I know that a lot (maybe even most) of the users here on Armor Games are American based, but I still would like to talk about the upcoming Formula 1 Championship this year!
Who is likely to become champion 2010 with the drivers?; Which team will be champion 2010?; Which rookie team will be doing great in 2010?; What driver will not fullfill the promiss to do great?; What's the best/most beautiful Grand Prix for this year's calendar of F1?; What Grand Prix would you visit if possible?; Etc...
So if there's anyone on Armor interested in this cool, fast and challenging sport... speak up!! =D
I have to agree with that. I think Vettel will have a nice "conversation" with his team about that. i also noticed the McLaren's almost did the same thing. They made contact in turn 1 when they were going at each other. I think a few more laps to the race, the McLaren's would have run out of fuel and Webber would have won (and Schumi in 2nd).
I was jumping for joy at the brilliant pit-strategy reaction done by RBR. Completely had McLaren outsmarted there, which just makes the sting of that grand debacle all the more painful.
I read in the news that Vettel maintains that Webber should have given way because he made the pass on the inside. I maintain that Vettel was in the wrong for the following reasons:
1) Webber did not deviate from his line at all throughout the entire straight. His line (and steering wheel) was straight as a tack.
2) Therefore what caused the accident was Vettel jinxing right, perhaps in order to get a better line heading into the hairpin section (approaching it from the inside would force the car incredibly wide and the momentum would have been completely stuffed up for the next two hairpins).
3) A car in front doesn't have to give way to a car coming from behind. F1 rules (and etiquette) only dictate that a car defending the line can only make a single defensive maneuver by switching lines in any segment. But Webber wasn't even defending: Vettel was coming from behind. The exact same thing happened with Hamilton throughout the first twenty laps of the race up to the pit, and we didn't see Hamilton running Webber off the road now, did we! He backed off, and that's professional conduct.
In my opinion, since both cars had hit their top speed by the end of the straight, Vettel, after realising his line was crap, if he was older and wiser, would have backed off, gone for a better line and tried to draft Webber on the finishing straight. Since he didn't actually get further than abreast of Webber I wouldn't even call it a pass, more like an extended look-in.
But what's done is done, and I can understand where he's coming from. As a young rookie with plenty of talent, he's been struggling with an unreliable car as of late while his veteran teammate Webber has been shining, and that's gotta rub. But hopefully he'll learn that you shouldn't play chicken with your teammate! How the RB drivers go from here and how they interact will be crucial in the coming rounds.
Turned out to be a dull race with only two 'highlights' being Webber and Vettel's high speed crash and Hamilton and Button's wheel banging, shame... I was hoping that the rain would eventually come and make things interesting again midway of the race, but the weather gods decided to hold on to their water... dang... =(
About the first highlight of the day... from what I've witnessed, I think Vettel was a little too quick with steering right and with that eliminated himself and his team mate from a sure double finish. Allthough it seems that team captain Christian Horner immediately shouted to Webber that he should give Vettel room to manouver over the radio (which is understandable in the TEAM'S point of view...), I think it's not Webber's fault for not wanting to move an inch and keep the clean racing line towards the next turn... It's like you said Strop, it's probably the rookie in Vettel that made him jump for joy too quick and with that ending up in the mud instead of on the podium. And it is (of course) very understandable when you seem to have a great car at the beginning of a season, but end up with car trouble every time during the course of it and in the meantime your team mate is standing in the spotlights because he's winning races! There will always be that jaleousy that ultimately gets the worst of you and you end up wanting to much to handle... But I'm confident that he still isn't ruled out for this season... beware... =P
Schumacher (yes, I'm sorry, I HAVE to talk about him) seems to be on the way back to the top, but allthough he did a great job in finishing 4th and in front of his team mate Rosberg (very important), I'm a little cautious with saying that he is back in business... could very well be that they both only were the best of the rest, in terms of setup and strategy, for this GP only. When more races follow and he maintains this position and maybe steals a podium here and there, only then I will shout out and applaud that he's back to the top where he once belonged... we'll see!
Results of the race make it all the more interesting in the championship standings! If the whole season will be like we had so far, it will turn out to be the best season (overall) that we've had for years!!! *fingers crossed* =D
In addition to the RBR-crash: Vettel keeps persisting that it's not his fault, but he has no grudge against Webber and says that, allthough they can't use such actions in the season, his relationship with his team mate has gotten no scars after this incident... really hope so! =D
An interesting race it was in Canada... does that say enough about it? =P
Webber turned out to be the unlucky one before the race had even started and was set back a couple of places for changing a part in his gear box, shame... The usual BCC (Big Canadian Crash) was absent and the exciting factor of this race turned out to be the choice of tyres at the beginning of and during the race! Even though I'm not a fan of him (clearly), I still have to congratulate and give all the proper respect to Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button! They did what was needed and with a good tyre strategy, managed to make it a double for the McLaren team, very good for the championship standings! =D
Alonso, Webber and Vettel couldn't break throught the barrier both McLaren drivers layed down and allthough Alonso had the best chance at one point, it was a matter of 'resistance is futile'...
As for my personal favorite: Schumacher had some bad luck even though he started with the best tyre strategy and made after a few laps to 3rd place! But the race was long and in the end it turned out to even be a few laps TOO long for him... both ForceIndia drivers managed to kick Schumi back from 9th to 11th place and out of the places earning points... But I have to note that Liuzzi did his overtaking in the ruffest way possible, with wheel banging and all! Not a clean move from him, but hey, that's racing I guess...
Now for the results! No big changes in the championship standings... But it's still excitingly close!!! =D
Well now I contend that Webber had the best "initial tyre strategy", only that it turned out even the hard compounds were getting completely shredded by the track D: Schumacher ended up doing, what, thirty laps on softs?
Also I note there were a lot of pending investigations, I wonder what the news is on those. It's unclear to me whether Schumacher broke the "one defensive move per segment" rule that was created just for him (I still can't get over that lol), or his tyres were just that bad he couldn't even brake in a straight line anymore. And of course a few other shunts and bumps were a little equivocal... unlike a certain incident back in Istanbul >_>
My concern now is that the season's evolution now depends on that cursed f-duct! MLM have firmly taken the reins from RBR, both psychologically and technologically, but there's still well over half a season to go.
Schumacher hates losing. When he saw that the Ferrari was going to pass him, he purposely closed Massa's trajectory, forcing the Brazilian to hit the wall.
Well, what an interesting turn of events transpired this past week! I was sad to miss watching a historic return to Silverstone, which afforded many surprises: the cursed Ferraris, the fantastic charge of Button, and, of course, Webber's win and subsequent "Not bad for a number two driver!" Given my focus, the events surrounding that controversial front wing are what I'm most interested in, and I do worry about any consequent tensions that may arise within the team. Vettel seemed to let slip post-qualifying that the team did know that the wing was superior, undermining earlier efforts of the team principal Christian Horner. And this is the first time I've seen Webber make frankly unrestrained comments about his feelings on the situation. Karmic justice? I wonder whether the black clouds overhead will unleash a disruptive storm or whether they will pass away with no further developments.
Silverstone was seemed crazy again, though not as much as in Valencia. I find it amazing that so many issues occurred. At least two flat tires in the race, and Schumacher, Rosburg, and De La Rosa had parts come off of their cars.
Well the Grand prix of Germany is complete, but with much drama, as Ferrari has been accused by the race stewards of team orders, which I thought was obvious from the transmission given to Massa and Massa giving his teammate first place. Will see what happens. the next race is at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary.
