F1 World Championship 2013 Thread

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Qualifying:

[TheLegendOfMart]

What happened to Button, the stream I was watching cut out about 2 mins before end, did he just abandon his lap?

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

What happened to Button, the stream I was watching cut out about 2 mins before end, did he just abandon his lap?

Yes, he did. He's trying to save tyres.

[simonlang]

amazing lap by rosberg, he looked very commited. imho alonso messed his lap a bit up, because the ferrari is for sure the fastest car here. massa starting with the hard tires from p4 might be looking for an amazing result tomorrow, except if ferrari decides again to screw him up and favor alonso.

vettel did a great lap as well. the redbull is maybe the 3rd best car now and looked a bit behind all weekend, but then he went out with only 1 try and beats alonso who had a much faster car today.

[starbearer]

Massa will start on P4 because of the various penalties incurred by Webber and Hamilton, and he's on the harder tyre too. So, a Mercedes, Red Bull, 2 Ferraris in the starting equation.

The Mercedes will drop back during the race ( almost a certainty). That should leave a cracking race ahead between the Red Bull of Vettel, and the Ferraris...and whoever manages to claw up there after the start ( Hamilton probably).

[TheLegendOfMart]

Really enjoyed that race, very eventful. Happy for Di Resta he really nailed it. Loved all the scrapping. Perez needs to cool it though all the racing they did could have compromised their tyres especially when he nearly gave Button a puncture.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

[simonlang]

- vettel: in a class of his own. the car had no topspeed and was not good on its tires. i have no clue how he manages to drive arround both of these problems. seen what he did against alonso and rosberg at the start? this was decisive and very very impressive.

- raikkonen/grosjean: while their car sucks in quali, it's nearly the same pace as the ferraris in the race + better drivers. ofc. the track temperatures helped them, but they have a strong team and super reliability. if webber wont shift up a gear, they will be favorites for constructeurs championship imho.

- ferrari: what a ridiculous team they have become. some might know that since 2010 i am saying with alonso as their lead driver they will do show laps and hyped press statements but wont win anything. and wow have i been right today again. WHAT THE HELL STARTING MASSA ON THE HARD TIRES AND THEN JUST TO PIT HIM THE SAME LAPS AS THE GUYS ON THE SOFTS?! 2 tires damaged.... at least they immediately took alonso in the pit when he had a faulty drs, because otherwise he would have been black flagged (this just confirms what i said about malaysian gp and alonsos front wing)

- alonso: i did not include him in ferrari because i think he even deserves more critics. a lead driver should push the team like vettel does with redbull, where webber has become a statist again just 2 races after malaysia. but all alonso is doing is moaning to the press and missing chance after chance. the ferrari is by far the best car now. super topspeed which makes him overtaking cars even without drs today and best tire control. and still he doesnt achieves anything. on top of that: moaning and playing the crybaby again on the pitradio after sending perez off the track and getting overtaken. classless.

- hamilton/rosberg: they have shown both great drivers and what mercedes problem is. either you go for quali performance (rosberg) or for race performance. loved the fact hami fought webber at the end. thats the old hamilton back :)

- mclaren why o why did they not release perez earlier?! he had much better pace than button. they cant have it both ways. first bashing him and still holding him back when he clearly is faster. they are starting to do to him what ferrari is doing to massa since hockenheim 2010.

race was good, actually one of the better ones this year. if you compare it with older bahrain races, it really shows the new rules are working!!! watch bahrain 2005 or 2006 for example, makes you falling asleep after 3 laps... not so today!!!

[Daedroth]

- vettel: in a class of his own. the car had no topspeed and was not good on its tires. i have no clue how he manages to drive arround both of these problems. seen what he did against alonso and rosberg at the start? this was decisive and very very impressive.

- raikkonen/grosjean: while their car sucks in quali, it's nearly the same pace as the ferraris in the race + better drivers. ofc. the track temperatures helped them, but they have a strong team and super reliability. if webber wont shift up a gear, they will be favorites for constructeurs championship imho.

