F1 2011 Season

Luminance · May 22, 2011, 02:53:50 PM

Cracking race, what a long fall for Fernando (*cheer*). Well done both Hamilton and Vettel, I'd have rather seen Hamilton win ofc, but splendidly done by both em them.

KKND · May 22, 2011, 02:55:11 PM

Cracking race indeed,first 4 in same round rest far behindddddddddddddd!!!

T-Bag · May 22, 2011, 03:30:20 PM

Very good race. Amazing start by Alonso, let down in part in the later stages of the race by having done an unnessecary run in Q1 on the options I think. Good driving by the rest of the front runners too. Button for making his tyres last so well, Hamilton for sticking with Vettel despite the Red Bull being significantly faster. Vettel did well keeping him behind when his Kers wasn't working. It just made for an interesting race in general. This is when the tyres should have been doing all along.

Snokio · May 22, 2011, 05:21:42 PM

Is it me or is qualifing getting a little more boring though, seems like keeping as many options available is better than making 3/4 places on the grid.

Race was good, been very entertaining so far this season, would like to see drivers getting closer to Vettel mind!

Luminance · May 22, 2011, 09:39:34 PM

Quote from: Snokio;325422Is it me or is qualifing getting a little more boring though, seems like keeping as many options available is better than making 3/4 places on the grid.

Race was good, been very entertaining so far this season, would like to see drivers getting closer to Vettel mind!

I don't really care about that, Never Ever watch qualifing

Luminance · May 29, 2011, 03:22:35 PM

What a true shame that red flag was, obviously needed but still. I'd like to have seen what Vettel could have done on those burned up tires.

Not impressed by Hamilton at all, he better watch out or he'll make himself an outlaw or something

Lameduck · May 29, 2011, 06:50:47 PM

Quote from: Luminance;325894Not impressed by Hamilton at all, he better watch out or he'll make himself an outlaw or something

He wouldn't be invited into dMr on that showing. Poor loser.:crying:
It was his fault that he hit Massa, going for a gap that wasn't there and then blaming the guy for 'turning in on him'.

Snokio · May 30, 2011, 08:41:17 AM

Shocking LH Interview:

although the interview shows him in a bad light, Is he right in terms of all these penalties for what is racing incidents? Think they have to appreciate that Monaco is the most difficult place to overtake and to be fair, it is entertaining to watch!

And also, What Lumi said about the red flag, i was disappointed too, but at least they let the race to finish :thumb:

TeaLeaf · May 30, 2011, 08:55:04 AM

I think the Petrov safety car>red flag incident robbed fans of what would shaping up to be the best Monaco Grand Prix finish of all time. I was gutted when the SC came out and the Red Flag just rubbed salt into the wound.

For my money, Vettel was going to be able to successfully hold Alonso off as the Red Bull traction out of the final corner and into the tunnel was too good for the Ferrari. Coupled with the fact that Alonso's rear tyres were visibly shot meant Alonso would never have overtaken him without a Vettel mistake.

The McLaren on the other hand had much younger tyres and very good traction with KERS & DRS on the all important final corner and into the tunnel. In those 7 remaining laps I was expecting Button to overtake Alonso and then in the final 3-4 laps to overtake Vettel as his tyres fell off 'the cliff'.

If would have been an epic story to tell your grandchildren - "I remember the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix". Instead we're left with a bit of a damp squib ending. Darn shame.

Re Hamilton - he was clearly seriously upset by things this weekend and needs to learn to grow up and not always hit out at others. However DC made an interesting & fair point - compare Schumacher overtaking Hamilton earlier in the race - Hamilton could have turned in early and collided but he did not. You could argue he was asleep in that lap, but the point remains, he had room to turn in and could have but did not. If you watch the replay of Massa, he turned in so fast when Hamilton started going up his inside that he ran into the rear of the car in front, so it's difficult to argue that Massa did not turn in deliberately as he would certainly not have turned in to crash! That was what I think Hamilton was talking about when he was referring to the 'Hamilton rules'. Hami's Maldanado overtake was a bit optimistic though imo and a shame for that driver as he'd done so well to get there.

I'm just waiting for a gutter-dwelling tabloid to take the "is it because I is black" comment and try to present it as 'Hamilton plays the race card'. It's just the sort of drivel that a British newspaper would try. I laughed when I heard it and took it as a clearly intended joke. I hope it does not get blown out of proportion and turned into a race row.

