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[SennaVille]

Funny that, i didnt think it went quick as such, but i love it when i know theres like 40 laps left, or 20 laps left, but as soon as Lewis took the lead i want the Grand Prix to finish immediately.

Fraffypants, I had four...count them 1, 2, 3, 4 observations. Don't just pick out one willy-nilly! Reply to all, in correct numerical order too..please

Yeah, I'm exactly the same. When your fave driver is in the lead you just want the GP to end RIGHT NOW! I've actually been know to run out of a room and hide in a closet (with my fingers in my ears), when a fave driver is leading on the last lap. It's almost like I'm jinxing him by watching him for the last few laps.I know this is crazy behaviour, but this is the internet and you lot don't know me from Adam so I don't care

[Peng]

Let's not kid ourselves... Lewis performed flawlessly today, and her certainly showed what he can do with a car. But it's clear that today Vettel lost this race, the starts completely sealed the fate on his two stop strategy... Today was a 3 stop day, and his having to pit earlier than he wanted because of the fight with the McLarens was the nail on the strategy's coffin.

Had he been able to keep the lead and do what the Red Bull does, extend the lead and therefore be able to build enough of a cushion to stay out a few extra laps, the whole thing may have played out like Australia, or Malaysia instead. McLaren won today's race, but there is no weakness in the Red Bull camp showing... even without the KERS they've got a car good enough to come from 18th on the grid, to finish at the podium. Today's race was exiting because it didn't yield the same results, but nothing has changed from last year and there isn't a constructor that can go toe to toe with Red Bull yet. Barring continued tactical mistakes or a rash of DNF's I'm not getting my hopes up too much for anything other than a repeat of last year.

The start kind of had nothing to do with him loosing the race, he overtook Hamilton before the 1st pitstop and overtook Button during the pitstop which he did at the exact same time.

He lost because instead of pitting when the Mclarens and Rosberg did the 2nd time he stuck to a 2 stop strategy even though his team could see he was atleast a second a lap down on the people with fresh tyres.

It almost worked for them because their car is just so fast even on race pace (probably atleast half a second a lap faster than anyone else on the same tyre), but it was a mistake they made and a mistake i doubt will happen again.
I am still confident that Mclaren can close the gap but anyone thinking Mclaren have caught up because of this race clearly wasn't watching very closely :p.

[Flux]

just to point out lewis's performance was not perfect today, and i still haven't seen what happened but he i assume went wide at the end of the back straight off the track and lost position to massa.

still love the guy, but one good win and people are getting carried away. control yourselves.

[Jabberwocky]

I think that Jenson needed to get his head in the game today. He was caught napping twice. once with the stopping in the wrong pit and then next time when Lewis passed him.

[What's Burning?]

she said I sounded like I was having multiple orgasms *snort*).

Non inflamatory?

[What's Burning?]

Let's not kid ourselves... Lewis performed flawlessly today, and her certainly showed what he can do with a car. But it's clear that today Vettel lost this race, the starts completely sealed the fate on his two stop strategy... Today was a 3 stop day, and his having to pit earlier than he wanted because of the fight with the McLarens was the nail on the strategy's coffin.

Had he been able to keep the lead and do what the Red Bull does, extend the lead and therefore be able to build enough of a cushion to stay out a few extra laps, the whole thing may have played out like Australia, or Malaysia instead. McLaren won today's race, but there is no weakness in the Red Bull camp showing... even without the KERS they've got a car good enough to come from 18th on the grid, to finish at the podium. Today's race was exiting because it didn't yield the same results, but nothing has changed from last year and there isn't a constructor that can go toe to toe with Red Bull yet. Barring continued tactical mistakes or a rash of DNF's I'm not getting my hopes up too much for anything other than a repeat of last year.

The start kind of had nothing to do with him loosing the race, he overtook Hamilton before the 1st pitstop and overtook Button during the pitstop which he did at the exact same time.

He lost because instead of pitting when the Mclarens and Rosberg did the 2nd time he stuck to a 2 stop strategy even though his team could see he was atleast a second a lap down on the people with fresh tyres.

It almost worked for them because their car is just so fast even on race pace (probably atleast half a second a lap faster than anyone else on the same tyre), but it was a mistake they made and a mistake i doubt will happen again.
I am still confident that Mclaren can close the gap but anyone thinking Mclaren have caught up because of this race clearly wasn't watching very closely :p.

