Paul

Sad news about Maria de Villota

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/24487701

As above. Tragic.

So sad, RIP María  :'(

Awful news.

Glad Webber got pole though

Very sad news, according to the news it was related to her accident.

As far as the Japanese race goes, pretty good so far! I'll not spoil it for anyone.

Vettel in a class of his own again. Sorry, but Webber just does not cut the mustard in comparison.

Hulkenberg top drive again and good to see Gutierez get his first points.

I didn't bother watching the after race chat, but why did Red Bull go with two stops for Vettel & three stops for Webber? 

I then watched the MOTO GP and there was more excitement in those few laps when Lorenzo and Marquez were racing flat out than all of the F1. 

IMO they pitted Webber for 2 reasons, 1) to try and force Grosian into a move i.e. does he go with webber and then take him away from Vettel & 2) keep him away from Vettel. Webber had made it very clear that if could go for the win he would not be giving up an places.

 

On the radio Webber asked to double check that he should come in as he said his tyres were fine. After the race Horner said his tyres were shot so had to come up (so a blatent lie) and then when they looked at the lap times he was doing there was no problems at all.

 

IMO if on the same strategy Webber would have won today

Red Bull playing favourites to the golden boy's advantage is no surprise. At least Ferrari are honest about it when they do it, you got to respect them for that.

It's become a tyre management competition.

B O R I N G. :|

It was interesting listening to Brundle commenting how all the drivers discuss how much they hate the middle of the races where they are just holding back and not pushing it knowing they will wreck their tyres if they do

Tyre management is a part of any sport, at the end of the day the rubber will always degrade over time - the issue with these current Pirelli tyres though seems to be just how quickly they do degrade, according to Alonso (and Paul Hembrey, while initially critical of Alonso's comments, didn't correct this particular 'fact') the tyres won't even do 5km if you push to the max. That is frankly pathetic, it won't even get you 2 laps of absolute maximum pace at any circuit I know of, so I can imagine why the drivers aren't fond of them.

I agree tyre management is part Of the sport but I think they have taken it too far. When you have cars that won't even challenge each other because they will wreck their tyres it's too far.

They should easily manage 15 laps at full chat. After that they degrade over 2/3/4 laps. If people risk it fair play but then you will get people pushing hard rather than holding back

That said it would probably just excetuate the differences between the teams

Like him or loathe him, Vettel in a class of his own again and now a 4 timer.

F1 is getting like the Schumi era. Shan't bother with the rest of the season and not bother next year. No need for F1HD then either...

Boring as my ex-missus.

I'd rather watch Moto GP any day, and I'm not a biker.

In Moto GP you have overtaking, and riders battling for position right up to the chequered flag.

In F1 you have a procession, and overtaking is usually done by way of pit stops; you may as we'll stand on the inner ring road in Mansfield and watch the boy racers circulate time after time after time after time after time, with no change in the order.

F1 has the unfortunate side issue of all the drivers looking alike, as do the cars (ok, you could say the same for Moto GP, but there's only so much you can do with 2 wheels and appearance)

The poisonous little squinting dwarf has killed F1, and lined his own pockets; not good.

And why is it always Webber's car that packs in ?

And why is it always Webber's car that packs in ?

 

Doesn't seem fair does it. Cruel luck I suppose.

 

Narks me when cars bump relatively hard but carry on fine, whereas the slightest of touches for others results in a puncture or binned nose cone (normally having just past the pit entrance so they have to limp round the whole track and hope they don't pick up more damage along the way).

F1 is getting like the Schumi era. Shan't bother with the rest of the season and not bother next year. No need for F1HD then either...

Do you mean that yet again a German, not a Brit has domineered the series? If it's any consolation the car that keeps enabling Vettel to be the F1 'Meister' is crammed full of British engineering.

As in all racing, only the absolute best people/teams win, their nationality, race or gender should be of no consequence.

And why is it always Webber's car that packs in ?

 

Because his car doesn't have all the effort put into it than Vettels does. Its been obvious for a long time that the team is a 1-2 setup. Time and time again has there been the evidence from the putting the wings on specific cars to pits etc.

 

It will be interesting to see how many other cars look into the whole KERS traction control ideas.

 

The RBS is miles ahead of the other cars at the moment. The fact Webber could qualify in 3rd with tyres which were 1 second slower says it all.

 

Fingers crossed all the engine changes will result in a bit of a mix up for 2014 but I am sure RBS will still be up there.

Do you mean that yet again a German, not a Brit has domineered the series? If it's any consolation the car that keeps enabling Vettel to be the F1 'Meister' is crammed full of British engineering.

As in all racing, only the absolute best people/teams win, their nationality, race or gender should be of no consequence.

 

It's not necessarily a "bl00dy Germans putting towels over the deck chairs again" comment, it does feel very much like the early 2000s era when no one could touch Schumacher. I was a Schumacher fan at the time, so I loved it. Funnily enough, I'm not big on Vettel, so it does wind me up seeing him run away with it every year, but I guess it's no worse than how everyone else felt 2000-2004!

It's not necessarily a "bl00dy Germans putting towels over the deck chairs again" comment, it does feel very much like the early 2000s era when no one could touch Schumacher. I was a Schumacher fan at the time, so I loved it. Funnily enough, I'm not big on Vettel, so it does wind me up seeing him run away with it every year, but I guess it's no worse than how everyone else felt 2000-2004!

Likewise, with the note that IMO Webber is not "as good as the best of the rest", which I would have said of Irvine and Rubinho.

Lots had a go and while it is the FIA being killjoys, what if we found out later than someone had dumped a load of weights in the footwell so it wasn't underweight and only won because it was. I don't think the doughnuts were the problem it was not bring the car back into parc ferme