Hmmm… I thought they couldn’t re-use engines. Because otherwise how can they tell what’s been done to them?
The FIA installs seals and inspection plates on the used engines, and if these seals are removed or tampered with, the engine cannot be used. So long as the FIA inspectors sign off on removing the seals so the engine can be re-used, it’s OK.
I’m sure it’s up to the teams to track usage on the individual engines, but so long as the FIA seals remain intact, there’s no restriction on how many times an engine may be used.
Thanks for clarifying. I don’t know how much Vettel will have left in some of those “old” engines… he seems pretty hard on them. But damn, that kid’s fast.
Can’t wait for Brazil. I’d go so far as to say it is my favourite of the year. It is an interesting track which tends to throw up incidents time and time again. (it is also run at time of day when I can comfortably sit down with a beer and my little boy)
The last few years have been superb,
Ideally I’d like Hamilton to close the gap on Webber and Alonso and so leave us with a billion permutations for the final race.
I think Hamilton is a class act and would love to see him take the championship again but If not him I’d happily flip a coin between Alonso and Webber. I suspect Vettel is just a little too far back.
No matter, we have four brilliant drivers in at the death with Massa and Button running interference. Bring it on!
An decent race from Brazil. I like that Red Bull let Vettel and Webber race it out, and didn’t try to swap their spots somehow. (Though as the Speed commentators pointed out, the team is more interested in the Constructor’s title than the Driver’s.) I was a little disappointed (but not surprised) that Hulkenberg’s pole really was a fluke of weather and track position/timing more than anything else.
At least this weekend’s final race will be fun, with four drivers still looking to get the crown. No chance of rain to bring surprises though.
IIRC Hulkenburg has been in the top 10 regularly, so pole position wasn’t too much of a surprise - he did it on his penultimate lap, remember. I thought it was a great race, full of tension, and the cameras sensibly kept on the action and didn’t waste time on the leaders.
I’m looking forward to the next race. I wonder if Button will try to take out Alonso? Simply ram him at the start or something.
Yeah. You know damn well Vettel is pulling over for Webber in Abu Dhabi if it means the Championship though.
Well, then you’re Speed commentators don’t know what they’re on about. There is no way in hell that a constructors Championship is more important than one of your riders becoming WORLD CHAMPION! If only for publicity, sponsoring, etc.
RedBull has consistently said that they will not choose between their riders and definately will not end somebody’s title chances by a team order. But this might change in the next race, Vettel himself has said that he will do what he can to help the team out, it will all depend on the situation. If the three frontrunners will be the same as last sunday, Vettel will definately want to have the world title at Red Bull and will let Webber through.
So, will it be Vettel or Button that takes out Alonso?
Why would Button take him out? If anyone from McLaren is going to kill Alonso’s hopes it’s going to be Hamilton…btw Button will probably only be in the neighbourhood of alonso when he is getting lapped.
To help Hamilton. If Button were to crash into Alonso, forcing him to retire, that would help Hamilton immensely.
Or around pit stops, or at the start.
For Hamilton to have any chance of winning, Alonso mustn’t score any points.
Steve Matchett is the commentator in question who is always harping on the difference between the constructor/driver championship in terms of what “the teams” want to win. He is a former Benneton mechanic and speaks from experience in that regard.
The F1 prize money is award strictly on a constructor point basis, so all the driver championship really gets you as a team is the right to carry “1” and “2” the following year.
But having the world champion is surely beneficial from a sponsorship attracting point of view. Surely the ultimate goal is to win both if possible, failing that, the constructors championship will do just fine.
Payouts from F1 to the teams are based on constructor’s point standings. Travel money and even pit placement is also based on constructor’s points. There is prestige and bragging rights for the driver’s championship, but constructor’s points pay the bills.
That said, Red Bull has clenched the constructor’s championship. As long as they finished 1-2 at Brazil, there was nothing more to be gained for the team as to which driver placed 1st or 2nd. But it makes it now 7 points easier for Vettel to win the championship than if Webber had finished 1st, and that just reinforces the notion that Red Bull really want Vettel to win the driver’s championship.
In other words, if the driver’s championship was all that important, then Red Bull would have certainly put all their efforts into securing 1st place for their driver with the most points. They didn’t do that, and left 7 points on the table.
After the Flavio Briatore/Renault mess at Singapore a couple of years ago (that benefited Alonso of all people), I bet nobody would call for such hijinks. But this is F1, so…
To avoid the possibility of repeating Schumacher’s bungled attempt in 1997, Vettel and Button should both approach Alonso, one on each side. That way, there’s less chance that Alonso escapes, and would be fairer in terms of constructor’s championship points.
Well, it’s all said and done for another season. The race was interesting until Webber and Alonso’s pits… then neither seemed to be able to make much of their drives. Once again, Vettel got out in front and went on his merry way, all the way to the WDC. Nice, smooth work by Hamilton and Button. Big spoiler positions for Petrov and Kubica in their Renaults…
I’m not sure I care for the Yas Marina circuit. It’s impressive-looking, but I don’t know that it makes for good racing.
Either way, I enjoyed my second F1 season and am already looking forward to winter testing and 2011. At least I have my Xbox to keep my F1 fire stoked.
Well there we are, not a bad prediction as they go. I was a little optimistic on Schumacher and Massa (though I didn’t know Alonso was going to be given quite so much team-mate support and Schumacher so little)
Vettel is a worthy champ and a nice guy though he’ll be breathing mighty hard that his errors and bad luck didn’t cost him.
Alonso recovered well from a mid-season brain-melt and was coming on strong at the end. Very poor that Ferrari strategy let him down this weekend.
Hamilton pushed and pushed (at times too much) but you could hear all season long that he knew the car simply wasn’t fast enough to compete in qualifying trim. They had rely too much on other’s errors, race pace and track compatibility. McLaren just didn’t develop the car as well as RB and Ferrari.
Webber, did well and capitalised where he could but he’ll know it was his best WDC chance. Surprising though that he was so close to Vettel’s pace.
Button, good support but never seriously challenging Hamiltons pace, nor as comfortable with an inferior car.
For the top four, they all made errors and had bad luck in equal measure at differing points in the season, so it goes in F1.
As I see it, the best cars over the year were Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren in that order. The fastest drivers in those teams were Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton. So justice appears to have been done.
Hopefully there will be some degree of design stability for next year (not like the massive structural changes for this year) and we’ll see closer qualifying and racing with driver skill to the fore. I expect the usual suspects to be there or there abouts but I’ll leave my prediction until the immediate pre-season.
Posted 4/6/10
Its nice to be right once in a while. 
Yeah, someone pointed out that not only did Webber lose the championship, but he also became a de facto #2 driver for 2011. Vettel is going to be the man for Red Bull and while I’d be very disappointed in them going the Ferarri route, I can’t believe they’ll be as magnanimous in 2011 as they were in 2010 now that they’ve got two world titles to defend.
+1
If we’re looking back to Page 1, I guess my insanely poor prediction for the Constructors’ title really tarnishes my good guessing at the Drivers’. 
Mercedes? Really? Well, maybe - if they’d given their favor to the driver who was actually getting the job done on the track.
I followed the podcasts from the Williams team last year, and thought Nico Rosberg was a pretty good guy - and no slouch on the track. I was excited to see him switch to the Brawn/Mercedes team as I expected he’d show really well with a slightly better car. And I think I was right… he just got caught under the shadow of Schumacher. I think this is one of the worst cases of a driver getting pushed aside by his team all year.
And while I’m rambling on, I’ll diverge quickly to mention I caught Hamilton’s girlfriend’s guest-star role on How I Met Your Mother tonight.