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The Formula 1 2012 Season |OT| The Year of the...uh...Platypus?

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Foliorum Viridum said:
EJ is a great narrator. He's passionate as hell.

It would be cheesy if he wasn't so fuckawesome.
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Exactly. I don't get the EJ hate from some quarters - he's a legend.

Also, FUCK YEAH ROSBERG and FUCK YEAH KOBAYASHI AND SAUBER. I hope it rains tomorrow, that Sauber worked beautifully in the rain in Malaysia.
 
yVL25.gif


Apologies if repost.
 
Few comments about quali:

Räikkönen: I’m disappointed with this pace

“The grid position is okay but, when you look at the times, I’m disappointed with the pace of the car today,” says Räikkönen, whose best lap time of 1:35.784 is almost seven tenths of a second off the pole lap from Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes.

“We’ve gained a position after Lewis (Hamilton)’s penalty but the speed wasn’t where it should have been, especially when you look at the pole time. We’ve tried some updates this weekend, but they haven’t worked as we wanted so we’ve gone back to how the car was before. We go into the race less confident in the car than in the last two races, but knowing that we start from a higher position on the grid.”
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Realistic Alonso not expecting miracles

Fernando Alonso adopted a typically pragmatic approach following Chinese Grand Prix qualifying. As Felipe Massa missed the top ten shootout and slid down to 12th place, the Spaniard qualified ninth behind possible future team-mate Sergio Pérez.

He went on to stress that aerodynamics still require a massive improvement.
“That is the first priority,” Alonso continued. “Once we’re happy with the car we will see what the gap is but, at the moment, it’s just too big because the car doesn’t work.”


The Oviedo man is not surprised by the pace of Sauber which, with its customer Ferrari engines, has sealed third on the grid with Kamui Kobayashi.

“They were one of the quickest teams in testing, one of the quickest in Australia and maybe they deserved the win in Malaysia,” he admitted.
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'I don’t want to blame the car' - Vettel 11th

Sebastian Vettel has all but taken responsibility for his lacklustre qualifying performance in China. The German failed to make the top ten shootout for the first time since Brazil 2009 and will start only 11th on the Shanghai grid.

“Of course it’s easy to say this now, but I was happy with the way the car was yesterday,” the World Champion said shortly after qualifying. “That is why I decided to stay as we were. Actually, I was happy with the laps I did in qualifying; I made no mistakes, but they just weren’t quick enough and it’s as easy as that.
“I was happy with the car yesterday, so we decided to stick with the settings we have. I don’t want to blame it on the car. Obviously, I’m not happy but, as I said, I was pretty happy with my laps in Q2. But they just weren’t quick enough.”
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Bullshit he made no mistakes. During that touchscreen rundown thing Sky did, they pointed out several times where he simply took the corner too late. By exactly the same amount.

Shit driver confirmed. If this was his preference for car spec, imagine what he must've been like in the one Webber made it to Q3 in.


:D
(I've been waiting to do this for a whole fucking year, guys. Please let me have this.)
 
Their race pace could be quite the surprise tomorrow, but we'll see. It's hard for me to discount Red Bull, especially Vettel, after two years of dominance.
 
Orgun said:
Great Quali! Also great to see Hamilton so happy again and Koby in p3! DRIFTOOO KING!
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He seems better balanced this season. I think he has taken a slight step back from Sennas modus operandi "if you do not go for a gap..." and realized that consistency is key. A mellowing of sort? Perhaps
 
As for the race it will be interesting to see how Rosberg and Schumi start. Last year Schumi had some cracking starts second only to Alonso but hasn't been that blistering so far imo. I think Kobayashi is going to trouble them on the start and it's gonna end up either epic or in heartbreak. Anyway i'm excited for the race, really interesting line up with a lot of battles to be fought.
 
olore said:
He seems better balanced this season. I think he has taken a slight step back from Sennas modus operandi "if you do not go for a gap..." and realized that consistency is key. A mellowing of sort? Perhaps
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Its a long season and consistent podiums would win any driver the championship this year going by form so far.
Alonso should have done it in 2010, consistent podiums with few wins.
 
navanman said:
Its a long season and consistent podiums would win any driver the championship this year going by form so far.
Alonso should have done it in 2010, consistent podiums with few wins.
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Given reliability from the machinery and the performance from said machinery, yes. We`re two races in, hopefully we have a clearer picture of who`s who after this one. Again, the un-predictability so far this season is great.
 
Nolan. said:
As for the race it will be interesting to see how Rosberg and Schumi start. Last year Schumi had some cracking starts second only to Alonso but hasn't been that blistering so far imo. I think Kobayashi is going to trouble them on the start and it's gonna end up either epic or in heartbreak. Anyway i'm excited for the race, really interesting line up with a lot of battles to be fought.
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Rosberg will bottle it & mess up his start dropping back to 6/7th before the first corner.
Schumacher will have a great start & lead for a few laps, but fall away because his car doesnt have the pace.
Kobayashi will drop 1 or 2 places at the start and get squeezed off the track at the first corner damaging his front wing & have to pit and drop down to the midfield.

