F1 2011/ Motor Racing Thread

[Loki]

When Schumacher was World Champ, winning races and headlining the sport, he tended to get away with his overly aggressive driving, and you could see it was part of what made him great. Now though, it's just plain dangerous and unnecessary. He was so smugly unrepentant about it afterwards as well, the bastard. Not a flicker of regret for nearly killing Barrichello.

 

Glad that Webber got the win, those 20 laps or so he did to build up the cushion to pit were simply stunning. When he's on it, he's the fastest driver out there. Having the fastest car helps, obviously...

[Nexus]

Absolutely fantastic race. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Hamilton retire, I hate the cunt.

 

 

 

Renault were entirely at fault for the collision in the pits, ditto Mercedes and Rosberg with the tyre.

 

Renault were at fault but I think the lollipop man may have been distracted slightly but the tyre bouncing towards him down the pitlane. Check out this image from The Guardian and then look at the caption they've used despite one of the pit crew blatantly laying on the floor having been hit by the tyre!

 

Michael Schumacher is an absolute cunt, though. He could've caused a serious accident. I hope he gets punished. He has a history of it, and it was completely unnecessary.

 

He's been given a 10 place grid penalty in Spa. Bit of a shitter compared to how close Rubens was to that wall. Schumacher could've caused one hell of an accident particularly there on the grid as it was on the pit straight right next to the pit exit. What a tosser.

 

Not a fan of Hamilton? I really hate the cunt. I hate him, Vettel, MSC, and Alonso. x]

 

This is true. A massive tyre is fucking scary.

 

Yeah, although 10 grid penalty should put him last. I hope the HRTs or Virgins hold him up forever.

 

Also, Yamamoto is shit.

[Monkee]

Can't stand Hamilton, never have. People always accuse me of either being unpatriotic or racist because of it but it's just that he's a smarmy little prick. Nothing to do with his origins or colour. And what's with the American twang he's suddenly developed out of nowhere? Someone really needs to tell him he's not P fucking Diddy.

 

Anyway, I love Vettel and Glock. Virgin are my team though. I've never supported a team before this season, always supported a driver (Raikkonen). I love them even more since Silverstone and am SO excited about going to Spa that I'm actually counting down the days until I go

 

And yes, Yamamoto is shite. They should bring back Chandhok.

[Nexus]

Can't stand Hamilton, never have. People always accuse me of either being unpatriotic or racist because of it but it's just that he's a smarmy little prick. Nothing to do with his origins or colour. And what's with the American twang he's suddenly developed out of nowhere? Someone really needs to tell him he's not P fucking Diddy.

 

Anyway, I love Vettel and Glock. Virgin are my team though. I've never supported a team before this season, always supported a driver (Raikkonen). I love them even more since Silverstone and am SO excited about going to Spa that I'm actually counting down the days until I go

 

And yes, Yamamoto is shite. They should bring back Chandhok.

 

Bastard. Spa's my favourite circuit, the first F1 race I remember is the '98 Spa where there was the massive pile up and Hill won.

 

My favourite drivers are Button, Kubica and Kobayashi. I also like Glock and Kovaleinen. Raikkonen was cool too, always so nonchalant.

[Monkee]

I followed Raikkonen from when he joined Sauber in 2001 and I was in Melbourne for his first race (and podium finish) for McLaren in 2002. I finally got to meet him last year when he opened the Ferrari Store on Regent Street. After winning the title I knew it wouldn't be long before he moved on to something else though, he was never going to stay in F1 after that so that's when Vettel caught my eye at Torro Rosso. I was in Monza in 2008 when he won his first race and I started following him ever since.

 

This year has just been amazing though. I was in Turkey in May and got to meet a lot of the drivers including Vettel. He signed my German flag and I had a photo taken with him, he was so nice. I also won a competition in July to go camping with the Virgin Racing team at Silverstone and got to meet Glock and di Grassi as well as hang out with the whole team including Nick Wirth and John Booth.

 

I've never been to Spa before, and although it's a brilliant circuit I've always been put off by the weather but considering it's on August Bank Holiday this year my friend and I have decided to go. We're going to be hanging out with the VR guys again though as I've managed to blag a paddock pass. So that's why I'm really looking forward to it so much

[jimufctna24]

I quite like Hamilton, I support him and Button not because of patriotism or anything I just like them

 

I also like Webber a great deal and always support him over Vettal with there little rivalry in the Red Bull garage

 

Schumacher was out of order yesterday and didnt help his cause by being as smug and not taking responsibility, I take it from his comments him and Rubens havent got on for years

 

It seems there is some massive controversy or even two in this case (Vettals drive through which he openly moaned about to Webber after the race) every race these days in F1, its massivly exciting this season and god does Eddie "The Conspiracy" Jordan make me laugh

[Monkee]

I like Button too. I just don't like McLaren, there's something about the team being a bit too 'mechanical' and Hamilton fits right into that. I never liked Coulthard when he drove for them too but now I really like him. They're too clinical for me and lack personality. But then I find Ferrari too elitist as well despite Raikkonen having driven for both.

