The Motorsport Thread 2011

Oh I really like Jenson.  I wasn't criticising him at all.

I just think if he'd qualified in the top 4, he'd not have won, due to his slower car.  Nothing to do with his ability.

He may have nabbed Webber and got 2nd but I think it was Vettel's race, unfortunately.

^Sort of was a standard result but it was an incident packed race to get there. I feel that Button was the fastest guy out, certainly the only one that could have challenged Vettel for the win if he had started higher up than 13th. And I agree with you Torodd, he was a good driver in 09 (though too tense in qualy which cost him a bit in the second half of that year) but has really improved in the last two years having to go head to head with Hamilton. I think the only other driver on the grid that would be completely comfortable with acknowledging that Hamilton is faster over one lap and still be able to keep motivated and work hard to be fast in the race is Sutil (who had to do that when he was partnered with Hamilton in the F3 Euro series) but unlike Sutil I reckon Button is a match for Lewis on race pace.

Excellent race from Schuey, 24th to 5th is an exceptional result and hes really beginning to look like the driver of old.

Strange how Hamilton's car was so slow on straight line speed, there's no way that Koby's Sauber should have been able to come along side him whilst the McLaren had the DRS open, I expect that was the main cause of his crash.

Yeah I bet, Spa is always great racing

^It was the round the outside move on Massa at the Bus Stop that was really amazing. Spa is definitely a track that doesnt need the DRS.

Oh, and I forgot to answer your question about the tyre rules in qualy James. I've always been against it to be honest, and until Germany qualifying was in danger of becoming a serious none-event. The only reason the last few sessions have been so exciting is because the McLaren and Ferrari's one lap pace has improved quite a bit and they've found that the best way to stop Red Bull is to not let them controle te race. If RBR still had that huge pace advantage in qualy, the others would all be doing just a token run and saving their tyres for sunday.

James wrote: Unfortunately not all teams could do that, as 8 other cars have to be in Q3.  Although of course, they could not go out in Q3 and save a set. I agree with you though.  Although it was awesome to see Schumacher and Button coming through the pack and finishing well, it should not really happen.  Of course, Schumacher has the speed over the slower cars, so he's going to make up places naturally but he definitely used the tires to his advantage.  As did Button. I love the way Vettel was having a long debate with the Pirelli guy about the tire degradation and yet it really didn't cause much of an issue for them in the end.  Yes it did slow them down initially but as soon as they came in, it was fine. Andy, perhaps you can answer this: when did the spare car rule get scrapped?  I was watching the highlights of the 1996 race from Spa when Coulthard went off at the start and there was that mass pile-up.  The race was stopped of course and then Coulthard and others whose cars were wrecked went and jumped into the spare car (presumably some missed out if two guys from the same team had broken cars?).

We have seen sessions this year where cars just havnt gone out in Q3 (Schumacher did it in Spain) and we even ahd a race where 2 cars didnt bother setting a time in Q3 (cant remember which one now). Its not good when cars cant be bothered to go out on track to save tyres. As for Button, I think he would have reached the podium anyway, his pace suggests that he would have been the only one to take the fight to the Red Bulls this weekend.

Red Bull had real concerns over the tyres at Spa. Apparently Pirelli recommends no more than 4.5 degrees of camber on the front wheels but RBR went have been using much more than that. Normally its fine, and if it causes a problem then they'll change it before qualy. But at Spa, no one had more than 10 minutes of dry running throughout all three practice sessions so couldnt tell. Turns out the inside shoulders of both cars front tyres where blistering badly and Newey was very worried about a tyre failure at the end of the Kemmel straight. I dont think it slowed them either, but they were seriously worried about getting either car to the finish.

I cant remember exactly when the spare cars where outlawed but it goes back to about 2003. Its complete rubbish, its supposed to save costs but a spare tub and all the bits are brought along anyway so it saves jack sh*t, and makes things more difficult for the teams.


Edited by sleeper - August 30 2011 at 08:35

James wrote: Yep.  Schumacher didn't bother to set a Q3 time in one of the previous rounds and I have a feeling Perez did the same recently too? It does kind of slap the whole idea in its face when you see Schumacher starting in 24th and finishing in 5th ahead of Rosberg.  I'm not taking anything away from his drive, of course but without starting on the medium tires, he probably wouldn't have finished ahead of Rosberg and maybe only in top 10. What's going on with Di Resta?  He seems to have got a bit crap recently.  Sutil is consistently outqualifying and out racing him.

Schumey had a lot of help with the saftey car as well, without that he probably wouldnt have been up as high at the end. The SC also did for Di Resta, he was about 5th/6th before it came out and then was dropped down to 15/16th, seems like he's been getting a lot of bad luck in the middle of the season thats ruined his races. As for the qualifying 18th, that was the teams fault as they told him to come in when they saw Kovy was 2 seconds down at sector one on his last, then he found 4 seconds in the next two sectors to knock Di Resta out, he should have been much higher up than that.

^Its up and down at the moment. Di Resta was faster at Silverstone, Sutil at the Nurburgring (coincidence at their home races?) Di Resta in Hungary and I cant really tell at Spa, though it may have been Sutil, just.

Oh, so there is a German GP.  Yey.

Wasn't there doubts about there being one?

Any idea where the European GP is?


Edited by James - September 01 2011 at 07:33

Yeah, that's a really boring race usually.  It was this year too.  They need to bring back some old ones... Magny-Cours maybe?

Nooooooo!

Spa should be on every year.  Swap France and Spain around instead!