official F1 World Championship 2012 Thread

[MightyJordan]

That was definitely worth getting up early for, even though I did fall back to sleep before switching the race on, so I missed the first 20 or so laps. :p

Fantastic drive from Jenson, hopefully he'll continue to dominate, and we'll have 2009 all over again. :) Anyone else amazed at Sergio Perez's performance? I can't help but wonder how much higher up the grid he would have finished if he didn't start dead last. Shame about Maldonado's last lap crash, as he had a blinding race up until then; I actually thought he was gonna overtake Alonso. And a little shout out to cheeky jock Paul Di Resta for nicking the last championship point on the finish straight in the final lap. :p There was a lot of action on the final lap, and I was amazed how close the 8th - 11th placed cars were going over the line; less than half a second between them. :o That's like watching NASCAR, seeing them so close together.

[simonlang]

superb pace by mclaren, i expected nothing else than a win, but it looks like redbull has come much closer in race pace. shame about schumacher, i would have loved to see how his tires would have behaved later on.

raikkonen from 17th to 7 thats a nice effort!

sorry for maldonado he was set up to take that one more place and finish 5th.

somethings tell me that webber wont fight for the titel this year. it will be mclaren vs. vettel.

[Intersect]

it would have been nice if the BBC had covered the 1st race of the season but NO Sky got it insted. there goes my licence fee BBC.

and RBR need to stop cryig like a baby about mclarens rear wing, Vettel is going to get owned this season.

[TheLegendOfMart]

Yeah that's smart, the reason they couldn't cover all the races was because of the license fee freeze, if people stop paying their license fee then you will get even less original programming including F1.

[Intersect]

Yeah that's smart, the reason they couldn't cover all the races was because of the license fee freeze, if people stop paying their license fee then you will get even less original programming including F1.

the F1 on the bbc was just about the only thing apart from bbc news in the mornings that i would watch thats broadcasted on UK airwaves.

all the other content like american tv shows are streamed. apart from those 2 chanels i dont watch any tv in the evenings.

it has nothing to do with the freeze, its down to who pays bernie the most.

[TheLegendOfMart]

the F1 on the bbc was just about the only thing apart from bbc news in the mornings that i would watch thats broadcasted on UK airwaves.

all the other content like american tv shows are streamed. apart from those 2 chanels i dont watch any tv in the evenings.

it has nothing to do with the freeze, its down to who pays bernie the most.

Um, it has nothing to do with Bernie.

The BBC couldn't afford to cover F1 from 2012 onwards because the government has frozen the license fee. If it weren't for Sky the BBC would have had to forfeit all rights to F1 and Sky would have bought them all.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

One other driver who deserves praise for today's race is Kimi R?ikk?nen. He hasn't lost any of his racecraft, and one can only wonder where he would have finished hadn't it been for the Q1 blunder.

Then there was this typical Kimi moment during the race:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2ffKWVZbug

[what]

Lots of great stories in this race. We're in for a cracker of a season.

I can't say I missed HRT one single bit. They just need to get Marussia chucked out next and it'll be perfect.

[Kerm]

But they give us so much action by blundering into the first corners and smashing someone up, Then they're out after that anyway so let them be. :p

It did seem pretty unfair on how Vettel jumped Hammy with the safety car, can anyone explain how that happened?

[Fourjays Veteran]

I thoroughly enjoyed the race. Hamilton was unlucky really and I'd have liked to have seen more or Schumacher. Think a lot of young drivers showed their true potential today (Verge, Ricciardo, Perez, Kobayashi, etc) while others showed how poor they can be (Massa). Maldonado is dangerous IMHO. Can't believe him running Grosjean off the track wasn't even investigated. Then again, deliberately crashing into people is apparently ok too. :rolleyes: (I categorically can not forgive that.)

Lots of great stories in this race. We're in for a cracker of a season.

I can't say I missed HRT one single bit. They just need to get Marussia chucked out next and it'll be perfect.

Although I sort of agree, people would then moan about Lotus being last, too slow, etc... someone has to finish last unfortunately. Perhaps worth pointing out that despite their hopeless starts, HRT beat Virgin/Marussia in both 2010 and 2011. But I can't help but imagine how much better it would have been if the new teams had been picked based on merit and not on politics. There were some promising candidates like Lola and Prodrive.

But they give us so much action by blundering into the first corners and smashing someone up, Then they're out after that anyway so let them be. :p

It did seem pretty unfair on how Vettel jumped Hammy with the safety car, can anyone explain how that happened?

Basically while Hamilton was in the pits Vettel was doing a racing lap - same as usual. Normally this would be countered by Hamilton then doing a racing lap while Vettel was pitting. But due to the safety car and the track-wide speed limit, he couldn't claim it back. The SC forced them both to the same speed at their current positions on the track. A pit stop takes the same amount of time but the SC speed limit forces them to a slower lap time.

