The F1 Thread 2012 Season

[Danqazmlp]

We're still a month or so away from the first race of the season but that action is already starting, hence making this thread.

 

The cars have all been unveiled now (I think) and some of the new pain schemes look great. My personal favourite so far is the new Renault:

 

 

 

As my Favourite Driver, I was chuffed to see Kubica leading the test times a few days ago:

 

Unofficial Thursday test times from Valencia:

1. Robert Kubica, Renault, 1:13.144, 95 Laps

2. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:13.201, 117 Laps

3. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:13.553, 105 Laps

4. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:13.936, 105 Laps

5. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:14.017, 80 Laps

6. Timo Glock, Virgin, 1:14.207, 114 Laps

7. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:14.299, 101 Laps

8. Sergio Perez, Sauber, 1:14.458, 103 Laps

9. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:14.537, 110 Laps

10. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:14.801, 73 Laps

11. Narain Karthikeyan, HRT, 1:16.535, 63 Laps

12. Jarno Trulli, Lotus, 1:31.477, 38 Laps

 

 

 

However, it's now doubtful he will even start the season due to a horrific crash while rallying has left him with multiple injuries with fractures to his hand, legs and arms. Proof really just how dangerous motrsports can be, and a real blow to F1 as in my opinion, he is one of the most exciting drivers to watch.

 

 

 

[BloodAngel]

According to the BBC Kubica looks likely to miss the whole season due to suffering from numerous fractures and severing his hand. There is even the possibility he might never race again. Renault will be missing their best (by far) driver so that's their season over already and F1 will be missing one of the best and most entertaining drivers in the field. Here's hoping he makes a full recovery and comes back stronger for 2012.

 

Some of the new cars are really interesting this year with each team taking a different approach to certain aspects of the cars. Ferrari seem to have the least radical car but most likely one of the quickest. Virgin seem to have made a massive leap forwards as well, although I can't remember if they've even revealed their new car yet. Of course testing means absolutely nothing, but it's looking like we could have another close season ahead of us again :thumbup:

[Danqazmlp]

If there is anything I know about F1 drivers it's that they don't let injuries haunt them. They are so determined to get back in the car after injuries that doctors estimates are often cut in half or less. I would hope that he can make at least a few races this year, but by the sounds of his injuries, he may lose almost all control of his hand.

[assassin_696]

Yeah really bad news about Kubica. Obviously can't tell much from the testing, I was reading about McLaren's new car the other day though (wasn't tested), interesting stuff, sounds like it has the potential to be pretty quick which would be great because I'd love to see another close championship.

[Jacks0n]

It's a real shame Kubica was in that car accident.. Hope me makes a fast recovery and can at least get some races in this season.

 

I love that Barrichello (spelling? idk) is racing for Williams! And that Williams are back in Formula 1 :)

[BloodAngel]

The Bahrain GP has been called off due to the unrest currently taking place in the Country, instead there will be an extra test in Barcelona. It has not been decided yet if or when the Bahrain GP will be rescheduled.

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89598

 

Perfectly understandable, it would have been stupid to hold a race there at the moment. Not sure I can take the extra 2 week wait for the F1 Season to start though :P

 

In terms of testing, it looks like RBR and Ferrari are going to be the cars to beat this year.

[Danqazmlp]

To be honest, from a personal viewpoint I'm glad Bahrain won't be the season starter. I expect that if it was to be the starter, it would be just like last year with it being an incredibly tedious race and the season fully starting in Australia. It is a bad track for overtaking and crowd size would be minuscule if it went ahead meaning the atmosphere would have been horrid. I wouldn't mind if they didn't return there but that's just me :rolleyes:

 

I am however glad the season will start in Australia. It's always such a great race there and will kick the season off in glorious style. The party atmosphere there always seems to me, to be a better season opener with many more motorsport fans turning up.

 

But two more weeks, noooooo. We were finally getting close to the start and now it's moving away from us.

 

It's good to see Kubica already recovering well from his crash and injuries http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2011/2/11769.html

He is a true machine, I can't see him being kept out of the sport for long. Even more likely that we will see him back in action before the end of the season. I think overall he's spent almost a day in surgery (three 7-8 hour surgeries). I can see him coming back more determined than ever.

[Danqazmlp]

Double post but only one week to go!

 

Can so see why the first race was cancelled for Bahrain though, it's chaos there at the moment.

