Mexico Race Thread

[LabradoRacer 2]

WTF? Some explosion in the Williams garage? ESPNF1 says no one hurt.

Edit: Sorry, ESPNF1 says injuries have occured. Explosion had something to do with KERS.

[JHS18 0]

Big fire in the Williams garage, reported injuries.

[JHS18 0]

Image from Twitter, not mine:

https://p.twimg.com/AsyMolOCEAIdNL1.jpg:large

[Delta 0]

Doesn't matter what the rule was for...the driver lives and dies by the whole team. Plain and simple. Motorsport is NOT an individual effort - it is, and always has been, a TEAM sport.

Saying that the driver shouldn't be punished is like saying that a penalty should not be awarded in football if a defender causes the infringement and not the striker.

It has nothing to do with Red Bull or Ferrari. We all know where your allegiances lie, and there is no team dearer to the heart of a Kiwi, but this is one you need to take on the chin.

I never disputed that the team made a mistake, it was indeed a really dumb thing to do I just don't think the penalty fits the crime. When a rule is intended to stop clear and obvious attempts to cheat, that's precisely what it should be used for. If I added up the amount of penalties over the last 5 years I'd wager that McLaren have had 50% more than any other team, and I'd also wager that twice as many have been levied at Lewis than any other title challenging driver currently on the grid. I also disagree with whoever said the stewarding in F1 is professional because it is not, it's an utterly inconsistent joke.

Onto the actual race... 8th should feel like a win to Lewis, he did well to get points. Ironically over the past 3 races Jenson seems to have struggled, which is odd as this generation of tyres seem to usually reward drivers that are kind to them. Lewis has driven maturely this season, probably the most maturely I've seen him drive since the start of his career and he deserves credit for that, and if the team can stop making silly errors it will make him a much stronger challenger this year. Also gobsmacked that Maldonado had the pace that he did, he was clearly faster than Alonso whenever it really mattered and what's more this years Ferrari seems to use its tyres a lot harder than previous iterations of their car do. Alonso really is lucky the GP wasn't one lap longer or Kimi would have had him at the end there. I also consider the clash between Michael and Bruno to be a simple racing incident. Although Bruno did move in the breaking zone, I think he did it not to block Michael but in anticipation of him coming down the inside. Just an unfortunate mistake for me.

[JHS18 0]

Another image. Apparently a Force India mechanic has been taken to hospital.

[Delta 0]

Now they really are back with a bang

[Massa 0]

Expected that picture in Bahrain, not here.

Hope everyone's alright and all.

[JHS18 0]

Footage from BBC if anyone's interested. Seems from the latest like there are only minor injuries to a few mechanics. Very fortunate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9QLET_u1DA

[Delta 0]

I'm glad to see that nobody was seriously hurt.

[Massa 0]

Someone retweeted this. Thought it was pretty cool.

https://twitter.com/#!/Formula1_GP/status/201718051668901888/photo/1

[pabloh20 1]

Sorry but I disagree. You don't have to punish everybody, every time. Unless we are missing something LH seems pretty innocent in all this. FIA has ways of punishing just the team, or even the team and driver without being so harsh on someone who was merely a secondary character at best.

After all, Button is in the same team and he not only was not punished but benefited from all this

My theory: McLaren was obviously lying all the time. The fuel rule breach was there. When confronted with the stewards about both the rule breaching on fuel and the fact that they lied (bringing the sport into disrepute, remember?), they probably negotiated a compromise: full acceptance of the penalty in exchange of no mention of the disreputing part which would have probably ejected Whitmarsh right away and perhaps some others and fueled (no pun intended) what it already must be quite a political storm inside the team.

I must have missed something, but what weaselling out were McLaren doing and what did they do to bring the sport into disrepute?

Anyways, great drive from Maldanado, very calm under pressure. As mentioned in the commentary, no lockups, etc when Alonso was pressuring him and ultimately looked after his tyres better, it seems. I can't decide if it was inspired pit stop strategy hoping that Alonso would get held up by Pic (as he did), or just got lucky.

Lotus looking pretty good again, especially in the hands of Kimi in the race. It only seems a matter of time before everything comes together for them and Kimi wins a race, which would be excellent.

[JHS18 0]

Someone retweeted this. Thought it was pretty cool.

https://twitter.com/...8901888/photo/1

What a way to have to celebrate your first GP victory!

