official F1 World Championship 2012 Thread

[White Man]

FOM's Force India blackout was utterly ridiculous.

[Kerm]

What?^

I was just wondering, if Di Resta went out onto track and began a flying lap just before the end of Q3 and put a super slow time in to conserve his tyres as much as possible wouldn't that put him above Alonso?

[MightyJordan]

What?^

FOM deliberately boycotted Force India during the qualifying due to them pulling out of P2 early, so there was little to no coverage of them on the cameras. It'll probably be the same story in the race tomorrow, unless one of them is leading or right behind the leader (which is what I'm hoping for now), in which case, they can't boycott them..

[Kerm]

What or should I say whom are the FOM?

[philcruicks]

What's FOM?

I'm guessing Formula One Management...they control the camera stream the broadcasters get.

[MightyJordan]

What's FOM?

Formula One Management; the group responsible for the sport and the coverage, which Bernie is in charge of. He's still got it into his stupid mind that nothing's going on in Bahrain. He actually said "What protests?" last Sunday, and he also said no one was shot after it was reported that police shot a protester. Then later on, he even described the situation of the police and the protesters as "Labour vs. Conservatives". The only reason this grand prix is still happening is because he is a greedy ****, and the family that rule Bahrain are also directly profiting from the GP.

[what]

Bernie is very good at drumming up publicity by being controversial but he has kinda overstepped the mark this time. The other night he said journalists need an earthquake to happen so they had something to report without having to make things up or oversensationalise to sell their articles. It's all well and good trying to ignore the political unrest and focus on the GP as a sporting event but he's effectively been flat out denying any of the events that have been going on in Bahrain for the last year. It's as if he forgot last year's race was cancelled for a reason.

I have no doubt that the media here is trying to twist things because reports from the ground in Bahrain suggest the area around the track is relatively peaceful and most of the unrest is in the north west of the island, but Bernie doesn't need to go out of his way to make himself sound totally ignorant.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

For the Vettel fans among you:

He was smiling after clinching pole. He won't be smiling as much today.

[White Man]

[Kerm]

Hehe. Ridiculous isn't it.

[Lovell]

Force India silent on TV exposure claims during qualifying in Bahrain

claims that its television exposure during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix was deliberately kept to a minimum because of the team's decision to skip Friday afternoon's second free practice session.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99062

Ross Brawn urges F1 to reflect on decision to race in Bahrain

With F1 teams now fully focused on Sunday's race, Brawn suggested that with team personnel having been caught up in clashes, criticism of the sport in the worldwide media and violent protests that have led to a death, it was important the sport asked itself if it did the right thing in racing here.

"I think we are here now, and after this event we need to sit down and discuss it," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT if there was a risk the negative headlines this weekend had damaged F1's image.

Brawn did speak out, however, about comments made by British Labour politicians in recent days calling for the race to be called off and dragging drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button into the row.

"I find it very frustrating that politicians in the UK were saying that we should withdraw once we got here," said Brawn. "Why didn't they say that beforehand?

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh echoed Brawn's comments that Labour leader Ed Milliband and shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's calls to cancel the Bahrain GP were ill-timed.

"I don't think it is helpful to wake up this morning to hear we shouldn't be here when we are already here, so I endorse what Ross says," he said.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99063

[Lovell]

Good job to the Mclaren pit crew do they know this is a race? :laugh:

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

[Fourjays Veteran]

Good job to the Mclaren pit crew do they know this is a race? :laugh:

Is beyond a joke IMO. You'd think after several poor pit stops last year they'd have done everything possible to make sure it wasn't repeated... and now their even worse. :pinch:

No point having two brilliant drivers and a great car if you can't manage to make a pit stop without losing countless places.

Top marks to Lotus though. Really wasn't expecting them to do so well. (Y)

[spikey_richie]

Excellent 2 & 3 for Lotus, about time they came back into form. Been a long time coming!

Rosberg should get disqualified for his actions today. First Lewis, then Fernando... he's getting cocky after a race win, and is now trying MSC type moves.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Man of the race: Kimi R?ikk?nen. To almost win the GP from P11, after two years out of F1... excellent.

Reject of the race: The McLaren pit crew.

[spikey_richie]

Man of the race: Kimi R?ikk?nen. To almost win the GP from P11, after two years out of F1... excellent.

Reject of the race: The McLaren pit crew.

Reject of the race: The McLaren pit crew & Rosberg for driving like a ****

[Lovell]

Meph does the livetiming have the pitstop times?

[123456789A]

Hello my name is Rosberg. You are welcome to pass me, so long as you do it in the sand.

[MightyJordan]

Man of the race: Kimi R?ikk?nen. To almost win the GP from P11, after two years out of F1... excellent.

Agreed, and I'd put Grosjean a close second there. He's bagged his first F1 podium finish today, and I'm glad he's finally able to show how talented he is, now that his car is competitive enough to run with the top teams. He's definitely got the potential to be a big name in F1. I'd love to see him do a repeat of this. :p

Speaking of Lotus, today was their first podium finish since 1988. Glad to see the legendary name is finally making a return to form. :)

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

The current Lotus team has nothing to do with the Team Lotus of old though. It's more of a Toleman-turned-Benetton-turned-Renault-turned-Lotus-Renault-GP-turned-Lotus.

[MightyJordan]

The current Lotus team has nothing to do with the Team Lotus of old though. It's more of a Toleman-turned-Benetton-turned-Renault-turned-Lotus-Renault-GP-turned-Lotus.

True, but it's still Lotus in name; that's good enough for me. :p

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

True, but it's still Lotus in name; that's good enough for me. :p

Not for me. I'm more for historical accuracy, sorry.

[what]

Hello my name is Rosberg. You are welcome to pass me, so long as you do it in the sand.

But I'll complain on the pit radio if you do.

[Lovell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OPOnvHh4gg&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iQurrE15bA&feature=player_embedded