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Post by GuinnessMan on Mar 22, 2011 11:40:31 GMT
Looks like McLaren will start off in catch-up mode again, but will stick my neck out and go for Hamilton.
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Post by rangers on May 24, 2011 12:33:38 GMT
So what does everyone think of F1 2011 then? is overtaking too easy or have they got it just right?
My opinion is they have it just right. We've had plenty of wheel to wheel racing, and not all of it directly DRS related. Think quali may need a tweek though, as it is better to save tyres. Maybe everyone gets a couple of sets of softs that can only be used in quali.?
By the way, teh Senna film is amazing. I was expecting something special, but it was even better than I thought
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Doughnut
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Post by Doughnut on May 24, 2011 13:17:27 GMT
I'm still undecided, though the races have been pretty gripping which is obviously a good thing. KERS: I don't think it makes a massive difference to the spectacle or the end result. Having said that, its use can make for some interesting tactics and it does allow people to make the jump on others in parts of the circuit where overtaking wouldn't otherwise be possible which I do think is a good thing. Hamilton's use of it to pass Vettel in China was pretty awesome. Also if it wasn't for everyone else having KERS working Red Bull would be even more untouchable! DRS: I think I'm generally in favour but they really need to get the activation points right. It should have been a lot later in Turkey, or even in a different part of the track. I'm not sure it was needed to overtake into turn 12 (?), and may have made overtaking possible elsewhere if it was used on another part of the lap. Activation should have been earlier in Barcelona. Pirellis: I'm liking the extra pit stops and the variety of strategies they produce. Something's doesn't quite feel right though. It's good that they wear quicker (last year they were lasting way too long IMO), but I don't like the way they wear so suddenly. In the good old days a great driver could drive on worn or blistered tyres and still compete. With these tyres they seem OK one lap and completely shot the next and there's nothing the driver can do about it, however good a driver he is. It just seems a bit artificial, in an odd way, even more so than DRS does. I think most of the extra overtaking is down to the tyres (not exactly a controversial opinion to hold). In general I'm loving all the extra overtaking. Some of it just seems a bit too cheap though. The row over hot blown defusers could get interesting this weekend (a bit of info here: news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/13493669.stm). From my understanding of it I think Hispania and the other tail end teams are well justified in being up in arms about it, and I wouldn't blame them in the slightest for making an official protest this weekend. Not that I expect such a protest to stand, can you imagine the Monaco GP going ahead with just 3 tail end teams?! USA 2005 maybe, but not Monaco 2011, it just won't be allowed to happen. It looks pretty clear cut to me though, most of the grid are breaking the rules and getting away with it unfairly. Why should they get away with it?
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Post by rangers on May 24, 2011 16:16:36 GMT
Think I agree on most points - although I think Turkey DRS was about spot on. While people where just blasting past on the straight, it set it up so that a couple of corners down the line going into that final chicane people were wheel to wheel.
Saw an interesting stat that not only are viewing figures up overall, but more poeple are watching until the end.
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Post by GuinnessMan on May 24, 2011 17:57:31 GMT
Sorry Rangers, I'm with Doughnut ... Turkey too easy, Barcelona little effect. Hopefully, they will learn quickly to get that fine balance. Not sure where it will go in Monoco - through the tunnel perhaps?
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Post by rangers on May 24, 2011 19:11:33 GMT
Sorry Rangers, I'm with Doughnut ... Turkey too easy, Barcelona little effect. Hopefully, they will learn quickly to get that fine balance. Not sure where it will go in Monoco - through the tunnel perhaps? Not running in the tunnel. Start finish 'straight' instead
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Post by Heanor Lair on May 30, 2011 9:50:57 GMT
Oh dear as a McLaren I am now very embarresed by Hamiltons rantings - exit door please for the sake of the team and its fans.
HL
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Post by rangers on May 30, 2011 15:11:12 GMT
Oh dear as a McLaren I am now very embarresed by Hamiltons rantings - exit door please for the sake of the team and its fans. HL Half see your point - the Ali G joke was at best ill thought out, and there is a reason he gets hauled in front of the stewards - he keeps breaking the rules. But I quite like him saying stupid stuff. Its a break from the normal dull as dishwater quotes you normally get from F1 drivers - and sports people in general - nowadays. And certainly better than the McLaren days of the late 90s early 00s, when it was pure Ron-speak.
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oldman
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Post by oldman on May 31, 2011 22:45:05 GMT
Nearly as bad as crazy frog impressions crossing a finishing line!
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Post by Doughnut on Jun 3, 2011 22:00:54 GMT
I'm not a McLaren fan and I reckon I'm pretty neutral as far as Hamilton is concerned. I reckon his comments after the race were a bit ill judged, but I'm not too bothered about them really. He was high on adrenaline and emotion after one of the season's most intense race weekends, and one that went particularly badly for him. He made an ill judged joke, but that's about it - so what?
