F1 World Championship 2010 Thread

[Kerm]

^Agreed. Webber's moaning at being second best and the team constantly favouring Vettel has been going on for alot of the season.

Since Vettel has seemingly recovered from taking people out he seems more in the spirit of just getting on with it and racing, rather than bitching. To what I've read that's the case anyway.

I sure hope the FIA can impose harsher penalties for any kind of team orders next season though. It should be straight racing! Let the drivers sort it out on track.

[Antaris Veteran]

I know what you mean. We can look forward to one hell of a race at the end of the week though!

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

^Agreed. Webber's moaning at being second best and the team constantly favouring Vettel has been going on for alot of the season.

Since Vettel has seemingly recovered from taking people out he seems more in the spirit of just getting on with it and racing, rather than bitching. To what I've read that's the case anyway.

I sure hope the FIA can impose harsher penalties for any kind of team orders next season though. It should be straight racing! Let the drivers sort it out on track.

There will always be team orders. Not as blatant as executed by Ferrari at Hockenheim, but they have always been part of the game. It doesn't take all that much. IMHO it would be easier to simply allow team orders.

Unrelated: Nice avatar, Kerm. Senna in the 1991 McLaren-Honda, isn't it?

[Kerm]

Good eye to spot that in B/W.

Don't you feel slightly sickened with the best example to me being Barrichello in Austria?

I'm not naive enough to believe it can be completely eradicated, but after tactics are arranged and the start flag has gone let the boys race!

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Good eye to spot that in B/W.

Don't you feel slightly sickened with the best example to me being Barrichello in Austria?

I'm not naive enough to believe it can be completely eradicated, but after tactics are arranged and the start flag has gone let the boys race!

Granted, Austria 2002 was too blatant, and I understand why the spectators and most of the paddock were upset. However - if it is in the interest of the team a subtly executed position swap should be legal.

As to your avatar - I've been watching F1 since 1982. So.. it's not hard for me to recognise a lot of F1 cars.

[Subject Delta]

The rule on team orders is unenforceable, Ferrari just made the mistake (on 2 occasions now) of being far too blatant about it. Personally I think the rule needs to be scrapped.

[san.W10]

Vettel leads first Abu Dhabi practice

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Liuzzi reveals Interlagos escape

Vitantonio Liuzzi has revealed how lucky he was to escape injury in his Brazilian Grand Prix crash - after a piece of suspension pierced the cockpit and ripped his boots.

The Italian brought out a safety car late in the race when a suspension rocker broke - pitching him into the crash barriers at Turn 2.

Although Liuzzi was able to walk away from the incident without trouble, it was only later that he discovered how fortunate he had been.

"It was quite a big impact," explained the Force India driver. "We thought at the beginning it was a pushrod, but then they realised it was a rocker that got cracked and fell apart in Turn 2. We have to understand what happened, and it must have been a quality problem or something like that.

"It was actually a big crash and I was lucky I was not injured, as a piece of suspension came through the monocoque. The part made a hole in the front left of the car, so we have had to change the monocoque.

"It also touched my foot, but stopped just enough to break my shoes - although not my foot."

Liuzzi has reverted to chassis number two, which had only been used during pre-season testing.

"We are pretty confident it will be alright, but nobody drove it during the season. It should work okay," he said.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88159

[san.W10]

So Lewis Hamilton ends the first day of action at Yas Island with the fastest time - 1m40.888s ahead of Vettel and Alonso.

4th=webber

http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/298

[MikeChipshop Member]

Can't wait, some epic TV is a coming :D

Be interesting to see this poll again now we are nearing the end.

[san.W10]

Hamilton quickest in practice two

Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time of the second free practice session in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

The McLaren driver raised hopes that he might be able to compete for victory on Sunday by outpacing both Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.

The Yas Marina circuit was two seconds faster than in the day's earlier session, with the times coming down as more rubber was laid on the track.

Alonso's Ferrari had been quickest after most of the runners had completed their first long runs on the harder tyre, but Hamilton took the top spot as all the frontrunners improved on the softer compound.

Sebastian Vettel was second behind Alonso early on and improved on the soft tyre to finish second to Hamilton. Alonso ended the 90-minute session third, with Mark Webber fourth.

There were few changes in the final minutes as both Red Bull and Ferrari were lapping on heavy fuel loads at the end.

Robert Kubica was best of the non-title contenders in fifth for Renault, ahead of Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Vitaly Petrov (Renault), Jenson Button (McLaren) and Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India).

Massa's session ended early though, when his Ferrari stopped out on track with 22 minutes remaining, due to a reported fuel problem.

Aside from a few more cars sliding off the slippery surface, the only other incident of note was Jaime Alguersuari spinning, but coming to no harm, at Turn 19 with half an hour to run.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88167

[Subject Delta]

McLaren appear to have genuinely good pace here, good enough to throw a spanner in the works of RBR and Ferrari anyway. The Ferraris, particularly of Massa did not appear to be overly well balanced, although it is probably reasonable to assume that Alonso had his engine turned down.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

FP3 result:

[Richard Hammond]

Just watched it the Mclarens were pretty quick today especially Jenson he was on a hot lap just after end of FP3 but screwed up on turn 17. Alonso either being cocky or hes in serious trouble, if both Red Bulls and both Mclarens take P1-4 then hes screwed for championship.

