I do find it amusing that people are shocked about RBR's favouritsm towards a single driver.
At the end of the day Vettel is their No.1. They have have made this clear in their actions, without ever using the words, "Vettel is our lead driver."
F1 fans must remember that RBR is a multi-million pound (per year) operation. To simply leave the championship to chance would be very irresponsible. The worst thing that can happen to RBR is that their 2 drivers finish 2nd and 3rd (like McLaren in 2007, when we witnessed Ron Dennis trying to play happy families - had McLaren listened to Alonso, they would've won the title that year).
RBR are doing the right thing and ensuring that Webber does not take any points away from Vettel. This will give them the best chance at the title.
F1 fans shouldnt feel bad for McLaren though. They have an upgraded package and decided to test it on Friday and then switched to the old car for Saturday. To effectively lose Friday's set-up time and make 4th on the grid, based only on FP3 is unbelievable. Seriously guys, what McLaren achieved today is close to impossible. Button in 14th is about right. Hamilton truly is the fastest driver in F1...bar none. By consistently being 0.2s - 0.3s per lap slower than Hamilton, I have gained a lot of respect for Button, as that isn't easy. I expected Button to be consistently 0.5s+/lap slow. I'd love to see Alonso as Hamilton's team-mate, if only to see how Alonso repsonds to having someone consistently faster than him, in the same car.
IMO, McLaren, should've stuck with the new package, in order to test the new car, during the race and be competitive in the next GP. The problem for McLaren was that Vodafone have spent huge amounts of money hyping up McLaren at the British GP. My belief is that this was the main reason they decided to ditch the new package and go with a known car, to get the best possible result at the British GP. They will have to go through this whole process again in the next GP, which sucks.
Somebody above suggested that Jenson should start in the pitlane, with the new package - I would do exactly this. If McLaren can get some good data on the new package, they will definitely be fast in the next GP. You only have to look at Ferrari - they struggled in the previous GP, but are the 2nd best team in Silverstone - exactly how I predicted.
Somebody earlier asked why Webber re-signed for RBR. Very simple. They have the best car by a country mile. He would much rather be driving for RBR who can almost guarantee 2nd place, than be driving for Virgin or any of the other teams who may have a seat available (for 2011) and be struggling to finish in 10th place.
McLaren fans shouldnt be disheartened. RBR also have a big update coming up, so expect them to take a step backwards when this happens. By then I expect McLaren to close the gap (almost overnight).
IMO Ferrari/Alonso are the team/driver to watch. They have now settled on a sustained, incremental update program, which has worked so well for McLaren; so no big updates for them. Expect Ferrari/Alonso to gradually rise up the WDC table.
For me, Vettel is like the joker of the pack. I can see him winning every single remaining GP and winning the title by a country mile. I can also see him crashing out, breaking down, making poor strategy calls and getting involved in incidents... to finish this year's WDC in 6th place.
At the end of the day Vettel is their No.1. They have have made this clear in their actions, without ever using the words, "Vettel is our lead driver."
F1 fans must remember that RBR is a multi-million pound (per year) operation. To simply leave the championship to chance would be very irresponsible. The worst thing that can happen to RBR is that their 2 drivers finish 2nd and 3rd (like McLaren in 2007, when we witnessed Ron Dennis trying to play happy families - had McLaren listened to Alonso, they would've won the title that year).
RBR are doing the right thing and ensuring that Webber does not take any points away from Vettel. This will give them the best chance at the title.
F1 fans shouldnt feel bad for McLaren though. They have an upgraded package and decided to test it on Friday and then switched to the old car for Saturday. To effectively lose Friday's set-up time and make 4th on the grid, based only on FP3 is unbelievable. Seriously guys, what McLaren achieved today is close to impossible. Button in 14th is about right. Hamilton truly is the fastest driver in F1...bar none. By consistently being 0.2s - 0.3s per lap slower than Hamilton, I have gained a lot of respect for Button, as that isn't easy. I expected Button to be consistently 0.5s+/lap slow. I'd love to see Alonso as Hamilton's team-mate, if only to see how Alonso repsonds to having someone consistently faster than him, in the same car.
IMO, McLaren, should've stuck with the new package, in order to test the new car, during the race and be competitive in the next GP. The problem for McLaren was that Vodafone have spent huge amounts of money hyping up McLaren at the British GP. My belief is that this was the main reason they decided to ditch the new package and go with a known car, to get the best possible result at the British GP. They will have to go through this whole process again in the next GP, which sucks.
Somebody above suggested that Jenson should start in the pitlane, with the new package - I would do exactly this. If McLaren can get some good data on the new package, they will definitely be fast in the next GP. You only have to look at Ferrari - they struggled in the previous GP, but are the 2nd best team in Silverstone - exactly how I predicted.
Somebody earlier asked why Webber re-signed for RBR. Very simple. They have the best car by a country mile. He would much rather be driving for RBR who can almost guarantee 2nd place, than be driving for Virgin or any of the other teams who may have a seat available (for 2011) and be struggling to finish in 10th place.
McLaren fans shouldnt be disheartened. RBR also have a big update coming up, so expect them to take a step backwards when this happens. By then I expect McLaren to close the gap (almost overnight).
IMO Ferrari/Alonso are the team/driver to watch. They have now settled on a sustained, incremental update program, which has worked so well for McLaren; so no big updates for them. Expect Ferrari/Alonso to gradually rise up the WDC table.
For me, Vettel is like the joker of the pack. I can see him winning every single remaining GP and winning the title by a country mile. I can also see him crashing out, breaking down, making poor strategy calls and getting involved in incidents... to finish this year's WDC in 6th place.