[Kerm]

Ah so Hammy's catch up lap whilst Vettel was pitting was under speed limit so he couldn't get past infront. Thanks for that! Had me confused as I thought Hammy would of been able to slot back in but infact he would of been third place when the SC rolled onto the track.

Got it! :p

[White Man]

One other driver who deserves praise for today's race is Kimi R?ikk?nen. He hasn't lost any of his racecraft, and one can only wonder where he would have finished hadn't it been for the Q1 blunder.

Then there was this typical Kimi moment during the race:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2ffKWVZbug

This isn't half as funny when people realise that Jenson asked the exact same thing (but that didn't get into the main F1 transmission).

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpistf_2012-f1-australian-grand-prix-pit-channel-team-radio-feature_auto

@8:25

[Daedroth]

This season is much more competitive by the looks of things, and it's looking excellent. :)

I really loved the Australian GP. Vettel made the overtake of the race, and the usual suspects like Kobayashi had good overtakes too.

I'm happy that the Williams is looking like a better car this year. :)

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

'Jenson Button was 'more than marginal' on fuel during the Australian Grand Prix'

The McLarens could have been even faster? Bad news for those of us who want to see a fight for the title, good news for all McLaren fans.

[mps69]

Good race, glad to see JB at the front and winning again.

Thought Hamilton was a bad loser, he messed up start. He just turning into a PR nightmare.

Great racing right down the field, loved Paul Di Resta pushing right to the flag, that's what it's all about.

Really think Massa's days are numbered.

The coverage was good too, only real complaint was Geordie Thompson, I really hope Sky woo Lee McKenzie, at least she knows what's she's talking about.

[what]

Good race, glad to see JB at the front and winning again.

Thought Hamilton was a bad loser, he messed up start. He just turning into a PR nightmare.

Great racing right down the field, loved Paul Di Resta pushing right to the flag, that's what it's all about.

Really think Massa's days are numbered.

The coverage was good too, only real complaint was Geordie Thompson, I really hope Sky woo Lee McKenzie, at least she knows what's she's talking about.

Yeah. That picture from the article Meph posted pretty much sums Lewis up.

I was routing for McLaren as a whole this year, but Lewis is so pathetic I'm just going to stick with Jenson. He's such a cool character and his bottom lip doesn't sink to the floor when he loses a couple of places over a race. On top of that, he's very strategic, always asking about other teams and how they are looking in comparison. Whenever Lewis goes on the radio it always seems to be about losing rear grip or how another car cut him up (I know the transmissions are chosen for broadcast and we don't hear the full story, but after three years, this seems to be the trend).

[Lingwo]

Enjoyable race. Looks like the midfield is going to be even more competitive this year with Williams looking like they have a decent car.

While i hope McLaren win this year, i hope it goes to the final race with hopefully a couple of teams in the fight.

I agree with mps69, Lewis is a PR nightmare. No doubt he is on the best drivers on the grid but if things don't go his way he just comes across as a spoilt kid.

[ybrett23]

really good race, looking forward to next weekend now :)

[Fourjays Veteran]

In Lewis' defence, I should imagine he may be a bit annoyed at McLaren's continual race strategy blunders. So far it is a continuation of last year where their insistence on treating the cars equally (whoever is in the lead pits first) cost them places. I get why they do it and applaud them for trying to be fair and equal, but quite simply it doesn't work. All their rivals have to do is wait for car 1 to pit, then follow them in and they've got the jump on the other. It actually forced them into pitting them on the same lap at the second round of stops (which was brilliant). If they'd repeated the same process as usual Vettel would have ended up in second without any assistance from the safety car whatsoever.

They need to let them pit when they need to pit and be done with it. If they both need to pit at the same lap and are close enough on track that it will negatively effect the leader, then prioritise them and hope for the best. But yesterday they'd have lost nothing from pitting Lewis first.

[TheLegendOfMart]

In Lewis' defence, I should imagine he may be a bit annoyed at McLaren's continual race strategy blunders. So far it is a continuation of last year where their insistence on treating the cars equally (whoever is in the lead pits first) cost them places. I get why they do it and applaud them for trying to be fair and equal, but quite simply it doesn't work. All their rivals have to do is wait for car 1 to pit, then follow them in and they've got the jump on the other. It actually forced them into pitting them on the same lap at the second round of stops (which was brilliant). If they'd repeated the same process as usual Vettel would have ended up in second without any assistance from the safety car whatsoever.

It's not Mclarens fault, they could never have predicted that the safety car would have come out just after the pitstop, they pulled the stops off flawlessly and if the safety car hadn't have come out all this would be academic.

