Formula 1 2012 season

[Loki]

I don't think Vettel is a great driver. He's very good, sure, a very good driver with the best car can win championships, but I wouldn't call him great. Look at his pole vs wins comparison- it tells a very interesting story. 30 pole position starts and 21 wins. Whereas you look at the others- Schumacher (who to be fair is one of the greatest) and Button have almost twice as many wins as they have had pole positions- because they are great drivers. Hamilton and Alonso have almost the same amount of wins as they have had pole starts, which is decent. Yet Vettel has 50% more pole starts than wins. Obviously you have to be bloody good to maintain the amount of pole positions he has to win the race, but a great driver will make the most of those pole positions more than Vettel. I guess not seeing Red Bull on pole, like today, will really give us an indication whether he is great, but personally I don't see it. I don't see Vettel covering the amount of ground someone like Button would if he started further back on the grid. Very good; but not great in my opinion.

 

Funny reading that after having just watched the race. Never mind eh?

[ajmcstyles]

just watched F1 good show. Hamilton has the worst luck in F1. Last year the FIA was constantly picking on him now his own team are causing him precious time in the pits.

 

It was a good race bit odd Massa so low down and Alonso took the victory. Anything can happen in F1

 

Next race in 3 weeks in china

[PunkStep]

I don't think Vettel is a great driver. He's very good, sure, a very good driver with the best car can win championships, but I wouldn't call him great. Look at his pole vs wins comparison- it tells a very interesting story. 30 pole position starts and 21 wins. Whereas you look at the others- Schumacher (who to be fair is one of the greatest) and Button have almost twice as many wins as they have had pole positions- because they are great drivers. Hamilton and Alonso have almost the same amount of wins as they have had pole starts, which is decent. Yet Vettel has 50% more pole starts than wins. Obviously you have to be bloody good to maintain the amount of pole positions he has to win the race, but a great driver will make the most of those pole positions more than Vettel. I guess not seeing Red Bull on pole, like today, will really give us an indication whether he is great, but personally I don't see it. I don't see Vettel covering the amount of ground someone like Button would if he started further back on the grid. Very good; but not great in my opinion.

 

Funny reading that after having just watched the race. Never mind eh?

Meh, he's alright.

[jimufctna24]

I really do not think Alonso will be in the top 3 come the end of the season. There are at least 3 or 4 teams with the faster car, I dont think he will be able to make up ground from a mid-field qualifying position most races.

 

Hamiliton for all his bad fortune is in a decent position, ahead of Button, Vettel and Webber on points. If he can just transfer his poles into a few wins he could do very well this year as long as he is consitantly finishing in the top 3.

 

Still very early days. Bruno Senna, Perez and Romain Grosjean have all been impressive as well, they are the future no doubt.

[PunkStep]

I really do not think Alonso will be in the top 3 come the end of the season.

Wouldn't surprise me, the Ferrari car isn't up to much and was lucky with the weather really. But then again, other than McLaren, which cars are really looking good? Red Bull clearly need to prod about with theirs a bit until they get the car to a point where they think it can win races. Mercedes seem to have a quick car going by practices and qualifying. If Red Bull don't get their car sorted we could well see Alonso, if he drives as well as we know he can (possibly the best out-and-out driver today), taking third spot at the end of the season. Albeit quite a way off the McLaren boys. But Red Bull will get their car sorted soon, won't they?

[martyngnr]

just watched F1 good show. Hamilton has the worst luck in F1. Last year the FIA was constantly picking on him now his own team are causing him precious time in the pits.

It wasn't the FIA's fault Hamilton was running around the track like a lunatic first year rookie. Simple fact is he can't handle the pressure.

Button has Lewis' card well and truly marked.

[tiger_rick]

Cracking race yesterday. Always better when a bit of rain spices things up. Lewis was unlucky again. His lap times on the inters while he waited for his first pit stop were phenomenal. The decision making leaves a lot to be desired though. What are McLaren doing? Why are they still responding to Red Bull when they are leading races. they need to get their finger out.

 

Perez was excellent. Same for Verne, who was driving around on inters for about 10 laps while people on full wets were sliding off the track. What a guy.

[Loki]

Sounds increasingly likely they're going to cancel Bahrain, and quite right too. It's come down to the drivers/teams just not wanting to be associated with that, I reckon. Bernie would hold a race in Tehran if he thought he could make a buck out of it.

[LariatTom]

The whole situation is a gigantic mess. Bernie keeps insisting that there's nothing wrong and that they'll be racing there next weekend. The teams are saying that Bernie is the one who needs to make a decision, Bernie is saying the FIA needs to make a decision and the FIA are saying that it's up to the race organisers to make a decision (and they're keen for the race to go ahead since there's nothing going on in Bahrain at the moment).

 

There's a meeting this weekend where a decision will be made, and hopefully they see sense and cancel the race. Conveniently, that would most likely signal the end of the Bahrain Grand Prix for the near future as there's a rule in the sporting regulations that a country can't hold a race the following year if they've had two cancellations in the previous two years. If they'd made the decision to do this several weeks ago, or even before the start of the season, the FIA could have had time to try and find a substitute race to ensure that they get a full race calendar. There are plenty of circuits in Europe that are up to standard and could have held a substitute race.

[tiger_rick]

They should hold the race and let anyone who thinks it's unsafe pull out. We'll get a HRT 1-2!

[Loki]

Yeah, it's a case of catch the penny, miss the pound for Bernie. If he'd just cancelled the race early he could have scheduled another, as you say Tom. Now he'll just lose a big wodge of cash.

[LariatTom]

Apparently not. I saw something the other day which had a quote from Bernie saying that the race fee had been paid and that won't change if the race does get cancelled. So Bernie doesn't lose out on money from the race organisers, which is all that seems to matter to him a lot of the time.

 

They should hold the race and let anyone who thinks it's unsafe pull out. We'll get a HRT 1-2!

 

The teams have been told that if the race does go ahead, they're free to not show up but then they're in breach of their contracts with FOM and are at risk of facing a variety of punishments from hefty fines to championship exclusion. If they're told to race, they'll race.