F1 in 2011

[David Morton]

Spa - probably one of the better races IMHO. Hamilton got his just rewards - he's not as good as he thought he was and those around him told him he was as well. Nice dummies about tyre wear before the start and on the R/T from both Vettel and Webber. Button had told the press he was going to frighten Vettel - well, it was an OK result for him but I don't think he ever frightened anybody.
All in all, a great circuit and a better race than some I can mention.

 

[Doc Kaler]

Update: Circuit of the Americas F1 to be held November 18, 2012. Brazil to follow.

 

[David Morton]

Telegraph today:





Formula One 2012 calendar confirmed

The 2012 calendar has been confirmed with no sign of Turkey and with the Bahrain Grand Prix scheduled to take place on April 22.

Speed racers: next season will be longest in F1 history Photo: EPA







By Tom Cary, F1 Correspondent

1:04PM BST 01 Sep 2011
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The 20 race-season, which begins in Australia on March 18 and ends in Brazil on Nov 25, features six back-to-back race weekends, including the inaugural US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, which precedes the season finale at Interlagos.

It will be the longest season in Formula One history.

The absence of Turkey - a popular race track with the drivers but perennially deserted - was widely expected although Turkish Grand Prix organisers recently said they were "hopeful" of hanging on to a race slot. That optimism proved unfounded.

The Bahrain race, postponed this year in the wake of violent civil unrest, then rescheduled before being cancelled altogether in farcical circumstances, was expected to take place later in 2012 to allow the island kingdom further time to achieve stability.

A provisional calendar distributed to the teams earlier this summer had Bahrain in a Nov 4 slot with India taking place on April 22.

<!-- BEFORE ACI -->Indian GP organisers subsequently complained that it would be too hot to stage a race in Delhi at that time of year.
Confirmed 2012 F1 calendar:

• 18/03 Australia

• 25/03 Malaysia

• 15/04 China

• 22/04 Bahrain

• 13/05 Spain

• 27/05 Monaco

• 10/06 Canada

• 24/06 Europe

• 08/07 Great Britain

• 22/07 Germany

• 29/07 Hungary

• 02/09 Belgium

• 09/09 Italy

• 23/09 Singapore

• 07/10 Japan

• 14/10 Korea

• 28/10 India

• 04/11 Abu Dhabi

• 18/11 United States

• 25/11 Brazil

 

[David Morton]

Vettel is talking of retirement when the RBR contract finishes.
Retirement at less than 30 years old.
Wow............

 

[David Morton]

From Philip Duncan at the Daily Mail on the 2nd September
BBC/Sky F1 deal under scrutiny amid growing unrest from furious fans



By Philip Duncan
Last updated at 5:04 PM on 2nd September 2011

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A leading MP has called on the BBC to explain their controversial TV deal with Sky Sports amid continued unrest from Formula One fans in the UK.

Almost 25,000 petrol-heads have signed an online government petition aimed at keeping the sport solely on terrestrial television after the BBC announced they would share the rights with Sky from next season.

On the move: F1 will be screened on Sky Sports next season

The new seven-year contract will see the BBC screen half of the races with the other half exclusively on Sky Sports.

Ahead of next month's Commons' Culture, Media and Sport select committee where the topic of F1 is set to be discussed, Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster, has written to BBC's director general Mark Thompson.
In the letter, which was made available to AUTOSPORT magazine, Foster has called on Thompson to explain the deal following conflicting versions of events from F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and the BBC.
Ecclestone claimed his 'hands were tied' after the BBC colluded with Sky, while the BBC say Formula One Management (FOM) decided that a broadcast partnership between the BBC and Sky was in the best interests of the sport.

Demanding answers: Foster (right) wants clarification from Thompson


'I do not believe this result promotes the best interest of license fee payers and motor racing fans,' wrote Foster, who is the Liberal Democrat spokesman for Culture, Media and Sport,

'I believe the best result would have been for the rights to remain with a free to air broadcaster, even if this was not the BBC.'

Channel 4 made a last-ditch £45million bid to acquire the rights from 2012 as revealed by Sportsmail last month.

Enlarge Last-ditch bid: Channel 4 wanted to acquire the Formula One rights


Enlarge


One school of thought is that the BBC brought Sky to the table in order to prevent another terrestrial channel from poaching the rights.



The BBC aim to show full re-runs of the races exclusively on Sky some three hours after the chequered flag has fallen. But Foster believes this will come as little consolation to fans who want to watch every race.
'The BBC may broadcast half the races, but this means nothing to fans who want to watch the whole season live,' Foster added in his letter.

'They cannot buy half a Sky package. For them, all of the rights may as well have gone to BSkyB, as it will cost them exactly the same.
'But this would have violated the Concorde Agreement and the many public statements that FOM have made about the importance of free to air, meaning that the BBC have legitimised the otherwise indefensible situation of fans paying the full price for access to F1.


