Quote from Mustafur :

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104476

Looks like Kobayashi is out of a drive next year.

Not a huge surprise, but it's still disappointing news. Hopefully he will be picked up by another racing team, be it in F1 or elsewhere. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there are any F1 team who will likely take him on for next year. If he can't get a seat in F1, then he should at least be talking to Le Mans teams, starting with Toyota.

Quote from Intrepid :

An Alonso win would be better for the 'sport' so I wouldn't be surprised to see him come out on top with some weird thing happening.

Meanwhile at a back alley in Sao Paulo, Narain Karthikeyan slides out from the shadows with a envelope full of Euros, and the keys to a brand new Ferrari.

I seriously hope that Ferrari doesn't do anything unsporting (like instructing Massa to ram Vettel if he has the opportunity). They are certainly not beyond such skullduggery. I want Alonso and Vettel to fight it out clean and fair.

It is that time of the year again. The final race and title decider of the 2012 Formula One season is on this weekend, at the legendary Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Brazil.



With just 13 points separating Vettel and Alonso, on a track renowned for its unpredictable results, this race guarantees to thrill.

For Alonso to win WDC:
* 1st and Vettel worse than 4th
* 2nd and Vettel worse than 7th
* 3rd and Vettel worse than 8th

For Vettel to win WDC:
* 1st to 4th outright
* 5th to 7th and Alonso worse than 1st
* 8th and Alonso worse than 2nd
* 9th or worse and Alonso worse than 3rd

In other words, Alonso must score at least a podium to have any chance of taking the title. Vettel's worst case scenario is to finish 4th or better.

Weather (Weather Underground):
Friday - 32C - partly cloudy
Saturday - 33C - rain, 70% chance of precipitation
Sunday - 22C - chance of rain, 20% chance of precipitation

Last edited by samjh, Sun, 25 Nov 2012 13:26.

Congratulations for Felix da Costa.

Poor Carreira. That was a terrible accident. RIP

The last race but one!

The US Grand Prix, back on the calendar since 2007, will be held at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.



Tyre compounds: Medium and Hard

Onboard video with Jerome d'Ambrosio

WDC Top Ten (as at end of Abu Dhabi):

Event schedule (GMT -6):
FP1 Fri 09:00
FP2 Fri 13:00
FP3 Sat 09:00
Qual Sat 12:00
Race Sun 13:00

Weather forecast (Weather Underground):
Friday 21C partly cloudy
Saturday 21C partly cloudy
Sunday 23C chance of rain (20%)

...

And for those members who are competing in the F1 Race Manager game, don't forget the bonus question and bets!
F1 Race Manager - Bonus Question

Last edited by samjh, Sat, 17 Nov 2012 12:58.

Not sure whether it was in the 2010 or 2011 model, but here is a video of him lapping the circuit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBjZrOcMPhY

He's obviously far off-pace. I think we'll be seeing laptimes of around 1:35 to 1:40.

Yes, that would be interesting.

Quote from JJ72 :

I love that Leyton House, just 1990 F1 car in general are all so nimble and to the point.

I liked the sound of the Judd EV8.

Quote from CSF :

Hmmmm, yes, but one is under braking, where as one is flexing all over the place over a small kerb. I'd like to see a slow mo McLaren/other car gif over a kerb. I'm sure someone will do that at some point.

Also that image is from 2011, before the current changes to nose dimensions for 2012.

The nose dimension changes aren't really relevant to this discussion.

Also, the McLaren is not under braking. The high nose position is just before DRS activation at the beginning of a straight, and the low position is at full speed with DRS. The dip in the nose is due to the extra speed and its resultant downforce on the front wing.

The nose-cone is just a piece of thin carbon-fibre bodywork which floats a long way out from the front end of the crash structure. It's not rigid, so it will inevitably flex. There isn't really any trickery involved and Red Bull is certainly not the only team with that sort of setup. I'm not surprised to see flexing around, especially when the car is bouncing on the kerbs.

Look at the McLaren, for example. You can visibly see the dip in both the nose-cone and the front wing (put a ruler across the screen when the nose is highest and compare its position when it dips). The nose-cone begins to flex quite steeply about a foot forward of the antennae.

(Taken from autosport.com)

Adrian Newey drives 1990 Leyton House and 2009 Red Bull:

https://www.youtube.com/watch? ... mbedded&v=6JTaKZgsR5Q

Interesting factoid is that Newey is, I think, the only current F1 designer who is also a car racer.

I'd like to see Christian Horner and what his pace would be like in a modern F1 car. He was pretty good in Formula Renault and F3.

Quote from vipex123 :

7 people DNF and 5 drivers left are in pathetically slow cars

Only three of the DNFs happened to cars in front of him: Hulkenberg, Rosberg, and Hamilton.

Of the faster cars, he still had to pass Grosjean, Senna, Schumacher, and of course, Button. (Not including the STRs.)

