Forums → The Tavern → F1 season 2012

Vettel on pole, meh.
He's going to ruin my home GP if he wins.
Vade retro Satana! There, I just exorcist him. Maybe he'll go away.

Was it only me who noticed that Lewis Hamilton was still holding the Union Flag he was given when he was weighed? The drivers are not strictly meant to have any contact with anyone until they are weighed to stop them being handed weights. The UK commentator & ex driver Martin Brundle often talks about times when drivers would be slipped spanners to put in their pockets for the weighing to keep their weight up, this is why there are so many stewards around. The stewards came down on him heavily recently when he ran short of fuel on his in-lap. Blatently holding something handed to him whilst being weighed should carry a hefty penalty, even if it was totally innocent, the stewards should have spotted this.

Apart from that, a good race and yet another winner - 7 different out of 7.

I'm happy for Hamilton but disappointed for Alonso for finishing out of the podium but at least Vettel didn't make it either thanks to my exorcism.
The race was exciting though.

Woohoo, YES! Alonso won against all odds! Schumacher 3rd place!
Man I'm so happy today! Best GP since the final in 2008!
xD

I missed the Montreal GP completely because of a simple mistaken channel chosen on my DVD recorder! NOOO! (o.O)
Well... I got a short update on the race and my dad said it wasn't a huge miss for me as the race was 'ok' at best, so I watched the results on the internet and that was it!

Nice that there are 7 out of 7 so far and great for Hamilton to finally get his GP win this season as he was always at the frontlines with several poles, but was never able to cash that pole with a win before.

And Schumacher... ohwww... Schumi... again, wasn't able to finish, this time because of a malfunctioning DRS system?! Man... there should really be a tornado of anger coming down on his engineers for sure! It's nerve wrecking to see him struggle the way he does, simply because of his failing team letting him down time after time... =/

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On with the latest GP at Valencia... and finally, an end has come to the streak of consequetive races won by a different driver when Alonso won in an eventfull European GP! Great job for Raikonnen in finishing second of course and AWESOME that Schumacher has finally made the podium!! WHOO-HOO!! YEAH!! Man... you can't imagine how long I've waited for that to happen! His first podium since the 2006 Chinese GP! Finally!! YES!!


A podium completely filled with current and former employees of Ferrari!

(In between F-1 trivia: the European - Valencia GP podium consisted of 10 World Championships alltogether when adding Fernando, Kimi and Michael!!)

Normally, this isn't one of my favorite circuits as the past 2 years were excited enough to fall asleep! Except for Webber's 2009 salto mortale of course... but this time around it was a nice race to watch! There were several incidents and a ton of really nice racing moments between drivers, therefor the 3rd Valancia GP was finally worth watching for me. And that was not only because of Michael's 3rd place finish... =P
Shame for Hamilton that Maldonado was too eager to gain a position and ended up pushing him into the wall and a DNF in the last lap! That cost Maldonado a 10 sec. penalty and gave his point to his colleague: Senna! At least that kept the point with the Williams team... LOL
And Mark Webber had a comforting 4th place finish which made up for his troublesome start of the race in the end! Him teaming up with Schumacher was a nice thrust forward through the field and ended up in points! =)

And I learned that they gave away a few penalties for next race at Silverstone! Jean-Eric Vergne got a 10 position grid penalty and a 25,000 euro fine for his stupid move causing a collision with Kovalainen and then (to add to the stupidity of the rookie) driving back to the pits at an insane speed, demolishing the back of his car, which was thrown on the track causing a safety car. Deserving punishment if you ask me...
And the other one was a 5 position grid penalty given to Kamui Kobayashi for T-boning Massa, which was easily avoidable according to the stewards lead by Mika Salo.

And the fact that Petrov wasn't punished for torpedo-ing Ricciardo was something I just can't understand... Petrov being wrong was clear as a whistle to me! But Mika knows what he's doing I guess... =/

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To finish with some news next to the race report... Vettel has been able to drive the stretch that's going to be the new to be made circuit at new Jersey - New York!
It's way to early to say how it's going to turn out to be, but from what I've seen, there are a few turns in there that can be really great for a driver, especially that one curve swaying downhill to the left! Can't wait to see it when it's finished in 2013!

It was a very interesting race. Valencia finally came good. Valencia usually is one of the most boring circuits and here we have the most exciting race of the year. Congratulations to Alonso!