[BloodAngel]

Hooray the season has arrived! Webber topped Free Practise 1 and Button Free Practise 2 which I don't think anyone expected and Ferrari and Mercedes were up there too. Really looking forward to Qualifying tomorrow, it's been too long since I've had the noise of the engines blasting out of my speakers. Will be interesting to see which cars actually seem to have the pace although last season McLaren were fast is qualifying and useless in the race which I wouldn't be surprised to see continue at least at the start.

Looks like Virgin and Lotus are still way off the pace as well so if they don't get their act together in qualifying tomorrow they'll suffer the 107% qualifying cut off.

[Danqazmlp]

For the first race of the season it was a stellar race. Normally they are rather boring after the first few laps but I enjoyed it. The Red Bulls leading was almost obviously going to happen but Ferrari lacking so much was surprising.

 

However, big props to Petrov! I knew Renault had a good car for this season but with Kubica out I expected them to be consistently 10th+. Heidfeld didn't do as well as he should. He and Kubica both drove excellently in the BMW's a few seasons ago and both seemed of the same class. Although he hasn't raced for a while, I did expect a bit more. Hopefully though he has the experience to really push the car. But Petrov, wow, what a consistent race. Didn't expect it at all. What a start and what a race. If he can continue this pace for the season, Renault are going to be a top team next year.

[BloodAngel]

Undoubtedly the best race in a while, a lot of overtaking, unpredictable tyres and 4 race Leaders (Vettel, Alonso, Massa and Heidfeld) although 3 of those were because Vettel had just pitted. Those Lotus Renaults are so impressive off the line it's just a shame they don't have the race pace to match, Petrov got 3rd last race due to Alonso and Webber having to make another stop and Heidfeld should have been 6th this race and got lucky but that's racing!

Both Ferraris seem to have the race pace, just not the qualifying pace so I suspect we'll see them on the podium within the next few races and neither the drivers or Domenicali seem too worried which suggests to me they have one or two tricks up their sleeves.

Really disappointed and surprised to see both Hamilton and Alonso get 20 second penalties after the race for their scrap though, looked to me like a racing incident with Alonso being caught out by how slow the McLaren was. Alonso will be happy it didn't cost him a position but I suspect Hamilton will be annoyed he ended up dropping to 8th after having his race ruined by strategy once again.

Nothing really to say on the Red Bulls, Webber didn't have KERS which hampered him, Vettel had KERS for most of the race and won.

[Danqazmlp]

I agree those Renaults need better race pace. Those two are driving the wheels off those cars and those starts are over the top. It's like they have an afterburner for a few seconds, they just shoot forward, even Button had a word to ask about it after the race to Heidfeld. Just imagine if Kubica was in one of those. Although with both Renaults now having a 3rd position podium, it's hard to see which Kubica should take over from. My word, the crash with Petrov was so bad it was almost funny, he must have been at least a metre off the floor, surely it must have hurt his back, with enough force to break the steering clean off. Also fun seeing how far forward Heidfeld got at the start, then how far back he went through pits, then how far forward he got through pure consistent driving. Aaaah I just love the Renaults at the moment, they are really mixing the races up and giving so much entertainment.

 

Webber was massively impressive without KERS. If you were to add up all the time he would have lost through the race you can be he would have been on the podium. Starting to get a bit bored of Vettel winning.

 

Also I would love to know just how many times Schumacher and Koboyashi passed each other. It seemed that every other lap one was passing the other.

[Danqazmlp]

I was pretty much speechless through the whole race. Everybody overtook everybody at some point it seemed.

 

Overall, great race from Webber from a bad quali, the same for Rosberg although disappointed he lost page in the last 10 laps. Disappointing race from Renault this time around.

[BloodAngel]

I had a really long discussion with a friend in the pub yesterday about this race and wether it was actually a good race or not and I think Webber's race actually highlighted a major flaw in this season. Quite simply the more fresh tyres you have after Qualifying the better you will do in the race and there is nothing anyone can do to stop you from sailing past. Of course you have to have a good car under you to make it work but for RBR, McLaren and Ferrari I can't see qualifying outside of the Top 10 being as significant as it was last year.

I think this race was further proof that aside from starting well, there isn't much to the Renault it's just difficult to overtake.

[Millard]

I have nothing against Vettel but I hope he does terrible this weekend. I really don't want this season to be a repeat of 2004 where one driver dominated throughout, especially after last season.

