F1 World Championship 2010 Thread

[Mike]

lets say, Alosno had clutch (when passing JB), i dont see him running wide in that corner.

Didn't see him run wide?! He only just stayed on the track!

[what]

I enjoyed that race. Alonso had a brilliant drive to stay in contention with those problems. Just seems a bit daft to be putting the full 18k with the gearbox issues while sitting in the warm air behind Button's car right at the end of the race for the chance at getting two more points.

[simonlang]

i think alonso should have just backed off and finished behind button. that would have given him at least 2 important points, but he just needed to keep his wdc lead instead of thinking of the team he is driving for. very selfish and egocentric. but then, its alonso we are talking about. expected nothing else.

[san.W10]

LH had a fantastic race, p20 to p6, but coulndt pass a Force India :rofl:

Renault critical of Hamilton's weaving

Renault boss Eric Boullier believes Lewis Hamilton was in the wrong for weaving to prevent an attack from Vitaly Petrov - but has ruled out taking the matter any further despite his McLaren rival only getting a warning.

Hamilton was fighting Petrov hard for position during the Malaysian Grand Prix and, after overtaking the Russian, he weaved down the start-finish straight several times to try and prevent a counter-attack.

That action prompted suggestions that Hamilton had broken the unofficial drivers' code of conduct that they can only make one directional move to defend a position.

However, with Hamilton accelerating out of a corner rather than coming under pressure into a braking zone, there were other arguments suggesting he was simply trying to break the tow.

Renault boss Eric Boullier said his team complained to race control about Hamilton's actions during the event - and felt the FIA should have done more than show the former world champion a black and white flag for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

"We just raised our point of view," Boullier told AUTOSPORT. "Very frankly, it is very clear in the regulations that you can have one change of direction, so when you do three in a row something is wrong.

"He got a warning for dangerous driving, but I am not sure it is enough. It is definitely clearly written in the regulations that you can not do any more than one direction change, and it is something you should not be doing."

When asked if Renault would pursue the matter further to seek clarification from the FIA, Boullier said: "No. A warning says that if you do it again you will be penalised."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82717

[carmatic]

anybody know why Luizzi started driving slowly before quitting the race? from where i was watching the race from, it was the most interesting thing to happen, i could hear his engine sputtering as he moved on the straight out of turn 11... looked like he came to a stop there, and his car was pretty quiet up until he tried to start moving again

and the next most interesting thing was that Renault coming to a halt on turn 10 ... i wonder what caused that too...

yeah, Alonso seemed to handle the gearbox problem pretty well, somehow he managed to get best times for the laps, the commentary was somewhere along the lines of 'did the gearbox fix itself?'

overall i never imagined that 2 hours would pass like 5 minutes when im keeping track of the drivers positions with the f1 java app my phone, lucky for me it didnt rain! i didnt bring a raincoat... but then again the race would have been alot more exciting to watch if it did, i was basically telling myself that someone's gonna crash on turn 11 since that was where i was sitting...

[Crazysah]

Great day for Force India! Adrian Sutil finishing a best ever 5th!

Also, Karun Chandhok passing Trulli! Amazing!

[san.W10]

FIA: Ride height devices would be illegal

-===========================================

schumi & kimi leg dance :rofl:

[san.W10]

The layout for the Indian Grand Prix circuit, with exagerated elevation

http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/image/13937.html?page=1

[Kerm]

Whens the next race guys?

[san.W10]

#04 = 2010 FORMULA 1 CHINESE GRAND PRIX (Shanghai) - 16 - 18 Apr

http://www.formula1.com/races/calendar.html

[Kerm]

Ah that's right and good old Vettel won that last year if i remember. Red bull's race again?

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Dennis: McLaren initiated Mercedes split

McLaren was the party that initiated the end of its exclusive tie-up with Mercedes-Benz at the end of last season, former team principal Ron Dennis has revealed.

Mercedes-Benz ended its long-running partnership with McLaren at the end of 2009, so it could shift its main focus into taking over the former Brawn GP outfit.

And although at the time there were suggestions that McLaren losing its exclusive arrangement with Mercedes-Benz could hurt the team's future prospects, Dennis remains adamant it was for the best - especially since his team continues to receive a supply of customer engines.

Furthermore, he has also claimed that it was McLaren ? and not Mercedes-Benz ? that wanted the relationship to change.

"It was completely and utterly amicable," Dennis told Arabian Business magazine about the split with Mercedes-Benz. "They continuously over the years wanted to have control of McLaren and we continuously told them we did not want them to have control of McLaren.

"The more they wanted it, the less we wanted to give it to them. Because you look at what happens... the influence they [car manufacturers] control is not always productive. CEOs change overnight. I have got 30-odd years of my life in this company, huge quantities of friends and people who have been through thick and thin with me, and I made it very clear to Mercedes-Benz, as did the other shareholders, that we are not for sale. They hankered always."

