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[Jabberwocky]

can we have this as a smilie?

[andrew]

BBC Highlights on both Saturday and Sunday at 22:30!

It'll be a late night for us penniless ones.

I thought it was on live on the BBC?

can we have this as a smilie?

Oh hell no!

Well not unless we can get one for each team.

[stonemonkey]

can we have this as a smilie?

You gotta have an airhorn to blast in someone's ear too.

[Injen]

NEWS MODE:


McLaren insist they are not overly concerned about reliability going into this weekend’s 2012 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, despite a car failure having robbed Lewis Hamilton of almost certain victory at the last round in Abu Dhabi.

Instead, the team’s priority will be adding more performance to the MP4-27 as they bid to win at the all-new Circuit of The Americas and hunt down Ferrari in the battle to secure second place in the 2012 constructors’ championship.

“The failure we had in Abu Dhabi was very painful,” admitted managing director Jonathan Neale in a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in, referring to Hamilton’s retirement on lap 20 at Yas Marina, the former champion having dominated the weekend to that point.

“Having said that, we’ve just done 1,500 trouble-free kilometres with the same car at the [young driver] test last week. So yes, we are very mindful of the constructors’ championship, but we are still taking performance upgrades to this Grand Prix. We are not taking an overtly cautious approach, but we are going to be very diligent.”

McLaren were the last team to win a United States Grand Prix, with Hamilton’s victory at Indianapolis back in 2007, and Neale believes the US race’s new Texan home - the country’s first venue purpose built for F1 competition - should prove to be something special again.

“It’s always lovely to go to a new circuit but this one in particular looks like it’s been really well thought out,” he commented. “I’ve seen the simulations and definitely the height change in the circuit and the way that some of the corners have been set up with some blind apexes is going to make for some really exciting racing.

“The tightening set of curves [Turns 3, 4 and 5] - corners very similar to the Japanese circuit of Suzuka - look a real technical challenge, so I think it’s going to be an interesting one for the drivers to have to learn on Friday - and for the teams to balance their programme with that.”

With two rounds of the 2012 season remaining, McLaren have no chance of overhauling Red Bull at the top of the team standings, but with second-placed Ferrari just 22 points ahead they will be chasing hard for the victory in Austin.

“I expect to see the usual suspects up the front,” added Neale. “Clearly it’s a very close-fought championship, and with some pretty tantalising battles up and down the grid, whether you’re in the midfield or at the rear and fighting for those very important Grand Prix places. But yes, we hope - and our desire is - to do really well and to win the race.”



When the news broke shortly after the Singapore Grand Prix that Lewis Hamilton had signed a three-year deal to drive for Mercedes, it shocked many in the F1 community.

McLaren had signed him up as an 11-year-old boy and nurtured him through his career, culminating in an unforgettable world drivers' title in 2008. But clearly all was not right in the world of Hamilton and he felt he needed a different and arguably bigger challenge.

"I wanted to do something different. I wanted a new challenge and have done for quite some time," Hamilton told F1 Racing magazine in a recent interview. "There were a lot of assumptions from people. I think Martin [Whitmarsh] assumed I would be staying, so when I made the call to him it was very tough and very emotional. Emotions were here... the mind thinking there. The heart was fighting the mind but I was in a comfortable place and just said: 'Let's do it.'"

Hamilton has endured an up and down sort of a season with McLaren to date, three race wins and three thirds balanced by five DNFs and some less than impressive results that currently see him fifth in the standings. Joining a team that have never really been front runners except for one season in their previous incarnation as Brawn GP is clearly a massive gamble. But Hamilton admits it is exactly that new challenge that motivates him.

"I can't lie that not winning is frustrating whether you're in this team or another team. I've had lots of experience of not winning and I've learned to deal with it in the past I believe we can eventually get those wins, but it's more long term. In 2014 the rules change massively with the new V6 turbo engines and the cars; everything starts from scratch again.

"I could take the easy route, stay with a great team with a great car making decent money. But I don't want to do that. I want to go and struggle and help a team that's struggling and help them frigging get to the top and start winning. That's going to be the most satisfying feeling if we do get there. And if we don't, I'll only be 31."
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.





