Chinese GP RACE **spoiler**

Cripes "too big to fail" hits F1.

 

More like "too slow to react".

Penalties --- or even "warnings" --- have to happen during the race, not after.
That's what "instant replay" is for.

Of course, when you're working out of a suitcase, it gets harder.
-1 for the remote locales.

And when you have a "stewards of the week" club, it also gets much harder for the stewards to be confident in quick rulings.

But when your puppy makes puddles, you don't swat him with a newspaper next week.


I think Todt came in declaring a "clean sweep" -- everyone gets "warnings" first.

But Hami is responding by becoming an eight hundred pound gorilla again.

And he's setting a bad example for Jensen.

 

As I was saying, Ferrari should not apply same decisions on both drivers in a chaotic situation/ weather like today.

Why on earth was FM stuck behind FA on one pit stop incident?

Can't they just let FM or FA out on the track for one or few more laps instead? Those are precious times wasted when FM was wating behind FA to have his tires changed.

Mac won two races with the weather playing havoc and Ferrari should learn something.

Most successful investor in the world don't put all their eggs in one basket.

 

Ideally justice should be swift but how many times have races been ruined by an incorrect hasty sanction? Better to be right but late. what's important is that justice be done and be done consistently.
Like the Jensen quip though

 

Every time such a situation comes up, TV commentators discuss it and explain that under changing weather conditions, it is often faster to let one car wait instead of letting the driver slide around on wrong tires for one more lap.

 

Back in the Schumi/Rubens days, it appears that the drivers did their own race strategy (with their race engineers).

When the team tried dictating tactics to Kimi and Felipe, they had those years of tactical blunders from the pit wall.

I think that -- perhaps -- Ferrari has opted --- at least for the early races --- to let the drivers do their own strategy.
They're letting their drivers race each other.

In today's race, there came a time when everyone decided they needed the "other" tires, and they all came in. Actually, there came *three* such times. The coverage didn't show it, but from the pit summary, it looks like Alonso did his drive-thru on lap 6 and lost a couple of seconds stacked behind Massa on lap 7.

Alonso doesn't like waiting in the pits for a teammate ---- remember Alonso and Hamilton at Hungary qualifying in '07?

And we've already seen a few examples of where Alonso is perfectly willing to take advantage of knowing that Felipe isn't about to let the Ferraris take each other out. Alonso has no such compunctions.

That, or the pit wall is still inflicting blunders on the two drivers.


This actually isn't a bad showing for Felipe, so far. The early fly-aways were never Massa's strong suit.

But I think we're going to constantly see Alonso getting in Massa's face, right up until we see the red cars sitting at the side of the track missing parts.

Felipe is being the consummate "team player", but he's in a team where winning is a "must", after last year's dog of a car.
(The ends justify the means?)

 

And I lay that on having the "stewards of the week" club.

Yes, you should have a local steward --- one familiar with the oddities of the track.
But the stewards need to be used to working together. They should be a team, not a committee meeting *.
(* Everyone sitting around hoping someone else has a clue.)

 

Not the greatest racing ever but I totally enjoyed it. I have to watch it again to fully enjoy all the finer points of it but these were my highlights:

Schumi in the Merc looking like Ned Beatty bent over a log while the engine was squealing and squealing and squealing. Or at least I thought so.

Alonso shoving the hapless Massa off the track at the pit entrance. Attaboy!

Nico showing balls when defending his position against Hamilton while Kubica and others just more or less submitted without a fight.

Hamilton's the man! While I am a Vettel fan, he had no answer to Lewis and was simply outdriven. Lewis makes F1 interesting like no other driver and I cannot help but admire his car control, aggression and fearless attitude.

Button did well. Two wins in four races is no accident. He is a smart racer and I admit having prematurely discounted him. But make no mistake, he is no Hamilton and as the season progresses, aggression will submit careful strategy at McLaren.

More races like this!

 

I think, more accurately, "too small to bother with".

In the grand scheme of F1 incidents, these are relatively small. In years past, we've seen investigations for cars that have dramatic failures (like Alguersuari) and more.

If we're going to penalize a driver for weaving to break a tow, or take away race results for two drivers competing "too hard" in the pit lane, then we're in trouble.

If you look back at F1 history, there are plenty of real and serious transgressions that do require intervention. Intentional crashes, pushing a driver into the wall, taking a driver out on purpose, using teammates for blocking, and much more.

Couple of guys being stubborn in the heat of competition where nothing ends up happenning isn't cause for dishing out penalties, IMO.

I'm liking the new, less restrictive (but MUCH more exciting) F1 a whole lot!

 

TV commentators? That explains it...

We see Mac did a 1-2 today and no such incident where LH were stuck behind JB during any pit-stop.

Its just a slight drizzle and Ferrari shouldn't be so negative and bring 2 drivers at once to the pit stop.

To be on a safe side, Ferrari needs to hedge their decisions during chaotic changing weather conditions.

