F1 2011

Finally got going in 2011. 

Congrats to SV and Red Bull, still don't know how they are doing it though.

Well done also to LH, Petrov also new boys Perez and De Resta.

Massa showed his usual amount of talent. 

Me to wuz wundering about how the fook dey do dat

But we need to remember that both Red Bulls did not use KERS

The vunderkinder does have something extra & I think that showed with his result against Mark.

Unless that is the MW car had something wrong,  ??? 

I bet the McL team were wondering what they did to hit the purple spot after months of no-go frustration - and that was right up to Saturday morning. 

What would JB have done if he had not made that corner move with what looked like a rush of blank brain syndrome. 

If the stiff wing teams have any sense they'll keep quiet & get their own floppy wings ASAP.

I just wish the drivers'd give up wearing those ridiculous caps - no amount of sponsorship dosh can possibly compensate for looking such complete berks. 

Don't watch then , you won't be missed.

It was interesting to see Jenson Button take his McLaren for a spin around Bathurst, the home of the V8 trundlers, last week.

V8 racing is big here & it was the first time an F1 car had been there. Button took a casual 18 seconds off the 2.06 lap record without really trying and could have gone much faster. Craig Lowndes, one of the V8 drivers, had a crack in the McLaren.

Even on the news footage the sound of an F1 car on the mountain was fantastic. Wish it could happen for real.

Another really boring F1 race just finished. 

Yet another win for Seb , well done Jensen almost a truly great strategy. Points again for Di Retsa

Note use of 

I thought it was a good scrap, maybe not for the lead but other places were in doubt, who can manage their tyres, whose car isn't dropping bits and remains healthy? Not too many as it turns out.

It's a shame the rain didn't come to much.

Vettel weaves all over the track, (the German method) at the start no  penalty, Lewis moves twice in a lap and surprise a penalty of 20 seconds, loses 1 place. Alonso 20 secs also but it didn't change his placing.

Perhaps the FIA are blue blind this year?

You lucky dogs over there. you get F1, over in the states it's NASCAR. I want to see shifting, turns, braking and REAL maneuvering.   I had that on Saturdays once in a while with Wide World of Sports back in 60s and 70s.  Not now

The coverage here is variable. I tried to record the advertised race program, and it just gave me a black screen. Not sure of the recording was blocked, or if it never showed at all. Anyway, China is on at midnight, so I won't be bothering.

Winky

Could be an incorrect recollection, but if you get your feed from the Speed Channel, I think I recall seeing that his race was blacked out in Canada. Have no idea why.

yeah but I've seen lots of pics of small club road rallies and and all sorts of driving sports over there in magazines.  I'm also interested in what this gas crisis is doing to motor sports? Must hurt more over there because of higher prices yet it continues.  Of course some of the sports aren't just on petrol but high octane  mixtures of different things.  As a teen  had friends who took me to a tight  track racing dirt bikes I think they were all alcohol based.  They knew where to sit and stayed away from the ends where people got sprayed with dirt fishtailing around the corner.  What a blast we were high at the end from the fumes wafting over us.

Then 20 years later in grad school we were talking about the gas crisis and I mentioned the bike race and motor ports and the head of department said all motor sports should be stopped.  I mentioned the different fuels but the group agreed I had sinned.  I am a contrarian by nature but don't want to waste.  Still there are ways to keep it going. Lots of people depend on it for lively hood and competition.

Do you not have the SPEED channel? That's where I get my F1 fix. Their coverage is even better this year with live qualifying, not that I'm up at that hour anyway. I just have to resist the temptation to get timing and scoring from the F1 app.

Perplexed about the penalties to Alonso and Hamilton, I thought that kind of racing action is what these contests are for.

The rear wing is not as bad as I thought it'd be. Maybe they should just go the whole way and PlayStationize F1 with weapons! You could rob a rival of precious horsepower with "Slow" or get a bonus KERS charge by stealing from your opponent with "Leech".

Originally Posted by Naijeru

Perplexed about the penalties to Alonso and Hamilton, I thought that kind of racing action is what these contests are for.

You & about 20 million others

Given the alleged offences,  its hard to see were LH made those 2 moves

I was even more surprised that he actually admitted he dun wrong

But as obvious as the FO offence was, who suffered for his error ???  only himself as he had to pit & loose the time & places.

I would argue that the LH moves were not obvious or aggressive. 

FO drove into LH,  he alone messed up his wing

Verdict:  Racing accident

Get a life Ecclestone & Co - ohh,  and change that stoopid tyre spec while you're at it.  

WOW!

QUOTE :- "and change that stoopid tyre spec while you're at it. "  , I don't think so.

Yes a WOW race,  I eat my words (this time)  but I'm not happy the way the tyres can affect a race so dramatically

Agree today was the best for a number of races if not years.  But KL was not much to do with car, engine or motor racing,  tyres had a disproportional effect on the race - IMO.

I think what we have seen so far is the tyres work better on one circuit & not another

The teams will continue to perfect tyre management around the Pirelli spec,  but do we want car racing or tyre racing ??. 

Personally - as an endurance fan - I want to watch car racing with machinery & reliability pushed to the limits.  Tyres also,  but not what we have now in F1. My objection is the way they go off,  to suddenly go from a good tyre to something that is not much better than a puncture in 2 laps is IMO not good for racing or tactics.

I don't object to tyres being made to perform a specific way, but lets just ease off with that cliff face tyre degradation drop-off.  

I have been a critic of F1 for a while, the last few seasons I have been a very occasional watcher, usually catching the start and probably only staying tuned if it might be expected to rain.

I've watched more so far this year, and enjoyed it. Yesterday was entertaining and that is clearly down to several things; tyre degradation, DRS and the significantly better commentary from Brundle and Coulthard.

The nagging problem that remains is the sense I'm watching F1 reduced to a slight circus by these rule changes. The racing is being manipulated to create (undeniably exciting) scenarios rather than having a real purity. Seeing cars struggle for grip or balance because components and drivers have been tested to the limit is somehow different to watching them hamstrung by a component that is deliberately designed to fail withing race distance. It is like having players in a football match hobbled every 15 minutes one by one in order to open up the game as it progresses.

So I remain ambivalent. F1 has responded to being in the corner created by the reliance on aero grip (and huge budgets) by these contrivances but I'm not sure it is wholly the better for it. Team startegy has always been important, now it risks being front centre stage.

We shall see how it develops no doubt, I suspect Pirelli will be lobbied to make the tyres slightly less extreme next season at least.

Bruce