F1 2013

[Azi]

Originally Posted by Duke of Prunes

Some thoughts:

Vettel is such a little shit. I wish Webber had thrown him over the edge of the podium (maybe he was considering it, and that's why he was looking over the edge?). Their little fight (on-track and off-track) was amusing, but Webber had been the better driver for pretty much the whole race and he should have won it – there's no way Vettel would've got through if Webber had stayed at full pace. Plus, how many times has Webber complied with team orders to help Golden Boy win his three undeserved titles? Countless.

Hamilton looked really uncomfortable on the podium – good of him to acknowledge Nico (I thought he was supposed to be ‘immature’, Hamilton haters?). I guess such ridiculous team orders (as opposed to Red Bull's team orders, which weren't really too harsh, as Webber could've easily kept Vettel behind if both of them had ignored the orders and kept to their previous pace) are usual when you're driving for Ross Brawn. Normally I'd be happy about Hamilton being on the podium, but Nico deserved it more. At least Mercedes are almost able to keep up with Red Bull, albeit when a bit underfuelled.

McLaren ****ing up their stops again. Such a shame, as Button was going quite well, considering the general crapness of the car.

Force India = LOL WHAT? I know they have a partnership with McLaren – maybe they're using McLaren's old wheel nuts/guns from last year? lolololololololol

Mediocre day for Kimi.

Alonso must feel like shit. That was such a ridiculous mistake, especially for such a clean (usually) driver.

[Progress]

Alonso = idiot (today)

Worst decision ever (to stay out with that wing).

Take that back, I've just read Ferrari have taken the blame. I think it was a very dangerous move, they ought to be penalised.

[RTAP]

Originally Posted by Duke of Prunes

Some thoughts:

Vettel is such a little shit. I wish Webber had thrown him over the edge of the podium (maybe he was considering it, and that's why he was looking over the edge?). Their little fight (on-track and off-track) was amusing, but Webber had been the better driver for pretty much the whole race and he should have won it – there's no way Vettel would've got through if Webber had stayed at full pace. Plus, how many times has Webber complied with team orders to help Golden Boy win his three undeserved titles? Countless.

Hamilton looked really uncomfortable on the podium – good of him to acknowledge Nico (I thought he was supposed to be ‘immature’, Hamilton haters?). I guess such ridiculous team orders (as opposed to Red Bull's team orders, which weren't really too harsh, as Webber could've easily kept Vettel behind if both of them had ignored the orders and kept to their previous pace) are usual when you're driving for Ross Brawn. Normally I'd be happy about Hamilton being on the podium, but Nico deserved it more. At least Mercedes are almost able to keep up with Red Bull, albeit when a bit underfuelled.

McLaren ****ing up their stops again. Such a shame, as Button was going quite well, considering the general crapness of the car.

Force India = LOL WHAT? I know they have a partnership with McLaren – maybe they're using McLaren's old wheel nuts/guns from last year? lolololololololol

Mediocre day for Kimi.

Alonso must feel like shit. That was such a ridiculous mistake, especially for such a clean (usually) driver.

Generally agree, however regarding Hamilton's maturity this is the first time I think I've seen it - perhas the team change allowed him to start a fresh and feel/act more grown up.

Also Force India have clearly produced a great car this year, hope it conitnues.

[Duke of Prunes]

Nice grid. Shame that Webber ran out of fuel and not Vettel, though.

EDIT: Penalty for Webber. Now he's starting last. If I was a conspiracy theorist nut, I'd say that the team had sabotaged his fuel rig/car/fuel load/etc on purpose to punish him for daring to accuse them of favouring Vettel (it's obvious that they do), but I doubt they'd risk losing the constructors points, so it's obviously not true.

[Duke of Prunes]

What a dull race. Lots of action, but the majority of it was just fake crap generated by the difference in tyre age.

Shame that Webber's wheel fell off and not Vettel's, though the earlier crash was entirely Webber's fault (Toro Rosso only move out of the way for the Golden Brat, and he should have realised at the time).

Perfect podium, though. Alonso was flawless, Kimi did well to get 2nd after the crap start and with the mangled wing, and Hamilton just about kept Vettel in his rightful place, off of the podium (serves the little shit right for not running in Q3).

At least they're going to do something about the tyres at Barcelona.

[mossieman]

yes you did right it was a bit of a hard watch, why are so many of the away races dull?.
roll on europe, roll on some rain, roll on some excitment or we could just save some time and energy and give vettel the trophy now and wait to see what next years reg changes brings

[T]

I thought it was an interesting race which made it better with the way the tyres were a big factor in the race....Alonso had a fantastic drive and that Ferrari looks the car to beat this season i think...Kimi had a very bad start and did well to get second Mercedes still has abit to do but great drive my Hamiliton to keep Vettal from the podium.... i loved how most didn't know how it would plan out for most of the race with how the tyres would go.... also Button did very well to get Fifth with how bad the Maclaren is at the mo........

