Phil: No need to worry, spelling and grammar are no worse than usual.
Singapore was the 2011 season in microcosm - and I agree completely with my co-blogger that it was good, but not great. Let's recap what happened.
Vettel - superlative.
Button - the only man who showed even a hint he might be able to challenge (and now, the only one left in the title hunt, theoretically at least).
Alonso - fast starting, ultimately disappointed.
Webber - slow starting, balls out overtakes, ultimately frustrated.
Hamilton - controversial.
Massa - pedestrian.
The only difference to the rest of the season being....
Schumacher - shunted himself into the wall this time.
On to 2012...
Wednesday 28 September 2011
Monday 26 September 2011
Singapore review
Justin: Apologies in advance for the poor grammar and possible random caps that may appear on this entry>
My laptop is rubbish and causing a few issues>
First off let me say that I agree with my coblogger about Kimi and Williams>
I for one was blogging a few weeks ago about how I missed Kimis soundbites but I just feel that Kimi and Williams is about the worst fit possible> For gods sake keep Rubens Frank!
Singapore was a good race but not a great one at all
Vettel was in a class of his own and needs now to gain only one point over the rest of the season to take the title and become the youngest ever double world champion
Button brought his McLaren home in second and he was the only driver who looked even vaguely close to taking the fight to Seb
Webber had yet another battle with Alonso that lasted most of the race
Once again the Ferrari was just not on the pace of either Red Bull or Mclaren and Webber pulled a couple of ballsy overtakes on Fernando
In fact you can clearly see the Ferrari is the third best car out there from how they lined up two by two on the grid! Red Bull followed by Mclaren followed by Ferrari followed by Mercedes etc>
Massa and Hamilton had already had a bit of a handbag session in qualifying so I"d imagine Massa"s view was ignited somewhat by that
In my view Hamilton didnt need to do what he did really> He was behind Massa on the outside trying to overtake< lost his braking and locked up piling into Massa"s rear end>
This blighted Massas progress obviously and sent Hamilton back to around eighteenth after his drive through penalty
Now my gripe with Lewis stems partly from his botched overtake (again) but mostly from him coming onto the radio and asking his team (in a manner of words) whether it was really worth bothering to continue going fast>
He shouldnt need motivating at all> full stop frankly! His team told him to keep going and try overtaking as if a safety car happened they could still get good points>
This occurred as it happened but a top driver should never need a motivational speech from his team mid race to go faster and not give up!!!!!!!!
Massa and Lewis had a bit of afters when Massa interrupted Lewis being interviewed later on>
Frankly if I"d have been on the receiving end of a Lewis punt off a few times as Massa has then i"d be furious too>
Hamilton needs to sort himself out quickly as Massa is right>>>>driving like that he can say goodbye to any further championships>
On to Suzuka we go!!
My laptop is rubbish and causing a few issues>
First off let me say that I agree with my coblogger about Kimi and Williams>
I for one was blogging a few weeks ago about how I missed Kimis soundbites but I just feel that Kimi and Williams is about the worst fit possible> For gods sake keep Rubens Frank!
Singapore was a good race but not a great one at all
Vettel was in a class of his own and needs now to gain only one point over the rest of the season to take the title and become the youngest ever double world champion
Button brought his McLaren home in second and he was the only driver who looked even vaguely close to taking the fight to Seb
Webber had yet another battle with Alonso that lasted most of the race
Once again the Ferrari was just not on the pace of either Red Bull or Mclaren and Webber pulled a couple of ballsy overtakes on Fernando
In fact you can clearly see the Ferrari is the third best car out there from how they lined up two by two on the grid! Red Bull followed by Mclaren followed by Ferrari followed by Mercedes etc>
Massa and Hamilton had already had a bit of a handbag session in qualifying so I"d imagine Massa"s view was ignited somewhat by that
In my view Hamilton didnt need to do what he did really> He was behind Massa on the outside trying to overtake< lost his braking and locked up piling into Massa"s rear end>
This blighted Massas progress obviously and sent Hamilton back to around eighteenth after his drive through penalty
Now my gripe with Lewis stems partly from his botched overtake (again) but mostly from him coming onto the radio and asking his team (in a manner of words) whether it was really worth bothering to continue going fast>
He shouldnt need motivating at all> full stop frankly! His team told him to keep going and try overtaking as if a safety car happened they could still get good points>
This occurred as it happened but a top driver should never need a motivational speech from his team mid race to go faster and not give up!!!!!!!!
Massa and Lewis had a bit of afters when Massa interrupted Lewis being interviewed later on>
Frankly if I"d have been on the receiving end of a Lewis punt off a few times as Massa has then i"d be furious too>
Hamilton needs to sort himself out quickly as Massa is right>>>>driving like that he can say goodbye to any further championships>
On to Suzuka we go!!
