F1 2010

[David Morton]

For Rosberg, he ignored the old adage - aim for where the car (Webers) was instead of where it's going to be shortly. A spinning car crossing your path will always collide with you if you adopt Rosbergs tactics. He paid dearly.

 

[tom pritchett]

I guess that was a typical F1 race in the wet. All bets are off and pretty bizarre.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Well it has been an interesting season, and the next two races will be even more so. Red Bull should now throw all resources behind Webber as Ferrari have done for Fernando....:laugh:
Yep I was joking it won't happen, sickening to see the boss of Red Bull giving his butt buddy a cuddle after his engine blew.

 

[Mesa]

I'm no Vettle fan but he had that race won until he ran out of engine. Mark is my prefered guy to win the championship but, the truth of the matter is.. He choked.

He was the only one of the contenders to make a mistake. Alonso was flawless, and Button was just slow.

Marko does need to keep it in his pants.

 

[Chris E]

With only 2 races to go, I thought it worth looking back at the competition a few of us entered at David Morton's suggestion before the season started to forecast the top 5 in the drivers championship table at the end of the season.

As it stands now, 3 of us (me, Mike and John) have got 5 points - all for putting Alonso in 1st place, but none of us have got any of the other 4 places in the right order.

Pete has 4 points for getting two of the lower places right and he is probably best placed of all of us as he is the only one with all 5 of the championship contenders in his list - just in the wrong order at the moment!
He was also the only one of the 8 who entered who didn't get suckered in to including Shu in his top 5.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Alonso's seven extra points cast a shadow over F1

By.

Alan Henry


Max Mosley, the former FIA president who relinquished the powerful and influential position to former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt this time last year, has waded back into the front line of F1 controversy with a suggestion that the world championship’s credibility stands to be undermined if Fernando Alonso should end up taking a third title in the next fortnight.

Speaking in the tense run-up to the two final races of the season, Mosley tossed a squib into the F1 debate last week by suggesting that Alonso should not have profited from the extra points he accrued after Felipe Massa slowed so that the Spaniard could overtake him and win this year’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.



“I did feel at the very least that the extra points Alonso got by overtaking Massa under team orders should have been taken away,” Mosley told the BBC last week. “If by any chance Alonso were to win the championship with a margin less than the seven [extra] points he picked up, I would say illegitimately, at Hockenheim, it would devalue the championship. But that is just a personal view.”

The Hockenheim episode was one of the few embarrassing sticking points in the 2010 season and the validity of Mosley’s observations, of course, hinges in part on whether one fundamentally believes that team orders are correct and the rules banning them are not.

Mosley has always been a controversial character but there are many in the F1 paddock who will agree with his interpretation of events at Hockenheim and concur that Alonso should have no business profiting from what was clearly a breach of the rules.

Alonso, of course, will be simply aiming to silence all criticism of his efforts by winning the title by a significantly bigger margin than even the 11-point edge over Mark Webber which he currently enjoys. Don't bet against him!

 

[Chris Simpson]

Apparently a prosecutor in Brazil's Special Criminal Court has said that Massa could be jailed for up to six years if he 'defrauds' the Brazilian public by deliberately letting Alonso pass. You couldn't make it up!

 

[Keith]

That's if the teflon don can find an engine that will get him past the first corner. My guess it will be the Monza engine for quallie and the race.. He has already lost one in first practice.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Apparently a prosecutor in Brazil's Special Criminal Court has said that Massa could be jailed for up to six years if he 'defrauds' the Brazilian public by deliberately letting Alonso pass. You couldn't make it up!

Deliberately letting Alonso pass presupposes that Massa is in front of him. I don't think there is much risk of that.
Total BS comment by the Brazilian bloke though.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

...............Spoiler...........

Quali results, well done Williams and Hulkenburg



Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 1. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:20.050 1:19.144 1:14.470 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:19.160 1:18.691 1:15.519 3. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:19.025 1:18.516 1:15.637 4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:19.931 1:18.921 1:15.747 5. Alonso Ferrari 1:18.987 1:19.010 1:15.989 6. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:19.799 1:18.925 1:16.203 7. Kubica Renault 1:19.249 1:18.877 1:16.552 8. Schumacher Mercedes 1:19.879 1:18.923 1:16.925 9. Massa Ferrari 1:19.778 1:19.200 1:17.10110. Petrov Renault 1:20.189 1:19.153 1:17.65611. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:19.905 1:19.28812. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:19.741 1:19.38513. Rosberg Mercedes 1:20.153 1:19.48614. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.158 1:19.58115. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.096 1:19.84716. Heidfeld Sauber-Ferrari 1:20.174 1:19.89917. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:20.592 1:20.35718. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:20.83019. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:22.13020. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:22.25021. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:22.37822. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:22.81023. Klien HRT-Cosworth 1:23.08324. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:23.796All Timing Unofficial</PRE>

 

[Chris Simpson]

A good , interesting race. From what Mark Webber said post race, he had to back off towards the end because of an overheating engine, otherwise it might have been more interesting as he was catching Vettel. So it is all down to Abu Dhabi. Vettal implied in a pre race interview that he would give way to Webber if the World Championship would go to Alonso and Ferrari (and not to Red Bull) if he didn't.

 

[Keith]

SPOILER

Anyone else think that by not backing Webber fully at this race, RB might just have allowed Alonso to 'sneak' the title at the final hurdle?

 

[Evan]

Not at all. Im a huge Alonso fan and have been since his first win in Hungary and I dont think Red Bull handed him the championship at all. The Red Bulls are obviously a quicker car... so pace in the next weeks race will not be a problem for Red Bull. They just need to qualify well and then thats about it. Alonso will have to push very hard to win this championship. He no longer has any fresh engines, so this will create a greater challenge for Alonso. Im really excited and I hope he can do it! If they did have team orders in today's race Red Bull could have faced an even greater problem.... so this was a smart decision...and it was Vettel's race.. he deserved the win. If he didnt have the bad luck through out the season.. Vettel would have been champion already...