[Duke of Prunes]

The strategies were interesting, but the racing itself wasn't really (there were a few really awesome moments that didn't have anything to do with the tyres, though). If I want to see strategic action, there are plenty of other sports which do a better job of providing that.

Motorsport should be about the racing, not the tyres, and it's not real racing when the drivers have to limp around until the next stop while those on a different strategy fly past them with ease (and DRS, which I thought was a bit excessive today).

They need to:

- Keep refuelling banned – it will never be reintroduced anyway, but still, it had some of the same issues as the current situation with the tyres in that it caused most of the on-track passes to be determined by differences in some variable of the car that's controlled by strategy and characteristics of the car and that can only be improved by the driver holding back, rather than being determined by the inherent speed of the car itself. It had also had a few more negative effects of its own, like reducing the overall number of on-track passes and increasing the number of passes between cars on the track and cars in the pits, due to the long stop times. As much as it was fun to see cars going flat out on fumes half of the time, it made for some boring racing.

- Bring back proper tyres that aren't made of chocolate – see above.

- Abolish the rule of having to start on the tyres used for Q3, or just bring back quali tyres.

- Get rid of DRS, as it's pathetic. Passive F-duct type systems are far less artificial.

- Get rid of ‘the plank’ and allow for proper ground effect designs with shaped floors and skirts – far cheaper/simpler to develop, far more efficient, etc, than what they're running now. It would improve overtaking and aid cost-cutting (in the long-term). The 07-08 cars were incredibly efficient (which is what all of those ridiculous winglets were for, rather than improving overall downforce), but were clearly ridiculously expensive to develop, while the early 00s cars made a ton of downforce at the cost of generating huge amounts of drag (they made up for it with power, flexible wings, etc) – the current cars also create a lot of downforce, but only in perfect conditions, so they suck whenever they're not running off on their own with nothing around them, and it seems that their development is a balancing act between reducing that issue but not sacrificing too much downforce or efficiency. The current cars are shit, basically (and they also create a ton of turbulence which makes the problem even worse). Next years cars will most likely be less sensitive in traffic/close racing, but they will also be ****ing slow (even without the new engines) – that's NOT the way forward.

[incommunicado]

Great race at a good circuit, Alonso supreme, Kimi come through despite his nose being put out of joint by the new-Mexican weaver! Would have been perfect if Vettel had made it past "Blue flag"Charlie, Hamilton.

[Duke of Prunes]

Thoughts:

Vettel procession = yawn.

We were robbed of a good race with Alonso having those DRS problems. At least he got SOME points out of it in the end.

Some good midfield battles.

Kimi on the podium is always good!

Hamilton and Webber looked like they were having fun at the end.

I knew Pirelli were purposely making their tyres as shit as possible, but I don't think they intended to make them THAT shit. Ferrari and Massa must be really pissed off with them, and I don't suppose Hamilton is too pleased either.

Perez went absolutely crazy. They told him to ‘toughen up’ – seems that he's taken it too far! Entertaining to watch though.

Grosjean showing pace but without being a complete liability for once!

Shame for Paul di Resta missing out on a podium.

[Drimma]

decent race
excellent action ... fighting in all the positions on most of the laps
a wicked watch
I liked the agrro between Perez n Button - McLaren have no choice but to let the young'un have his fun cause of the sponsors he's bringing - sweet to see in team fighting
this partnership could be one for the books yet

[mossieman]

Originally Posted by Duke of Prunes

Thoughts:

Vettel procession = yawn.

We were robbed of a good race with Alonso having those DRS problems. At least he got SOME points out of it in the end.

Some good midfield battles.

Kimi on the podium is always good!

Hamilton and Webber looked like they were having fun at the end.

I knew Pirelli were purposely making their tyres as shit as possible, but I don't think they intended to make them THAT shit. Ferrari and Massa must be really pissed off with them, and I don't suppose Hamilton is too pleased either.

Perez went absolutely crazy. They told him to ‘toughen up’ – seems that he's taken it too far! Entertaining to watch though.

Grosjean showing pace but without being a complete liability for once!

Shame for Paul di Resta missing out on a podium.

could not have summarized it better if i'd spent all day thinking about it
real shame for di resta a podium for him would have just about counter balanced the vettel win

[Duke of Prunes]

Another stupid Vettel procession incoming...

[Duke of Prunes]

PLEASE not The Finger on pole! If it was dry, there'd be no danger, but with this weather, who knows what will happen? Monaco is a ****ing boring race, so it'd be nice if somebody non-shit could get on pole, to make the race less depressing to watch.

