Sport The Formula 1 Thread

[dayte]

The return of everyone's favourite Japanese driver, Shinji Nakano! He's still younger than Schumacher after all.

[a big boy]

Mum disapproves of her son being in a relationship with a woman nearly the same age as her, what parent wouldn't?

Wait.. Lewis is 27, Nicole 33... How old is his Mum?!

[reani_]

I enjoyed the BBC coverage as well. Wasn't hard to avoid news before the show. I just missed the last 5 minutes.. was there a forum afterwards? I can't find it on iplayer

[MrPogo]

Yeah it's great how she always dresses up in the orange jerseys etc with the rest of the team. Can't see Scherzinger doing that. She's very sweet too, took a picture of me and Jenson's dad when I met them

Based on what I've gathered from social media and F1 broadcasts it almosts looks like there's an opposite dynamic in the two relationships; Button's girl has really entered into his world (always tweeting about the running races, cycling, triathlons etc she's doing with him and his crew), whereas Hamilton seems to be entering into Nicole's celebrity lifestyle far more that she's become part of the F1 family.

[ryodi]

Not wishing to turn this thread into Heat magazine, surely it's a lot more difficult for Nicole to do the same as Jensons girlfriend because she is a star in her own right with music and tv commitments whereas from what I gather Jenson's girlfriend finds it much easier to integrate in his schedule. Lewis has had one bad season in F1 and if I recall she was there when he won the title in 2008 so we can't blame all of Lewis issues on her.

[wev]

Does she still have music and TV commitments? From what I can tell, she's only really been on the X-Factor in America as a judge in recent years and thats only from September to December....

[SMD]

Does anyone want Sky's full programme from Sunday?

[SMD]

Also a question: when did driver numbers start to be allocated based on their previous standings in the championship?

[reani_]

Also a question: when did driver numbers start to be allocated based on their previous standings in the championship?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=when+did+driver+numbers+start+to+be+allocated+based+on+their+previous+standings+in+the+championship%3F

[Dudley]

1996.

For newcomers watching, that's teams previous standings, not drivers (apart from the last drivers champion's team always being 1 and 2)

[RFT]

The last year number allocation was done on team preference (though wiorld champion driver's team was always 1/2) was 1995.

1996 was the first year it was reigning champ 1, his team mate 2, then in descending order of Constructors' standings.

[SMD]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q...championship%3F

I already looked on Wikipedia before asking that's what sparked the question.

1996.

For newcomers watching, that's teams previous standings, not drivers (apart from the last drivers champion's team always being 1 and 2)

The last year number allocation was done on team preference (though wiorld champion driver's team was always 1/2) was 1995.

1996 was the first year it was reigning champ 1, his team mate 2, then in descending order of Constructors' standings.

Yep, sorry, that's what I meant. Brain not fully in gear this morning. Was just looking at old classifications then realised that Tyrrell were 3 and 4, which confused me because I didn't remember that. I forgot that the Ferraris had 27 and 28.

To be honest, I prefer the present system.

[dayte]

Back in the day, Kimi was such a lad

[Wallpaper]

Just watched the BBC programme.... well, the end of race stuff anyway. I'm not sure whether it is because they had more time to prepare it, but it was so much better than the Sky post-race stuff. I know Sky may get better, but the interview with Button by Jake, Eddie and DC just shows the level of relationship they have with some of the most important characters in F1, and I'm not sure that Sky can match that. True, it is going to often be with the British drivers, but Eddie does seem to have good access in a lot of places (although he can be quite cringey at times), e.g. with Domenicalli.

Of course, Brundle knows lots of the people too and will also have great access, but I don't think he comes across as warm sometimes, and it is this which you really need to get to know the real thoughts/feelings of the drivers etc.

Not sure I'm getting across what I'm trying to say, but watch the short Button interview and to me that sums up what is great about the BBC coverage, and what I think Sky will struggle to match.

Brundle manages drivers (don't know if he still does or not) which I'd imagine requires being quite ruthless at times so they're probably a lot more wary around him, he is respected as a driver though so he sometimes gets drivers to talk on subjects that they wouldn't with a layman presenter.

