Formula 1: Round 18 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Daniel S

Deleted User wrote: »

Sweepstakes on where Vettel will finish tomorrow? He'll get to 7th/8th unless other teams have a lot of unreliability I reckon.

As long as he's out of the points, or Alonso retakes the lead, I'm happy. Don't mind either driver winning the championship, just want it to go down to the last race.

Myrddin

Deleted User wrote: »

Sweepstakes on where Vettel will finish tomorrow? He'll get to 7th/8th unless other teams have a lot of unreliability I reckon.

I dunno, he can now start on the prime tyre which isn't far behind the option in terms of lap time & just push all the way. I'm betting upwards of 6th, possibly a podium even. Its far from all going Alonso's way just yet

recyclebin

This will a real test for Vettel tomorrow. It's been a while since he has had to overtake anyone.

Daniel S

recyclebin wrote: »

This will a real test for Vettel tomorrow. It's been a while since he has had to overtake anyone everyone.

FYP

EnterNow

EnterNow wrote: »

I dunno, he can now start on the prime tyre which isn't far behind the option in terms of lap time & just push all the way. I'm betting upwards of 6th, possibly a podium even. Its far from all going Alonso's way just yet

Although the double DRS zones might end up counting against him. The durability of the tyres probably aren't a positive for him either, if he gets stuck behind one particularly stubborn driver he could spend half the race there.

Ghost Train

Ghost Train wrote: »

wonder why the delay, odd

Kravitz did a video earlier showing the line of cars to be examined and Sebs was near the back, he reckoned it would be ages before they got around to it.

decisions

I Kill You Scum! wrote: »

Kravitz did a video earlier showing the line of cars to be examined and Sebs was near the back, he reckoned it would be ages before they got around to it.

And then Charlie was hungry.

Frank Bullitt

Starting from the pitlane so its out of parcferme, I think that means they can change set-up, longer gears etc.

antodeco

I'm just hoping Alonso is taken out on the first corner. I really want it to come down to the final race so we, the viewers, have a reason to stay watching!

duke916

Deleted User wrote: »

Although the double DRS zones might end up counting against him. The durability of the tyres probably aren't a positive for him either, if he gets stuck behind one particularly stubborn driver he could spend half the race there.

Petrov! ...jesus i remember last years race PURELY for this reason alone. This year however, my main concern for Alonso from avoiding the 'petrov' situation happening again would be that idiot Maldonado. Alonso has to climb a few places to get to him but, i think Alonso sits on the right, Maldonado on the left ...a good start should sort that out for Fernando. If not, then this twat could cause Ferrari problems.

Hamilton seems to have the perfect setup for this race but McLaren are renouned for having dodgy gearboxes & steering wheels lately. Watching practice on setanta, Hamilton was complaining again about a further delay in the electronics between selecting a gear on the wheel and it taking affect. Whether or not this problem has been ironed out is to be seen tomorrow. 21 corners and 68 gear changes per lap - could be interesting from McLarens point of view.

Alonso...well, I wouldnt necessarily say its a big 'advantage' with Vettel being forced to race from the back. I really hope Ferrari have learnt from their failed strategy last time in keeping Massa behind Alonso because team orders should play a major role here. Two things to keep in mind; use Massa to hold Vettel up as he carves through the field & (where possible) place Massa in front of Vettel when the stops are made, even if it means Massa having to do a few 'slower' laps to get the positioning right on exit...and two....make sure Alonso isnt put out behind Webber in the stops and keep him out of traffic so he can race as hard as he can. Its not rocket science so they should get this right. If I was Dominicali I would be sitting Massa down and telling him to drive hard and defend his position as if his life depended on it. I hope this is a cracking race tomorrow. Dont know about you but the indian gp is one of the most boring races on the calendar. Lets hope this flips it over.

Forza Ferrari !!!

duke916

antodeco wrote: »

I'm just hoping Alonso is taken out on the first corner. I really want it to come down to the final race so we, the viewers, have a reason to stay watching!

If Alonso is taken out on the first corner then 'we, the viewers' as you say, will have no reason to watch the final race. Game over ppfffff

Andrew76

duke916 wrote: »

Petrov! ...jesus i remember last years race PURELY for this reason alone. This year however, my main concern for Alonso from avoiding the 'petrov' situation happening again would be that idiot Maldonado. Alonso has to climb a few places to get to him but, i think Alonso sits on the right, Maldonado on the left ...a good start should sort that out for Fernando. If not, then this twat could cause Ferrari problems.

Petrov v Alonso was two years ago.

Just watched quali then read about Vettel's disqualification, hopefully Alonso can stay out of trouble at the start, maybe grab a podium place and keep the fight alive.

