is f1 finally back to its best?

[occyoccyoccy]

after watching yesterdays grand prix i have got to say it seems f1 is finally become unpredictable again. I have to say well done to perez that was a fantastic race, i think we could be in for a fantastic season.

[Coops]

Yes the rain certainly threw up some great predictions that none of us would have thought of!

However without that I still think the race would have run pretty much as per the last??

[Robshaw]

I hated the race yesterday if I'm honest...

What happened was mainly due to the conditions and thus giving a totally unexpected result. I am indeed happy though that the 'big' names were down the bottom and some of the smaller teams were up high and in points.

I found two interviews at the end fantastic to compare with Button and Vettel. Button held his own saying he didn't do his best and it was indeed his fault.... Vettel calling Karthikeyan an 'idiot' and saying comments for example "Like on normal roads, you have some idiots driving around. It seems there is also one driving here" wasn't professinal - I understand he was frustrated with team communication issues and that damage causing him to drop out of the points but swearing and talking like that lost all the respect I had for him.

I never thought I would say it but I also felt sorry for Schumacher after he was hit up the rear. So lucky not to be hit by the rest of the field in those conditions! I'm still impressed by Kimi and his consistency and drive to improve - I love to see him race and can't wait to see him land a podium.

[jlwah]

Having now watched both GP's on BBC in extended highlights programmes, I've got to admit I think I might prefer it to the full shows they did last season and will do for some this season. I always could do without the champagne spraying, national anthems and dull post race top three interviews, so no need for a Sky subscription after all!

The only issue is trying not hear the result before the programme - reminds me of the Likely Lads episode where they try not to hear or see the England score

[Zmithy]

The only issue is trying not hear the result before the programme - reminds me of the Likely Lads episode where they try not to hear or see the England score

Agree! I work most weekends, the radios on all day so I have to blank it out just incase! Also can't go on the news or Facebook or anything until I've seen it! Spoils it when you know whose won

[Babs]

Any race where Vettel isn't winning is good!

[Brimma]

I was left feeling hollow and cheated to be honest

It's pretty clear that the hierarchy at Ferrari decided to pull rank on Sauber and 'arrange' for Perez to mysteriously go wide on a corner when he wasn't even close enough to Alonso to attempt an overtake

I wonder how that could have happened, except maybe cross-team orders

He'd driven a perfect race up until then, and I don't accept it was just a lapse of concentration

That's the sort of thing that puts me right off F1 - the best man on the day should win the race, not have to buckle to political pressures

Just my slant on things :wall:

[WaveyDaveyGravy]

I was left feeling hollow and cheated to be honest

It's pretty clear that the hierarchy at Ferrari decided to pull rank on Sauber and 'arrange' for Perez to mysteriously go wide on a corner when he wasn't even close enough to Alonso to attempt an overtake

I wonder how that could have happened, except maybe cross-team orders

He'd driven a perfect race up until then, and I don't accept it was just a lapse of concentration

That's the sort of thing that puts me right off F1 - the best man on the day should win the race, not have to buckle to political pressures

Just my slant on things :wall:

Completely agree. Man who is being touted as an imminent replacement for the underperforming Massa in Ferrari engined car told to maintain position so as not to beat the factory team. Then mysteriously loses concentration (probably thinking about his imminent move to Ferrari) and messes up the potential overtake. Can you imagine Mercedes telling McLaren to stay in position? Typical politics from Ferrari, leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

[ramonford]

My biggest complaint by far is that prat “Martin Bundle” and his pit walk.

Rude mannered and arrogant, has no consideration for any of the other commentators when they are talking to drivers. Barges in and pushes people out of the way, many drivers have asked not to speak to him. Just watch him when talking to the Weasel (Ernie Heckle) sickening; butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. He has another annoying habit when commentating, of turning away from his mike, and his voice level drops noticeably. All together, in my opinion a poor commentator not worth the money or time.

Damon Hill looks totally outclassed by his contemporizes and has a job to keep up.

Other than that – excellent coverage and so much more information that we used to get from the Beeb.

[jlwah]

I was left feeling hollow and cheated to be honest

It's pretty clear that the hierarchy at Ferrari decided to pull rank on Sauber and 'arrange' for Perez to mysteriously go wide on a corner when he wasn't even close enough to Alonso to attempt an overtake

I wonder how that could have happened, except maybe cross-team orders

He'd driven a perfect race up until then, and I don't accept it was just a lapse of concentration

That's the sort of thing that puts me right off F1 - the best man on the day should win the race, not have to buckle to political pressures

Just my slant on things :wall:

Can't beat a good conspiracy theory!

Maybe the excitment of the moment overtook Perez's skills and ability, after all plenty of more experienced drivers made errors during the race.

