F1 World Championship 2010 Thread

[Buio]

McLaren will go back and not use the aero update introduced on friday practice.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85141

[san.W10]

Vettel on pole as Red Bull crushes rivals

Red Bull continued its domination of the British Grand Prix weekend as Sebastian Vettel led Mark Webber in a seemingly easy front row sweep.

And while Red Bull proved unstoppable, its main title rival McLaren had a very tough session - with Lewis Hamilton fourth and reigning champion Jenson Button a disastrous 14th.

The latter described his car as 'undriveable', and was a lost to explain why its grip had suddenly disappeared in Q2, leaving him on row seven.

Vettel and Webber had been first and second in Q1, swapped places in Q2, and then led their rivals by just over 0.7 seconds after their first Q3 runs put them comfortably first and second, Vettel just ahead.

That was how they stayed, as Webber could not quite improve on his 1m29.758s at the end, whereas Vettel found a little more time and got his pole mark down to 1m29.615s.

Fernando Alonso was best of the rest in third for Ferrari, despite being frustrated to be caught behind Rubens Barrichello's Williams on his last Q3 run. Nevertheless, he was still able to hold off Hamilton.

Mercedes got both cars back in the top ten, Nico Rosberg taking fifth place - 0.8s and five places ahead of team-mate Michael Schumacher.

Renault's Robert Kubica will join Rosberg on row three, followed by Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari, Barrichello, and the impressive Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber) - who produced the best qualifying form of his comeback so far.

Button aside, there were few surprises among the drivers failing to make the top ten, except perhaps Force India's second straight Q2 elimination. Adrian Sutil narrowly missed out in 11th, while Tonio Liuzzi was 15th - and may yet face questions over impeding 13th-place qualifier Nico Hulkenberg's Williams.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85156

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85160

Mark Webber was left frustrated in British Grand Prix qualifying after Sebastian Vettel received the only remaining example of the new front wing Red Bull has brought for Silverstone.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8807329.stm

"Team boss Christian Horner said: : "We only had one wing after this morning's incident and sometimes I have to make difficult decisions, and based on final practice and championship positions it had to go to the left hand side of the garage.""

- Mark breaks his car, he gets Vettels reject chassis.

- Vettel breaks his car, he gets Marks brand new parts.

Nice redbull.

[Mike]

Proper response: TBH there was no decision to be made - Vettel/Webber were given a new front wing each. Vettel's broke and so is unlucky and has to do without it, therefore Webber should keep his.

Jokey response: Red Bull gave Webber wings in the last race and he broke the car so they've taken them off him this race :p

[Subject Delta]

Horner can deny it all he wants it's crystal clear that the team favours vettel.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Horner can deny it all he wants it's crystal clear that the team favours vettel.

Unfortunately. Which is why I hope for Webber to ultimately beat Vettel to the title.

Vettel is talented, no doubt. But: His attitude as shown at the Turkey GP simply put irritates me.

Edit: Good to see you're posting on the forums again, Subject Delta.

Edited July 11, 2010 by Mephistopheles

[ahmz]

Proper response: TBH there was no decision to be made - Vettel/Webber were given a new front wing each. Vettel's broke and so is unlucky and has to do without it, therefore Webber should keep his.

Indeed. I think that's how Whitmarsh would have done things, after reading his latest interview.

[MightyJordan]

Horner can deny it all he wants it's crystal clear that the team favours vettel.

Well, thankfully, that just backfired. :p Vettel ran off the track, ended up with a puncture, and now he's about a lap behind!

[simonlang]

this race showing again what a big big big idiot alonso is.

massa had a briliant start, maybe the best of the whole field and was in front of alonso when the spaniard just crashed into his rear tire.

has to get a penalty. :angry:

[ahmz]

Great start by Webber! Now that's some sweet payback.. hopefully he can take it home for the win.

[simonlang]

alonso deserves another penalty for passing kubica out of track.

[MightyJordan]

alonso deserves another penalty for passing kubica out of track.

They're finally investigating that one now. :)

[simonlang]

alonso deserves another penalty for passing kubica out of track.

and he gets a drivethrough! :laugh:

[MightyJordan]

Safety car's out now.

[what]

Awesome race.

[ViZioN]

Great race for Hamilton. Basically stayed with Webber the whole way with a slower car.

I'm glad Webber one too, just to give a big middle finger to Red Bull for favouring Vettel over him. Not sure what they're going to do now as Webber has more points :rofl:

[acnpt]

Great race.

Fantastic drives by Hamilton, Webber, Vettel and Kobayashi.

Button was excellent too, shame he didn't have the fuel.

Also Alonso :laugh:, guess Ferrari have stopped paying for 'Ferrari International Assistance'

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

For the first time, Webber has finally be driven to say something bad about a team. Both Vettel and the team have driven him to the tipping point a few times this season, the wing looks to have tipped him over.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85217

Some choice comments.

"Not bad for a number two driver".

"Yesterday was really a unique situation, and it was the first time we had one but I would never have signed a contract for next year if I believed that was the way going forward"

When asked if today's win was poetic justice, he replied: "An appointment with Karma? Yeah."

Some of the drivers offered me front wings on the parade lap from their cars but I said stick with what I've got. Seb didn't!

I think he should have taken the offer.

