Official Formula 1 thread

[torqdork]

So happy for Nico, one of my favorites, winning on the 30th anniversary of his father's win in his home town and a first for Mercedes.

Nico dominated with pole, lead every lap, and made tremendous restarts that controlled the pace to match tire wear. Also pleased to see him nearly silence the arrogant Vettel who, after quali, brushed off the Mercedes pole (Nico's 3rd in a row) as yet another fluke and as sore loser called the Mercedes twins "buses" slowing him down.

So glad I recorded the two programs following the FiOS schedule just in case of delays. It worked out after the safety cars and red flags.

Great race, phenomenal venue, would've been perfect had Kimi made the podium.

Any predictions for Montreal up next? That will test Mercedes tire management that's still unproven. I'm going with Kimi. Montreal is his kind of circuit and he's under the radar with so much focus on the resurgent Alonso but must up his potential value to Red Bull in his final season with Lotus should Webber retire.

Great competitive season barely underway, but am already looking forward to the 2014 season with return of the turbo cars.

[cfusionpm]

Love that Nico absolutely destroyed it, but I would have liked to see SOMETHING going on with the other top 10 drivers. The only place changes were when RB undercut Hamilton out of the pits under safety car (how, again??), and Perez driving like an absolute idiot. The real shining star of he day, besides Nico, has to be Sutil. He drove that little Force India the way Perez SHOULD have been driving his McLaren, as in, overtaking people smoothly and without forcing them off the course or hitting them. As an Alonso and Ferrari fan, it was a hard day to watch, but there was still a lot to see. Looking forward to Canada!

[torqdork]

Sutil's progress this season shows remarkable mental strength handling adversity beyond his control. Good to see his clean passes especially compared to Perez's insanity.

[torqdork]

Originally Posted by cfusionpm

...As an Alonso and Ferrari fan...

Me too. He's a bull. During the Spanish GP telecast they described his daily training routine as 3 hours of cycling, 2 hours of running and then he hits the gym. It's a wonder he has anything left at night for Dasha.

[cfusionpm]

Originally Posted by torqdork

Me too. He's a bull. During the Spanish GP telecast they described his daily training routine as 3 hours of cycling, 2 hours of running and then he hits the gym. It's a wonder he has anything left at night for Dasha.

That's just the nature of Monaco and why I usually don't even like the race. Whoever starts in front stays in front, except for a few rare cases. Hamilton's poor timed pitstop and Perez's maniac driving aside, there wasn't much movement at all. Those who valued finishing the race over holding position yielded to more aggressive drivers, but really, that was only Alonso and Button. At least Kimi wasn't putting up with Perez and his crap and put him into the wall, but it also cost him several WDC points.

Plus, Alonso has had lots of success moving up the pack. His qualis are never really fantastic, but his race day performances are always spot on. In Monaco there's nowhere to go though. Really waiting to see what he does in Canada.... That double outside pass on the first lap of Catalunya was incredible.

[torqdork]

Monaco has always been more show than go. It's the history, legacy and ambiance that make it special, the race is almost secondary. I lived in Europe and followed the circus for a few seasons. I rate Monaco in the top three experiences for fans in attendance, Spa and Silverstone the other two.

Canada will be interesting. Hopefully Pirelli will fix their issues so constructors and drivers won't have to control pace to the least common denominator.

[cfusionpm]

Originally Posted by torqdork

Monaco has always been more show than go. It's the history, legacy and ambiance that make it special, the race is almost secondary. I lived in Europe and followed the circus for a few seasons. I rate Monaco in the top three experiences for fans in attendance, Spa and Silverstone the other two.

Canada will be interesting. Hopefully Pirelli will fix their issues so constructors and drivers won't have to control pace to the least common denominator.

Last GP, Ferrari already showed that you didn't have to do that. It's not RB's fault that they couldn't keep pace. They all had the same tires, and Alonso drove the snot out of them. Boo hoo to teams like RB who cry foul because all of the factors don't line up in their favor. Even MB was able to get their tire issues under control here in Monaco when EVERYONE expected them to immediately fall off the pace. No one touched Nico, and he did the same pit stop strategy as everyone else, so go figure.

[torqdork]

Had to admire Ferrari strategy in the Spanish GP, rolling the dice that Alonso could build enough of a lead to account for an extra stop. Brilliant!

I don't think Monaco, with it's slow average speed and tight turns, is a true test of Pirelli durability. The commentators said Pirelli exercised a special test rule and picked Ferrari and M-B to test their updated construction last week but M-B's controlled pace didn't prove anything except to once again show a flash of Vettel's immaturity when he isn't dominant.

[GTB/ZR-1]

It's truly amazing how the teams strategize to work around any sort of new rules, tire shortcomings, etc.

It'll be interesting to see how everything shakes out w/ the wholesale engine changes coming & how the teams deal w/ the characteristics of the cars in their new iterations.

[ap5512]

So I was really hoping for rain during the Canadian GP but unfortunately it didn't and we got to see the usual Vettel slipping away from everyone else being at the front of the pack (). I wonder if Hamilton or Alonso could of won if it was raining....it was great to see Button come from behind the pack to win the GP couple of years ago.

Anyways...on to Silverstone!

[R_E_L]

Fun ending to an otherwise marred race today. Would have liked to see Hamilton get a better shot at the win but he sure did everything he could considering the circumstances. Tough way to give up a race for Vettel, he did well but just like alonso had Belgium taken out of his hands this one is taken away from Seb, wonder if it will have the same effect.

[bugsie]

Yeah, fun final 8 laps or so. But man, those Pirelli tyres are crap. There are marbles everywhere and too many punctures yesterday.

[Guillaume]

Punctures? Spontaneous bursting, more like! Unheard of in F1 on since Indianapolis 2005.

Vettel got his race taken away right after Belgium last year (alternator in Monza).

[cfusionpm]

I liked that no one on the podium even pretended to be upset or sad at Vettel's retirement from the race. :P