The saddest news of the year so far, at least in F1, is that Robert Kubica is probably done racing. Sure, he says he'll be back before the year is over, but I don't know... it's looking pretty bleak. If you haven't heard, he had a huge off while rallying, and has been in critical condition for days undergoing major reconstructive surgery to reattach his partially separated hand, and other major body parts. It's looking like he'll be a year just to complete a basic recovery from the surgery. Fuck. He was one of my favourite drivers, and I had huge hopes for him this year. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/motorsport/02/14/motorsport.kubica.recovery.renault/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/motorspor ... y.renault/</a>
Terrible news and really feel for the guy. Hopefully Webber goes alright or Ricciarrdo gets a full time seat because he looks promising. Should be an interesting year with the new rule changes as well. Hopefully a bit more overtaking and some of the less major teams can take early advantage.
Season opener in Bahrain cancelled so Melbourne gets to nod to kick things off. Hopefully there some decent numbers at the event so it isn’t cancelled for future years.
Should be interesting, as it was Bahrain that backed out, not F1 that cancelled it. A lot of people are wondering if Bernie will be a huge dick and call for the cancellation fee from them. I'm voting "yes, he will be that big of a dick".
http://www.foxsports.com.au/motor-s...rain-to-november/story-e6frf3zl-1226015698570 Ecclestone speaks of changing the Bahrain race to November. http://www.foxsports.com.au/motor-s...uspense-in-races/story-e6frf3zl-1226015087696 Artifical rain systems?? Too much room for dodgy business to go on with something like this I would have thought?? If they could get it right it would be interesting though.
Vettel re-signs until 2014 in a contract reportedly worth $64mil... Bastard. http://www.foxsports.com.au/motor-s...-bull-until-2014/story-e6frf3zl-1226021494370
Just watched the season opening race in Australia. Looks like the new rules are having a bit of a positive result, with the DRS actually having a pretty interesting effect. It's awesome to see Red Bull's non-KERS car win, though. In the post-race interview, this made me laugh: "Adrian being Adrian, he wouldn't sacrifice the car just for KERS". I think this is going to be a hell of a season, if the first race is any indicator.
Was a good race. McLaren looked out of it a few days ago but both drivers had a good race. If Button didn't get the drive through he would have been up there I think. Good to see Red Bull strong again this year, hopefully Webber can pull it all together. Not sure if you saw this? http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2011/3/11874.html Sauber DQ'd from 7th & 8th.
That actually was a reasonably entertaining race. First and second were decided early on but it was nice to see jockeying for position between Button and Massa, and Alonso and Petrov were reasonably close towards the end. The DRS wasn't quite as dramatic as I'd have thought but with some fine-tuning, and with use on different circuits, it'll make for some more exciting races. Also, what happened to that Ferrari shark-fin?
Yeah, saw that. And it's fucked. I can't imaging trying to decipher the rules and ensure the car is compliant. But it does mean that Force India's Paul di Resta moves to tenth, and will then score points with his F1 debut. Kudos, and I'm sure Scottland is going nuts as a result. I also liked DC being in the BBC announcers booth calling the race... awesome insight. And I don't know why they hell Button just didn't give the spot back. Wasn't worth the 23-second drive-through gamble at all... and the replays showed over and over that he was clearly not even close to being in front going into the corner, as much as he thought he was.
Malaysian Grand Prix was quite good, I thought. It definitely had one of the most exciting (dry) starts I've seen. One thing I noticed, though, was that the radio transmissions Race Control were releasing for the television feeds gave some other teams a bit of an advantage. When the Red Bulls were told to not use their KERS any more, Ferrari and McLaren both immediately informed their drivers about the Red Bulls problems. Not sure I'd be liking that if I were Red Bull.
That jump back onto the track was pretty impressive haha. Crazy bugger. Wad a good race overall, Vettel looks pretty good for back to back titles at this early stage.
I was pretty surprised at how much better the McLarens were. Button did a great job, and Hamilton looked like he lost his dog at the end. And Webber was just beyond frustrated... never seen him be that curt in post-race interviews before. "Yep, things went wrong, that's all I have to say, thank-you-very-much-I'm-going-now."
Have they said anything about why he went off the track in the first place? I know the steering column was broken at the end of it but the announcers couldn't say whether that happened before he slid off or as the car came crashing back down. I'm just starting to pick up an interest in the sport and I couldn't tell from the replays either. I thought it was pretty funny that Speed cut straight to a supercross promo right after that accident though. Well timed.
Yeah, must be really frustrating for Webber. He is driving well but issues with the car are what seem to be holding him off the podium. I really hope they can get things sorted for him. Redbull really seem to be struggling with the KERS and I read an article yesterday saying they are not expecting to have it sorted out ready for this weekend in China. Looked like Petrov came in a bit to hard and brake steered off to me but obviously that's just my opinion.
From the video feed it seemed pretty clear that the steering column broke due to the harsh landing. Plus, as he went off course, he steered hard towards the track, which caused him to go off the jump; after landing, he couldn't steer. It's quite impressive how Red Bull manages to be successful despite the KERS. Webber is having issues but with the way Vettel has dominated both races, you wonder how much bigger the gap would be with it.
Last two races have been great, Webber pulled of a fantastic drive last race and last night was action packed. The overtaking and battles going on all around the track was great to watch, especially the two McLarens fighting it out. Vettel is going to be really hard to catch this year, the car just seems to suit him so well. Pushes hard and still gets good wear from the Pirellis.
Agreed. I wasn't sure about the whole movable wing thing at the start of the season, but holy shit has it really made a difference. This has been an incredibly exciting year so far, and a lot of fun to watch. It's interesting to hear about the talks of News Corp (I think that's who) targeting F1. Not sure if you saw the BBC coverage, where they talked to Bernie about it, but it could be interesting to see what comes of all that. Talk of the teams leaving to go to a new series, or the series being bought, etc. Not sure if Bernie would ever sell the company... I think he likes being BMOC too much, regardless of the money.