Formula 1 2012

[ryushen21]

Originally Posted by chmee

Impressive flat out from Nico.

After Malaysia Ross Brawn described their car as a conundrum puzzle, so it is obvious that the team has done a really good job in the past three weeks. The car worked the tyres perfectly. The weather conditions of course were ideal for them, as well as the track layout. Had Schu survived his first pitstop Mercedes could even have made an one-two finish.

Behind Nico it was a close call between McLaren, RB and Lotus, with a slight edge for McLaren. Without his mishappen second pitstop Button would have been much closer to Nico, but I don't think close enough to actually challenge him, since Mercedes' strategy seemed the superior one today.

Allthough RB struggles a lot in qualifying, they are still competitive in the race. The tyre degradation issue seemingly hit Kimi the most as he dropped from the second place outside of top 10 in just 1 1/2 laps short before finish. Thus Lotus together with Sauber were the under performers today, while I think Ferrari made the most of their car under their present configuration.

Heading for Bahrain I hope we won't see any tanks on the circuit

I think Schuey is just having flat out bad luck this season. This is the second race he's been out with mechanical failure. Granted this one truly wasn't his fault. I imagine that pit team will have had a rather stern talking to.

RB may end up being the quiet killers this season. At least as far as the constructor's title goes. They are always there. I still think McLaren is going to walk away with it though.

Bahrain will be interesting to say the least.

Originally Posted by Ash_Smith

Dull as dishwater until the last 12 laps and then one of the best periods of racing i've seen in years!

Seriously! What an amazing end to the race. As great as it was for Nico, everything that was happening with the rest of the field was just outstanding. Challenging, overtaking, teammates battling with each other. I hope all the races can be that lively.

[The Bawss]

China was amazing. Poor kimi with the tyres and poor Schumacher. Great race from Jenson and Lewis. And Nico too, great for him to win a race finally, I guess now he won't be a total failure in the eyes of his Dad.

[West Coast Ace]

Great race. A lot of action without rain. This yr's Pirelli's have really made things interesting.

Congrats to Nico on #1. Don't think it will be his last this yr.

Let's all hope Bahrain goes off without any incidents.

Side note: if you haven't already, watch the 'Senna' documentary.

[ryushen21]

Originally Posted by West Coast Ace

Great race. A lot of action without rain. This yr's Pirelli's have really made things interesting.

Congrats to Nico on #1. Don't think it will be his last this yr.

Let's all hope Bahrain goes off without any incidents.

Side note: if you haven't already, watch the 'Senna' documentary.

They definitely are.

I thought it was crazy how dirty the track got as the race wore on. It wasn't even 20 laps in before there was a serious accumulation of marbles outside the main line. I think that kind of discouraged drivers from being more aggressive where they could have been.

I really want Bahrain to go without incident just because it's a great track and should be another good race.

[bigant2984]

great race in china, some of the best racing towards the end of the race, great job nico, my mclaren boys 1,2 in the points,plz lewis lets get a win , kimi is getting better an better,

[ryushen21]

Originally Posted by bigant2984

great race in china, some of the best racing towards the end of the race, great job nico, my mclaren boys 1,2 in the points,plz lewis lets get a win , kimi is getting better an better,

Imagine what kind of race it would have been if Lewis hadn't had to take that 5 position penalty...

[chmee]

Originally Posted by The Bawss

...I guess now he won't be a total failure in the eyes of his Dad.

Nico has now as much wins as Keke in his championship year 1982 Besides, Keke is the first ex-champ to actually see his son win a GP, as the late Graham Hill and Giles Villeneuve died far too early to see their offspring win anything.

There are now three different winners from three different teams so far. Another three teams are looking able to challenge them, so I think we are into a heck of a season.

Kimi said afterwards that it was exactly those marbles that destroyed his tyres completely as he was defending against Vettel, thus his rapid fall to p 14.

@west coast ace: is there a new Senna documentary coming out?

