I am so unhappy, the Merc's had potential for good places, Michael was on softs, he could have made good ground and taken some juicy points. Alguersuari and Barrihchello are idiots. Same corner, same kind of incident. The only way is upwards now. Petrov and Perez were my favourites today, just a masterclass in holding it together in a race. Well done to them. Also well done to Martin and David again today, no bloopers or mistakes, just pure running commentary.
AG remember that Schuey in '94 got DSQ's for it. (not saying he did) He could have went off on ppurpose as he knew it was worn too much and blame it on damage. I doubt it but its an option
Sorry the use of 'remember' made me laugh! You were probably still cooking weren't you Fred? Trulli had his points reinstated. Schumacher's plank gave him an advantage in the race whereas Hamilton's clearly didn't.
Race control has taken a much more common sense approach since Jean Todt became FIA president. Besides, we don't even know that Hamilton's plank was worn. We're speculating about something that probably won't happen about something that probably hasn't happened.
I've just seen on that Hamilton's passed the technical tests so no decision is needed. Sorry FRED! Ha ha no I'm not actually. The Saubers have been disqualified though
So thats the end of the weekend guys... Been a good one and enjoyed it looking forward to Malaysia. Just a message to El_Bando you are going to close this thread soon and start one for the Malaysian Grand Prix???
Glad Hamilton didn't get disqualified, Would have been a shame after a great McLaren turn around. Drive of the day? Petrov, maybe, depends on how fast that Renault is.
Well in Heidfelds hands very slow, in Petrovs super quick. I honestly think he would have beaten Kubica if he was here. That was a better version of Hungary where he owned Kubica
yep ill give it till tomo and start the malaysian build up. ill just un-sticky it Im looking forward to malaysia now. I want more F1 now!!! =(
I noticed this too! I was really hoping he was going to come out with it, but equally I'm impressed he realised the innuendo in time.
So going through the performance of teams this weekend: Red Bull- Vettel looked invincible all weekend, Webber less so, but still strong. The car is very quick and reliable so far, certainly looking to be the team to beat this year. I'm curious to see whether any mechanical reason for Webbers apparent lack of pace emerges, otherwise he should be worried Mclaren- They'll be breathing a sigh of relief that their upgrades paid off. They've performed some kind of Houdini act, and Hamilton deserved his podium this weekend. Button also showed the car looks competitive, and both drivers showed tyre wear wasn't too high. Renault- The less said about Heidfeld the better, but what a performance from Vitaly Petrov! The team still seem a little overshadowed by the missing Kubica, but the car was quick, and I feel could challenge for more podiums throughout the season. Seeing how Petrov performed is always going to beg the question-just how quick would Kubica have been?? Ferrari-A difficult weekend for them, that they won't be too happy with. Massa did well to defend early on against Button, but after that they just seemed to be cruising, and never really looked to challenge for the podium. Alonso will be disappointed with his start, which effectively ended any hopes for a podium early on. However, the car is reliable, and they've threatened to be the second quickest team, so we'll see how they get on in Sepang. Interesting to see Massa set the fastest lap. Sauber-Apart from the disqualification, Sauber looked excellent today. Both drivers gave excellent performances, especially Perez. Their tyre management appears to have been unrivaled, and they look quick. Disappointed to hear Kobayashi wasn't looking towards the podium for future races, but a bug step up on last season. Toro Rosso-looked ok, and the car seemed to be fairly reliable. Buemi did well, if not spectacularly. They've not quite made the step up they were expected to on their pre-season form, but I think will be looking to have at least one car in the points each race. Force India- benefitted hugely from Saubers disqualification. Made good use of team orders, which di Resta made no attempt to hide. The car doesn't seem to be that quick however, and are definitely at the back of the midfield teams, I think they'll struggle to make the points too often this season. Good debut from di Resta. Williams- Barichello had a shocker, but seemed to have fun whilst doing it. Reliability doesn't look perfect, and not as quick as they'd hoped. Too early to judge them properly, but I don't think they've got the pace they need to really challenge the (perceived) front 4 this year. Team Lotus- Talked of breaking into the midfield-and failed. Seemed to have big problems with tyre temperatures all weekend (as did others), so may step up in future races, but still seemed adrift of the midfield. Kovalainen had poor reliability which didn't help matters either. Potentially more to come from them when they get the tyres sorted. Virgin- closed the gap to the midfield, but still remained slower than their big rivals Lotus. Their reliability was questionable also. A start they'll be disappointed with, with still a gap to the midfield which looks to stop them really competing with them all season, like Lotus. Mercedes- like Ferrari, nowhere near as quick as predicted, for whatever reason. Rosberg was running ok until he was hit, and Schumachers race was over early on. They'll also be disappointed. HRT-Shaking down a car in qualifying is not impressive. Despite their small budget, they should have learned from last year and should have pulled out all the stops to get their car to the last test. With the lack in testing in season, they may struggle to qualify in Sepang, but if they can get a solid practice session in, may sneak in at the back of the grid. I feel sorry for Liuzzi. Karthikeyan being 2 seconds behind his team-mate will be a worry for them, even if they haven't had a lot of running. What does everyone else think?
Good write up DHCanary. Due to a few cars ending up out of place we can't be quite sure to how they stack up against each other. What is clear is that RB is the fastest, although when Hamilton's car wasn't broken he seemed to be keeping Vettel honest. LH never really got near SV though so SV could have been holding back a little. Ignoring Heidfeld Renault seemed to have some good pace, and Petrov seemed not too bothered by the Ferrari's. This could mean that Ferrari have slipped to 4th fastest, but we can't really say that with any conviction after one race. Outside the top 4 its all a bit confusing, we had the Williams either breaking down or being driven into things, the Toro Rosso's didn't show their promise, and Sauber turned out to be illegal. Force India had a strange race, keeping quiet and consistent, but not really achieving anything. After that, well disappointment really for Lotus, Virgin, and surprisingly Mercedes. HRT? No comment
What do I think? - I think that is one of the best write-ups I've seen in this forum Canary. I came here to make a similar attempt but you've beaten me to it and done a great job. There's only one thing I feel is really worth mentioning in addition: BBC's whole presentation was simply superb! Brundle and Coulthard did a brilliant job of commentary once they had overcome their initial Qualifying nerves. Simply excellent. - On top of that, Eddie Jordan looked completely chilled-out and Jake did a great job as ever. And for the first time, I was able to see some of the red button coverage which I thought was outstanding, particularly Coulthard's antics in the Red Bull party with Vettel. Simply brilliant. Well done BBC!
I think the way Vettel blasted round the first two laps of his second stint proved he had pace to burn, he set the fastest lap on 16 despite overtaking Button on it.
I've only just heard about this but thought it was great. Did anyone see the Red Bull engineers put 2 mock ashes urns on mark webbers car? I'd love to see a picture of it, but all I can find is a reference to it happening in the BBC live text.
They showed it on the race build-up but they were on Vettel's car, which seems a bit pointless. They said Webber had them as well but they didn't show it.
Hey take it from me. Im an Alonso fan and am used to taking the flak from some posters. But nobody should influence who you support (even through ups and downs). Its cool you support somebody different and offer opinions from another side. stick with it manny