31 people in total being treated. 7 of those are in local hospitals.

http://www.autosport...rt.php/id/99605

[Rainmaster 7]

Well, I for one do not understand this season. I mean Williams? Really? How? It was Frank Williams' birthday so the stars must have aligned! No, they've done a good job to come back from last year's mire. It's nice to have another different winner, and the sport's favourite underdog, no less. I didn't think Maldonado had it in him, at all. Just like I didn't think Rosberg did. I still stubbornly refuse to rate or like either of them

Anyway, an okay race. Shame the battle which was teased towards the end between Alonso, Kimi and Pastor never came to fruition. I hate when that happens. Vettel and Koby did a decent enough job. Hamilton drove well to limit the damage - he is driving much better this year, without doubt.

The penalty? I agree that you don't always have to penalise the driver for a team mistake; although in this case you do because the mistake could benefit the driver. But this was too harsh. Not because of conspiracy, just bad application of a rule intended for something else. They could easily have taken his fastest Q3 time away or even just excluded him from Q3; that would satisfy the purpose of the rule and hurt Mclaren's chances plenty enough. No reason to go crazy if we accept that this was a blunder not a crime, which seems to be the case.. unless.. if Mclaren misled the stewards (usually we hear about that sort of thing)? And I don't want to hear that the stewards had no choice for some technical reason; they clearly are aware of the meaning of discretion (see: not penalising Hamilton for driving off track in Bahrain).

All in all, it's still a completely wide open season. Mclaren seem like the strongest overall but they need to get their act together. Alonso is the maestro and the improved Ferrari means he's going to be hard to beat when he's leading now, imo. Vettel is up there, turns out he isn't awful. Monaco should be an interesting one, I think Kimi is due a real result isn't he..

[Quiet One 15]

All Hail The Pay Driver

[Massa 0]

Who's doing the race report? Look forward to the action later.

You are. Go for it.

All Hail The Pay Driver

The moment he worked for his whole life, having two sweaty guys touch his sweaty inner thighs.

Monaco

I hate, hate, hate that Monaco is the same day as the Indy 500. It makes me so angry. How can I be angry today, though? Vettel lost! He drove well. He can overtake. Every race I see, he overtakes. He's good at it. But he lost, so glad he lost, even if I'm not the world's biggest Mal guy (is anyone...or was anyone before today? I hope Bruno wins now, I like Bruno. Bruno loses, shakes hands with his team. The Good Pastor damns his team to Hell and flames after they win a race for him. I like Kamui too. I like Kamui because he smiled in the pre-race. You know what else happened in the pre-race? Will Buxton was interviewing the Donny there and David Coulthard third-man-inned. He held his microphone in the kid's face, then he put it in Buxton's face and let Buxton ask the questions for him. Then he asked his own question. Not sure if you saw that on BBC but it made me laugh. Guess it wasn't your interview, Dave. Maybe next year). But yes, Monaco, I wish it weren't the same day as Indy, because I want to watch it. I bet Jean Alesi, Rubens Barrichello, and Takuma Sato have a combined age higher than the entire field of 24 running at Monaco will. Maybe not. Was Pérez even born last time Alesi drove in F1?

Good night.

[Rainmaster 7]

I wish the forum software was smart enough to say "Massa quoted a word you posted"

[Quiet One 15]

You are. Go for it.

The moment he worked for his whole life, having two sweaty guys touch his sweaty inner thighs.

I hate, hate, hate that Monaco is the same day as the Indy 500. It makes me so angry. How can I be angry today, though? Vettel lost! He drove well. He can overtake. Every race I see, he overtakes. He's good at it. But he lost, so glad he lost, even if I'm not the world's biggest Mal guy (is anyone...or was anyone before today? I hope Bruno wins now, I like Bruno. Bruno loses, shakes hands with his team. The Good Pastor damns his team to Hell and flames after they win a race for him. I like Kamui too. I like Kamui because he smiled in the pre-race. You know what else happened in the pre-race? Will Buxton was interviewing the Donny there and David Coulthard third-man-inned. He held his microphone in the kid's face, then he put it in Buxton's face and let Buxton ask the questions for him. Then he asked his own question. Not sure if you saw that on BBC but it made me laugh. Guess it wasn't your interview, Dave. Maybe next year). But yes, Monaco, I wish it weren't the same day as Indy, because I want to watch it. I bet Jean Alesi, Rubens Barrichello, and Takuma Sato have a combined age higher than the entire field of 24 running at Monaco will. Maybe not. Was Pérez even born last time Alesi drove in F1?

Good night.

Nobody likes Maldonado, poor guy. I was actually surprised when I read in one article about "the likeable Pastor Maldonado". I don't like him and besides the kudos for winning the race I still don't think he has proven he is really any better than Senna except by the fact that he can win the first race for Williams in 8 years and a pole whereas Bruno could not get past Q1 and then got involved in a stupid accident with Schumi. But, besides that, I don't see any difference.

