Motors The Official bit-tech F1 2011 Thread

I'd disagree, as there was still too much speed being carried, the carnage didn't happen until BOTH cars had taken too much speed into turn 3...

 

Petrov's been given a 5-place grid penalty for India.

 

As he should, really.

 

Maybe if he takes his earrings out...maybe.

"Yes, yes, yes and yes again!"

 

After Q3, Seb looked REALYL unhappy, which droppd him a biot more in my books. This was only aggravated when he starrted whooing and screaming over the radio and stats-whoring on the last lap.

Petrov and Schu was a rookie mistake from Petrov: He was racing the person (Alonso) and not the track. Alonso seemed to be doing the same, but on the safer line, where he could run wide should he need to (which he did). Not 100% sure I agree with the grid penalty there.

By now it's well documented that McLarend DEVELOPED a downforce problem in the early stages of the race, which led to serious understeer.
In that light, Lewis's calm and collected driving was gorgeous, keeping a visibly faster Mark Webber behind him in a straight up fair fight. There wasn't a single moment where I thought "That was questionable". Allowing Webber to overtake on the dirty side on lap 49 (i think) was also surprisingly strategic from Lewis, as it forced Webber to brake earlier for the next corner AND gave the DRS to Lewis. Close tow from webber and the DRS combined made for a perfect pass there.

I really hope that this puts Lewis in a place where he is calm about his driving, and accepts that sometimes, 3rd is better than taking massive risks and pushing for first.
If he can drive like that every race, he's gonna be WDC in no time at all again.

 

Could I ask what the rule is about moving to defend and then moving for the next corner? Specifically I'm thinking about what Schumacher did to Hamilton at Monza. I'm just wondering whether Hamilton's defense against Webber is the same thing.

 

Apart from that, i'm telling you, less make up, less crying, less earrings, accept his hair is thinning out, get the combover done, move on. Then and only then will he be back to normal, until then in my books he's just another Wayne Rooney, soap actor or big brother contestant that once slept with a minor celebrity football player from one of the smaller clubs that people, even fans hadn't actually heard of.

I was kidding about some of that.

 

One direction change allowed to defend a position. Schumi at Monza made more than one on a number of laps and also proceeded to close the door on Hamilton in the corner.

In short, nothing similar between the two situations.

 

I'm behind as usual guys and playing catch-up so I apologize for going backwards in the discussion. I just got done watching all the FP sessions and qualifying - one question only: Wtf is wrong with Lewis now? He looks like a moody git after qualifying on pole and despite stating that he's very happy in the press conference, blatantly doesn't even attempt to smile for the cameras at the press box. Toys out of pram over something managerial this week perhaps? Personal problems? He looks like I do when I've been woken up before midday on a Sunday!

 

Yeah, he just looks grumpy and I think it's weird as hell. F*** him, frankly. Racing in the pinnacle of four-wheeled motorsport and behaving silly about it. You don't see multiple WDCs griping about bad seasons (Schumi) or even famously whiny little bi***es (Alonso) being anything but positive and forward-looking.

Maybe the BBC chaps are right, though - perhaps he needs to unwind soon because being all grim and moody when things go south is just part of who is.

 

He's trying to keep a low profile.
It's a constraint thing, where he doesn't allow himself to get carried away by anything. A way of managing himself and trying to keep his head about him, if you ask me.

I don't mind it, really. It's better than the Vettel finger in the air whoop-whoop victory and QQ quali.

 

But nothing he ever says is actually from the heart... You can tell from his interviews that it's all PR drivel - even DC and Eddie called it just that a couple of races back. I'm starting to dislike the guy, and that's nothing to do with his performance on the track, that's to do with his annoying interviews and stuff like we saw at the weekend after Q3. Mopey little git needs a kick up the ass imo. As Stonedsurd said, he's competing in the top motorsport in the world against the best drivers in the world, he's in a WDC & CC winning team, he's making more money than he probably knows what to do with and he has now started driving like he used to again and getting good results. The whole moping after qualifying on pole thing is just another piece of attention grabbing BS from him I think

/rant

I'm going to watch the pre-show and race tonight. I only started watching at lap 40 yesterday so I missed most of it

 

I can relate to his reaction though:
Everyone hates on him when he opens his mouth. Either because he says what he feels ("is it because I'm black?") or he sports PR drivel and gets hated on for that.
Emotionally dirven people like him have a hard time expressing themselves.

His low-key appearance after Q3 was "nothig won yet... no need to boast it - ain't over until the flag drops tomorrow". You could see in the interview that he was trying to not show how happy he was.

After the race, he explained it: "I went back a spot... I didn't win. I'd rather be on the flight home than here, but I had a good race. I'm happy."

He's trying really hard not to get excited by doing well again, and trying even harder not to be the bad winner-and-worse-loser that a certain German is.

 

To play devils advocate he has been part of the McLaren PR machine since he was a kid. Nearly every comment he makes puts the team first and his opinions come second. He also has the press and other drivers claiming he's dangerous and "something should be done about him" one minute, the next he's being too careful. ATM it seems he can't win either way. We all have bad times at work/life when we wonder what the **** is going on and is it worth it. He just happens to be under the scrutiny of the world when he feels like that. Lets not forget that he nearly one the WDC in his rookie year and has either won it or nearly won it every year afterwards. That is a high standard for anybody to live up to and now his team mate is outperforming him in a team which is built around him.

It wasn't that long ago that JB was a whiny little bitch at BAR but he is now much more mature and seems to be a lot happier in himself. Give Lewis time and we will see a similar change.

 

Anyone miss EJ this race? I sure did.

 

I didn't!

In other news, Mr Newey says the ban on blown diffusers may hurt them quite a bit as it's a major revamp of current aero principles. Interesting if true, because the combo of incredibly efficient aero package and good use of the blown diffuser is the key to their performance imo. If they suffer in slow corners next year then we'll know they haven't overcome that obstacle just yet.

Does anyone know a website dedicated to technical analysis of F1? I know about F1technical.net, and there's a couple of good blogs out there, but I'm always yearning for more.

 

Actually I did.

Anyone find the commentators are being more and more spiteful to one another as the season closes? I find all of them openly picking on DC, whether for in-joke reasons or otherwise, it sounds sad to what was once a close, supportive team.

Not enjoying the commentatory as much as I did from the BBC

Overall, enjoyable race but a sad, sad track. Hopefully they'll drop it asap.

 

Dan Wheldon killed in crash in Las Vegas! A real tragedy! Rest in Peace Dan and my thoughts go out to his family and friends. Motorsport has definitely lost a great racer and personality.

 

I didn't notice any odd picking on the DC but I definitely did notice an element of... strain to everyone's performance. I don't know if it was the Korean GP or the prospect of being shut down next year but this was the weirdest race for anyone watching the BBC team.

 

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