2012 Korean Grand Prix

[niky]

Really apparent near the end that he was struggling with that car. And apparent it was something with the rear. He was smoking one rear tire out of some corners when trying desperately to pass those STRs for position.

That doesn't happen on a healthy suspension. Not on an F1 car.

 

[F1rookie]

Hi this is my post,

I'm a big McLaren Fan, but their recent form is too bad, and its not well for their future. Two world champions recently struggled with McLaren machine. Mechanical trouble, gear-box failure, suspension damage and other things.

I thinks its Product quality control problem...

Wat you think about it?

 

[homeforsummer]

Even if Webber did have a good start, Vettel would have eventually pass him. So really, it doesn't matter. Faster car or not, Vettel deserves the 3rd world championship, even though i won't like it, if he does win, which he will, he will be a deserved world champion, and will be in a great position to take Schumachers record of 7.
Think about it, Hamilton driving a Mercedes already makes too many mistakes, the ageing Alonso, Button and Raikkonen, i don't see anyone else getting in to Vettel's league in the next few years.
And if Newey keeps up his awesome design, i don't see how RedBull can be stopped. That and the car's have become virtually indestructible in this age, we may see Vettel become the greatest winning driver ever.

It's feasible for sure. The one exception to that is if another driver on Vettel's level - Hamilton; Alonso; Kimi; some young talent we've not seen the best from yet - moves to Red Bull in place of Webber at some stage.

Webber is undoubtedly a great driver but he's just not on the same level as Vettel, other than in the occasional race where he's on top form or if he's made a good setup call.

Assuming the Red Bull is the best car - and if it wasn't at the start of the season, it certainly looks that way now - then the only way to really challenge Vettel is to stick a better driver beside him.

That is, unless Mercedes does another "Brawn" next year and gives Hamilton an absolute blinder of a car. Or Ferrari and McLaren get their acts together in terms of speed/reliability respectively.

 

[Nessy]

Slightly disappointing race to watch (imo), and me being a Hamilton fan, i was also disappointed by his faulty car, but great to see him fight that thing and at least bring home a point.

 

[Pagey279]

Well another fairly lacklustre grand prix, shame.
Another crap start for Webber, as they were heading down to the first corner I was sure there was going to be a crash, Webber's slower car had bunched everyone right up. But a good race for him never the less, even if he had maintained 1st and Vettel couldn't over take him I'm pretty sure Christian Horner would have told Webber to move aside anyway. So perhaps it's best he got it out of the way before the first corner

Vettel, great grand prix. Controlled it from the very first corner to the chequered flag. If anyone had come storming down the track he would always have had enough in reserve to keep them at bay.

Alonso, good stuff. Not the best grand prix from him, he just didn't have enough to close the gap and make a move on Webber.

It's great to see Massa back. I was hoping last weekend wasn't a fluke performance and it wasn't. It's just a shame he's number 2 in that team, it would have been a great end to the race to see how far he could have got up the road.

Hamilton, very unlucky. Suspension failure and then some angry astro turf decided the fate of his race.

Driver of the day? Hard to pick one really, not many great performances apart from Vettel, Massa and the Torro Rossos.

 

[Sureboss]

I really wouldn't miss Korea if/when it goes, the track has some interesting corners, but it just lacks some thought in it's layout. Pit entrance and exit were clearly afterthoughts, you can't overtake beyond turn 5 and it took them how long to get a recovery vehicle to Rosberg?

Distinctly average Grand Prix, Vettel's title for the taking barring any DNFs. Well done to Grosjean for not hitting other moving objects and nice to see Massa with back to back solid results.

 

[mister dog]

I really wouldn't miss Korea if/when it goes, the track has some interesting corners, but it just lacks some thought in it's layout. Pit entrance and exit were clearly afterthoughts, you can't overtake beyond turn 5 and it took them how long to get a recovery vehicle to Rosberg?

Distinctly average Grand Prix, Vettel's title for the taking barring any DNFs. Well done to Grosjean for not hitting other moving objects and nice to see Massa with back to back solid results.

Straight, straight, left-right-left-right-left-right-left-right-left-right ... I think Tilke wanted to get this one over with quickly...

And now back to India, which has a better layout but it looks like they are racing on a giant airstrip with all those asphalt runoff zones.

 

[homeforsummer]

Straight, straight, left-right-left-right-left-right-left-right-left-right ... I think Tilke wanted to get this one over with quickly...

