Sport The Formula 1 Thread

[SeanR]

I could have spent this time in the beer garden at the pub

I spent it building a trampoline.

who won?

winky.gif

[Dudley]

Despite Red Bull and Mateschitz being Austrian?

Torro Rosso are have less claim to their Italian nationality though I guess, belonging to an Austrian brand and previously part owned by an Austrian ex-F1 driver.

Except of course for actually being based in Italy for the last 32 years.

[morcs]

Details!

Ahh Minardi

[Dudley]

Interesting though,

Red Bull - Owner : Austrian - Based : British - Registered : Austrian

Toro Rosso - Owner : The SAME Austrian - Based - Italy - Registered : Italy

Renault - Owner : Basically Luxemborg - Based : British - Registered : France

Mercedes - Owner : German - Based : British - Registered : German

Team Lotus also goes with the base not the owner I think, I think all the others have ownership the same as their country.

[morcs]

Ah is Force India registered UK then?

Edit: No owned India registered India of course

[T Pot]

Just got back from the cinema seeing Senna.

Wow. What a film. Pulls on so many heartstrings it's unreal. Took my girlfriend with me and she came out asking all sorts of questions about why did the race go on and its horrible and he was a hero. I think it's impossible to not enjoy the film.

[dayte]

Christ almighty, got home from work and put on iplayer expecting a treat of a GP, instead got this fucking borefest.

What is it with Valencia that makes it shit to watch? It's awesome to drive in.

[Sidewaysbob]

Valencia .... bloody crap.

Well I suppose it couldn’t last. Eventually the real world had to return and the fantastic action packed racing had to be .... well packed away for another year.

Valencia is a dull, tedious, boring track in the middle of a dockyard with absolutely nothing to commend it what so ever. Even the drivers in the post race interviews complained about it being a dull race to take part in and no doubt a dull race to watch and they weren’t far wrong.

It comes to something when the most memorable thing about the race is the BBC endlessly banging on about how the pits used to be a fish market once upon a time. Come on, I’m sure Valencia has a lot to commend it, but its ex-fish market pit complex is not one of them.

Anyway there was a race and yet again yada yada yada Vettel blah blah won at a canter ho hum. This time it was Alonso keeping Vettel honest and the Spanish crowd happy. Webber tried to remind everyone that he still drives for the world champion team and to be fair he didn’t hit anyone for a change. But he drove a bit slow for a minute or two at some point or other and found that Alonso had gone from third place to second place whilst he was in the pits. Dullsville central.

The McLaren’s didn’t seem to be able to get their tires working all weekend. Hamilton started third and well, ended up forth after a lap or two. Button didn’t have much more to offer. Same for the Mercedes and Renault's, nice try ... no bananas chaps. Even Kobayashi, normally the sort of driver to keep up entertained with the odd random Banzai overtaking move, failed to do anything of any note.

For big chunks of the race we were watching the battle of 13th place!

Oh well, Silverstone next, let us pray to the Gods of Petrol that the action picks up again there. And dear Lord, let’s have a British winner for a change, not the bloody German and his bloody pointy finger please.

So then, Vettel won .... again. Lets play a game of stat watch shall we ..... Vettel has now over taken Michael Schumacher with the ‘Most consecutive starts from the front row’ Vettel now has 13 to Mickys 12. Our Nigel is next with 15 then Prost with 16. He has some way to go to beat Senna’s 24 though. Next ‘Most consecutive podiums from the first race of the season’ Vettel now has 8 just one behind Hamilton and Alonso, Mickey got 17 in 2002 and I think Vettel has a shot at that. Vettel now has 567 points from 70 starts, that’s an average of 8.10 points per entry, which is better than Hamilton’s 7.51 or Alonso’s 5.41. So far this season Vettel has got 186 points that 93% of the points available, in 2002 Mickey got 84.71% of the available points with 144 of a possible 170. Vettel now has 22 poles from 70 starts, that’s 31.4 % whilst Senna only managed 65 from 162 starts or 40.1%, can you see Vettel not blowing that away this year. Finally, Vettal has lead over 1000 laps this year. God I hate him.

Alonso in 2nd managed to give the home crowd something to cheer about.

Webber, yes he’s still driving 3rd.

Hamilton, driving as fast as he could, gets a 4th.

Massa 5th could do better. See Alonso for details.