- ferrari: what a ridiculous team they have become. some might know that since 2010 i am saying with alonso as their lead driver they will do show laps and hyped press statements but wont win anything. and wow have i been right today again. WHAT THE HELL STARTING MASSA ON THE HARD TIRES AND THEN JUST TO PIT HIM THE SAME LAPS AS THE GUYS ON THE SOFTS?! 2 tires damaged.... at least they immediately took alonso in the pit when he had a faulty drs, because otherwise he would have been black flagged (this just confirms what i said about malaysian gp and alonsos front wing)

- alonso: i did not include him in ferrari because i think he even deserves more critics. a lead driver should push the team like vettel does with redbull, where webber has become a statist again just 2 races after malaysia. but all alonso is doing is moaning to the press and missing chance after chance. the ferrari is by far the best car now. super topspeed which makes him overtaking cars even without drs today and best tire control. and still he doesnt achieves anything. on top of that: moaning and playing the crybaby again on the pitradio after sending perez off the track and getting overtaken. classless.

- hamilton/rosberg: they have shown both great drivers and what mercedes problem is. either you go for quali performance (rosberg) or for race performance. loved the fact hami fought webber at the end. thats the old hamilton back :)

- mclaren why o why did they not release perez earlier?! he had much better pace than button. they cant have it both ways. first bashing him and still holding him back when he clearly is faster. they are starting to do to him what ferrari is doing to massa since hockenheim 2010.

race was good, actually one of the better ones this year. if you compare it with older bahrain races, it really shows the new rules are working!!! watch bahrain 2005 or 2006 for example, makes you falling asleep after 3 laps... not so today!!!

Would you please stop with your Ferrari/Alonso bashing in nearly every post you make in this thread?

I enjoyed today's, a good amount of overtaking. :)

Red Bull - Another great race for them in terms of car performance. Vettel had the car under him and didn't make a mistake. Made a couple of crucial moves in the opening laps and cruised to the win. Webber stuck with a penalty and suffered with tyre wear and traffic.

Lotus - Both drivers drove well and their cars had the race pace.

Ferrari - Mechanical and tyre issues hindered them this week. Alonso's DRS getting stuck open meaning he had to pit twice. Massa suffering tyre delamination AND a puncture/tyre destruction. Neither caused by driver mistakes seemingly.

Mercedes - Lacking overall race pace...seems to be linked to running a heavy/full tank of fuel, whereas very fast with <10KG during qualifying. So balance maybe? Rosberg had a hard time defending nearly all race, and Hamilton had a good duel with Webber.

Force India - Showed very good pace again like last year, but a shame Paul Di Resta couldn't make the podium, but still a good result. Massa collided with Sutil, and Sutil struggled ever since.

McLaren - Another poor race for McLaren, but a good battle between Button and Perez.

[Noir Angel]

This was a pretty interesting weekend.

A weekend Ferrari will want to forget in a hurry. DRS failure on one car and tyre issues on the other... I hope that Bahrain is just a temporary blip as it seems they're the only team capable of consistently challenging RBR at the moment.

McLaren: Still not quick enough in qualifying but slightly improved race pace. Also, I feel for Sergio. He doesn't race hard enough and he takes crap for it. He races hard and he takes crap for that as well. I don't think he went OTT, I thought it was a really entertaining performance from him.

Force India: Shame a podium was missed but they should be encouraged by their upturn in pace.

Red Bull: Great pace in one car, poor in the other. Hard to know if it was Mark's error or the team's but if I were him i'd want out.

Merc: Probably the standout car in quali but they need to work hard on improving their long run pace.

All in all an interesting weekend.

[Lingwo]

I enjoyed this weekends racing. Been a while since the middle of the race has been entertaining.

RBR: Looking good. I have a feeling it wouldn't have been so easy if Alonso didn't have the DRS problem. That must be scary having it open constantly.

Force India: Looking quick out there. I think the 3 stop should have been the way to go but i don't think Di Resta would have been fourth though. I don't think if their car is improved over last year or it is just the mid field just isn't as quick as they were last year.

Mercedes: Another good result but their race pace is well off. Their car looks exactly like last year but more reliable. I expect them to drop off the title chase by mid season.

Ferrari: Both unlucky. I'm not the biggest supporter of Ferrari after the team orders incident a few seasons back. They do look like the closest team that could beat RBR.

