Formula 1 2012

[Gisha]

Would like to see Michael Schumacher back in Ferrari

[Northern Goblin]

Would like to see Michael Schumacher back in Ferrari

Doubt he'd go back without Ross Brawn there.

[Coffer]

Doubt he'd go back without Ross Brawn there.

This. I only see him ending his career at Mercedes or possibly Red Bull, alongside his mentee.

So Kimi Raikkonen finishes on the podium in just his 4th race back, while "the great" Michael Schumacher has yet to make it to the podium by his 3rd YEAR back....

I'm sure people will say Schumacher never has the car, but sadly for them, this year's Mercedes is a race winning car and indeed Nico Rosberg finished on the podium twice in 2010. Maybe Schumacher isn't as good as people think???

Believe it or not, Schumacher had equal, if not better pace than Rosberg in Bahrain, despite starting from the very back of the grid and having to fight his way through the field. The results are never a real indicative of skill levels:

Vettel vs Webber in 2010
Massa vs Hamilton in 2008
Hamilton (and Massa!) vs Alonso in 2007
Schumacher and Massa (esp in the latter half) vs Alonso in 2006
Raikkonen vs Alonso in 2005
Raikkonen vs Schumacher in 2003
Schumacher vs Villeneuve in 1997
Prost vs Senna in 1990
Prost vs Senna in 1988...

, where the former was a certain level better than his competitor, yet the results show them as being much closer, or, worse yet, give the advantage to the latter. In almost every single case, the former's car was worse and/or broke down much more often than his rival's (especially apparent in 2010 and 2008).

Massa vs Alonso this year works equally as well - Massa genuinely had better pace than his teammate (which is already incredible) in China and Bahrain, yet Fernando has 40-something points to Felipe's 2.

Also, Merc is not a true race winner. Remember McLaren in 2004? Or Ferrari in 2009? Shit car, yet Kimi somehow won at Spa with both of them. It's all about the track and the competition - much like in the former's case, China is Rosberg's best track by far, and the conditions clearly suited the Merc - perfect temperatures, which made the Merc's tyre problems a non-issue. Schuey would've finished second had he not been screwed over by his team - he had better pace than any frontrunner other than his own teammate (which says a lot, considering it's one of his worst tracks).

I don't see Rosberg winning again this year. At best, Schuey will win at Spa if Kimi and Vettel somehow retire, but otherwise it's game over for Mercedes.

So far, Michael's shown better pace than Nico in 3 out of 4 races, and every single time, including the one time where he was outperformed, he was screwed over, either by his team or by RRMMNN GGRRSSJJNN. That says a lot. Had he not been so unlucky he would've been near the top of the championship. Same could be said of Vettel and Webber, actually - had Narain not run into the former, Mark would never have been above his teammate in the championship and we wouldn't have had to listen to the whiny Vettel doomsayers saying that he didn't deserve his two titles and that Mark was back on track. Hamilton and Button, too, have been unlucky so far, as has been Massa in the last 2 races.

[Thrax]

I'm interested to know what happened to Perez after his Malaysian race, the guy was on fire. Nearly 2 seconds gap closed per lap on two occasions to Alonso.

[Coffer]

I'm interested to know what happened to Perez after his Malaysian race, the guy was on fire. Nearly 2 seconds gap closed per lap on two occasions to Alonso.

True, he was utterly amazing in that race (only lost because of that mistake he made), but either he had a near-perfect wet race setup or Kamui was horrible. I'm not sure which of the two is the case. And make no mistake, the Sauber was strong in that race - Perez and Kobayashi were both putting out lots of fastest laps, especially the former.

After that, it's just a matter of them not having a top ten car anymore. And is anyone surprised by that? McLaren, Red Bull, Lotus and Mercedes all have a stronger car. At least Sauber are still seriously mixing it up with Williams and Ferrari.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Recommendation: If you do not set a time in a qualifying session other than Q1 that you are eligible to take part in, you forfeit your grid position and start from the pit-lane. You must also start the race on the last tyres you qualified in. If you do not set a time in Q1, or do not reach the 107% mark, you cannot race. No appeals to the stewards. This "not taking part to save tyres" is complete bullshit and turning Qualifying into a farce. It is nothing more than cheating in my eyes.

[Coffer]

Recommendation: If you do not set a time in a qualifying session other than Q1 that you are eligible to take part in, you forfeit your grid position and start from the pit-lane. You must also start the race on the last tyres you qualified in. If you do not set a time in Q1, or do not reach the 107% mark, you cannot race. No appeals to the stewards. This "not taking part to save tyres" is complete bullshit and turning Qualifying into a farce. It is nothing more than cheating in my eyes.

Sounds horrible. If people do that then people will be lining up to go out of Q2. Simply put, the qualifying tyres rule needs to go, and fast.


Also, OH MY FUCKING GOD. Q3 was boring as balls, but tomorrow's race is looking to be amazing. So much hope. PASTOR?! FERNANDO?!

[Xanjori]

God damn it with Hamilton, to qualify for pole by nearly 6 tenths and have it taken away, its bullshit. Not sure whether to be pissed at Mclaren for making such a basic mistake or the FIA for penalising him unfairly tbh, no amount of fuel will give you nearly 6tenths per lap.