Hamilton, Webber, Button & Alonso will be fighting for the podium.

I have seen the future!
 
shagg_187 said:
What the hell?! Bizarro world?!

Also, Hamilton drops five grid places as penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change? LOL!

Nico Rosberg
Michael Schumacher
Kamui Kobayashi
Kimi Räikkönen
Jenson Button

Wow! What a fantastic pole position! :D
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I seriously can't contain my excitement! That's maybe the most exciting mix at the front of the grid you could hope for.
 
Kobayashi's biggest issue has always been qualifying. How many times did he either drop out of Q1 or qualify around 15th-17th last season? He's typically a much better Sunday driver than a Saturday one, which is partly why he's so entertaining to watch as he's had to fight his way through the field more often than he'd probably prefer.
 
Relatively cold conditions in China should help Mercedes' tyre deg, best chance they'll have this season for a win. I still think Schumacher has the edge on race pace between them.

Well done to Sauber as well. They out qualified both Ferraris. Sauber didn't use their new exhaust they tested yesterday either, so more pace to come from them this season hopefully.

Very bad for Red Bull. I'm thankful that their period of domination is over though.
 
Personally I expect the mercs to get blitzed in the race - they'll probably end up 3rd & 4th/5th, unless something dramatic happens to shake up the pack.

Nice to see such a mixed grid though.
 
ANDY_098 said:
Very bad for Red Bull. I'm thankful that their period of domination is over though.
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I think the EBD ban has hit them & Vettel very hard together with the ban on cold/hot blowing.
The car now is like the RB6 in early 2010 before they introduced the EBD which suited Webber's driving style and made Vettel look less than invincible.

Last year was an exception with the perfect car & driver combo.
 
Just woke up to find a completely unexpected qualifying result, nice to see so many different teams in the top 10 this time.

Still not sure if I should stay up late tonight, or watch a delayed broadcast.
 
I was worried about Koba after Perez getting all the attention last race (deservedly so), good to see he's responding in the correct manner. DURIFTOOOOO!!!!
 
Koshiro said:
I was worried about Koba after Perez getting all the attention last race (deservedly so), good to see he's responding in the correct manner. DURIFTOOOOO!!!!
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He really needs to step up this race or risk being forgotten completely. I really think Koba is the better driver of the two, so I'm hoping to see good things for him.
 
I think Perez is going to go on to do great things potentially but I don't feel that way about Koby. I just want him to have one awesome moment, ideally a win. Fucking <3 the little drifting bastard.
 
So I missed the qualifying, but luckily, I didn't miss much, right? Right? ...ah nuts.

That grid lineup is just fantastic. So many things can go right and wrong in the race. Looking forward to it.
 
McLaren press release

MARTIN WHITMARSH

Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“First of all, I’d like to offer our congratulations to Mercedes AMG, for whom Nico took his first ever Grand Prix pole position this afternoon.

“It was a peculiar qualifying session, in which the to-ing and fro-ing of grip levels was abnormally unpredictable. During Q3, the air and track temperatures cooled rapidly as the sky overhead became suddenly overcast, and the circuit became appreciably slower as a result. Nico, who had already cut a very good lap early in the session, was therefore unassailable. Jenson, who went out later, found that the track surface had become much less grippy than it had been beforehand, and the inevitable result was a slower-than-expected lap time from him.

“But that wasn’t his fault; pretty much everyone who was on track at the end of Q3 either recorded a slower lap-time than they’d hoped for, or indeed aborted it, as Lewis did.

“Tomorrow, though, we’re confident that we’ll have two competitive race cars, and, from fifth and seventh on the grid respectively, Jenson and Lewis will be approaching the race with their customary controlled combativeness.”
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Martin Whitmarsh has a big boner JB, he hardly ever says anything positive about LH. His entire section of the press release makes excuses about why JB was slow.

I would be very surprised if LH is driving for McLaren next season
 
Britprog said:
I would be very surprised if LH is driving for McLaren next season
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I'd be surprised if he's anywhere other than McLaren next season.

McLaren are the only team on the grid who have proven they can make race winning cars year on year, Red Bull has to prove they haven't pulled a 2005-06 Renault and Ferrari are in a dire situation.
 
As Ark said Hamilton would be mad to leave McLaren.

Newey & RBR car advantage has been neutralised by the EBD and relative stability of the other rules.

The next chance for a break out season for RBR is in 2014 when the rules are shaken up again.
 
Ark said:
I'd be surprised if he's anywhere other than McLaren next season.

McLaren are the only team on the grid who have proven they can make race winning cars year on year, Red Bull has to prove they haven't pulled a 2005-06 Renault and Ferrari are in a dire situation.
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It just seems to me that LH is a bit of an outsider in his own team, in both previous races he has been shafted by the team during the pitstops, i.e. keeping him out longer, giving JB preferential pitstop to enable undercuts ect.

