Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Santander 2012

[That90sGuy]

Finally gotten to a computer. My thought on the race:

1. Great driving by Maldonado, I totally underestimated him. Great 70th present for Frank
2. Alonso's driving the wheels of the Ferrari while once again Massa's left behind
3. Lotus need to work on a better strategy if that want to win a race. That's twice that they had a race winning car and couldn't put it on the top step.
4. Schumacher vs. Senna: Totally Schumacher's fault, for reasons other users have already stated
5. Red Bull: Mysterious wing failures? I don't think we'll ever know the whole story
6. A little funny note both Mark Webber's and Maldonado's first winners trophy... is in the shape of a Santander logo. Blantant commercialism there

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

6. A little funny note both Mark Webber's and Maldonado's first winners trophy... is in the shape of a Santander logo. Blantant commercialism there

Most of the trophies are Santander trophies.

 

[gorsad]

So, do you guys think that Ferrari have given Alonso a championship winning car, or is it just Alonso being Alonso.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

It's hard to tell what a championship winning car is, but I think if Alonso keeps his luck up and keeps scoring he could have a good shot. Massa doesn't make a good gauge.

McLaren seem to be letting both championships slip through. If they didn't screw up they would have a decent lead in both championships.

 

[niky]

There is almost no doubt that was Schumi's fault. He went for a feint on the inside, forced Senna to defend, then pulled for an outside move. Senna went back for the line, leaving one car width... What does Michael do? Nothing... Just plows straight into the back of Senna, confused and befuddled. Except for the braking point, which was due to worn tires, Senna did nothing erratic or illegal. Schumi simply over-thought the overtake and completely flubbed it.

Of course, if he'd called Senna a cucumber, he would've gotten away with it...

 

[prisonermonkeys]

It was nice to see Kamui Kobayashi, instead of the Kamui No-bayashi that has been racing of late.

 

[Peter.]

It was nice to see Kamui Kobayashi, instead of the Kamui No-bayashi that has been racing of late.

I agree, it was good to see the dive bombing mad which we've grown to love finally return.

 

[ghskilla]

I'm going to call it now and say Lewis will win at Monaco.

May I also ask of your opposite powers to say that Vettel will win by 20 seconds and Schumacher finishes last? Pretty please?

 

[Endless-Wilso]

It was nice to see Kamui Kobayashi, instead of the Kamui No-bayashi that has been racing of late.

Yeah this is the 1st time ive seen that skill he showed at Suzuka come back again.
Im very happy for Williams and and everyone on the podium really im hoping Senna can get his game together in Monaco since williams has to GP2 Monaco winner's on there team, its gonna be a fantastic race.

 

[Peter.]

McLaren's terrible mismangement of their 2012 season is really giving us exciting races. So is Red Bull's lack of qualifying pace.

 

[Mike Rotch]

So, do you guys think that Ferrari have given Alonso a championship winning car, or is it just Alonso being Alonso.

This season has the feel of 2010 for him. Consistently getting points in an inferior car, whilst others duff it up or have bad weekends.

At some point though, Ferrari's inability to put a cut throat pit strategy together at a crucial time, will cost them dearly (Abu Dhabi 2010, and echos of it yesterday by letting Williams pit first).

 

[Rich S]

Raikkonen mildly excited by 3rd place

Catching em' by 2 secs a lap!!! Yeah get em' Kimi!!

Great race....Alonso's natural talent is very impressive indeed....

 

[niky]

Ferrari doesn't need to give Alonso a winning car. They just need to give him a competitive one. That way we'll get a good show every race and Alonso will still win the championship.

Yesterday's Ferrari was, at best, fourth-best in the field... which, if all the drivers were on the ball, would mean ninth place at most. But Alonso put in a superhuman effort in qualifying... where others were content to save tires for strategic reasons or just couldn't be bothered to drive as fast as inhumanly possible. Of the rest (besides Maldonado and Lewis), Alonso was the one extracting the most from his car. Maldonado's Q3 lap wasn't all that impressive, in fact, considering he'd gone faster in Q2... Lewis' lap was insane, but then he ran out of gas.