[ryushen21]

I watched Senna last night. A great documentary. I really enjoyed the way that it was put together. Definitely makes you wish Ayrton were still around.

Mercedes looks to be out front again from the first practices. But I think that the heat in Bahrain could be problematic for them in terms of tire maintenance.

[Ash_Smith]

Looks like to soft tyre is going to fall apart in no laps today! Should make for an interesting race.

Cheers

[chmee]

And the fourth winner(&team) of the season has emerged. Great come back from Vettel, who still does not like his car's balance. Also the Lotus team was a strong contender today, so I don't think it will take them long to be the fifth team to win a race this season.

The McLarens were a disappointment, considered where they started. They clearly did not work their tyres well. Then the bad pit stops and the puncture left them with only 4 points today.

The Mercedes made the best of their grid. Schu drove through the field to gather a point, which was quite impressive given how close the most teams are. Nico fighted well after his disasterous start and regained the 5th in the end.

As for the incidents with Hamilton and Alonso I don't think Nico did do anything the former two drivers hadn't done themselves, were they in his defensive position. So the fist pumping from Alonso was quite a childish reaction. Ferrari has got some work to do in the coming tests in Mugello

As for Mugello and Barcelona afterwards I think we might see slight shifts in the now very unpredictable pecking order. So far I think consistency will win this year's championship.

[ryushen21]

I was really hoping that Kimi would get up there and take the lead from Vettel but that RB8 is really quick out of the corners. All around it was another really good race.

I really don't know what happened to McLaren this weekend. Their race pace wasn't as good as it had been in the previous three races and the pits were a nightmare. Hamilton could have had a better finish but he had two bad pit stops with the same guy causing the problem both times. Even without that, the cars didn't seem like they had the performance that they had previously. I wonder if they have reconsidered sitting out the mid-season testing.

I was just glad that Schuey finished the race without incident. Really great finish considering where he started. I still think he will win at least one race this season.

There really is no predicting things this season. Every team seems to be having a strong showing at one point or another so they all can be a threat to win. It's making things really great for the fans.

[Ash_Smith]

It's certainly making things exciting isn't it! Would have loved Kimi to catch Vettel - the Lotus was a really good package all around. Both McLaren drivers commented that they had bad tyre wear on their rears, which you could expect from Lewis, as he isn't exactly the smoothest driver, driving like he's still in a Kart (he is lightning quick with it though). JB though is a much smoother driver usually and quick light on his tyres usually, so it's odd that he was toasting his tyres so badly.

Cheers

[Bobby Jr]

Originally Posted by ryushen21

I watched Senna last night. A great documentary. I really enjoyed the way that it was put together. Definitely makes you wish Ayrton were still around.

Did you see it on DVD or in theatres? The DVD version is about 45 minutes longer.

Oddly, despite how often he featured, the doco doesn't really get any commentary from Gerhard Berger. I'd have thought, as one of Senna's good friends and ex team-mates, would have been a good go-to person for the doco.

[ryushen21]

Originally Posted by Bobby Jr

Did you see it on DVD or in theatres? The DVD version is about 45 minutes longer.

Oddly, despite how often he featured, the doco doesn't really get any commentary from Gerhard Berger. I'd have thought, as one of Senna's good friends and ex team-mates, would have been a good go-to person for the doco.

I watched on netflix streaming so I'm not sure whih version that would be but I would guess it's the shorter one. I will probably pick up the DVD though.