Lewis may be playing hardball with Salary negotiations or something. It doesn't seem to me all is good with him at McLaren at the moment.
 
Hamilton's been McLaren's golden boy from the moment he joined. Before that, even. He'd be insane to go anywhere else because no other team could be more accommodating. If having some girl troubles is enough to throw him into depression for an entire year, having to build up standing in a new, unfamiliar team may just kill him.
 
RomanticHeroX said:
Hamilton's been McLaren's golden boy from the moment he joined. Before that, even. He'd be insane to go anywhere else because no other team could be more accommodating. If having some girl troubles is enough to throw him into depression for an entire year, having to build up standing in a new, unfamiliar team may just kill him.
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Hamilton was Ron Dennis' golden boy, who is has no power in running the F1 team at the moment. The team principle is Martin Whitmarsh who was the one who bought Button to McLaren.

I've got a feeling he will be racing for Red Bull next year.
 
navanman said:
I think the EBD ban has hit them & Vettel very hard together with the ban on cold/hot blowing.
The car now is like the RB6 in early 2010 before they introduced the EBD which suited Webber's driving style and made Vettel look less than invincible.

Last year was an exception with the perfect car & driver combo.
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Pretty sure I called it (or at least hoped for it) in the off-season, that this would happen. Despite having the highest accolade twice over, he's far from what people would think as a "great" driver. In the right conditions he's unstoppable, but disrupt one variable and it seems to get the better of him. Honestly doubt he'd even be capable of a top 3 finish in the race for the WDC this year. There are far too many drivers with decent cars and even better mental fortitude to finish in front of him. Give him a couple of years and I'm sure he'll hit Schumacher-esque levels of winning (there's that distinct, almost Terminator-like vibe about them both in their heyday) but he still has a long way to go to get to, say, Alonso's tenacity and ability to wring the best of whatever he's sitting in.
 
I think Hamilton will find his place in McLaren this year and be happy with it. If he does, he won't be going anywhere. Ample reason for McLaren to be satisfied with their lineup.
 
WorriedCitizen said:
Please go to autosport.

The neogaf f1 threads used to be nice but now it's all about fanboy bullshit, posting of Webber pics and racemanager. Fuck this shit.
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Was clearly hyperbole, but given I can't recall any contribution you've made to this thread in the slightest, it's not surprising you haven't frequented this thread enough to tell the difference between obvious baiting and genuine discussion/criticism.
 
Britprog said:
Hamilton was Ron Dennis' golden boy, who is has no power in running the F1 team at the moment. The team principle is Martin Whitmarsh who was the one who bought Button to McLaren.

I've got a feeling he will be racing for Red Bull next year.
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Button went to McLaren because he wanted to take on Hamilton, who most people at the time regarded him as one of the greatest drivers ever. Whitmarsh made sure that McLaren was not only behind Hamilton but strived to make sure Button felt at home and that he had equal opportunity in the team, something that lost them the titles in 2007. McLaren offered the spare seat to Heidfeld first, who would have had the seat had he not delayed signing the contract, Button wanting to join the team as the current World Champion was the final nail in the coffin in that regard.

The only people racing for Red Bull next year will be Vettel and Webber (pending his performance this year) and until Red Bull prove they're in the same league as McLaren & Ferrari, it'll be Vettel that we should be interested in for the silly season.

Britprog said:
It just seems to me that LH is a bit of an outsider in his own team, in both previous races he has been shafted by the team during the pitstops, i.e. keeping him out longer, giving JB preferential pitstop to enable undercuts ect.

Lewis may be playing hardball with Salary negotiations or something. It doesn't seem to me all is good with him at McLaren at the moment.
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Hamilton's pitstop issues in the last two races were purely down to luck. McLaren are hardly intentionally shafting their own driver in the pits. Plus McLaren have always used a system where whichever driver is ahead of the other gets the first call on the pits.

Hamilton doesn't need Whitmarsh to release press statements about him because he knows his place in the team and the team acknowledge that. Hamilton wants to get on with his job and only that, that's why he never talks to the media when he doesn't have to and also why he was complaining about McLaren having far too many sponsor meetings in previous years.
 
Britprog said:
Martin Whitmarsh has a big boner JB, he hardly ever says anything positive about LH. His entire section of the press release makes excuses about why JB was slow.

I would be very surprised if LH is driving for McLaren next season
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Really? I don't agree personally.

Christian Horner on the other hand has an obvious bias towards Vettel.

As for Lewis I'm sure he'll still be racing for McLaren next year.
 
Fell asleep during the qualifying and only thing I managed to catch was Vettel coming in 11th. Pretty sure I chuckled and fell asleep.

But damn what a lap by Nico, half second clear of everyone, great great stuff.

This is going to be a great year, gentlemen.
 
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