(Damn, I wanted Bruno to be THE guy so much! )

Still it is only fair to congratulate the superb drive even if this was a freak coincidence in the vein of Hulkenberg's "Perfect qualy lap". On Pastor's pluses you should keep in mind that:

a.- This was not some sort of chaotic-rainy-everybody-running-around-like-headless-chickens race that he found himself winning which is usually the case in these situations. No rain, which is the usual mean for some also ran to make his way into the history books.

b. It was Barcelona, one of the races that "separates the kids from the men" beause they all know it so it's a much levelled field than most other races and it's highly technical.

c.- He did not have the best car. Even if the Williams are actually as good as they seemed today they seemed like being behind the Maccas and the Lotus at least. Probably behind the RBRs which were plagued by some mystery nose virus in addition to their poor weekend setup.

d.- Alonso, local hero behind.

e.- Alonso, 2 times WDC behind.

f.- Alonso, all fired up to keep the WDC leadership behind

g.- Kimi charging behind Alonso, forcing him to probably skip one last stop.

He did not flinch, he did not choke, he preserved the tires, he fought hard at the start against Alonso without going commando and knew when to pull back, yet keeping enough cold blood to bide his time.

I do not like him the least, but all those are pretty amazing feats. I am impressed against my own will.

[Quiet One 15]

I wish the forum software was smart enough to say "Massa quoted a word you posted"

It is smart enough to tell me that somebody post something while I was typing my own.

While at it...about Massa... When you have 2 cars that have minor differences but are basically the same, and one makes 2nd and is one of the championship leaders whereas the other ended up 15th only ahead of the Caterhams, Marussia and HRTs which are the only ones he actuall beats in the championship as well...how the hell do you gauge the actual performance of the car???

[Delta 0]

I admit I wasn't and still am not a fan of Pastor's, but I have to give credit where it's due he drove a brilliant race. Had it not been for McLaren's fueling faux-pas Lewis would have probably ran away with it in my opinion but the fact that he in a Williams had the pace to hold off Alonso is just a sign of how unpredictable this season has became.

I still think McLaren have the fastest car, and if they stop making stupid mistakes the title is theirs for the taking. And I'm sure Red Bull will leave Barcelona scratching their heads, there's no doubt their car lacks the underlying pace of the McLaren, and 2 apparent front wing failures that were not caused by accident damage.

This season is amazingly close. For the first time in many years I'll just admit I haven't got a clue what's going to happen next (although I imagine Lewis will be strong at Monaco)

[JHS18 0]

I hate, hate, hate that Monaco is the same day as the Indy 500. It makes me so angry. How can I be angry today, though? Vettel lost! He drove well. He can overtake. Every race I see, he overtakes. He's good at it. But he lost, so glad he lost, even if I'm not the world's biggest Mal guy (is anyone...or was anyone before today? I hope Bruno wins now, I like Bruno. Bruno loses, shakes hands with his team. The Good Pastor damns his team to Hell and flames after they win a race for him. I like Kamui too. I like Kamui because he smiled in the pre-race. You know what else happened in the pre-race? Will Buxton was interviewing the Donny there and David Coulthard third-man-inned. He held his microphone in the kid's face, then he put it in Buxton's face and let Buxton ask the questions for him. Then he asked his own question. Not sure if you saw that on BBC but it made me laugh. Guess it wasn't your interview, Dave. Maybe next year). But yes, Monaco, I wish it weren't the same day as Indy, because I want to watch it. I bet Jean Alesi, Rubens Barrichello, and Takuma Sato have a combined age higher than the entire field of 24 running at Monaco will. Maybe not. Was Pérez even born last time Alesi drove in F1?

Good night.

Kaumi also tried to go into the pit lane after the fire to check to see if everyone was okay. They turned him away because the police wanted to investigate the area, but I thought that was very cool of him. I also saw a photo recently of Kamui helping a mechanic fix a piece on the car. Apparently he'd broken something after stepping out of the car at the Mugello test, and went to the factory to help fix it as a way of saying sorry. He's a guy who is easy to like.

But yes, I saw that live on the BBC. But you silly American channels need to know your place! It's a European sport at a European race, so European channels (particularly the Beeb seeing as Bernie's ripped them off) should get priority in who they get to talk to over every other channel! j/k

...I'm going to be a rubbish journalist.

[Massa 0]

Massa

The Massa/Massachusetts thing only just occurred to me. No wonder he gets in so many accidents. Never uses his damn turn signal.

(I hope some Guest reading is from the U.S. and gets this. I just wanted to make sure whatever I wrote to George would be worthless).

It is smart enough to tell me that somebody post something while I was typing my own.

