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[navanman]

FP3 is underway.
It rained last night so the track is green again so it will take time for the track to rubber in again.

 

[navanman]

Session red flagged as Petrov goes off, looks like a car fault as he went off backwards at high speed under braking.

Oh yeah and Kobi goes off yet again.

 

[navanman]

Looks like it was the kerb that caused Kobiyashi and Petrov to go off.

The kerb looks dry but water is trapped between the grooves.

 

[navanman]

F*CK!! Sutil stops on track with 5 minutes to go in FP3.

Bad weekend for Renault & Force India so far, could ruin everyone's fantasy teams.

 

[navanman]

RBR just destroyed the field again on the option tyre again.

Unless they knock each other off the track, they have this race in the bag.

 

[DrM]

RBR just destroyed the field again on the option tyre again.

Unless they knock each other off the track, they have this race in the bag.

Yup. They are crazy fast on this circut, other teams should pray for mechanical errors or rain, otherwise this should be easy 1-2 for RBR

 

[Tim the Wiz]

We'll see in a couple of hours, but this resurgence in form doesn't seem like a fluke for Schumi at all.

 

[TylerD]

RBR just bitch slapped the field again. I agree with the sentiments that they should easily 1-2 if the weather cooperates. I could see Lewis or Jenson getting in front of Webber on the start though and the race ending RBR P1 and MCL P2.

Good to see Schumi put in a really strong time too.

 

[Dead Man]

RBR just destroyed the field again on the option tyre again.

Unless they knock each other off the track, they have this race in the bag.

Yeah, i just sacrificed drivers to get Total fuel.

 

[curls]

Yeah, i just sacrificed drivers to get Total fuel.

Same here, not getting the extra 3mil from the bonus also hurt. :/

 

[dalin80]

will be interesting to see if vettel gets a penalty for ignoring the yellow flags at the end when he set the purple s2.

 

[navanman]

5 place grid penalty for Virgin racing for failing to inform FIA of their intended gear ratios for the race.
So they will move from 21-22nd to 23-24th on the grid.

 

[navanman]

Ferrari haven't looked too good this weekend so far.
It will be interesting to see if they can turn this around for qualifying.

 

[Aegus]

BBC with the Sigur Ros music again.

 

[S. L.]

going with a gamble setup >_<

 

[Deadman]

I was tempted to go for a mercedes engine setup, but chickened out and have gone for full force india, drivers chassis and engine. Total fuel ofc.

 

[Goldrusher]

Here we go.

The usual 58 minutes of nothing, followed by 3 minutes of one fast lap after another.

 

[navanman]

Klien politely slams the HRT F1 car.

Christian Klien believes HRT's Formula 1 car falls far short of the standards he has been used to - following his first experience of the car in free practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Austrian has been signed as a test and reserve driver, and will be given runs in Friday practice sessions to try and help the team find improvements with the set-up of the Dallara-built car.

And although he has completed just a single session so far, Klien said he already understands in what areas the HRT cars is not good enough.

"Obviously this car is not quite on an F1 standard – there is just a lack of downforce big time that the car has," said Klien in Barcelona. "Also the small details on the car are not as good as the top cars, so it is quite easy to get in the car and tell the engineers many things on where the other cars are better.

"For me it was quite clear after the first 20 laps what the major problems with the car were, and hopefully with more and more feedback we can improve the car. I think even without putting new stuff on the car there is still lap time in the car.

"I think half a second to one second, for sure, just by working more on set-up things. The electronics too, to help make the car more driveable because it is quite hard on track – it's difficult to be consistent."

Klien believes HRT needs to make a decision about whether to invest money in improving the car or to start thinking already about simply focusing on its 2011 machine.

"The question is how much money you want to put in this car," he explained. "It is quite clear that you are not going to win anything with this chassis, so you need to build a new car from scratch basically.

"But the season is still quite long, and the team – at least I got that feeling this week – they still want to improve this car. And I think there is half a second to one second in this car that you can improve without putting expensive new parts on the car."

 

[Deadman]

Ferrari activate their f-duct by having the driver move his left hand to the side of the cockpit, effectively leaving them with just 1 hand on steering wheel down the straights. In the moments where they adjust break bias they have no hands on the wheel.

 

[evlcookie]

One HD in melbourne showing the AFL and not the F1 .. le sigh!

 

[S. L.]

the ususals + Barichello out huh

 

[navanman]

Just show how bad the HRT car is, the top GP2 car did a best lap time only 0.6s slower than Bruno Senna's car.

 

[Deadman]

Just show how bad the HRT car is, the top GP2 car did a best lap time only 0.6s slower than Bruno Senna's car.

Hahaha, awesome.

De la rosa 6th after q1, where did that come from? Hulk faster than barrichello with the "worse" car too.

 

[Dead Man]

One HD in melbourne showing the AFL and not the F1 .. le sigh!