He gets penalised a lot because he's an aggressive driver so he's bound to attract the attention of the stewards. He's bound to feel hard done to. I hope he doesn't change his driving style or his interview style, it would be to the detriment of F1 if he did, but I also reckon the stewards have been about right too.
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Post by GuinnessMan on Jun 4, 2011 6:54:16 GMT
Relative to where F1 is at, I agree the penalties were fair and just. However, I do think over the last 5 years or so they have moved more and more towards a blame culture where every little incident has to have 'somebody' to blame and penalised. With the circuits so tight, and the cars often quite evenly matched I think they drove the racing into the procession mode we saw a couple of years ago. Obviously the DRS and Kers have helped overtaking, but for me, though they are improvements on where we were, there is nothing like witnessing an aggressive overtaking move that comes off. There are incidents such as Schumacker/Hill; Schumacker/Villeneuve and last years Schumacker/Barrichello whereby they are just plain deliberate dangerous driving which should be penalised heavily. Many of todays are, to me, 'racing' incidents which are and should be part and parcel of the sport. In some respects you can liken it to how the eihl league that have acted upon the big hits of Lepine last year. The world is going soft
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Post by Doughnut on Jun 7, 2011 8:51:06 GMT
I think I agree in many cases things get penalised when they shouldn't be (though to be fair the penalties haven't been that harsh for a lot of the things you'd call racing incidents). It probably seems like they're tougher these days because we get told when incidents are under investigation, whereas in the past we just wouldn't know about it unless they decided to penalise.
In the case of Hamilton's two moves in Monaco, I wouldn't call them racing incidents. I'd call that a hot headed driver recklessly trying to chuck his car into a gap that isn't there. I generally like Hamilton's style of driving, but in Monaco his head just wasn't in the right place. He deserved penalising in both cases IMO. The only way for Maldonado to have given him enough space would have been to put himself on the marbles and then into a wall. The only way for Massa to have given him enough space would have been to take himself and Webber out of the race, as it was he hit Webber on the outside while he was being hit by Hamilton on the inside so there blatantly wasn't space for Hamilton to overtake.
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Post by rangers on Jun 7, 2011 10:59:29 GMT
Relative to where F1 is at, I agree the penalties were fair and just. However, I do think over the last 5 years or so they have moved more and more towards a blame culture where every little incident has to have 'somebody' to blame and penalised. With the circuits so tight, and the cars often quite evenly matched I think they drove the racing into the procession mode we saw a couple of years ago. Obviously the DRS and Kers have helped overtaking, but for me, though they are improvements on where we were, there is nothing like witnessing an aggressive overtaking move that comes off. There are incidents such as Schumacker/Hill; Schumacker/Villeneuve and last years Schumacker/Barrichello whereby they are just plain deliberate dangerous driving which should be penalised heavily. Many of todays are, to me, 'racing' incidents which are and should be part and parcel of the sport. In some respects you can liken it to how the eihl league that have acted upon the big hits of Lepine last year. The world is going soft The Schuey - Hill thing was a racing accident (assuming you are talking Oz 94, the only debateable one (GB and Ita 95 clearly Hills fault)) even Murray Walker, Damon's biggest fan, said as much in the doc on sunday night. I think the problem is there has been this big lack of overtaking over the years, and now drivers are in a position to do something to overtake, but they just don't have those skills(both the overtaker and the overtakee), so there are a lot of people just driving into the side of other cars. It looks bad, but in a couple of years it will level itself out.
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Post by GuinnessMan on Jun 7, 2011 12:34:26 GMT
Could Canada be a good one for Hamilton to turn the corner on the events of Monoco - he seems to do well at this circuit.
Certainly someone needs to reign Vettel in, or the title challenge could be as-good-as over at half way way through season.
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Post by Pies on Jun 12, 2011 21:32:27 GMT
What a drive by Jenson!
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Post by rangers on Jun 12, 2011 22:29:08 GMT
what a race. what a season. F1 2011 is the best thing ever.
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Post by GuinnessMan on Jun 13, 2011 9:28:50 GMT
what a race. what a season. F1 2011 is the best thing ever. Think I prefered 2010 season over this one - but certainly an interesting year with all the new variables. Stonking drive by Jenson (aided somewhat by all the safety cars), thought McLaren had blown it. Lewis needs to quickly learn from his mistakes if he is going to stay in with a shout. Massively disappointed they started the race under Safety Car. Depending what the FIA ultimately rule with regard to exhaust systems, could open the championship back up, other than that Vettel is looking good for his 2nd World Championship.
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Post by GuinnessMan on Jun 13, 2011 10:53:07 GMT
Interesting , that Ferrari may give up the chase this year,
Ferrari considers switching focus to 2012
A decision will have to be taken soon
Monday 13 June 2011 - 12h02, by GMM The time is nearing when Ferrari might decide to write off the 2011 championship, team boss Stefano Domenicali has admitted.
