Bloody hell Fred you're a bit keen, me 05:50 will do fine, just in time to boil the kettle before the start.
Look. Sebastien Vettel is a very good racer. You do not become double world champion by not being one. Simple fact. His dominance from the front of races clouds people's judgement about him as does certain incidents like Turkey and Belgium in 2010, which for me were the marks of inexperience. But what about moves such as the fabulous one he pulled on Fernando Alonso in Monza last September? That was one of the best moves of the season. You like myself am a big fan of Lewis Hamilton. But you're not going to say Lewis Hamilton is a bad racer on the basis of the collisions he played a part in last year surely? Mentally he was all over the place so we know where these mistakes were stemming from just as we knew Vettel's mistakes stemmed from inexperience. Hamilton and Vettel are utterly superb drivers and are two of the best seen in the sport but they aren't the wise old men of F1 yet so we will still expect mistakes from them. Bold and brave still takes precedence over wise and sensible. Drivers like Button and Alonso are the wise and sensible drivers. Having followed the f1 careers of both from the beginning, those two have reached something of zen status for me! Almost faultless in race craft are Jenson and Fernando.
Right, I've had the time to think and after the qualifying I think the top drivers of the day are Hamilton, Grosjean, Schumacher and Maldonado. I miss out Button purely on the basis of loosing out to his team mate. Tomorrows race is lined up for potentially intresting battles. Without clear air the Red Bulls won't be able to run and hide and are slow down the straights, this means Rosberg could cause them real issues with a possible speed advantage of 15kph+ with DRS. There are also rumours that the Merc kills its tyres so if both Mercs stay ahead they could really hold Red Bull up. McLaren look comfortable but with Grosjean eager to impress they need to watch they dont go for it too much in the early stages. With Alonso 12th the question is how many places will he make up at the start, I guess 4 Then at the back there's Riakkonen and Massa, will they be able to make any progress through the field? It's set up for a good race, I just hope it goes that way.
I will, I have had about 8 hours sleep since Thursday. Just really hope I do not sleep in and miss it.
On the basis of qualifying Massa is actually in a position higher than the pace he was showing. He could fall back.
True, Alonso showed the car had borderline top 10 pace so I was being ambitious in thinking Massa was not far off
Right, my predicted top 10 for tomorrow (picking Massa was a huge mistake ) 1.Hamilton 2.Button 3.Vettel 4.Webber 5.Rosberg 6.Grosjean 7.Alonso 8.Malodonado 9.Hulkenberg 10.Schumacher
Do you mean 'losing'? "Loosing out to…" a team mate suggests that one allows one's adversary some extra measure. Are you suggesting Button deliberately backed off because he wanted to defer to his team mate? Or is it a spelling mistake?
I cant be the only one struggling here being drowsy is awful when less than 40 mins away from build up come on gotta get through this
Ted Kravitz has just said he expects 2012 to pick up where 2011 left off with Red Bull still on top, McLaren just behind them, Lotus and Mercedes a bit further back, and Ferrari are effectively screwed. It's a very rare occasion where I disagree with TK. He bases the superiority on when at the end of testing, Mark Webber wasn't particularly happy with the RBR's back end. Now, when TK asked him again, Webber just gave him a very shifty look. That's his basis for Red Bull superiority.
I shall be going to bed in a minute, and will watch the BBC re-run later on. I have no intention of listening to a race, it's not my style, plus i hate James Allen as a commentator. Top journalist, terrible commentator.
Just seen a small interview with Adrian Newey. He didn't look like he couldn't comment on a lot and he looked very uncomfortable. The same with Vettel a short while beforehand. Incidentally they both said "We need to get as many points as we can." No mention of a possible podium or win whatsoever.
I thought I was missing something. I couldn't remember any Scottish guy in the pits. Anderson was Jordan's car designer and jolly informative he is. Sorry, Nick, but you deserve a big . EDIT: interesting stand-off on strategy. I think Gary Anderson reckoned three stops was quickest, Ted Kravitz has just said two stops. Sadly, Kravitz lacked the technology to illustrate what he was talking about.
