139 replies to this topic

[LabradoRacer]

The speed merchant track.

Hope Schumi gets a podium at least, and Lewis/Kimi wins.

[BradSpeedMan]

LabradoRacer, on 04 September 2012 - 10:45 AM, said:

The speed merchant track.

Hope Schumi gets a podium at least, and Lewis/Kimi wins.

Now u talking...wait actually... Kimi, Vettel, Lewis... There, much better

[JHS18]

LabradoRacer, on 04 September 2012 - 10:45 AM, said:

Hope Schumi gets a podium at least, and Alonso/Vettel wins.

Fixed.

[LabradoRacer]

JHS18, on 04 September 2012 - 12:26 PM, said:

Fixed.

[Quiet One]

I was hoping for Liuzzi to get Romain's seat for Monza. Would have been the best choice for Lotus if he repeated his performance from last year. Nobody would have missed Romain.

What? Don't look at me like  that. Rumours of replacements for Grosejan included Adrian "I'll kill ya! I'll kill y'all!!" Sutil. That would  have been even more ludicrous.

[Massa]

I just want a good race.  If it's a good race that continues the progress toward a good championship battle, even better.  A good race that contributes to a good championship battle and is won by the #6 Ferrari F2012, perfect.  But a good race alone will be fine.

[BradSpeedMan]

Quiet One, on 04 September 2012 - 01:48 PM, said:

I was hoping for Liuzzi to get Romain's seat for Monza. Would have been the best choice for Lotus if he repeated his performance from last year. Nobody would have missed Romain.

What? Don't look at me like  that. Rumours of replacements for Grosejan included Adrian "I'll kill ya! I'll kill y'all!!" Sutil. That would  have been even more ludicrous.

Well, I can certainly say one thing... you're a man of great faith!

[Quiet One]

BradSpeedMan, on 04 September 2012 - 01:56 PM, said:

Well, I can certainly say one thing... you're a man of great faith!

That, coming from a Kimi fan? Whoa, I'm impressed

[JHS18]

Quiet One, on 04 September 2012 - 02:14 PM, said:

That, coming from a Kimi fan? Whoa, I'm impressed

Even though it is never going to happen on the basis Lotus have already confirmed d'Ambrosio, I'd personally have liked to see Bottas have a go. Seems to have good pace in the practice sessions he's taken part in, often close to or even beating Maldonado's pace. Practice doesn't really tell you an awful lot though, but that's interesting for me.

But maybe we'll have to wait till Maldonado gets a race ban to see that happen.

[Quiet One]

JHS18, on 04 September 2012 - 02:38 PM, said:

Even though it is never going to happen on the basis Lotus have already confirmed d'Ambrosio, I'd personally have liked to see Bottas have a go. Seems to have good pace in the practice sessions he's taken part in, often close to or even beating Maldonado's pace. Practice doesn't really tell you an awful lot though, but that's interesting for me.

But maybe we'll have to wait till Maldonado gets a race ban to see that happen.

It would have been most surprising if they chose Bottas, considering that they would have had to give him an insight on their car and even perhaps of their super DRS to a guy that drives for a rival team.

They could as well publish their telemetry on twitter! I mean, what kind of idiot would do something  like that? Har, har har!!!

Wait...

[freaky2]

JHS18, on 04 September 2012 - 02:38 PM, said:

Even though it is never going to happen on the basis Lotus have already confirmed d'Ambrosio, I'd personally have liked to see Bottas have a go. Seems to have good pace in the practice sessions he's taken part in, often close to or even beating Maldonado's pace. Practice doesn't really tell you an awful lot though, but that's interesting for me.

But maybe we'll have to wait till Maldonado gets a race ban to see that happen.

No way! I'd never be able to stomach Dora's stupid monkey interfering with my favourite sport!

[Massa]

To my knowledge, d'Ambrosio has never been confirmed.  Just mentioned in every article as a leading choice due to being the third driver.  Feel free to correct me, but as of yesterday, Lotus had not confirmed a driver.

That said, I still expect it to be d'Ambrosio.  Especially now that Rubens Barrichello is suggesting himself to Lotus.

