2011 Formula 1 Gran Premio de Espa?a Santander

SchumacherM said:
And what a start...the Bulls screwed themselves over.
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Overall I'm not sure what to make of this race...the racing fan in me liked the great drives but the lazy guy on the couch disliked the lackluster spectacle.
DRS was ineffective this race (it's either too little or too much...Monaco will be interesting).
Can't help but wonder what Webber's race would be like if Alonso hadn't have held him up for so long.

I'm really hanging out for a safety car this season though. That'd throw a spanner into the tyre situation.
 
zephyrus17 said:
Is it just me, or should everyone just do a token qualifying lap with hard tires and just save the softs.
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I was thinking that maybe they should increase the number of allocated tires for the weekend. If the Pirellis wear out so much faster, the allocation should reflect that.
I agree that it's a bit silly, I'm happy that the races are a lot more exciting now. But on the other hand qualy has turned into a bit of a snoozefest since the starting positions have become less important than tyre wear, so everybody's just trying to get an okay-ish time with a single run and be done with it*.

*slightly exaggerating, of course.
 
Everybody in the top ten except Webber and Rosberg maybe, seemed quite pleased with the result.

Great effort by Feidfelt after starting last and making eighth, a really interesting demonstration of a "tyre strategy", albeit by accident. (or fire actually.)

Didn't get to see what happened to KOV on the BBC coverage, but the extra hour on the BBC Forum was good. Interesting interview with Vettel and LOL at Mark Blundell being put on the spot by Martin Brundle. :lol:
 
The race was bullshit and after watching it, I see my dad's point of view. F1 has become a race of smoke and mirrors that gives the apparition of racing but has very little driver input, between the DRS, KERS, tires that last 7 laps, and hard tires that are utterly useless it's hard to see where the real racing takes place. It's a bummer because it has become a racing series that focuses less on driver's skill and more on the entire spectacle of the whole thing.

If it were up to me, KERS, DRS, and prime tires would be banned and the only tires that should be allowed are race tires, intermediates, and full wets.
 
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camsinny said:
Overall I'm not sure what to make of this race...the racing fan in me liked the great drives but the lazy guy on the couch disliked the lackluster spectacle.
DRS was ineffective this race (it's either too little or too much...Monaco will be interesting).
Can't help but wonder what Webber's race would be like if Alonso hadn't have held him up for so long.

I'm really hanging out for a safety car this season though. That'd throw a spanner into the tyre situation.
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I was rather bored of it. A safety car coming out with 5 or so laps left would have been amazing. To me, the same annoying german pre-teen who shoves his finger everywhere winning over and over is incredibly boring. DRS didn't really do anything. There's no middle ground with that thing, it's either ridiculously easy to use and overtake or utterly pointless.

Then, on top of that, only Red Bull & McLaren were on the lead lap. That's it. Four cars. Those factors combined, for me, made it very dull.

Would have been more exciting had Alonso won. Shame he ended up a lap down. That's just brutal.
 
Despite ending up a lap down, Alonso's race was great! So was Vettel's and Hamilton's! Button did well to despite his terrible start.

I don't think i'd mind if KERS stays, but it's really not necessary to keep it either.DRS has gotta go though.
 
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Peter3hg said:
And what is going on with Alonso?
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He had different strategy with much earlier last stop. Doing it the same way as Webber he probably would end 5th as well, but not that far behind the leaders.

Red_Bull said:
Amazing how Hamilton was able to hang onto Vettel despite the Red Bulls being 0.7s quicker in qualifying. It shows just how much a well sorted car such as the Red Bull can utilise DRS earlier than the others in corners in qualifying. That advantage is largely gone in the race though.
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This and also Lewis being second could use DRS and Vettel wasn't using all his KERS.

Brabham said:
I hoped Ham could overtake Vettel but that DRS zone is just too short.
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It was the longest so far. It's just that circuit in Barcelona has stupid layout with that kind of last corner.
 
mpicco said:
Last but not least, please bring Kubica to Ferrari, he can drive better than Massa with 1 foot and 1 hand.
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That might be true, but Kubica has the potential to win the WDC and he knows it. With Alonso having a contract 'till 2016 (which automatically makes the second driver a dedicated Number 2 driver) he won't move to Ferrari. Ever. That holds true even if, contrary to what Cellos flamed a two races back, Renault are really losing the development battle against McLaren, Red Bull and maybe even Ferrari.

And before i forget it, Cellos, this is the Spanish Race threat, not "Shit my dad says". If you (and your dad) that strongly dislike F1 just stop watching.