So many exciting things happened!
- Vettel had a car failure, a rarity nowadays
- Hamilton was taken out by Maldonado on the penultimate lap!
- Schumacher on the podium for the first time since his return
- And, obviously Alonso winning out of nowhere in front of his home fans!

What a race! A truly fantastic day of racing.

Alonso almost won 2 in a row but his last tyres weren't great so he was passed by Webber. Fernando leads the driver championship and Ferrari is now second in the team championship. Disappointing race for Schumacher who kept losing positions. At least it wasn't raining during the race so it wasn't too bad overall.

I'm so glad I managed to catch the qualifying. In fact this weekend in racing was full of thrills and spills:

1) Three massive pileups in the NASCAR Daytona Sprint series race, in just the last twenty laps.
2) Casey Stoner, trying to grab the lead from Danny Pedrosa in moto GP, overcooks it and crashes out on the penultimate corner.
3) The first five laps of Silverstone.

Consensus seems to be that the highlight of the race was Webber and Alonso battling in the closing stages of the race, until Webber pulled off another daring pass (the insane side-by-side move through Ear Rouge last year was alluded to) with five laps to go. Alonso's tyres were shot, but Webber's move was simply faith in his car. Based on the last half a year or so, my respect for Alonso has gone up tremendously, as he's shown ability not just to get as much as he can out of the car, but also knows when not to push it too far.

Other highlights include:

a) Maldonado taking out Perez... and Perez's subsequent comments on Maldonado.
b) Kobayashi taking out a few members of his pit crew.
c) Grosjean having to pit on lap 2 for a new nose and somehow managing to finish 6th behind Raikkonen.

Plus many running battles throughout the race. A shame for McLaren, whose fortunes and pace were both lackluster. Jenson in particular is having a bad time of it, which is strange as I thought he was one of the best when it came to tyre management and finding traction, the very things he's struggling with right now.

Jenson Button wins Spa. He deserved it completely. Vettel got 2nd place thanks to that IDIOT Grosjean who ruined Alonso's race and almost killed him by jumping over his car. Raikonnen got 3rd place, good for him. Unfortunately, Schumacher had reliability problem with his Mercedes and dropped to 7th place.

Vettel just sprayed the flag girls on the podium with his champagne bottle so I dislike him a little less for doing it! xD

I thought the 2012 Spa GP was a exciting and fitting start for the second part of the F1 season! =)

Button had a flawless race at Spa! He clearly deserved to win, but I'm hoping that it's not another win and then nothing for him, just like the Australian GP win and then nothing... =/

Vettel did an amazing job in gathering points for his second place position in the championship, but he did make (yet) another ballsy-but-really-annoying move on his teammate when he was a little quicker and passed him with clear signals that they should all move whenever he comes... Webber doesn't deserve that...

Raikonnen lacked the speed and power during the last couple of laps to try and catch Vettel for 2nd, which he was constantly shouting to his team over the radio: "Gimme fulle power!!". LOL But the fact that he was able to take 3rd place with a car that wasn't a 100% shows how much potential he has for winning a GP.

Schumacher did a fenominal job on a 7th place result at the Spa GP if you ask me, especially if you consider that he only started in 13th position and lacked a little speed on this speedy circuit! His car failed him again and the rumours about him retiring kept resurfacing this weekend... I really hope that he makes it to a win this year! He clearly deserves it!! =)

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A different subject is the fact that I noticed again how the older and more experienced drivers in F1 were able to show their immense and true quality in a better way than the younger ones and the rookies did!
I mean, look at the starting position and results for Alonso, Raikonnen and Schumacher?!
If you take the Lotus team for an example, it's even more clear! Raikonnen and Grosjean (yyyyuch... *spits*) have a car that is virtually the exact same, but still Raikonnen drives it way better than Grosjean does, who keeps making these stupid, Stupid, STUPID mistakes! This guy is a disaster for F1 on the long haul if you ask me! And I haven't even started to talk about his character...
For that matter... if you were to swap Grosj...yahthatguy -'s name with Pastor Maldonado, you wouldn't have that much of a difference if you ask me! That guy has a marbel in his head that goes left on some occasions and -without warning- suddenly goes right and does the exact opposite! He's equally dangerous, if not more! (o.O)

Now... if you really want to see an F1 driver who's constantly laughing and enjoying his days in the highest class of motorsports and besides that even makes the best of the situation with his medium speed Toro Rosso car (a 9th place result at Spa says it all!) then I suggest you keep your eyes on Daniel Ricciardo! That guy is what racing should be about! Ha! =)

Onward to the upcoming Monza GP! No double DRS for Lotus there either, so I hope Kimi can show his qualities once more! Always nice to see the "Iceman" drive instead of talk! LOL =P

Hamilton wins Monza, Perez takes 2nd place from Alonso who came all the way back from 10th place. A couple accidents, Vettel gets a drive through penalty then gets a DNF because of a reliability problems and also Webber who parked the car as well so 0 points for Redbull! xD
I think Alonso who have won the race if his car didn't had this problem during Q3 but at least he gain some championship points over his competitors. It was a fun race overall.

