official F1 World Championship 2012 Thread

[MightyJordan]

[ybrett23]

winner :laugh:

[simonlang]

hahhaha amazing find!!! and yea, so damn true... all those drivers seem to have been and still be happy to let alonso pass EVERY SINGLE RACE since i started counting in 10!

this is amazing. and sad in the same time. only hamilton had his little moments of going hard against alonso in '10. and then there is at least vettel..... :)

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Lewis Hamilton sets the pace in Chinese Grand Prix first practice

Lewis Hamilton topped the rain-hit opening free practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver set two fast laps at the end of the session to head Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg by a second at the top of the timesheets as a flurry of drivers set their best laps in the dying minutes of practice.

Hamilton, like team-mate Jenson Button, ran an upgrade package on his McLaren including modified front and rear wings and a new floor during the session - the team taking advantage of new-for-2012 regulations allowing sensor rigs to be run during Friday practice to measure the wake off the rear of the car.

Overnight rain meant that the 90-minute session started in damp conditions and during the half-an-hour most teams focused on installation laps and aerodynamic test runs.

Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber was the first driver to set a serious laptime, getting down to a 1m39.558s on the third flying lap of a six-lap run on Pirelli's medium compound rubber.

That lap was good enough to top the timesheets for much of the session as shortly after he had completed it, light rain made track conditions worse. By this stage, only nine drivers had completed serious runs and their laptimes were largely unchallenged until the track dried up enough for slicks to be run effectively in the final 10 minutes of the session.

Michael Schumacher had been in contention to top the timesheets after swapping fastest times with Webber with a few minutes to go, but he ended up third two-tenths behind his team-mate.

Behind him, the two Saubers of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi both improved at the eleventh hour as the track conditions rapidly improved, demoting Webber to sixth.

The Australian was running Red Bull's latest-specification exhaust setup, while team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who ended up one place and two-tenths behind him, used the exhaust setup the team ran early in testing to compare the performance of the two designs.

Button ended up eight fastest, complaining of traffic late on, with Scuderia Toro Rosso pairing Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne rounding out the top 10, like most of the field setting their fastest times in the final few minutes on prime rubber.

All of the top 16 drivers improved late on, with Lotus driver Romain Grosjean down in 17th place the best of the drivers whose laps in the early dry phase of the session were not improved upon.

Force India reserve driver Jules Bianchi made his grand prix weekend debut as third driver at Force India, ending the morning in 20th place, setting his best time on intermediates unlike team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, who used medium slicks.

His opposite number at Caterham, Dutchman Giedo van der Garde, also made his first appearance, lapping around 1.5s off Heikki Kovalainen's pace.

Source: Autosport

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

And speaking of Lewis Hamilton:

Lewis Hamilton hit by grid penalty in the Chinese Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton's chances of fighting for victory in the Chinese Grand Prix have taken a hit as he will be given a grid penalty.

The McLaren driver confirmed on Thursday that he will need a new gearbox for the weekend, meaning he will get a five-place grid penalty for the change.

Hamilton said the damage to the gearbox was only picked up in last 48 hours.

Hamilton, who has started the first two races from pole position, is currently second in the championship behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Source: Autosport

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Michael Schumacher quickest in second practice for the Chinese Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher ended the first day of practice for the Chinese Grand Prix on top of the timesheets.

After rain restricted the number of laps completed in the morning, every team opted for an intense schedule during the second 90-minute.

Morning pacesetter Lewis Hamilton picked up where he left off early on, hitting top spot after just eight minutes while on a six-lap run on medium Pirellis.

With everyone opting for primes for their first serious runs, Hamilton's time was 0.134s faster than Schumacher, with Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel two-tenths further back.

Hamilton and the Mercedes driver continued on mediums on their second run, while Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi jumped up to third place with a lap within a tenth-and-a-half off Hamilton on the half-hour mark. A few minutes later, the Japanese survived a lurid slide off the track after being caught out while pushing too hard.

Vettel was the first of the frontrunners to set a time on the soft compound tyre, lapping a quarter-of-a-second quicker than Hamilton on the first flier of his second run and subsequently improving by another four tenths of a second.

Team-mate Mark Webber, running the latest-spec exhaust compared to the early specification used in the first part of pre-season testing that Vettel ran, slotted in just under three-tenths behind his team-mate not long before the halfway point of the session.

While the Red Bulls had taken three laps to get the peak performance out of their soft tyres, both Schumacher and Hamilton, who shortly after headed out on their fresh soft rubber, extracted the performance from their tyres immediately.

Schumacher posted his best time, a 1m35.973s, on his first flier, but Hamilton looked set to outpace him after setting the best time of all in sectors one and two before losing his advantage, and another 0.172s, in the final sector.

Neither Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes, nor Jenson Button in the second McLaren, were able to match the pace of their team-mates, ending up fifth and sixth ahead of Kobayashi, whose earlier lap on prime rubber was enough for seventh overall.

Force India driver Paul di Resta ended up eighth fastest, within a second of the outright pace and a couple of tenths ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, with Alonso, who couldn't get the maximum out of his soft tyres on his first flying lap, just behind.

Several drivers had offs during the session. Both di Resta and Caterham driver Vitaly Petrov suffered spins at the final corner after running wide at the exit and losing it on the damp runoff, but the biggest moment of the day was provided by Marussia driver Timo Glock.