[MightyJordan]

Alonso either being cocky or hes in serious trouble, if both Red Bulls and both Mclarens take P1-4 then hes screwed for championship.

Hopefully, it's the latter, but knowing the smug git, it's probably just cockiness.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Hopefully, it's the latter, but knowing the smug git, it's probably just cockiness.

We'll know what it was in about 2.5 hours from now.

There might be some surprises during the qualifying - both Renault and Mercedes GP seem relatively quick, on about the same level as Ferrari. Assuming the latter weren't sandbagging.

[ahmz]

That is a nice gap the Red Bull's have, but it's not much quicker than Hamilton in FP2, plus Alonso will now be switching to the last engine for qualy and race. It's going to be interesting.

[Billus]

I'm pretty sure that running the engine on full pelt when it's your last one, for the last race and at that, a race that decides the championship, is a stupid idea. Heck, they only need to put in a few semi-fast laps to get the data they need to set up the car. Personally, if I was the team manager at Ferrari, I'd send Massa out with his engine going full bore just to get the data for Alonso and save Alonso's engine for when it actually matters rather than have it blow up on the last race. Same for Red Bull (Vettel) and McClaren (Button). I think we'll witness another Aussie take out the drivers championship (hopefully) lol. Vettel just needs to support his teammate seeing that he's already crashed into him a few times in his career, kinda owes him.

[ahmz]

Red Bull has come a long way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEDj7uZWxyc

[ahmz]

Wow!! What a qualifying session! Absolutely no idea who was gonna be where except for Vettel, and even then Hamilton only .031 behind him! Unbelievable! How about Massa crossing the line with just 1 second to go, cutting it very close.

Alonso in 3rd and Webber in 5th, perfect!

[san.W10]

awesome qualy.

w00t for FA :p

i hope JB keeps webber at 5th till the end of race

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88215

[san.W10]

The title permutations - who must do what to become champion?

Four men could become world champion in Abu Dhabi this weekend. McLaren?s Lewis Hamilton has only an outside chance, but Ferrari?s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull?s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel are all real contenders?

Alonso (246 points) will be champion if:

- he finishes first or second

- he finishes third, fourth or fifth, and neither Webber nor Vettel win

- he finishes sixth, with Webber no higher than third and Vettel failing to win

- he finishes seventh or eighth, with Webber no higher than fourth and Vettel failing to win

- he finishes ninth, with Webber no higher than fifth and Vettel no higher than third

- he finishes 10th, with Webber no higher than sixth and Vettel no higher than third

- he fails to score, with Webber no higher than sixth, Vettel no higher than third and Hamilton failing to win

If no rivals score? Alonso is champion

Webber (238) will be champion if:

- he wins, with Alonso no higher than third

- he finishes second, with Alonso no higher than sixth and Vettel failing to win

- he finishes third, with Alonso no higher than seventh and Vettel failing to win

- he finishes fourth, with Alonso no higher than ninth and Vettel failing to win

- he finishes fifth, with Alonso no higher than tenth and Vettel failing to win

If no rivals score? Webber must finish fifth or higher to become champion

Vettel (231) will be champion if:

- he wins, with Alonso no higher than fifth

- he finishes second with Alonso no higher than ninth and Webber no higher than fifth

If no rivals score? Vettel must finish second or higher to become champion

Hamilton (222) will be champion if:

- he wins, with Alonso failing to score, Webber no higher than sixth and Vettel no higher than third.

If no rivals score? Hamilton must win to become champion

Deadlock: in theory, Alonso, Webber and Vettel could finish level on points at the top - a result of Vettel winning, Webber second and Alonso fifth in Abu Dhabi would give them 256 points apiece. Vettel and Alonso would have five wins each, two second places each and three third places each. Vettel would then be champion based on his three fourth places to Alonso?s two.

http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2010/11/11509.html

[Subject Delta]

Alonso is still in the best position at the moment, sadly. Can only hope Jenson nails him on the grid, or that his engine goes up in smoke.

[Lovell]

Hamiltons chance of winning is better than I thought just need Webber to wipe out Alonso and have to pit :shifty:

It'll be sick if Alonso wins by less than 7 points; I hope he gets the title taken away if that happens.

[ahmz]

I hope he wins by 6 points.

[simonlang]

i cant believe im saying that but you just gotta remember how close it still is!

depending on the start it could really be that hamilton wins the wdc today.

lets say he does a decent start (and vettel doesnt) then all we need is a collision between alonso and webber (pretty likely as webber has the racepace and alonso has too much oversteering on heavy fuel car according to helmut marko);

a mclaren 1-2 today with the above things happen and hami wins the wdc.

otherwise i dont really care, one of the redbull drivers would be gr8 champ as well, as long as its not the cheating alonso. everyone should remember hockenheim this year. its not that long ago. and it was a very bad and sad day for the sport.