Dod Bahrain

[mikathegreat2 2]

Who gets your DOD?? I came to a conclusion that Button deserves it! There were other thoughts, Rubens for storming thru everyone but screwed up by pitting for soft tyres in his 2nd pit & could've got a podium, Piquet for finishing a race & Kimi for scoring Ferrari's 1st points this season!

[freaky2 1]

Button is DOD, good for Kimi for not crashing.... XD

Actually I can't believe this but this year the guy who wins has got DOD in all the races. OK, in Australia there was more of a fight for the honour, but it kinda comes as a change.

[Schumikonen 2]

Kimi is my choice, he took a crap of car from 10th to 6th in a race without SC, with no rain and only one DNF and he was leading the race at one point, he didn't inherit one single position he won what he everything he got with just his driving skills.

[Ayrton Senna 1]

Has to be Button. Don't know what Barrichello is doing on that list, guy was the clown of the race.

[Kay 0]

Button, no doubt.

I feel sorry for Webber, passing at least ten cars and no rewards.

[raw 0]

Raikkonen was pure pleasure to watch today so my vote goes to him.

It's pretty hard choice though cause most of the grid drove very well today.

[Medilloni 6]

JB. Clutch slip at the start, lost a couple of places, then... 1st corner was great, round the outside of Vettel, 2nd lap having the brains to suss out when Hamster would press the button, get the tow and then neat as a butler's shirt up the inside.

Silent hero, Webber, great charge through the field on a hot sunny day. Speaking of which, did anyone catch Fernando collapsing in the press interview? Drinks bottle didn't work for the whole race - so damn fine effort from him too.

Lucky Barsteward of the Day goes to Piquet, the only reason he didn't hit anything is because, well, you're in the desert, there's nothing to hit in Bahrain

Dish of the Day goes to Ross Brawn, cool as you like at the end on the pit wall, and in the interview with DC and the team, declined to comment on Flabia's comments

[Rainmaster 7]

Hard to pick in such an uneventful race. I would say Button, only for his passes at the start though.

Guess Webber did well, not that the director showed us any of that. Piquet did okay too, at least by his standards. Considering Alonso's water bottle not working or whatever, I guess he gets the GV determination award.

[Ikyrotz 0]

I was torn between Jenson and Kimi, and ended up voting Kimi just for being his fan . He had a brilliant quali up until he ran out of tires (thanks to the team) and might've very well driven from 10th to 5th, in front of Barrichello, if not for the slight problem on his last pit stop, all without any retirements ahead of him. However, have to say, Jenson was brilliant today too, especially for getting past Lewis in the beginning, that was crucial for him and he succeeded with flying colors.

[Max Mosley 2]

Hamilton did reasonably well, compared to Kova, all weekend. Button trounced his team mate too. As did Vettel, but Mark didn't really get a fair go this time. Jarno didn't give poor Glock a shot. So, very originally. I'd say those 4 were the star performers. Alonso as George and Foxtrot say did well in the circumstances too, and we expect that.

[Quiet One 15]

As much as I hate giving DoD to the winner, no doubt about Button this time.

I am glad I can also add Alonso this time as a candidate for his determination and for the beautiful pass on Trulli. (Beautiful because it was succesful, had it failed I would be bitching about how dumb can a guy be to even try such manoeuvre!)

[King_Alonso786 0]

Fernando Alonso NO DOUBT

Read my previous thread for my reasoning

PS. I Voted Button by mistake, Seems i cant change it so its 3 votes to Alonso and 6 to Button

[FormulaSP 0]

Piquet.

[HandyNZL 1]

I didn't watch the race as I fell asleep at lap 7, awoke with 14 to go, fell asleep, awoke with 4 to go, fell asleep, awoke to see Kimi finish the race, therefore I concluded he must have won??!??!?!? So therefore he gets my vote

Oh and he got some points for Ferrari I hear now too....my choice for DOD is well founded then.

[Cinco 30]

I voted for Button. He won. The winner is the driver of the day because ultimately, they won, and no one else did, and that makes them the DOD.

No honorary DODs today because I didn't watch

But I will actually watch Spain, I promise! Not like I have a very good track record when it comes to trusting/believing me

[Oli 1]

Kubica was the star of the show for me.

[maure 1]

Vettel. Consistently as fast in clean air despite driving a KERRRRS-less, inferior, legal car.

If voting Vettel gets me penalized, then I go with the officially FIA-endorsed driver and vote for Ecclestone.

Competition-wise and race-wise, lucky that some of us got motoGP.

[F1 FANatic 1]

Vettel. Consistently as fast in clean air despite driving a KERRRRS-less, inferior, legal car.

If voting Vettel gets me penalized, then I go with the officially FIA-endorsed driver and vote for Ecclestone.

Competition-wise and race-wise, lucky that some of us got motoGP.

I have to agree, not even mentioning how absolutely stupid an idea KERS is to have on a "race car", Vettle did well after being stuck behind the Trulli Train and then Keeping Trulli behind him till the end of the race, again being first of the legal cars to finish and again on the podium.

Really, DoD should always be the first of the legal cars not running KERS to finish seeing as how they are the only real race cars on track.

[Oli 1]

I agree about Kers- can't wait until that is on the scrap heap. I don't see why it affects DOD though. If it's so great why are only about 4 cars on the grid running it?