Kimi is driving a terrific season, but the team is really flubbing strategies... something that Williams got incredibly right yesterday. Part of Maldonado's win was down to some terrific calls from the garage.

Perhaps the artificial intelligence doing all the calls short-circuited from the work-out...

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I agree, it was good to see the dive bombing mad which we've grown to love finally return.

Kobayashi isn't mad. As Martin Brundle pointed out, it's no accident that when Kobayashi nudges someone, the wheels make contact face-to-face, which means that Kobayashi's aggression is actually very calculated.

 

[Mike Rotch]

It is also worth pointing out the contrast between a world class driver and one very good driver.

When the former is given an average car, he races the nuts off it, drives around the issues and pulls great results out of the bag. When the latter has a good car, but a poor race set up, he spends the race whining about how understeery it is and then gets beaten by his team mate who started last.

Just sayin' to all those people who think Alonso is a whiny so and so, Button is the current poster boy for it.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Button's never happy. When he complains, it's usually a sign that everything is fine. It's when he shuts up that you know he's got a serious problem.

 

[Peter.]

Kobayashi isn't mad. As Martin Brundle pointed out, it's no accident that when Kobayashi nudges someone, the wheels make contact face-to-face, which means that Kobayashi's aggression is actually very calculated.

Sorry, typo there. Meant to say lad, not mad.

Picture of the Williams garage after the fire.

Hopefully the only parts that were damaged were ones which would be replaced with relative ease. Still, glad to see that everyone looks unhurt.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Sorry, typo there. Meant to say lad, not mad.

Huh?

It would have read "Kobayashi isn't lad". Which is not a sentence that makes sense in any language.

I assume you meant to say "Kobayashi isn't bad". However, his results suggest that he hasn't been particularly good, either. Consider the way he went seven races without scoring a single point last year. In fact, it has been about twelve months since he scored points in three or more races in a row.

When Kobayashi burst onto the scene, he was immensely popular, particularly because of his aggressive style. However, from about Valencia on last year, he was pretty placid. That aggressive do-or-die, take-no-prisoners approach to racing was missing. Last night's race was the first time we've really seen it since about Monaco last year. Kobayashi needs to drive more like that, and less like he was in 2011.

Hopefully the only parts that were damaged were ones which would be replaced with relative ease. Still, glad to see that everyone looks unhurt.

Going by some accounts, the fire actually started in the fuelling rig used to drain the car. Given the extent of the damage, it would very much surprise me if that chassis isn't a write-off. At the very least, it's probably going to need to many replacement parts that it is effectively a new chassis altogether.

 

[Mike Rotch]

Button's never happy. When he complains, it's usually a sign that everything is fine. It's when he shuts up that you know he's got a serious problem.

Huh? By your logic, him complaining incessantly over the radio to his team during the race that he had understeer and no balance was him actually delighted with his car?

 

[gorsad]

Huh?

It would have read "Kobayashi isn't lad". Which is not a sentence that makes sense in any language.

He meant to say the dive bombing lad .

 

[Pupik]

Okay...Lotus, Sauber, Force India? Your turn.

Congratulations, Pastor! Some of us saved our hats for breakfast.

 

[F1 fan]

Okay...Lotus, Sauber, Force India? Your turn.

Lotus or Sauber maybe. Don't see anyone else in with a chance. Then again, I didn't think Williams were in with a chance of winning.

Congratulations, Pastor! Some of us saved our hats for breakfast.

Speaking of hats, if you'd have showed me a picture of him with the winners hat on a few weeks ago, I'd have thought he bought it. Good job by Pastor. He may have benefited from Hamilton getting bumped out of the way, but this was an honest win against Alonso. Job well done.

 

[Liquid]

Should Alonso win the title, (fingers crossed), it probably might not be the first time, but would it be a time when the champion won in a terrible car? At the moment I'm putting Ferari's good results down to the driver rather than the car.

 

[Famine]

I know it will do nothing, but you made some very negative comments about him throughout the thread, and still act as ALL fault is on him

Lordy, imagine making "negative comments" about someone who did something wrong. Why, someone doing that must clearly be biased - no-one could ever say someone doing something wrong was doing something wrong without being biased against them. They can't possibly say he did something wrong because he did something wrong.

although I posted a video undoubtably proving the opposite.

