[UltimateBMW]

Originally Posted by pman10

It's easy to be humble and gracious when your entire time has your back. Can't quite say the same for Webber. The Red Bull team was acting like someone had been shot after that qualifying. Certainly, they didn't have the excitement you'd expect from a team that just nailed yet another 1-2.

Glad I wasn't the only one that took notice.

[Echo M3]

Originally Posted by E90SLAM

The new Pirellis gave us exciting race due to high tire wear and degradation. However, the large gap between prime and option and the way option degrades off the cliff. Many teams considered is pointless to waste their option tires on one lap quick lap and destroy them, and had to stuck with a rigid strategy.
Now most teams gave up qualifying and leave their strategy options open for race day.

For tires like these, the tire allocation limit has to go away or give more options for each driver.

That's what I've been saying for the last few races. It's getting borderline ridiculous. Soon, we will be seeing Q3 sessions with less than 5 cars on track, each doing just a single lap to save rubber.

They need to go back to the old rules of unlimited tires for qualifying. Just require them to start the race on the tires they set their fastest Q3 time with, and give them 3 sets of softs and hards for the race (6 sets total).

Otherwise, with the easier overtaking and DRS, you run the risk of having qualifying turn into a useless farce, like in stock car racing.

[johanness]

"Familiarity breeds contempt"?

[E90SLAM]

Originally Posted by UltimateBMW

I don't think that qualy was necessarily boring. It just didn't go down to the wire like usual. I was definitely interested for all of it though.

I didn't take Vettel's comment one way or the other. For a man asked so often this year about KERS, what else could he really have said? This is also why he smirked at the question. Running without it was nothing new for him. His comment about the endless story probably summarizes his feels about KERS and RBR's tribulations with it quite well.

Webber is a man fighting against the odds. After he pulled pole, you could tell the entire team's demeanor was down. Not just him. The pit wall was absolutely stonefaced. Something else that I read between the lines. Vettel wanted to go back out again but was probably denied due to a lack of clean grid position to really make something out of it. Vettel's love of records is no secret, and I believe he wanted that 6 pole since Schumy badge to add to his wall. Not being able to go back out must have been frustrating. However, I'll give Vettel this. The man certainly knows how to play the crowd and put on his 'media-face'. He is by nature just as competitive and shrewd as any other driver in the sport.

I am a little sad that Webber couldn't enjoy his pole position more though. It certainly was well earned, to use Vettel's words.

Something no one seems to have even noticed was Schumy's strategy. He is planning on pulling a Webber, but not from the back of the grid. From P10. That means he will get those rubbish tires over with while all the cars are heavy and slow, which will leave him lightning fast at the end of the race. i'll be really interested to see what Merc can pull from this.

Good point on the schumi part, the regulation (correct me if i'm wrong) stated you must start with the tires you set time for Q3 session. Where schumi can pick whatever tire he can since he did not use any tire on Q3. So his strategy options are wide open! Will this be his time to redeem himself from all the negative press for the past year?

[KANdaddy]

Originally Posted by kirkx5m

im all for RBR to be strong and both drivers on pole and #2 cant get any better but webber is like a little bitch, never happy and looking like he shit a brick when vettel was talking. this aint the behavior of a grown up man nor a F1 racing veteran!

Originally Posted by Paul@Evolve

Its a weird one, cause everyone talks about him and Jenson being the 2 most 'normal everyday people' in the paddock. Agree it certainly doesn't come across on camera.

Honestly, I don't see his behavior as any better or worse than any other guy on the grid at his level. I think people really read way more into it or just plain don't like MW so they blow his behavior out of proportion.

Read his history in Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Webber. The guy has always come up just shy of greatness. He's hungry, he's worked hard, he's competitive. I seriously don't see him as a bitch or baby. When you get as close as he does you get frustrated when you come up short. I'd freakin complain too if I was as driven, put in as much time and work on the RBR team as he has (remember he's been with them since the beginnings) and then seemingly get relegated to #2. He is not more bitchy or frustrated than any other driver in his situation. Look at how Alonso acted at McLaren for shitssake...1000 times worse. I just think MW wears his emotions on his sleeve so it comes across wrong.

[KANdaddy]

Originally Posted by UltimateBMW

I am a little sad that Webber couldn't enjoy his pole position more though. It certainly was well earned, to use Vettel's words.

Something no one seems to have even noticed was Schumy's strategy. He is planning on pulling a Webber, but not from the back of the grid. From P10. That means he will get those rubbish tires over with while all the cars are heavy and slow, which will leave him lightning fast at the end of the race. i'll be really interested to see what Merc can pull from this.

Agree on both these points. It's gonna be interesting..

