Formula 1 - 2012 Season

[tongue_of_colicab]

God I hate the germans. It's just like with football, they always win, no matter how shit the play. Same with vettel. Screw up on saturday, start on the back of the grid, come in for a new wing twice and still make it to thrid.

Great race by Alonso. He looked pretty tired on the podium though.

Big plusses for Kimi. Funny on the radio and funny on the podium.

And sky/coulthard need to shut up about somebody saying fuck. Nobody gives a fuck.

Btw, i'm pretty sure coulthard gave vettel a nice fuck you when poured the drink over him

 

[Lightman]

Didn't expect this much excitment from Abu Dabi race!
Great job Kimi, Alonso and Vettel. Vettel had it easy thanks to timely SC, still attacked a lot.

 

[Tahir2]

Brilliant race, well done to Kimi - amazing recovery by Red Bull who played the whole fuel issue extremely well and then lucked in such an amazing position. Makes me want Fernando Alonso to win the WDC even more!

 

[Bludd]

Fantastic race, disgustingly quick Vettel, great job by Kimi, unlucky for Lewis and 2 more laps for Alonso to get a DRS overtake to get the win?

Button, y you no keep vettel behind for 2 more laps?!!?

 

[Billy Idol]

Lol, no one likes the germans...

Poor Hamilton. Vettel had a great race and a great strategy, some bad luck with dumb Riccardo and some good luck with SC. Alonso again maximized what is possible with Ferrari, even had the chance to win. Kimi is phantastic...I must admit that I was not a Kimi fan in his first F1 career, but this season: he is one of my favorites and it is extreme what he has achieved so far...what a great driver!

This race proves that everything is possible this season and that the championship is not over...

 

[Lightman]

I think what also helped Vettel with his recovery was circuit tarmac as it didn't cause wear to tyres and you could push harder than usual. I wonder if most drivers drove preserving tyres even though they didn't had to.

 

[UniversalTruth]

I have to admit that the circuit Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi is the most beautiful and exciting race track in F1 calendar. Perhaps it is not as good as Spa with regards to history, driving wise, etc, but the atmosphere over there is brilliant. Like a dream. Like paradise, in comparison to South Korea which looks more like inferno...

and 2 more laps for Alonso to get a DRS overtake to get the win

Ok, regarding safety car and general organisation, they could have managed it much better. Again hold the safety car too long on the circuit, while the stewards were few and very slow in removing debris.
If it is intentional, then it sucks. I guess it is about big televisions interests, so they broadcast advertisements... Perhaps something else.

Lol, no one likes the germans.

That's not true. I have nothing against them. They are ordinary people like all the others. But that particular driver and his style/ character are not very nice.

 

[Bludd]

I think what also helped Vettel with his recovery was circuit tarmac as it didn't cause wear to tyres and you could push harder than usual. I wonder if most drivers drove preserving tyres even though they didn't had to.

Yeah, Pirelli totally dropped the ball on that one. Should have been super soft and soft for this race and India for sure.

Regarding tracks and good races: this year two of the traditionally most boring races - Valencia and Abu Dhabi - have been great. Amazing season indeed.

 

[UniversalTruth]

Pirelli totally dropped the ball on that one. Should have been super soft and soft for this race and India for sure.

Pirelli have done some good job and there is no more tyre debris all over circuits. Perhaps they made races a tad more predictable given tyres higher quality but... nevertheless.

Regarding tracks and good races: this year two of the traditionally most boring races - Valencia and Abu Dhabi - have been great. Amazing season indeed.

Nothing will be boring if you are positive towards it. If you expect too much, blame too much, and don't have a good attitude, then of course, the chance it gets boring dramatically increases.

 

[Tahir2]

Nothing will be boring if you are positive towards it. If you expect too much, blame too much, and don't have a good attitude, then of course, the chance it gets boring dramatically increases.

Whilst that is a great bit of psycho-analysis UT, the main reason Abu Dhabi was not boring is:
1. Lewis Hamilton retiring allowing Kimi to get his first win in his come back season
2. Sebestian Vettel having to battle from the back after almost ruining his race (twice)
3. Safety car due to incidents on the track
4. Amount of overtaking or attempted passes due to DRS and straight line speed differences between the cars

That kinda helped

 

[Kaotik]

Fantastic race, disgustingly quick Vettel, great job by Kimi, unlucky for Lewis and 2 more laps for Alonso to get a DRS overtake to get the win?

Button, y you no keep vettel behind for 2 more laps?!!?

Not necessarily, for the last 2 laps Kimi actually pulled a tenth or two more gap to Alonso

 

[Bludd]

Not necessarily, for the last 2 laps Kimi actually pulled a tenth or two more gap to Alonso

We'll never know!

 

[jimbo75]

Alonso got badly out of shape on the penultimate lap, at the corner where they get very close to the wall - that was his chance gone.

Anyway...better to be lucky than good? Hamilton probably thinks so.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20199430

I'm no Vettel hater, but jesus that was the luckiest drive I've ever witnessed in 31 years of watching F1.

 

[Phil]

I'm no Vettel hater, but jesus that was the luckiest drive I've ever witnessed in 31 years of watching F1.

IMO - and I'm by no means a Vettel supporter - but what a drive he showed yesterday. I think it would have felt too easy if Vettel took the WDC, but surely the race yesterday put things a bit into perspective and IMO makes him as worthy of the title as Alonso.

Yes, Vettel had fortune on his side yesterday, not all overtakes were clean, but he still got the job done and the two safety cars didn't help to the extend some might think, as the first one, he wasted on his own by running into that sign while avoiding Ricciardo, nullfying his advantage and having to retake all those positions again, and by the time the 2nd safety car was called in, he was already in 4th, so he's gain there to get close to Button was already quite minor. What's left was an absolute drive from last to the podium, something I only remember Button achieving when in Canada (with a similar advantage then, also helped by various incidents on the track and a superbly set-up McLaren for the conditions).

