I think blaming Kvyat would be harsh, so glad Alonso hasn't. Like BLS, I'm sure Alonso was on the wrong tyres, and he certainly presented that gap down the inside for Kvyat. Yes Kvyat locks his left front and runs wide into Alonso, but I feel a driver as experienced as Alonso should have known Kvyat was there, and that crowding a rookie on a wet track is a bad idea. These things happen.
please log in to view this image Vet = Smug? - Ham = Happy? - Ros = Thoughtful? (or listening to question?)
[TABLE="class: raceResults, width: 715"] [TR] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Pos[/TH] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]No[/TH] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Driver[/TH] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Time of Day[/TH] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Speed[/TH] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]1[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]19[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Felipe Massa[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:54:40[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]305.0[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]2[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]77[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Valtteri Bottas[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:58:07[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]304.3[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]3[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]11[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Sergio Perez[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:54:34[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]303.4[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]4[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]27[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Nico Hulkenberg[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:56:46[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]303.0[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]5[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]6[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Nico Rosberg[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:55:52[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]301.9[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]6[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]20[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Kevin Magnussen[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]17:03:08[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]301.2[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]7[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]22[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Jenson Button[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]17:03:12[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]300.7[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]8[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]44[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Lewis Hamilton[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:55:48[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]299.5[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]9[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]26[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Daniil Kvyat[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:56:29[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]299.5[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]10[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]10[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Kamui Kobayashi[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]17:05:14[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]298.0[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]11[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]14[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Fernando Alonso[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:58:33[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]297.2[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]12[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]25[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Jean-Eric Vergne[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:56:20[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]297.0[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]13[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]13[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Pastor Maldonado[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:56:16[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]296.6[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]14[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]7[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Kimi Räikkönen[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:55:23[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]295.9[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]15[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]8[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Romain Grosjean[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:56:21[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]295.1[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]4[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Max Chilton[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:54:10[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]293.7[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]17[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]9[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Marcus Ericsson[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:58:59[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]293.3[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]18[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]21[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Esteban Gutierrez[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:54:59[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]292.8[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]19[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]17[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Jules Bianchi[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:54:06[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]292.0[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]20[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]99[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Adrian Sutil[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:55:19[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]291.5[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]21[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]3[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Daniel Ricciardo[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]16:55:11[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]289.7[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]22[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]1[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Sebastian Vettel[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]17:03:38[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]288.5[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Hamilton carrying a fair amount of downforce it seems so may be vulnerable in the straights. Fortunately the car immediately behind him is towing a caravan or something. When the Williams and Red Bull were battling out of the last corner the Williams simply just drove away down the pit straight!
The Red Bulls must be massively fast in the corners if there is that much straight line speed differential between them and Merc. You can see why Newey wanted to keep his body work and get the engine 'fixed' to require less cooling. As soon as Renault get their power unit functioning 100% it looks like Red Bull will dominate The other teams need to get their points while they can.
Ricciardo definitely happy that it rained, played to the cars strengths it seems http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/f1/9237974/ricciardo-the-rain-helped-us Anyone for a caption or two? Or is Hamilton just cracking out the double Seb finger please log in to view this image
lol as i predicted people are already pointing fingers at some imaginary Red Bull advantage from the future, and ignoring the giant 1-2 second a lap one Mercedes obviously have right now. I don't see why Mercedes would be pushing their engine to the max, they have so much pace in hand there's no reason to.
Vettel will get a lightening start off the line me thinks, Lewis needs to cover him and Rosberg better than Oz. To be fair he did have mechanical issues then. Hulkenberg is so underrated isn't he, just amazing. Both Ferraris seem average but points worthy, and the Torro-Rosso's may be in for a shot at some small points. I am expecting Williams to be fighting through the pack with their straight line speed, as usual they are not making it any easier for themselves are they.
Even with the mechanical problems at the start he still had a decent get away. I think if Vettel is in front of him in the first corner he has a great chance of getting him on the back and pit straight. If Lewis has any chance of winning the race, he must keep Rosberg behind after the first few laps.
Despite tricky conditions, if you're getting pole by 0.05s, with your second car 6 tenths back, I can't see why you'd be withholding performance.
FP3 say's it all, the gap in the dry is almost exactly the same as it was in Melbourne, 1-1.5 seconds. All the Mercedes teams seem to be less effective in the wet, i assume they're running less wing to try and stretch their advantage on the straights or something. I imagine if it's a vaguely dry start Rosberg will comfortably have Vettel by the time they reach the first corner.
Vettel will have to beat them on tyre deg to have a shot at the win, they will kill him toe to toe as their advantage is just too big. The Mercedes has a 1-1.5 a lap advantage in the dry and wet. Seb just wants a clean start hopefully keep 2nd and be patient until the clean air comes around 10-12 laps if on the options at start. Lewis has to hope Vettel can keep Rosberg at bay for a few laps so he can produce a large gap on which to coast and pray no safety cars come out. But with Sebs low top speed that will not last long when DRS becomes available for Nico. Lewis said his lap was a banker lap and I believe him, you can see by some of his laps all through qualifying that he was going nowhere near the limit. I was actually worried that his car was damaged or something.
It was a driving incident, but it was still Alonso's fault who was going at a snails pace and just turns into Kvyat who was on the apex and left Alonso a ton of room.
If its dry tomorrow I can see the Mercedes on a 3-stop and the Ferrari and Red Bull on the two stop. Could be a interesting race in the final laps (or not ).
By the way BBC's new quote replacing "Did you know Paul beat Seb in F3?" Is... "Look at that Daniel is again faster than Vettel!" - Seems to forget that little subject when Seb destroys the time when his car actually works. Sky Sports seem to be desperate to start something with Lewis and Rosberg and the BBC want to keep highlighting every time Daniel goes faster than Vettel at any stupid moment.
If The Mercedes pull away from the rest in the points then the Media will go into full power stirring mode. I'm sure the Ricciardo comment will be forgotten when Vettel gets a (car) break.
Agreed... LAP1: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! LAP5 to end: "Right will Mercedes driver A/B be allowed to attack Driver A/B and will they follow it?" *insert a few history lessons about team orders and how these drivers will cope with it*
If Mercedes can pull out the kind of gap they were in Australia then they can easily afford an extra stop (Assuming it's dry). Like Silver says though, a safety car could really throw a spanner in the works there. Vettel could have a real chance of being in with a shout in the race if it's dry or wet. Hopefully it'll be more interesting/exciting than Australia. What is the current weather forecast btw?