All the cars are legal though- it's time for you guys to come to terms with that. Loopholes are part of F1 and always have been. Besides which it's pretty obvious that the diffuser doesn't make as much difference as everyone thought, hence Williams being terrible and Red Bull being great. The Brawn car is just a good car, which is what we all expected from a high-budget team fronted by one of the greatest team principals in F1, having given up developing their car very early last year.

Shakeups are the exact reason people were clamouring for radical rule changes last year. You can't have it both ways.

[maure 1]

All the cars are legal though- it's time for you guys to come to terms with that. Loopholes are part of F1 and always have been.

In my opinion, it is those that can't accept that it all revolves around FIA's questionable actions who have yet to come to terms with what F1 really is. FIA has largely decided the pecking order for this season. Simple as that. I don't think it is about liking this new "order" or disliking it. I think it is about understanding _who_ has created it.

And so, as my signature now says, go Force India for 2010 "loophole" World Champions. Why? Because we all know it is not going to happen any other way while we all know that it can definitely happen this way. It's all about finding a loophole that FIA will reserve for you and then, when the season is on its way, have it declared super-duper genius innovation.

I think it would be fantastic to have an Indian team taking down the house.

[Oli 1]

I'd agree with the last part, but it's not going to happen.

The diffuser really does not make the difference between a good car and a bad car. Williams and Red Bull have demonstrated that.

It seems now in light of what we've heard about the meeting with Ross and the other TPs, that the teams were made aware of this potential loophole and chose to ignore it. This either means they were doing what they perceived to be fair (HAH!), or that they thought that by ignoring it they could gain an unfair advantage in the courts (serves them right). Most likely of all though, is that they didn't think they'd gain much of an advantage by having a diffuser. When pre-season testing proved them wrong, they reached for the FIA to bail them out. The FIA made a decision that under the current ruleset there was no was to ban the diffusers, thus it would have been grossly unfair to Brawn, Toyota and Williams to do so.

To suggest that somehow some teams were aware of the loophole and some were not is not realistic in my opinion. The teams do not have a quick scan through the rules before they start the season- they will be studied in great depth. And if they are not, then the team in question deserves to be at a disadvantage.

Sure, the FIA c#cked up in the original writing of the rules, but whichever way you look at it, the teams had options open to them. Look how quiet McLaren stayed- they played the smart game in being ready whether the diffuser was legal or not. Their car is still mediocre though.

[dribbler 6]

Kimi is my choice, he took a crap of car from 10th to 6th in a race without SC, with no rain and only one DNF and he was leading the race at one point, he didn't inherit one single position he won what he everything he got with just his driving skills.

Apart from the race lead, which he inherited.

PS. I Voted Button by mistake, Seems i cant change it

What a shame. Maybe that's why he collapsed.

[Jean Todt 4]

Nando...for collapsing after the race.

Its Button.

[Jean Todt 4]

Apart from the race lead, which he inherited.

What a shame. Maybe that's why he collapsed.

[maure 1]

I'd agree with the last part, but it's not going to happen.

The diffuser really does not make the difference between a good car and a bad car. Williams and Red Bull have demonstrated that.

It seems now in light of what we've heard about the meeting with Ross and the other TPs, that the teams were made aware of this potential loophole and chose to ignore it. This either means they were doing what they perceived to be fair (HAH!), or that they thought that by ignoring it they could gain an unfair advantage in the courts (serves them right). Most likely of all though, is that they didn't think they'd gain much of an advantage by having a diffuser. When pre-season testing proved them wrong, they reached for the FIA to bail them out. The FIA made a decision that under the current ruleset there was no was to ban the diffusers, thus it would have been grossly unfair to Brawn, Toyota and Williams to do so.

To suggest that somehow some teams were aware of the loophole and some were not is not realistic in my opinion. The teams do not have a quick scan through the rules before they start the season- they will be studied in great depth. And if they are not, then the team in question deserves to be at a disadvantage.

Sure, the FIA c#cked up in the original writing of the rules, but whichever way you look at it, the teams had options open to them. Look how quiet McLaren stayed- they played the smart game in being ready whether the diffuser was legal or not. Their car is still mediocre though.

The fact is that more than three teams _did_ explore the diffuser angle and that three of these teams were not given the go-ahead. There lies the fundamental problem. There lies the fix. There lies the scam.

In the case of Renault and RBR, there were told "no-go". This is interesting if you consider what Renault and RBR might have proposed to FIA. Of course, there are folks that prefer to believe that what Renault and RBR proposed was outside the rules. This is unlikely. Far more likely, is that what these two teams proposed to FIA was "interpretable". In other words, that Renault and RBR were exploring areas of the regulation not clearly defined, that is, _loopholes_. Get it? It is quite understandable that Renault and RBR are pssed off. FIA's interpretations are arbitrary. Some "loopholes" are ok, yet others are not.

The case of BMW is what seals the deal regarding FIA's actions. Their proposition to FIA was never answered. Consider this for a moment. FIA did not reply either way. This could've meant that BMW was given a "silent" go ahead. It could've also been a mortal trap set up by FIA to later fck BMW royally. It is of outmost interest that, despite whatever potential gains, BMW decided to play safe. After all, who can trust FIA? No one.