Jump to content
IGNORED

The Formula 1 Thread

Nick_L

By Nick_L
in Sport

 Share

Recommended Posts

exwhyzed

exwhyzed

Posted
Posted

I guess he didn't see the battle with ham vet & webber going all the way from the hairpin through to the end of T3. Yeah drs robbed us of that.

Also Vet was passed more because his tyres were falling off than drs.

Where did overtake? They probably could've overtaken numerous times round the but they knew they could just wait for the DRS and its easy. That's what's rubbish. You knew who was going to finish where because no matter what Vettel did someone can go 20mph or whatever fast down the straight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rocafella

Rocafella

Posted
Posted

The only thing we were robbed of is a Button win due to a duff pit stop. Maybe the start of the race was a bit of a turd, but my golly, that was some finish.

This is the thing that worries me the most about Mclaren's championship chances. They seem to be behind other teams in terms of strategic decisions and especially pit stops. They seem to make more mistakes than the other big teams.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sidewaysbob

Sidewaysbob

Posted
Posted

Well wasn’t that all jolly exciting and unexpected. I mean who would have though the Merc could get a pole and then convert that into an actual win! and not the highly expensive seven times world champion, no Nico finally delivers after 111 attempts and pops his winning cherry.

No one saw that coming and certainly not you lot judging by the scores, with less than a third of you making it to double figures.

I missed qualifying, after a prior engagement with several fine bottles of Cote Du Rhone and I couldn’t face yet another 6am start. So it was a somewhat bleary double take when I heard the news that not only had Nico aced the pole but Vettel was down in 11th and Kobayashi would start 3rd after Lewis got a penalty for changing his gearbox. It’s always nice to see a once very smug German get beaten but a different person. Okay so Nico is still technically a German but his father was Swedish so he’s alright in my book.

I managed to drag my sorry carcass out of bed for Sundays race to be greeted by the sight of no rain what so ever. All my lovely plans for watching Alonso and Button fight it out through the spray had disappeared and I was faced with a race with a difference. Still there was going to be lots of overtaking as the Merc’s went backwards and the Redbulls, Ferrari and McLarens came back through the field.

Except no one seemed to have told Nico the plan, when the lights went out off he scampered into the smog filled distance and the rest of the drivers spent 40 laps in a long procession. There were a couple of moves but nothing worthy of a pass as the DRS failed to deliver much in the way of an opportunity for overtaking. Big long straights into hairpins are fine in principle, but stick the DRS zone half way down it and the cars are bouncing off the rev limiter way before they get to the end of the straight. So it was more a case of cars almost getting into a passing place, but not quite making it. The Mercedes engine cars seemed to have a better top speed than the Renault and Ferrari engines, but they needed the car in front to make a mistake or get told to get out of the way, for there to be much of a chance.

Mercedes made an uncharacteristic mistake at Schumacher’s first stop and released the car before the front right had been bolted into place. He made it round four corners before pulling off to be the only retirement of the day.

Meanwhile Nico continued to look after his tires and lead the race. He was so far ahead that the TV stopped watching him and instead began to look at the train of cars forming up behind Kimi. He was on a two stopper and this race was rapidly turning into one where the last man into the pits was going to have the best tires at the end.

Kimi was struggling on in second with the two Redbulls, Alonso, the McLarens and Grosjean all within spitting distance. For lap after lap they sat behind each other popping out now and again to try and spook the driver ahead, but none of them had the grunt to make it past. Then Alonso tried to go past Grosjean and ran out onto the marbles to discover that there was bugger all grip out there. He ran off the track back to 9th. Then within the space of a lap Kimi lost all grip on his warn out tires and went from 2nd to 14th before he had time to order two cornettos and a Vodka chaser.

Button was past into 2nd, Hamilton nipped passed a slippery Vettel for third and at the end of the race Webber sneaked past the struggling German for 4th, my how the mighty have fallen.

Grosjean and the Williams of Senna and Maldonardo scrapped it out for the rest of the points and Alonso only had memories of Malaysia to keep him company in 9th

Kobayashi who had told all and sundry that he had his name all over the winner’s trophy, got a fastest lap and the last point. His name is not being linked with the Ferrari drive this week.

