She could manage me all day long :angel:

I take it , that the Italian media fed you guys some Bias bs lol. Reason why hamilton couldnt pass up Sutil is, Sutil car had better down force, which is why you would see him take off on turns, were the Mcarlen didnt had the downforce that hamilton needed. Also both are running on Cedes engine (the uber engine, you know the one that owns ferrari engine).

Also Hamilton wasnt having a tire issue, so not sure were you got that bs from lol. Its pretty evident, (which is why hamilton radio in saying he couldnt pass sutil) that he just stayed in 6th, instead of jeopardizing this position.

And its very funny that you say, the more experience drivers, such as massa and alonso, push harder at the end of the race. Well i believe that massa was like 3-4 secs behind hamilton. i guess he didnt push hard enough.

As for alonso, what if he didnt push his car to the limits to try to overtake jenson, He would of finished the race, instead of parking it off to the side of the road.



Oh man, petrov owning hamiilton was very priceless, and massa overtaking jenson was very awesome site. Massa did awesome.

Hamilton abused his tires to catch sutil up and stay behind him, in the first couple of chase-laps he was faster after the apex, meaning better grip. After a while he just couldn't keep up.
Massa did recover seconds over seconds after he passed Jenson but there weren't enough laps to pass or fight with hamilton as well. There's a radio communication to hamilton that says "Massa is catching up, keep pushing" :)

Alonso did a good race without a clutch but I agree that at time it is better to keep the position, unfortunately we have champions driving there that'd rather crash than don't take a chance to overtake somebody.

Jenson and Hamilton did a very good job, Vettel is a rocket, possibly the best driver\car combo out there when the car doesn't explode.

What I did like about Hamilton was that he avoided taking useless risks like the ones that did cost him several races in the past years, cooling the tyres down would have probably led to a pass in the final laps, he was running with the soft compound, sutil had the hard one.

Anyway we watched some overtakes, some little accidents and Vettel got what he deserved. That was fair enough, right? :)
I like Kubica a lot, he's putting a lot of effort in what he's doing and he's catching some points. Plus he's fun to listen to when he speaks italian!

This is gonna be a boring year race wise but an interesting one if we take the standings into consideration!

yes hamilton was on the softer compund, but that wasnt why he couldnt over take sutil. it was a down force issue, that mclaren is having. which is why massa was able to overtake jenson, the ferrari car set up is very well balanced. where mclaren is just straights.

as for sutil, he stayed on butt the whole time. he wasnt even a second behind him. he just coldnt get the speed while taking all those turns, like sutil was doing.

I understand your point but you should account tyre wear as well as a problem imho.
Hamilton tried very hard to stay behind and pass sutil during the first laps they did together and he cooked his rubbers. You could clearly see Alonso and Massa reducing the load on them during some laps while they were trying to overtake Button.
That's why I feel that they are indeed more experienced drivers, they know when to use those tricks.
Hamilton is an all-out guy on the other side, pretty impulsive as well. As a team i'd take Alonso over Hamilton any day if i were to pick one of the two. Less troubles and more chances to build a team. I'm sure that Hamilton will grow up in the next seasons, in the end Alonso was an a**hole at that age as well :)

but i do give you that hamilton tire was worn, but i feel it was not the reason why he couldnt pass up sutil.

It probably was a mix of the two, Sutil did a great job today. We also got a chance to see how Massa and Alonso drive in a different way. Massa overtook Button as sharp as a knife when he had a chance and Button acted accordingly letting him pass. Alonso first tried to stress Button up by taking weird lines and trying to put his nose everywhere and then did a couple of serious attempts, more like Hamilton usually does.

Funny thing is that we have barely mentioned Nico, rofl :)

lmao, i am not sure why, but i dont care for him to much lol.

as for your first comment, i do agree lol

Massa overtook Jenson only because Jenson made a mistake on deteriorating tires.

I think when Lewis was behind Sutil, his tires were not very good already, and he had been pushing a lot. Also the reason why the front car takes off in fast sweepers is because the car trailing is in the dirty air and lacks the downforce.

The problem is in the cars, its still extremely hard to overtake unless you're faster than the front car by 2-3 seconds per lap. Also Force India's car has a very high top speed due to low downforce settting. So Lewis can't really use his F-duct advantage there.
________
Infants Paxil

Hey guys,
Just finished watching the race... Really good race may I say... Vettel finally got the win he deserves, Hamilton drove very well and, as usual, destroyed his tires but nevertheless, really good drive...I even "enjoyed" some of his driving :) :)

Massa did an awesome job and stayed cool and got points needed to stay ahead of Button...

