I will be fascinated to learn more about the Red Bull KERS system. It sounds like they have it installed, they’re just not using it. If you’re not going to use it why take on the added weight? At the very least you’d think Webber would have utilized his KERS to move through the field. Is it some huge revolutionary thing they don’t want to use unless as a last resort.
Vettel’s run was amazing. In the post-qualifying interview you could see Lewis shake his head in disbelief when the interviewer bought up Vettel being .8 up without KERS. Barring catastrophic mechanical failure, Vettel had this one in the bag before Turn 2.
Pumped for Petrov. He had a lot of haters last year so nice to see him start off 2011 with a podium. Nobody liked how he became the man, but I hope he continues to do well in Kubica’s stead.
The Mercs got hosed. Rumor was Rosberg was extremely high on this year’s car and thought they could surprise. Then they both DNF.
Renault’s Australia podium doesn’t seem to be a fluke, since Heidfeld repeated the performance today. The car seems to be so fast, Petrov thought he’d try achieving orbit…
I was pleased to see the DRS wings enabling overtakes today. Lots of good on-track action with and without it, though mostly in the middle of the pack. That seems to be the current trend. Not that I care - I’ll take the action where I find it.
Still not sure how I feel about the engineered degradation of the Pirelli rubber. It seems like too artificial a means of trying to jumble the field through pit stops. Since this is only the third season I’ve followed F1, it’s way too early for me to become one of the “F1 was better when…” guys, but I’m already kinda missing the Bridgestone tires and the way a good driver could do a one-stop race last year. The focus was really more on the cars and the drivers (I didn’t really miss refueling at all last year), with the interaction of drivers and engineers close behind.
Well, thank goodness Renault’s ‘kill the engine when the steering wheel becomes disconnected’ system was proven to be effective. Only real disappointment from yesterday was the fact that there was never enough rain to force a change to intermediates and that we’ll probably not see what Robert Kubica can do with this year’s car.
I’m loving seeing the rookie Scot Paul Di Resta tied for points with Schumi!
Any other UKers watching on the BBC? What do you think of DC’s new role as commentator? It seems to me he’s good at talking about technical stuff during the quiet moments, but not so good at describing the action when it’s all kicking off. Hopefully he’ll get better as the season goes on though…
I quite like DC’s commentary, then again I have a higher tolerance than most towards sports commentators (except Alan Green!).
I really hope someone can keep up with Vettel. I don’t want car problems to be his only barrier to becoming champion at a canter. I was hoping Hamilton could continue to finish second to at least keep some kind of pressure on him but… Bah!
DRS is crap. Artificial, unfair and unnecessary. Either let everyone use it, on demand and track-wide as they see fit or shit-can it. Personally, I would say shit-can it. I’m not too keen on gimmicky air tricks. Gilles and Elio were killed by them.
Trash KERS while yer at it!
F1 is turning into a video game, or worse, NASCAR! :eek:
[ul]
[li]Ditch DRS, keep KERS. Giving the person in back an advantage that you don’t give the person in front makes the thing a charade. At least with KERS, each team can use it. It looks as though the wear on the Pirellis and differing pit strategies will give us enough chances for overtaking. There were a few times in China where, with DRS, the car on front never had a chance of defending the position.[/li][li]We saw Massa jump over the while line at the pit exit and Alonso somehow activate his DRS where he shouldn’t have been able to. Then we hear nothing about it?[/li][li]Both Williamses AND HRTs took the checkered![/li][li]One hell of a run by Webber. But were there a few barbs Seb’s way in the post race interview? Maybe I’m reading too much into it.[/li][/ul]
Alonso’s rear wing opening was the fault of the equipment that switches DRS on. The BBC report on the issue.
As for Massa crossing the line (thus leaving the racetrack), the only place they really care about it is to ensure cars accelerating as they leave the pit don’t move into the path of cars travelling at race speed. They don’t blink about cars putting a wheel on the kerb (which is also technically outside the racetrack).
Only managed to finally finish watching the China GP this afternoon. A great race from start to finish! If they awarded the trophies on effort, Webber definitely earned the big one in Shanghai.
DRS does seem to make straight-line overtakes too easy: get a little tow from the guy in front, pop your wing, hit the KERS button, and juke around him. I like the DRS, but would like to see it available to all drivers, all the time. It’s the same effect as the F-ducts that were appearing on all the cars toward the end of last year, so there’s no reason (other than artificially enhancing the ability of one driver to overtake another) not to let it be an all-the-time option.
But China had plenty of good old inside-outside-round-the-curve overtakes so the action wasn’t all DRS-induced. I particularly admired Webber’s willingness to road his car into the dirt and rubber to pass.
Maybe I missed it, but there’s still no reliably working KERS on the Red Bull cars, is there?
Turkey was a pretty good race, but I forgot to post anything about it.
Spain was an excellent race, from Alonso’s surprise start to the tense will-he-catch-him chase Hamilton gave Vettel at the end. Despite Alonso’s start, Ferrari just can’t seem to get it together to be truly competitive though. They are very much looking like a third (or maybe fourth, if Merc GP or Renault get their act together a little more) place team. McLaren are developing fast, but something is still eluding them. Hamilton couldn’t close that .6-second gap to Vettel at the end. Is that all down to Adrian Newey’s design? Or is Sebastian Vettel really that much of a wunderkind? Or is it the combination of the two?
One of the guys on SpeedTV said something about Vettel being able to make even an HRT or Virgin car competitive if he was behind the wheel. I think that’s a rather large exaggeration. What about you lot?
Well he did put a “Minardi” on the pole at Monza and won going away. The weather was something of a wildcard that weekend. Bourdais put the other car on the 2nd row but stalled and never was competitive in the race. It seemed to be that Vettel won Spain in the end by putting the foot to the floor out of the last corner quicker than Hamilton could…this ability is Vettel’s primary weapon at the moment beyond having the fastest car on the grid in qualifying form.
He is a very good driver, no doubt. to be honest, in equal cars I don’t think there is a fag-paper between Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel. The real difference at the moment (and for the last three seasons) is the aerodynamic performance of the Red Bull and that does mean that Vettel is better able to exploit high-downforce corners.
Hence on the last corner before the DRS zone he was able to open the gap on Lewis and ensure he couldn’t be taken.
Good race though. Really looking forward to Monaco. It is in HD this year so could be a treat for the eyes as well.
Martin Brundle and David Coulthard (both BBC commentators and very experienced F1 drivers) said that towards the end Hamilton’s own downforce (and hence grip) would be affected by the “dirty air” produced by Vettel. As a result he was never close enough to make the DRS count on the pit straight (plus Vettel got lucky with traffic a couple of times). Good race, though. The Maclaren really seems to be improving, but will it do so enough before Vettel has the championship wrapped up?
The combination of which should prove quite useful in Monaco. I hope the McLaren engineers can keep up… it’s definitely more fun to watch a race with the action at the front.
Cheated out of an exciting race finish by that red flag at the end! Monaco is always one of my favorite races - I love watching the cars tear through those narrow streets. And watching the three top teams battling for the lead was excellent.
Had they not been allowed to change tires under the red flag, I think Alonso might have won. Vettel is a great, maybe the best, driver with a great, maybe the best, car but I think he got a real break there.
'Nuff said.