So then Nico gets his first win and about time too. On cold days the Merc is going to be the car to beat, when it can look after its tires and make them last more than 15 minutes their now fully legal tricksy rear wing is going to deliver them to the front of the grid and then it’s down to the tires. He didn’t really have much to deal with all race as the big guns struggled to get past each other. Button might have had a shot at it, but a sticky real wheel on his last of three stops robbed him of the chance. So Nico showed he can do it when it’s all there for him. Well done him

Button in 2nd once again must do better in qualifying. He’s got a car and the speed to deliver a championship, if he’s at the front on Saturday. Still he made the passes when he needed to and but for the problem on the last stop he could have given Nico a run for his money.

Hamilton in 3rd must be wondering what he has to do this year. The team found a problem with the gearbox when they unpacked the car on Thursday, so had to change it and got a 5 place grid penalty. So Lewis was always on the back foot. He managed to qualify 2nd but was dropped to 7th from where he was always going to struggle to get a win. So yet another 3rd isn’t so bad and it was a much more philosophical Lewis in the post race press scrum. As he said, with three different winners already, consistency is going to be the key; hence he now leads the championship.

Webber did enough to get to 4th and must have felt very smug when he mugged Vettel with 2 laps to go. No team orders this time round.

Vettel complained all weekend long about the car not working for him and looked to be short a few horses on the long straight. The handling was better but the straight line speed just isn’t there right now. 5th place wasn’t bad considering he started in 11th though.

Grosjean finally makes it to the finish in 6th, which is about where Lotus should be with the Redbulls and McLarens ahead and either of the Mercs.

Senna has another good weekend for Williams in 7th.

As Maldonado puts both Williams it he top 10. Finally, a good solid reliable top ten car for the Didcot boys, it’s good to see them back up there as Sir Frank turns 70 this week. Anyone who watched the F1 racing in the 80’s and 90’s will remember the Williams cars showing the likes of Ferrari and Renault how it should be done. They always gave the impression of a little garage team taking on the faceless greyness of McLaren and highly strung Italians, to give the Brits something to cheer for. Like warm beer and roast beef they were our lads and they were great and it’s good to see the team back where it belongs. How all they need are two top draw drivers again.

Alonso is a sad and lonely 9th. Massa is all the way back in 13th and was told to get on with the race more than once. Alonso tried to drive the wheels off that car and very nearly got a good result. But I suspect Malaysia is going to be the high point of the season for a long time.

Finally Kobayashi 10th, got the fastest lap but he should have taken home more than one point from a 3rd place start. The car didn’t seem to work as the tires got older. Still he was ahead of Perez who didn’t look quite so wonderful on a dry track with the big boys playing for real. Not quite a Ferrari driver just yet lad.

Kovalainen was dead last after a faulty something stopped him for a lap or two. Sparing the blushes of the HRT team who were as rubbish as ever.

So then, here are the scores and it’s a pitifully low scoring round. Predicting the results this year is going to be harder than ever now there are at least 3 teams that can win races.

Next Bahrain .....

Formula Velse,17

Simbo,12

chrisJericho,11

Davius,11

jonny,10

Duane Weatherall,10

Stephen Rose (mexos),9

Myoozikk,9

MrPogo,9

Joffy,9

PeteyPops,9

Tomox,9

kiroquai,9

Nosey Parker,8

Sidewaysbob,8

Dean,8

G-Force,7

Mortis,7

Elmlea,7

reani_,6

Matt,6

Arakawa Automotive,6

Bradlay Law,6

James Roberts,6

http://www.deltoid.co.uk/f1/results.pdf

4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
dayte

dayte

Posted
Posted

What a topsy turvy race, almost switched off after halfway because it was going the way of Valencia... but damn, the last third wa special. 2nd to 11th all fighting up until the last lap, daring overtakes and equally daring defences, especially with Grosjean. And to top it off, a new winner in F1, well deserved for Rosberg and Mercedes. I feel it would have been a perfect 1-2 were it not for that stupid mistake with the wheel nut.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
roskelld

roskelld

Posted
Posted

What a topsy turvy race, almost switched off after halfway because it was going the way of Valencia... but damn, the last third wa special. 2nd to 11th all fighting up until the last lap, daring overtakes and equally daring defences, especially with Grosjean. And to top it off, a new winner in F1, well deserved for Rosberg and Mercedes. I feel it would have been a perfect 1-2 were it not for that stupid mistake with the wheel nut.

