 race in 1960.
Reflections on Kazuki Nakajima
"Kazuki has done rather well in his first year in the game, considering the premature nature of his arrival. An important clue to his potential was his lap time in his only GP of the 2007 calendar, Brazil. While we all saw his terrible pit stop gaffe, few noticed that his best race lap was quicker than Rosberg's. In testing before the 2008 season he threw in the occasional quick lap to hint at an unexpected talent and has repeated this in 2009 with the fastest time in the final day of the test in Jerez."
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mkh1
23rd March 2009, 0:52
Interesting take on Nakajima. I do like kazuki but I felt like Sato (and many other Japanese drivers) he was pushed into the deep end a bit too early. As up and coming Japanese drivers go I think Kobayashi is better and maybe even Hideki Mutoh. He will have to perform well this season if he wants to stay in F1 with the top line up GP2 has this year.
Kovy
23rd March 2009, 3:44
I’d probably put Kobayashi ahead of Nakajima in terms of skill. Nakajima definitely needed more experience, seeing the amount of incidents he caused last year (including taking out DC 3 times in the last 5 races.)
Clive
23rd March 2009, 12:02
This is the kind of thing I’m talking about. Three times in the last five races? I don’t think so. In Italy DC and Nakajima touched but both went on to finish the race, in Singapore, Japan and China Kazuki had completely uneventful races and in Brazil Rosberg pushed DC into Nakajima, forcing him off the road.
So Kazuki is condemned as “needing more experience” on the grounds of phantom collisions and another driver’s error. Seems slightly unfair to me…
todd
23rd March 2009, 4:47
yeah but DC was prone to crashes all year, not all 3 were purely nakajumia’s fault… but i think he did take out Alonso in Valencia yea?
it does seem like he’s a bit out of his depth at times. but so does nelson piquet and heikki.
ListOrbit
23rd March 2009, 7:20
I feel kazuki droved ok like last year but surely he has potential to stand on podium with better race strategy compared to last year and discussing about Sato future in F1, I don’t think he can long last……
Clay
23rd March 2009, 7:49
Let’s be fair. Massa was rubbish when he came into F1, crashed all the time. Now a lot of pundits reckon he is the real deal. Nakajima is quick, and if, like Massa (who I believe is very overrated) he is given time to mature and a front running car he could ‘do a Massa’ and be a contender.
To be honest, most of guys not in a Ferrari, McLaren (on ’08 pace), Brawn or BMW would be quick. F1, as we all know, is all about not only being a good driver but being in the right car. Always has been.
With this in mind Nakajima wasn’t exactly blown away by Rosberg last year, and most people reckon Rosberg is quick. Give either of them a front runner and they’ll go well.
Arthur954
23rd March 2009, 12:02
Dan Gurney ….
Thanks so much for this link ! it is fascinating to find out about gentlemen like Dan Gurney and those past golden years of racing. I wish that F1 teams could also take a look at those beautiful racing cars of the past as inspiration for their liveries. Maybe teams like Brawn could notice the gorgeous car that Dan is driving : dark green and gold … I can see a modern F1 car with a gold tip and front spoilers as a tribute to some great looks of the past.
Please lets keep seeing more vintage links like this one !
cheers