Formula One 2011

[Mr Revhead]

OMG Vettal didn't win!
But secured his 2nd championship. No suprise there really!
Oh and look, Massa is whinging again, regardless of previous incidents that was a dumb place to try a move like that. Wtf was he doing there.

[Mr Ree]

Congrats to Vettel for taking out his second gong in as many years. He fully deserved it with his, and his teams outstanding dominance this year. Can they take the Hat trick next year, or will the blown diffuser ban shake things up a bit? Fingers crossed

For once the Mercedes team had a competitive race. Even though Schu has had two higher finishes this year, I think this was his and the teams best performance based on his gap to the front 3 teams. He finished in front of Massa, and 2 seconds behind Hamilton, something that hasnt been close to happening this year. Hopefully a sign of things to come for 2012.

Korea in 4 days woohoo, time for some expiring engines

[2jayzgte]

The most disappointing thing for me is how easily and how early RBR have locked this thing up to be honest the opposition hardly had RBR under any pressure this year and even with the mid year change of rule to try and bring RBR back to the pack I just think at the moment F-1 has that one horse race look about it with everyone else going for 2nd and Vettel has driven his car really well and no one has been able to touch him to be fair.

[Mr Ree]

Yep, and thats what I love about Formula One. It allows the best driver/engineer/designer/car/tyre combo to prove beyond doubt that they did the best job. While it would have been nice for the cup to go to the wire, I think we have all got a little to used to it going down to the wire over the past 6 years since Schumacher first retired. Keep in mind that he wrapped up titles with far more races to go in a season, in a season where there were even fewer races. The only difference is that we can still be guaranteed of a very exciting season end due to how close the racing has been this year,

I think that the temporary banning of the hot/cold blown diffuser for one race mid-season showed that the pecking order was altered (Ferrari's
only win), so maybe we might be in for a closer run championship next year once its banned for good and exhausts need to exit above the body work.

Not to mention the front teams will now use the rest of the FP sessions this year to test 2012 spec body parts to try and get a jump on the pack. Couples with all the teams having a full year of tyre wear data to help redesign their new suspension packages, and tweak their on track set ups alot better. DRS will be fine tuned even more for each specific track where as this year was all educated guesswork, sometimes it worked well, sometimes it hindered performance

Im certainly not going to doubt Adrian Newey, but I honestly do see the laws of diminishing returns starting to play a bigger part in 2012, its only natural and expected for that to happen, as it has done to every other dominant team over the years.

Nothing lasts forever

[Mr Ree]

45 mins until FP1 in Korea

The tyre wear is going to be ludicrous this weekend, now the top has been taken off the tracks surface, exposing the sharp macro/micro. Given the severity of the corners in the middle sector, its possible that some cars will have to run 5 stops (the max they can do with 6 sets of tyres) It will be interesteing to see what cambers the front teams choose to run given the 3 monstorous straights

This race could very well play into the hands of whoever can set the car up to be the easiest on tyres, while still having decent pace, rathert than going for all out speed. Expect to see a few big gambles on strategy from the mid field.

Go Schuey

[Mr Revhead]

45 mins until FP1 in Korea

The tyre wear is going to be ludicrous this weekend, now the top has been taken off the tracks surface, exposing the sharp macro/micro. Given the severity of the corners in the middle sector, its possible that some cars will have to run 5 stops (the max they can do with 6 sets of tyres) It will be interesteing to see what cambers the front teams choose to run given the 3 monstorous straights

This race could very well play into the hands of whoever can set the car up to be the easiest on tyres, while still having decent pace, rathert than going for all out speed. Expect to see a few big gambles on strategy from the mid field.

Go home Schuey

Fixed

[Mr. Mainstream]

looks to be a good one

[2jayzgte]

Well Ferrari did a good job again sarcasm left Alonso behind Massa for 2/3rds of the race and when he does get past puts in 5 of the 6 fastest laps of the race drops Massa like a bad cold and follows Button for 5th spot..Good job Ferrari hahahahaha..

There onto it alright I'm not sure if they want to do well or not.

[Mr Ree]

There was alot more to it that that though mate.

The sulking spaniard had severe graining during the first two stints of the race, and by his own admission wasnt fast enough to pass Massa until the end when the track rubbered in and his car started working a bit better.

Massa has outqualified him in 4 or the last 6 races so if he wants to avoid following Massa during a race (especially now the championship is over), he needs to start qualifying ahead of him so it doesnt become as issue.

I have been super impressed with how Massa has just kept his head down and done his job as well as possible, given that he knows the team is now built around Alonso. It is a very hard position to be in and I feel he is dealing with it alot better than he was at the end of last year.

While I dont like Alonso, I can freely admit he is one of the most complete drivers out there, but people are all too quick to forget that Massa almost won the gong in 08, and held his own against Schuey for a season, and Kimi for 3 seasons. Alot of Massa's performances through 07,08, were stunning, and that of a champion driver. Missing half of 09 due to his head injury, then coming back to a changed team must have been extremely hard to deal with, but he didnt walk away with his lip out.