I'm thinking that it would have been an interesting fight between Button and Britney, both on worn out tires come the end. Possibly with Schumy there or there abouts too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
zxcvbnm

zxcvbnm

Posted
Posted

This is the thing that worries me the most about Mclaren's championship chances. They seem to be behind other teams in terms of strategic decisions and especially pit stops. They seem to make more mistakes than the other big teams.

I think Renault/Lotus made the biggest fuck up of the weekend by not pulling in Raikonnen the very second his tyres went off. I can't believe how quickly he fell back through the grid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MrPogo

MrPogo

Posted
Posted

I think Renault/Lotus made the biggest fuck up of the weekend by not pulling in Raikonnen the very second his tyres went off. I can't believe how quickly he fell back through the grid.

I don't think it would have helped much. The field was so tightly bunched up he'd have dropped out of the points when he lost the twenty odd seconds for the pIt stop. He might have managed to put in a challenge for 10th, but the risk v reward in the gamble of hoping he could stick it out was the right decision for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
John0

John0

Posted
Posted

Fancied doing a little driver by driver (almost) run down for China... was a great race I thought. And yet again we almost have as many new questions as we do answers from the weekend. Season is shaping up really nicely with the level of uncertainty and that midfield battle (which is spilling over towards the front of the pack) where it seems anyone can beat anyone.

Rosberg – Supreme performance. Tweaked his setup for Q3, then blitzed the session, blitzed the start, and strolled off into the distance never looking back... except of course to see the massive gap (by recent-year F1 standards) stretching out behind him. I've been meaning to put a bet on him winning his first race for the past 4 seasons or so, but I a) kept forgetting and b) don't really gamble. Good job because I'd probably have lost money. What a way to finally do it though. Also scores points for a (sort of) muted and cool way to take your maiden pole and win. Hope there's more to come.

Schumacher - His transformation from taking-no-prisoners style massive world domination Michael Schumacher into unfortunate, happy-go-lucky, all smiles and “crazy” faces at the camera Michael Schumacher would be one of the strangest things to have happened this season, if it weren't for all the other really strange things happening. I'm... almost.. starting.. to.. like.. him.... aarrrggg! If he and Mercedes keep this kind of performance up though, surely it's only a matter of time before he’s back on the top of the podium and we can all hate him again. Also nice to see him genuinely pleased for Rosberg and the team, and taking a back seat during the celebrations.

Button – Unlucky with the botched pit-stop. But at the same time lucky his wheel actually stayed on the car this time, unlike Schumacher’s, and also lucky it didn’t, I don’t think, affect his finishing position in the end. Rosberg was too quick. Good solid drive though, and some good overtakes; the best he could have done today from 6th on the grid. If there’s an area to improve it’s definitely in qualifying.

Hamilton – Undergoing a transformation of his own; from last season’s disillusioned lost soul Lewis with everything crashing down around him, or into him, not to mention the constant penalties and trips to the stewards office. Now meet Mr Consistant Lewis! Bringing home the points with sensible drives, staying out of trouble, always calm and measured in interviews, getting podiums where he can. Just what will F1 throw up next? Another one who will pick up wins if he keeps this form up and his luck turns. And another one you can say finished the highest he could today, considering his grid position penalty. A Hamilton-Button fight for the championship would be quite something.

Webber – Another poor start, and you could see from his interview it has become a big frustration for the Australian. He has a car that might just be quick enough to win a championship, with a little bit of luck. But it’s no qualifier at this stage, and that combined with the poor starts is really hurting him. If he can sort his start out then he could win races, but if he doesn't soon we'll see another opportunity sliding away from him.

Vettel – Has to be relieved with 5th from 15th after 2 corners, and he’s still very much hanging on to the title race, but he desperately needs to get that car set up how he likes it or even if Red Bull improve overall, he’s going to find Webber in front of him. This season may make him stronger in the long run though, he can learn a lot from it, maybe more so than previous seasons.

Grosjean – Some great battling out their from Grosjean, and 6th was probably the highest position he could get here. Great to see him not intimidated by Maldonado after their incident in Australia. And he’s damn quick when he gets the chance. Will be exciting to watch his progress in an equally quick car.

