The Formula 1 2012 thread

[Zarba]

This formula 1 season has been incredible. Another great race in Valencia. I watched the NASCAR race after and couldn't figure out why I even bothered.

Amen. Best. Season. Ever.

[ouch]

Hamilton's tires weren't going to get him on the podium at the rate they were degrading, but I'll bet he wishes he had the extra 6 to 10 points that incident cost him. It could be crucial by year's end, especially the way this season is unfolding.

Moreover, once again he was killed in the pits- that 14.1s stop was brutal. It's amazing how many times McLaren has screwed up this year.

[maxman]

What a race! What a season!
I need a new couch. I wore out the edge of my seat watching the end of this one.
I was rooting for Lotus from the start and I'm glad to see Kimi place well.
I'm no Hammy fan, but that was a bad break for him.

It's always nice to see someone win on home ground.

[JayHawkMechanic]

I would have loved to see Grosjean win, that would have been awesome! I put the blame on Hammy for his crash, he turned in to Maldonaldo when he should have given some room,basically. And I also hate the fact so many tracks have cement run off areas, I would rather see gravel, maybe that would put an end to some of the stupid moves we see.
On a different note, has anybody else bought tickets to see the race in Austin? I have mine and I can't wait. I think they are gonna probably lose some ticket sales doing the having to buy the personal seat license for the premium seats like they did. I would have bought one of those but the price was ungodly high. I mean astronomically high. Maybe thats they way they do it at the other tracks but I think it might hurt them here in the long run. The sad thing is how the hotels in Austin are gouging people. If I go next year I will stay in San Marcus which is about a 20 min drive on a normal day from Austin and the hotels are about half the price. Depends on how the traffic in managed. Great thing is now the Australian V8 supercars are coming, and I read there might be a LeMans race there next year! I'm stoked! lol Now only if the Moto GP race happens I'll be happier than a pig in, well you know the saying :)

Chris

[nole1]

Moreover, once again he was killed in the pits- that 14.1s stop was brutal. It's amazing how many times McLaren has screwed up this year.

Agreed. It seemed as if they they had it all figured out with that 2.9 sec stop but then the jack broke and it was over.

I was quite surprised how much his tires fell off with Alonso and Kimi pitting around the same lap. Maybe they knew they had very high tire ware which is why he wasn't pushing at the beginning of the race.

[shm]

Hamilton is known to be hard on his tyres with his style of driving, just look at Button and see the difference it's the same car.

The Lotus however is very kind to the tyres, they have been getting longer stints and still with more than competitive speed.

Great season so far. I know Pirelli have been getting a lot of heat about their tyres, but I think they have done a great job making it so exciting - besides the conditions are equal to all teams and drivers, they will just have to adapt

[JDTTO]

Hamilton is known to be hard on his tyres with his style of driving, just look at Button and see the difference it's the same car.

Lately Jenson does not even seem to be able to turn them on.

[nole1]

Lately Jenson does not even seem to be able to turn them on.

I don't know what's going on with him or what has changed since China but he's looked terrible.

Also, what are everyone's thoughts on Pastor being handed a retroactive drive through penalty? The stewards said he got the 20 sec penalty for "failing to rejoin the track in a safe manner" putting him in 12th. While I think Lewis could have given him room that's not his job. He was the car in front and he and the right to the racing line. It is the car doing the passing job to make a clean pass, not for the one being overtaken to make room. Especially not on lap 55/57. Pastor had plenty of pace in his tyres and could have waiting until after the turn and passed him easily. It seemed like a pretty impatient and reckless attempt by the Williams.

I'm glad the stewards only gave him a retroactive drive though as opposed to any kind of grid penalty at Silverstone.

How about the talks of doing away with tyre blankets as a form of cost cutting? Whitmarsh said it costs them around £300,000 annually to keep the tyres at temp between the blankets, warming systems, and generators. Personally, I think it would be a bad idea and apparently Schumacher thinks the same thing.

[shm]

I think Hamilton is as much at fault as Maldonado, he knew Maldonado was on the inside and shouldn't have closed the door in that manner - I think it was a racing incident where both drivers shared the fault.

I think it would be a great idea to discard tyre warmers; it will be the same for all drivers and it will show off more of the drivers skills. I'm not up to date with Indycar regulations, but I don't think they are allowed to use tyre warmers. They were not allowed in champ Car and that was a great series IMO.

