If I ever meet Rupert Murdock I will kick him in the balls!! My viewing experiance was shockingly bad yesterday =(
I see Andrew Benson came in his pants yesterday http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/06/hamilton_1.html
Well there was talk in Germany that Mercedes have made Nico number 1 already at this stage of the season, so that might be the actual truth as it looks now. Schumachers luck seems more than just "coincident" and more of the lines forgetfulness by team Mercedes.
Schumacher has been the victim of a lot of bad luck this season. I was probably a little hasty with my comments during the race and I apologise. However - this I will not back down on - it barely affected his race yesterday. At the time his rear wing jammed open he was behind Kobayashi; via Rosberg we saw that the Mercedes was still eating its tyres; Kobayashi finished in 9th place barely a couple of seconds in front of Massa (on fresher rubber). It is not unreasonable to assume that Schumacher would have finished outside of the points yesterday even without the bad luck of the rear wing jamming open; or would at most have taken 2 points (if he could have overtaken Kobayashi) or a solitary point. The issue then lies quite simply in whether it is Mercedes' fault for providing him with a car that is incapable of fighting for race wins like he expected, or Schumacher's - remember that Schumacher was meant to help Mercedes' development, being one of the greatest drivers in terms of feedback ever. I said after Monaco that I would be impressed with Schumacher if he could deliver laps like that pole lap in Monaco consistently. And therein lies the issue. Once again we've seen flashes of his former brilliance but he was outqualified by Rosberg and wasn't exactly excelling himself in the race. You can - and no doubt will - blame bad luck; but look at his performance outside of that.
That was a hell of a race, worth waiting for the highlights. If you'd told me after Hams 2nd pitstop that he would catch and pass Vettel and Alonso without them pitting I would have had trouble believing you, I knew it was possible but didn't think he had enough time. If you'd told me Grosjean and Perez would also do it I'd have laughed at you.
I agree. They were saying on TV the other day that without his bad luck he could be leading the championship, but he was never on for the 4th in Australia (they said it cost him 12 points), they also included his points dropped in Spain even though it was his mistake that cost him, and also said it cost him potentially 25 points in Monaco, even though he started 6th because of a self inflicted penalty. Schumacher might well have won in Monaco, but getting a grid penalty for causing an avoidable accident isn't bad luck in my opinion, even though I felt the penalty was a little harsh. Both Mercedes drivers have been poor this season in my opinion, and the team has been let down as much by their drivers as they have by poor reliability.
Autosport rankings for the weekend. 10/10 Hamilton 10/10 Grosjean 09/10 Pedro De La Rosa 09/10 Alonso 09/10 Perez 08/10 Vettel 08/10 Di Resta 08/10 Kovalainen 07/10 Rosberg 07/10 Hulkenburg 07/10 Kobayashi 07/10 Petrov 07/10 Pic 06/10 Webber 06/10 Schumacher 06/10 Raikkonen 06/10 Glock 05/10 Massa 05/10 Ricciardo 05/10 Karthikkeyan 03/10 Vergne 03/10 Maldonado 02/10 Senna 01/10 Button
Just realised Hamilton holds the record for being the only F1 driver in history to win multiple races in every completed season of his career. unless I've forgotten someone, but I don't think I have.
Was good to see DLR get recognition, here is what they said Stunning effort in qualifying to comfortably jump both Marussias, giving HRT a very rare top-20 start once Maldonado got a grid penalty. From there he had no problem keeping Glock and Pic at bay, and was setting a reasonable pace despite doing a long first stint. Unfortunately, his brakes were not as up for it as he was, and he was forced to park it and bring a premature end to an impressive drive.
How can Grosjean get a 10 (from 7th on the grid) and Perez only get a 9 (from 15th on the grid)? I dont think Lewis' race was a 10, he drove his strategy well and Alonso & Vettle screwed theirs up. I agreee with Button's "1" though, he was woeful - and thats from a big JB fan!