Raikkonen – One of the most memorable capitulations in recent F1 history. 8 positions in one and a half laps was it? Whoever was responsible for him having to do 28 laps on the medium compound was at fault here. And whoever didn’t make the call to bring him in when he needed to be might have cost him a point or two. Maybe a touch unlucky this happened to him on a day when around 10 seconds separated most of the points scorers. But worth remembering others managed much better on a 2 stop. How much it was down to him or the car though, is very hard to tell.

Williams – Senna was much closer to his team-mate in qualifying than in the first two races. Within a tenth and a half is respectable considering the gap in experience, and the fact that Maldonado’s strength appears to be out-right pace, as opposed to consistency and race-craft. So a great weekend and virtually full-marks for the young Brazilian. Maldonado bought the car home, but at a little cost to his pace it seems. I think it’s not unlikely he'll get himself a decent chance of a podium before two long, you’d probably bet on him throwing it away at the moment though. Still, a good weekend for him to finish in the points, and a great one for the team.

Ferrari – Their problems are so obvious it’s not really worth going into. Massa much closer to Alonso here, and was almost certainly on the least optimal of the two differing strategies. Will need better performances than this if he’s to keep his seat for much longer though. Alonso is untouchable at the moment, however badly he does you can only put it down to the car as it’s very hard to imagine anyone else on the planet could get anything more out of it at the moment. He can’t be the most motivated guy around the paddock these days though.

Sauber – Whilst his stock rose massively three weeks ago, the expectations have also followed to a certain extent for young Perez. Like Massa and Raikkonen, I think he was on the least optimal strategy, but was still blown away in qualifying by Kobayashi, who then shot past him in a cloud of grit and dust with two wheels on the grass in the race. The Japanese is definitely going to be doing his utmost to make sure the Mexican doesn’t hog all the limelight in this very quick car, and will have definitely reminded a few key people of his talent yesterday. Finally, for a guy who supposedly very easy on his tyres, Perez doesn’t half flat-spot the shit out of them at times.

Force India – Di Resta comfortably out-performing his team mate here, but you worry a little that he’s a touch too sensible and unassuming in the race. Fair play for not wanting to waste time blocking cars he’s not racing, but have we ever seen him have a proper scrap with anyone? I hope that doesn’t harm his career prospects. The car needs a lot of work but they’ve obviously not done a terrible job in the winter, it’s just that the sheer competitiveness of the midfield has pushed them back a little. Must do better as a team.

Toro Rosso – Not much to say other than it’s worth noting Verne beat Ricciardo from a pit-lane start. Not the best of weekends for the young Australian then, but maybe fortunate it happened when the car was too slow, and the rest of the pack too close, for it to matter and anyone to take much notice.

The rest – Again, not much you can say really. Kovalainen appeared to be running well, and could possibly have challenged someone outside the last 6, but ran into problems after a pit-stop.

5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
roskelld

roskelld

Posted
Posted

I'm just watching the Sky pre race coverage, Martin denying Lee McKenzie a short interview with Kob, and then bumping into DC... and Natalie's really quick interview with Kimi :D

The interview with Kimi was awesome.

I need to watch the BBC coverage now to see the other side of things, and if Brundle appeared on their feed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
McCoy

McCoy

Posted
Posted

Ratings time:

Live Formula One: Chinese Grand Prix had an average of 2.85 million viewers between 7am and 10.15am on Sunday, a 39.4% share of the audience. The race had a five-minute peak of 4.21 million.

This compares with an average of 3.27 million viewers for last year's race, a 43.7% share, and a peak of 5.14 million.

Sky's live coverage on its Formula 1 channel averaged 480,000 viewers between 6.30am and 11am, with a peak of 887,000.

It meant the total audience for the race, across the BBC and Sky, was up on last year.

http://www.guardian....e-grand-prix-4m

Sky taking a fairly big hit when going head to head with the BBC although not disastrous by any means, but most interesting is the net gain of viewers from last season when looking at both channels. It seems more and more that the new arrangement is not harming the sport's viewings levels in the UK in the way that might have been expected.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Use of this website is subject to our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Guidelines.

  I accept