Formula 1 - 2011 Season

[Lightman]

Ferrari has plenty of mechanical grip which is important in Monaco. Renault has good mechanical grip as well but they lack Kubica to push this car near the walls as Alonso does .

I suspect RedBull will be stonger comes quali, but still rest of the best will be a lot closer or even ahead of them

 

[Gerry]

Rosberg lucky to escape a big, big off in free practice. Lost control coming out of the tunnel, hit a wall, and then missed hitting a barrier head-on by about a foot. Scary stuff.

And then Perez does exactly the same thing in qualifying but isn't quite so lucky. Sounds like he's OK though.

 

[Kaotik]

FFS, black flag that damn Hamilton out already, already crashed 2 other drivers

edit: Hopefully they'll disqualify him from the race afterwards since they didn't black flag him
Couple races ban might make him learn he can't just screw everyone elses races by crashing or dangerous driving all the time

edit:
LOL, he actually blames the other drivers for both crashes, and is wondering why on earth he has been called by the stewards for hearing in 5 races out of 6 this season, soon he'll probably pull out the racist card too

edit:
Actually he indeed did draw the racist card out, even if as (half) joke

“Out of six races I’ve been to the stewards five times. It’s a joke. It’s an absolute fricking joke.

“You know you can’t overtake here. Very, very rarely do you get an opportunity.

“I was quite a lot quicker than Massa, I went up the inside and the guy just turned so early and just turned into me so I tried to go onto the kerb to avoid him, and we’re stuck together.

“So it was just… and of course I get a penalty which is usual. He held me up in qualifying and I got the penalty. He turned into me, and I got the penalty.

“And I went up the inside of Maldonado and you can see on the screen he turned in a good car length too early to stop me from overtaking him and crashed into me. This stuff’s ridiculous. These drivers are absolutely fricking ridiculous, it’s stupid.”

Asked why he has had so many penalties he joked: “Maybe it’s because I’m black – that’s what Ali G says! I don’t know.

He denied it was affecting his driving: “No, it’s not affecting my confidence as a driver.

“I just think the sport is… you know, people want to see my racing, they want to see overtaking, and you get done for trying to overtake, trying to put on a show. I’m trying to make a move.

“Fair play if I really feel I’ve just gone too late and hit someone, I put my hand up and realise, OK, I really have caused an incident and been the stupid one, but it’s not the case.

“I’ll just try to keep my mouth shut and enjoy the rest of the season which, I’m sure, is going to be an interesting one, but as you can see he’s walking away with it.”

He denied the result has ended his championship chances, saying: “No, it’s never too late, but it’s not looking great.

“I gave it my all today and the team did a great job to get the car back out and get it fixed for the last few laps.”

 

[cjo]

FFS, black flag that damn Hamilton out already, already crashed 2 other drivers

edit: Hopefully they'll disqualify him from the race afterwards since they didn't black flag him
Couple races ban might make him learn he can't just screw everyone elses races by crashing or dangerous driving all the time

edit:
LOL, he actually blames the other drivers for both crashes, and is wondering why on earth he has been called by the stewards for hearing in 5 races out of 6 this season, soon he'll probably pull out the racist card too

edit:
Actually he indeed did draw the racist card out, even if as (half) joke

Schumacher did the same thing to both Hamilton and Rosberg as Hamilton did to Massa at the hairpin bend, the difference is that Hamilton and Rosberg decided to get out of Schumacher's way rather than just turning the wheel anyway - perhaps Hamilton shouldn't have made the move, but he wasn't the only driver to do exactly that same move today.

With the Hamilton incident after the race restart, the other guy turns in earlier than the preceding cars did (which Hamilton states in one of his post-race interviews). He also doesn't seem to have been issued a penalty for it, so it seems the stewards agreed it wasn't his fault.

Why not criticise other drivers that caused accidents, like Sutil, who screwed up and caused another driver to be taken to hospital - if causing accidents that people walk away from unharmed warrants a ban for a few races, what punishment should Sutil get?

There has been a lot of criticism in the past of the lack of overtaking in F1, and the only way to get more is if the drivers take risks and try to grab places when they see a chance - you shouldn't then criticize drivers for taking a chance and it not working out.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I hate when the safety car ruins the race for a driver, Button should have won today.

 

[Kaotik]

Actually Hamilton did get another 20 sec penalty after the race for the Maldonado case.

Even if Maldonado, who was clearly ahead and could choose his racing line, had used the exact same line as the others, Hamilton still would have crashed him.

Sutil hit a wall which broke his wheel which caused the accident chain reaction, not some kamikaze overtake move.

I have to re-check the Schumacher/Hamilton case, but at least when he passed Rosberg he was on the inside curve a lot earlier than Hamilton when he crashed to Massa, heck, Hamilton didn't even fit the race track at all when he did his move. He also should have seen that Massa couldn't have given him room even if he tried since he would have hit Webber or whoever was in front of them.

Maldonado was clearly in lead compared to Hamilton and had the right to choose his racing line

There's a clear difference between "trying to make a overtaking move" and "kamikaze attack which can only lead to accident"
You think it's a coincidence he has been called in for hearing by stewards in 5 out of 6 races?

 

[Gerry]

I have to admit I think Hamilton drove like a twat today. The 20s penalty he got for taking out Maldonado was a joke. We may like to see some overtaking during a race but we also like to see those drivers who deserve to finish highly in the race actually get the chance to finish rather than getting smashed off the road.