Thursday 22 September 2011
Don't do it, Frank
Phil: My co-blogger texted me tonight with alarming news linking Kimi Raikkonen to a seat at Williams next year.
Now I think I speak for both of us when I say: what would Raikkonen and his salary expectations see in cash-strapped Williams? And what would struggling Williams see in the laziest man in motor sport? Unless of course, Raikkonen brings a mouthwatering sponsorship deal to the table, and is so desperate to get back into F1 that he'll drive for anybody, for nothing? Anyway, my advice to Sir Frank would be: don't you think Rubens would do a much better job?As the following set of statistics should prove beyond reasonable doubt.
Everyone knows that the first man you have to beat in F1 is your teammate - after all, only he has exactly the same machinery as you. Detailed analysis shows that, at the end of the European season, about half the drivers are beating their teammates, and the other half aren't*. Even more detailed analysis shows that relative to their teammates, the drivers who are doing the best are (the percentages are the percentage lead in points over their teammate):
Barrichello 75%
Kobayashi 70%
Alonso 52%
Sutil 50%
Vettel 41%
Alguersuari 19%
Rosberg 7%
Button 5%
Petrov 0% (against Heidfeld, 94% against Senna who has only driven two races)
Hamilton -6%
Schumacher -8%
Buemi -23%
Webber -70%
di Resta -100%
Massa -110%
Perez -238%
Maldonado -300%
Senna -1600%
So there you have it. Barrichello has scored 75% more points than his teammate, and therefore is in principle outperforming his admittedly crap car better than any other driver.
*It's only about half because Petrov has exactly the same number of points as his teammate Heidfeld, who to confuse matters further, isn't his teammate.
Now I think I speak for both of us when I say: what would Raikkonen and his salary expectations see in cash-strapped Williams? And what would struggling Williams see in the laziest man in motor sport? Unless of course, Raikkonen brings a mouthwatering sponsorship deal to the table, and is so desperate to get back into F1 that he'll drive for anybody, for nothing? Anyway, my advice to Sir Frank would be: don't you think Rubens would do a much better job?As the following set of statistics should prove beyond reasonable doubt.
Everyone knows that the first man you have to beat in F1 is your teammate - after all, only he has exactly the same machinery as you. Detailed analysis shows that, at the end of the European season, about half the drivers are beating their teammates, and the other half aren't*. Even more detailed analysis shows that relative to their teammates, the drivers who are doing the best are (the percentages are the percentage lead in points over their teammate):
Barrichello 75%
Kobayashi 70%
Alonso 52%
Sutil 50%
Vettel 41%
Alguersuari 19%
Rosberg 7%
Button 5%
Petrov 0% (against Heidfeld, 94% against Senna who has only driven two races)
Hamilton -6%
Schumacher -8%
Buemi -23%
Webber -70%
di Resta -100%
Massa -110%
Perez -238%
Maldonado -300%
Senna -1600%
So there you have it. Barrichello has scored 75% more points than his teammate, and therefore is in principle outperforming his admittedly crap car better than any other driver.
*It's only about half because Petrov has exactly the same number of points as his teammate Heidfeld, who to confuse matters further, isn't his teammate.
Monday 12 September 2011
Monza
Justin: A solid roundup of the events at Monza there by my esteemed colleague.
I couldn't agree more with him about Jenson Button. Whilst for the second half of last year, Button's first year at Mclaren, Hamilton pretty much blew him away (especially in qualifying), this year has seen JB consistently faster than Hamilton in races. I'd even go as far to say that JB has had more standout "wow, did he really just do that?!" sort of drives....as mentioned by my colleague...Montreal was a masterclass, Spa, even Hungary where he didn't make nearly as many errors as Hamilton.
I watched the F1 forum after the race. It featured Button and Martin Whitmarsh skirting around questions about the finer details of JB's contract talks. He'll definately be at Mclaren next year, and it seems for a few more years after that. You could tell Whitmarsh absolutely loves JB and it seems JB seems equally at home at Mclaren. Rumour has it that his easygoing charm sits well alongside his quest for speed with the mechanics and everyone loves him.
In fact, you could easily say its more JB's team than Hamilton's these days. Let us not forget, that many people said Lewis would blow Button away when JB first moved there, and JB went and won 2 of the first 4 races of 2010!
As much as Button has been driving supremely, Hamilton has been driving quite raggedly all year. Overtakes are sometimes great, but a lot of the time he nerfs others and himself off. Until he stops doing this, he can forget about future world titles.
If JB continues to drive like this for the rest of the year it could prove crucial in gaining further momentum over Lewis for 2012.
My favourite moment of the race at Monza, bullet start by Fernando aside, was the 20 odd lap squabble which saw Lewis stuck behind a rejuvinated Schumi. It was quite a battle, with Schumi pushing the limits like the Schumi of old.
Then Jenson came up and breezed by Lewis as he backed off a weaving Schumi, then within minutes Jenson took Shumi. Thats how ya do it Lewis!
