The F1 Thread

[Carrotdude]

Hamilton's tyres were going off every 5 laps or so, bit bizarre, he's not been so bad on them this season. Button may have figured towards the front but Kobayashi put paid to that with a bit of lunacy at the start.

Although Massa has been good in the last couple of races why does it apparently not matter that he's been slow all season up to this point? They would surely be better off with someone consistent rather than someone who can't support Fernando until it appears his drive is on the line. Obviously Alonso is a great driver so it's unfair to expect Massa to match him but he shouldn't be as far behind in the Championship as he is.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Raikkonen and Grosjean confirmed for Lotus for next season.

 

[Nando]

Lewis had a roll bar and damper failure today hence the rapid tyre degradation. I had to have a laugh at Jenson, hoping for an early incident only to be wiped out himself. I've really gone off him this season, he needs to keep his gob shut.

 

[Lord Knows]

Should you drive the Red Bull cars without pay, in the knowledge that the World Champion can earn massive money through Endorsements. When you have by far the better car you must have every driver wishing to join you.

 

[Nando]

Red Bull don't pay particularly well in comparison to Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes. You can't argue with their productivity though, they nail it when it comes to the crunch time of the season.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Arguably Vettel doesn't get enough credit when he's set to become the youngest ever driver to win three Drivers' Championships. Ok, he has the best car but no-one else can control a race from the front or get on the front row as consistently as him.

 

[Nando]

Agreed, he's untouchable on pure one lap pace and the ability to dictate from the front.

 

[Nando]

Bizarre headline story on the BBC about Vettel joining Ferrari in 2014, with no quotes from anybody.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Horner has denied it this morning, but the BBC are still running it.

 

[Carrotdude]

Very odd story that doesn't seem to have been confirmed by anyone, certainly seems like a possibility but I still can't imagine Alonso agreeing to have an equal/better driver than him as a teammate.

 

[Nando]

De Montezemelo has quashed the story too.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

BBC Headline changes to Massa stays - as Ferrari plan for Vettel arrival.

Methinks the BBC just got leaned on.

 

[Carrotdude]

Sounds like someone within Ferrari has leaked the story to the BBC, obviously teams wouldn't want it official before 2012 has even finished let alone 2013.

 

[broughtonwolf]

You would think Vettel was a done deal before the suddenly swift Massa announcement, allowing Massa to be retained as clear no2 driver for another year without creating any more waves.

 

[Nando]

There's a Twitter campaing suggesting that Fernando Alonso should seek the help of Spain's most famous saint: The Ecce Homo from Borja in order to win the WDC:

http://vicisitudysordidez.blogspot.com.es/2012/10/conseguira-el-ecce-homo-que-fernando.html

The explanation is quite simple:

Alonso's ex wife is called Raquel del Rosario.

Alonso's DNF in Belgium was the say of Saint Raquel
Alonso's DNF in Japan was the day of Nuestra Señora del Rosario.

Now... Abu Dhabi takes place in Raquel del Rosario's birthday.


Bizarre!

 

[Nando]

DDRS for Ferrari in India apparently, along with new front and rear wings, floor and brake ducts.

 

[The Bear]

Is the DDRS the same as Red Bull's system?

 

[Nando]

Supposedly, but they have issues with it from what I've read. The rest of the updates have all correlated with the data from Toyota's Cologne windtunnel

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I suppose they have to take the risk because otherwise Vettel's going to canter to the title. The constructors championship is pretty much gone anyway as a result of Massa being crap until it came to new contract time.

 

[Law's Bus]

The constructors championship is pretty much gone anyway as a result of Massa being crap until it came to new contract time.

Felipe Massa: the Darren Ferguson of F1.