Formula 1 2011

^Regardless of whether he was already on track, you have to re-enter the RACE safely. Spinning it around and forcing cars off the track to miss you, is not the safe way.

I watch the BBC feed and I constantly wonder if the guys are actually watching the race.

After Hamilton got him in traffic, they were completely baffled about why Webber's DRS didn't open until late down the straight.

Guys, if you were paying attention, you would see when Webber opened the wing THAT'S when the back in got loose, had to close it, gather the car back up and then reopen.

Having seen a reply, I'm more convinced that the penalty was bad.

Regardless of what Hamilton did, Moldanado was going off the track, since Hamilton covered it all to track right. As good as the Force India could be, the only path was off to the outside.

Hamilton getting back in or not changes nothing. Had he stalled, or had he broken there, it would have been SC all the way since he blocked the track. He had to do something. And noting that his spin was very close to where he was sitting, moreso that it was a bad penalty.

So basically Lewis gets a penatly for doing something as opposed to blocking the entire track.

racerfink wrote: You've obviously never had a Hans device on...

What part of Hamilton's HANS system prevented him from seeing cars headed directly towards him?

In-car footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCOqlzLGzok

5 seconds of sitting still and letting the other cars find their way around a stationary object, rather than dodging a moving car coming towards them and them not knowing just exactly what he had planned, and this discussion would never have happened

^precisely, just like is standard procedure in every race you've ever watched.

Did you see how he was rolling backwards into the path of the first car coming behind him? If he had hit the brakes, he would have been blocking the track.

A wide angle lens placed on the highest point of the car? Not the same.

I was most surprised that the announcers seemed to not know why he got the drive through....one of them even guessed it was for speeding in the pit lane. I think he was lucky to just get a drive through for that. That was just plainly a stupid move by Hamilton who seems to think that since he is a former world champion and drives for McLaren that the rest of the field should yield to him. I used to be a Hamilton fan a few years ago, but now I root against him every race. (Of course I still root against Ferrari more.) I'm glad to see Button win another one.

The weather made the pit/tire strategies interesting.

oldsaw wrote: In-car footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCOqlzLGzok

Blocked thanks to Bernie.....got to pay for his daughter's new digs I guess.

Did I read that there were only four cars on the lead lap ?

I think the Brickyard 400 was much more interesting.

iceracer wrote: I think the Brickyard 400 was much more interesting.

What's that?

iceracer wrote: I think the Brickyard 400 was much more interesting.

Why? Was it raining in Indy too?

Speaking of NASCAR and rain, I read today that sometime in the later 90's NASCAR took some cars over to Japan after the season ended and ran an exhibition at the Suzuka circuit. It rained and they ran with rain tires. I guess they just used a lot of rain-x to keep the windshields cleared off.

With all the goofy ideas Bernie comes up with (artificial rain, shortcuts, DRS, etc.) I hope he doesn't resort to competition yellows.

T.J. wrote: Speaking of NASCAR and rain, I read today that sometime in the later 90's NASCAR took some cars over to Japan after the season ended and ran an exhibition at the Suzuka circuit. It rained and they ran with rain tires. I guess they just used a lot of rain-x to keep the windshields cleared off. With all the goofy ideas Bernie comes up with (artificial rain, shortcuts, DRS, etc.) I hope he doesn't resort to competition yellows.

A couple of years ago the NASCAR guys ran the Nationwide (Mexico) race in the rain. The added windshield wipers and being in Mexico, the field was full of "ringers", and international talent.

It was an extremely fun race to watch.

It used to rain every year when the cup cars went to Watkins Glen. They made rain tires up, and had a wiper and tail light instaled on the car. They never had another problem with rain at the Glen.

Joe Gearin wrote:

T.J. wrote: Speaking of NASCAR and rain, I read today that sometime in the later 90's NASCAR took some cars over to Japan after the season ended and ran an exhibition at the Suzuka circuit. It rained and they ran with rain tires. I guess they just used a lot of rain-x to keep the windshields cleared off. With all the goofy ideas Bernie comes up with (artificial rain, shortcuts, DRS, etc.) I hope he doesn't resort to competition yellows.

A couple of years ago the NASCAR guys ran the Nationwide (Mexico) race in the rain. The added windshield wipers and being in Mexico, the field was full of "ringers", and international talent. It was an extremely fun race to watch.

I think Montreal was the race they ran in the rain. They have done it twice, actually.

Nationwide has run in the rain a couple of times recently ... In Canada I think..

What, doesn't everybody race in the rain?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D-JtvVvESc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-MJ3WSUSUs&feature=related

errrr, then again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyEM_FIDSTc&feature=related

And some drivers are fast when the track is mixed with water and oil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpUQY-zoFnE

racerfink wrote: And some drivers are fast when the track is mixed with water and oil http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpUQY-zoFnE

And some drivers are even better when faced with oil and water:

Did you happen to notice in the video you posted, that had Hamilton not executed his quick spin around when he did, Weber more than likely would have clipped the rear of his car.

On a future note....

Got a news update from GP tours (got on their news mailing list). Apparently Helmut Marko is claiming that Mark Weber will retire at the end of the 2012 season. Being that he's Vettel's guy, I wonder how he knows....

Further into the update, it was about potential replacements- mainly drivers younger than Vettel is. So Marko does not think that Kimi will be replacing Weber any time soon.

hm.

red bull claims to be bringing a new diffuser to Spa. The three weeks is allowing them to make improvements. No doubt, IMHO, Ferrari and McLaren are not exacly sitting on their hands right now.

The more imortant question is of the rest of the field, who is going to GET OFF OF THIER HANDS. Force India and Mercedes are showing some improvement, Renault/Lotus is seemingly trying to join the part of the grid with Lotus Rentualt. And will HRT/Virgin/Lotus improve enough to stay out of the 107% area? I was really hoping that more of the field would be working hard to improve. But they really are not.....

So we have a few weeks to disucss stuff we will be hearing rumors about.

^Story on AutoSport this morning has Webber/Horner saying no reason 2012 will be his last contract.

But I definitely don't see Webber racing for anyone other than RBR if they weren't able to get it done after next year.

Unless of course Ferrari decided they want a different No. 2 backing Alonso.

At Indy, it wasn't clear who would win until the 4th turn of the last lap and if Gordon was fast enough to catch up. Fun to see a first itme winner.