Formula 1 - 2012 Season

[Kaotik]

Ahem....

If that's referring to Kimi & our short conversation earlier, he had quite ok race, gained only 1 place less than his teammate who got free pass from Alonso & Vettel whose wheels had melted under them

edit: forgot something, added it

 

[RobertR1]

I know people love it but this season is quite meh. Whoever can make tires last on a given weekend, gets the win. I guess "7 races, 7 winners!" is a wet dream for the marketing though.

 

[UniversalTruth]

I know people love it but this season is quite meh.

Only neutral spectators *may* love such a season. All the others, who are fans can't love it.

It was such a risky decision made by Alonso and his team. But the risk was worth it- a win or almost nothing (something similar to 'get rich or die trying' ). But it's not so bad- they missed 95% sure second place but now they have priceless experience. I hope these missed few points won't be crucial at the end of this year.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Whoever can make tires last on a given weekend, gets the win. I guess "7 races, 7 winners!" is a wet dream for the marketing though.

The tires are tricky for sure, but imo that's still an not accurate statement. Hamilton won with a relatively conservative tyre strategy, he didn't need to make the tires last. It was Alonso who tried to drive 52 laps with a single set and for him the gamble didn't pay off. The problem with the tires is that when they go off, they REALLY go off and fast.

It was such a risky decision made by Alonso and his team. But the risk was worth it- a win or almost nothing (something similar to 'get rich or die trying' ). But it's not so bad- they missed 95% sure second place but now they have priceless experience. I hope these missed few points won't be crucial at the end of this year.

There was a brief window where Alonso most likely had Hamilton covered for an additional pit stop, but the window was very short and they had to think about Vettel too.

 

[Gubbi]

It was such a risky decision made by Alonso and his team. But the risk was worth it- a win or almost nothing (something similar to 'get rich or die trying' ). But it's not so bad- they missed 95% sure second place but now they have priceless experience. I hope these missed few points won't be crucial at the end of this year.

Huge mistake, IMO. He lead the championship, he swapped a 90% certain second place with a very little chance of a win, and ended up with fifth place and eight points less.

Uncharacteristically Red Bull b0rked their tyre strategy too by waiting too long to pit.

Cheers

 

[DJ12]

I don't think they did bork anything. I think they (Ferrari and Red Bull) thought Hamilton was doing one stop (He had a nice gap but wasn't really pulling away). When Hamilton came out even with another pit hold up some 14.5 seconds behind there was little option but to try and stay out. Hamilton would've been ahead if they pitted then anyway. I think Red Bull did the best they could under the circumstances, Ferrari on the other hand dropped a major one.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Pit stop only cost about 14-15 sec in Montreal.

 

[DJ12]

yes and taking into account the 2-3 seconds Hamilton was quicker on his out lap they would've been behind.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

yes and taking into account the 2-3 seconds Hamilton was quicker on his out lap they would've been behind.

BS, he was nowhere near that much faster on his out lap and his pit stop wasn't great either unlike Ferrari always has. Alonso would have had a decent chance to overtake him had he pitted one lap after Hamilton. No comment on whether he could have made it stick.

edit: Lap times can be checked from here.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/06/11/2012-canadian-grand-prix-fastest-laps/

 

[Davros]

Tell you what was funny from the bbc's build up to the monaco gp.
They had lewis and jenson doing a feature, lewis in the control room and jenson in front of the camera
afterwards lewis said "jenson you were pretty good at that have you considered taking it up when you retire next year"

ps: sky's canada coverage, omg villeneuve is as bald as a coot...

 

[Gubbi]

I don't think they did bork anything. I think they (Ferrari and Red Bull) thought Hamilton was doing one stop (He had a nice gap but wasn't really pulling away). When Hamilton came out even with another pit hold up some 14.5 seconds behind there was little option but to try and stay out. Hamilton would've been ahead if they pitted then anyway. I think Red Bull did the best they could under the circumstances, Ferrari on the other hand dropped a major one.

Two laps after Hamilton was on fresh tyres he gained 1 to 2 seconds/lap, he was ten seconds behind Vettel with 17 laps to go. It was perfectly clear that the improvised one-stop strategy Ferrari and Red Bull tried would fail. Red Bull realised this, but too late to finish on the podium.

Cheers

 

[Lightman]

Alonso and Vettel had Grosjean in their way of following Lewis for second pitstop round (Hamilton only just came ahead of him from pits). If they followed they would have Lotus in front of them to overtake, which would not be easy with E20 straight line speed and good pace around 1m17s. Basically it was gamble for both Ferrari and RedBull no matter which way they decided at a time. With hindsight probably following McLaren to the pits would gave at least Alonso chance of 2nd place and guaranteed 3rd, Vettel would be 4th regardless as RedBull was too slow on straight to fight with Lotus.

 

[Bludd]

It was a good race, but ultimately I was heartbroken at the end. Now I know what Kimi fans felt in China.

 

[Billy Idol]

Good race, good season. Teams just need to learn race strategy again.

Vettel (and Alonso) could and should have stopped much earlier. They saw the lap times of Hamilton. What were they thinking: he won't overtake us, because he is such a gentleman?

Team with best strategy won.

 

[Kaotik]

Ooo, Kovalainen to Q2!

edit:
Good work by Lotus, Crashjean fastest, Kimi saved fresh tyres for last qualifying.

Heikki managed to squeeze one more grid position, 16th!

 

[Lightman]

If Lotus is as good on high temp. surface as everyone is implying then they can win it from 4th/5th.
I would not discount Vettel though as they have pretty new car there and it might be really good on tyres for what we know.

Ferrari distant 11th is a bit of a surprise but Button again competitive is a good news for McLaren.

 

[Kaotik]

If Lotus is as good on high temp. surface as everyone is implying then they can win it from 4th/5th.
I would not discount Vettel though as they have pretty new car there and it might be really good on tyres for what we know.

Ferrari distant 11th is a bit of a surprise but Button again competitive is a good news for McLaren.

I wouldn't really call 9th much more competitive than that "distant 11th"

 

[Lightman]

I wouldn't really call 9th much more competitive than that "distant 11th"

I didn't look only at Q3. Besides he was 0.39s away instead of over 1s.

Button usually was slower in Q than Hamilton but his race pace was really good. So we will get better picture tomorrow during race, that is if he survives first few corners intact.

 

[Bludd]

Vettel is insane. 0.25 covered top 12 in Q2 and Vettel just smoked everyone with the same and he had just one run. That is insane.

 

[Kaotik]

I didn't look only at Q3. Besides he was 0.39s away instead of over 1s.

Button usually was slower in Q than Hamilton but his race pace was really good. So we will get better picture tomorrow during race, that is if he survives first few corners intact.

Alonso was only 0.218s from fastest time in Q2 and faster than Button in Q3, would have gotten 7th position with that time in Q3