One HD in SA doing it too. le sigh indeed. 3 channels, and they are all showing the same thing.

Edit: Coverage just started delayed. :/

 

[TylerD]

Just show how bad the HRT car is, the top GP2 car did a best lap time only 0.6s slower than Bruno Senna's car.

They are slow but have been reasonably reliable and Chandhok has had some decent finishes as a driver considering how cheap he is.

What the hell at Liuzzi being so slow?

 

[S. L.]

dunno if it has been mentioned, but f1racemanger now also accepted 14 as answer for the bonus question

 

[Goldrusher]

dunno if it has been mentioned, but f1racemanger now also accepted 14 as answer for the bonus question

Sweet.

 

[Aegus]

GOOOOO KAMUI!

 

[S. L.]

ahahahha KOBAYASHIII
had to sell Sutil to afford RBR engine and got Kobayashi instead.
awesome

 

[navanman]

dunno if it has been mentioned, but f1racemanger now also accepted 14 as answer for the bonus question

Pity is too late to make any chances to your team this weekend now though.

 

[S. L.]

Pity is too late to make any chances to your team this weekend now though.

they had it before the quali started. but dunno by how long

 

[Adam Scott Aukerman]

Fucks sake, Webbles!

 

[Aegus]

Fuck you Webber for getting my 1-2 bet the wrong way round.

 

[navanman]

Webber killed my qualifying prediction but great great lap by him.

Should be an exciting start to the race with the 2 RBR cars and 2 best drivers behind them in Hamilton & Alonso.

I had Vettel for pole with Vettel, Webber & Hamilton as 1,2,3 for the race.

 

[Goldrusher]

Fuck you Webber for getting my 1-2 bet the wrong way round.

There's no 1-2 bet. Only pole and a yes/no for "Will Schumacher qualify in the top 3?"

 

[Lince]

Alonso 6 tenths quicker than Massa, the lad is nice and all but he's painfully slow, bring Kubica to Ferrari now.

 

[Aegus]

There's no 1-2 bet. Only pole and a yes/no for "Will Schumacher qualify in the top 3?"

I had Vettel at 1 and Webber at 2. So yes there was a 1-2 bet for me.

 

[S. L.]

redbull is maddening fast again

 

[navanman]

redbull is maddening fast again

Only on the option tyre though. The pace of McLaren is very close to the RBR on the regular harder tyre.

 

[S. L.]

Only on the option tyre though. The pace of McLaren is very close to the RBR on the regular harder tyre.

yeah, but unless it rains or rbr fuckup, i don't see McLaren having a chance.

anyways, salvaged 287 points out of quali

 

[navanman]

yeah, but unless it rains or rbr fuckup, i don't see McLaren having a chance.

anyways, salvaged 287 points out of quali

I would love to see Alonso or Hamilton get the jump on Vettel at the start just to see if the RBR car is as good as it looks when it has to overtake a top car and driver.

 

[Timbuktu]

Here's hoping Mclaren can keep up with Red Bull in development now that Ferrari has fallen behind a bit.

 

[curls]

dunno if it has been mentioned, but f1racemanger now also accepted 14 as answer for the bonus question

FOR FUCKS SAKE!

SHIT.

 

[gutterboy44]

Christ, when Red Bull get the FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU duct the rest of the field is screwed.

Yeay for Schumi out qualifying Rosberg! Only a matter of time before we see him up on the podium again. (I hope)

 

[DrM]

RBR is simply destroying the field in S2 and S3.

Nico is struggling with new Mercedes car, Massa also very weak this weekend.

Start should be interesting, F-duct cars from 3rd to 5th place...

 

[S. L.]

Alonso 6 tenths quicker than Massa, the lad is nice and all but he's painfully slow, bring Kubica to Ferrari now.

eh, massa usually isn't slow per se, he just sucks at fighting for positions

 

[magnificent83]

eh, massa usually isn't slow per se, he just sucks at fighting for positions

But this wasn't for position, this was a straight up one man, one lap scenario and he didn't bring it ...

 

[AndyD]

But this wasn't for position, this was a straight up one man, one lap scenario and he didn't bring it ...

Right. And Spain is a track where you need to qualify well or else.

RBR domination is incredible. If they brng out Fduct halfway through the season, they will dominate everything.

The others' only hope is rain tomorrow or RBR reliability as far as I can tell.

 

[AcridMeat]

Welp my bets are crap once again. :lol

Good to see Kobayashi get up there to 10, hopefully their reliability is steady. Petrov sucked a nut, if he can beat Buemi and Liuzzi then I'll be okay.

The forecast doesn't have rain in store this weekend correct? Red Bull looks to have this, I wonder if Webber will lose P1 in the first turn again (To Vettel). :lol

 

[DrM]

I hope that we will see some F-ducting right after start..... Hamilton on P1 after 1st corner? Possible.