All about Formula 1

[Gert-Jan]

I noticed at least one other Formula 1 Fanatic, so I thought I'd make a thread for us Formula 1 Freaks to play in.

F1 Race Calendar 2012
1. Australia (03/18) ~~ Jenson Button
2. Malaysia (03/25) ~~ Fernando Alonso
3. China (04/15) ~~ Nico Rosberg
4. Bahrain (04/22) ~~ Sebastian Vettel
5. Spain (05/13) ~~ Pastor Maldonado
6. Monaco (05/27) ~~ Mark Webber
7. Canada (06/10) ~~ Lewis Hamilton
8. Europe (06/24) ~~ Fernando Alonso (2nd win)
9. England (07/08) ~~ Mark Webber (2nd win)
10. Germany (07/22) ~~ Fernando Alonso (3rd win)
11. Hungary (07/29) ~~ Lewis Hamilton (2nd win)
12. Belgium (09/02) ~~ Jenson Button (2nd win)
13. Italy (09/09) ~~ Lewis Hamilton (3rd win)
14. Singapore (09/23) ~~ Sebastian Vettel (2nd win)
15. Japan (10/07) ~~ Sebastian Vettel (3rd win)
16. South Korea (10/14) ~~ Sebastian Vettel (4th win)
17. India (10/28)
18. Abu Dhabi (11/04)
19. United States (11/18)
20. Brazil (11/25)

http://www.formula1.com/teams_and_drivers/
http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2012/

Will Vettel be able to hold his Championship title? Or can Alonso come back in the race? It's no secret Ferrari hasn't got the best car this year, but it's remarkable to see how well Alonso performs in that machine, lol. Favorite team(s)? Favorite track(s)? Favorite driver(s)? Race #17 is coming ...

[rua1972]

It's a shame that Alonso got knocked out in the first corner in both Spa and japan, his consistency in scoring points would have kept him in the lead. But if's don't count. I hope Alonso will win the championship, he'll be the youngest triple world champion.
Looking at the form of both Ferrari and Red Bull it will be tough.

Alonso, Webber and Button are my favorite drivers. McLaren is my favorite team, everytime they win i wear my rocketred victory shirt.

Favorite circuits Spa, Suzuka and Monza, i've been there in '06. And looking forward to the race in Texas, it has some nice corners by the looks of it.

[Gert-Jan]

How did that grid walk feel?

McLaren is my favorite team as well. Renault too in the years Alonso was driving for them. But after the Singapore incident I lost all sympathy for them. Funny thing is that I like both Alonso and Hamilton, two drivers who definitely do NOT like each other, lol. Jenson Button, he's God. Okay, maybe not, but he's close. Do you remember Montreal's victory in 2011?

I think Spa (Belgium) is like everyone's favorite track, for good reasons though! I like Singapore a lot as well, partly due to the fact it's in the evening. Monaco is Monaco. Hungary is booooring, lol. And Texas should be interesting indeed, maybe we even see Walt dressed up like a marshall?

I read the second US race (New Jersey) is not coming on the calendar, for now. Obviously it's a money issue again. What do you think about more and more races outside Europe? One, possibly two, in North America, more in Asia. It's doesn't do much good to our night's rest.

Pole prediction for tomorrow: Vettel.

[Mike42]

I used to follow F1 and the WRC

These were the only sports that I'd followed up until this year when the BBC would not pay the rights to all the live races.
and I'm not paying for Sky just to watch F1

I'v been the old McLaren Factory the weekend before they moved to the New place, you'd be suprised on how small the workshops were.
that was a realy great day out.

Not happy that Lewis is going but it just may give Jensen the chance to shine in the team.

Used to be at Brands Hatch all the time when F1 raced there.

[Gert-Jan]

Big thing you're bringing there up, Mike. Hamilton's move to Mercedes. I mean, I personally don't consider that a step forward. More like backwards. And why did he want to leave McLaren so badly? Lewis and the team 'grew up' together, always seemed like the perfect match.

[rua1972]

One of the reasons F1 is moving away from Europe are the high fees that have to be paid. it is a shame because were losing a lot of nice tracks, but it is the way it is. Getting up early is not a real problem. The starting times are changed for the eastern races so the times for Europe are around 7 or 8 am, i remember staying up all night the catch the start of the australian GP which was at 4 am.