[Subject Delta]

Mark Webber is a great bloke, and it is sad to see the team favouring Vettel over him. As far as I am concerned the situation should be "well the win broke on Seb's car, so bad luck fit it with the old one". To clearly take a part off one car and put it on another is obvious favouritism. And the fact that McLaren are managing to keep extending their title lead over red bull shows me that whilst the team have got an obviously quick car, they have some to learn about driver and team management. The 2007 saga taught McLaren what can happen if you allow disharmony to build amongst your drivers. At the moment Red Bull are throwing away a championship that they should be comfortably winning, and everything that has gone wrong for them has done so because of internal factors within the team.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Lotus set to switch to Renault engines next season

The new Lotus team are closing on a deal to switch to Renault engines next year, BBC Sport understands.

Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes and technical director Mike Gascoyne had a meeting with Renault on Sunday morning at the British Grand Prix.

Both sides are keen on a deal, which is expected to include road car tie-ins.

Gascoyne refused to comment on Renault but said: "We have a contract with Cosworth and we're discussing with them ways to work together in the future."

Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell are among the drivers who have previously raced Renault-powered Lotus cars in Formula 1.

The team ran the engines from 1983 to 1986, winning five races.

Lotus, who are the most competitive of the three new teams on the grid this season, currently use Cosworth engines.

The new Malaysian-backed team brought the Lotus name back into F1 for the first time since 1994, when Team Lotus collapsed because of financial reasons.

The new team is called Lotus Racing but BBC Sport understands they are close to finalising a deal with the owners of the Team Lotus brand to reinstate the historic name.

The new Lotus team is already being treated by F1 authorities as a continuation of the former one, which was set up by the legendary Colin Chapman, earning prize and appearance money on the basis of Team Lotus's historic results.

Source: BBC

[StealMySoda]

I think Alonso was treated very harshly. A drive through is nowhere near equivalent to allowing a driver back through. He had one of the fastest cars all weekend (I think himself and Massa actually got the 2 fastest laps during the race) and really deserved more. I think he has really shown this season what a great driver he is, managing to get every last ounce of performance for the car even when it's not competitive.

[Buio]

Lotus set to switch to Renault engines next season

Source: BBC

Lotus has done some pace progress already, so maybe they can be even better next year with this change. Renault engine seems to work well for Red Bull and Renault at least.

[Subject Delta]

I think Alonso was treated very harshly. A drive through is nowhere near equivalent to allowing a driver back through. He had one of the fastest cars all weekend (I think himself and Massa actually got the 2 fastest laps during the race) and really deserved more. I think he has really shown this season what a great driver he is, managing to get every last ounce of performance for the car even when it's not competitive.

I have been a vocal supporter of Alonso for a while, but I can't defend him at all here. Ok, Kubica dropped out, but it was quiet clear Alonso had no intention whatsoever of giving the place back. If you break the rules, you get punished, and although I thought his Monza penalty in 2006 was horribly harsh, in this case I agree with the decision that the stewards came to.

[StealMySoda]

I just think the stewards have had two bad races recently. First with the Lewis Hamilton incident. Giving him a 30 second(ish going through pit lane + 10 seconds) penalty for something which basically gave him an advantage of a whole lap. Now this.

Alonso had no choice other than to go off the track as Kubica gave him no room.

I realize that had Alonso taken the penalty quickly and before the Safety car announced it was coming out he would have been in a much better position, but obviously Ferrari (nor the Stewards for that matter) can predict if there is going to be a need for a safety car which is why it is so unfortunate.

Just rotten luck, that's all.

[Subject Delta]

I just think the stewards have had two bad races recently. First with the Lewis Hamilton incident. Giving him a 30 second(ish going through pit lane + 10 seconds) penalty for something which basically gave him an advantage of a whole lap. Now this.

The problem with that is simply looking at what he gained from it, it is worth pointing out that it was very unlikely to be a deliberate attempt to cheat. Lewis would have been focusing on the safety car, it's probable that he had no idea that he had even crossed the safety car line until the team told him that he had received a penalty for it. It was a judgement call that he got wrong. Yes, the stewards took a long time to investigate the incident, but to be fair to them, Webber had just been the victim of a horrifying accident, and they had other matters to deal with before they could investigate the penalty. The fact is, that as soon as they had time to investigate the penalty, they gave him the only possible punishment under the rules, a drive through penalty. Yep, this time he gained an advantage, but he was penalised in exactly the way the rules stated he should be. The stewards did not have the option to apply anything else, so their application of the penalty was fair, and totally correct within the framework of the rules.

Alonso had no choice other than to go off the track as Kubica gave him no room.

The problem with that argument is that if you cast your mind back to the 2008 Belgian GP, we had the same situation in reverse. Lewis was forced off the track by kimi, when he probably had the slight racing line advantage, and on that day Lewis passed Kimi (and unlike Alonso, Lewis actually made some effort to give the place back). Yet Lewis was penalised for it, even though Kimi retired. And in that incident, all I can recall was wave after wave of Ferrari fans screaming about how Lewis was a cheat, and how he had wronged Kimi. Well to me, this situation is no different at all, what Ferrari fans have the problem with is that their team is no longer getting the rub of the green they used to get with regards to decision making that they got under the Mosley regime. As far as I am concerned, if the Lewis incident was a penalty, the Alonso incident was as well.