It absolutely does have everything to do with how they plan a race strategy. The formula for Vettel/RB is pole>get the lead>extend the lead to a comfortable margin> save the tires to be able to do another 2 or 3 laps> pit and repeat. So if you extend the laps on the first set of options, you can then also extend the laps on the second set of options, which means by the time you put on primes to finish the race they haven't degraded as much at the end... which is ABSOLUTELY the reason Vettel was caught today by Hamilton.

[vlad]

People keep saying Hamilton has passed Vettel, but that was on a way different tyres. They forget that Vettel passed him much easier on the beginning of the race...
And yes, I think this kind of things won't happen again in Red Bull.


And now about Alonso;
I think the wing cannot just activate itself, 'cause it "turnes off" at the same moment he touches the brake pedal...

[F1er]

just to point out lewis's performance was not perfect today, and i still haven't seen what happened but he i assume went wide at the end of the back straight off the track and lost position to massa.

still love the guy, but one good win and people are getting carried away. control yourselves.

Yeah assumptions are usually a biotch

Jenson didn't pit when called thus leaving Lewis an extra lap loosing 5 seconds to Massa on dead tires. It was Buttons mistake that cost Lewis.
Button had first strategy today and he screwed it up.

Lewis was IMPECCABLE and very few drivers have had similar performances.

[acosmichippo]

I wonder if Alonso's DRS malfunction had anything to do with the change of the DRS zone on Saturday. If I remember correctly, the DRS zone originally started 300m down the straight, bu was then changed to 600m down... A difference of 300m, which is apparently how far Alonso's DRS went beyond the zone.

[Peng]

It absolutely does have everything to do with how they plan a race strategy. The formula for Vettel/RB is pole>get the lead>extend the lead to a comfortable margin> save the tires to be able to do another 2 or 3 laps> pit and repeat. So if you extend the laps on the first set of options, you can then also extend the laps on the second set of options, which means by the time you put on primes to finish the race they haven't degraded as much at the end... which is ABSOLUTELY the reason Vettel was caught today by Hamilton.

The 2 stop strategy just didn't work in this race its as simple as that, wouldn't have made a difference if Seb had been able to do 5 more laps early on after the 1st stop he was constantly slower than the Mclarens and much slower than his team mate because they were on much fresher tyres, even with the extra time spent in the pits the difference was just much more noticeable now with how the tyres degrade.
That maybe their race strategy for Seb which wouldn't surprise me considering its what he is best at and doesn't really have the best track record of being in the pack, but that is the difference between a good team and a great team since the great team would adapt their strategy based on the events of the race which is what Mclaren did and they got the win.

As i said it almost worked for them due to the sheer pace the RB7 has but if he had pitted to cover the Mclarens/Rosberg on their 2nd stops he would have won that race no matter how bad his start was, he was being caught pretty consistently when Mclaren made their 2nd stop it wouldn't have made a difference if he lost time early in the race due to tyres going away or later in the race he still was slower due to not being on the correct strategy.

People keep saying Hamilton has passed Vettel, but that was on a way different tyres. They forget that Vettel passed him much easier on the beginning of the race...
And yes, I think this kind of things won't happen again in Red Bull.

To be honest Vettel passed Hamilton the same way Hamilton passed Vettel since at both times 1 had better tyre condition than the other which you could clearly see with Hamilton sliding around and losing a place to Massa before his 1st stop.
I do know for a fact Vettel still has the faster car and he still has an advantage in that respect but if Mclaren do finally manage to close that gap we will finally be able to see if Vettel is as good as most seem to claim he is, because frankly the most competitive driver he has been against since midway through 09 has been Webber and although he an amazing driver there are better drivers on the grid and he was beaten quite frequently by Webber.

[vlad]

I see your point, but Hamilton tyres were only 1 lap older than Button's and Vettel's.

[killem2]

And now about Alonso;
I think the wing cannot just activate itself, 'cause it "turnes off" at the same moment he touches the brake pedal...

The wing opened on a glitch there is no way he knew that it would open at the exact moment.

[vlad]

Then it's a terrible mistake by the race control... Situations like that must NOT happen!

[bud]

I wonder if Alonso's DRS malfunction had anything to do with the change of the DRS zone on Saturday. If I remember correctly, the DRS zone originally started 300m down the straight, bu was then changed to 600m down... A difference of 300m, which is apparently how far Alonso's DRS went beyond the zone.

There is no zone in practice or qualifying, It is unlimited. Only in the race is there a certain part of the track that it is allowed.

[acosmichippo]

I know that, but according to Brundle and DC, the FIA changed the DRS zone for the race on Saturday without the teams knowing.