 

[Kaotik]

Massa demands harder punishment for Hamilton, not only because what happened between them, but also what happened with other(s), aka Maldonado.

He's saying that Hamilton won't learn unless they really punish him hard, and considering Hamilton has been called by the stewards for hearing in already 5 races out of 6 this season, Massa isn't really on weak ground asking for such either.

edit:
Former F1 driver, Mika Salo, commented though that in his opinion Hamilton didn't deserve the penalty from Massa incident, but definately did from the one with Maldonado

 

[Bludd]

The red flag tyre change rule should be changed. You should only be allowed to change tyres under red flag if there's a weather change or if there is more than 25% race laps left.

Up to the red flag, it was a bloody fantastic race. There were incidents, overtaking and drama.

Hamilton was frustrated today, he was unlucky in quali and the team made a mistake waiting in Q3, so he drove like a maniac. I think all his penalties were fair.

Vettel's "amazing" strategy was a mistake, he should have been on options. Still, it was good defending from him. Button would have won if he didn't pit just before first SC, Alonso would have had a big chance of winning if not for red flag.

Canada is going to be insane, remember last year? Even Bridgestone's tyres were poor in Canada so the Pirellis are going to go off like crazy and we have double DRS. I just cannot wait.

 

[Phil]

Edit: Oops, stuffed up my edits a bit sorry. Ignore this post.

 

[Phil]

Actually Hamilton did get another 20 sec penalty after the race for the Maldonado case.

In both racing incidents, there are two sides to the argument. In the case of Hamilton/Massa, Hamilton attempted the exact same move Schumacher pulled with Hamilton and Rosberg. Massa did in fact pull in earlier - you can clearly see this relative to Webber who was driving ahead.

To illustrate better (editet out the Youtube video since it's probably going to be gone soon anyway):

Also, while we're on the incidents, lets take Hamilton/Maldonado:

It does beg the question - how far does a driver have to be up along side another not to be turned into? This is not to argue that Hamilton is in the right and Maldonado in the wrong, but that there are different angles one could look at the incidents at.

 

[DJ12]

Surely this only highlights one thing, and that is that Monaco has no place on the calendar anymore.

Yes Hamilton was a bit of a bone head, but as there is literally nowhere to pass on the track what other choice did he have.

 

[Kaotik]

Phil, even though Massa did pull inside earlier, he was still ahead and had the right to choose his line, and if he had given Hamilton space, he would have hit Webber in the rear tyre.
As for comparing their lines, it should be done on clear laps, since the drivers used several different racing lines on Louvre-corner during the race, depending on their driving styles, some prefer going sharper in and more "round" exit, while others prefer the other way around

Surely this only highlights one thing, and that is that Monaco has no place on the calendar anymore.

Yes Hamilton was a bit of a bone head, but as there is literally nowhere to pass on the track what other choice did he have.

How come he and others did many, many passes without hitting anyone, then? (Even more than usually in Monaco)

 

[DJ12]

All passes were pretty identical (IE diving up the inside) to what Hamilton tried only the other drivers stayed out the way.

 

[Phil]

Kaotic,
I'm not here to argue that Hamilton was faultless nor that his attempt wasn't ambitious. I do think however that in that particular incident with Massa - Massa turned in 2 car lengths before Webber did. At that point, Hamiltons front right was just level with Massa's rear left and coming through faster. If Massa was attempting to block the inside, he did so extremely late. While you can't really see that on the pictures, it is visible on the Youtube feed I posted which should still work.

Schumacher pulled this exact move on Hamilton on the first lap - he also pulled it on Rosberg mid race. In both cases, both drivers were aware of what was happening around them and left some space. I can't help but think that Massa's block was a bit off and at the very least late.

While his post race interview wasn't exactly diplomatic, it's easy to see where he's coming from: He clearly had the pace for pole - or close to (if not 2nd) and would have been in very close fight for the win or podium if he had not been affected by the Perez crash. Even worse: Hamilton was held up on his first flying lap in Q3 by Massa for more than a few corners. If you check the sector times, after that incident, Hamilton was down 2 seconds (55.x instead of 53.x seconds off Vettel). He then backed off to do another lap and on that one, Perez had his crash and the session got red flaged. Due to how things unfolded, he started 9th and had to battle through a field of much slower cars. The horrific pit stop for him didn't help much either (bringing him out in traffic again).

I do have to say though, what Vettel was trying to achieve and what he did pull off on that tyre was mighty impressive.

 

[Kaotik]

All passes were pretty identical (IE diving up the inside) to what Hamilton tried only the other drivers stayed out the way.

Huh? The race had passes all over the lap, not just Louvre

 

[cjo]

Huh? The race had passes all over the lap, not just Louvre

I think he meant that most of the overtakes were of the same style; Finding a tiny gap on the entry to the corner, wedging the car in as far as you can and relying on the other driver not wanting to damage their car and giving them the space they needed to get round.

 

[Bludd]

Hamilton is probably just annoyed that he doesn't have the reputation of Ayrton Senna. He wants people to leap out of the way in fear when he tries a move. He's also probably annoyed that Schumacher pulled a fast one on him on the first lap.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Well if he's hoping for that he is out of luck. I think more now than ever the current drivers are not that impressed by big names.

 

[RobertR1]

The 2 passes Schumacher made yesterday were the best of the race. He laid off the brakes and pulled up alongside before corner entry to avoid annually turn in.

Hamilton only good move on was schmacher in T1. The rest were boneheaded.