FORMULA ONE 2012 thread...

[Katzkatz]

Just read about it. I thought that it was just something wrong with his car and the team stopped him because of that. Turns out it a fuel level problem.

The punishment is a bit harsh. I agree with Crusto; it would have been better to have just stripped McLaren of consturctors' points and fined them. Still, this means it is Maldonado's race to win! This does spice things up for tomorrow. Normally I would have said it would be a snooze fest, but with crumbly tyres, DRS and the chance of rain(fingers crossed and do a raindance), there is certainly the chance of a decent race tomorrow.

[DreamcastRIP]

McLaren done goofed... AGAIN.

[markopoloman]

As much as I want to think the stewards decision to push Lewis to the back of the field is wrong, I have to agree that it is right. McLaren are a team - Lewis gained an advantage by not having enough fuel in the car - yes, We all know now that Lewis would have got pole with a 10 laps of fuel - but that is not an option the stewards have to look at. McLaren broke the rules. They fecked up. So Lewis is punished.

Damn annoying - but right.

[Katzkatz]

"Pastor is faster than you. Do you understand Fernando?"

Great drive from Pastor and a good result for Williams. It is great to see them get back to their winning ways. I only hope that they can keep it up.

Alonso did a great job again. He probably is the best all-rounder in F1. Managing to take his bus up to 2nd. I see Massa made his way up to 15th. Oh dear.

A great drive from the Iceman as well. Fingers crossed that he gets a win before the end of the season.

Lewis did a good recovery drive. I don't know if he had the speed today, to stay ahead of Kimi, Pastor and Fernando, if he had not been stripped of pole position. Jenson seemed to just do a steady drive. He had balance issues.

Vettel had a steady race. Including doing some overtaking.

Kobayashi proved that he was the master of overtaking. A really good drive from him.

I was very amused by Schumi and Senna's coming together. Especially Schumi's reaction afterwards!

A pretty decent race from Spain. Not normally something you can say about that. F1 has also had 5 different winners and 5 different constructor winners now(something it last saw in 1983). I only hope that Monaco turns up something different. I really want to see Peréz and Kimi get a win.

From this point in the season it does look like it could come down to be a Vettel and Alonso fight for the WDC. Still early, I know. The McLaren seems to have lost some of its race pace.

[Liamh1982]

So THAT's what the Venezuelan national anthem sounds like!

Seriously though, incredible drive by Maldonado and what a turn-around from Williams. Incredible to think they only scored five points in the whole of last season, it's a long road back to where they once were but they're well on the way there again.
Add Lotus and Sauber and there are SEVEN teams with potentially race-winning cars. When was the last time you could say that?

[merman]

Great race for Pastor and Williams, terrifying to hear about the garage fire after the race.

[Dudley]

As much as I want to think the stewards decision to push Lewis to the back of the field is wrong, I have to agree that it is right. McLaren are a team - Lewis gained an advantage by not having enough fuel in the car - yes, We all know now that Lewis would have got pole with a 10 laps of fuel - but that is not an option the stewards have to look at. McLaren broke the rules. They fecked up. So Lewis is punished.

Damn annoying - but right.

The key is that Q3 is not the "session", Qualifying is. (Since they don't have time to scruitineer the car between "parts")

And Lewis was in what is, according to the rules, an illegal car.

So all you can do is exclude him from the session, which they did.

Annoying but entirely 100% correct and fair.

[markopoloman]

What a bloody excellent race. Amazing - I never thought I would be saying that about Barcelona!

Pastor was just superb for the whole weekend - and it is so so nice to see Williams back up where they belong

The Italian Red Bus Co did a splendid job with Alonso - I was SO glad when his tyres started to go away a few laps from the end. Massa was again....... crap.

McLaren What THE F*CK is Jenson doing He was so abysmal that I was actually screaming and swearing at the TV I wish he would just sort it out. Tw@t. Lewis had a great drive from 24th to 8th.

RedBull - So there is mystery surrounding the front wings then. Apparently neither driver hit anyone - yet both had damage. Hmmmmmm Good drive from Seb - not so good from Webbo.

Merc.- Rosberg didn't really do anything at all in the race. Schumi on the other hand was brilliant (at being sh*t) I used to despise the guy when he was at Ferrari - but almost started liking him on his return, but his outburst about tyres pished me off - but his attitude to the accident with Senna was diabolical. Schumi was 100% to blame for that collision and HE was the idiot. Was so happy to see he got a 5 place grid penalty in Monaco

Sauber - again, bloody fast and raced very very well.

Need to sleep.

Roll on Monaco

[merman]

A friend on another forum pointed out that the teams seemed to have one driver doing well and one struggling. Button struggled in free practice to find a setup that suited him, and the changing track temperature meant the Mclaren had less grip than some of the others. Looks like Lotus and Sauber have got the best cars out there as they can adapt better to the conditions.

[markopoloman]

MONACO.....

I know loads of F1 fans dislike Monaco - but I love it and always enjoy the race.
1st & 2nd practice are held on Thursday (due to Friday being Market day!) so don't miss it live on Sky

Weather... Thurs = hot n sunny. Sat could be wet. Sunday - could be wet!

I'm not even going to try and pick out the pecking order until after p2 - and even then it'll be like pulling the names out of a hat

I hope McLaren sort their sh*t out

[Katzkatz]

Yeah, Monaco. I am glad about the rain. I hope it rains on Saturday and more importantly - Sunday. A wet race at Monaco is a glorious thing.

Overtaking is nigh on impossible(remember Mansell riding the back of Senna's gearbox in 1992?). The only realistic places to do it are at the end of the tunnel and on the start/finish line(more difficult now because of the newish pitlane exit). It is why I hope it rains on race day.

I hope we have another different winner. I really want it to be Kimi. Then it would make it 6 different winners and 6 different constructors.

My guess is that the winner is more likely to be Hamilton(he seems to be the fastest at the moment in qualifying and McLaren has a good record at Monaco) or Alonso. Despite the Ferrari being a 'slow' car, he seems to have it hooked up reasonably well. Shame that his teammate can't do that!

[markopoloman]

P1 was in the dry and the London bus was fastest! But they were on the harder tyres. P2 was dry to begin with - wth button beating alonsos morning time by over a second...... Then the rain arrived!
Rain looking more likely for quali and the race

[theantmeister]

From BBC F1 - Michael Schumacher must improve for Mercedes - Brawn

Or maybe not - here are the Ross Brawn direct quotes from the article

We - and that includes Michael - have not done a good enough job collectively in the first five races

We look at things collectively, that's the situation with Michael. It's not the driver or team has made a mistake.

The issue of Michael scoring only two points is not just down to Michael. It's down to some of the technical problems we've had with the car.

"We" "together" "not just down to Michael".

censored the BBC for posting this blatant click-bait.

[DreamcastRIP]

Agreed... but the article does at least conclude with these ominous words,

"Last week, Mercedes chief executive officer Nick Fry said: "I am sure if we get to the end of this year and it continues as it has done for the last few races, I think he will probably be asking himself that question [about whether to continue].

"There is time to go and we are not making any decisions yet.""

[Katzkatz]

Reading between the lines, it roughly translates as Schumi has to get a win for Mercedes and they have to stop their botched pitstops for him(e.g. China).

Has anyone seen the news about the suspect package that was sent to Monaco? Scary stuff!