The German appeared to lose his front wing under braking for Turn 1, locking up and clattering through the gravel trap and ending up against the barrier. The team was uncertain as to the cause of the off, but Glock's initial concern that he had hurt his hands soon abated.

Source: Autosport

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

[Zain Adeel]

It will be surprising if schumi n rosy both don't get a win this season.

[what]

It will be surprising if schumi n rosy both don't get a win this season.

Not really. Their "double"-DRS system means they are brilliant over a single qualifying lap, where it can always be activated. In the race, it barely has any advantage and the Mercedes has appalling tyre degradation. Come the end of the race they will barely be in the points unless everyone else crashes out.

[Zain Adeel]

I heard the double DRS does not make that much of a difference.. Although the tyres do degrade a lot faster. I believe they are working on a better strategy. Noticed how schumi was doing well whereas rosberg just lost all his pace..

So there is something going on and the car can do more.

[White Man]

Poor Felipe baby.

[simonlang]

schumacher is getting scary... ok i knew long time he is very very very good, but mercedes is now the third team he pulls out of deep **** and makes them the leaders. not surprised about his lack of 1-lap-pace to his team-mate, it was the same in 2006 to felipe.

but his race pace and experience are unmatched. i hope he can pull this one off tomorrow and win in style!

amazing person. great leader with lots of self-discipline.

[L1520]

Sooooo pleased that Schumacher is now at the front of the pack, mixing it with professionals half his age!

I am a Schumacher fan since he appeared on the world stage back in the day & I know his one lap speed is now maybe 0.5sec slower than his peak but he can still reign supreme on race day as his speed over a full race distance is still (at 43 years old!) probably the best on the grid.

Incredible sportsman.

[Mr. Gibs]

Congrats Rosberg!!!!!

Sucks for Schumacher but still a Mercedes victory overall!

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

[Zain Adeel]

What a brilliant race by Rosberg.. What speed in the last 20laps.. This is brilliant for Mercedes. Schumi bad luck but what did I tell you. The car is brilliant. They are coping with the tyre degradation well. Specially in a cooler track. Brilliant strategy by Mercedes. The McLaren gotta be their main competition and not redbull.

[MightyJordan]

Big congratulations to Rosberg on his first F1 win. :) Shame about Button's botched pitstop though. If that didn't happen, we might have had a very exciting finish on our hands...

[philcruicks]

Excellent race! congrats to Nico, well deserved after his performance in quali and the race. Epic battle for 2,3,4,5 at the end!

Found an great way to watch: http://pic.twitter.com/rcLpBhoI

Left: iPad with live timing

Middle: Live BBC stream

Right: Pit Lane stream with onboard camera stream windowed on top

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Excellent race today. The close field makes for brilliant battles and a wonderfully unpredicatble season. Shame about Schumacher's pit stop, it would otherwise have been a Mercedes GP 1 - 2.

Man of the race: Nico Rosberg

Reject of the race: I'm hard pressed to think of one. The Mercedes pit crew maybe.

[MightyJordan]

Found an great way to watch: http://pic.twitter.com/rcLpBhoI

Left: iPad with live timing

Middle: Live BBC stream

Right: Pit Lane stream with onboard camera stream windowed on top

Wow, great setup! I might nick that for the next race. :p I'm watching the Sky broadcast through Sky Go on my 360 (with my wireless headset, due to my 360 being loud like a jet engine, and so I don't have to turn up the TV and wake everyone); I could probably replicate the pitlane stream to a certain extent with the Race Control page on Sky Sports' website, then I can get the live timing on my HP TouchPad. :p

[philcruicks]

Excellent race today. The close field makes for brilliant battles and a wonderfully unpredicatble season. Shame about Schumacher's pit stop, it would otherwise have been a Mercedes GP 1 - 2.

Man of the race: Nico Rosberg

Reject of the race: I'm hard pressed to think of one. The Mercedes pit crew maybe.

For reject I'd put forward Kamui or Kimi, They didn't really do much wrong...Kimi's staying out too long on tyres and Kamui just didn't seem to have the pace of quali...but they started 3rd and 4th and finished 10th and 14th...by far the biggest losers of the race.

[philcruicks]

Wow, great setup! I might nick that for the next race. :p I'm watching the Sky broadcast through Sky Go on my 360 (with my wireless headset, due to my 360 being loud like a jet engine, and so I don't have to turn up the TV and wake everyone); I could probably replicate the pitlane stream to a certain extent with the Race Control page on Sky Sports' website, then I can get the live timing on my HP TouchPad. :p

Yeah I suspect Sky will have a similar stream for the pit lane...but its deff there on the beeb for the races they cover.

Live timing on the iPad was really hard to find...the official app is crap and tries to charge you ?20 just to use it. the Official F1 website uses flash...so you will probably be OK on the Touchpad...if not try formula1livetiming.com/go

[Zain Adeel]

I watched on tv star sports.. And timings on my wp7.. That awesome link someone gave that don't use flash....

[Daedroth]

Really enjoyed that race. Great to see so many cars bunched up within the last 15 laps of the race, after the final pit stops. Not just a certain team or two romping away.

[TheLegendOfMart]

Pretty boring race, very happy for Nico and Mercedes, Brawn GP was my favourite team.