2013 General F1 Discussion thread . . . .

[MartynVRS]

That's bollards from Red Bull. McLaren supply ECU's for all the F1 cars and several other series with no problems. One may have gone wrong but it's funny it always happens to Webber's car. It's probably Red Bull saying this so they can get their own ECU's and really fiddle

[Iann-]

I've not been 100% convinced by Anderson, but he does have a technical background and should know his stuff. Mostly watch it on Sky, and sometimes the highlights later on BBC (as in as well not instead ). I think it's more Andersons mannerisms than what he's actually saying that distracts me.

When they were listening to the post race comments from drivers-engineers in parc ferme, the Lotus engineer said something about 'tyres 70% front, 80% rear', making it sound like they still had something in hand, so I could quite believe that. Pure speculation for now however..

[KenONeill]

Would be nice to see a Red Bull car which was designed to be faster in the races, to be able to overtake people, and not one which is designed to do a scorcher of a qualifying lap on a "clear" track and rely on the driver to stay ahead of / hold back everyone else to win the race.

You mean like having an extra tooth on the crownwheel?

[Jabozuma]

G. Anderson is very good and I do respect his opinions. On this occassion however I do not hink his argument holds water as he might as well had said that the quickiest cars are RedBulls based on thier qualifying pace. You cannot remove pitstops from the equation as this removes tyre degradation factor, which currently rules the roost. Look at Lewis, he wasn't half bad until he made that school boy's error and let his ego drie flat spotting his front tyre which forced him to switch to three stopper. Had he had a wiser head on his shoulders Merc could have been a good few points better off.

Tyre degradation is influenced by two things. One is the driver's style and Kimi has no equal here, bar JB perhaps, where Lewis is rather agressive. Second is car design and setup. As the former can hardly be changed the latter could be vastly improved. With RedBulls we do not know which one was it so far.

Just my two pennies.

[Coops]

Appears Nick Fry is to leave Merc at the end of the month - Toto Wolff will assume his responsibilites. Seem amicable but no further word on Brawn though.

[Jabozuma]

Brawn said he's not even thinking about it as he's fully concentraiting on the current season. I think he said he will consider nearer season's end but is not ruling out anything.

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Kimi fastest this morning in the limited amount of dry running they had. Vettel and Mass close behind. Massa really seems to have found his form again! As for Chilton, tbh all I'm thinking is he is onyl there because of daddies money, but I'll hold back for now. 1.9 seconds behind his team mate though, not the best start.

[KenONeill]

Kimi fastest this morning in the limited amount of dry running they had. Vettel and Mass close behind. Massa really seems to have found his form again! As for Chilton, tbh all I'm thinking is he is onyl there because of daddies money, but I'll hold back for now. 1.9 seconds behind his team mate though, not the best start.

Chilton is realistically only racing 3 people; his team mate and the 2 Caterhams.

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Oh yeah no doubt about that, that he doesnt seem close to any of them (all rookies bar one). I'll hold back until he has settled in.

[KenONeill]

Oh yeah no doubt about that, that he doesnt seem close to any of them (all rookies bar one). I'll hold back until he has settled in.

I'll refer you to Oz, where MC beat one of the Caterhams; given that was his first F1 race start, getting to the finish at all was an achievement. I'm not saying he's "all that"; just that he's unproven and so far "meets expectations".

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Time will tell.

[seboni121]

This is the way to find the new champ

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Another slightly shaken up qualifying session thanks to the rain. One thing stays the same, Vettel on pole. Q1 the usual ones dropped out, then Q2 rain caught out Grosjean & Di resta and almost the Ferraris too. From some of the comments made some of teams maybe had some issues with the radar, which is the only reason I can see for them slipping up (excuse the pun). Grosjean starts 11th so not the end of the world, but Di resta down in 15th isnt great. Alonso and Massa just got away with their laps. Q3 was on inters, the usual case of last across the line gets the best chance as the track was drying by the second. Vettel and red bull got the job done by some margin, I'd be interested as to if they would have been that far ahead if it was a dry track. Mclaren look a little better than last week, but I suspect the weather helped there a bit.

Looking forward to the race, as much as Vettel normally starts well, the Ferraris are like rockets off the line, especially Alonso. I'd put money on him being first into T1. As F1 was last year though I think the biggest factor will be the tyres, Lotus being kind on them could help massively, even from down in 7th where Kimi starts. IIRC the track is quite hard on tyres so that will make things worse for cars hard on tyres. I think it's going to be a battle between Alonso and Raikkonen. Sutil continuing his blistering form, shame it didnt go quite so well when the rain came but will be good to see how he goes tomorrow too.

[Jabozuma]

Kiki was demoted to P10...

[gallego1968]

Hope Lewis stay's in front of the Mclarens today and you never know and gets on the podium.

[Evil Miyagi]

Can somebody confirm the 8am lights out time??

I don't know if I'm getting the right info...

[Kartman]

Can somebody confirm the 8am lights out time??

I don't know if I'm getting the right info...

Pretty sure its light out a 8. That's what sky website says. Am watching it now so won't miss it. Should be a good race with it likely to have some rain!

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk 2

[seboni121]

Got sky for six months happy days HD too

[FUBAR]

And they are off!

[FUBAR]

Sorry had to post as I was in stitches at Lewis pitting! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahha Now time to see if he is embarrassed enough to put on a fantastic show!

[AJ7788]

Sorry had to post as I was in stitches at Lewis pitting! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahha Now time to see if he is embarrassed enough to put on a fantastic show!

Think I woke the wife I was laughing so much! Hahahaha

[FUBAR]

Think I woke the wife I was laughing so much! Hahahaha

WHY didn't they instantly switch to his radio comms to hear what was being said back and forth

[Iann-]

Race as definitely interesting, not the most exciting, but plenty of talking points to come from this. Team orders being used by 2 top teams, but drivers doing complete opposites. Vettel completely ignoring, Rosberg completely complying.

Seasons looking intriguing to say the least.

[Ootohere]

LOL,

Just heard the result by mistake,

and had the day all arranged for an afternoon of watching highlights on Poverty TV.

(need to watch anyway to see how it all played out.)

george

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

I'd always had Vettel down as a arrogant ***** but today confirms it. Complained that Webber was too slow and move him out the way when they were racing then waits till they have dropped the engine map down to coast to the end after the final stop to overtake him. What a total arsehole. Mark is a total legend, his usual no nonsense interviews are great. The individual interviews after he looks gutted though, feel for him tbh.

Merc were going very well, shame about the fuel situation else they could have been all over the red bulls, Nico doing the opposite of Vettel and playing the team game. Would have been good to see who would have been quicker had Hamilton no been fuel saving half the race. Grosjean beating Kimi was a decent result for him, Lotus not looking as quick this race as last week. Hulkenberg had a good first race, points finish and some decent battles Perez had a solid finish too, got some points under his belt. Sad for Button, Mclaren were doing well compared to last week, hopefully they'll come back stronger in China.

Chilton finished last, one lap down on his team mate, hummmmm.