Was that the change where they didn't have the tire warmer off the front tire when he pulled in? Mechanic went to grab the tire and though "****."

Everyone has said that Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes are the four teams competing for the championship, but I disagree. Red Bull has the amazing Adrian Newy on their side, and Ferrari and McLaren have been developing their car since mid season last year. Mercedes is the old Brawn car and I can't help but think that they got caught up in the same mistake Ferrari and McLaren did in 2008. Focusing too much time on this years car, and not on next year. The difference isn't as great since the rules didn't change so much, but Mercedes is just not as good as the other three. Almost, but not quite. I think Renault is a bigger threat.

 

What do you guys think about this weekend's GP? The oddsmakers have Vettel favored, with Alonso, Hamilton, Webber, Massa, Button following. I would agree with Vettel, Alonso, not sure on the rest. Vettel should win if they can give him a car with 4 wheels attached. Set the DVR to tape practice tonight.

 

Yeah that is the one

 

I think you're dead on in your assessment. I can't totally agree with you about the Renault statement; in that particular case, it's not so much the team as a a whole but Kubica. Petrov is bad but he can't be that bad. When you see what he's doing you really appreciate what Kubica is doing. He's this year's star so far in my book but; he won't get another 2nd place this season. For that to happen, too many things would have to go his way in another race to show that kind of pace.


I like the odds makers' view. Malasyia is quite fast a circuit. I could see a 1 & 2 for Red Bull though. And I'm an Alonso guy through and through (hey, the guy is Spaniard and a Real Madrid follower! that's the best of both worlds in my book)

 

I must kill the prime minister of Malaysia!

I think its going to be another good race. Looking at Vettel for the win.

 

I forsee Vettel leading the first two-thirds of the race and then having some sort of issue...

 

Well... this is going to be a good season. Except that my boy Liuzzi went out on some bull **** mechanical failure.

 

I have an idea for how FIA can increase the interest in the races using active intervention a-la NASCAR. All of the tracks need to install course-wide high-volume water sprinkler systems, tied to a system of randomly actuated valves, with a 10 minute (+/- 1 minute random) warning to the teams. Rain simulation. They will know it is coming with some warning, but not know exactly when and where it will hit.

Vettel vindication! Awesome. He is right there in the points now where he deserves to be. IMO Vettel and Red Bull are the team to beat.

Somehow when Alonso's car blew up on the last lap of the race I did not feel sorry for him. However he does deserve credit for driving so well through his car's problems.

Schumacher's comeback is just not happening this year. Clearly it is not the car based on Rosberg's finish. Even when his wheel nut let loose he was not up in the front.

 

That Alonso was able to maintain competitive pace was unbelievable. I mean, his transmission was acting like it was built by Hyper.

First 2/3 of this race was good. Last third, the difficulty of passing kept the field pretty static and it was just a question of the Red Bull cars' reliability. These cars are too close, and the drivers are too good, to allow much passing unless the pass-ee makes a mistake.

So, what we learned from last week, and from qualifying this week, is that less traction = more exciting racing.

 

Good synopsises yall.

 

Judging from the lap times I don't think Alonso's transmission problems hindered him at all. Downshifts were hitting neutral, but once he stopped rapidly downshifting, it found the gear, and he was luckily able to up shift correctly. It's interesting that the transmission issues caused the engine to blow, but I suppose the aggressive driving trying to pass Hamilton had something to do with it. I'd love to see a datalog from the last few laps. Think Ferrari would release that data to us?

 

For all Alonso haters:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgME4d1OHko

 

His lap times were good. But, he lost all engine braking. These cars don't have ABS, and the bias would be set with engine braking taken into account, so his braking had to be affected. I assume they can adjust the bias somewhat in the car, but I don't know if the range is large enough to make up for losing all engine braking.

Had the car been behaving properly he may have been able to make one of those pass attempts stick.

I wish they'd played the onboard from Alonso's car when his engine went. I wonder if he over-revved during one of those transmission slip events.

 

I would be willing to bet that the cars do have a big range of brake bias adjustability, probably big enough to compensate for the engine braking.

And they did play the onboard from Alonso's car when is engine blew, soon after it happened they showed it.

 

I'm watching the race right now. It's raining! and surprise it's been a great race.

 

Word! Great race. For a few minutes there I'll admit I lost track of who was where and what was going on. I am telling you, Ecclestone needs to force all of the tracks to install randomly operating high-volume track sprinklers, with a 5-minute warning. Wet races FTW. I'll say though I am glad I do not have to drive that very technical track in the wet at 100% on slicks. Damn.

Alonso timing FTL

So how about that deal with Hamilton and Vettel drag racing in pit lane? I don't think they should fault Hamilton much. Vettel was clearly forcing him over into the blue stripe area.

All kinds of pushing/shoving/passing/over-under/side-by-side going on during that race. Very cool.

 

Yeah, great race in China. Too bad Vettel didn't do better, I've been rooting for him and Webber this season. Maybe they lost it early on in the pits by stopping so much.

Seemed Hamilton was pretty aggressive this race, did anyone else sense that from him?

I can't figure out why teams stack pit stops. While they're working on one car, the other's just sitting there waiting, why? Why not keep him out another lap so there's no waiting?

 

I think Hamilton was being more aggressive than usual as well.

The only thing I can figure on the stacked pit stops is this: They have run the numbers, and the lap times are degrading so fast due to having the wrong tires, that if driver #2 stays out for another lap then he'll have a net loss compared to a stacked stop.

 

How about Petrov taking it to Schumi? His manager must of been shitting her pants when that happened...

 

So I'm gonna order tickets today for general admission for the 3 days for the Montreal race. Since I'm ordering today, should I get it delivered to me or should I do will call at this point?