Its a stupid rule. To add to that, the backmarkers were terrible. Only Massa really moved out of the way. Everyone else had to be passed and just held the leaders up...
How on earth Rosberg menaged to do 2 pits stops under SC procession and kept his position? 8|
He was 35s after Vettel on finish so without those extra stops he would win lol that's crazy...
Schumi ahead of Hulkenberg couple of tenths before the SC, and some 90 seconds ahead after it....
Go figure. Just got a free lap out of nowhere.
Also, just touching up again on how bad the backmarkers were. When you see a lapped car taking a defensive line against a leader, you know things arent right.
Rosberg was the last car on the lead lap. He could've pitted at each SC lap and still would've kept his position...that's pretty easy to understand.
Of course the people that were just about to be lapped(Schumi) gained a lot and the people that were just lapped(Hulk) got screwed.
Couple years ago there was a "Lapped cars may now overtake" procedure during SC. Dunno why it was removed.
I'm pretty sure I heard that Vettel said he would do the right thing for the team if he ever was in the position to give Mark the championship. It'll all come down to a brilliantly rehearsed "we need you to save fuel" procedure. The crowd will never see it was team orders. Only Massa/Ferrari are poor comedians enough to f**k this up.
actually, i was quite happy with that... it was a shame that the redbulls got past hulkenberg too, but what can you do... it's not like he intentionally held everyone up, his car is slow.
i find it rather interesting to see how "faster drivers" cope with slower cars.
Happy eh. The Red Bulls had an easy job, Hulk's tyres were still cold + he was slow, so it was pretty easy to overtake him. When Alonso got there, his tyres were fine, he had a harder job, but he did that, though it was too late.
Fred's got the WDC , there is no way in hell Seb will aid Webber and i guess why should he when he still has a sniff at the title.
The Austrian love train won't allow team orders when there not for Seb , and if by some miracle MW takes the title there will be some sour faces at RBR thats for sure.
Anyways fingers crossed the miracle happens and Webbo gets the title as it will be good for Australian motorsport and we might get to keep the GP for a few more years.
Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Red Bull blow the DWC as a matter of honor. I mean, how much of a slap to the face would it be to Ferrari if the drivers get to the press conference and just say "Yea we lost the DWC, but at least we didn't have to cheat to win." I am die hard Tiflosi love Alonso to death but i don't want to see him win the championship because of team orders. If he wins by anything less than 7 points then its bogus.
My bet is that Webber qualifies P1 (possible by team orders, who knows?) at the UAE and ends up leading the whole race while Vettel is P2 and Alonso is P3.
I think Vettel will let Webber pass (without teamorders, and if they are running 1-2 which I think they will) on the last lap if it looks like Alonso is going to win the title. He knows that will only make him good for next season within the team and the fans.
This.
I think there is a very likely possibility that RBR will just lose the WDC to alonso one way or another. Drama will be seen, so looking forward to next weekend... i think
As a Webber fan, I would still see it wrong if Seb was to hand over the title if Webber was in the position and Seb wasnt. Just because Ferrari did it, doesnt mean RBR should do it. I Said to myself earlier this season, if Webber wins it, he will deserve it more than anyone else on the grid, if he doesnt, he doesnt, thats his fault. No one elses! If hes champion material, he will win at Abu Dhabi, and if Vettel has a brain and is mature, he will make sure that he finishes second.
It would be extremely hard to implement team orders for qualifying. The best RBR can do is tell its drivers to get P1 and P2 slots, in whatever order, no-holds-barred. Then they can see where Alonso ends up and decide their game plan from there.
The bottom line:
If Webber is P1 and Alonso is P2, Alonso wins.
If Webber is P1 and Alonso is P3 or worse, Webber wins.
If Vettel is P1, Webber is P2, and Alonso is P3/4/5, Alonso wins.
The only fail-safe strategy is a Red Bull 1-2 in qualifying. They simply can't afford anything else. Fortunately both of their drivers are qualifying kings!
Exactly. But I think Red Bull should be dominant at Abu Dhabi, there's no real doubt they have the pace for a qualifying 1-2. If they can manage it, the race will look very limpid, of course no rain is to be expected at Abu Dhabi, the chances for a Safety Car are very small there, so I guess the 1-2 is their aslong as they don't have problems reliability wise.
Vettel has a slight edge over Webber in quali conditions, so he's the clearly the man to beat for the pole. If he does the pole Webber will have very little chances to catch him back, quali is the key in modern F1, even more this year with the suppression of refuelling.
The Ferrari looked quite performant over the last few races so I pretty much think Alonso can end up in front of the McLarens in quali. Then I think his best chances would be to harass Webber for P2(if you assume Vettel's in front) to make it risky for Vettel to let pass his team-mate without loosing a place to Alonso. Because yes, in optimal conditions, I think there's no much doubt on it: Vettel will let Webber pass if the title's gone for him. I mean, he knows what Red Bull can gain from a WDC title, no matter who takes it. He is set for staying at Red Bull for many many years, therefore the I'm sure he will really take care of the team's interrests.
But of course, this is motorsports, and all of those predictions could just get out of order very early if something "unexpected" happens - which is still likely if you have a look at F1 World Championship's finales over the years.
You're saying there wont be an Australian GP if webber doesn't make it this year? How do you get into that gear?
As for the rest, i think auon is spot on. If MW gets it done - kudos to him, but if he srews up like usual than it's just his own soup. The team is already CC so there certainly won't be any sad faces, regardsless of who wins the WDC.
I actually think everybody will be happy for MW, because it's probably his last chance. Vettel is most likely gonna be champion sooner or later anyways.
In what way would it be cheating for Vettel to let Webber pass? Team orders are forbidden, but two drivers agreeing on something like this is completely legal.
Just let those two guys from some fizzy drink company team crash themselves out and let proper driver win the championship. Its silly how Horner is still talking "team tactics = bad"; "I'll let my drivers to fight" etc.
Team orders is everywhere, get over it! Mclaren's "you must save fuel", Ferrari's "he is faster can you confirm" I see no friggin reason why Red Bull is acting "so fair" and still can't just let Webber through Vettel.
RedBull, unlike Mclaren and Ferrari, are more of a 'branded' team than a pure race team. So bad publicity affects them a tad more than the other two. That's why RedBull, especially after what's happened this year, want to avoid another bad round of publicity.
Having said that, a drivers world championship is still probably worth a bit more than some 'goody goody' publicity.
Despite hating the concept, why the hell the didn't move Vettel over I don't know.
Yes of course theres a GP next year, but theres always rumblings about not having it because of cost and the ****wit greenies that think its a sin to race cars in a park.
An Australian champ would guarantee it hangs around , i don't know about the rest of the world but here we have a bad habit of paying attention to someone only after they have won .
While we should be supporting them when they start out out , thats why theres 30/40 years between Oz champs ( hopefully)