The award should go to tilke. Awful track, daft pitlane. I can't see why anyone likes this circuit. It has one good corner, and it's nigh on impossible to overtake for over half a lap.
Frankly, I am staggered at so many criticisms ! This is easily one of Tilke's best circuits in my opinion - and that of virtually every driver. I think there are only two things which are lacking: Although nothing like as bad as Korea, the pit exit once again looks like an afterthought. Fresh air and sufficient time for the construction dust to dissipate. If it were in a clean environment, the circuit would be much better 'off-line' and therefore far more conducive to overtakes; and the section from turn 6 to 14 is a serious driver challenge that I would love to drive. I really cannot understand those who've nominated and criticised Tilke this time. I'm one of his biggest critics for some of his poor efforts, but this one is really good!
I think others like me - saw construction clips and jumped hastily to wrong conclusions - which we withdrew.
Quite a list growing here, I'll get them up for voting round lunch time tomorrow for 2-3 days if thats all good
I can't understand those who are slating the track. Now that the only Tilkedrome I really like, Turkey, has gone from the calendar, I think this new one looks very promising; we'll see when the dust settles. My custard pie would be for Massa: a clown at a kids' party.
I wonder if Tilke has actually gone and driven on some back roads to at least get some inspiration for his corners?
If he was quicker nearly all the way through, Schumacher wouldn't have been close to him before the stops, and with DRS and freedom to race Rosberg would have retaken the place after it. During the race, we genuinely weren't sure whether the undercut or going long was the better option. Schumacher got lucky on strategy, but they were evenly matched otherwise.
I know this is all too easy to say, but like Bergy, I find myself wondering what happened at the Mercedes camp in India. Many readers will know that I am not fond of Schumacher, and may conclude that this post portrays some bias, in contrast to their perceptions and/or opinions. Nonetheless, the evidence raises a few unanswered questions about how and why the two Mercedes drivers became switched over. In particular, Ross Brawn's claim that Rosberg was having difficulty with his tryres seems at odds with Rosberg setting his fastest times on them - even allowing for the ever-decreasing weight of fuel. On top of this, there was no obvious reason for Rosberg's stops both taking longer than Schumacher's, and one of them by an inexplicably large margin. Norbert Haug seemed especially delighted with Schumacher's result; and I can't ignore the nagging thought that some encouragement for him to stay would be more than a little convenient in these cash-strapped times, where there can be no doubt Schumacher attracts a lot of sponsorship interest and money… These are just my thoughts at this important stage of the game. I do not expect avid fans to readily agree with my words, but I promise you all that in spite of my proclaimed dislike of Schumacher, I do my utmost to remain objective (which is part of the reason I have resisted speaking about this until now).