[chmee]

Here are the unofficial aggregate test times from Mugello 1.-3. May:

1. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1:21.035, 163 Laps
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1:21.267, 172 Laps
3. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:21.363, 144 Laps
4. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1:21.603, 135 Laps
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso, 1:21.604, 139 Laps
6. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:21.997, 78 Laps
7. Sergio Perez, Sauber, 1:22.229, 118 Laps
8. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:22.257, 106 Laps
9. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:22.325, 55 Laps
10. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1:22.422, 97 Laps
11. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:22.497, 63 Laps
12. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:22.579, 178 Laps
13. Oliver Turvey, McLaren, 1:22.662, 129 Laps
14. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:23.002, 48 Laps
15. Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham, 1:23.169, 139 Laps
16. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes, 1:23.404, 149 Laps
17. Timo Glock, Marussia, 1:23.466, 147 Laps
18. Charles Pic, Marussia, 1:23.982, 91 Laps
19. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Lotus, 1:24.048, 40 Laps
20. Vitaly Petrov, Caterham, 1:24.312, 112 Laps
21. Gary Paffett, McLaren, 1:24.480, 63 Laps
22. Bruno Senna, Williams, 1:24.842, 100 Laps
23. Jules Bianchi, Force India, 1:25.475, 19 Laps
24. Rodolfo Gonzalez, Caterham, 1:27.197, 35 Laps
25. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:29.179, 28 Laps

As much as they are worth something, they seem to hint a upward spin for Lotus and RB like in Bahrain. Ferrari also seems stronger on their home turf, than in the past races. Mercedes clearly worked for their race performance. And McLaren took part after all, if without their star drivers, which makes it difficult to judge their times.

Generally speaking I think there should be more testing, as it is an integrate part of motor sport. It's only the question of balance how much test days under which conditions is allowed for what costs. For instance one could give free the Thursdays before the races, since all teams are allready on the track. This proposal, for whatever reasons, didn't find the majority in the preliminary discussions. As it is now, this was the one and only test during the current season.

Some vintage when the tests were free:
Senna's 1986 Lotus 98T with 1300 hp (photo by myself in an exhibition some 1 1/2 year ago):

[ryushen21]

Interesting developments out of the McLaren camp. They will be running a higher nose design in Barcelona. It still doesn't look like the stepped noses on the other cars but it is definitely an aerodynamic change. I'm wondering if this will be a permanent change or just for the Barcelona race.

[chmee]

There are quite a few subtle changes in the front wing of MP4-27. I suspect they are working on their own double DRS system. According to Martin Whitmarsh there will also be some changes in their pit-stop crew aswell.

[ryushen21]

Originally Posted by chmee

There are quite a few subtle changes in the front wing of MP4-27. I suspect they are working on their own double DRS system. According to Martin Whitmarsh there will also be some changes in their pit-stop crew aswell.

I think that Whitmarsh was being a bit sly when he focused his comments on how the new wing will adjust airflow towards the back of the car. It seems to me as well that the new wing may very well be introducing a DDRS system for the car. I don't doubt that they are also trying to increase and redirect airflow towards the rear of the car though. I really hope that they get the pits figured out. If it hadn't been for bad stops, Hamilton would have a win and Jenson would have two...

RB has been toying with exhaust and seeing what they can do to try to replicate the blown diffuser effect from the past two years and all of the teams are tweaking their aero specs.

[El Diablo]

A moment of silence please --- the great Carroll Shelby has passed away.

[chmee]

Strange qualifying today. Q1&Q2 being a very close call, with even the top shots running on soft tyres in the early stages. And even so one RB and McLaren didn't make it to Q3 at all. The top 10 went then to Q3 with no sets of fresh tyres available, which made the 'final' somewhat disappointing. I do hope that FIA and the teams will be able to adjust the restrictive tyre regulations till Monaco.

Unfortunately Lewis lost his pole due to his car not having sufficient fuel on board after his great last lap to beat Maldonado. So we will see a Williams on the pole, which is an admirable acchievement from their team. The car must have solid aerodynamic qualities to fare so well in Barcelona.

Ferrari's new backwing seems to have put at least Alonso back to the front of the grid (3). So another top contender is back in business. Otherwise I think there had been some dramatical personal changes in the team. Now it's only Massa who may well be fired in the near future.

Mercedes and Red Bull seemed to struggle a bit, but I'm wondering if they were running on a different setup due to the weather forecasts for tomorrow. We shall see...