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Pretty track. Lots of tricks, no magic.
Quite a contrast for STR this year. As the BBC points out, best chassis + great engine + untested rookies = 10th out of 10. Shame but nice to see Force India and, of course, Brawn do so well.
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Anyhoo, well done RBR and Brawn (nee Mercedes). Next year TOIT and Macca will be stronger and I hope it will be an open championship.
This guy's a true racer
PlanetF1 sums it up well when they say that for all the glitz and glamour the new Tilke-dromes provide you still can't beat Interlagos for racing, it may have the worst facilities on the calender but who cares if the racings good.
Bernie let someone other Tilke have a go at designing a track.
You would think that with such a cavallier approach to the value of human life would lead to something more exciting in the way of track design. I mean, why no brick wall at the end of the big straight?? And, surely those bollards on the inside of the corners should have been replaced by spectators (they could have a raffle to see who gets to stand there).
At least we got see some racers having a go with Button/Webbo and the very interesting young Japanese guy who seems to have secured himself a Tojo drive. He reminds me a bit of Norrick Abe in his early years.
So now we go back to one of those stupid periods without refuelling. Many and many a race was spoiled the last time they did this. You might be fast enough to win the race, but engine mapping will decide whether you do, or don't. We will also definitely get the pathetic scene of cars running out of fuel on the last lap.
Ah well.
Lets hope the title challenge stimulates the mind more than the track?
Will Seb let Webber take the glory?
Hmmmmmm?
Unfortunately for Webber, McLaren have found some speed.
Will know in a few hours...
Now it's hard for Mark, especially psychologically: once again, after Korea, he shows he's feeling too much the importance of the moment. To be 5th in this grid where he had to be in front row, with Seb in pole, shows he was too stressed.
Nothing is lost yet, but now
1)he has to start well and get rid of Button immediately:
2)if he starts badly, he risks to be involved in some mid-grid accident or to find Massa, Rubens and the Mercs ahead of him: at that point, his title chances are over;
3) he needs to put himself in front of Alonso, and especially of Hamilton, who seems to be very dangerous and fast in this race (even though Clewlis certainly prefers Mark to clinch the title rather than Ferdy);
4)I still hope Seb and Mark to be in P1 and P2 late in the race, to see how Red Bull resolves the issue........
Radio silence now! Guys, enjoy the race and we'll have plenty of discussion later on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fred is clearly devastated, but there was some justice about him being held up, after the Hockenheim thing. What a time for Petrov to drive a clean race. Who'd a thunk it?
The Maclarens were bloody fast, and under slightly different cuircumstances, they may have won it.
Another great drive by Kubica. Fair dinkum, that boy needs a good car.
Webber wasn't present all weekend. I think we have yet to see him put in a decent performance at a night venue, and wonder if there is something in that. Whatever it is, he was just plain slow. It's not that he wasn't trying. His little tap on the wall shows that he was having a go, but it just wasn't there.
But the star of the day was definitely the track. It is crap from beginning to end. Imagine if turkey was the last race? Or Suzuka? That would have been really cool. But this shitty hole of misery money bandaged on to an excuse for excess ruined the whole thing. The cars just couldn't get close to each other. It was rubbish.
Should make Melbourne the last race, with 4 seasons in 1 day at least it will be unpredictable.
Vettel winning the race was on the cards, but not the championship. Fred must be sooo pissed.
Absolutely agree (with myself) on the track. Tilke has had enough chances now, surely?!
The sad thing is that I don't recall any brilliant overtaking moves from either Red Bull driver. I guess they really were the fastest this year.
Hands up everyone who thinks Webber has driven his last race for RBR.
And it is definitely incredible that Ferrari pit did not realize Webbo was out of the race, and was just trying a desperate move, while it was only Seb, at that point, they had to control.
Mark simply showed, in the Emiratian weekend, he's just not good enough for the championship.
And Seb, at the end, won deservingly, vanifying the spectacular 3rd place on the grid Alonso had conquered (Alonso, IMHO, is still the n.1).
But I really think there is one man who should, even more than Alonso and Webbo, bite his fingers for having lost this title.
And this man is Clewlis Hamilton. He ended the championship 16 points behind Seb.
In the last 8 races, he had 4 DNFs, 3 of which due to his unforced mistakes.
16 points means that one fifth place and one sixth place in two of those races (which means just staying quiet behind Seb, Mark, Ferdy and Jense, and in one case behind Kubica as well) would have given him the title.
I know Clewlis is an attacker, and fans love him just because of this, but if only people could manage, at least sometimes, to see things farther away than their nose.......