A Grand Prix at the Nürburgring is becoming increasingly less likely, with local media reporting that the bankrupt circuit's tenants cannot agree terms with administrators.

The tenants were in talks with Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone about the planned race at the Nürburgring next year, but those negotiations have now come to a halt. A spokesperson has claimed that a race in the Eifel Mountains will no longer go ahead.

The German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring is still scheduled for July 14.



Sole Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli will be bringing an extra set of its Hard compound rubber for use in Friday practice at the Circuit of the Americas, aiding the drivers as they attempt to get to grips with the only new venue of the season.



Usually, eleven sets of dry weather tyres (six Prime and five Option) are available to each driver for a Grand Prix weekend. One set of Primes must be handed in after first practice, as well as a set of the Option tyres after second practice. However, in Texas, the teams will get seven sets of the Hard compound tyre to begin the event, with one set being given back to Pirelli after each 90-minute session. For Saturday and Sunday, the usual limit of four Prime and four Option sets will be in place.

The silver marked Hard tyre and the White marked Medium tyre will be used throughout the Austin weekend, the most conservative selection available to Pirelli.

I can see Lewis winning this as long as the car lasts, Alonso second and Webber third.

[Hammer278]

Stopped reading at:
"McLaren are not overly concerned about reliability heading into this GP"

I mean, why should they be? They've only had reliability issues for the last 5 consecutive races!!

No point reading anything those McLaren Mutts have to say, if Lewis manages to have a trouble free car for either of these last two races, consider it a miracle.

[LewEngBridewell]

BBC Highlights on both Saturday and Sunday at 22:30!

It'll be a late night for us penniless ones.

I thought it was on live on the BBC?

Nope. The final race is though.

[andrew]

BBC Highlights on both Saturday and Sunday at 22:30!

It'll be a late night for us penniless ones.

I thought it was on live on the BBC?

Nope. The final race is though.

So I guess I'll be sleeping in on Monday morning!

[LewEngBridewell]

BBC Highlights on both Saturday and Sunday at 22:30!

It'll be a late night for us penniless ones.

I thought it was on live on the BBC?

Nope. The final race is though.

So I guess I'll be sleeping in on Monday morning!

I won't because I've got to get a train to Ipswich! It'll be a tiny sleep for me

[andrew]

BBC Highlights on both Saturday and Sunday at 22:30!

It'll be a late night for us penniless ones.

I thought it was on live on the BBC?

Nope. The final race is though.

So I guess I'll be sleeping in on Monday morning!

I won't because I've got to get a train to Ipswich! It'll be a tiny sleep for me

If I do nothing all weekend I don't usually sleep much on Sunday nights anyway. Sod it, I can just have a kip in my yard bothy on Monday morning and kid on I'm "tidying" the yard.

[What's Burning?]

Race time 2 PM for me. Is this how the other half lives? Me likee.

[scotty]

I like these early evening races (in our time zone). Can watch the race with dinner and a bunch of beers!!

[Injen]

Drivers press con.

PR..so kimi, will you walk the track

KR.. "hmm i don't know yet ill have to see"

PR..so you wont walk the track?

KR.. "if they give me a golf cart perhaps"

All drivers start to crack up lmfao. :rofl

Vettel saying the f word under his breath about a reporters microphone being fu-ed

PR.. so so seb what do you think about some americans being sensitive to bad language

Vettel.. "if they are sensitive then then should be watching kids programs, they control the remote"

[Nin-Chin]

If Lewis Hamilton felt that Sebastian Vettel’s had been “lucky” to rescue a third place finish in Abu Dhabi, it was certainly not a word you could apply to the McLaren driver’s own race on Sunday, or indeed his season as a whole.

Although Hamilton has been effectively out of the title running for several races now, confirmation that his wait for a second drivers’ title would stretch into a fifth season, and beyond the end of his McLaren career, officially arrived under the lights at Yas Marina the moment his MP4-27 pulled off the road with a fuel pressure failure on lap 20.

Martin Whitmarsh insisted afterwards that McLaren’s recent reliability problems were “not related or endemic, it’s just one of those things”, yet the evidence suggests they and operational mistakes have nonetheless proved massively costly to Hamilton’s title aspirations.

