I should apologise for giving out the wrong message to you, Silver. I did not mean to agree or disagree with any particular specifics. I have not checked over any of the details at all; I simply expected to see Red Bull feature more noticeably amongst the leading cars. But I willingly admit I could be wrong. Forza mentioned specifics. I purposely did not because I have not checked them.
After the first lap Hamilton was 1.2 seconds ahead (because Vettel was fighting with Maldonado). Vettel made a mistake on lap 9 and the gap went from 1.9 to 2.6. His pace dropped off after that (he was 3.3 seconds behind when he came in to pit on lap 10). After the stops it was 2.2 seconds, and from there the gap stayed between 1 and 2 seconds. It was 1.2 seconds just before Hamilton retired. If Hamilton had the pace to dominate he would have built himself a much bigger lead before managing the gap. The fact that Hamilton was never able to pull away from Vettel tells me the cars were equally matched. Hamilton may have been cruising but where is the evidence that Seb was "pushing like crazy"?
Because it would look bad to him if Vettel won four races with the best car. Vettel is the be all and all... The only one who could wrangle that bucket of an RBR to the top step.
His tyres were gone 2 laps before Lewis' and he was locking up before he pitted, Lewis didn't actually seem to put a foot wrong and was easier on the tyres in the first stint and just looked like he was just controlling the race like Seb would do. Jenson pitted on lap 14 compared with Mark who pitted on lap 7. During qualifying both drivers were getting irregular performances from the car unlike in practice the extra grip on the track didn't give them the performance boost the McLarens got. It's not an official list Forza, you can make your own if you like
Please make your own list then Sgt, I have my opinion, it seems a lot of people here have their own as well
Updated Australia:McLaren Malaysia:McLaren China: Mercedes/McLaren Bahrain: Lotus Spain: McLaren/Lotus/Williams Monaco: Mercedes Canada: Red Bull/Ferrari/McLaren Valencia: Red Bull Britain: Ferrari/Red Bull Germany: McLaren/Ferrari/Red Bull Hungary: Lotus Belgium: McLaren/Sauber Italy: Ferrari Singapore: McLaren Japan: Red Bull S.Korea: Red Bull India: Red Bull A.Dhabi: McLaren USA: Red Bull/McLaren McLaren at 10 races. Red Bull at 8 races Ferrari at 4 races Lotus at 3 races. Mercedes at 2 races. Williams/Sauber at 1 race.
Lewis Hamilton reckons McLaren had a dominant car in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and would have delivered a one-two finish with a trouble-free weekend. Having taken pole at Yas Marina, Hamilton was pulling away at the front of the field when what he reported as a fuel pressure issue forced his retirement on lap 20. His team-mate Jenson Button finished fourth. "I think this weekend we had the pace to get a one-two," Hamilton said. "I'm not really sure what Jenson was struggling with, but we had the strength in the car and the ability this weekend. "I think in the last four or five races we've had something fail on the car even when we've finished the race. I hope luck will now swing our way." Hamilton's retirement left the door open for Kimi Raikkonen to win the race for Lotus. "I was in a really comfortable spot. It wasn't like I had [Sebastian] Vettel or a Red Bull behind me that was massively quick," said Hamilton. "Kimi drove phenomenally and I'm very, very happy for him, but I was comfortably in the lead and the car was just beautiful to drive." He added: "I was cruising and I was still pulling away." Despite losing a likely victory, Hamilton said he would leave Abu Dhabi happy with his performance and the speed his car had displayed. "It was still a good weekend for me. I really enjoyed it. At the time it felt fantastic in the car. We have a couple of other opportunities. Next time..." he said. Hamilton stayed around to watch the end of the race, and was surprised to see Vettel get to the podium after starting last. "Incredible how Sebastian came up from the pitlane," Hamilton said. "He's got to be the luckiest person in Formula 1." Even makes a swipe at Jenson!
I think fastest and best are being confused here. You can have the fastest car, but if you can't see the end of the race with it, it's useless.
Updated Australia:McLaren Malaysia:McLaren China: Mercedes/McLaren Bahrain: Lotus Spain: McLaren/Lotus/Williams Monaco: Mercedes Canada: Red Bull/Ferrari/McLaren Valencia: Red Bull Britain: Ferrari/Red Bull Germany: McLaren/Ferrari/Red Bull Hungary: Lotus Belgium: McLaren/Sauber Italy: Ferrari Singapore: McLaren Japan: Red Bull S.Korea: Red Bull India: Red Bull A.Dhabi: McLaren USA: Red Bull/McLaren Brazil: McLaren McLaren at 11 races. Red Bull at 8 races Ferrari at 4 races Lotus at 3 races. Mercedes at 2 races. Williams/Sauber at 1 race.
Call me crazy but Ferrari and Lotus seemed to have equal race pace to the Red Bull and McLaren. Its just the quali which went wrong.
As the (F1 version) of Andy Dufresne from the film Shawshank Redemption once said: "Didn't you know? Sebastian always has the fastest car!" But yeah I agree but 30 seconds is still pretty big for Alonso, though if Massa was allowed to be ahead he might of got within 10-15 as he was (AGAIN) faster than Alonso, much faster... but still it would of been 15+ seconds I reckon. If I had it my way I would put in Ferrari at Japan, India and Korea, but sadly for some reason people think Alonso can never have bad form and that somebody else other than Massa would of done a better job in that car all season...