[xraygun]

They tried to do away with tire warmers at Le Mans. They just keep the tires back behind the pits in ovens to get around the rules.
They'd end up keeping the pit area super hot if they tried it in F1 and just cook the crew.

The stewards at Valencia were sub-par. If you watched the GP2 race you got further evidence, they waited till the last lap to issue a competitive driver a penalty from an incident early in the race, it seemed very unjust.

[shm]

Well, they could just state that any artificial regulation of temperature is banned. Just state that a tyre wasn't allowed to be warmer than the ambient temperature plus/minus a degree or two, like the rule they have on fuel temperature.

[xraygun]

That sounds very difficult to enforce. Ambient temperature measured where? In the garage? They will just heat the whole garage. If it's a very cold day are you suggesting they not allow the garage to be heated? Define a very cold day, etc.
F1 today is all about interpreting the rules to figure out what you can get away with.
Who really wants to see tires have even more of an impact than they already do?

[nole1]

F1 today is all about interpreting the rules to figure out what you can get away with.

+1. I could see the teams come out with some contraption that works like a heat lamp by magnifying the suns rays while having the tyres sit on the hot tarmac and being rotated for even heating.

[ouch]

Well, it didn't work for Archimedes.

[Barbiere di Figaro]

I'm all for regulations to make the races more competitive, but if they don't allow the tires to be heated, that would be a regulation that could cause unsafe situations. Drivers get into the pit with tires at the right temperature and then would have to drive off with much colder tires. And you will then see, that if they drive out of the pit with cold tires they have to defend their position and that will cause problems I think.

[commanderkeen]

I don't like using the word dumb, but if they don't allow for tire heating, that is dumb. It is the only piece of kit that is universal in F1, there is no need to regulate further as everyone already has the same tires and heaters.

[maxman]

I don't like using the word dumb, but if they don't allow for tire heating, that is dumb. It is the only piece of kit that is universal in F1, there is no need to regulate further as everyone already has the same tires and heaters.

In true F1 style if you take it away, the teams will only find a way that skirts the rules to make it happen.
I don't really see the warmers as an important issue anyway.

[nole1]

In true F1 style if you take it away, the teams will only find a way that skirts the rules to make it happen.
I don't really see the warmers as an important issue anyway.

Agreed. Like I jokingly said earlier, they will find a way to get around it wasting more money instead of using the stuff they already have.

[JDTTO]

I think Hamilton is as much at fault as Maldonado, he knew Maldonado was on the inside and shouldn't have closed the door in that manner - I think it was a racing incident where both drivers shared the fault.

The difference was that Lewis was on the track and Pastor was not. Some argue that Lewis forced Pastor off the track but when Pastor chose the outside, Lewis was allready commited and expecting him to make his corner tighter on those tires is not realistic. It would probably not have happened if the run-off was not tarmac.

Could Lewis have prevented the crash? Yes
Would it have been wiser considering the championship? Yes
Did he have any obligation to do so? No
Would it happened if Pastor considered the run-off area as a run-off area? No

As for the blankets. If the result would be that the pitboxes would get heated, it will not be a good idea.
I suspect that this will only happen if the tires would be designed for warming up on track, in that case it should not be much of an issue and drivers will adapt.

I am personally in favour of having tires that do the distance. This was the case a few years ago but back then, refueling was allowed so there were still pit stops.
IMHO it would be nice to see a complete race fought out on track.

[shm]

I don't see how banning tyre warmers would be more difficult to administer than the fuel temperature. They have strict rules to how cold the fuel can be, and they can make the same kind of ruling to how warm tyres are allowed to be.

I'm all for regulations to make the races more competitive, but if they don't allow the tires to be heated, that would be a regulation that could cause unsafe situations. Drivers get into the pit with tires at the right temperature and then would have to drive off with much colder tires. And you will then see, that if they drive out of the pit with cold tires they have to defend their position and that will cause problems I think.

It worked in Champ Car, and it will put more emphasis on the drivers skill, which I prefer.

On another note: I wouldn't mind seeing them go back to manual shifting gears either, as it is now they can't make a wrong shift as the electronics won't allow it, they might as well run with automatic gearboxes as they almost are