[Sidewaysbob]

Right then, Button hits the ground running and gets the win as the McLaren’s looked nailed to the circuit. Whilst the Redbulls looked like they are really missing that rear blown diffuser and Ferrari looked like they’d forgotten how to design a car.

Hamilton got pole with a scintillating early Q3 run, Vettel once so peerless on a qualifying run complained about oversteer and unpredictable handling. The Mercedes of Rosberg and Schumacher had talked the talk all practice but when push came to positions they couldn’t quite walk the walk. The big hero of Q3 was the once silly haired Roman Grosjean in the evil black lotus. Who showed his vodka loving returning world champion team mate, Kimi “I’ll have a Cornetto and sit this one out chaps” Raikkonen, how it should be done with a fine third on the grid.

Better then Ferrari, who looked like someone had rebadged a 1974 Ford Capri with a prancing horse and sent that out to qualify, One minute it was understeer, the next oversteer. Just keeping it in a straight line looks to take some balls.

Massa, as ever, kept the press pack wondering why he still had a drive and for how long he would keep said drive. Numerous trips to the kitty litter and poor qualifying kept everyone amused. But you know, they’ve been asking when is the Latin hotshot going to get fired and year after year he’s still there. I think the crux of the matter might be that no one else wants to be the one making Alonso look great. The Spaniard was thrashing the thing within an inch of its short shelf life and wowing the media until he too ended up pointing the wrong way in the sand trap.

So to the race, Hamilton got an okay start when the lights went out, Button simply got a better start. As the others banged into one another (Webber in the thick of things as usual) the two McLaren’s eased off into the distance.

Rosberg got a flier off the line (the software team will be happy with that on in Brackley) to snatch third briefly before Vettel made a blinding move up the inside and took it away from him, where he failed to get to grips with the McLarens.

Behind all of this Maldonado in the surprisingly good looking Williams “bumped” Grosjean off the circuit in a nice “welcome back to the piranha pool lad” move , before he started getting back into the swing of things with a trip through the sand traps a few laps later.

Alonso was like a man possessed, imagine Heathcliff standing astride a pair of wild sweaty stallions, his white shirt ripped open, jet black hair billowing around him as lighting flashes in the distance, as he, riding crop in hand beats the raging animals of death and bends them to his will. Three days of practice and qualifying had still not tamed the 2012 Ferrari. It was impressive to watch a man not know from one corner to the next which way the car was going to snap. Exciting stuff.

Oh, yeah and then there was Perez. Right we finally got rid of Trulli who was the most tedious driver i have ever seen. Great wine, does a lot for charity, boring driver. Well he got fired, but Perez seems to have taken it into his head that to win a race you have to be gormless and dull. He has that ‘I have no idea what you are saying so I’m just going to smile at you’ face. The extra big smile that pleads with you to like and understand him, that really under that placid stupid grin he has the heart of a dead sheep ready to savage anyone that crosses him.

I didn’t like his, “I’m going to do one stop and hope the others fail to finish” race tactic last year and sure as hell don’t like it this year. Alonso was charging around like a man on a mission to tame a car that was actively trying to kill him. Perez looked like he was off down the shops for a packet of value sausages (too much meat can be bad for you). Dull dull dull tedious dullness.

So it was all pretty static until Petrov got bored of driving the Caterham and abandoned it on the pit straight. This called out the safety car, just as the McLaren duo had pitted for their tires and just before Vettel pitted for his. Once it had all shaken out Vettel found himself between Button and Hamilton. Oh some things, do indeed, never change.

So we were robbed of a McLaren one two, but did get to see McLaren and Redbull parade around for 10 laps. KERS and DRS didn’t seem to make much of a difference as top boys all look to have the same sort of race pace. Give or take Massa careering into them

To spice things up at the end Maldonado crash tested the front of his Williams as he tried to overtake a tiring Heathcliff Alonso on the last lap. What would have been excellent points for Williams turned to carbon fibre smeared along an Australian wall. With Senna getting nailed by Massa it was all rather disappointing for the boys from Didcot. Still the car at least looks like it can go some. Maybe Senna will turn into a Senna , you never know. Imagine what a Koby or a Kimi could do with a car like that. That would be something to watch wouldn’t it.