If you had 100 bucks and I ask you to bet what will be the weather condtions for the next race, will it be better to bet 50 bucks on dry and 50 bucks on wet rather than bet all 100 bucks on a dry race?

Obviously the former is safer and yet Ferrari chooses to bet all on one condition.

 

There's one reason Hamilton wasn't able to challenge for race lead:

Hamilton shreds his tires.

Hamilton has the check box for "aggressiveness", but this is a year when the only pit stops are for tires, and Button gets more from his than Hammi does. That's going to make it interesting.

 

2 good calls from Button this year to get 2 wins.

Hamilton is the most fun driver too watch! He has a bit of JPM in him although he is better. Brilliant overtaker and aggressive but prone to some foolish errors.

Alonso made the start mistake but he has also been driving lights out this year.

Schumi is getting beat badly. Today he looked like Trulli. Sad to see.

Weber should be on the way out. He is just not fast enough. Worse, he is no good as second driver because he can not bring home the WCC points.

 

A somewhat strange race. Now waiting for the Hamilton punishment. I'm neither a fan nor a hater, but he should get penalized for those two pitstop driving incidents.

Just happy we're done with the Asian races for a while. Finally back to watching them live on TV and not via tape recordings.

 

"TV commentators" as in "Niki Lauda" and "Christian Danner".

 

Nah they screw'd the pooch the old way too

 

I know what you mean.

But I'm just hoping that Scuderia will not use the same strategy for two drivers in conditions like today.

Just let one driver stay out longer and see how it goes. In the event that one driver screws up bcoz of the wrong call, there's still another driver who should do well bcoz a different strategy was used.

 

The team in red is failing badly.

The engines are not reliable and in some cases, so are other parts of the cars.

They are making bad strategical mistakes in qualifying and the race.

Massa is clearly off form.

Alonso is making too many mistakes on the track.

Their cars are being beaten by Red Bull, a team with certainly a much smaller budget. You could excuse Brawn last year because of the F60 hybrid disaster. But, there is no excuse for this year when they spent almost all of last year working on a new car.


This has to change quickly or its going to be a long season. The quicker they realize it and make changes, the quicker they will start to improve. Blaming the weather is just an excuse (too hot, too cold, too rainy, etc). Frankly, I'm tired of it.

The time for blame is over. The time for change must begin.

I think they have the right driver in Alonso if he can keep from screwing up. Massa I'm not sure about. I'm having a tough time thinking he can beat Alonso head-to-head but he's still a fine driver. But, to me, the problem is in race strategy, qualifying strategy, and set up.

It's not going to be a happy 3 weeks in Maranello -- or at least it better not be.

 

Exactly and that is the whole point.
Folk bangin on about black flaggin and handing out penalities like they have gone out of fashion sat there in are arm chairs are failing to realise the implications across the whole field, whilst they may not agree or like the actions of said driver so be it, but to judge as a steward you have to be totally impartial. Seems to me the folk bangin on about Button and Ham make no mention of Vettel or Alonso. Hence one can only assume they want them under the hammer because they dont like them its that obvious.

 

I recommend bowling. Nothing scary ever happens at PBA events.

 

I do as well. I'd just like some consistency.
Racing is dangerous and by its nature limits are always being pushed but wheels falling off and reckless passing in the pits serves no purpose.

BTW My too big to fail remark was in reference to a comment alluding to the fact that Lewis gets away with this sort of behavior because of his status.

 

cool pics, high tech at its best

 

I think this race was just so much better than we had in Malaysia. Very matured driving from Button, congrats to him. I think both Alonso and Hamilton deserve a penalty for the next race. Alonso in particular. What he did was not sporting at all. He could not overtake Massa on the track, under racing conditions, so he overtakes Massa in the pits, while the crew was actually waiting for Massa? I do hope they clear the air on this one, and this sorta thing should not happen in the future.

Ferrari, IMO, needs to re-think how do they actually call in the drivers in this circumstances. Queueing up definitely wastes time, and builds pressure within the crew seeing another car waiting behind, unless it's raining cats and dogs.

As for MS, it's painful to see him struggling like that. The car just has issues, and he can't seem to like it at all. Everyone passed him like as if he was walking. But i did enjoy some battles he had, especially with Hammi.

 

C'mon, admit that you liked it. You know that F1 is not a nice guy sport.

I'd normally agree but this was a helluva way to kick off Fiesta and stay at a bar way past the official closing time. Even the "American racing" enthusiasts who surrounded me considered this to be racing...and that says something.

 

The pit entrance pass isn't anything big IMO. I didn't mind it in the Lewis/Vettel situation, and I didn't mind it in the Alonso/Massa situation. There wasn't anyone around that area to make it a huge safety issue so why not. The sooner Alonso got around the much slower Massa the better IMO.

 

No punishment. Ham/Vet were reprimanded.