It was amusing to listen to the pre-podium comments by Vettel to Alonso about the pass which saw Vettel forced wide onto the grass. Vettel was smiling and saying "I was on the grass"...Alonso shrugged and replied "yeah".
Later Vettel called it firm but fair, whilst Alonso apologised apparently.
Onto Singapore we go. Let the battle for second commence!
I couldn't agree more with him about Jenson Button. Whilst for the second half of last year, Button's first year at Mclaren, Hamilton pretty much blew him away (especially in qualifying), this year has seen JB consistently faster than Hamilton in races. I'd even go as far to say that JB has had more standout "wow, did he really just do that?!" sort of drives....as mentioned by my colleague...Montreal was a masterclass, Spa, even Hungary where he didn't make nearly as many errors as Hamilton.
I watched the F1 forum after the race. It featured Button and Martin Whitmarsh skirting around questions about the finer details of JB's contract talks. He'll definately be at Mclaren next year, and it seems for a few more years after that. You could tell Whitmarsh absolutely loves JB and it seems JB seems equally at home at Mclaren. Rumour has it that his easygoing charm sits well alongside his quest for speed with the mechanics and everyone loves him.
In fact, you could easily say its more JB's team than Hamilton's these days. Let us not forget, that many people said Lewis would blow Button away when JB first moved there, and JB went and won 2 of the first 4 races of 2010!
As much as Button has been driving supremely, Hamilton has been driving quite raggedly all year. Overtakes are sometimes great, but a lot of the time he nerfs others and himself off. Until he stops doing this, he can forget about future world titles.
If JB continues to drive like this for the rest of the year it could prove crucial in gaining further momentum over Lewis for 2012.
My favourite moment of the race at Monza, bullet start by Fernando aside, was the 20 odd lap squabble which saw Lewis stuck behind a rejuvinated Schumi. It was quite a battle, with Schumi pushing the limits like the Schumi of old.
Then Jenson came up and breezed by Lewis as he backed off a weaving Schumi, then within minutes Jenson took Shumi. Thats how ya do it Lewis!
It was amusing to listen to the pre-podium comments by Vettel to Alonso about the pass which saw Vettel forced wide onto the grass. Vettel was smiling and saying "I was on the grass"...Alonso shrugged and replied "yeah".
Later Vettel called it firm but fair, whilst Alonso apologised apparently.
Onto Singapore we go. Let the battle for second commence!
Sunday 11 September 2011
Monza
Phil: I have fond memories of Monza, watching the 2008 race in the wet, standing by the armco on the inside of the entry to the Ascari chicane, where the track cuts underneath the old, banked track. Vettel took his maiden victory that day, and he won again today. It was a good race, but not a great race, and one that he dominated completely. Once he had passed a fast starting Alonso - almost unbelievably, around the outside of Curva Grande - he never looked in danger of not winning.
Button, who passed Alonso, Hamilton and Schumacher to finish second, seems to me to be at the peak of his game. He has consistently outdriven his teammate Hamilton this year, hasn't made the mistakes that Hamilton has, and has performed particularly well at the real drivers' tracks, like Spa, or Montreal in the wet where he drove a really masterful race. I think that technically he is one of the best and most underrated drivers out there.
What else happened today? Bruno Senna, apparently unnoticed by the BBC team, took the first points of his career today with ninth place. And as a Phil who is often mistaken for a Paul, it was refreshing to hear Paul di Resta's race engineer, who ought to know him fairly well by now, call him 'Phil' over the radio.
Vettel is now 112 points ahead of Alonso, and 117 points ahead of both Button and Webber, with six races left. If Vettel wins his third race in a row next time out at Singapore, Button must finish second (again) and Alonso must finish third (again) for either of them to stand even a mathematical chance of taking the title. Put it another way. Vettel could be world champion in a fortnight's time.
Button, who passed Alonso, Hamilton and Schumacher to finish second, seems to me to be at the peak of his game. He has consistently outdriven his teammate Hamilton this year, hasn't made the mistakes that Hamilton has, and has performed particularly well at the real drivers' tracks, like Spa, or Montreal in the wet where he drove a really masterful race. I think that technically he is one of the best and most underrated drivers out there.
What else happened today? Bruno Senna, apparently unnoticed by the BBC team, took the first points of his career today with ninth place. And as a Phil who is often mistaken for a Paul, it was refreshing to hear Paul di Resta's race engineer, who ought to know him fairly well by now, call him 'Phil' over the radio.
Vettel is now 112 points ahead of Alonso, and 117 points ahead of both Button and Webber, with six races left. If Vettel wins his third race in a row next time out at Singapore, Button must finish second (again) and Alonso must finish third (again) for either of them to stand even a mathematical chance of taking the title. Put it another way. Vettel could be world champion in a fortnight's time.
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