I think its great that the cars/drivers are treated equally, with the other teams there is a clear divide between main driver and second driver, there is no other team that has two world champions that are so closely match. I love Mark Webber and I hate the way Red Bull treat him in favour of Vettel, if you treat the drivers equally they have an equal chance of winning.

They need to let them pit when they need to pit and be done with it. If they both need to pit at the same lap and are close enough on track that it will negatively effect the leader, then prioritise them and hope for the best. But yesterday they'd have lost nothing from pitting Lewis first.

That still would have negatively affected them, say they brought Hamilton in first what would have happened if Vettel had reacted the same as Jenson coming in, Hamilton and Vettel would have gone out then the safety car would have come out and he would have come out worse off than Hamilton he would have come out behind them or even further down the field, then he had to conserve fuel so there would have been no chance of him coming on the podium.

[philcruicks]

+1 Its to their credit and detriment that they have to #1 drivers...I'm glad they try and be as fair as possible, they even managed to pit them both on the same lap to try and keep it fair and even....Lewis just got unlucky.

[Fourjays Veteran]

It's not Mclarens fault, they could never have predicted that the safety car would have come out just after the pitstop, they pulled the stops off flawlessly and if the safety car hadn't have come out all this would be academic.

I think its great that the cars/drivers are treated equally, with the other teams there is a clear divide between main driver and second driver, there is no other team that has two world champions that are so closely match. I love Mark Webber and I hate the way Red Bull treat him in favour of Vettel, if you treat the drivers equally they have an equal chance of winning.

That still would have negatively affected them, say they brought Hamilton in first what would have happened if Vettel had reacted the same as Jenson coming in, Hamilton and Vettel would have gone out then the safety car would have come out and he would have come out worse off than Hamilton he would have come out behind them or even further down the field, then he had to conserve fuel so there would have been no chance of him coming on the podium.

You've misunderstood me. I'm talking about the first round of stops which were unaffected by the safety car. By forcing Hamilton to pit at least one lap later, Vettel could just follow Button in and gain a load of time on Hamilton because of him doing an extra lap on rubbish tyres (which he did). Plus they dumped him behind Perez (may not have cleared him, but as Hamilton was +3s on Button and -10s on Vettel prior to the first stop I'd say Perez should have ended up between Hamilton and Vettel). If they'd have done it the other way round then he'd have most likely have been in front of Vettel and still behind Button. The second round of stops were a reaction to the fact that Vettel could just repeat the same move - follow Button in and get the jump on Hamilton. By pitting them the same lap they eliminated it as it becomes a straight pit race. That came down to luck for Vettel. But assuming Hamilton/Vettel pitted the same lap at the second stop and Button did one more lap, Button would have been comfortably clear (as Vettel's luck proved).

Maybe this one was just bad luck, but Hamilton has had so many bad strategy calls in the last two years it is impossible to tell anymore. At least McLaren's stops look a lot quicker and cleaner now.

[Daedroth]

You've misunderstood me. I'm talking about the first round of stops which were unaffected by the safety car. By forcing Hamilton to pit at least one lap later, Vettel could just follow Button in and gain a load of time on Hamilton because of him doing an extra lap on rubbish tyres (which he did). Plus they dumped him behind Perez (may not have cleared him, but as Hamilton was +3s on Button and -10s on Vettel prior to the first stop I'd say Perez should have ended up between Hamilton and Vettel). If they'd have done it the other way round then he'd have most likely have been in front of Vettel and still behind Button. The second round of stops were a reaction to the fact that Vettel could just repeat the same move - follow Button in and get the jump on Hamilton. By pitting them the same lap they eliminated it as it becomes a straight pit race. That came down to luck for Vettel. But assuming Hamilton/Vettel pitted the same lap at the second stop and Button did one more lap, Button would have been comfortably clear (as Vettel's luck proved).

Maybe this one was just bad luck, but Hamilton has had so many bad strategy calls in the last two years it is impossible to tell anymore. At least McLaren's stops look a lot quicker and cleaner now.

That's McLaren's equality.

How do you think Button would feel, running in 1st, but his teammate behind him gets the first stop, despite them both being on the same strategy.

[mps69]

Maybe if Hamilton look after his tyres instead of ringing the neck out of them all the time. I get he like to push but at what point is he going to realise this isn't the quickest way. Yeah it's exciting but it doesn't seem to be working for him.

[Fourjays Veteran]

That's McLaren's equality.

How do you think Button would feel, running in 1st, but his teammate behind him gets the first stop, despite them both being on the same strategy.

Providing it keeps them 1-2 in the order they are then I don't see anything wrong with it. As I said before, if they are close enough for it to affect each other then do the leader gets first choice thing. But McLaren shoot themselves in the foot with it at times.