Read more: BBC/Sky F1 deal under scrutiny amid growing unrest from furious fans | Mail Online

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Forza to anyone who can beat Vettel

 

[Mark]

I was particularly unimpressed by MClaren. How school-boy is it to get the gearing wrong? Surely the first thing you do when you get to track, is to figure out where top gear should be? Really felt for LH, bouncing off the limiter almost as soon as he'd exited Parabolica. Someone royally screwed that one up. How much do they pay for that room full of wizards back at Woking? Pitiful.

 

[Keith]

It's quite possible that pre-race simulations gave that setup the fastest lap times given LH's own setup. However, I do agree that at a track where you are at full throttle 83% of the time, it is a somewhat dubious choice, but again, MSC's superior top speed did not give him lap times to be able to compete at the front.

LH did go purple a couple of times towards the end of the race so it wasn't a clear cut 'mistake' as such, and it only became glaringly obvious when he tried to pass MSC for 35 laps.

Brawn said that Rosberg was on a 'different setup & strategy' and that may have been shorter gearing like LH for better acceleration in the tighter parts.

 

[Dalton Veitch]

I got bored with it all when the rules kept getting changed to eliminate innovation. We had six wheelers (remember them?), the wild rear aerofoils acting directly on the hub carriers, reactive suspensions, the suction/skirted cars, all manner of brilliant engineering. I know it made the cars faster and therefore more dangerous, and I don't wish any drivers to be injured, but I like engineering innovation. Why don't we give the drivers Fiat 500's and let them loose. Safe, and we'd find the better drivers. Bah, humbug.

 

[Keith]

Loved the fan car. Although the concept was pioneered by Jim Hall, he at least had the sense to place two quite small fans on his Can Am. but Ken Tyrell, nah, for him - it sucked big time. I suppose the principal is that if two small fans were good, one giant fan would be better!

I was at an F1 meeting in the UK when it ran (not sure where but I believe it may have been the only occasion), the tyres literally were almost squashed flat in the turns, and it fired out marbles, stones - all kinds of detritus out the back like machine guns. Not sure whether this was a 'serendipity' moment or it was designed in..

Not surprised it was banned though..

Smokey Yunick pulled all kinds of stunts like that in Nascar, where he would fire the exhaust out the back in just the right place so that the exhaust flow went straight into the drafting car's rad.

In F1 the six wheeler was true innovation - it worked and I cannot believe it was dangerous to anyone, just a clever aerodynamic approach pre ground effect/aircraft wing period.

Was it banned for cost reasons?

 

[Jeff Young]

I don't think it was banned. It had an issue with the front tires. They were too expensive for Goodyear to develop and it did not stay competitive. I think the six wheeled Tyrell one won race, and then was competitive for maybe another half a season and then done. Other teams experimented with it (advantage was primarily less drag due to smaller frontal section with the shorter wheels).

Yunick did some legendary stuff. One of his cars was supposedly 7/8 of the actual size of the street model. Another time, he pulled up to inspection. NASCAR didn't like his fuel tank and took it out to inspect it. Smokey got pissed off, and got in the car and drove it back to the garage....sans tank.

Smokey Yunick pulled all kinds of stunts like that in Nascar, where he would fire the exhaust out the back in just the right place so that the exhaust flow went straight into the drafting car's rad.

In F1 the six wheeler was true innovation - it worked and I cannot believe it was dangerous to anyone, just a clever aerodynamic approach pre ground effect/aircraft wing period.

Was it banned for cost reasons?

 

[Mesa]

Vettle's pass of Alonzo on the outside, two wheels in the grass at Curva Grande pretty much says it all. Vettle in a Red Bull Rule. Alonzo...maybe he didnt see him out there but if he did, what a putz.

 

[Keith]

Buttons pass on Alonso - the Teflon Don made it far too easy.

Very unusual... did he miss a gear or something?

Or, is that his team mate for next year? :drunk:

 

[Mark]

That pass was something special, not quite as specail as Webber at Eau Rouge, mind you. That's twice the Spaniard has been out gunned in the trouser department recently.

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

I met Smokey at a trade show some years ago and asked him about the Chevelle. His reply was "Wheel ("well" with a bit of drawl) all parts have a plus or minus tolerance, I just stacked 'em up to my benefit!!"

 

[Mark]

That's what historically made motorsport so interesting. Interpretation of the rules of the day. If they stop innovation in F1, then what's the point???

 

[Dave Bilyk]

Keith,
according to post race interview with Domenicali, Alonso did miss a gear. I wondered too at the pace of the pass.

Dave

 

[Chris Simpson]

How can you miss a gear with a paddle shift - problem with the electronics?

 

[Dave Bilyk]

good point Chris, I think he said they were in some conversation at the time and he said 'we' made a mistake, so maybe he just got distracted for a moment?

Dave

 

[Mark]

Like Ross Brawn's comment re Schumy's missed gear. I suspect they were heatedly discussing driving style at the time and Micheal got distracted.