[robk1]

Agree! I work most weekends, the radios on all day so I have to blank it out just incase! Also can't go on the news or Facebook or anything until I've seen it! Spoils it when you know whose won

+ 1. On Sunday I spent most of the day in blissful ignorance only to pop the radio on whilst washing up and timing it beautifully to announce Alonso's win!! I may build the equivalent of an acoustically deadened panic room and remain in there until safe to emerge!

[Brimma]

Can't beat a good conspiracy theory!

Maybe the excitment of the moment overtook Perez's skills and ability, after all plenty of more experienced drivers made errors during the race.

Look at the evidence :-

Consistently lapping 0.7+ seconds per lap faster than Alonso

Virtually on his tail with 5+ laps to go

Radio message telling him to hold station

You do the maths

[Coops]

Having now watched both GP's on BBC in extended highlights programmes, I've got to admit I think I might prefer it to the full shows they did last season and will do for some this season. I always could do without the champagne spraying, national anthems and dull post race top three interviews, so no need for a Sky subscription after all!

Agree - I actually prefer the highlights, you only get to see the decent parts of the race, not all the cr*p inbetween and after. Good format IMO.

Completely agree. Man who is being touted as an imminent replacement for the underperforming Massa in Ferrari engined car told to maintain position so as not to beat the factory team. Then mysteriously loses concentration (probably thinking about his imminent move to Ferrari) and messes up the potential overtake. Can you imagine Mercedes telling McLaren to stay in position? Typical politics from Ferrari, leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Look at the evidence :-

Consistently lapping 0.7+ seconds per lap faster than Alonso

Virtually on his tail with 5+ laps to go

Radio message telling him to hold station

You do the maths

There was absolutely no doubt that Perez was going to catch him but remember that in December 2010, article 39.1 forbidding team orders was deleted from the Sporting Regulations, plus there would be no way of actually proving. Nevertheless, something did happen between the 2 teams.

Torro Rosso is the feeder team for Red Bull as it is widely publicised but is Sauber running as an unofficial Ferrari feeder team? Mercedes and McLaren merely use the same engines and no doubt Martin Whitmarsh would tell Norbert Haug where to go if he tried anything like that. Saying that I would have thought Peter Sauber would also but guess he needs to be careful.

[MartynVRS]

Think the Perez thing was a lot like Senna in Monaco. Both drivers in the zone, driving well when the team radios in to take it easy. Small lapse in concentration and a mistake. Perez had a small off but Senna hit a barrier and was out of the race

[seboni121]

Great racing!, Perez will be shoehorned into massa seat before the end of the season

[Graeme B]

Well Perez is part of the Ferrari young drivers program......surely wouldn't want to upset his future team mate !!

Edited 28 March, 2012 by Graeme B

[MartynVRS]

I don't think he'll go there just yet, definitely not this year. We all know what happened the last time Alonso had a competitive team mate. Nando throws a strop and goes elsewhere. Would it be any different now?

[Coops]

Ferrari need to improve their car first otherwise how can they "sack" Massa?

I can understand if the car was competitive to question Massa's pace but at present it's not is it.

[blueR36]

Great racing this year, the qualifying ( Rally style) was great, Perez should hold station for this year, look what happened to Giancarlo Fisichella

[WaveyDaveyGravy]

Agree - I actually prefer the highlights, you only get to see the decent parts of the race, not all the cr*p inbetween and after. Good format IMO.

There was absolutely no doubt that Perez was going to catch him but remember that in December 2010, article 39.1 forbidding team orders was deleted from the Sporting Regulations, plus there would be no way of actually proving. Nevertheless, something did happen between the 2 teams.

Torro Rosso is the feeder team for Red Bull as it is widely publicised but is Sauber running as an unofficial Ferrari feeder team? Mercedes and McLaren merely use the same engines and no doubt Martin Whitmarsh would tell Norbert Haug where to go if he tried anything like that. Saying that I would have thought Peter Sauber would also but guess he needs to be careful.

I would suggest that this regulation applies inside teams, not between different teams. Sauber is a customer team, using Ferrari engines. If this were to be proven, which of course is impossible, it would effectively be saying that customer teams can never finish above manufacturers if the manufacturer didn't want them to i.e. didn't want them to race. This to me destroys the sport, as I want to see motor racing.

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

I certainly thought it was a bit fishy. First they should have pitted him the same time as Alonso for sure, they had plenty of time to asses that the inters were going off on the drying track but they for some reason delayed it a lap. Then the "slip up". I think the mistake was genuine, but the radio message was blatantly them telling him "dont rock the boat".

The race overall was top notch though imo, as a mclaren (and button) fan I was pretty gutted but shows the difference when afterwards he take the blame and accepts it was his fault, while vettel was moaning his accident wasnt his fault. Kimmi sending out magnum ice creams to the press was hilarious too, proof he does have a sense of humour! Cant wait for him to get in there and start mixing it up again! Think it`ll be a very open season this year.