Motors The Official bit-tech F1 2010 Thread - Post season washup

I can't stand EJ or Coulthard. EJ is an unbelievably moany whingey old team boss, the other is a still-paid-for-his-opinion smug *******. Coulthard is certainly the worst of the two, he shouldn't even be presenting while he's still taking cheques from RBR.

Case in point - Webber's crash, immediately he was bumming Webber for being 100% right, despite almost everyone thinking it was at least a 50/50 fault accident.

 

I do see where you're coming from (and the EJ vs. Coulthard argument over that crash was painful - I agreed with EJ), but generally I like both of them as presenters. They give good inside knowledge and the banter is great.

 

The first 12 minutes of the F1 forum:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8768436.stm

Shame about the power cut...

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8769619.stm

Ferrari called the waaambulance. Cocks.

Apparently a drive through penalty has "escaped punishment". It doesn't take a genius to work out that Lewis didn't overtake the Safety Car like he would an F1 car, he was alongside as it joined the track

 

Everyone is so used to Lewis getting season ruining penalties, that when he doesn't 'it must be cheating', or a 'fix'. The fact is that now there's a driver with the stewards bringing experience and common sense (which there has been an absence of in abbundance), as well as the increase in transparency the other stewards (you know the PR head of Ferrari's main sponsor and the likes) can't whip out their cheques for a sniff before making a decision. Man UP Alonso, you're starting to sound like whiney Stoner.

 

Agreed. Lewis put in the hard work to get the gap large enough so that he didn't suffer from the Drive through (although it was a little close!).
The penalty he paid is that it stopped him making a run for first, which was a very real possibility beforehand.
It also cost us, the viewers, the chance of seeing a first-class battle between Vettel and Hamilton.

 

Lewis made a slight boo-boo, but to be honest the situation was ambigous and it's understandable that he was uncertain. Of course the stewards would make sure that they called it right, hence the delay.

Ferrari shouldn't throw stones in glass houses. Their 'filming' day was used to circumvent the testing ban. A bit rich, then, for them to whinge about 'race fixing'. Their season has not gone as well as they thought so they're going to moan and whinge and accuse rivals of cheating. They do themselves no favors.

As for Alonso, typical toys out of the pram attitude. If he and his team had been paying attention to their own strategy instead of trying to put other drivers and teams before the stewards, they wouldn't have gotten caught out by the safety car. Alonso would do well to stop blaming others for his inconsistencies and work on his own form, which hasn't been quite so stellar lately, with all those mistakes and all...

 

Waaaaambulance indeed.
been keeping an eye on this, and thoughts that come to mind are:
- Lewis's move is almost understandable, and his defense makes sense. A drive-through is a standard penalty, and he took it without crying about it like a bitch.
- Ferrari are bitter because they made bad decisions with regards to their pitstops that cost them position. Just because Alonso finished ninth does NOT mean that Lewis would've finished 8th. Hell, FA got overtaken by Kamui, surely that's not just a "consequence of following rules", but rather a consequence of screwing the pooch and being slower than Kamui.
- Alonso was "a meter" behind Lewis. Sure he was.

 

Just like Webber was a meter behind... ooh

 

hehehehe.
IN related news, there a potential explanation for Whiting's late response to the accident, which makes sense and confirms Lewis' story.
Lewis shoots back at Alonso's whining comments
And it seems that the FIA might be angry at Ferrari, and that there might actually be actions.

 

It would be nice to see the FIA do something to Ferrari but its not going to happen, What i dont understand is even if lewis had got a BLACK flag alonso would have only finished a single place higher.

Yes Ferrari and mclaren are rivals, but imo Lewis being handed a bigger penalty still wouldnt have made Ferrari any happier because hamilton would still have been in front of alonso.

None of the other teams that finished behind mclaren are bitching about it which says a lot tbh.

 

I think this whole thing has just cost Alonso a lot of respect in my books.
He's not quite on MSC levels yet, but getting there.

 

I think Ferrari and Alonso's whining is down to two things.

Firstly Ferrari aren't having anywhere near the season they thought they would, their new upgrade didn't give them the performance edge they were hoping for and they've had to put up with being stuck behind other cars because they're unable to overtake. It's easier to find a scapegoat to pin this bad performance on than to admit it's down to failings in your car/your drivers.

Secondly Alonso is still clearly bitter about the rookie who entered the sport right at the point where Alonso should have become the dominant driver; he was at the top of the game, Schumacher had left and there wasn't anyone who was really in a position to seriously challenge him. Then all of a sudden Hamilton pops up and gives a first season performance that puts a serious dent in Alonso's dreamed for dominance, not to mention challenges for being considered the team's number one driver.

All in all, it's sour grapes and trying to find a scapegoat to divert attention from the fact that the Ferraris and Alonso just aren't performing well this season.

 

He is actually outstripping Schumi, for me.

The trouble is that Alonso hasn't, and won't, man up and admit his own mistakes. He has never accepted, for example, that his apparent demands to be team leader contributed to the McLaren difficulties. It was all Hamilton and team 'bias'. He never accepts responsibility for his mistakes in the car. Never. He always shifts blame to other drivers, or the car, or the backmarkers, even his own team if he can't find some patsy to blame.

Schumacher never went on like that, even at his worst. Granted while at Ferrari there were times the team did, but not Schumi himself. I don't recall Schumi accusing the FIA stewards of bias or of 'race fixing', controversial though he can be in his tactics.

UPDATE: He's not above backpeddling, however...
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/84896

One thing I can't stand is someone who passes the buck when it's their own damn fault.

 

Looks like Alonso stopped being a queen for long enough to admit that he was being bitter...
well... sortof.

 

Another awesome video from McLaren

 

Forced/scripted or not, you can see that love in their eyes for those cars, especially Lewis sitting in the MP4-4. Brilliant.

 

Agreed. These McLaren promo videos are awesome.

 

I WANT that garage!!

 

Absolutely. Despite the fact it's an advert, it gives us something we WANT to see. An insight into their appreciation for the sport, other drivers and in a place we would never otherwise see. Other companies could and should learn from this.