Track Map



Last Results 2011

Pole: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault, 1:34.870

Winner: Sebastian Vettel
Second: Jenson Button
Third: Nick Heidfeld

Fastest Lap: Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault, 1:40.571

Winning Drivers

2011: Sebastian Vettel
2010: Sebastian Vettel
2009: Jenson Button
2008: Kimi Raikkonen
2007: Fernando Alonso

Forecasted Weather (as at Tuesday 20 March)

Friday: 24-32C, chance of thunderstorms, 20% chance of rain
Saturday: 25-33C, chance of thunderstorms, 40% chance of rain
Sunday: 24-32C, chance of thunderstorms, 60% chance of rain

Button: great drive!

Vettel: solid recovery!

Hamilton: underperformed

Webber: competent

Alonso: outstanding recovery!

...

Perez: needs to replace Massa - brilliant recovery!

Massa: needs to be replaced - horrible!

Raikkonen: great recovery - he's still got "it"!

Quote from el pibe :

true that. nice performance from grosjean... i wanted to see michael in the press conference

If Alonso keeps his head, he should get himself comfortably in the top ten. Whether he will keep his head or just lose the plot...

No chance for Massa.

While Kony is a very nasty fellow (I've known about the LRA/Ugandan conflict from many years ago), those who are supporting or want to support, the KONY2012 campaign need to remember:

1. Kony's LRA is no longer active in Uganda, and has not been since 2006.

2. The Ugandan government also carries out murders, abductions, mass rapes, and similar atrocities as the LRA.

Social media is great... until millions of people become misled by a Sesame Street version of an extremely complex civil conflict.

Quote from IsaacPrice :

What? Force India = Jordan. Toro Rosso = Minardi

I was about to say that.

Oh, and just to add: Red Bull = Jaguar = Ford = Stewart

EDIT:

Yesterday's timing results:

Hulkenberg and Perez set their times on super softs. Vettel was on softs, and I think Alonso and Hamilton were as well.

Last edited by samjh, Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:33.

Quote from TypeRacing :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkszTNID2rs

or just skip to 5:00

FZR gets side-swiped by a UFR during an overtake?

Will they call it the "Godzilla"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLQpix9ub00

(Gosh, back when Skaife was a young gun and Peter Brock was racing a Ford!!!!!)

Ich kann nicht lesen Deutsch.

Quote from Hyperactive :

If Heikki beats more experienced petrov then we can start making awkward comparisons to one polish driver

How on Earth is Petrov more experienced than Heikki? Heikki started racing in F1 in 2007, with 2 years of testing experience before that. Petrov started in 2010.

We already have a pretty good measure of Heikki anyway. He got trashed by Hamilton at McLaren, but he proved himself by beating Fisichella in his debut season. We know that Fisichella was a stronger driver than Sato (2002) and Massa (2004), but that he was soundly beaten by Alonso (2005-2006). We also know that the then-inexperienced Massa eventually developed into a driver who was able to chase Schumacher more closely than Fisichella was able to chase Alonso in 2006. I'd hazard a semi-educated guess that Heikki is similar to Barrichello, Webber, or Heidfeld at their respective peaks: so probably 4-star driver in a scale of 5.

If that analysis is reasonably accurate, then Petrov could establish himself as a probable star if he can consistently beat Heikki. If he can't manage to do that, then he'll forever be relegated to journeyman status.

I think McLaren will still have the prettiest car, or at least the prettiest nose.

The second test should be much more interesting than the first. Reliability issues should be mostly ironed out, Mercedes will debut their 2012 contender, and the teams will be able to apply lessons learned during the first test to improve their cars and driving styles.

General rumour-mongering indicates that Red Bull and McLaren have the best-behaved cars, while Ferrari suffers from too much understeer, and Lotus is generally solid albeit with poor stability under braking.

Quote from BlueFlame :

or

Quote from MoMo92i :

Btw Pescarolo will also run a LMP1 based with AMR cockpit.

Is this AMR the Terrible One from last year, or the Lola AMR from 2010, or a completely new development?

Quote from TFalke55 :

Sebastien Loeb Racing joins the ELMS grid with a LMP2

Sebastien Loeb Racing, eh? SLR... has a nice ring to it.

