The Formula 1 2012 thread

**xraygun** · 04-10-2012, 03:19 PM

Doesn't look good for Bahrain

**Dalejr** · 04-10-2012, 04:43 PM

I know, sucks...

**gegarrenton** · 04-12-2012, 06:04 AM

Originally Posted by limeyx

Can't we have *one* (small?) "Massa Sucks" ??? :)

I am hamso all the way, although now Raikkonnen is back in an underdog car, my loyalties are all kinds of twisted up!

They way I figure, Kimi is just pure unadulterated entertainment.

**xraygun** · 04-12-2012, 08:22 AM

Guess it's time to start building your "W-ducts" people. Get on it.

**k2clones29** · 04-12-2012, 11:07 AM

Hamilton is getting a 5-spot grid penalty in China for gearbox change. He's pretty good in China, so it should be interesting to see if he can recover.

**nole1** · 04-12-2012, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by k2clones29

Hamilton is getting a 5-spot grid penalty in China for gearbox change. He's pretty good in China, so it should be interesting to see if he can recover.

I saw that and thought, "Oh great. One more thing for him to piss and moan about." He actually seems in pretty good spirits about the situation. Should definitely make for an interesting sprint to turn one and subsequent tight left into turn two with him barreling in from the 6-8 spot on the grid (probably).

**nole1** · 04-13-2012, 08:00 AM

Anyone have thoughts on the stewards determining the "DRS activated F-Duct" legal under the FIA regulations after a formal protest by Team Lotus?

I thought it was quite interesting seeing the quote from Whitmarsh saying something along the lines of there is no such thing as the spirit of the sporting regulations. The FIA provides the sporting regulations and you interpret them and build a car to exploit them.

**JDTTO** · 04-13-2012, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by nole1

Anyone have thoughts on the stewards determining the "DRS activated F-Duct" legal under the FIA regulations after a formal protest by Team Lotus?

I thought it was quite interesting seeing the quote from Whitmarsh saying something along the lines of there is no such thing as the spirit of the sporting regulations. The FIA provides the sporting regulations and you interpret them and build a car to exploit them.

It's the very spirit of F1 to exploit any loophole in the regulations that you could give you an advantage. When something is judged to be against the spirit of the regulations, you can count on it being within the actual written regulations but the FIA just did not formulate them properly.

It seems that Mercedes have something that is nearly impossible to implement in an existing design so kudo's for them. So far it only seems to pay off on saturday.

**nole1** · 04-13-2012, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by JDTTO

It seems that Mercedes have something that is nearly impossible to implement in an existing design so kudo's for them. So far it only seems to pay off on saturday.

+1. This is one of the few tracks that they should see a huge advantage in qualifying with the unlimited usage of DRS. During qualifying, they'll probably be hitting the top speed of the midfield cars before they've even reached the start of the race day DRS zone.

**Dalejr** · 04-13-2012, 03:56 PM

As a MS fan

**Barbiere di Figaro** · 04-13-2012, 11:28 PM

If you want to follow live times: (needs registering)

http://www.formula1.com/live_timing/...ing_popup.html

**nole1** · 04-14-2012, 12:04 AM

Quite an interesting qualifying. Should make for a fun race tomorrow!

**JDTTO** · 04-14-2012, 12:12 AM

I hope Rosberg can turn this into his first win.

Merc might drop a bit in performance relative to qually but with this gap they can afford a slight loss of pace.

Vettel has a starting position he can indicate with only two fingers so that must be a boost for him.

Looking forward to the race tomorrow!

**xraygun** · 04-14-2012, 01:43 PM

Very exciting Qual for Nico and the Silver Arrows. Nice to have MSC in the post interview again. Should be an exciting race. Watch out for Kimi.

**nole1** · 04-15-2012, 01:50 AM

No spoilers here. What a great race. Quality racing though out the entire field. Well worth staying up and being tired during church tomorrow.

**Barbiere di Figaro** · 04-15-2012, 02:16 AM

Same here, except for the staying up part.

Good race, excitement all over and great strategies with tyres and pit stops. A little unfortunate for Raikkonen to drop so many places due to his tyre degradation (and frontwing?)

**ouch** · 04-15-2012, 08:51 AM

Great season so far. Red Bull is clearly struggling, if not as much as the Scuderia. Sauber and Williams looking not too bad. Lotus should have had a podium- Kimi dropped 12 places in two laps, but Grosjean showed he can drive. How would MS have done if they didn't blow the pitstop? McLaren seems the most consistent so far, and that may be just the ticket to success this year.

**JDTTO** · 04-15-2012, 09:05 AM

Nice win for Nico! Considering the race was all about tyre management this must be an amazing boost for Merc.

With so many cars on the pace, early stoppers from the front end found themselves a lot further back then what would have been the case in recent years and the tiniest miscalculation could turn a potential podium into a zero points.

What a great season this is turning out to be!