So Hamilton got the Pole.

And Button won, made it look pretty easy too and seems to view this as the start of another championship winning season for himself. He got the fastest lap at the end just to rub it in a bit. This is Button really, drive it smooth and nothing dramatic, which is fine and he’s a Brit so that’s good …. But don’t you just wish Hamilton had got the reward for the hard work on Saturday. Well I do.

Vettel bagged more than he was expecting with a bit of Safety car luck for 2^nd.

Hamilton had it all taken away from him and looked pretty upset with 3^rd. But at least he didn’t have to go and see the stewards and explain why Massa was sitting in a broken Ferrari this time. He looked like he knew he could have won. Let’s hope it doesn’t affect the rest of the season for him. In reality I’d rather have a Lewis that was annoyed with third than happy to have finished.

Webber, gets his best ever result in Australian with 4^th. I was taking bets on when he was going to crash into Hamilton at the end, but i think he’d got all that out of his system at the start.

Alonso 5^th and that is far more than the car was worth. I don’t think anyone in red expected points let alone a top five finish. They have a serious amount of work ahead of them with that thing.

Kobayashi in 6^th was taking part apparently.

Kimi actually had a pretty good race in 7^th, the team cocked up qualifying so he got left down in 17^th. So to drive up through the field and not collect Massa or crash test the tub after being away for two years, suggest that the evil black Lotus might just be the real deal. Oh and he’s still a very good driver etc etc.

Perez dull dull dull grin dull, His mouth has far too many teeth in it !dull dull dull 8^th

Ricciardo gets to 9^th ho hum.

Di Resta gets a very lucky 10^th after Rosberg and Vergne got it all wrong on the last lap. To be honest Di Resta needs to up his game, the Hulk out qualified him and would have got points if he’d not crashed. Yes I know you have to finish to get the glory, but the Hulk looked to be the natural team leader all weekend and Di Resta the rookie. Anymore results like this and he won’t be going anywhere next year.

Right the last classified driver as declared by the FIA is Glock, who didn’t do enough laps to beat Maldonado at the end, but was still moving when the flag dropped. Yes I know Pic was still technically running at the end, but the FIA have his as a DNF (Did not finish) so he is thrown onto the scrap heap of rubbishness and Glock gets the points this time out. I know it’s complicated, I think Pic was outside of the minimum finishing rule, being as he was 4 laps behind Button.

So then, what have we learned this weekend ?

Well Redbull and McLaren are pretty much even on race pace, with the Woking boys faster in qualifying trim.

The Mercedes have a trick qualifying wing that isn’t helping them to race any better than last year.

Evil Black Lotus do have a good car under them, but the chaps on the pit perch need to step up to the game a bit.

Force India don’t look like they’ve changed the plan of building a car for the fast circuits and Di Resta has proper team mate on his hands now.

Williams have a handy car and two rubbish drivers. My pick for the team to fire its drivers first.

Sauber have another car that will look after its tires, mores the pity.

Marussia got to the end, but only just

HRT are just as crap as ever.

Here are the results.

Simbo,25

Arakawa Automotive,22

Nosey Parker,20

Myoozikk,18

PeteyPops,18

Tomox,17

Matt,17

Dean,17

Sidewaysbob,15

Bradlay Law,13

Stephen Rose (mexos),13

Elmlea,12

jonny,12

Joffy,12

reani_,11

Duane Weatherall,11

James Roberts,11

Formula Velse,11

kiroquai,11

MrPogo,10

Davius,9

chrisJericho,9

Mortis,8

[Arc'Tan'Gent]

I think you're being pretty harsh on Perez. The guy made his way up from rock-bottom to 7th to get some valuable points. That's hardly dull.

[wev]

I think he's harsh on Webber too, with all the crashing comments. From every camera view it looked like the start was everyone crashing into him rather than the other way round.

Also, seriously, what the hell is up with Sauber and not using their tyres? Okay I get it, their car is extremely kind to its rubber, but they lost points yesterday because Perez literally had nothing left to run on. Wasn't he seventh before the final corner?

[morcs]

Harsh on Kobayashi too, and Ricciardo!