Made me think of this (L1A1, also known as the "SLR") :

Quote from deggis :

Entry lists for Le Mans and WEC

Nice to see David Brabham and the Honda/Acura in LMP1! I guess they couldn't pass up the chance to go toe-to-toe with the Toyotas.

Strange choice of lead driver for Toyota's #2 car. Ishiura isn't really a shining driver. I would have expected someone like Kohei Hirate, who has had success in open-wheel racing in both Europe and Japan.

Last edited by samjh, Sat, 4 Feb 2012 04:11.

Quote from MoMo92i :

Was only talking about nakajima wurz is one of the few drivers (<10 including 1923's Lagache and Leonard winner) to win as a rookie. So basically only few chances to see such a line up winning.

It's highly unlikely that Toyota will win, even with a veteran line-up. It took Peugeot three seasons to beat Audi. With a petrol engine and untested hybrid system, Toyota could take longer. They might as well give one of their most successful junior programme graduates a chance.

Quote from MoMo92i :

Wurz-Lapierre-Nakajima->rookie

Nakajima, yes.

Lapierre and Wurz, no. The former did four LM24h races and two seasons in LMS. The latter did five LM24h races with two wins.

Toyota's GT One was a very cool car. Hopefully they will give Audi a run for their money.

Is Peugeot going to sell off its cars to privateers, such as to Pescalaro's team?

Quote from Dennis93 :

still 24 years to go :S

Wonder what nascar will be then O_0

Fuel injection?

240BHP Ford Model A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFSGSL3Nrmc

EJ has a quirky style that I think has been missing from F1 TV coverage (English one obviously) since Murray Walker left.

I'm quite concerned about the Australian coverage. We used to get the BBC feed, but now....

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Hmm, well, you can still do a decent job as a F1 driver without necessary being WDC material.

+1

Plenty of racing drivers would dream of doing a Barrichello/Heidfeld/Massa/Trulli/Webber.

Their relative finishing positions don't agree with you, BlueFlame.

I just did a quick five minute graphing job, comparing the finishing positions of the two drivers relative to the median between them. Disqualifications and retirements have been excluded, as they provide no basis for comparison. Both drivers had the same number of race retirements (three). Positive result means the driver finished in the better position (eg. in China, Kobayashi placed 3.5 positions better than the median, which means Perez finished 7 positions behind).

Ah OK. Didn't notice that. Class...

Kart rage!!!

I wonder what caused the outburst?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96751

Autosport asked team principals to vote for the drivers who they think had done the best job in the 2011 season.


I think it's a pretty good list. Do you agree with them?

Wow, what a shock! Rest in peace.

Quote from Mustafur :

Red bull have Flopped before when it comes to the driver Programme though, Wickens comes to mind, they sacked him from their program in '08 and since then has basically been up top in every catagory since.

Even Beat Vergne in the same team in F3.5

He was terrible in 2008 and deserved to be dropped. After two full seasons racing in mid-tier and upper-tier formulae, and he fell flat on his face in 2008. 12th in WSBR is not impressive. 15th in Euroseries, even considering it was only a part-season campaign, was poor when you look at how inconsistent he was. Second in F2 and GP3 doesn't make him look too flash either - with his level of experience, he should have won at least one of them. As for his WSBR title this year, he barely managed to beat JEV, who had only fraction of Wickens' experience.

I think he's a solid driver, but never showed the kind of dominance that JEV (Brit F3: 13/30 wins), Ricciardo (Brit F3: 7/20 wins), or Vettel (FBMW Ger: 18/20 wins) has shown, despite his ample funds.

Quote from Intrepid :

Being in Toro Rossi is a matter of good timing. RBR won't be dropping Vettel any time soon, and they are not going to replace Webber with anyone decent.

They won't be dropping Vettel for a good few years, but I reckon Webber will be gone at the end of next season if he continues to under-perform. Helmut Marko seems to be expecting one of the two new STR drivers to be able to step up and take Webber's place eventually. As much as I hate to lose faith in Webber (having been a mild fan since his Jaguar days), he blew his last chance at the title in 2010, and is probably in decline.

Vettel is Red Bull's golden boy right now, but I bet if any other young gun proves himself faster, Vettel will quickly find himself where Webber's sitting. Better be wary.

Last edited by samjh, Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:58.