All in all, a cracking grand prix, full of overtakes and incidents.

Best overtake of the day? Hamilton on Massa in the tunnel. I've not seen that in years. And yes Massa, those are what marbles do to your grip.

Most unlucky man in F1: Button for having a SC come out immediately after he did his pit stop and losing his lead. he was by far the quickest driver out there yesterday and my 'driver of the day' and then for having another SC and red flag completely ruin a great drive back.

Luckiest man in F1: Vettel for being 3rd at best and then having 2 SCs and a red flag hand him the win.

Result we should have seen: 1st Button, 2nd Vettel, 3rd Alonso. It would have been a legendary race which we could have talked about for years.

Snokio · May 30, 2011, 09:25:56 AM

When i saw the replay of the Lewis vs Massa, it looked like Massa may of been trying to get the inside of Webber, need to see it again though!

Luminance · May 30, 2011, 09:28:32 AM

I wish you wouldn't have put it so well like that TL.
Its even harder reading it again, after also having the exact same feelings after the race.
I would have betted on: 1st Button, 2nd Vettel, 3rd Alonso. OR Alonsso 1st and a Button/Vettel crash.

smilodon · May 30, 2011, 09:38:29 AM

Watched the replay a few times and while it's all down to personal opinion, I think Massa should take a good dollop of blame for the incident. The rules and interpretation of them is probably a mine-field but Massa must have known what the likely outcome of his move would be. Although I don't see why on earth he would have deliberately taken himself out of the race to prove a point. Yes Hamilton is getting a lot of bad calls made against him but no he shouldn't start whining in public about it. If he and his team have a problem talk to the officials and not the press.

OldBloke · May 30, 2011, 10:08:24 AM

Not sure if I'm alone is this opinion but to my eyes the Mclaren did not have the lock to negotiate that hairpin as well as most of the other cars out there. Lewes' line through there always started wide to get the nose round which is why, I think, MS get past him there early in the race and why, IMHO, it was never going to work with Massa.

T-Bag · May 30, 2011, 11:35:12 AM

As far as I can see Hamilton tried a bold move on the inside (which COULD potentially have worked without incident), he had the lock to get round if Massa hadn't have turned in. Massa however saw a space left on the inside of Webber that he could slip his car into to avoid losing as much speed on that corner.

As a result road runs out for Hamilton (no way he could take the tighter line), Massa gets hit into Webber and Hamilton rightly gets the penalty.

I wanted Hamilton to win, I don't like that when qualifying gets red flagged people on flying laps essentially get penalised (would it kill them to after a red flag give 1 or 2 out laps worth of time to anyone who was on an out or flying lap). Hamilton had a good chance to get a podium before the incidents (although the safety car would have put pay to that ultimately --- don't get me started on that).

As for Lewis and the stewards. It's a Mercedes thing, they've been picked on for years in Ferrari's favour, complaining to the stewards doesn't get anywhere so I can see his frustration.

TeaLeaf · May 30, 2011, 11:36:06 AM

I don't think you're alone OB, but I don't think *any* of the cars have the lock to get around the hairpin on the inside line all of the way around the corner. If they enter wide to mid they can exit tight, if they enter tight they can just exit mid or just wider than mid, but there's plenty of room for two cars if they both play ball.

These are interesting shots. Watch where the Red Bull is, then think about which line Massa would have to take to get through the corner to follow it. Then try to align that with where the Ferrari ended up.

It's all highly subjective, but I can't help believing that Massa knew Hamilton was right behind him and when he saw the McLaren going for the inside line he pulled across into that driving line. On other laps you'd have to say that was not the line he usually took around that corner.

End result was Hamilton had nowhere to go (and no lock to avoid it) and Massa (by turning in earlier and tightening the radius of the corner) shortened the distance between him and the Red Bull more than he realised and therefore he ended up with his Ferrari nose jammed into the Red Bull's rear diffuser.

Brundle later mentions that corner as one of the places where drivers *do* use their mirrors as people do overtake there. The line Massa took indicates to me that he knew he was being overtaken and closed the door too late - late enough to crash into the rear of the Red Bull as his focus was on the McLaren not the Red Bull.

I'm absolutely not saying Hamilton was blameless, but two cars can get around that corner if they want and I'd put the incident as 50/50. One was over-taking agressively, the other was saying 'no' aggressively.