Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2011, Yas Marina Circuit - Race 18/19
- Thread starter Duke
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Nope, Skeeter is waiting for it as well.
You are already gifting him a third title before the 2nd season has even finished!!!
Im sure he will get it at some point, but I hope we arent in for the Schumi years all over again, - Im all for a four way fight all the way until the last race next year rather than a formality thats concluded before 50 - 75% of the season is done
Today was too much of a gift as it was, to have a season like that , No Thank You!!
I don't think I'm being premature.
Firstly, the 2nd season has already effectively finished...this happened a few races ago, when Vettel won the title. We are just going through the motions now.
Secondly, next year, Vettel is odds on favourite to win the title. Unless Ferrari or McLaren can come up with a better car than RBR, I can't see how anybody will be beat Vettel.
Vettel's major skill is qualifying on pole position and then time trialling from the front. He also has an unmatched ability to pull away by over a second, in the first lap. I used to think that Hamilton was the best at this, but Vettel appears to be the one who does it again and again. RBR have tailor made their car to be super fast in Q3, which allows Vettel to get pole.
RBR will likely end up with the fastest car, yet again (in race1, next year) and if so, Vettel will be able to take full advantage.
For once, I wanted to see if Vettel is capable of fighting from the back of the grid, but we were robbed of this opportunity, today.
Firstly, the 2nd season has already effectively finished...this happened a few races ago, when Vettel won the title. We are just going through the motions now.
Secondly, next year, Vettel is odds on favourite to win the title. Unless Ferrari or McLaren can come up with a better car than RBR, I can't see how anybody will be beat Vettel.
Vettel's major skill is qualifying on pole position and then time trialling from the front. He also has an unmatched ability to pull away by over a second, in the first lap. I used to think that Hamilton was the best at this, but Vettel appears to be the one who does it again and again. RBR have tailor made their car to be super fast in Q3, which allows Vettel to get pole.
RBR will likely end up with the fastest car, yet again (in race1, next year) and if so, Vettel will be able to take full advantage.
For once, I wanted to see if Vettel is capable of fighting from the back of the grid, but we were robbed of this opportunity, today.
What also surprised me today is that commentators were saying today that Hamilton seems to have a turned the corner.
Let me point out that Hamilton (in the second half of the season), has not been slow. His speed hasn't been the problem. His problem has been his collision rate. Nothing else. Today, he was not placed in a situation where he was racing closely with other drivers. Massa raced alongside Button (and I think Webber) and didn't collide. Massa can take away from today's race that he is not a collider. At present, I feel that Hamilton, is still odds on to collide with another driver, in close wheel to wheel racing.
We saw many overtakes today, throughout the field, with no collisions. Do we really think that Hamilton would've avoided a collision today, had been involved in any of those overtakes? I'm not sure.
Today, proved nothing, except what we already knew and that is that Hamilton is one of the fastest drivers in F1. We need to see what happens when he ends up behind another driver (or in particular, Massa). If he can race cleanly, THEN we can say, he has turned a corner...not before.
Still, the top3 drivers today, all performed well.
Let me point out that Hamilton (in the second half of the season), has not been slow. His speed hasn't been the problem. His problem has been his collision rate. Nothing else. Today, he was not placed in a situation where he was racing closely with other drivers. Massa raced alongside Button (and I think Webber) and didn't collide. Massa can take away from today's race that he is not a collider. At present, I feel that Hamilton, is still odds on to collide with another driver, in close wheel to wheel racing.
We saw many overtakes today, throughout the field, with no collisions. Do we really think that Hamilton would've avoided a collision today, had been involved in any of those overtakes? I'm not sure.
Today, proved nothing, except what we already knew and that is that Hamilton is one of the fastest drivers in F1. We need to see what happens when he ends up behind another driver (or in particular, Massa). If he can race cleanly, THEN we can say, he has turned a corner...not before.
Still, the top3 drivers today, all performed well.
Soldato
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I don't think it's massa or hamilton. I think it's the combination. Sure massa raced wheel to wheel a bit with other people without crashing. But i didn't feel any where near as comfortable watching it as say button+webber which was just pure class driving imo/
Watched the first couple of laps, saw the way the wind was blowing, and went to play Forza. Turning back over every now and then and seeing no change in the top 4 just confirmed I'd made the right choice.