[CouldBeWorse]

Holy fuck I'm first in the Rllmuk Fantasyracers.com F1 league!

[Sidewaysbob]

Tooling around waiting for other cars to drop out is not racing. It's dull. Perez is making a habit of these runs where he gets point by not actually racing, just getting in the way.

Webber has a reputation for not giving an inch. He also has a habit of losing the plot and making rather desperate moves when he's cocked up. His rather lack lustre start caused the grid to bunch up into turn 1.

[Sidewaysbob]

I would add that I have to write something about all the top ten drives, so now and again i'll pass over a driver or two. Riccy did do a good job and koby was as entertaining as ever, but I forgot anything specific that they'd done.

Other opinions are of course available.

[wev]

Yes, it caused the grid to bunch up. But he wasn't running round with magnets attached to his car (not that that would have made much difference anyway considering Carbon Fibre isn't magnetic, but you get my point )

As for Perez, I'm not sure its all down to him. Kobayashi has had to struggle round on dead tyres all to often too, and I think its only because he does thrash his car so much that Sauber do give him a little more fresh rubber more often than they do the Mexican. All too often you get the impression that Sauber think the engine rule applies to tyres, have they even used a full weekends allocation of tyres since Perez signed?

[zxcvbnm]

Also, in regards to the chemistry or lack of between Nicole and Hamilton's Mum, the former didn't seem to want to be there at all. I have more admiration for Jenson's girlfriend

I don't know about more admiration, but I'd rather put my willy into her more than Hamilton's ladyboy.

[John0]

Perez's was a great drive. Gearbox problems in quali left him at the back of the grid which meant a 1 stop was pretty much the only option, or at least the best option. And he did 23-24 laps on softs and was sliding all of the place at the end. Plus I quite enjoyed him parking it on the apex when the big boys were coming through, and he defended well against Ricciardo on the final corner when his tyres must have been in shreds. Full marks.

Also, on Maldonado going win or bust at the end... why the hell not? I thought you were moaning about drivers being boring (at sidewaysbob)? And here's a guy who's a lot of things, but definitely not boring. I reckon he thought he could throw it past Alonso under DRS on that straight so went for it. Yeah he through away 6 or so points, but a daring move on a double world champion and a Williams passing a Ferrari on the last lap? Would have been quite something...

Kobayashi in 6^th was taking part apparently.

Wtf did you see his pass on Kimi?

Also, di Resta's 10th wasn't that lucky... he was quicker than everyone else in that pack towards the end of his stints, but slower at the start, so no one took any notice of him. The Toro Rossos only managed to catch him under the safety car...

[dayte]

What is it with the Perez hate? So he was on a different strategy from the rest of the field, still means they were racing (as was evident from his multiple overtakes on the first few laps) and were it not for the last lap he would have beaten his team mate and a whole host of 2 stoppers. FROM LAST. Racing isn't just about everyone on the same strategy duking it out, holding people up whilst you are on an inferior tyre is all part of the game.

And yes, Kobayashi did take part, he overtook Massa, had a good jostle with Raikkonen and then THAT last lap which was all kinds of chaos/awesome.

[Shimmyhill]

Perez did the same all last season, I'm with Bob on this one - he is such a dull driver due to his strategy and big wows that he started at the back and got so high, mainly due to retirements and the safety car. Kimmis drive was much better and he wasnt a mobile roadblock like Perez was at times.

[John0]

And yes, Kobayashi did take part, he overtook Massa

Ah yeah, good call, forgot about that. Must've been tricky when even Massa didn't know where which way his car was going to point next. Hopefully we'll see a bit more of the Kobayashi of 2010 this season...

[probeater]

The highlight of yestersdays race for me was the massive recovery truck they had out on track infront of the safety car doing around 30mph or so. Sending the slow moving truck out was far more dangerous then leaving petrov's car where it was, luckily all the drivers managed to slam on the anchors and not collide with each other.

Took some screencaps as it was such a bizzarre sight to see.

[morcs]

The recovery trucks did look like they were just from some local garage - tarted them up with some chipboard advertising and red disco lights for the race.

[John0]

Man, what's that Ferrari doing in front of the safety car?