F1 2012

[peter4duck]

Agreed, maybe it was fortunate Perez had that little mistake, it avoided embarassing the factory car.

Alonso proved again he is a great driver, though not one of my favourite characters.

 

[Hamster]

Alonso proved again he is a great driver, though not one of my favourite characters.

Almost all top end sports people, especially those in non-team events such as F1 as opposed to Football, have flaws in their character. Few are truly well balanced, fair and likeable sorts who say things like after you . This is why my personal favourite from the modern era remains as Damon Hill and Sir Jackie Stewart from before.

 

[Hamster]

Just watched a recording of The F1 Show from Sky1 with Georgie Thompson and Ted Kravitz and have to say pretty decent effort.

 

[Will Hewland]

The overall coverage is good. Easy to forget that they are not recently experienced in this.

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[peter4duck]

Only met Damon once, that was before he went to F1, liked his father, loved the days when you could go into the paddock and mix with the drivers, long gone now, Indycars is still like that, I found Brian Redman and David Hobbs pretty decent. Daivid now does the F1 commentry over here on Speed TV another Rupert Murdoch affiliate but none the worse for that.

 

[TobyM]

Chinese GP this weekend folks; I'm sure you knew that, and it's the first one on BBC.

Hamilton will have a 5 grid place drop for a gearbox change, and Lotus has protested officially against Mercedes' additional DRS system.

Looking at some odds, they're all woefully short prices - hardly worth bothering. Some value to be had predicting the 7th-10th points positions but it's pretty much as you are for the top 5-6, all odds-on prices.

If Lotus can keep their nose clean then I think there's some pace there to be near the sharp end.

As Hamilton will be starting from no better than 6th, it's hard to see a winner other than Button or Vettel, assuming it stays dry.

 

[TobyM]

Update: Mercedes system declared legal by the Chinese stewards.

 

[Salopian]

Insider information.

Lotus is no more! Officially Enstone F1.

Could this really be Flintstone F1 as they have a guy called Barney working for them for years :smile: :smile:

 

[VicW]

A good race today.I fancied Button for the win on the assumption that the Mercedes tyres would give out but they would probably have had a one two but for Schumacer's wheel problem.

Then Button has a similar problem.

It looks like the Bahrain GP is on,regardless of the unrest.

Vic.

 

[TobyM]

Yes, pretty good race I thought. I think Rosberg might've had Button covered but we'll never know now.

Didn't have a bet as I couldn't see any thing worth having a go on at a decent price.

F1 could look very silly next weekend if it kicks off. Hopefully nothing serious will happen

 

[Hamster]

Yes good race, Nico is seriously underrated, and has yet to get a seat in a winning team at the right time. I think stats wise he has always bested his team mate so far, reputed to be ultra intelligent too and apparently speaks 5 languages fluently , always an advantage.

This is the win that will put him on the shopping list for one of the top three teams in a year or two. Massa will now almost certainly be dropped so Nico's break may come sooner than we think.

 

[peter4duck]

It is good to see drivers who have been in the sport for a while to have success, Nico always seemed to have potential and like Button had a long dry spell, maybe the Brawn magic will help him also. It was a good race altogether with plenty of passing at least from second place backwards, Enjoyed this eason so far and pleased to see a variety of winners.

 

[TobyM]

If Ferrari still struggle, Rosberg's better off where he is IMO. We'll see how the Merc likes hotter weather next week, Good for the sport though, a bit of variety keeps it interesting.

 

[peter4duck]

I think Perz is a more likely candidate for replacing Massa, Alonso likes to be top dog as we saw at McClaren, not happy with young upstart over shadowing him.

 

[Hamster]

It's true most top driver's would rather have an easily beatable no.2 a la ' Ervine and Barichelo in Schumacher's era but the days of even the likes of Alonso having a say are probably for ever gone. The true value of a proven no.2 for Ferrari is to bring in regular points in the hope of prize money for the constructors championship.

This brings us nicely round to the driver's championship and predictions for the title. Obviously McLaren have the all round best car so far but they also have two regular scoring drivers who will rob each other points; not so with Mercedes who should China prove not to have been a fluke, may well find Nico the more consistent point scorer with Schuey less able to steal points off him compared to Lewis / Jenson?

 

[Will Hewland]

And how long will it take for the other teams to get the Merc air duct system installed? An intriguing season for sure..

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[VicW]

Rosberg was in the lead for most of the race so he wouldn't have been able to use the DRS system,which is when the air duct is exposed.

Significantly it can be used any time in practice and qualifying.

Vic.

 

[Will Hewland]

Good point Vic. However, it does get triggered when passing lapped cars (or cars out of sync on pits stops etc.) so it would have been of some use. A big factor, having got a great start from pole is that he was about the only driver not to be fighting with somebody, which slows you up.

A nice clean performance!

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[peter4duck]

From what we have seen so far, and there is a long way to go. McClaren for manufacturers title. Drivers much more difficult, will have to see how things play out when the teams get to Europe.

 

[Hamster]

If I had to choose I'd pick Lewis, leading with no wins and he's already had his bad luck gearbox change out of the way. He has a good car already and appears able to use it in both qualifying and races.