http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/21420710 Interesting BBC article by Ben Edwards on simulators and their relationship to on-track data. Also notable for some absolutely shameless Hamilton praise in the middle.
NBC have just made me even more grateful for the BBC's F1 coverage. Take a look at their promo: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/22825103/vp/50810118#50810118
Americans know how to make F1 cheesy, check out this promo from Fox! [video=youtube;JzU8DpM1oFA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzU8DpM1oFA[/video]
Good article from the FIA, shows more in-depth how stewarding is carried out. http://www.fia.com/news/cyber-stewarding
The picture going around makes it look like [NSFW]he definitely beat Vettel's time, but it's hard to see what the actual time was. At first I thought it was a 1:43.5, then when I zoomed in it looked like a 1:43.8. Someone on Twitter said it was 1:42.9 but I find hard to believe he could be that much faster than Vettel. Having said that, he cut a few corners last time he was on Top Gear so maybe he's cheated again.[/NSFW]
[NSFW]My Opinion: Looking by the time for me looks like a 43.5-9, tried everything to enhance it but sadly no real luck. When you look at it further back it actually looks like a 4 rather than a 2 or a 3. So he might not of beaten it and Clarkson said something stupid again and said "but because Vettel had a blown diffuser we will give you another Second" and puts him on top anyway. I fully expected Lewis to beat Sebs time because of these key bits of facts on the situation. 1: Lewis has done this track more than he would like to admit to Top Gear and public in general. Remember the McLaren MP4-12C was designed on this track with LH+JB, so it's very likely Lewis and Jenson have driving a lot around here so finding a legitimate second out of the track isn't far off if you spend enough times on it like the stig. Lewis even had a go with the 12-C GT car I believe around the Top Gear track with Lazenby on Sky at the start of the last season if you remember. Again Lewis has been around this track a lot more than he would like to admit to his fans. 2: It was Sebs first time round the track in a right hand drive car, mainland Europe are left hand drive which Seb would be more used to. 3: RBR would have told Seb not to go full attack on a worthless event since when he set his time (in July) he was leading the world championship, do you really think Seb would try to injury himself? I don't think so... Unlike Lewis who knows he won't challenge for the WDC this year did his lap before the season even started so any minor injury would have enough time to heal over the months unlike Seb who would of had days before the British GP and weeks before the one after that. 4: I've seen a short clip of Lewis doing his lap and he attacked it 100% that's for sure, unlike Seb who I believed while looking at it again wasn't pushing even 70% and seemed more intent keeping it smooth and safe since he was the title race leader at the time. Could you imagine the ****storm of Seb getting into a tangle like Kubica at the halfway stage of the F1 season? 5:You are probably right that he cut a corner again, he did it before and he got away with it last time so if he did do it again it will be the same ignoring process by Top gear and Clarkson. 6:The time keeper is another major flaw, human control could easily influence the time either on purpose or by mistake by easily a second. I'll only take a legitimate computer tracking the time as close as possible to what actually happend on track. 7: It's Top Gear and they like money being thrown their way, why do you think Mercedes and Ferrari refuse their cars to go against each other when they are within a mile of each other. Car makers demand things a certain way, why not F1 drivers? Whose to say Lewis didn't spend the whole week there? 8: All in all it's Lewis' media group attacking on brand Vettel and trying to **** all over it as much as they can. Top gear is just one of those ways of doing it because fanboys and newbie F1 fans think it actually means something when it doesn't. You only have to look at planetHamilton and Autosport to see it in effect of this lap time causing certain Hamilton fanboys to start opening their traps more than usual and in short act like cancer again. But since most of the Vettel fans are German, English fanboys of Hamilton don't really have anybody to argue with because there's no one really to argue with. In all seriousness I could count on my two hands the actual amount of Seb "Fanboys", at most there are 3 here, probably 3-4 at AS and 1-2 at Planet Hamilton. Other than that it's just a sausage fest with the Hamilton,Alonso,Button and Kimi fans. Anyway in repsonse to this time I expect IRBR to announce Sebs new contract right afterwards which will easily top Lewis' Meredes salary by a few million and we will get some PR rubbish saying "The best F1 driver on the grid deserves the highest wage on the grid blah blah blah..." and then the Fanboys of the Seb will come out of the woodwork to show their driver is the most paid on the grid, because that is meant to be some sign of how good he is. Well that's what the Alonso and Lewis fans say on noob tube anyway...[/NSFW]
I think he will beat Vettel for the main reasons that Silver has written. Not interested in his lap but his interview tbh.
Blah blah Mercedes blah blah happy there blah blah testing pace blah blah we'll be fine blah blah 2014 new regulations blah.
Lol you guys wont believe this but AMuS and Ross Brawn pretty much say the EBD diffuser doesn't help Sebs driving style one bit. The EBD helps accelaration out of corners which is Webber's field of slow in fast out, the coanda which McLaren exploit helps braking into corners fast in slow out which is Sebs style So not only did Seb win in a Webber car twice (11,12), the whole design process was against Seb's driving style the whole season of 2012 to repeat the effect, http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/...-setzt-weiter-auf-vettel-auspuff-6655833.html Bong! exhaust blown diffuser found to be a negative for Sebs driving style and an advantage for Webber.
[NSFW]Getting your excuses in early!? So presumably if he doesn't beat Vettel it's down to the respective skill of the drivers and nothing else? If he beats him, then everything you've mentioned is why we can disregard Hamilton;s time. Good, good. Board is back to normal again, the F1 season is almost upon us as the fanboy nature of everyone is coming out in force. Still 10 months until the next members awards............ [/NSFW]