Charlie-Bravo

I'm sorry, but, is the real reason for Vettel stopping on track for low fuel? Why would renault instruct the stop and not Red Bull. When Ted Kravitz questioned Christian Horner right after, surely CH would have be fully aware of the real problem if it was low fuel. Me's thinking there's something else, hence starting from pitlane if they need to work on the car outside parc ferme conditions to resolve the real problem?

YbFocus

I reckon this has just livened up what would be a dead race otherwise really. I would reckon Alonso comes 3rd and Vettel gets up to 7th but very little more. He was very stressed this morning with plenty of mistakes (the wall tap and chronic oversteer all qualifying), I reckon this could happen again tomorrow with the nerves shot and see him not make much headway at all!

It'll make for a great end to the season if it plays out right

astrofluff

astrofluff wrote: »

I'm sorry, but, is the real reason for Vettel stopping on track for low fuel? Why would renault instruct the stop and not Red Bull. When Ted Kravitz questioned Christian Horner right after, surely CH would have be fully aware of the real problem if it was low fuel. Me's thinking there's something else, hence starting from pitlane if they need to work on the car outside parc ferme conditions to resolve the real problem?

They knew they would not have enough fuel to satisfy the 1L extraction rule if they did an in lap. It wouldn't have been deliberate, just a miscalculation. So they stopped on track hoping they would just have enough by the skin of their teeth. And they almost did. 850ml

But you can't use that as an excuse for stopping on the track any more. If you say you stopped because you didn't have enough fuel then you are automatically disqualified. So they conjured up a technical issue and crossed their fingers that they would have enough fuel.

So of course Christian Horner was not going to say anything about low fuel. At that point he was hoping the FIA would accept their 'technical problem' and he was also hoping they would have 1L of fuel in the car.

Charlie-Bravo

Nice - it was some effort of playing it cool by CH even though you could sense something suspicious/odd was up!

recyclebin

I like the way when ever anything goes wrong with the Red Bull it's usually Renault that they blame.

I know Renault were at fault for the alternators at Valencia. Red Bull were very quick to say that Renault told them to shut off the engines after quali today.

Charlie-Bravo

Still intrigued by this so-called problem for Vettel's car - reading this from Autosport:

A statement issued by the FIA said: "The stewards heard from the driver and team representatives and studied telemetry evidence that showed the reason why the car was stopped.

"The Stewards accepted the explanation and considered the incident as being a case of force majeure.

"However a report was received from the Technical Delegate that showed during post-qualifying scrutineering an insufficient quantity of fuel for sampling purposes."

The breach of regulations left the stewards with no choice but to exclude Vettel from qualifying.

I wonder what explanation they gave - anyone have any insight to the Red Bull**** they gave as an excuse?

Cookie_Monster

no mention of cars running wide between 20 and 21. Quite a few cars looked like they had all 4 wheels over the line, vettel certainly did, not that that matters now of course. Webber looked over too

bbsrs

Bernie organising a close season finish again.

vectra

bbsrs wrote: »

Bernie organising a close season finish again.

Bernie does not fuel the car's I am afraid

Top Dog

T-Maxx wrote: »

Compressed highlights? Let's hope there are any ...

We might be in luck now with Vettel starting from the pit lane :D

If Red Bull are bull****ting to the stewards I hope the book is thrown at them.

bbsrs

vectra wrote: »

Bernie does not fuel the car's I am afraid

He doesn't need to , he has a kill switch for every car like the karting tracks have on their karts to stop you messing.

astrofluff

astrofluff wrote: »

I wonder what explanation they gave - anyone have any insight to the Red Bull**** they gave as an excuse?

I think they showed some telemetry that the fuel pressure was dropping. So their excuse would have been that if they continued and the fuel pressure went too low, the engine could be damage (im not sure I accept that excuse personally).

In any case its a moot point - why was the fuel pressure dropping? Because they didn't have enough left ! :pac:

They tried to pull one over and didn't get away with it.

Muff_Daddy

I'm very suspicious of Red Bull, and in particular Horner.

The level of incredulousness displayed by him when his team are clearly in the wrong, like this situation with the fuel or the incident with Button in Germany is the exact same as the numerous times he is questioned about the legality of his cars. Smarmy, butter wouldn't melt in my mouth stuff.

I'm not accusing RB of cheating, I just think Horner is a bit fishy. And don't get me started on that Helmut Marko guy.

bnt

The front wing on that Ferrari looks like a Christmas tree - some very fussy aerodynamic tweaks there.

keith16

Lads, whats the craic with DRS and "DRS Zones" being turned on / off? I don't get it at all.

EDIT: Nevermind, think I got it now.

keith16

keith16 wrote: »

Lads, whats the craic with DRS and "DRS Zones" being turned on / off? I don't get it at all.

It's not activated til the first few laps are run and it's disabled if there's a yellow flag in the area. They also disable it after a safety car sometimes. It's a result of the daft system that sounds like something a schoolkid would make, having a detection bit then activation instead of just live sensing.

Max_Charger

Brutal start by webber