 

[Paul Brameld]

Not at all. Im a huge Alonso fan and have been since his first win in Hungary and I dont think Red Bull handed him the championship at all. The Red Bulls are obviously a quicker car... so pace in the next weeks race will not be a problem for Red Bull. They just need to qualify well and then thats about it. Alonso will have to push very hard to win this championship. He no longer has any fresh engines, so this will create a greater challenge for Alonso. Im really excited and I hope he can do it! If they did have team orders in today's race Red Bull could have faced an even greater problem.... so this was a smart decision...and it was Vettel's race.. he deserved the win. If he didnt have the bad luck through out the season.. Vettel would have been champion already...

IF................


I am reminded of Alan Jones's fabulous quote when Mansell "lost" the title with a tyre blow out in Australia. When asked about happenings earlier in the year an IF that had prevented Mansell winning he said "IF my aunt had balls she would be my uncle" ...............one of the great sayings:thumbsup:

 

[David Morton]

Evan,
My thoughts are that Alonso was handed a win by Massa. If he wins and his margin of points in Dubai is equal to or less than those points he was GIVEN, (and remember team order were illegal at the time) then he is not deserving the title. Rob Smedley's words on the R/T to Massa sums it up : "SORRY"......
Alonso and Ferrari will reduce the drivers championship into a bad joke if he wins.
I really hope he has the sense to realise what a VAST MAJORITY of long time race fans really think about his crass and moody petulance and decides to deliberately
"lunch" his engine or hit a wall Piquet style. He will probably do more harm to the image of F1 that the elder kraut Shumacher did during his boring period 'at the top' (sic). Ask Johnny Herbert what it was like to drive in a team with Schumacher?
He would more than likely throw up. I don't often make many comments about F1 these days but this is a burning issue and even Max Mosely has made similar utterences . Alonso has to win by a shed load of points and Webber or even Vettel will have to fail to finish in the points for anyone to be impressed. What impresses in one way is Red Bull's man Horner insistence that the two RBR drivers have driven competitively against each other throughout the season. Montezemelo and Stefano Domenicali have allowed Ferrari to fall into disrepute and Rob Smedleys words will come back to haunt them.
Ok...so...Fernando is faster than...you." The difference in speed was not enough for this transmission. Smedley's (Smedders) next transmission : "Good lad. Just stick with it now. Sorry"

Im sorry for F1. It's become a load of crap if this is how it gets decided.

 

[Graham]

+1 David.

 

[David Morton]

As an aside I can see the Magnanimous Massa and Rob 'Smedders' Smedley in a different team in 2011. Stefan Domenicali might insist on it.

 

[Malcolm]

If all cars and drivers finish the next race the odds are that a red bull driver should win the title. The effect of this last race is that the odds are a bit worse (relatively speaking) than they otherwise could have been simply because FA has an 8 point lead instead of a one point lead. There will not be any radio transmitted team orders next week. It will all be worked out behind closed doors prior to the race. That is team strategy and whilst SV may lead the race until the final stages before a swap of place happens will that be a result of team orders? It will look like it but will be totally unprovable unless SV says he was ordered to concede his win (highly unlikely as he has an F1 future) or many many years have passed and it is too late to do anything about it.

 

[tom pritchett]

Yes, SV did deserve the win in Brazil. He dominated the race and good for him. If there was to be a trade in position for Webber, it should have been done earlier in the race and not wait until the end. Traffic made it very interesting for the top three toward the end.

Bernie really downplayed the attack on Button by gunpoint saying that it was probably just an exuberant vendor trying to sell a hat. The reports were that Button, in a Mercedes had a driver that was a police officer. They evaded men with automatic weapons. It would be interesting to have more information on this (accurately). I understand why Bernie would keep it hush hush for the appearance. I understand that there was another issue about briefcases being stolen from another team. What is up with Brazil?

 

[David Morton]

Tom,
I went there about once a month in the 90's. It's always been a lawless place. The advice in our company briefing sheet was offer no resistance, carry a $10 bill to give away, never wear a watch or jewellery of any sort, and do not dress at all affluently.
We did have a few problems with holdups and one guy who spoke Portugese and Spanish fluently tried to remonstrate - when asked the time (he was daft and wearing a watch) his leg was snapped sideways. He was casevacced back to the UK, and never flew again. We were having a meal outside on the pavement at a restaurant called La Mole in the Le Blon area of Rio. Opposite and removed one block to the left was the Sol24 supermarket and while we were eating, the police held an ambush as 4 robbers left the supermarket. We scrambled into the restaurant at the waiters behest as the bullets were wizzing around everywhere. It made the national papers even here in the UK. Naturally the robbers all died on the pavement, were thrown unceremoniuosly into the back of a truck and the supermarket used the firehose to wash the street. During the Earth Summit Prime Ministers conference in Rio in 1992 I was party to the efforts by Anninha Capaldi and Olivia Harrison who were trying to set up safe houses for the street children in Sao Paolo and Rio. It was called the Jubilee Action appeal. The Brazilian Police helped by reducing the number of street children by shooting them in the mouth (apparently it silences the pistol) at the rate of approximately 60 per night for about two weeks. I remember seeing some of the photographic evidence that Anninha and Olivier tried to present to the Earth Summit but were prevented on the orders of the Brazilian President. Two Police officers were jailed for 6 months. The country was rotten from the top downwards and I don't think it has changed very much since my last visit in 2006.