Mexico Race Thread

[Rainmaster 7]

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.

I know what you mean. It makes me think that maybe Schumi does have a point somewhere in his complaints. Maybe Pirelli tyres are so difficult to understand with such odd characteristics this year that they reduce the value of driving/winning too much. It's probably more than just the tyres, though (the diffuser and the front wing changes too). Maybe, without unlimited testing, it is in that sense a lottery.

But I think probably the opposite of our perception is true. The Pirelli tyres are so difficult to understand that winning, more than ever requires having a "perfect weekend" and finding the sacred sweet spot (I mean of the car here, guys). It's counter-intuitive but maybe apparently "random" winners is a sign of the competition being even more intense than ever (well, any recent season), and that's a good thing. From that perspective, winning is just as difficult and has as much value as ever, if not more. We just don't like it because in our own minds, it's easier to separate the teams and more importantly drivers into losers and winners! Categories like that are a nice comfort zone. Maldonado and Rosberg winning makes us question our own judgement. Or maybe that's just me

[Rainmaster 7]

Pressure on Massa increases, http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18067284

[BradSpeedMan 6]

..... and threatening to leave them with no dandruff.

There!!!! thats the moment!!!!!! That's the moment you decided to spoil a thoroughly entertaining and factual post. I was going to recommend this as maybe the post of the year with the most insight into the season as far... but you had to go spoil it with these last words...

At the time reading the post I was thinking here's another lovely stuff from me coming up, but then I had to read that

next week the ugly pay driver from the worst team is the new Vettel.

and you just had to dig this one in did'nt you. As I said, thoroughly entertaining at least the gf is abit of a looker (no guys not hooker; looker! Before Jay get some funny idea again), quite yummy I must add

[Quiet One 15]

There!!!! thats the moment!!!!!! That's the moment you decided to spoil a thoroughly entertaining and factual post. I was going to recommend this as maybe the post of the year with the most insight into the season as far... but you had to go spoil it with these last words...

At the time reading the post I was thinking here's another lovely post from me coming up, but then I had to read that

You actually made me laugh so loud! I had to reread my own post. Thank you!

I know what you mean. It makes me think that maybe Schumi does have a point somewhere in his complaints. Maybe Pirelli tyres are so difficult to understand with such odd characteristics this year that they reduce the value of driving/winning too much. It's probably more than just the tyres, though (the diffuser and the front wing changes too). Maybe, without unlimited testing, it is in that sense a lottery.

But I think probably the opposite of our perception is true. The Pirelli tyres are so difficult to understand that winning, more than ever requires having a "perfect weekend" and finding the sacred sweet spot (I mean of the car here, guys). It's counter-intuitive but maybe apparently "random" winners is a sign of the competition being even more intense than ever (well, any recent season), and that's a good thing. From that perspective, winning is just as difficult and has as much value as ever, if not more. We just don't like it because in our own minds, it's easier to separate the teams and more importantly drivers into losers and winners! Categories like that are a nice comfort zone. Maldonado and Rosberg winning makes us question our own judgement. Or maybe that's just me

Don't get me wrong, I don't think anything should be changed, quite the contrary. I think things should remain equal and let them find balance on the actual conditions. It is just a transition moment and entertaining by its own. If they change the rules, tires and everything else then it will be a continuous lottery.

This is too chaotic but if nothing changes teams will finally understand the tires, develop strategies based on very short performance windows, drivers will adjust their styles accordingly and cars will be evolutions, instead of letsdothiscarlikethisgodihopeitworksorwewillbetterscrapitonthesecondracenadstartworkingonnextyearscar!

So far, anywyays, we know that within a proper set of favorable conditions, any driver on the grid can perform a "flawless race", the more adaptable a drive is to cope with the not-so-favorable conditions, the better the driver is considered. So, no, I do not question my own judgement. Among the chaos, Alonso with a less than ideal car still reigns. Interestingly enough, so seems to do Vettel. Hamilton is somewhere thereabouts, even if I don't think he is that good because of his own mistakes. He has improved apparently but then his team has become a joke so it is harder to judge in his case. More worrying is Button which should be way higher yet he seems a 2011 WIllliams driver. Kimi should be added (much to my amazement). Grosjean on the other hand is mounted on the blossoming Poochie, but he seems to be still a little green. Webber is letting me down, I thought that a less than ideal RBR will show him a lot closer to his teammate yet he is nowhere near Vettel when it comes to consistency.

Massa: crap. I have run out of any sort of scale in which to measure him favourably except in being a nice guy.