Quote :

One more comment on the Vettel situation, if a car is DSQ from qualifying how is it fair to then let the team change most of the car (downforce levels, gear ratios, tyre compound) before the race? It's not a penalty if you allow the team to do that.

Of course it's still a penalty.

Teams can either start at the back of the grid, or from pit lane, which puts you back much further behind the field when you join the race track. It's a big disincentive, and to use it to change anything is a gamble. Red Bull took it, and it paid off. But they were still penalised.

Last edited by samjh, Sun, 4 Nov 2012 15:44.

Quote from vipex123 :

Vettel has a car that can win races by up to 20 seconds - I really don't see how him starting from the back in a car that is capable of that is going to prove he is an amazing driver. He needs to start from the back in a Ferrari, or drive in a car other than Red Bull without Newey and then we can compare.

Alonso has won 8% of his races by over 20 seconds. [1]

Vettel has won 7% of his races by over 20 seconds. [1]

Button? 14%

Hamilton? 5%

Raikkonen? 17%


As for Red Bull, completely irrelevant. They were just another mid-field team before 2009.

Newey? How about taking away Mansell's title, Damon, JV, Hakkinen, and even one of Prost's? He's a great designer, but one designer doesn't make an F1 team, or even just the car.



----------
Note 1: Taken from http://forums.autosport.com/in ... 5972717&#entry5972717 (hats off to the poster who did the figures)

Quote from TexasLTU :

Some say RB and Vettel will choose to start from pits, so they "could change gear ratios"...

Please enlighten me, if you start from pits, you can obey parc ferme rule?

Vettel's car is being taken out of parc ferme, that's why they're starting from the pits.

The penalty was to start at the back of the grid. If they chose to do so, the car would have to be kept in parc ferme. However, they chose to take the car out of parc ferme and start from pit lane instead, so parc ferme rules do not apply.

Quote from Töki (HUN) :

Let's see how he can fight up to the front...
I would like to see him battling for once...

He has already demonstrated that he can achieve good results from down the field. Just off the top of my head:
* China 2007: started 12th, finished 4th
* Silverstone 2010: dropped to last due to puncture, finished 7th
* Spa 2012: started 10th, finished 2nd

...and a brief look at Google:
* Monaco 2008: started 18th, finished 5th
* China 2010: dropped to 15th due to tyre mistake, finished 6th

I can also think of some other, less dramatic races where he's had to make up positions as well. The notion that he can't overtake is a myth long quashed (I think Martin Brundle even said it was "idiotic" while commentating at one of the races last year).

Quote from Mustafur :

What always bothers me is why don't they use the two softest compounds for low Deg tracks like this, atleast then some strategy can be involved.

They had problems with degradation at this track last year.

Quote from IsaacPrice :

But to be regarded as a great then its hard to argue that someone is a great when atleast publicly it seems that other drivers snub Vettel to rate someone like Alonso above him.

If the choice was between Alonso and Vettel, I think picking Alonso is a no-brainer. His capability is unquestionable. I suspect that if Vettel was posed that question, he would probably pick Alonso too.

What is interesting is that Alonso was lauded as a great in 2006, even before his 2007 debacle and subsequent struggles at Renault and Ferrari. Perhaps it was because he was the one who - finally - downed Michael Schumacher. Vettel had a much more conventional rise to stardom compared to Alonso.

It hasn't been mentioned yet, but another absurdity that is often dragged up is that Vettel somehow didn't prove himself in a slow car. I wonder how some people come to this strange conclusion. Was 2008 such a long time ago? I'll do a comparison with Robert Kubica (incidentally my favourite driver in F1 during his active years), a driver who seems to be universally praised for his performances at BMW and Renault. At BMW, Kubica was paired with Heidfeld and could not establish definite superiority over him, despite being the favoured driver. Vettel has been paired with Webber for four seasons now and have so far beaten him without fail. In 2010, Kubica was praised for his results in the Renault, while Vettel outperformed Bourdais by a greater margin in 2008 than Kubica did against Petrov in 2010. So why the bias?

I think the whole F1 paddock and press are wary of having another German rise as a star figure in the sport, so shortly after Schumacher's (first) retirement. The fact he's got a fantastic team behind him is another detractor, even though Red Bull hasn't always been the fastest, especially in 2009 and 2012, nor the most reliable, as in 2010. Although I think crowning him as a "great" is premature, credit should be properly given. It's also interesting that the British and Spanish press seem to be the most vocal in downplaying his performance - the two nations who have their own drivers vying for the championship crown this year.

Quote from IsaacPrice :

I think its fair to say that he hasnt been in a position where he has to take on a fellow great in the same car, or overcome a great driver who is in a better car.

True. But that is not the standard to be applied when judging whether someone is "great" or not. If you did, some of the established "greats" won't make the cut.