[Duke of Prunes]

LOL and Vettel doesn't get pole. Awesome! Shame that Alonso and Kimi are behind him, though.

[Ben1981]

At last Vettel shows a human side and doesn't finish. It gives everyone else a chance to close up a bit and make things slightly more interesting.

[Azi]

What a race!

[Duke of Prunes]

Agree. Was a bit worried that it would turn into a Vettel procession, but it turned out well in the end.

I lol'd so much when the crowd cheered at Vettel pulling over. He probably thought he was going to run away with it

Shame about Hamilton's tyre failure, though he had a pretty awesome race all things considered ***8211; could've easily got on the podium if he had a few more laps to attack.

Pirelli really need to stop being idiots and learn to build proper tyres. The comedy compounds are understandable as that's what they've been told to make, but the structure of these tyres is clearly not fit for purpose. They might be intending to bring back the old construction, but if they had a clue what they were doing in the first place, they wouldn't have even considered using these current tyres at all. Red Bull's complaints about the degradation this year have just been pure whine (notice how they shut up about it when they have a good result?), but when it comes to actual catastrophic failures, something really does need to be done ***8211; the potential for injury or even fatality is very high (bits of debris hitting drivers in the face, high-speed collisions, etc).

[black_mamba]

That was the first full F1 race I watched since the days of Damon Hill, Schumacher and co., and it was really enjoyable! Even more surprised that Hill actually turned up at the end to interview everyone, how cool!

Yes the tyre failures are potentially lethal. They have bits of metal in them that at high speeds might erm, worst case, cause a decapitation!

[Alf in Pog Form]

Bet on Vettel for the first time, and his car breaks down for the first time in over a year. Not exactly crushed he didn't win, but my betting is beyond ridiculous. I'm officially giving up money.

[Tom123]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/23314830

I really wish a journalist would actually tell the truth about this whole thing. She has done nothing to deserve a drive and is only getting one because of who she is married to.

Of course it's good publicity for women drivers and will probably open up some greater opportunities but, like Danica Patrick, she has been given the drive for non-racing reasons.

[black_mamba]

^Isn't that how the world works though, people getting opportunities because of certain connections? An F1 team manager wouldn't dream of risking losing millions of pounds and putting his team at risk with a test driver who isn't capable. And no I'm not just saying this because I'm a woman, I couldn't give a rat's ass the gender of the driver.

[Tom123]

^ Even the worst of the pay drivers in F1 have actually had some success in racing. She really hasn't comparatively to deserve being anywhere near the top echelons of the sport.

[Duke of Prunes]

Pay drivers piss me off in general. The most laughable one in the last couple of years was that Chinese one who got to drive a few FP1s for HRT last year (Marching Qua or whatever his name was).

[black_mamba]

Originally Posted by Tom123

^ Even the worst of the pay drivers in F1 have actually had some success in racing. She really hasn't comparatively to deserve being anywhere near the top echelons of the sport.

Oh dear, really? Maybe they reckon her being a good media attention grabber (being female n all) will get them more interest from sponsors? Sometimes it's just business. God knows.

[José Raúl Capablanca]

Rubbish , She has a perfectly credible C.V in motor racing for a drive at test level.
F-1 is full of chrysocracy and nepotism So why attack her?

[Alf in Pog Form]

It's all about favouritism and money when they're picked, but no F1 team is going to pick someone who is that far off the pace for a full seat. So I doubt she'll get any further than test driver.

Tbf to Danica Patrick, she actually is alright and has won an Indycar race iirc. As for Susie Wolff... she raced in the DTM series for 7 years and didn't get a single top 6 finish. Yet many DTM front runners hardly get a sniff of a test drivers seat in F1, let alone a race seat. She is where she is through her husband and the publicity train which follows her around. So I don't think she is a great role model for women drivers at all tbh. Which seems to be the angle she's going for.

One day a woman driver will come along who is fast enough to be considered for an F1 race seat and they will be snapped up in no time. I doubt a F1 team will pass the chance up. There's so much sponsorship and publicity potential for it.

[Duke of Prunes]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/108789

Looks like Sauber are getting another crap pay driver that nobody has ever heard of as well. He's not even doing that well in WSR ffs.

I guess the the pay driver situation was worse in the late 80s/early 90s, but at least in those days the really awful ones were in joke teams that didn't even get through pre-qualifying, whereas now there's a limited number of teams, they're all guaranteed to get on the grid, and they're fighting to get the drivers with the best sponsors no matter how useless they are.

[Azi]

RIP Maria de Villota.

[black_mamba]

Poor woman.

Maybe she had some sort of underlying health issue. Or maybe it's sudden adult death syndrome. Either way, RIP. So sad.