(By the way, all the fastest laps were set on the hard tires, the two-second disadvantage definitely was in qualifying trim only)
 
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Dr_Grip said:
That might be true, but Kubica has the potential to win the WDC and he knows it. With Alonso having a contract 'till 2016 (which automatically makes the second driver a dedicated Number 2 driver) he won't move to Ferrari. Ever.
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You're wrong here. Do you know they are very good friends? In fact, Fernando is Robert's best friend among the drivers (which could be seen after Kubica's crash). Also they both said they will like to drive in the same team.

If a driver is afraid of joining team of some other driver just because he's too good he'll never be a great one himself. So I think if Kubica will receive a call from Domenicalli he'll be all for it.
 
settler said:
You're wrong here. Do you know they are very good friends? In fact, Fernando is Robert's best friend among the drivers (which could be seen after Kubica's crash). Also they both said they will like to drive in the same team.

If a driver is afraid of joining team of some other driver just because he's too good he'll never be a great one himself. So I think if Kubica will receive a call from Domenicalli he'll be all for it.
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Did not know the bolded part. I would not want to race alongside Alonso no matter how good friends we'd be.

About the second part: I still think Alain Prost is one of the all-time greatest drivers. Still he got himself a contract at Williams guaranteeing him not to have to have Senna as a team mate. To be a truly great driver means not being a team player, as only one can win. You can only have one lead wolf per pack.
 
This sucked. Fucking hate catalunya.
 
Dr_Grip said:
About the second part: I still think Alain Prost is one of the all-time greatest drivers. Still he got himself a contract at Williams guaranteeing him not to have to have Senna as a team mate. To be a truly great driver means not being a team player, as only one can win. You can only have one lead wolf per pack.
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I agree that being number one driver and making your team mate to help you isn't bad thing. But you now why for me Senna was better than Prost? He didn't give a fuck about all this. He came to the team in which Prost had strong position and was 2 times world champion. Senna wasn't afraid to join McLaren in 1988 and won his first championship.

Also the situation with Prost in Williams was a little different. They had long history behind them. With different people it isn't that easy to predict how it will unfold. So yes, it will be risky for Kubica, but IMO he have to try if he'll have a chance. Thanks to move like that Senna got his 3 titles in McLaren.
 
Dr_Grip said:
And before i forget it, Cellos, this is the Spanish Race threat, not "Shit my dad says". If you (and your dad) that strongly dislike F1 just stop watching.

(By the way, all the fastest laps were set on the hard tires, the two-second disadvantage definitely was in qualifying trim only)
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I'm sorry, what? Hey if you want to play dumb to what's going on thats fine by me but please point out other premier race series that change up the rules year to year to give off the appearance of racing. I like F1 and will stick to it but, the guy has a point and has been watching F1 much longer than you have. DRS is a gimmick, between that and the pathetic excuse of hard compound tires, it cost Alonso a win. HE was the best driver out there but the rules have prevented his skills from shining through.
 
Dr_Grip said:
(By the way, all the fastest laps were set on the hard tires, the two-second disadvantage definitely was in qualifying trim only)
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not necessarily. the top runners ran out of softs and switched to the hards at lap 36, that's only halfway. i can imagine that with the weight they're still carrying around then, they simply can't go faster on the softs

rubens barrichello saved a set of softs for his last stint and pulled of 2nd fastest time, if hamilton hadn't been chasing vettel like that in the end of the stage, he would've set fastest
same for heidfeld, who stopped once less, but kept a set of softs for the last stint, and set 3rd fastest time in the 61st lap
(again a plea to grant a few championship points for fastest laptime!! - might make the battle between the mid field teams more interesting)
 
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I wonder if any team will be up for a prime-only qualifying soon (not in Monaco, obviously). Renaotus for example, on two sets of primes they should be able to get to 11th-14th in Q2. Ten fewer cars to overtake for Heidfeld, and still three sets of fresh options and a set of fresh primes.
 
Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari team principal

?There is no denying that being lapped hurts. It?s even more painful after seeing a driver of Fernando?s calibre putting on such a breathtaking display at the start and then fighting like a lion to keep drivers with clearly faster cars behind him for almost twenty laps.

We need to provide him and Felipe with a car with which they can fight all the way to the end of a race and not just in the first part.
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Pretty much what I think.
 
Victoria said:
I don't always have trouble staying awake when I watch Grands Prix that start at 5:00am, but this one, I fell asleep by about lap 45 or so.
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...which means you missed the last ten or so laps with Hamilton and Vettel fighting for the win.

For a Catalunya race, it was quite good.
 
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