It's a pity, as it looks like a much better circuit to drive than it does to watch a race on... get that impression from Valencia too.

 

[IceMan PJN]

Hi this is my post,

I'm a big McLaren Fan, but their recent form is too bad, and its not well for their future. Two world champions recently struggled with McLaren machine. Mechanical trouble, gear-box failure, suspension damage and other things.

I thinks its Product quality control problem...

Wat you think about it?

I'm also a McLaren fan, and the team has really let me down this year. They have the best driver duo as of the past few years, and they make a great car in terms of track performance, but their reliability has been poor and they've made some blunders with Lewis's pit stops earlier this year as well as the incident with him not having enough fuel after qualifying, getting him demoted from an uncontested pole to the back row of the grid. McLaren really should have owned 2012 and they failed to do so.

It's a pity, as it looks like a much better circuit to drive than it does to watch a race on... get that impression from Valencia too.

Yeah, I thought it looked good to drive but found this to be perhaps the least interesting race of the season.
:-/

 

[Centura]

McLaren and Ferrari took a big step on pit stop performance over the winter, especially McLaren, but their consistency suffered. As a result, even Red Bull looked slow compared to them and they had the fastest pit stops in 2011 with Mercedes.

However, the last couple of weekends, it appears that Red Bull have closed the gap to McLaren and Ferrari without losing consistency. Interestingly, I still haven't seen any major changes to their pit stop equipment.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/10/14/2012-korean-grand-prix-tyre-strategies-pit-stops/

McLaren still have the fastest pit stops, but because of them chasing that extra tenth or two, they lose consistency and end up having mistakes that cost them over a second, like this weekend.

 

[Jimlaad43]

The only problem with Massa leaving his resurgence now is that Ferrari now have a reason to tell him to back off and stay behind Alonso because of the championship. If they had let Felipe through, Alonso's points tally would decrease in relation to Vettel. Even those big doubters can't fault their logic.

Astroturf. Had this problem at Donington a few months ago but with proper turf. It had just been layed on the edge of the circuit and every car that went wide cut it up and put it on the track. I reckon that the mud should have poopy seeds put in it, so that the plants grow over the week. Flowers FTTB (For the track boundary).

 

[Peasantslayer]

Even if Webber did have a good start, Vettel would have eventually pass him. So really, it doesn't matter. Faster car or not, Vettel deserves the 3rd world championship, even though i won't like it, if he does win, which he will, he will be a deserved world champion, and will be in a great position to take Schumachers record of 7.
Think about it, Hamilton driving a Mercedes already makes too many mistakes, the ageing Alonso, Button and Raikkonen, i don't see anyone else getting in to Vettel's league in the next few years.
And if Newey keeps up his awesome design, i don't see how RedBull can be stopped. That and the car's have become virtually indestructible in this age, we may see Vettel become the greatest winning driver ever.

Hamilton hasn't made many mistakes this season, no more than Vettel if you look at how things have went race by race. I don't think he's crashed once in practice and his 2 race collisions this year have been with Pastor and Grosjean (impressive considering the race losing pit stops at Malaysia and Valencia when Alonso passed him in the pit lane before winning). The contructors championship could look quite different in 2014 with the new engine regulations and there are a few talented drivers in their early 20s so I doubt it will be straight forward for Vettel even if he and Newey stay at Red Bull.

 

[Akmuq]

Look Saubers way, two World Champions there, as well as Pastor and Grosjean, although they are already kinda old.

 

[Dennisch]

Korea, and quite some other tracks would provide some decent racing if slip streaming was more effective, and not just working when DRS is enabled.

 

[Peter.]

The layout is counterproductive to overtaking because there is a high speed section in which it is hard to follow the car ahead due to aerodynamic turbulence, which precedes the only overtaking opportunity on the track.

One way to promote passing would be to get rid of that last corner, maybe putting a chicane over to the left, and opening up a pit entry that is less blind. I'll see what I can do in GIMP.

EDIT: Here's a half-assed attempt. The old final corner could be converted into a safer pit entry, and you now have the high speed element removed, which might allow the cars to travel more closely onto the DRS straight.

 

[Submerged]

Wouldn't it be better if they went in reverse instead? It might present a better chances for overtaking, as you have the slower corners first, then be two long straights afterwards, rather than the current configurations, which has the medium corners first then the long straights.

 

[mister dog]

Wouldn't it be better if they canceled the damn place alltogether?