[E90SLAM]

Damn! RBR lucked out with a broken KERS!

[EINSER M]

thank u seb. no pole no kers but a big heart and a win.

VETTEL radio "ring ding ding ding ding"

[E90SLAM]

Great drive from Vettel, Hamilton, and button finally found a strategy that worked...
Awesome start from Fernando, sadly the 150th just went horrible once the prime tires were on....

[E90SLAM]

Some Saturday pics...

[E90SLAM]

and here's the sunday pics...

[E90SLAM]

Three of Spain's top four finishers could face penalties for the stewards for not slowing under yellows.

On lap 50 of the 66-lap Spanish Grand Prix, Heikki Kovalainen crashed his Team Lotus car into the tyre barriers.

As the Finn's car came to a halt in the barriers and before the yellow flags were waved, race leader - and eventual race winner - Sebastian Vettel made his way past the wreckage.

Seconds later the yellow flags came out and this was when Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Mark Webber all drove by the accident.

Post-race it emerged that the trio, who finished second, third and fourth respectively, may not have slowed down for the yellow flags.

They are all under investigation as is Virgin's Timo Glock.

Should they be penalised it would mean 20-seconds and given Hamilton, Button and Webber's advantage over fifth-placed Fernando Alonso, it would mean the results are unchanged. Glock did not score.

More to come...

http://planetf1.com/driver/3213/6945...-investigation

[E90SLAM]

Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Mark Webber and Timo Glock all escaped without punishment for not slowing down under yellows in Spain.

In the aftermath of Sunday's Barcelona race, it emerged that the quartet were to be investigated for failing to slow down when the yellow flags were waved after Heikki Kovalainen's crash.

If they were found guilty, all four would have been slapped with 20-second retrospective drive-through penalties.

However, given that Hamilton, who finished second, and Button and Webber, who were third and fourth, were over 50s clear of fifth-placed Fernando Alonso, was in fact lapped, penalising them would not have made any difference to the race result.

It also would have made no difference to Glock, who finished P19 and well in front of his nearest rival, Jerome D'Ambrosio.

And that probably explains why instead of penalising the quartet, they were handed reprimands by the Spanish stewards.

"They felt a reprimand was appropriate," said McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

"I think they took a sensible view, we have to make sure we stay out of trouble. It was in a part of the race where they weren't on throttle."

http://planetf1.com/news/3213/694531...ur-Reprimanded

[E90SLAM]

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[E90SLAM]

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[EINSER M]

commander thanx for all the pics, always a delight to go over them!

[KANdaddy]

Oh Man! What a great race! My heart was in my throat the last 10 laps as LH hunted down SV. I was so anxious I was tempted to just fast forward the race to the end. Glad I didn't

I'm actually hoping the other teams can score some wins so that we have a battle for the title to the end like last year. But, man, SV just looks like he's driving on another planet.

[EINSER M]

i'm not sure MCLAREN had such better pace than RBR during the race, since HAM was able to use both DRS + KERS and VET only had bits and pieces of KERS and no DRS. With that regards, VET did an amazing job of holding off HAM with the last 10 laps to go...

[E90SLAM]

Great race, seems McLarens are in better shape in race trim. Also given the different tire performance differential...end result can be very unpredictable.

We have yet see the Red Bulls in full wet races and changing weather conditions, and how good they are changing strategy in wet-dry-wet...etc condition.

That was the most tension 10 laps this season. Even there's no overtake, its a great battle.

[johanness]

I was standing for the last 10 laps! An exciting race, for one of the more uneventful Grand Prix of the year usually. I'm glad the whole pole-setter-wins stat has been broken. Vettel certainly deserved this win. Congrats to Heidfeld as well to finish in the points from dead last too.

[EINSER M]

next week Monaco back to back F1 weekends

[UltimateBMW]

Originally Posted by kirkx5m

i'm not sure MCLAREN had such better pace than RBR during the race, since HAM was able to use both DRS + KERS and VET only had bits and pieces of KERS and no DRS. With that regards, VET did an amazing job of holding off HAM with the last 10 laps to go...

Actually, I believe Vettel was able to get a few DRS runs in near the end due to coming up upon backmarkers.

The race was good. Solid drives from the top finishers. McLaren still needs just a bit more, especially in those high speed turns. The RB7 is the faster car, no mistake. The MP4-26 was only able to stay in the game with the use of DRS which only put him right behind, but not in an overtaking position. The last 10 laps went something along the lines of Vettel would pull gaps in turn 3 and 9, and Hamilton would gain it back on the DRS straight. And even with his seemingly relentless pursuit, he never really made a stab at an overtake. Such is the nature of the Circuit de Catalunya.