They really need to make a good circuit out of this place. Surely with all that extra space they can rejig the layout a fair bit?
They really need to make a good circuit out of this place. Surely with all that extra space they can rejig the layout a fair bit?
In fairness, nobody was being held up by another car. Like in India, the cars had all attained their natural competitive order in the first few laps, after which every car was lapping at their optimum.
If you want to see some unpredictability you need a topsy turvy starting grid OR rain.
Vettel was basically the guy who was going to provide the excitement as he would've battled through the field...but his race ended after lap.
If you want to see some unpredictability you need a topsy turvy starting grid OR rain.
Vettel was basically the guy who was going to provide the excitement as he would've battled through the field...but his race ended after lap.
Soldato
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The more times that I watch the circumstances of Vettel's incident, the more I think it wasn't related to the curb that he rode over, despite all the pundits saying that it must have been.
To me, it looks as though the second time he loaded the rear wheels (on the entry to turn two), the bead gave way which caused the sudden deflation. Looking at the footage as he slid sideways, the tyre looked to me to be well off the bead and compressed in towards the floor, which could explain the other damage that was done to the rear end.
Of course, that then begs the question as to why the bonding failed between the tyre wall and the bead, if it were the curb, I would have expected it to be the inside edge that failed, but I think that the outside that was the problem.
Ultimately though, I don't expect a "perfect" answer, just one of those strange things that happen from time to time.
*pics half-inched from itv.com
To me, it looks as though the second time he loaded the rear wheels (on the entry to turn two), the bead gave way which caused the sudden deflation. Looking at the footage as he slid sideways, the tyre looked to me to be well off the bead and compressed in towards the floor, which could explain the other damage that was done to the rear end.
Of course, that then begs the question as to why the bonding failed between the tyre wall and the bead, if it were the curb, I would have expected it to be the inside edge that failed, but I think that the outside that was the problem.
Ultimately though, I don't expect a "perfect" answer, just one of those strange things that happen from time to time.
*pics half-inched from itv.com
Not really, Vettel was able to take the full racing line, Hamilton's line was compromised slightly thus would have had a poor entry/exit in turn 1.
This we will never know.vettel has done one good overtake this season but that's it.
So it is looking like the floor caused the tire to deflate but I don't think we will ever know what happend.
Soldato
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one thing i never understood about the race is why no-one (that i noticed) was clever about the double DRS. pretty much everyone we saw made their overtake after the first DRS zone while braking into the corner, and was immediately overtaken in the second DRS zone. what i would have done, especially after seeing it happen a couple of times, is to do the overtake into the chicane, fake a bad exit and make sure the other driver is ahead of me by the second detection point, meaning i got the advantage of DRS when i was already very close to the driver ahead of me.
can anyone think of any major flaws in my plan, or am i just the only guy that thought of it?
can anyone think of any major flaws in my plan, or am i just the only guy that thought of it?
I wondered this too.
Or failures /issues - otherwise JB would have beaten Alonso yesterday
I still think you are wrong to write off next season so matter of factly. I sincerely hope McLaren and Ferrari can get their fingers out and build MUCH more competitive cars from day 1
How do you fake a bad exit without ruining your tyres?
I know what you mean though - but I would still reckon that a proper race would finish quicker than "faking" the bad exit and losing time every lap
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Soldato
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DC explained that one by simpling saying, if your given a chance to overtake you take it, you never no what the next corner brings. Jam today jam tomorrow (Their words - no idea how that was relevant myself)
After being out all day yesterday, my HTPC failing to record, and BBC being complete idiots in terms of getting the race on iPlayer, I ended up getting up at 5am to watch this.
I must say, it wasn't worth the sacrifice of 2 hours sleep. Good to see Hamilton back on form and Alonso keeping him honest, and finally some bad luck for Vettel, but other than that... it was just the same old flashy looking but not that exciting Abu Dhabi GP.
I must say, it wasn't worth the sacrifice of 2 hours sleep. Good to see Hamilton back on form and Alonso keeping him honest, and finally some bad luck for Vettel, but other than that... it was just the same old flashy looking but not that exciting Abu Dhabi GP.