The deal between SKY and BBC is a nasty one, specially with the BBC person saying this is the best deal. I end up with watching the live races on BBC and using a stream the watch the other races eplsite.com has a SKY stream. Still thinking about getting SKY HD which will give me the sports F1 channel, but it is another 15 euros each month and money is tight in Ireland.

How Hamilton's move will work out only the future knows. He hasn't seem really happy in the team this year. A change of scenery might do him good and building a team around you is always a nice challenge. Think back of what Schumacher did with ferrari.

Vettel for pole was a safe bet by the way, seeing their form lately. Another front row lock out. i really hope he brakes down tomorrow :-)

[Gert-Jan]

Speaking of Schumacher. Obviously his come back to Formula 1 didn't turn out to be as successfull as he had hoped for. If I were in his shoes I'd never have gotten back into racing. Well, not the Formula 1 scene, that is. Years have gone by, things (and rules) have changed. Or maybe that pov is because of the fact he won so many races at a certain point that I'm a bit fed up with him? All the best to Hamilton, for now I'm sceptical of how that move will turn out, but with our F1 thread we'll be looking at it very closely.

Vettel on pole was safe, yes, but look back at my predictions on all the Football during last European Championship, failed miserably. Interesting grid for tomorrow's race. RedBull (1-2), McLaren (3-4), Ferrari (5-6). Even though I think this track suits the McLaren better than the RedBull, I too think the German man's car has to break down, in order for us to get an exciting ending of the season. Four wins in a row is probably too much, but with the points 25-18-15-12-10 etc, you never know. There's always the power of a theoretical chance? lol

I sure as hell remember the Australian times like they used to be. In all honesty, I sometimes allowed myself to watch the rerun later in the afternoon. Yes, Bernie loves the money. Let's put down another prediction, cause I seem to be on a roll here ... Vettel to win the race. May we get a good one!

[rua1972]

The Indian GP turned out to be not very exciting, just like last year. The only change in the top 8 was Alonso going from 5th to 2nd.
Next week Abu Dhabi, a circuit where they started out with the buildings and then laid the track as a sort of after thought. If Alonso is to have a shot at the championship he'll have to finish in front of Vettel or it'll all be over.

Ever since schumacher knock Hill of the track in Adelaide '94 i have a dislike for him. So when i heard he was coming back for a second career i wasn't pleased. But if a team is willing to pay him to drive for them that's how it is. I found him more likable and relaxed this time around, maybe that's why the results didn't come. One podium and one pole position, which he lost because of a grid penalty. What he did get a lot of were reprimandes and penalties, a leopard doesn't change his spots haha

Raikkonnen did a lot beter on his return to F1, without ,sadly, a win he is third in the championship. But he has to look out for Hamilton who is forth and only a few points behind.

[Gert-Jan]

Drivers Championship 2012
1. Vettel. 240
2. Alonso. 227

'Not too excited' can go up for understatement of the year, lol. Boring sounds better, with the exception of the last 10 laps or so when Alonso was losing time and Hamilton went fast on the hard tyre and closed to gap to Webber. The strategy of most teams didn't help either. Lots of drivers only did one stop instead of the expected two. Some were driving around on Pirelli's soft tyre for about 25-30 laps!

We got on-board radio messages from Webber to his team and the other way around that KERS didn't work ... later Vettel who also suffered from the same problem? The RedBull's have always had issues with that system, any idea why? Fair enough to say I (we) ain't a fan of India yet, but Abu Dhabi ... daylight to darkness, love the buildings/track/pitlane, looking forward to that one.

F1 Race Calendar 2012
17. India (10/28) ~~ Sebastian Vettel (5th win)
18. Abu Dhabi (11/04)
19. United States (11/18)
20. Brazil (11/25)

[rua1972]

The championship is wide open again. Vettel failed to get over the finishline after quali. This was because he ran out of fuel during his in lap. Rules say drivers have to get back to the pit under their own power. And deliver a one litre fuel sample. Red Bull couldn't do this so Vettel is demoted to the back of the grid. Alonso will now start from sixth place with a good change to get some points back from Vettel to close the gap. The championship could well be decided in Brazil.
Hamilton is in another class this weekend and looking very good for the win.

[Gert-Jan]

Good decision by the FIA. I'm glad to see they're willing to take this kind of decision, one that obviously has a huge impact, in this part of the season. How many times have we not seen situations in which rules said A, but FIA decided to do b, or nothing at all. Four words: Schumacher, Barrichello, team order. I haven't seen any reactions afterwards yet, I guess Vettel was 'not amused', lol. What kind of strategy will he use? Full tank, one stop, start on soft tyres and then to the end on hard ones?