The interesting thing will be Hamilton tomorrow, he is clearly faster than the people in front, will he keep his cool though? I can see a LOT of moves coming from him, watching his race alone should be worth it.

And its a very interesting front 2 rows of the grid, can the Ice-man finally pull of an entire race at the level he is capable of?

[Coffer]

God damn it with Hamilton, to qualify for pole by nearly 6 tenths and have it taken away, its bullshit. Not sure whether to be pissed at Mclaren for making such a basic mistake or the FIA for penalising him unfairly tbh, no amount of fuel will give you nearly 6tenths per lap.

McLaren. Since when is underfueling grounds for "force majeure"? Blatant and obvious lie, especially considering both Martin Whitmarsh and Hamilton himself stated that they had no idea why he stopped after doing his lap. Penalty is 100% fair, especially considering it's not the first time McLaren has lied (Australia 2009) and not even the first time that Lewis has done something like this (Canada 2010).

The interesting thing will be Hamilton tomorrow, he is clearly faster than the people in front, will he keep his cool though? I can see a LOT of moves coming from him, watching his race alone should be worth it.

Predicting an early retirement after a collision with Massa. Also, it may rain tomorrow, which should put a damper on Lewis' charge through the field.

And its a very interesting front 2 rows of the grid, can the Ice-man finally pull of an entire race at the level he is capable of?

If it rains, Alonso should be able to win. Otherwise, this is all in the hands of Grosjean and Raikkonen.

[Wilian]

Totally counting for Räikkönen in this race if nothing goes wrong with the car or someone crashes on him. He's shown his speed and right now is on the best position of the year at the start so he has all the cards needed for victory.

[Demoncrash]

Totally counting for Räikkönen in this race if nothing goes wrong with the car or someone crashes on him. He's shown his speed and right now is on the best position of the year at the start so he has all the cards needed for victory.

Yea was a big fan of Kimi back when he was with McLaren and of course Ferrari where he literally stole the title from Hamilton and Alonso who were busy fighting each other, on the very last race at Brazil. Hope he has a decent comeback to F1 this year as i do enjoy watching him race and would like to see him stay on for a few more seasons.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Predicting an early retirement after a collision with Massa. Also, it may rain tomorrow, which should put a damper on Lewis' charge through the field.

Clever (or risky, depending on how you see it) pit strategy can make rain an advantage, and you can use it to overtake a large proportion of the field. Being the guy who changes tyres at just the right time can really pay off.

[freelapdance]

Still think Hamiltons penalty was too extreme. He got into Q3 legally, lowest he should have been was 10th imo.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

I still don't see why a driver gets sent to the back of the grid (and can count himself lucky to be allowed to take part) if he stops the car on the in-lap while other drivers get no penalty for not even taking part in the qualifying session at all.

Well done Maldonado, great to see Frank Williams happy about something. Massa is slowly cutting through his life-line at Ferrari, great race from Hamilton. Schumacher was at fault for his crash, but I don't think it warrants a post-race penalty, he did have to retire and it was probably just a racing incident anyway.

[Bigbazz]

Was the best Spanish GP I've ever seen, infact this whole season has been the most unpredictable and crazy shit i've seen in a long time, its been awesome (especially after Vettel 2011). Maldonado was spot on today and showed his real potential, awesome driving.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

5 races, 5 winners. I wonder if Monaco will be 6 races and 6 winners? Apparently a season hasn't started like this since 1983. The teams had better start learning how the tyres work though, it is getting rather pathetic.

[Deleted]

Stunning by Maldonado, makes the season interesting with minor teams fighting up top as well.

Agree with end of the grid is a far to severe punishment, he would of had 10th, the -5 if he had to have a penalty should of been at least 15. But there needs to be a thing to make drivers have to set a time in Q3, and have to have a set 'locked' to the car for the start of the race. Even if its them driving around the track on softs setting a miserable qualifying time.

@Butler Log: In half a way i agree with the tyres, however at the same time since the teams don't know about the wheels its one factor that they are unsure on when planning races which makes it interesting.

Massa's career with ferrari is over at the end of the season he is not even in contention with the top cars, understandable ferrari favouring alonso but as it is alonso is doing it on his own and doesn't have any assistance(other than wasting time of people trying to lap massa)

Schumacer to blame for the crash simple as that, and he got penalised because he ruined senna's race, him retiring just ruins his race.

[Deleted]

I still don't see why a driver gets sent to the back of the grid (and can count himself lucky to be allowed to take part) if he stops the car on the in-lap while other drivers get no penalty for not even taking part in the qualifying session at all.

The point isn't about him stopping, it's about him not having fuel enough to test post qualies. It's the F1 equivalent of a drugs test, and without that he could've cheated his way passed anyone. Unlikely in Hamilton's case but they have to treat ALL driver's consistently. That's what rules are for.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

But according to Whitmarsh he had over 1.3 liters in the tank, and they only need 1 liter for the test.

[Bigbazz]

But they wouldnt have got back to the garage + still had the fuel needed for the test, so they stopped out on track and took a gamble with the rules. As for Massa, i'd be amazed if he doesnt get dropped before the end of the season, 5 races in and hes still cruising around at the back doing nothing useful, while his team mate is joint leading the championship.