[Massa]

Massa, on 04 September 2012 - 04:42 PM, said:

To my knowledge, d'Ambrosio has never been confirmed.  Just mentioned in every article as a leading choice due to being the third driver.  Feel free to correct me, but as of yesterday, Lotus had not confirmed a driver.

That said, I still expect it to be d'Ambrosio.  Especially now that Rubens Barrichello is suggesting himself to Lotus.

Look at the front page of Autosport, dip****.

[Massa]

Massa, on 04 September 2012 - 04:48 PM, said:

Look at the front page of Autosport, dip****.

Okay.  Thanks.

[Rainmaster]

Massa, on 04 September 2012 - 04:48 PM, said:

Okay.  Thanks.

I wouldn't take that Eric, that guy seems like a real a##hole.

I'd like to see Bottas get a drive too since he has so much hype around him and seems like a decent prospect, but apparently he thinks he's going to struggle to break into a race seat with Williams because he hasn't got enough money. Shame.

Edited by Rainmaster, 04 September 2012 - 04:52 PM.

[Rainmaster]

Back to Monza, I expect with everyone so close it's going to be a thriller, which probably means it'll be boring as hell. I suppose there are quite a few teams that are going to be strong again, not least Mercedes and Lotus, at least in a straight line. Then Macca and Red Bull are bound to be up the front too, so Alonso has a tough damage limitation job on his hands, I'd say.

[Quiet One]

Ferrari's strong point according to them is straight line speed so perhaps there's a right of hope there. Other than that, RBR and Macca had both shown glimpses of impressive speed compared to the rest of the field. Macca, the most recent. If that wasn't a one-timw wonder and they don't mess the setup (which I still think is their weakest spot) then it is going to be a more boring version of Spa.

Monza is 90% about the cars and 10% about the driver under normal circumstances. Then again, there was nothing normal about this season. Even if it ends up being completely predictable it's good that we cannot predict that!

[Massa]

Quiet One, on 04 September 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

Then again, there was nothing normal about this season. Even if it ends up being completely predictable it's good that we cannot predict that!

True.

Plus, we're lucky to be in the time zones we are.  When a race is boring early in the morning, I don't feel bad about watching it.  Nothing else I could have done on a Sunday morning would be any more enjoyable than even the least eventful Grand Prix of all-time.  Now, spending a Sunday afternoon with something dull, gah, there are things to do!

Hopefully it'll be exciting for everyone in all time zones, though.  I like when that happens.

[Peeweev]

My predictions will be Grosjean, De la Rosa and Kart ...



... hmmmmmmmm not sure i will be right!

Seriously i think we will see a similar result to spa even though its a different type of track. Mclaren looking strong and likely to win with alonso and massa having strong race infront of italian crowd. Lotus in the mix (kimi anyway) with red bull again thinking why didnt we make our car go at a half decent straight line speed! with the final points being fought between Williams, sauber, mercedes and Force India doing a good job and gettting a few points.

Im also looking forward to a few of the back markers having a bit of bumper cars down into the first corner with maldonado trying to join in. Who wants wings ah?

[JHS18]

Massa, on 04 September 2012 - 04:42 PM, said:

To my knowledge, d'Ambrosio has never been confirmed.  Just mentioned in every article as a leading choice due to being the third driver.  Feel free to correct me, but as of yesterday, Lotus had not confirmed a driver.

Yeah, you were right. I saw a story immediately after it was announced that Grosjean was banned following the race on Sunday that basically made it sound like it was confirmed already, so that's what confused me.

Oh well. He's confirmed now. Will still be interesting to see how he gets on now he'll get a go in a much more competitive car compared to the one he was in last year. Points must surely be a target for him if he's serious about returning to F1 full time.

[The Shadow]

McLaren, Red Bull and Alonso will be strong here. I think the cars that will do well in Monza have shown their hand in the 1st and 3rd sectors of Spa. Perhaps even a rejuvenated Mercedes, depending on the Pirelli tyre choice (med and hard), though one suspects that they would fade in the last 5-6 laps of the race.

I wouldn't put too much pressure on D'Ambrosio. Being around 10th would show that he is capable of a comeback in a decent team given that he has not had a full run on this year's pirellis from green until the canvas, as well as Lotus not exactly setting the world on fire when it comes to strategy on race day.