[Massa 0]

Pressure on Massa increases, http://www.bbc.co.uk...rmula1/18067284

Massa under pressure with Monte Carlo and Montréal pending. This can't be any worse for him.

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.

Whenever someone uses PDLR, I read it as Piddler. It's funny because it means he's one who urinates and very few people urinate. Okay I'll go ban myself now.

[Rainmaster 7]

Don't get me wrong, I don't think anything should be changed, quite the contrary. I think things should remain equal and let them find balance on the actual conditions. It is just a transition moment and entertaining by its own. If they change the rules, tires and everything else then it will be a continuous lottery.

This is too chaotic but if nothing changes teams will finally understand the tires, develop strategies based on very short performance windows, drivers will adjust their styles accordingly and cars will be evolutions, instead of letsdothiscarlikethisgodihopeitworksorwewillbetterscrapitonthesecondracenadstartworkingonnextyearscar!

So far, anywyays, we know that within a proper set of favorable conditions, any driver on the grid can perform a "flawless race", the more adaptable a drive is to cope with the not-so-favorable conditions, the better the driver is considered. So, no, I do not question my own judgement. Among the chaos, Alonso with a less than ideal car still reigns. Interestingly enough, so seems to do Vettel. Hamilton is somewhere thereabouts, even if I don't think he is that good because of his own mistakes. He has improved apparently but then his team has become a joke so it is harder to judge in his case. More worrying is Button which should be way higher yet he seems a 2011 WIllliams driver. Kimi should be added (much to my amazement). Grosjean on the other hand is mounted on the blossoming Poochie, but he seems to be still a little green. Webber is letting me down, I thought that a less than ideal RBR will show him a lot closer to his teammate yet he is nowhere near Vettel when it comes to consistency.

Massa: crap. I have run out of any sort of scale in which to measure him favourably except in being a nice guy.

Yep! I think it will settle sooner rather than later. Whoever understands how to use the tyre will have a big advantage. Lotus to me look like the closest to doing that but they seem a little unambitious or conservative in their approach/strategy. They still haven't got a weekend right; I can completely understand why Kimi is so dissatisfied. In the meantime while they are all scrambling the results will look random but they are just as much the product of driver skill and hard team work as ever. There is plenty of evidence of that. And of course you are right about judging drivers. I don't think anything actually changed. It shouldn't be a surprise that a midfield F1 driver can do the performance that Maldonado did, for example. It's a reminder of the fact the standard of driving is generally pretty high in F1 and the fact we struggle to evaluate the performance of guys who aren't in top cars.

[Rainmaster 7]

Massa under pressure with Monte Carlo and Montréal pending. This can't be any worse for him.

Whenever someone uses PDLR, I read it as Piddler. It's funny because it means he's one who urinates and very few people urinate. Okay I'll go ban myself now.

I hope it rains in both those races. And in Europe.. we urinate. All the time.

[Quiet One 15]

I hope it rains in both those races. And in Europe.. we urinate. All the time.

...Except you do it from the wrong side of the road...so to speak...

[HandyNZL 1]

My two cents:

Maldonado qualified P2 on a hot hot day

Maldonado finished first in the race on a somewhat cooler day and with tyres that were older than his nearest opposition.

I therefore conclude that the tyres had less bearing on the result than some would like to believe

My next two cents:

Freddy is either racing his sweet bejeezus off that F2012 or Massa is just not up to snuff. He is being continually outperformed by a huge margin. It appears to me that Freddy is taking 6/10ths off his car and Massa is putting it onto his. I can not believe that Ferrari would compromise the number 2's race by that much. Even in the days of Mike, neither Eddie nor Ben were that far behind...even in '06 Massa was not that far behind Mike.

[pabloh20 1]

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.

So, because you don't like football, all the fans are drunken, unintelligent yobs?? Way to go with increasing the perception of intelligent fans in F1

Is your grandmother Maggie Thatcher by the way??

[JHS18 0]

all the fans are drunken, unintelligent yobs

I'm glad you agree.

Geez dude. Look up the definition of "sarcasm" before taking offence.

[pabloh20 1]

I'm glad you agree.

Geez dude. Look up the definition of "sarcasm" before taking offence.