Alonso, Alonso... damn.. what great drive!!! Doing what he did with a sick car deserves to be the best drive on the field (as usual) :) He went down fighting but his Ferrari let him down... :( :(

Schumacher.. who is Schumacher?? Once again being outdriven by his teammate.. Good for Rosberg!!

And awesome job by Sutil... That India Force had lmuch better downforce and I believe the chassis is even better than McLaren's...

Anyways, yes indeed sad by not having Alonso up front, but really good race...

Guess it's getting interesting now... :)

Carlos

I have to disagree that Lewis "destroyed his tires" although his driving style is a little tougher on tires than some. He loves the 'On the edge' late braking style similar to the old Schumi. It was a great race and Alonso drove his heart out (Perhaps the most impressive). Vettel is amazing and Webber is no slouch either.

Paul.

Yeah but Polo will write that to bait us. He knows we cannot resist... ;)

You got it!! :) :)

Even you mentioned that you now have to agree with this...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82635


As I have always said, Alonso is the smoothest and easiest on tires out of all the guys out there now... unlike Hamilton... Heck... I agree, different driving styles and with no-refueling, tires will play a more important role in the next few races...

Carlos

I am not going to debate this topic any more lol. but I just want the ppl ,who think the reason why Hamilton wasn’t able to pass up sutil , was due to tires.

Soft compound wears out faster then Hard compound.

Shouldn’t the driver in the harder compound like leave the soft compound driver in the dust? If the tires were worn? Yes Hamilton tire where worn, but if they where so bad, he should be like 4-5 sec behind sutil. But instead, he was not even a 1 sec behind sutil for the remaining 18 laps of the race. Soft compound tires become useless in like 10 laps. I find it so strange that, even the commentators said why Hamilton wasn’t able to pass up Sutil, but yet we still here talking about tires. They didn’t even mention tires the whole time. For 15 laps, all I heard was Hamilton car doesn’t have the downforce that the Force india has.

Also in the first 5 laps of Hamilton being on soft tires, he was on sutil, and he still couldn’t pass him up . Even when the tires are still good. We seen the force india take right off on turns, where Hamilton car was just slower on the curves.

But if the tires where the issue, then I say Hamilton is a reallllly good driver. Bu t then again, Hamilton /Alonso/ and MS are the type of drivers who still drive their asses off with shitty tires, and regardless of weather also.

Guys, just wanted to say I love your discussion (banter.) I've been following this since last season and after the race I don't press the red button, I come here. :)

Welcome to the "dark side". :) :) Good to have new guys join this passion for F1 :) Of course the "lively" discussions are part of the "show"...:rant:

Carlos

As well as twisting the truth and mud slinging!

At least from the Ferrari fans ;)

Come on you know McLaren and Hamilton are better! :rock:

You're right :)
This the only place that makes our old fight cool and always fun\funny without real hate from both the ferrari and the mclaugh fans!

As a relative newb to the F1 world I am still trying to find a team/driver to root for. I don't really have any attachments to any of the car makers, and don't really know enough about any of the drivers to have anyone to root for :dunno:

So far this season I am like Rosberg, I think it will be interesting if the Mercedes team will keep improving to where he and MS will be able to compete with Ferrari/McLaren/Red Bull as the season wears on, as it was pretty much a fluke that they weren't able to qualify last weekend and Nico was able to get on the podium.

Welcome to the club. We at the silver knights, like to use logic when we speak. Were the Flamers in Red (bse and Polo amonngst all the other ferrari fans) , love to be delusional. So if you like be on the rightside of the track, root for Mclaren, and if you want to root for a team that act as if they are god, then join bse and them.


but jokes aside, even though it may seem we are arguing, we are in fact just BSing each other lol.

Aln brings us up todate in the F1 world, but lately havent seen him around :(. Miss his news etc.

http://media1.blackfalconmedia.com/2.../496723041.jpg

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I'm not sure I've decided who to stand behind.

Alonso has so much talent but he makes it so easy to hate him. Sort of a Simon Cowell of the sport.

Hamilton always puts on a good show while working his way through the pack, but I haven't decided what to think of him. Last year he was a good sport trying to work with a struggling car, often saying "we" when referring to challenges and triumphs. Last week I heard "they" and didn't quite care for it.

I think that about covers my view on most of the discussions here.

I'd really like to see Barrichello win as I feel he's quite deserving, but this year there's nothing from him. I think Webber might end up being the next Barrichello. Always the bridesmaid...

