Originally Posted by Si_Crewe:
“Hard to really dislike Vettel after listening to his interview.
Seems like it's the way he dominates the sport, rather than the guy himself, which people don't approve of.”
I have said for quite a while, outside the car, he does seem like a nice bloke. He values his privacy, and during the off-season hes hardly ever in the papers or we hear very little about him. He does seem down to earth, and takes things in his stride.
Originally Posted by sn_22:
“It's Red Bull that turn me off, really. Their 'reprimand' of Vettel after they stitched up Webber at the start of the year was a bit of a joke, quite frankly. All handled with the sort of squirm and platitudes you associate with politicians.
Beyond that, I just tend to find them extremely risk averse. The sound of Vettel's engineer coming on the radio after about 4 laps of one of the early European races this year telling Vettel he needed to "look after your tires and engine" was the best summation of everything that's gone wrong with F1 that I've heard all year. 4 laps, for Christ's sake!
The fact that I'm no fan doesn't mean I can't recognise that Vettel-RB are the best driver car combination on the grid by several lights years, and have earned the dominance they now enjoy. But I don't have to like it. And nor do I have to think that it's healthy for the future of the 'sport'.”
Who is the 'they' in the 'they stitched up Webber'? The only person who screwed Webber was Vettel. Which Vettel saw as payback for earlier mishaps between the two. I didnt agree with Vettel disobeying team orders. However I dont like the act Webber puts on as the martyr...hes anything but.
Originally Posted by vinba:
“I really hope that F1 does return to India. Despite Coulthard's comments India and Formula 1 do have a place together. Enjoyed he race even though it was a Vetel Procession there was some decent racing behind him....”
To be honest F1 should never have gone to India to start with. The country has a serious amount of problems that should have been sorted out before they looked to host an F1 GP. The GP itself, its only really accessible to around 10% (??, I doubt its that high) of the population. Due to the size of the country, most people will not go and see the GP if they live way down south of the country. It was a dream for a few very (2-4) rich Indians. The lack of success of the GP, in crowd attendance bears this out.
I for one, dont think it will return to India. They only pay Bernie $40Million per year. Way less than some of the other circuits. At the end of the day money talks. Unless they can stump up larger amounts, it will be difficult seeing it return. Teams want a maximum of 20 races, next years calendar has 22 races. Adding India would make it 23. Teams will do 21 races per season (have done in the past), 22 maybe at a push, with FOM giving more money to the teams. 23 just seems too much.
Vijay Mallya was on sky yesterday, moaning about the government not funding F1. Just show how stuck up his own ass this guy is. The Indian government have far greater priorities than a F1 race. Can you imagine the outcry in India, if the government did pay for F1? The government dont even contribute to cricket, which is a far bigger sport, so there is no chance they would contribute to F1. Turning a blind eye, as the farmers were chucked of their land and paid below-market-value for the land - was the best the F1 organisers could have hoped for.
Originally Posted by bspace:
“Its not a problem with Vettel
Its simply that we all know that whilst he's good
there's at least three drivers on the grid who are better than him as straight out racing drivers
at least with schu you knew he was one of the best, or best, on the grid (even if you couldn't stand cheats)”
I think this is one of the main reason why most people dont like Vettel. He isnt the best driver on the grid. Alonso and Kimi are better. However I dont think people give Vettel as much credit as he deserves. Webber has the same car, yet isnt able to get near Vettel. Vettel has a lot of skill.
Originally Posted by Si_Crewe:
“An astute observation which may be worthy of more technical scrutiny.
It's not just "driving" that damages tyres. Stuff like centre-of-gravity and weight-transfer will also have an effect on how quickly tyres begin to wear.
If RBR have somehow managed to build a car with a lower CoG than other cars, and with less severe weight-transfer under braking or acceleration (which, itself, ties in with lower CoG) then they should be able to run at a greater pace, earlier on, without prematurely damaging their tyres.
We've currently got a situation where drivers like Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen etc are certainly admitting that they're only "cruising" for most of the race in order to preserve their tyres, and only attacking when there's an immediate advantage to be gained, so a car which was kinder to it's tyres would certainly allow a driver to run at a higher pace, for longer, without being forced to pit early.”
The only problem, is that Webber seems to end up going backwards in the first couple of laps. If the RBs were that good, even with Webber poor starts, he should then be making up the spaces that hes lost at the start. It would seem the RB aero is such that when they are in clear air they work a lot better, than when they are behind someone. Which if you go back to the previous race, Webber and Vettel were told to maintain the gap between Grosjean/Webber and Webber/Vettel. A 2 second gap I think it was.
A decent enough race. Vettel won his 4th title, which was fairly obvious from around 4 races back. Whilst not the best driver on the grid, he is certainly the best car/driver combo on the grid. I think the only interesting part of the season is to see how the constructors pans out. Its going to be quite a scrap for 2nd place. I think Merc may well just hang on to 2nd place.