Last week’s hero Jenson is this week’s 6th place loser.

Rosberg was 4th at one point, ends up 7th.

Alguersuari was quite good in 8th and may get to keep his seat for the second half of the season.

Sutil beats his better team mate to 9th, just ahead of.

Heidfeld in 10th who is fast going off the boil.

Finally Narain Karthikeyan was dead last and not a happy bunny. This weeks HRT watch makes rather depressing reading I’m afraid. Narain had this to say ;

“At the beginning I was trying to keep with the pack, with Liuzzi and D’Ambrosio, but after seven laps I locked the front and after that I had a lonely race. I finished the race but there aren’t many positives I can take away from it”.

Oh dear, I know how he felt.

There you go then. Valencia is apparently getting a five year extension on its contract. The FIA must love that old fish market because the racing sure isn’t up to much.

Well done to Mr Carter. A true fan of Vettel I see.

Neil Carter,32

Oliver,30

Andy Daniell,24

Blu3Flame,24

Charlie Bowdidge,24

kiroquai,23

Alastair 'Agent L' G,22

James Roberts,22

Stephen Rose,20

Captain LeChuck,19

Tomox,18

Bradlay Law,18

Steve Allen,18

Joffy Chinnock,18

Chris Bush,17

Matthew Leach,16

Charles,15

Danster,14

Matt O'Brien,13

Petey Stevens,13

Duane Weatherall,12

Rattlehead,11

MrPogo,7

[unspec]

Christ almighty, got home from work and put on iplayer expecting a treat of a GP, instead got this fucking borefest.

What is it with Valencia that makes it shit to watch? It's awesome to drive in.

Nothing wrong with the track. Great 2 and 4 wheel racing there. Probably more to do with the series.

[Shimmyhill]

Its a poor track to race on, its a great track to drive as it's pretty easy with no real tricky bits - this makes it dull for racing as there are less places to overtake and for drivers to make mistakes.

It is probably more suited to lower spec cars and bikes as they don't have as much downforce and cant take so much of it flat out so makes some of the 'corners' actually corners i guess. What it is not is an F1 track, its a sell out by Bernie.

[Sidewaysbob]

Yeah the GP2 and Porsche super cup stuff is ace. the F1 is always boring though. It's the nature of the circuit, which is too safe and too constrained by the dockyard it goes around.

There is no atmosphere because everyone is too far away, with only a few grandstands here and there. The main start line grandstand opposite the pits was half empty for most of the race.

[exwhyzed]

If the new regulations can't sufficiently slow the Red Bull down this could be the most dominant season for one driver ever. There doesn't seem to be a chink in his armour, tyre deg is good, reliability is good, speed is unmatched. Only mistake he's made was in Canada under pressure, but he drove most of this race faultlessly with Alonso and Webber breathing down his neck so that looks like more of a blip than a trend.

He gets a lot of stick for no reason really. He seems a better bloke than most of the F1 greats and all through his F1 career the media has told us how nice he is to deal with. People are booing him on the podium (see Canada) for being consistently excellent which is a shame, it is not his fault he's that much faster than everyone this year.

[MrPogo]

Vettel now has 567 points from 70 starts, that’s an average of 8.10 points per entry, which is better than Hamilton’s 7.51 or Alonso’s 5.41.

Let's not forget the effect of the new points system on that stat. Vettel's time at the top (and a relatively bigger chunk of his career) has come in seasons which have had more races and a lot more points up for grab in each.

[dayte]

I think they were booing the mayor presenting the trophy, not Vettel

[exwhyzed]

Fair enough if they were, seemed like they were booing Vettel but that's a good explanation.

[JohnC]

Nothing wrong with the track. Great 2 and 4 wheel racing there. Probably more to do with the series.

Aren't you thinking of the other Valencia circuit?

[PaulM]

Aren't you thinking of the other Valencia circuit?

Or perhaps he's just trolling us?

[GwiDan]

Vettel can take the next 3 races off, and still lead the championship at the end of it.

[marsh]

I do hope that the typical english summer we're having throws it's usual curve ball into the proceedings in two weeks time.

Even I'm begining to think Vettel must have a modicum of talent based on the fact even his teamate can't get anywhere near him.

[wev]

Of course he has talent, he just also happens to have the best car and all the luck too.