Which several other - also obviously biased - members pointed out proved nothing of the sort. Senna was within the rules (the ones you admit to being ignorant of). Schumacher had to swerve just to smash into him.

(as you are absolutely incapable of admitting that you can be wrong in a dispute)

Yeah. Which of us got a temporary ban because, rather than putting their point of view across clearly and coherently, they chose not to support their position but abuse people who disagreed with them?

Get your own house in order rather than putting your problems onto other people.

Okay...Lotus, Sauber, Force India? Your turn.

Congratulations, Pastor! Some of us saved our hats for breakfast.

Lotus or Sauber maybe. Don't see anyone else in with a chance. Then again, I didn't think Williams were in with a chance of winning.

Anyone who put some money at the start of the season on Williams winning a race - or, better still, Pastor Maldonado - will have absolutely destroyed some bookmakers yesterday...

 

[Seismica]

Button's never happy. When he complains, it's usually a sign that everything is fine. It's when he shuts up that you know he's got a serious problem.

But if you remember last season... When he's happy with the car he's one of the best out there, perhaps better than Alonso. The only problem is those weekends are few and far between, but he sometimes has bursts of 4-5 races where he's on it (See beginning of 2009, back end of 2011).

I'm really becoming a fan of Alonso. He used to whine, but now he mostly just gets on with it and leaves people in superior cars in his dust. Alonso is also one of the people alongside Button who you can trust not to turn in on you in a side-by-side overtaking situation (See Spa 2011 with Webber into Eau Rouge). The fact he can drive a bad car and bring it up onto the podium consistently really shows his ability.

EDIT:

Maldonado aiming for the title:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18053650

I think it's ridiculous, but I dare not laugh because after his dominant performance yesterday, anything could happen.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I think Benson is putting words in Maldonado's mouth there. He never actually says "I want to fight for the championship". He just says "everything is possible" and acknowledges that the team still has a lot of work to do. I get the sense that he thinks that as the season draws closer to a championship resolution, Williams will be competitive enough to maintain a presence at the front end, but nothing more than that.

After all, one successful race does not mean all your troubles are over. Just ask Vitaly Petrov.

 

[Seismica]

I think Benson is putting words in Maldonado's mouth there. He never actually says "I want to fight for the championship". He just says "everything is possible" and acknowledges that the team still has a lot of work to do. I get the sense that he thinks that as the season draws closer to a championship resolution, Williams will be competitive enough to maintain a presence at the front end, but nothing more than that.

After all, one successful race does not mean all your troubles are over. Just ask Vitaly Petrov.

I actually posted it before I fully read the article He did definitely put the words into his mouth, but at the same time I bet it planted a seed in Ginsters' head.

I hope they can remain competitive. I think he's going to be very strong in Monaco at the very least, he's something of a Monaco specialist if I remember from my very limited knowledge of GP2. It's just if the car can remain competitive.

 

[Centura]

I hope they can remain competitive. I think he's going to be very strong in Monaco at the very least, he's something of a Monaco specialist if I remember from my very limited knowledge of GP2. It's just if the car can remain competitive.

It's pretty funny that Red Bull's Twitter account mentioned that.

http://twitter.com/#!/redbullf1spy/status/201669627590361088

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I can't imagine that the FW34 would lose all its competitiveness in the two weeks until Monaco.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Lotus or Sauber maybe. Don't see anyone else in with a chance. Then again, I didn't think Williams were in with a chance of winning.

It's had as much pace in both drivers hands as Lotus, Ferrari, Sauber and Merc GP at times to this past Sunday's race. Since the start of this season Williams have been in the running for third best car. I don't see STR or FI getting a podium this season much less a win, but there is still much to be seen so that is just an opinion.

However, I'm not all surprised that Williams won, they just needed to get their strategy in order and calm down both drivers and I see Pastor and Bruno collecting many more points here on out. I wouldn't put Williams in the same league as FI and STR. You have four, maybe five teirs to F1 right now.