Monza was a roundabout of impressions with Hamilton as a dull winner and Perez the cherry on the cake, but enough said about Monza, because some sad news will be added to this great thread...

Professor Sid Watkins, the Formula One doctor who tended to Ayrton Senna after his fatal crash at Imola in 1994 and who saved the lives of countless others through his work on safety, has died at the age of 84....



As word spread around Formula One of his death late on Wednesday, confirmed by a source close to the family, tributes poured in from drivers and all whose lives were touched by the wise-cracking neurosurgeon with a love of cigars and whisky.

They included Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who suffered a huge crash on the same San Marino Grand Prix weekend that claimed the lives of Senna and Austrian Roland Ratzenberger.



"It was Sid Watkins that saved my life in Imola 94. great guy to be with, always happy...tks for everything u have done for us drivers. RIP," Barrichello said on Twitter to 1.7 million followers.

"RIP Prof. Sid Watkins. Sad news for us who stay behind," said Senna's nephew Bruno, who now races for the same Williams team that triple champion Ayrton was with when he crashed on a sunny afternoon in May 1, 1994.

Senna remains the last driver fatality in a Formula One race and much of the credit for the survival of others can be laid at the door of Watkins, known simply as 'Prof' by paddock regulars and 'Sid' by closer friends.



Northern Ireland's Martin Donnelly, Finland's double champion Mika Hakkinen, Austrian Gerhard Berger and F1 team founder Frank Williams all owed much to his quick response and care after life-threatening accidents.

Triple champions Jackie Stewart, another safety pioneer before Watkins came along, and Austria's Niki Lauda counted him as a friend.
"Today the world of motor racing lost one of it's true greats," said McLaren chairman and former team principal Ron Dennis, whose cars took Senna to all of his titles, in a statement.

"No he wasn't a driver. No he wasn't an engineer. No, he wasn't a designer. He was a doctor and it's probably fair to say that he did more than anyone, over many years, to make Formula One as safe as it is today.

"Many drivers and ex-drivers owe their lives to his careful and expert work, which resulted in the massive advances in safety levels that today's drivers possibly take for granted."

Watkins was brought in to the sport by Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone in 1978, shortly before the death of Swedish great Ronnie Peterson at Monza in September of that year.
The Briton worked closely with former International Automobile Federation head Max Mosley to improve track and car safety, stepping down as medical officer only in 2004 but continuing to play a role at the governing body as first president of its foundation.

In his book 'Life at the Limit: Triumph and Tragedy in Formula One" Watkins wrote of Senna's final days and how distraught the Brazilian was at Ratzenberger's death in qualifying.
Advising Senna not to race, he added: "In fact, why don't you give it up altogether? What else do you need to do? You have been world champion three times, you are obviously the quickest driver. Give it up and let's go fishing".
Senna's reply, the last words he spoke to Watkins, was simple: "Sid, there are certain things over which we have no control. I cannot quit, I have to go on."

Formula 1 has lost one of it's safety pillars and true icons from a previous decade. One of the reminders of it's current safety is no longer among us...

Hamilton takes pole, retires during the race with gearbox problems, Senna needs a pair of glasses, Massa loves to rally-race and skid, Vettel jumps 2 places and looks awesome for the championship again and Schumacher gets a 10 position grid penalty at the Japanese GP for crashing into Vergne... WHAT?! (o.O)
When did it happen that they appoint morons to sit down with the race officials?! It was said officially that he had a mechanical problem and he stated that to the press including the fact that he hit the brakes, the car locked and all he could do is ride it out? Come on F.I.A... this smells like a revenge for the missed opportunity last year where they wanted to punish him (which would have been fair to some point), but ended up not doing and now they suddenly do when it's not his fault?!

I'm at a loss for words... *growls*

Hamilton...lad never has it good in Singapore. Heh.

Going to endure at least 5 more years of traffic jams when they close the roads in some areas for the drivers, and those engines which can be ears across half the nation.