Met him a few weeks ago. Total gentlemen - was quite happy to spend a few minutes chatting and seemed genuinely pleased that someone under 50 knew who he was.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Alonso finished 2nd in a poor car (at best the 3rd quickest on the grid, at worst 6th or 7th), and basically didn't make a mistake all year. He has to be #1.

Hamilton was quick, but was either let down by his car, his team or his own immature brain. Vettel was quick, but also had car problems and a couple of incidents of brain fade. So I think they're on a tie overall for 2nd (but I still rate Vettel as better).

After that it becomes a meaningless list of names in no particular order...

This.

Perhaps honourable mentions for Perez and Maldonado for their sporadic showings.

Quote from Hyperactive :

Looks like Senna might be able to buy another seat for next year:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104712

I have no idea why anyone would pick Senna over Sutil, Barrichello, Buemi, Algersuari, Kovalainen, Trulli, di Grassi, Ambrosio... etc. other than money... It would not surprise me one bit if he got a seat for 2013 and then bought another seat in 2014 from different team.

It's pretty much a wash to compare all those drivers, so why not take the one that has the cash?

Seems that flags take precedence over lights, so no illegal move. Nothing official yet, but that is what FIA sources seems to be saying.

Quote from JJ72 :

of course there are changes, the way the tire surface deforms, the moving debris on the surface, the aerodynamics of the car, there are a million changes.

Then it is neither lucky or unlucky - it is a different event and a different result as it is not exactly the same scenario.

Quote from mythdat :

Sure there is. Not as some kind of supernatural phenomenon, but in this context 'Lucky' is just a shorthand way of saying "an external event or outcome that had a low probability of occurring has benefited this person".

If two cars had collided in exactly the same way under exactly the same conditions then exactly the same result would have occurred, regardless of the person involved - 100% probability. What happened could not have happened any other way - if events had occurred differently then you would see a different result.

There's no such thing as luck.

You can't expect Vettel to see him there, but you could expect Vettel to expect (or suspect) that someone might be there given the circumstances of first lap, mid pack, slippery surface etc.

Senna broke late but made the corner under control. Vettel took a risk of sweeping through on the racing line and it nearly cost him dearly. But it didn't, so good luck to him.

HRT in their first season hardly constituted a chance. In his half season with Lotus he did all right.

Drivers don't get a chance to learn their craft these days. They have to come in and they have to perform straight away and I think this contributes to poor standards of racecraft.

By all means wheel in Bottas, take his money and then chuck him away in a year or two when the next bright young thing wanders into the paddock with a cheque.

No idea what Bottas brings to the party. Senna seems to be a good racer but not shown much in qualifying, which has somewhat stymied him. Perhaps giving his car up for Bottas at most races has not helped that. I think he deserves another year.

If they are anywhere near each other on track then it's not a title battle as Vettel has the points advantage. A gripping finale would be Alonso in 3rd (let's assume the Maccas have cleared off) with Vettel out and Webber chasing in 4th. Can he catch and overtake him? Would he want to?

It's allowed by the rules, so there's no issue - certainly no moral one.

Waiting wouldn't move Alonso to the clean side of the grid. Would be tough on Massa though, but at least he knows he is no.2 driver.

I think they would have to demonstrate reasonable grounds to suspect the gearbox is damaged to get around parc ferme.

I'm sure Fernando has suggested it!

Indeed - jealous and pleased for you in equal measure Ben!

Turned out to be very expensive rollercoaster.

Restructure debt / change ownership then carry on as before.

They do have items of value - An entry into the F1 championship and concomitant membership of the Concord Agreement. You could buy the team, keep those, throw the rest away and use your own facilities (if you have them, like Prodrive).

Absolutely - that's Good Husbandry 101. Mine is currently watching Vampire Diaries. It's okay; she's finished the dishes.

What? You let her out of the kitchen??

Quote from FlyingBus :

I don't drift to show off, I do it for fun, so why do you guys like hate drifters?

you'll say "drifting is pointless"

Playing lfs is pointless too, but I play it because it is fun.
You guys should stop hating drifters.

Why do you want our approval? Go and do whatever you want and don't care what other people think. Why would anyone's opinion matter to you?

If that is what this is then you have to applaud. This is what F1 is about - innovation to squeeze around the rules. Like the F-Duct or Super Duper DRS or double diffusers.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Exactly. A very rigid, energy absorbing structure. Or do you actually think nose cones are flexible deforming things? The video shows no deformation, just disintegration.

Yeah, wrong word, but I was talking to Kev as the nose is clearly not the strongest part of the car.

Quote from speedykev :

So what do you think is going on with the red Bull nose then. Looks strange to me saying it's supposed to be the strongest part of the car.

http://img.imgur.com/sbeeM.gif?1

The nose is designed to deform to dissipate energy. The strong bit is the tub.

Which is absolutely fine - people like who they like. I see little more than a Nick Heidfeld that drinks and swears, but that's just my opinion.