Unfortunately the dice just didnt roll his way on that drizzly day in Sao Paulo.

[2jayzgte]

There was alot more to it that that though mate.

The sulking spaniard had severe graining during the first two stints of the race, and by his own admission wasnt fast enough to pass Massa until the end when the track rubbered in and his car started working a bit better.

Massa has outqualified him in 4 or the last 6 races so if he wants to avoid following Massa during a race (especially now the championship is over), he needs to start qualifying ahead of him so it doesnt become as issue.

I have been super impressed with how Massa has just kept his head down and done his job as well as possible, given that he knows the team is now built around Alonso. It is a very hard position to be in and I feel he is dealing with it alot better than he was at the end of last year.

While I dont like Alonso, I can freely admit he is one of the most complete drivers out there, but people are all too quick to forget that Massa almost won the gong in 08, and held his own against Schuey for a season, and Kimi for 3 seasons. Alot of Massa's performances through 07,08, were stunning, and that of a champion driver. Missing half of 09 due to his head injury, then coming back to a changed team must have been extremely hard to deal with, but he didnt walk away with his lip out.

Unfortunately the dice just didnt roll his way on that drizzly day in Sao Paulo.

Massa's done mate.

The problem being here with supposed team orders and what not I still gotta get my quicker driver up the road its clear that Alonso regardless of his personalty flaws is alot better than Massa and is up the points further.I gotta think from this train wreck of a last 2 years Ferrari have had Alonso is the only guy who has looked likely and it makes Massa's efforts 07,08 look like a long time ago.

I don't think the hierachy at Ferrari are convinced of Massa either hence when Schey retired they bought in Raikkonen and then after he left Alonso was there guy and with all this in mind despite Massa's performance in 08 had a chance to cement his no.1 spot at Ferrari but as above the powers that be at Ferrari just were'nt sold on Massa I believe so I think he'll be lucky to still have a seat at Ferrari next season.

[Mr Ree]

Right chaps, with the Inaugural Indian GP almost upon us, I thought I would give everyone a link to a simulation of the new track from Maclaren Mercedes

http://www.mclaren.com/page/take-a-lap- ... al-circuit

There are some great corners on there, 2 blind crests into hairpins, one segment thats very much like Pouhon (at Spa) but without the run down to Fagnes, and another 270deg , multiple apex, right hander thats going to be the corner to cause tyre issues for all the teams.

Also, a 10 year deal has just been announced for the new F1 race in New Jersey. Its a great idea, and will turn alot more of the west coast Americans into F1 fans. Not to mention having a great back drop to the race.

Finally, after 2 weekends of absolute tragedies in motorsport, heres to a safe weekend and a really mixed up first race in India.

Go Schuey

[Mr Revhead]

Yeah that new track looks cool! And two races in the USA can only be good.
However I am worried about some of the real tracks and GP racings proper homes missing out in the future....

[Mr Ree]

Yeah that is always going to be a problem now that the calendar is completely full with the 20 race max per season.

Even with all the new tracks that have come online over the past decade ...Malaysia...Bahrain...China...Turkey...Valencia...Singapore...Abu Dhabi..., we havent lost too many, but all that is about to change when we also have to fit Korea...India...Austin...Moscow...New Jersey, not to mention the possibility of going back to South Africa and a second Gp in India.

The only positive of the new tracks is that we are going to lose Hungary off the calendar. Its just not suited to a modern day F1 car.

I think it wont be too long before we only have about 4 classic tracks on the calendar...Silverstone is safe, Monza is safe, Of course Monaco is safe, but the most important track, Spa, well...Im not so confident

[Mr Revhead]

Don't forget Interlagos! Love that track!

[Mr Ree]

Yeah sorry revvy, I was mainly referring to the European tracks that have been there since day dot.

Although I completely agree with you about Interlagos, its an amazing track and the passion of the crowd means you can overlook the tracks many short comings as far as safety, drainage, and overall appearance are concerned.

Ironically if any track should be dropped though, it really should be Interlagos, based on Bernies complaints about Silverstone a few years back.

But honestly I cant see it being dropped, if only for the link to Senna, so we are probably safe

[thornz]

Looking forward to this one, a pretty cool track after playing it on F1 2011.

On other news:

http://planetf1.com/driver/18227/726865 ... liams-deal

What do we reckon?

To me the fact that neither party has come out denying this rumour at any stage suggests there may be truth to it?

[thornz]

Some photos from the venue:



Spot the symmetry!



Brundles com-box for the weekend. He's not a happy chappy.

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[Mr Revhead]

Still only rumour, and how reliable is that source?
But it seems to be a persistent rumour, and given Kimis attitude at the last rally I'm going to say it is quite possible.
Maybe in Williams he has found a team that won't be as high profile appearance wise and if they put the right things together they can be on the way up. Maybe.

[thornz]

I hope this roof wasn't supposed to be straight!



or this one

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[thornz]

And this one just takes the cake