[morcs]

Webber was level pegging him on pace for some time. It wasn't apparent because Webber had so many mechanical/track/pit incidents. I'm thinking in particular of the season before he broke his leg. 2009 I guess?

I think Vettel really has become that good. The more I think about it the more I want to see Hamilton and Vettel in the same car.

[dayte]

I want to see Kobayashi in a Ferrari, and Di Resta in the Mercedes... of course Alonso only wants pacified team mates and the Mercedes racist in their driver choices, so just dreaming.

It's a shame that in order for a newish guy with talent but in a slow car to make his next career move, he has to wait for both drivers in a fast team to leave... otherwise he will just play second fiddle to the No 1 car, which will lead to their slow demise e.g. Massa. With Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton still in the prime of their careers, it looks likely that the fast drivers in the midfield teams will fall by the wayside.

[Sidewaysbob]

I take nothing away from Vettel, he has more personality then Schumacher. He's been given the best car on the grid and he's doing exactly what he has to do, winning with ease. He still has to beat everyone else every weekend and he makes it look easy, so you have to respect that.

Alonso is driving the bollocks off the Ferrari and Hamilton is ragging the arse of the McLaren. So Vettle isn't beating drivers that are rubbish or not up to the mark, it's a quality field down to the Renaults. I just wish he'd have some bad luck in qualifying or get it wrong off the start line and have to drive back through the field. I know he's got the car to do that, Webber has done it a few times.

If the McLaren continues to be second best i can see Hamilton moving to Redbull and Button to Ferrari. But i think there is still too much bad blood between Hamilton and Alonso for him to move to Ferrari. Besides which Hamilton could never work with a team that favours his team mate over him, and unless he's learnt Italian recently i don't see it happening.

[wev]

I want to see Kobayashi in a Ferrari, and Di Resta in the Mercedes... of course Alonso only wants pacified team mates and the Mercedes racist in their driver choices, so just dreaming.

It's a shame that in order for a newish guy with talent but in a slow car to make his next career move, he has to wait for both drivers in a fast team to leave... otherwise he will just play second fiddle to the No 1 car, which will lead to their slow demise e.g. Massa. With Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton still in the prime of their careers, it looks likely that the fast drivers in the midfield teams will fall by the wayside.

I think Ferrari fans would love to see Kobi in a Ferrari too, it'd be like Gilles Villeneuve. It's amazing what he and Perez are doing with that Sauber, it looks like a good car but not so sure if its as good as they're making it look. I'm not one for supporting teams or drivers (not since Alesi retired anyway) but I do love Kobayashi!

[marsh]

I find it strange that the sauber seems to be lacking some sponsorship. If you want exposure trackside it's your best bet to be honest. I think if Button goes to Ferrari, that's him effectively giving up on another championship opportunity, because I can't sed alonso allowing it.

Redbull are in that 1992 period williams used to occupy.....we all know what happened there.

I hope di resta and kamui get the cars they deserve to drive next year.

[exwhyzed]

Button in a Ferrari

[myoozikk]

Redbull are in that 1992 period williams used to occupy.....we all know what happened there.

That's why i hope Lewis doesn't move. The FIA will never allow the current Red Bull takeover to continue & no-one can know what next year will bring. Hopefully he'll look at Senna's move from Mclaren & that'll give him pause for thought. That said Mclaren need to give him a championship winning car stat!

[Dudley]

Nothing wrong with the track. Great 2 and 4 wheel racing there. Probably more to do with the series.

As JohnC points out, you're probably confusing it with the legitimately excellent nearby Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_Ricardo_Tormo

I don't believe the Street Circuit is used for any other meetings, although it did host an F3 weekend in 2008.

[Cheeko]

I don't think Button wants to be a second fiddle driver, as much as Hamilton is more of a race winner and generally gets more out of the car than Button the McLaren guys do seem to like Button more.

Him going to Red Bull to replace Webber I can totally see as a possibility, he would pair up with Vettel well and they'd let them race properly.

It's a tough call though, an F1 season is always a tough balancing act between improving your current car and making the next one better, McLaren have a habit of struggling through a season and then producing something awesome the next season because they'd switched their focus to developing the following year's car.

It's great to have an all British team as well.

[morcs]

Aren't McLaren more the team that keep relentlessly improving their current car and aim to "come from behind" at the end of the season?