Abu Dhabi was the third time season that Hamilton could point to a reasonably certain race victory being prised from his grasp through no fault of his own. The other two were in Spain, when he was stripped of what had been a dominant pole for McLaren fuel irregularites and demoted to the back of the grid, and Singapore, when a gearbox failure struck.

Had he duly won on all three of those occasions, then he would currently have 71 points more to his name in the championship (he ultimately did score four points for eighth place in Barcelona). Those additional points alone, combined with the negative knock-on effect for his rivals’ scores, would eradicate much of Hamilton’s current 90-point deficit to Sebastian Vettel and mean he was very much still in the title hunt heading to Austin.

McLaren also paid a big price for its early-season pit stop problems, before new Sporting Director Sam Michael and his group put in place a more reliable and faster pit-stop process.

We’ve done some analysis on Hamilton’s season; it certainly shows how things could have been very different if the team had enjoyed the same reliability and opertional record as Ferrari or Lotus for example.

Although the nature of F1 makes it impossible to quantify exactly how many points have been squandered through car failures and team mistakes, the below list of examples and considered estimations on likely finishing positions and points losses nonetheless serves as an illustration of how Hamilton’s overall points tally has been severely compromised:

China – Qualifies second but started seventh due to gearbox change penalty. Finishes third. Estimated points loss: three

Bahrain – Running third but following two slow pit stops ends up eighth. Estimated points loss: Eight to ten

Spain – Qualifies on pole but demoted to back of the grid for McLaren fuel infringement. Finishes eighth. Estimated points loss: 21

Monaco – Running third but suffers slow pit stop and loses positions to first Alonso, who stops a lap later, and the even later-stopping Vettel. Finishes fifth. Estimated points loss: Two to five

Europe – Slow pit stop when running third drops him to sixth and behind ultimate race winner Alonso. Spun out on final lap from third after collision with Pastor Maldonado while struggling with tyre wear. Estimated points loss: 15 (based on likely position ahead of Maldonado in closing stages without pit-stop delay)

Singapore – Running first when gearbox fails. Result: DNF. Estimated points loss: 25

Korea – Rear anti-roll bar failure early in race plays havoc with tyre wear. Drops down order from fourth. Result: 10th. Estimated points loss: 11

Abu Dhabi – Leading the race by three seconds when fuel pressure problem grounds car to a halt. Result: DNF. Estimated points loss: 25

Estimated total of lost points: 110 points

Hamilton’s Japanese GP weekend was also hampered by rear suspension problems, although the result he would have achieved with a fully-functioning car is hard to quantity so is left out of the sample. He also had a further DNF in Germany due to puncture damage.

Of course, as in any title battle, Hamilton hasn’t been alone in suffering setbacks and both Vettel (alternator failures in Valencia and Monza) and Alonso (first-corner collisions in Spa and Suzuka) can also both justifiably point to probably more than 30 points being lost through misfortune. Nonetheless, with around a century more points to his name, Hamilton would be well within striking distance of the pair of them with a car capable of winning races.

Even with a more cautious estimate than the one above, a more reliable 2012 McLaren would have put a very different complexion on both driver and team’s final season together.

-James Allen



While we’re analysing Vettel and Alonso, spare a thought for Lewis Hamilton.

The McLaren driver finally lost any mathematical chance of the title after his retirement from the lead in Abu Dhabi. He is 90 points behind Vettel.

Hamilton has said that he has driven at his absolute best this season, and it’s hard to disagree – he has not made a single mistake worth the name.

But his year has been a story of operational and technical failures by his team.

At least three wins have been lost (Spain, Singapore and Abu Dhabi), as well as a series of other big points finishes, as detailed by BBC Radio 5 live commentator James Allen in his blog.

Without that misfortune, Hamilton would be right up with Vettel and Alonso, if not ahead of them.

So, if you’re thinking about ‘deserving’ world champions, if such a thing exists, spare a thought for him too. -Andrew Bensen

[andrew]

Vettel saying the f word under his breath about a reporters microphone being fu-ed

PR.. so so seb what do you think about some americans being sensitive to bad language

Vettel.. "if they are sensitive then then should be watching kids programs, they control the remote"

Vettel going badass and some delicate flowers getting their tighty whities in a twist over a normal, every day word!

[Nin-Chin]

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