[pabloh20]

Quiet One, on 04 September 2012 - 03:11 PM, said:

It would have been most surprising if they chose Bottas, considering that they would have had to give him an insight on their car and even perhaps of their super DRS to a guy that drives for a rival team.

They could as well publish their telemetry on twitter! I mean, what kind of idiot would do something  like that? Har, har har!!!

Wait...

Indeed

I think Whitmarsh should tell Lewis to put the laptop back in the box and walk away.  He is apparently too stupid to use twitter.......................pretty much like most footballers that use twitter

[freaky2]

The Shadow, on 05 September 2012 - 06:47 AM, said:

I wouldn't put too much pressure on D'Ambrosio. Being around 10th would show that he is capable of a comeback in a decent team given that he has not had a full run on this year's pirellis from green until the canvas, as well as Lotus not exactly setting the world on fire when it comes to strategy on race day.

While I agree with the bolded statement, I think that Lotus have been improving little by little in that field. In the last race before the summer break (I think, my memory is rubbish, excuse me) Kimi even had a very good strategy that effectively made him gain more places than on-track passes. It might be a lucky one-time event, but at least I believe they aren't screwing up big time like at the beginning of the season

[pabloh20]

Quiet One, on 04 September 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

Ferrari's strong point according to them is straight line speed so perhaps there's a right of hope there. Other than that, RBR and Macca had both shown glimpses of impressive speed compared to the rest of the field. Macca, the most recent. If that wasn't a one-timw wonder and they don't mess the setup (which I still think is their weakest spot) then it is going to be a more boring version of Spa.

Monza is 90% about the cars and 10% about the driver under normal circumstances. Then again, there was nothing normal about this season. Even if it ends up being completely predictable it's good that we cannot predict that!

I think Ferrari's strong point for quite a few races now seems to be that is has a wider window of operation for set up, or that the team are really on top of the set up. It seems to 'work' in more varied conditions than some of the other cars.

[JHS18]

It'll certainly be interesting that's for sure. Somehow I can't ignore the suggestion that McLaren will do very well around here, which is a shame from a purely selfish point of view.

Be interesting to see what Mercedes can do with their famous straight line speed. There's not so many long sweeping turns at Monza as Spa (which they said hurts them), so maybe they'll be quite competitive. Hoping for a strong result for Sauber too - they deserve it after being taken out through no fault of their own at all at Spa.

Ferrari should do well, they'll probably be on for a good race given they normally do well at Monza whatever the car is like. Red Bull's the interesting one. Didn't seem to have too much straight line speed in Spa which could make their life very tricky this weekend, but then again everyone thought that last year and Vettel dominated. So we'll see.

Edited by JHS18, 05 September 2012 - 10:38 AM.

[JHS18]

Mercedes looking quite strong in practice, both cars in the top three. But don't worry, they'll probably come up with a great way to f*ck it up in qualifying and/or the race.

Red Bull a little down the order, maybe to be expected here, but earlier stages yet.

[LabradoRacer]

You are clairvoyant, Jim. Schumi suffered DRS failure in FP2.

[JHS18]

LabradoRacer, on 07 September 2012 - 01:20 PM, said:

You are clairvoyant, Jim. Schumi suffered DRS failure in FP2.

Never!

I'm so surprised...wait, I don't mean surprised do I?

Nevertheless, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes looking very close, particularly over long runs. Red Bull needing to find some more pace.

[LabradoRacer]

A KERS failure for Schumi in FP3. Sigh.

[BradSpeedMan]

JHS18, on 07 September 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

Nevertheless, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes looking very close, particularly over long runs. Red Bull needing to find some more pace.

"If the headline lap times were close, so was the the performance on the long runs. Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen was astonishingly consistent on a 17 lap run and a little faster than Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari, but based on previous weekend’s it’s possible Lotus may have slightly less fuel on board. Either way we have the front running teams very well matched with McLaren still the team to beat."
jamesallen.com

Would'n bet on a win, but should be pretty close...

Edited by BradSpeedMan, 08 September 2012 - 11:01 AM.