 

I like Webber and Vettel as well and like the rivalry that's going on between them at the moment. They're both top drivers in fast cars so that's a very interesting battle that's going on. I don't believe for a minute that Vettel's radio wasn't working or whatever excuse he used yesterday to justify holding up the pack behind the safety car so Webber could get away. He sounded like he was going to cry after the race before he went onto the podium.

 

And Eddie Jordan makes me laugh too although I was highly offended by the tightness of his trousers yesterday. When he was sitting on that stool during the F1 Forum you could definitely see which side he dressed. It was like a dead animal in the road that I just could help but stare at. Urgh.

[Loki]

I've never been a MacLaren fan, but this season I find myself supporting them as my two favourite drivers, Button and Hamilton, are driving for them.

 

I reallt admire the Red Bull team though, particularly Webber who deserves every win, and has to deal with Vettel who, whilst no Alonso, clearly regards himself as the No 1 driver.

 

Kobayashi looks like the real deal though - I see him winning Grand Prix in not too many years. Like Sato but no quite as dangerously lunatic.

[Monkee]

Kobayashi: Like Sato but no quite as dangerously lunatic.

 

 

Almost had a Ribena-covered keyboard with that one!

[jimufctna24]

Funnily enough even though I like there drivers im not really a McLaren fan like stated I just find them to be a bit bland, Ive always liked Williams growing up but they havent won a race since 2004 as the commentary stated yesterday

 

I used to like Alonso when he was with Renult back when he broke Schumachers dominance but gone of him in recent years

 

Cant remember a title race this close with so many drivers in contention, shame its 4 weeks until the next race, cant wait

[Monkee]

24 days. Just 24 days...

[LariatTom]

Nice to see The Guardian has amended that picture from the last page and taken out the caption about it not hitting anyone (though they state that's what has been taken out). They were some crazy times in the pitlane when the safety car came out. A crash of some sort has been coming for a while, though I'm glad that the crash wasn't too severe as it really could have injured a lot of mechanics. Rosberg's wheel flying was madness too as we saw, and again, it's extremely lucky that the mechanic hit only suffered some bruises (and was back doing the pitstop for Rubens!) I know Renault got a rather large bollocking the other year for something similar, did Mercedes get punished?

 

Regarding Schumacher and Barrichello: I think that Michael was able to get away with that sort of thing a bit more in his first career. I was thinking about this earlier this morning though, if both Michael and the car were quicker, I do wonder whether he would need to do that sort of thing. Clearly, he knows he has to fight to even score a point in some races and to try and get some sort of result, he's reverted to fighting dirty. I just wonder if things will be the same if the car is a bit quicker next season. I desperately hope it is since I have been a Schumacher fan since I started watching (having been fascinated by the lure of "the red cars" when I first saw a race in 1995) and I'd love to see him doing well and winning races again.

 

Webber drove an absolute blinder of a race, and it was so reminiscent of 1998 when Schumacher did a middle stint of something like 24 laps where he did lap after lap of qualifying pace to pass the Mclaren drivers and win the race.

 

I'm also going to throw in my dislike of Lewis Hamilton and the Mclaren team. They just don't seem to have the soul that some other teams have and they're just too...well, bland and boring for me. I did show a lot of love when Hamilton retired yesterday, absolutely brilliant stuff. Regarding the title, I've got a feeling it'll come down to the two Red Bull drivers if Mclaren don't find some pace soon, though with Spa and Monza coming up after the break, I imagine their car will work well with the long straights on both tracks.

 

Off to Brackley to do a gig for a wedding this weekend which is literally 5 minutes from the Mercedes factory. I shall be stopping off there to just gaze at the factory and admire it.

[LariatTom]

Michael Schumacher's apologised for the move on Rubens.

 

"The manoeuvre against him was too hard. I didn't want to endanger him with my manoeuvre. If he had this feeling I am sorry, this was not my intention. Immediately after the race yesterday I was still in the heat of it all, but after I looked again at the situation with Rubens I have to say that the stewards were correct with their judgement."

 

At least he's admitted that he was wrong and he shouldn't have been as hard as he was. From various reports, he's been more friendly in his return and even from BBC coverage, he's showing a bit more of his personal side and is doing more interviews. I highly doubt the Michael of old would have said sorry.

[SNRN10]

Nice to see The Guardian has amended that picture from the last page and taken out the caption about it not hitting anyone (though they state that's what has been taken out). They were some crazy times in the pitlane when the safety car came out. A crash of some sort has been coming for a while, though I'm glad that the crash wasn't too severe as it really could have injured a lot of mechanics. Rosberg's wheel flying was madness too as we saw, and again, it's extremely lucky that the mechanic hit only suffered some bruises (and was back doing the pitstop for Rubens!) I know Renault got a rather large bollocking the other year for something similar, did Mercedes get punished?

 

Mercades were Fined $50,000 (as were Renult)

[Monkee]

For Nexus:

 

 

My mate's photo of Kobayashi from Turkey earlier this year. I didn't get a good photo of him unfortunately.