While at it...about Massa... When you have 2 cars that have minor differences but are basically the same, and one makes 2nd and is one of the championship leaders whereas the other ended up 15th only ahead of the Caterhams, Marussia and HRTs which are the only ones he actuall beats in the championship as well...how the hell do you gauge the actual performance of the car???

To be fair, he got a penalty. He could have scored in tenth. He also (barely) passed a car that had huge front-load issues before it got a front wing change. I was sarcastically encouraging him all race long.

Kaumi also tried to go into the pit lane after the fire to check to see if everyone was okay. They turned him away because the police wanted to investigate the area, but I thought that was very cool of him. I also saw a photo recently of Kamui helping a mechanic fix a piece on the car. Apparently he'd broken something after stepping out of the car at the Mugello test, and went to the factory to help fix it as a way of saying sorry. He's a guy who is easy to like.

But yes, I saw that live on the BBC. But you silly American channels need to know your place! It's a European sport at a European race, so European channels (particularly the Beeb seeing as Bernie's ripped them off) should get priority in who they get to talk to over every other channel! j/k

...I'm going to be a rubbish journalist.

He worked on his own car?

I love this guy. I hope he never wins a race until the very last one of his career. As soon as they get good, they jump the shark for me.

SPEED will give you guys grid walk priority if and only if you take your EPL crap back. It was on SPEED immediately following the race. Only kudos in the whole thing goes to Bob Varsha for his smooth mention of the Chelsea logos on the Sauber as a way to transition to a promo about the...I wouldn't say game or match...that implies some level of competition and it seems to me you don't compete by passing backwards and doodling around mid-field...spectacle makes it sound more exciting than it is...uhh...a lot of people go to it dressed as their favorite characters, so I guess we'll just call it a convention.

[Quiet One 15]

To be fair, he got a penalty. He could have scored in tenth. He also (barely) passed a car that had huge front-load issues before it got a front wing change. I was sarcastically encouraging him all race long.

Even without the penalty he was nowhere close to his teammate. He has 2 points in the championship. I amo not merely saying that he is crap (keyword here: "merely"), it was also a way to addressing the most interesting thing about this season which is: nobody knows shyte about what's the actual status of drivers/cars/teams this year by a combination of pirelli tires being too pirellish, new regulations, inconsistent drives...and McLaren's incompetence

There's an article somewhere wrote by somebody about something. Look it up, it's on TF1. Ah, now I remember, the headline was something about Nando calling this season as "strange". The article itself is not about Nando, buut about how strange the season is and others that are as confused as the Spaniard. And it is true. One day Mercedes is the new RBR, next week the ugly pay driver from the worst team is the new Vettel. Britney shines, then disappears. Lewis is everyday about to turn this into another 2004 Ferrari Schumi, yet he doesn't, Button complains aboutu everything, Kimi is disappointed because he only got 2 podiums, poor guy.

We all love a mixed up field (which we call "levelled" for unknown reasons). But there is an increasing concern about being way too mixed, to the point that its looking more like a lottery than a competition.

My feeling (and I guess most people agrees) is that even McLaren's combined effort to ruin themselves will not be enough to impede them to grab at least a WDC. But they need to sort their number fast. Lotus is an increasingly black shadow ominously looming above their heads and threatening to leave them with no dandruff.

[Massa 0]

I think the more lottery-like it looks, the better.

What if the F2012 is the best car on the grid and Alonso is a mediocre driver, while Massa is just a complete hack?

[Quiet One 15]

I think the more lottery-like it looks, the better.

What if the F2012 is the best car on the grid and Alonso is a mediocre driver, while Massa is just a complete hack?

At some point everybody must have felt that way. Then again, if consistency is the key of this season, then PDLR has my confidence vote for 2012 WDC.

[JHS18 0]

SPEED will give you guys grid walk priority if and only if you take your EPL crap back. It was on SPEED immediately following the race. Only kudos in the whole thing goes to Bob Varsha for his smooth mention of the Chelsea logos on the Sauber as a way to transition to a promo about the...I wouldn't say game or match...that implies some level of competition and it seems to me you don't compete by passing backwards and doodling around mid-field...spectacle makes it sound more exciting than it is...uhh...a lot of people go to it dressed as their favorite characters, so I guess we'll just call it a convention.

Hey, I don't want it either. They call it the English Premier League and it's full of foreigners who can never seem to speak a damn word of intelligent English when they're on the news! As for the fans...well, they can never speak a damn word of intelligent English ever....

Now Formula One it is a very different matter. Unless you're Kimi.

I'll stop now before I get accused of being of an unpatriotic b*stard which in my experience is generally the reception you get when you tell a drunk fan you don't like football.