Right back at you - take special note of the laughing icon at the end of the sentence of my previous post

[Massa 0]

It's actually funny to see the stereotype of an English soccer fan compared to the stereotype of an American soccer fan. Here we regard soccer fans as these high-brow, intellectual, super-liberal snobs who think the perfect footwear to go with dress pants is a pair of boat shoes, without socks (which is such a horrible thing to do, sorry if any of you do that, but it's just bad, boat shoes go with shorts, and not wearing socks is weird but I sort of get it with it boat shoes but please stop wearing them with full-length pants, honestly, you need socks with full-length pants and why you wear casual brown shoes with black pants is beyond me, that's horrid, and don't get me going on wearing a different colored jacket from your pants, I often evaluate how much I like my professors on whether or not they do that), and think they are too good for America because they drive a Toyota Prius and eat Nutella on everything, all while introducing themselves as "hello, I am _____, I am gender-fluid and have been a vegan for three months. Would you like to watch the Manchester United match on my laptop in a Starbucks with me?"

Actually I think I got away from describing soccer fans there and started describing students at the university I used to attend where you spend $50,000/year to learn to be against the system that yielded your parents all the money to pay for you to go there, because you know, being in a nation where the vast majority of working people are in the top 1% of earners in the entire world clearly demonstrates a major flaw in the economic system. Well, actually it does, the major flaw is the people, who can't figure out how to live on $45,000/year because they really, really, really need a smart phone and a new car and a huge house and their children have to go to private school and those boat shoes, even though they look just as bad for $12 at Kmart, you have to buy the brand name boat shoes...

All in all, it was a decent race and I wish they'd run Monaco next weekend around my schedule and not their own.

[Massa 0]

Overlooked over the weekend: Valtteri Bottas placing fifth in the Williams in FP1. Obviously the Williams was a good car this weekend, but that's solid. I mention this now because rumors are already circulating that he's secured the funding for a 2013 race seat there, ousting Bruno Senna. Seems awful early, but nothing would surprise me. I hope Senna gets it together so he can land elsewhere if he must. I've warmed up to him, though I'm still not sold on his driving ability.

[Delta 0]

The teams tested these new tyres just like they did previously. There has to be more to what's going on than just the tyres, I have a feeling that it's actually the banning of exhaust blowing that is leading to the wild variability in car performances. Lewis, a driver that is constantly being railroaded for having an aggressive driving style made a set of tyres do more than 30 laps, and pulled off a 2 stopper. They can't have been that bad.

[pabloh20 1]

The teams tested these new tyres just like they did previously. There has to be more to what's going on than just the tyres, I have a feeling that it's actually the banning of exhaust blowing that is leading to the wild variability in car performances. Lewis, a driver that is constantly being railroaded for having an aggressive driving style made a set of tyres do more than 30 laps, and pulled off a 2 stopper. They can't have been that bad.

Just a bit of a guess, but I think Lewis has been working on making his tryes last, a la Jenson, over winter testing. Can't remember where I saw it, but he said he was wearing his tyres less than Button, but still reasonably quick with it.

[Quiet One 15]

http://www.totalf1.com/full_story/view/417048/Whiting_FIA_had_to_disqualify_Hamilton_in_Spain/

Makes a lot of sense, actually. I still think that the intent to lie their way out of this helped as well.

[Massa 0]

I still don't see what the problem with the penalty was at all. I think it's totally fair and should be applied this way to anyone who breaks the rule.

[pabloh20 1]

http://www.totalf1.c...ilton_in_Spain/

Makes a lot of sense, actually. I still think that the intent to lie their way out of this helped as well.

Again, I must have missed this - what intent to lie their way out?

[HandyNZL 1]

Oh, it's the crazy Argentinian's latest conspiracy theory.

Having found that the "bald spot is a solar panel for a sex machine" conspiracy was debunked, he needed a new conspiracy to hang his hat on....

[pabloh20 1]

Oh, it's the crazy Argentinian's latest conspiracy theory.

Having found that the "bald spot is a solar panel for a sex machine" conspiracy was debunked, he needed a new conspiracy to hang his hat on....

Ahhh I see

He must be using the old internet tactic that if you repeate it enough times it becomes fact

[Grabthaw the Hammerslayer 4]

How sad am I? (Don't answer that). I looked up how many hours of sunshine there was on average in Buenos Aires, compared to London to (I thought) prove that London was sunnier, therefore we would be greater sex machines.

However London gets 4 hours a day, compared to around 7 for Buenos Aires, so that shoots that theory to bits... Bugger!

Ah, but if it rains more in England, we're more likely to be indoors doing it haha!

[AleHop 0]

ERIC!!!

I thought it was a thread about a new F1 race in Mexico next season!!! :-D

The season is strange, it's never happened before. I like it! No, I mean I prefer this type of championship vs. last year competition for 2nd.