He added: "We initiated it, we wanted to be independent. This wasn't something which we weren't party to. I mean engine supply to Brawn in 2008 [for the 2009 season] required our consent.

"At the end of the day we were a fully integrated partner of Mercedes-Benz, and we still are. We are fiercely competitive on circuit, but off circuit we are still firm friends. I wouldn't call it a sweetheart deal, but it was a win-win situation.

"They got exactly what they wanted: a grand prix team they had complete control over ? and we had continuous engine supply and the ability to promote our product and build the McLaren brand.

"It was just a win-win situation. In the end, obviously, when we all realised this was going to happen, it was all very logical."

Source: Autosport

[Fergie]

And in other news.

Sebastien Buemi escapes 200mph crash unhurt in Shanghai

Button and Hamilton ahead in Practice

[simonlang]

and alonso just killed another engine. :p

[.mcman]

I was expecting more from McLaren. I hope they'll do better tomorrow.

[brentaal]

and alonso just killed another engine. :p

It was expected. It's the engine he had used for practice sessions in Bahrain, then one that was assumed not be good enough for the entire race.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Decent qualifying, and well done once again to Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull Team.

Tomorrow's race will be a lottery if the weather forecast is to believed: 85% chance of rain.

[Kerm]

Good to see a bit rain mix things up even more.

I missed the qualifying today but i'm disappointed to see Hamilton not get a bit higher after his speed of the last few days.

[sundayx Veteran]

Front wheels, disengage!

[simonlang]

It was expected. It's the engine he had used for practice sessions in Bahrain, then one that was assumed not be good enough for the entire race.

still its not good. :shifty: he has not ennough engines now! only 5 left for 15 races or something like that. no way he is gonna do it. his championship chances are over.

todays qualifying was a bit of a shocker for me. redbull - especially in the hands of vettel - is SO MUCH AHEAD its acutally frustrating. i bet he wasnt even pushing but just did a great lap. still its great to see that mclaren has closed the gap in qualifying somehow. between position 2 and 6 there is really nothing. everyone could be on webbers starting-position.

i start to feel worried about schumacher :( today he was dead slow and there is no excuse for it. hope he ll be back up to speed very soon.

lets see what happens tomorrow, there is a chance of rain. :D

[san.W10]

here in Indian broadcast -"Star Sports", a commentator was saying that FIA allows "Reliabilty upgrades" to the engine.

So could ferrari do a reliability upgrade to increase the performance ? :p

coz i didnt see their engines suffering like this in recent past.

& Nico changed the rear wing for quali/race, they were evaluating the their version f-duct, MS is still using that wing, it gave them 3Kmph advantage in top speed.

[what]

here in Indian broadcast -"Star Sports", a commentator was saying that FIA allows "Reliabilty upgrades" to the engine.

So could ferrari do a reliability upgrade to increase the performance ? :p

coz i didnt see their engines suffering like this in recent past.

& Nico changed the rear wing for quali/race, they were evaluating the their version f-duct, MS is still using that wing, it gave them 3Kmph advantage in top speed.

They wouldn't increase performance if they're looking to increase reliability. But even if they do, getting each engine to last 3 race weekends is a tall order. And then, even if they do last, by the time each engine gets to its third race, it'll be way down on power.

[MightyJordan]

Naughty naughty, Alonso! Jumped the start just before the green light, and now he's getting punished with a drive-through penalty. :)

And while I'm here, this popped up on Sniffpetrol's Twitter before the penalty was given:

The FIA have looked at the Ferrari jump start evidence and decided to penalise McLaren. #F1

:rofl:

[Billus]

Naughty naughty, Alonso! Jumped the start just before the green light, and now he's getting punished with a drive-through penalty. :)

And while I'm here, this popped up on Sniffpetrol's Twitter before the penalty was given:

:rofl:

Haha yea.

I wonder which bet off mine will be counted as I had both Webber and Alonso tipped to be leading after the first lap. Either way, I see a nice sum of money reaching my account :D

On another note, I have Massa to be ahead of Alonso by the end which itself has some nice odds.

[MightyJordan]

Does anyone know if the stewards are investigating the pit lane incident between Alonso and Massa? Alonso's being a real cheeky fecker today. He's already been penalised for jumping the start, and then he goes and cuts Massa on the inside of the pit lane entrance!

I did see just now that they're investigating another pit lane incident, between Hamilton and Vettel.

Wow, we're only halfway through the race and 10/24 drivers have already retired? :blink:

The way things are going, I bet less than 10 will finish the race.

Sorry, my mistake. I was looking at the standings, and it went away after 14th, so I assumed that was all that was left. Turns out that 18 are still in it.