A Vettel-Raikkonen partnership would certainly be great viewing. Would he really want to go to a team with so much politics going on at the moment though? Ricciardo could be in with a shout if he can replicate this weekends performance.
I'm actually thinking the lineup will be Raikkonen and Ricciardo. I see Vettel going to Ferrari. EDIT: Just remembered Marko prefers JEV to Ricciardo, so it'll be Raikkonen and JEV
Marko got a problem with Aussies? What i would look forward to most from this though is what happens if Vettel's fighting for the title in the last race again and Webber knows he's leaving the sport... Could be spectacular (if Red Bull don't sack him before then).
Im starting to wonder if Mark will make the whole season. The whole situation reminds me of Damon Hills final year when he was under pressure from Frentzen and not getting any luck..... Just watch out for the tell tail facial hair
By the end of the season (or whenever he leaves), he'll look like this: please log in to view this image
A bit annoyed with the Stewards now. Why can't they sort stuff out during the bloody race? I can see that Webber deserved a penalty during the race. Surely the race stewards can too? The only time there should be post-race penalties is when the offender has ended his race immediately after the incident (Like Gutierrez), or if there's an irregularity with something found by the scrutineers. We could conceivably have had a situation where Vettel and Button were handed a trophy, with them knowing the after-race investigation could give a 25 second + penalty and take it off them again, robbing the deserved trophy winners of their moment... Just silly. If they cheated, it takes a 2 second replay from the millions of angles available to the race stewards to decide. Has there been any clarification on why they actually didn't receive a penalty for breaking the rules?
Was going to post this in response to a post in the awards thread but thought it suited here more: There is no way that Webber's misfortune was deliberate. It's merely an unfortunate coincidence. What I will say is, once again, when he stepped out of the car, he didn't look angry so much as utterly deflated. I can't see Webber staying on beyond this season. Also: I have to say this annoyed me as well. In the case of the overtaking / DRS under yellow flags discrepancy I couldn't help but think back to the rumours surrounding Q2 at Malaysia and the FIA's control of the lights/DRS system... but for these ones I don't know why they kept pushing them back to the end of the race, it was just stupid.
Anyone think the stewards are deliberately trying to not give penalties that effect the result of the current race? It seems there's a movement towards grid penalties for the next race, rather than time penalties or drive-through penalties. I guess it means the result of one race is kept intact, but the start of the next one is botched.
On the DRS thing: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106769 Simple solution, scrap DRS. Webber retired the lap after his collision and Gutierrez at the scene of his, so they couldn't punish them during the race.
I don't know about scrap DRS, but clearly the FIA need to return to their original electronics supplier. At this level, teething problems aren't acceptable and a faulty safety system could cause a serious accident.
Webbers car was tweaked for the race a fair bit. Quali speed trap: 309.8kph, Race: 319.3kph. STRs win that race though: [TABLE="width: 50%"] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #404040, align: center"] Cla [/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #404040, align: right"] Nº [/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #404040, align: left"] Driver [/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #404040, align: right"] Km/h [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="align: center"]1[/TD] [TD="align: right"]19 [/TD] [TD="align: left"]Daniel Ricciardo[/TD] [TD="align: right"]320.9[/TD] [/TR] [TR="bgcolor: #F0F0F0"] [TD="align: center"]2[/TD] [TD="align: right"]18 [/TD] [TD="align: left"]Jean-Eric Vergne[/TD] [TD="align: right"]320.8[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="align: center"]3[/TD] [TD="align: right"]10 [/TD] [TD="align: left"]Lewis Hamilton[/TD] [TD="align: right"]319.9[/TD] [/TR] [TR="bgcolor: #F0F0F0"] [TD="align: center"]4[/TD] [TD="align: right"]4 [/TD] [TD="align: left"]Felipe Massa[/TD] [TD="align: right"]319.4[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="align: center"]5[/TD] [TD="align: right"]2 [/TD] [TD="align: left"]Mark Webber[/TD] [TD="align: right"]319.3[/TD] [/TR] [TR="bgcolor: #F0F0F0"] [TD="align: center"]6[/TD] [TD="align: right"]3 [/TD] [TD="align: left"]Fernando Alonso[/TD] [TD="align: right"]319.2[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]
I fail to understand how a wheel nut was not correctly fitted during a pit stop lasting 12 seconds...making mclaren look positively professional. Undue care...
Oops: please log in to view this image and a special well done to Hamilton for 'doing it right!' please log in to view this image
I wish I predicted this race in written form now as I could see that Hamilton would get pole and Alonso win the race. Keeps in line with the theory that Hamilton is the fastest driver over one lap qualifying and Alonso is Mr consistent (but always consistent at a very high standard), and with that Ferrari no-one has a chance against him! I think it's safe to say that Ferrari have got a very good car this year, and in the hands of Alonso I reckon he's going to be the pace setter for the first half of the season (and for me my favourite to win the championship at this early stage). But cars develop at different speeds over the season. Ferrari and McLaren seem to have reversed last years roles... I think while the Lotus shows pace and it's easy on it's tyres... I just keep wondering what Kimi could do in a Ferrari or Red Bull? Maybe one for next season... Hamilton is always going to be in with a chance to win races and pick up podiums, but I'm not sure it'll be enough for this season to win the championship. Next year I think he'll be in one of the prime positions with the new engine coming in. Mercedes seems to be too heavy right now and hence why he set the pole lap, and last week under fuelled (they said because of an expected safety car which didn't turn up), but I wonder whether it was to be more competitive and with Hamilton racing the front runners used too much fuel and found himself saving fuel for a large portion of the race... Vettel? Just didn't have the car this week, so they tried something different and it almost worked. But the last thing I'll say is the tyres are shocking this year. The first year Pirreli took over made for some interesting strategies, but now the soft tyres seem useless... If a tyre can't survive 6 laps on a low fuel car, then there's no room for any variation. Webber's strategy basically showed what everyone thinks of them, (ok he started in the pit lane, so made sense to change after 1 lap, but...)... I remember a time when everyone would always use the soft tyre and not the harder as it was faster and better to do so... unless they were a middle pack car and looking for something different to have a go at the cars at the front... now the tyres have flipped roles, and I'm disappointed as I want to see cars flat out all race...
