The season doesn't finish in China. McLaren have shown that development throughout a season can bring a dog of a car back into contention. However, I happen to agree with you that at least at this stage, Alonso does not look a seriously serious claimant for the 2012 title! (Chrispa: please ignore my deliberately incorrect grammar!)
I've had chance to watch all the driver interviews finally and there was some interesting stuff going on. It's always good when a mixed up race stirs up the drivers comments.
I just saw the Horner BBC interview and for one, his attitude stinks and second, I can't believe that he effectively made Coulthard change his view on telly... making him look like a right door knob.
Vettel and Horner are not so smug now that they do not have the dominant car. Their attitude does not really surprise me to be honest; I have never liked Horner one iota and while Vettel seems "easy going" when everything is going his way he has always had that impetuous side to him when things are not all going his way.
In fairness... a good percentage of drivers have that trait. They all want to win and get rather narked off when it's not all going their way. As for Horner... I found his comments rather disrespectful and totally uncalled for. I think he'd have gained a lot more respect if he'd have just not tried to attribute blame and just said that crap happens in such changeable conditions. It seems like they want to keep Vettel in a blameless bubble, when in reality, all drivers make mistakes. **** happens...
Just some pictures of the action please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
To continue on from my once posted Alonso-Hamilton love story please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Thats the first time in a while we've seen 3 people look genuinley happy to be on the podium (2nd and 3rd guys ). Was a tough race for them please log in to view this image Happy much?
It needs some Barry White!!! [video=youtube;Fcd3XuQwDQQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcd3XuQwDQQ[/video]
Perhaps I missed something, but I’m struggling to work out why the McLarens were so bad (Button more than Hamilton) after the restart when earlier in the race, before the red flag, they were pulling away from the field! Obviously Button’s tangle with the HRT didn’t help, but I expected him to come through the field and finish in the lower points. Was it just strategy? Pit stops? Or do they simply have a car that doesn’t work well in changeable conditions?
Ive noticed something from this race and the previous about the mclaren. I think their strategy is to get pole and run fast at the front. but if their car gets stuck behind another then it cant seem to catch up and overtake.
AG pointed out yesterday (and Forza reminded last week us of the team's stated pre-season objectives) that McLaren look like they may have focused more on building a good qualifier than a good racer. Button fended off Vettel with ease in Australia and I think this led some of us (including me) to hope that they'd built a good all-rounder and Hamilton just had an off-day, even though we know you can't judge anything from Melbourne. Yesterday, however, both cars or drivers were off form in comparison, and Button was much worse than Hamilton. We've had two races that you can't really use to judge relative car performance between teams but, at the moment, I'm inclined to think they have the best qualifying car and that Button just had a really good Australian GP. On the other hand we may already have a pattern for the rest of the season: McLaren front rows but significant performance fluctuations in races between drivers, cars, circuits and track conditions. It's all about the tyres, isn't it? If you're out in front like Button in Australia then you can choose your lines and braking points to preserve the tyres and the speed comes. If you're defending or chasing then you're looking for gains everywhere and trying to drive qualifying laps and leaning a bit more on your tyres, like Button yesterday.
Stat of the day: Both 2012 races so far have been won by drivers who have now been victorious three times at each circuit. Has anyone Shanghai twice and is looking to do it a third time?
I think in this instance both the McLaren and Red Bull appeared to under perform in the wet. I believe it is because they know that at the moment they are racing each other for this years titles and both had setup for dry and hot conditions during a weekend that didn't see any rain until Sunday. For them it was the right decision but for midfield teams further down the grid they could afford to tinker a bit with set ups and tyre strategies. Red Bull and McLaren could have gambled on rain, but a wet setup in a dry race would have seen then at the lower end of the points and possibly out of them. At least in a wet race you can be fairly sure there will be some dry running otherwise you get red flagged or a parade behind the safety car. Malaysia was a freak result that can be attributed to extreme and unpredictable weather. We may get another 1 or 2 in the season but come normal race conditions I expect Red Bull and McLaren to be back fighting at the top. If China is a warm dry race we'll probably get to see the true pecking order for the first half of the season.
Agree with the above. It's easier to manage a race from the front on lighter fuel, then to attack from 2/3/4th without making your tires suffer. It's a good stategy, but requires much better strategy calls and pit stops (and less safety cars) then we have seen.
so why were the sauber and Ferrari faster than the mclaren when it dried? did the mclaren set up for the wet conditions?