Like Alonso is getting the maximum out of the Ferrari, Raikkonen does the same in his Lotus, 4th position. Maldonado has his good days when he can win races, but there are also times that I think "Dude, that's a stupid thing to do". Don't see him winning tomorrow's race, I'm going for Hamilton, Button or Alonso ... see, I don't always play safe.

[rua1972]

The Abu Dhabi GP turned out to be a very good one. Altough Hamilton dominated the weekend, if there's no fuel going to the engine all you can do is park your car. I felt sorry for him.
But that left kimi Raikkonnen , who made a brilliant start 4th to 2nd,in the lead. A lead he was to keep until the finish flag dropped. Alonso put a lot of pressure on him in the last laps, but had to settle for second.
Vettel had a very good result, starting from pitlane and ending on third spot. Wonder if the parc ferme rules will be changed since his car was suddenly much better than in qauli after a complete set-up change.
The championship fight is now a two horse race with just 10 points between Vettel and Alonso. Two races to go and 25 points for a win everything is possible.
All in all a well deserved win for kimi, the last lap i had tears in my eyes. So happy he won ,after being close on a couple of occassions this year.

[Gert-Jan]

Drivers Championship 2012
1. Vettel. 255
2. Alonso. 245

After poor Korea and India, this indeed was one fantastic Grand Prix, that took a bit longer due to two Safety Car situations. Raikkonen's start was amazing, but take a look at Webber again. It happens to the Australian so often, what's he doing at the start? Is he still texting someone or ..? lol As for Hamilton, was it really a fuel problem? "Lewis, we've lost all power" is what I heard on the on-board radio.

Vettel, superb race. I think I can speak for the both of us when I say we didn't expect that! Button did okay, but was never able to really hold on to 3rd place. Towards the end I think Alonso was happy to finish in second place and leave Vettel behind him. Cause if there's one intelligent driver, it's the Spanish guy. Raikkonen also had to know Alonso wasn't going to make a do-or-die move on him. Alonso wanted the 18 points that closed the gap to Vettel, but if it's enough ... Overall, awesome Grand Prix, enjoyed it from the beginning to the end.

F1 Race Calendar 2012
17. India (10/28) ~~ Sebastian Vettel (5th win)
18. Abu Dhabi (11/04) ~~ Kimi Raikkonen
19. United States (11/18)
20. Brazil (11/25)

[Mike42]

F1 returns back to the States this weekend for the First time since 2007. It will be quite intresting to see if the sport gets a better reception this time around.

The purpose-built Circuit Of The Americas Just out side Austin Texas.
The circuit is ant-clock wise and has 20 turns 12 left handers and 8 right and has an elevation change of 41 meters the highest point being at Turn One.
The teams have run simulations of the circuit and expect it to have a similar downforce levela as Silverstone, with a top speed 315km/h which in turn is forcast to give a laptime in the 1m38s bracket.

The Finaly layer of asphalt was only laid in September so we can expect the surface to be very slippery and the start of the weekend, Pirelli will be taking Its Meduim and Hard compound tyres to the race.

So expect some interesting a techenical challenges for the teams and drivers

[WalterB]

Might have to watch that one -- as long as it doesn't get in the way of NASCARs season ender on Sunday. Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon just might make it interesting.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-fr ... ascar.html

[Gert-Jan]

Nice picture Mike! Yes, no matter what happens, it's going to be an interesting weekend. Does anybody have an indication on how many people are going to attend the race? I remember the days of the Indianapolis GP ... 3 teams and 6 cars in 2005. Problems with the Michelin tires led to seven teams withdrawing from the race after the formation lap and only the three teams with Bridgestone tires started. IMO, big farce!

[rua1972]

That was a good publicity for F1 allright. Michelin quit F1 not long after that. There is little to find about spectatornumbers, it will be told during the race build-up i expect.
O and Walter the race starts a 1 o'clock your time. Don't know how it interveres with Nascar though.

[WalterB]

Well, that's why they invented tape recorders, rua. If one interferes with the other, I can record one and play it back later. Thanks for the time update. It's on my schedule now.

[Mike42]

The track layout for the race for this weekend.

[rua1972]

For people heading for Austin this weekend http://jalopnik.com/5958809/your-guide- ... -in-austin.