Ooooooo, I dread to see what Seb's was like with the soft tyre, probably look like the elephant man or something...
Yes, but who uses "Scuderia Ferrari", "Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes" "Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team" or "Sahara Force India F1 Team". If you want to call them IRBR, you'll have to use VMM, MAPFT, and SFIFT too. Infiniti have a small technical link-up with Red Bull, but they're still paying to be title sponsors like Vodafone and Sahara.
Yeah the McLarens degredation looked pretty bad to be honest. Some interesting comparing stats: http://f1fullthrottle.wordpress.com/test-de-montmelo-2013-dia-2/ Seems the (RB) is better on the soft tyre then the McLaren, but the other way round with the hard tyre and that they can run longer with it at the moment. But it seems Seb was having reliability problems when he was doing his race simulation so the times will be faster the next time they go out with the car properly working. But the last 11 lap run the Hard tyre looks to be legitimate of the real pace of the RB9 (89,127) on average per lap. Compared with McLaren with a (90,312) but longer run.
I'd say we're all agreed that Benson is a Bell-End, so the question has to be why any of you follow him? Bonkers!
Interesting thought? How soft can Pirelli make those tyres until a point when even coughing deflates them? The teams will always get a handle on them and find a way to get around faster and then what after that when it doesn't work anymore? Seems like this is just a short fix more than anything until the some new aero rules come in.
Ha! I'm with you on this, Bhaji; but should add that I don't follow him! There have been so many references to him in this forum that I thought I should eventually take a look at what he says. And from what little I've gleaned, I must agree with the consensus here. His words suggest he is merely relying upon sound-bites from others and knows next to nothing about the sport. His banal statements lack credibility and he comes across to me as nothing more than an amateur enthusiast. Of course, the same could be said of the alien which (as opposed to whom) the BBC chose to do two years of utterly dire commentary⦠As I said earlier in this thread, I very much doubt that the BBC even realise they've employed another rank amateur.
I don't, I was on the BBC website and they have a column of tweets from their reporters. I would never wish anyone out of a job, but I don't understand how he's chief of F1 reporting. I suppose the problem, as Cosi says, is that his superiors aren't F1 fans, so can't see how poor his reporting is. I still think it wouldn't be beyond them though to compare his reports to the likes of Autosport et al, and see that he's not producing the same quality. I guess a lot of casual F1 fans rely on the Beeb for all their news, so don't realise how poor he is, and the more dedicated fans know to look elsewhere, so he can produce any old rubbish and the views he gets will be unchanged. Whilst Gary Anderson is a nice addition, his reporting is still nowhere near up to what Scarbs produces. Whether that's because he's not being used enough, or he's not as knowledgeable as suggested (I'd assume the former) is another question for the sports editors.
Great read by this guy, know what he is on about: http://thejudge13.com/2013/02/20/re...tyre-degradation-is-much-higher-than-in-2012/
Y' ellow everybody! Hows everyone doing? Not been on here for months (no I haven't lost interest in my first love just because Schumacher retired for a second time!) but it's good to see discussion in full flow with regards to the upcoming f1 season. Really looking forward to this one with high hopes for Jenson this year. Seems that McLaren fundamentally have a very good car already. A beautiful piece of engineering it looks - as elegant and sublime as a pocket watch. Really interested in Ferrari. For me, just going by last years form I have to say Fernando is the favourite for this year. He's had arguably the two finest seasons of his career in 2011 and 2012 - I think this might just be the one. If I had a spare tenner (hey I'm a student!) I would place my money next to him. But who can bet against Sebastian some will say? Delighted to have predicted mid season last year that Seb would still go on to win the title - the lad didn't let me down! Of all the drivers and the teams anything less this year really is a disappointment such is their incredibly high standards of the last few seasons. It's a marvellous dominance by a great team and driver and you do feel that whoever beats them will be the world champions. Very hard to tell where they are in testing as Seb said but we should be confident that they are there or there abouts surely? And what about Lewis Hamilton? It's going to be a tough year but I am relishing the prospect of seeing this magnificent driver wrestling this car around and seeing how he helps Mercedes move forward. In my opinion the most intriguing and captivating driver change since Michael Schumacher upped sticks from Benetton and breathed new life into the prancing horse. But does he have the temperament and team leadership skills Michael so expertly displayed? Those questions are yet to be answered but over the course of the season and indeed the next couple, we will find out because he's going to need that in sizeable bucket loads. It's really going to tell us a lot more about Lewis Hamilton which makes it all the more fascinating. On a personal level I would just love to see Jenson win title number 2. The pairing of Perez and Button definitely makes for a dynamic duo. Mexican v Brit, Rookie v relative veteran (remember the time when Jense was racing at 19...and yet he's a veteran at 33?!), aggression v intelligence. In many ways not too dissimilar to the last few years at McLaren but obvious in that there is, in my opinion, a clear number 1 now at McLaren something which is of benefit I'm sure. I think Perez will show what he's all about and definitely give Jenson something to ponder but I think Jenson will more than have the measure at this stage and providing he can find some solid qualifying pace which went missing through much of last year, then given the tyres I think Jenson puts himself in a strong position for the season. Never rule him out. 2009 World Champion, a truly brilliant season in 2011 but somehow still overlooked by many. My head says Alonso, but my heart says Jenson.
1650 is the first target, and I can't see that taking long. I'm surprised we're yet to break the 2000 barrier.
Strong lap from Maldonado on softs 1:22:671. Alonso follows on with 1:22:998, not sure about which tyres nando is on, he is on softs also.