With the exception of proven cheaters, history judges sporting heroes by what they won, not how they won. If Vettel wins three WDCs and joins that very exclusive group, then he will rightly be a "great".

Quote from BlueFlame :

I WANNA BE JUST LIKE MICHAEL. MICHAEL I LOVE YOU. What a fag.

Quote from atledreier :

What's that in human speak?

Not sure. I think "møche" is supposed to be "mochte"?

The first sentence seems like: "Mr Schumacher, you want to go fast"?!?!

My German is worse than terrible.

Stewards appointments released.

Quote :

PAUL GUTJAHR
PRESIDENT OF THE FIA HILL CLIMB COMMISSION, BOARD MEMBER AND PRESIDENT OF AUTO SPORT SUISSE SARL FIA Steward
Paul Gutjahr started racing in the late 1960s with Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Lotus and Porsche, then March in Formula 3. In the early ‘70s he became President of the Automobile Club Berne and organised numerous events. He acted as President of the organising committee of the Swiss GP at Dijon from 1980-82. From 1980-2005 he acted as President of the Commission Sportive Nationale de l’Automobile Club de Suisse and in 2005 he became President and board member of the Auto Sport Suisse motor sports club. Gutjahr is President of the Alliance of European Hill Climb Organisers and has been steward at various high-level international competitions. He was the Formula 3000 Sporting Commissioner and has been a Formula One steward since 1995

VINCENZO SPANO
PRESIDENT OF THE SPORTING COMMISSION OF THE AUTOMOBILE AND TOURING CLUB OF VENEZUELA FIA Steward
Italian-born Vincenzo Spano grew up in Venezuela, where he went on to study at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, becoming an attorney-at-law. Spano has wide-ranging experience in motorsport, from national to international level. He has worked for the Touring y Automóvil Club de Venezuela since 1991, and served as President of the Sporting Commission since 2001. He was president for two terms and now sits as member of the Board of the Nacam-FIA zone. Since 1995 Spano has been a licenced steward and obtained his FIA steward superlicence in 2003.Spano has been involved with the FIA and FIA Institute in various roles since 2001: a member of the World Motor Sport Council, the FIA Committee, and the executive committee of the FIA Institute.
Space

MARTIN DONNELLY
FORMULA ONE DRIVER 1989-90
FIA Steward
Ulsterman Martin Donnelly, 47, was a star of junior racing categories in the 1980s before making his grand prix debut with the Arrows team at the 1989 French GP at Paul Ricard, substituting for Derek Warwick. He qualified 14th and raced to a creditable 12th. He was offered a race drive at Lotus alongside Warwick for 1990 and started 12 races, recording a best finish of seventh at the Hungarian GP. However, his time in Formula One was cut short when, later in the season, a suspension failure caused a huge accident in practice for the Spanish GP at Jerez. Despite the serious injuries he suffered, Donnelly recovered sufficiently to race competitively in national events. He now runs Donnelly Track Academy in Norfolk, England and has held a number of racing team management positions.

Quote from englishlord :

That's how all punishment works. If I aim a gun at your head and shoot then the criminal punishment is based on how good a shot I am, not my intent to kill you.

In most common law countries (eg. US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc), crime involves physical and mental elements: guilty conduct and guilty mind. Both have to be proven in a court of law. There are some crimes where only the physical element is required to be proven, but those are limited cases.

This is why accidental killings are treated differently to intentional killings, and also why those who are mentally deranged are sent to institutions for psychiatric treatment rather than punishment.

Quote from tristancliffe :

So Grosjean was punished not for what he did, but the end result? Is that fair?

If I recall correctly, the stewards' decision to ban Grosjean was due to:
* History of crashes
* The crash involved leading world championship contenders

Pretty unfair, IMHO, but it is what it is.

Alonso doesn't deserve a ban. He was being a hypocrite though (at Monza: "always you have to leave the space!!!").

Quote from N I K I :

Please Ferrari, please update something on your car, something fantastic, something revolutionary. Do it like you did it back in 1998/99 when you always overtook McLaren in development game, I know you still have it, it's why I always loved you, it's why I got into F1.

I don't think Ferrari are bringing any updates until India.

Big update for Lotus though: Coanda-style exhausts. It didn't seem to have done anything for Mercedes, but maybe Lotus will have better luck with it.

Quote from Turbo Dad :

http://www.f1racemanager.com/bonusquestion.asp

You can answer this question until: 19:59:59, Thursday 11th October, 2012 (CET).

Ooooh, that's hard!

Hair and eyes are definitely Charles Pic. Nose and ears resemble Mark Webber (cheek bones give it away). Not sure about the mouth and chin, but there is only one option that has Pic and Webber in it!

Quote from Gougoodthing :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... p;feature=player_embedded

THAT is an awesome parody!

Quote from mythdat :

Hamilton making a complete arse of himself on Twitter again:

He really should think twice - actually, make it three times and an overnight sleep - before sending tweets.