McLaren: Their car seems to improve every race. Enjoyed the battle with Perez and Button. I think he was unlucky to clip Button in the corner, he just didn't anticipate Button to be so slow. I still don't know if they'll have to car up to pace to challenge for the championship but i believe they'll have some race wins by the end of the season.

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Was certainly a good race yesterday with plenty of action - but I have to say I've never been more desperate for someone, SOMEONE to de-throne Vettel. I just find him generally unlikeable and he really showed his true colours at the last race making me dislike him either more. I think if he starts to lose races, or another car becomes faster with some upgrades, we might see his true colours in the same sort of way that Schumacher liked to get uncompetetive with dangerous moves.

I thought the racing with McLaren was pretty exciting but I think Perez was foolish in some places especially when he clipped Button's car - could easily have been game over for both of them with a puncture for JB and substantial front-end damage for Perez.. good to see Perez being competitive though and keeping up with the #1 driver as he's certainly had his doubters since moving to McLaren.

Thought Alonso did pretty well considering the number of times he had to pit and running without DRS too.

[theyarecomingforyou]

I thought the racing with McLaren was pretty exciting but I think Perez was foolish in some places especially when he clipped Button's car - could easily have been game over for both of them with a puncture for JB and substantial front-end damage for Perez.. good to see Perez being competitive though and keeping up with the #1 driver as he's certainly had his doubters since moving to McLaren.

I'm actually surprised Button's tyre survived, as there was obvious contact. Perhaps most interesting was Button's response, which was quite restrained - a lot of other drivers would have been furious. It's a shame that Perez only stepped up his game when there were sponsors about, as seemed to noticeably step up his game.

As for Massa's tyre problems, I wouldn't be surprised if they were related to his front wing damage. If it altered the cars aerodynamics and handling then it could easily have put extra strain on his tyres. And I feel sorry for Alonso, though I have to say he did an incredible job given the lack of DRS.

[Noir Angel]

If you want close racing contact will sometimes happen, it's inevitable. People simply cannot complain that there isn't enough close racing then call drivers reckless when they try and pass. Compared to some of the stunts Schumi and Montoya used to pull I thought the Perez incidents were pretty benign.

[simonlang]

imho mclaren should have let perez through WAY earlier. i mean it was so blatantly obvious for everyone that perez was the faster one this race. instead they let their drivers fight, destroying buttons tires and holding back perez too long. it's not that any of the mclaren driver fights for the wdc right now (and most likely won't this year anyway) so there is no need for teamorder anyway, better maximize team-points, now they are behind force india and they only have themselves to blame.

[i11usive]

I don't think Perez should've got the McLaren seat. Personally, I think it should have gone to Hulkenberg.

[Noir Angel]

imho mclaren should have let perez through WAY earlier. i mean it was so blatantly obvious for everyone that perez was the faster one this race. instead they let their drivers fight, destroying buttons tires and holding back perez too long. it's not that any of the mclaren driver fights for the wdc right now (and most likely won't this year anyway) so there is no need for teamorder anyway, better maximize team-points, now they are behind force india and they only have themselves to blame.

For once I am in agreement. I'm no lover of team orders but it's cost McLaren big in recent history. IMO if one driver is clearly faster than the other they shouldn't be held up as it's the team's duty to maximise it's own score.

[MightyJordan]

I don't think Perez should've got the McLaren seat. Personally, I think it should have gone to Hulkenberg.

I personally would have gone with Kobayashi. It's a shame he didn't manage to secure a seat for this season. :/

[simonlang]

still wondering about the silence here... any reason for it? result not fitting your likings? :p

[TheLegendOfMart]

What result, Quali isn't on till later?

[simonlang]

What result, Quali isn't on till later?

there had been a meeting wednesday about testing restrictions, new points-penalty system and so on ... also there has been longruns done in fp2 yesterday, giving at least a small indication....

but yeah, you are right. quali isn't on till later. :)

[TheLegendOfMart]

I don't watch FPs unless I'm bored, especially when teams are running different tests/fuel loads it's not a good indication of race pace.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

[Noir Angel]

Headline times in practice are largely meaningless these days. It's quali where it will really count but it does look as if Ferrari are well poised to deliver here.

[TheLegendOfMart]

So much for the big updates that McLaren were bringing to this race, Jenson was whining about tyres AGAIN.