[Danqazmlp]

I agree. I'm a bit bored of him winning now. Although I supported Schumacher back in the day, I was too young to actually realise how boring it must have made the sport for others.

 

I am a bit biased here, but all we need is Kubica back in a fast car and Vettel would be down a position immeditately :thumbup:

[Danqazmlp]

so Vettel isn't on pole, but he is second and Red Bull are looking fairly sure to win, again. We have had three of the best seasons for a very long time in a row, and have moved to one of the worst.

[Ginger_Warrior]

I don't even see the point of watching the races any more. We all know what colour the winning car will be and there's an 80% chance of guessing Vettel as the race winner. Sport is as much about providing drama and entertainment as it about athleticism and skill, and at the moment F1 just fails to deliver on the former.

 

The advice to anyone who doesn't know a lot about F1 is: watch the first five minutes of Q3 on a Saturday, and then go do whatever it is you do on a weekend. You can more or less tell who'll win from those five minutes without needing to watch a two-hour race.

[Danqazmlp]

I agree. Right now I wish we could have last year back. I think part of the problem is that the FIA keep messing with the rules every year meaning teams can't just have a car and upgrade it, but have to have a brand new one each year. It means we end up with cars with such a large performance gap.

 

Shame Vettel won yet again, although Hamilton did give him a good run for his money. Luckily, it's Monaco next week which constantly bucks the trend with who wins, being much much more about skill than who has the car.

[BloodAngel]

Really really tired of Vettel winning, I'll still argue that Button, Hamilton, Alonso and Rosberg are better drivers he just has a better car. It was nice to see DRS play less of a role this race given that in Turkey there were 112 overtakes according to Mercedes GP. Personally I think Pirelli need to sort their tyres out, the fact is McLaren or RBR could do a lap in Q2 and then save their soft tyres for the race. Chances are if they didn't make it to Q3 they'd still make the podium.

 

Monaco should be good, I fancy a Mercedes GP or surprise Renault podium there especially since DRS has been banned for the race.

[Millard]

Vettel won but it was a much more enjoyable and closer race than the last. It's really disappointing though, both Mercedes and Renault seem to be lacking, Ferrari as well, just hope it changes soon.

 

Although Monaco should be interesting with the recent changes, plus Red Bull seem to be having problems.

[assassin_696]

I cannot believe I'm reading what's previously been said. 2011 has provided by far some of the most exciting races I've ever seen. Yes, Vettel has been dominant in the lead in the early races but the more recent ones have been much, much closer. He got lucky today in Monaco with the safety car coming out with 10 laps to go. There's so much more strategy, overtaking and contention for places lower down the grid than I've ever seen before. And you can have great track position with 10 laps to go but get slaughtered because of a bad strategy and the tires wearing out like Button did weeks ago.

 

No one can deny Vettel's been dominant but I think it's been so far from boring this season.

[Danqazmlp]

Todays Race was an exception to the rule, but it is annoying just how lucky Vettel managed to be. The last 10 laps could have been an epic ending but by the time they restarted it was just a bore.

 

I think they should change the rule about changing tyres when the race is stopped. I can't see any advantage to this as it basically nullifies the rest of the race. As well as the damage repairing.

 

I still can't feel excited about Vettel winning though. I would feel different if i thought he was winning by skill, but it seems to reliant on the car, or the lack of car under other drivers.

[BloodAngel]

Would have been very interesting to see if Vettel could have held on to win, I'm not convinced he would have done but that's the way racing goes. By far the best race of the season, one or two more overtakes would have been good but the ones we saw were pretty amazing. Was nice to see a race not ruined by DRS and where there wasn't such a massive gap between tyres, meant we actually saw some racing for a change. I reckon we're going to see a McLaren win in the next few races, they've really closed the gap to RBR. Still no idea where Ferrari are and Renault and Mercedes seem to be going backwards.

[awood]

It was a sad news over the last couple of days that Bahrain was not going not going to be reinstated as part of this year's calendar but I think that would be unfair. They were given the chance but they did not deliver.

 

I was one of those booked to see the opening race weekend but unfortunately, we had to reschedule it. It did not cost much and I think the tickets will be refunded.

 

Back to the races, I am a fan of ferrari but I do not think they are just quite there yet. I know it has been races since but I think they can do better. They are doing great in practice but are failing on the race per se.