Vettel is a truly talented young man who is only held back by his car's reliability and his own lack of experience (making silly mistakes.)

If I had to chose between McLaren or Ferrari, I'd go with McLaren because it's too much fun to hate Ferrari. I'm enjoying the show from Renault this year though.

Lol, but yah my favorites are
!.hamilton
2. Massa/ even though i make fun of the guy, due to reasons here at the board. I always found massa just a cool guy. doesnt say stupid things like his fellow team mate does. Also like Kimi alot too, event hough i make fun of him.

the rest not in order
3. Ruben
4. Kubica
5.Sutil
and Truli

Schumacher, Massa, and Hamilton are my favs, in that order. Hamilton and Schumi are similar people in terms of skill, style and personality. Massa is a good guy. I have never seen a person lose more graciously then when Massa lost the title to Hamilton in '08. That says alot about him compaired to other drivers.

Hmm,,

I like the cars more than the drivers. I enjoy looking at pictures on F1technical, changes to front wings, diffusers, etc.... bodywork, in general.

Drivers wise I like Kubica, Alonso and Vettel.
________
Arianna_S

I agree. The technical aspect is my favorite part of f1. I would love to see them go all out with venturi tunnels and fans from the 70's-80's; Turbos form the 80's; active suspension from the 90's; aerodynamics from the 2000's; maybe active front and rear wings. Engineers say drivers would need G-suits thus its impossible. Well I say give them G-suits and have at it!

Well hey...you picked a hell of a team to go with! Back when I first started watching and catching all the races on a regular basis...one of my favorite teams was Tyrell! It seems like back then the team owners had a different kind of passion...a willingness to throw whatever good idea that comes to mind on the car...and quickly(thus the high rate of attrition and poor reliability back then). And let us not forget the Minardi, Jordan, Prost...these guys...on shoe string budgets, brought a lot to F1...granted many times they were just a rolling chican, but from those teams came some of the words greatest drivers. Enjoy the season!!! I'm sure your Silver Arrows will be moving up the grid BEFORE the end of the year!!:yesnod:

I COULDN'T AGREE MORE!!! Actually, last night I was watching the F1 Debrief on Speed and I started thinking about testing. Wouldn't it be cool if they would allow unlimited testing.....but without a driver!! OK, no i'm not drunk..well not yet, it's not 9:00 a.m. :crazy: But do any of you guys recall when McLaren hooked up some type of automated steering box to Lewis' car, and they were able to drive the actual car via Iphone/touch..whatever...? Well, they could totally program the car to run at some place like Jerez and gather data from telemetry. Then on Friday practice throw the new bits on the car and let the driver give his feedback. I think it would sure up reliability and push innovation.

Personally the more space age technology that I see in F1, the less interesting I find it. All the technology by itself is interesting, but its quite disconnected from the real world. Sports cars are where it's at now.

I hear ya.....but don't tell me you wouldn't want the Mercedes KERS system from last year in your 8, hahahahahahaha. Did anybody see the new Porsche and Ferrari w/KERS. I was like, "DAMN...it's in a road car already?!?!?"

Actually I would rather not have the additional bulk and wiring headaches.

.....yeah, and exploding batteries :scared::yelrotflm

Guess you're true blue old school...bet ya rather have a carb instead of fuel injection :D:, hahahahahah.....just jokin with ya :ylsuper:

I miss the days, when F1 racing was racing through villages. Oh wait, I wasnt even born lol

F1 ponders larger wheels for Michelin

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.a...48192&PO=48192

Leading Formula 1 figures have hinted that the sport could make technical changes to help entice a new tyre manufacturer into the fray, amid rumours that Michelin would like to return, but using 18-inch wheel rims rather than the current 13-inch diameters.

F1 has a tyre supply void to fill for 2011, when Bridgestone is set to depart after 14 years in the sport, many of them as sole supplier.

Reports emerging during the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend suggested that if Michelin was to come back, it would like to run wheels more in line with those featuring in its sportscar programmes.

Williams technical director Sam Michael believes 18-inch wheels would be a good move for F1.

"I personally think it’s a great idea; I’d love to do that," he said.

"I think it brings Formula 1 into the modern world if you like.

"The problem with having a 13-inch wheel rim at the moment – it’s a very specific tyre.

"And although tyre companies like Avon and Kumho and Michelin and Bridgestone and Goodyear make tyres like that, they are very specific to Formula 1-type racing.

"So if you went towards an 18-inch rim, I think it’s a good thing for the sport to protect itself for the future because tonnes of people make 18-inch tyres.