The 150 Italia car has shown improvements in the past races, but Fernando Alonso is now almost 100 points behind the leading Red Bull with just seven races down.
"Ferrari is at a crucial moment of the season," boss Domenicali admitted to Die Welt newspaper.
"In the next races until after the British grand prix we will decide whether we continue to push for the world title or work already for the next season," he said.
The Italian insisted he is "confident" about Ferrari’s progress recently but added: "Also I’m not from the moon. Red Bull is a very tough opponent.”
"F1 has changed dramatically. Previously, the largest teams could work almost without limits, with no limitations on testing etcetera. For a team like Ferrari, it is more difficult to work under the new conditions. But we have to see that Red Bull has built an outstanding car; so good that in a victory the car is usually listed first as the winner before the driver.”
"When we dominated, it was always Michael Schumacher first and then Ferrari. Now it’s Red Bull and then Sebastian Vettel," he charged, obviously crediting designer Adrian Newey for the young German’s runaway lead.
Domenicali, meanwhile, was left to defend Ferrari’s situation, including the recent ousting of technical director Aldo Costa.
"There was no other solution," he insisted. "It was a necessary step to re-motivate the team and show them that there are no excuses, only consequences."
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Post by Doughnut on Jun 13, 2011 20:50:39 GMT
Cracking race by JB, bit disappointed about how little of his race the director decided to show us though. He must have come close to the record number of on-track overtakes in a single race. Would be interesting to know what that record is.
re: Ferrari giving up on this season. I reckon it'd be the right move (I'm a Ferrari fan for what it's worth). Start work on next year's car now. It won Button a championship when Honda did it.
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Post by GuinnessMan on Jun 14, 2011 6:20:30 GMT
It does make sense, though would be disappoining for the fans knowing they are unlikely to bring new major upgrades for the rest of the season, and therefore relatively uncompetetive for the race wins (probably). As a McLaren fan I don't want Ferrari getting a steal on next years car though . Too early for McLaren to give up on this season yet as the review of the exhaust systems could seriously harm Red Bull more than others (one consideration still for Ferrari) and McLaren are usally pretty good at in-season development. Post Silverstone the picture will become clearer.
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Post by GuinnessMan on Jun 17, 2011 6:25:23 GMT
Will be interesting to see how Red Bull are affected, alongside McLaren+Ferrari. I, for one, hope it does afect their qualifying somewhat, so we can see someother other than Vettel on Pole position. (It wouldn't surprise me though if Adrian Newey covers this potential setback fairly quickly, the man's a genious)
clampdown going ahead after London meeting
The technical working group met with Charlie Whiting
Friday 17 June 2011 - 07h30, by GMM The FIA is pressing ahead with its clampdown on blown exhaust technology following a meeting in London.
The technical working group met with Charlie Whiting on Thursday where, despite some controversy, the FIA delegate told teams they will have to severely limit their off-throttle diffuser exhaust blowing from next month’s British grand prix.
It is suggested pioneer Red Bull will be the team most affected by the ban, but Mercedes and Renault are also leaders in the field.
"The degree that a team will be affected is dependent on how much they’re exploiting that technology," Red Bull chief designer Rob Marshall told The Sun newspaper.
"There are certainly some teams that are exploiting it very vigorously and some that aren’t exploiting it at all. Some will suffer more than others."
And Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali is quoted by Italy’s Tuttosport: "After Silverstone it will be possible to express an opinion about our season.
"All I can say is that I hope it (the clampdown) affects us less than others."
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Post by rangers on Jun 17, 2011 16:33:17 GMT
I hope it doesnt affect the quality of the racing. Thing RBR will be most affected, but its a case of wait and see.
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Post by Doughnut on Jun 17, 2011 21:45:24 GMT
I hope it doesnt affect the quality of the racing. Thing RBR will be most affected, but its a case of wait and see. If anything I'd guess it'd improve the quality of the racing as there'll be less turbulent air hitting the front wing of any car behind. I reckon Renault will be most affected. Of the top 3 probably RBR, and that's probably no bad thing in terms of making the championship more interesting. They'll still be the team to beat, but it'll be interesting to see if Seb dominates qualifying as much. I don't really understand how they got away with it for so long anyway. As far as I understand, it's blatantly against the rules. (I know almost all teams are using it to some extent and it started a year or so ago, but that's not the point). I guess the person most likely to benefit is Hamilton. If he can qualify nearer the front he'll have less people to drive into
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Post by GuinnessMan on Jun 18, 2011 6:48:04 GMT
Think you could be right about Hamilton, he needs a couple of good races now with no issues to relieve the pressure he is putting on himself.
Dont think McLaren were running this type of exhaust through last winter, i think they made a late switch to emulate red bull just b4 start of season when they were over a second of the pace - if i remember right?
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Post by Doughnut on Jun 21, 2011 11:35:20 GMT
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