Ferrari and Alonso must be feeling bad, after what would have been a huge potential to take the lead in the WDC standings. Although I also agree that it's still up for both to win this (and it's Alonso who can still win it through his driving alone if he wins both following races), but I still think Vettel and Red Bull are the one that have a big advantage.

Vettel now needs a 15 point advantage over Alonso if he is to be crowned WDC by the end of next race.

This happens if....

Vettel wins and Alonso comes 5th or lower (Vettel wins with equal points but more wins).

Vettel comes 2nd and Alonso finishes 9th or lower.

Vettel comes 3rd and Alonso out of the points.


The bad news is, a strong McLaren or Lotus might make things difficult for Ferrari, while Red Bull might still be the dominant team. I guess it'll also be crucial how the next share of updates work on that Ferrari, but I'm not sure they can close that gap entirely. It will be very interesting.



Oh, and superb race by Kimi. What a character!

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

The second SC made him go from 24 to 10 seconds behind the leader, he defenitly had a lot of luck with the SC. Besides, the only real overtake he had to make was on JB, the rest all crashed into each other.

In that respect I think Alonso deserves the WDC a lot more. For the whole season he's been overtaking people in cars as fast, or faster than his.

By the way, am I the only one who thinks JB is overrated? To me he's just an average driver. Yes he put in some good drivers, but most in F1 do, otherwise they wouldn't be there. But I never see him do something really special. Something like Alonso is doing this year, or Vettel, even though having a very fast car and luck on his side he gets done what needs do get done. Or even hamilton, I don't like him but generally he doesn't give up and often enough he gets more out of it than what might have been expected.

JB otoh needs to get lucky on the tires, being easier on them. When he doesn't really seem to be able to deliver more than the expected.

 

[Phil]

The second SC made him go from 24 to 10 seconds behind the leader, he defenitly had a lot of luck with the SC. Besides, the only real overtake he had to make was on JB, the rest all crashed into each other.

That's not really relevant, since he didn't overtake the leader and *only* gained 3rd place from Button - 3 points. He was already 4th when the 2nd safety car came out. I would say the 2nd safety car potentially benefited Alonso a lot more, since it closed his gap to Raikoennen, which - if he had capitalize on that - would have gained him 7 points in the WDC standings.

The way I see it - and you guys know as good as anyone that I'm not a Vettel supporter in the slightest - is that he made his own race even more complicated and nullfied the advantage he could have had during the first safety car.

The first safety car - would have been brilliant for him - if he had not misjudged Ricciardos intentions under the safety car and damaged his front-wing to the point of it having to be replaced. All the places he had gained at that point went out the window as he pitted for a new wing and fell back the grid again. While the gap to the leaders did shrink, pitting early for option tyres also ment that it was very likely he that he had to stop again - something that clearly wasn't beneficial to his already compromised race.

Imagine if he didn't pit again - then we could clearly say how much the safety car benefited him (and if this had turned out like this, I would have expected him to end up even in front of Alonso).

Overall, I think it was a very impressive drive by Vettel. Coming from last to 3rd, regardless how many factors played into his hands, is a huge achievement IMO. Of course I'm gutted for Hamilton - his DNF pretty much sums up his difficult year so far - but at the same time, I'm absolutely delighted for Kimi.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

The second SC made him go from 24 to 10 seconds behind the leader, he defenitly had a lot of luck with the SC. Besides, the only real overtake he had to make was on JB, the rest all crashed into each other.

So for example the pass on Grosjean wasn't "real", because Grosjean crashed later on? In reality Vettel did many overtakes during the race and Phil's take on it was pretty much spot on. He also made the two stop strategy work and passed many because of that.

By the way, am I the only one who thinks JB is overrated? To me he's just an average driver.

No I think there are plenty of people who think like that. I'm not one of them though. I think he is a great racing driver and has proved it to me many times. He has had some bad weekends during this season, but likewise some great ones like in Spa. Holding off Vettel, who had better tires in the end would have been a tall order, Vettel's overtaking move was also pretty aggressive to the tune of let him pass or crash into him.

 

[jimbo75]

He got extremely lucky with Webber being called into the pits to get him out of his way, then when Webber rejoined his accident basically caused the second SC - the lap after Vettel had come in for tyres. That put him a few seconds behind Raikonnen on the freshest (option) tyres of all the runners - he really should have gone on to win it had he not taken so long to get past Button.

He was very lucky that Senna didn't end his race much earlier as well.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

And super lucky to have the team/Renault cause him to start at the back of the grid in the first place...

Had he started from 3rd, he probably would have won with one or two cars between him and Alonso making the championship all but over.

 

[Gubbi]

He got extremely lucky with Webber being called into the pits to get him out of his way,

That wasn't luck, that was a team order.

One and a half lap earlier Webber was told over the radio to "not fight Sebastian as he is faster than you", implicitly telling him to let Seb overtake him.

One lap later, when it was clear to the RB pit that Webber wasn't going to lie down, they made a frantic "box-this-lap, box-this-lap" call with just a few hundred meters to pit entry.

Reminded me of the Korean Gran Prix. With 6-7 laps to go, Vettel's tyres was dying, Alonso was third, ten seconds back, Webber second just 2½ seconds behind Vettel, both closing. Webber was told he had a "failure 22" and needed to ease off, - falling back and blocking the way of Alonso. - Then with one lap to go, Webber set the fastest lap of the race, proving there was nothing wrong with his car.

Still, a great drive from Vettel.

Cheers