"They’re used on sports cars all the time, and they’re much closer to a road car tyre.

"So if someone sees the tyre on a Formula 1 car, whether it’s a slick tyre or even the wet tyres, they’ll say ‘actually, that just looks like the thing that’s on my M3’ or something like that."

Mercedes' Ross Brawn said it was important that F1 was willing to meet tyre companies' requests.

"I think for any tyre supplier coming into Formula 1, we need to respect their objectives and try to match them with the objectives of the teams," he said.

"Because if we sort of put our hand up and say ‘you can’t make any changes, this is the only thing we’ll accept’, we won’t be as attractive as we could be."

His concern about an 18-inch wheel move is that it could result in major design changes that would make life difficult for the smaller teams.

"What we just need to [ensure] is that we don’t instantly make redundant some of the cars of the smaller teams – we need to avoid that possibility," said Brawn.

"But I think it’s perfectly feasible to apply constraint in the regulations initially, but loosen them later to where you have to have suspension that would fit within a 13-inch wheel.

"You wouldn’t immediately massively disadvantage the small teams who maybe want to keep their survival cells and their pieces to carry on.

"We want to find a good solution that gives a challenge to Michelin, or whoever it is that wants to come into Formula 1, that they can see merit in coming in.

"And if that means an 18-inch wheel then I think Formula 1 is very open-minded about what’s needed."

I suggest F1 should use dimensions 225/45/18. And the slicks should be mass produced and sold at normal retailers too.

Imagine running on F1 slicks on the track days :)

Well, I understand that for economics of scale it would make sense, but I would like some form of motorsport to have be all production based.

I would like to see the teams have to go qualifying and race distance on one set of tires. That would be technology that would transfer to the streets to create a long life high performance tire. :)

^I say "nay" to one-tire-per-race rule. It would mean too high of a sacrifice in ultimate grip, especially in low & medium corners.

I welcome a return to 18s (as they had them last around '93), and hopefully bigger brakes with beryllium hardware like they used to use. While you're at it open up the engine formula and give the teams a choice again; my vote is for 3.3 liters with either 10 or 12 cylinder configuration . . . . . and no rev limit!

I would really like that kind of technical freedom. Rules over rules only make the costs higher.
Set overall car weight and dimensions, displacement and induction type. Then it's up to the teams to build something fast.

wb Aln.

It would be cool, if tire companies would lke to compete again :)

whatever is best for the sport...

I don't want tire competition. Remember the last one about 5 yrs ago. Marbles off line = no passing. Anyone can drive a soft tire fast. I want a hard and narrow spec tire that takes a real driver & team to get the most out of.

Well I think tire competition will ultimately breed better tires but it does create an uneven playing field that the teams can't control.

What I would consider more practical is allowing 1 tire mfg. but the teams can choose which of the tires from their line they want to run at the track. That way if their car is better on one set of tires they can run it on that set. That would also mix up the strategies more as you see teams that are faster on the softer compound coming in and changing more often but being passed by teams that prefer the slow and steady approach on a harder compound.

Very good point! However it would cause problem for the tire manufacturer who would have to bring ALL tires to the track. But then the teams could figure out which tires work best for their strategy on practice 1 and 2. Would be so cool, but impossible due to the vast amount of tires needed to be brought.

True I think it would be a logistics problem. Maybe you reduce the line of tire choices or the teams pick before they go to the track. Or each team is limited to the number of tires of each set they are allowed to run for the weekend.

Or just get a really really big truck!:)

I like the way you think man :)

The real problem is that the teams should be allowed to do TESTs with new tyres. Those cars are literally designed around the rubbers, you can't change everything every time and still ban the tests!

Looks like the F-duct is causing a stir again as McLaren are in the lead in Shanghai!

Go Button!
Go Hamilton!

God job from the Mercedes too (being 2nd and 4th)
http://en.espnf1.com/china/motorsport/story/14571.html

Next practice is in 30 minutes... I wonder if it will be more of the same or if Ferrari and Red Bull will bounce back.

Practice 2 over and the silver cars are dominating, both McLaren and Mercedes.

Ferrari are struggling, but we have seen them struggle before on Fridays and still bounce back on Caturday. I think it would be foolish to rule out either Alonso or Massa, both can be miracle workers.

Red Bull are just behind the 4 silver cars and are just waiting for the front to make a mistake to take the lead. It is mostly Vettel who is dangerous in Red Bull, and he seems to be having an edge over Webber, as usual.

Looking like good fun tomorrow...

omg poor beumi