Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2010, Yas Island Marina Circuit - Race 19/19

My take on the title fight:

Hamilton has no chance unless things start getting really bizarre.

Vettel needs Alonso to finish 5th or lower (by my calculation Vettel 1st and Alonso 5th would give Seb the title on countback 3-2 on 4th place finishes, if Webber finished 2nd, he'd also be tied on points but would lose out due to having 4 wins to the others 5). I can't see Alonso finishing that far down on pace so Vettel is essentially reliant on an Alonso DNF. My guess is that if Vettel is leading Webber then he'll sit there for as long as he can waiting for Alonso to have some sort of problem. If there's no sign of anything happening then he'll move aside as late as possible on the last lap to let Webber take the title.

Webber has a very good chance, a RB 1-2 should be enough and assuming Seb plays the team game as above and the last few races have shown that they've got the pace to do it. Ironically he'll probably end up needing Alonso and Vettel to both stay in the race as either of them going out hurts his chances!

Despite leading Alonso has it pretty tough. He needs to beat at least one of the Red Bulls and I can't see him doing it unless they have trouble.

Upshot of all that is that I make Webber favorite to take the title.
 
Last edited:
I liked the green and gold. :(

I know some people will see it as a publicity stunt and whatnot, but I appreciate the fact they're acknowledging their history, regardless of whether its actually "theirs" or not.
 
I am soooo looking forwards to this.
I lost interest in F1 5 or 6 years ago, but last couple of years have been very special.
This year has been awesome, 3 highly competitive teams fighting it out.

I would like to see a little more emphasis on cost control etc. Maybe try to push all manufacturers to achieve more robust engineering with much lower engine numbers, but with the ability to buy extra engines for points but progressively more expensive, so extra engine 1 5 points, 2 10 points etc

I would also like to see some other important factors rewarded like they were in CART (no idea if they still are, refuse to buy sky sports so stopped watching when eurosport lost it). So pole gets a small reward, and also person who led most laps. Maybe also fastest lap.

The one thing I think is wrong is the no refulling, it added some spice to the mix, when would people stop etc, maybe short fills etc. Does anyone know why they stopped refulling?
Would love to see 2 compulsory pit stops, with a fixed minimum duration. I am sure a lot of accidents happen due to the immense pressure to change 4 wheels in 5 seconds, the number of failures etc that happen sooner or later someone is going to get hurt. So make pits stops say 15 seconds (well for 2x compulsory ones), so allow some refulling, change wheels etc. This would be much more controlled in this time period and less prone to error.

I really want see Webber get it, I dislike the Ferrari issue from this season so think it would be a travesty if they win it because of that. I think Alonso and Vettel will still win championships, Webber stands less chance imo.

2012 I hope they officially allow team orders back. Now with the open radio communictions the public will see (hear) when this happens and if they really really dislike it they can vote with their cash, sponsors etc will listen if they get negative feedback on backing an unsportsmanlike team.
 
My prediction for a redbull switcharoo if they need to do it

1 "Sebastian your engine is overheating, switch to map xx, button y on wheel"
2 "Mark your catching sebastian who has an engine issue"
3 "Seb engine temp high, shift early, try to avoid high revs"
4 "Mark seb still has engine issues, push"
5 "Seb, mark is faster than you, repeat mark is faster than you, do you understand"
After overtake by Webber
6 "Seb your engine is now back to normal temps, nurse it home but you can use full revs if you need to"

I would love it, would be absolutely classic by red bull, would be worth every cent of the fine they would receive which would have to match ferraris realistically.
 
I really don't think we've lost much by doing away with refuelling, as this season has largely proved. Most of the time teams ran nearly identical strategies, which really didn't mean much difference to the mandatory one stop they've implemented now anyway.

What stops interesting pit strategies is the speed limit, unfortunately. If it only took 7-10 seconds to get new tyres on, or maybe 15 secs max to chuck new fuel in, I think you'd see a lot more speculation by teams as to when/what to do. However, they're unlikely to change that any time soon, so teams will continue to avoid the pits as much as possible.
 
Yeah don't mind lack of refuelling but they definitely need to have more aggressive tyres (which thankfully Pirelli are working towards). Having less pit crew working on the car could mix things up a bit as well.
 
Weebull said:
I really don't think we've lost much by doing away with refuelling, as this season has largely proved. Most of the time teams ran nearly identical strategies, which really didn't mean much difference to the mandatory one stop they've implemented now anyway.

What stops interesting pit strategies is the speed limit, unfortunately. If it only took 7-10 seconds to get new tyres on, or maybe 15 secs max to chuck new fuel in, I think you'd see a lot more speculation by teams as to when/what to do. However, they're unlikely to change that any time soon, so teams will continue to avoid the pits as much as possible.
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree on the refulling as it stood it made little diff, although you did get alternate strategies by people out of position quite regularly.

That was my point though, make them pit a bit more so that they have to plan and do it a bit more. Its either that or make them more able to overtake, but thats been the holy grail and as fast as they hamper the cars the technology bridges the gap and keeps the general speeds and performance the same it seems.
 
Duke said:
Yeah don't mind lack of refuelling but they definitely need to have more aggressive tyres (which thankfully Pirelli are working towards). Having less pit crew working on the car could mix things up a bit as well.
Click to expand...

And get rid of the stupid two tyre compound rule and the race on what you qauli rule for top 10. everyone or no one.

can we have proper engine development back as we
ll. you have x-amount of fuel per race, use it how ever you want.
Absolutely no need for capacity, cylinder or rev limiting now we have no refuelling.
 
Weebull said:
I liked the green and gold. :(

I know some people will see it as a publicity stunt and whatnot, but I appreciate the fact they're acknowledging their history, regardless of whether its actually "theirs" or not.
Click to expand...

Technically, if they run the Team Lotus name, it is completely their history. The team as it's running this year has 0 to do with the former Lotus F1 team, as much as Proton seem to think it has.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/11112010/23/hunt-dismisses-proton-group-lotus-claims.html

AcidHell2 said:
And get rid of the stupid two tyre compound rule and the race on what you qauli rule for top 10. everyone or no one.

can we have proper engine development back as we
ll. you have x-amount of fuel per race, use it how ever you want.
Absolutely no need for capacity, cylinder or rev limiting now we have no refuelling.
Click to expand...

Will never happen, unfortunately, it doesn't fit in with the cost-cutting that is currently going on,everybody would spend a fortune developing an engine to within an inch of it's life, which just isn't viable in the current economy.


Also, the tyre change to super-soft is a no brainer, seeing as the race is run basically at night, tyres overheating is basically a non issue on a completely smooth race-track with relatively low temperatures. Wouldn't surprise me if a few drivers run on the options for the majority of the race, could be Massas chance of getting in front of the RBs and slowing them down. Hopefully next year the Pirellis are garbage and we see some different tyre strategy, something like Montreal.
 
Last edited:
deko said:
Technically, if they run the Team Lotus name, it is completely their history. The team as it's running this year has 0 to do with the former Lotus F1 team, as much as Proton seem to think it has.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/11112010/23/hunt-dismisses-proton-group-lotus-claims.html
Click to expand...
I hope they keep the name, as I don't see why Proton are getting their knickers so twisted, especially if they never had any intention of making an F1 team. It's not like Fernandes is going round saying "LOTUS ROAD CARS ARE RUBBISH DON'T BUY THEM!"

He's essentially giving them free publicity.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom