***The Official 2011 Formula 1 Thread***

[Bonezstorm]

As you guys might have noticed.. I am a Hamilton fan.

Oh, on a side notice... Niko Rosberg really put his foot in his mouth when he told a reporter of the 'Hamburg Abendblatt' that he liked womens soccer, comparing it to the Paramympics

http://www.abendblatt.de/sport/fuss...erg-vergleicht-Frauen-WM-mit-Paralympics.html

Wow, that is awesome.

The Women Football Worldcup starts today, hosted here in Germany

The truth
http://www.nicorosberg.com/2011/06/...-einen-eindruck-vom-haifisch-becken-formel-1/

 

[Supafly]

Okay, Silverstone is about to start

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9534435.stm

Country Driver Team
1 Australia M Webber Red Bull
2 Germany S Vettel Red Bull
3 Spain F Alonso Ferrari
4 Brazil F Massa Ferrari
5 Great Britain J Button McLaren
6 Great Britain P Di Resta Force India
7 Venezuela P Maldonado Williams
8 Japan K Kobayashi Sauber
9 Germany N Rosberg Mercedes
10 Great Britain L Hamilton McLaren
11 Germany A Sutil Force India
12 Mexico S Perez Sauber
13 Germany M Schumacher Mercedes
14 Russian Federation V Petrov Renault
15 Brazil R Barrichello Williams
16 Germany N Heidfeld Renault
17 Finland H Kovalainen Lotus
18 Spain J Alguersuari Toro Rosso
19 Switzerland S Buemi Toro Rosso
20 Germany T Glock Virgin
21 Italy J Trulli Lotus
22 Belgium J d'Ambrosio Virgin
23 Italy V Liuzzi Hispania
24 Australia D Ricciardo Hispania

If things keep rolling as they do, Vettel will have the Championship in his pocket in September. He and Red Bull are pretty much unbeatable

 

[larss]

Alonso wins. The only up side to this is that Vettel didn't for once.
Webber must have been pretty steamed after being told to hold position on the last lap, and Christian Horner's ramblings on team orders afterwards were pretty poor. He kept going on about team points and not favouring Vettel, but the points would have been exactly the same for the team if Webber had beaten Vettel.
Steady race for Lewis until the last corner - racing incident I think, both Massa and Hamilton really going for it.

 

[larss]

I just saw Vettel on Top Gear. He comes across as a really likeable guy.
Oh, and he topped the F1 drivers lap in the old Suzuki Liana.

 

[Supafly]

The "FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND 2011" coming up.

http://www.formula1.com/races/in_detail/germany_862/circuit_diagram.html

Nürburgring
Race Date: 24 Jul 2011
Number of Laps: 60
Circuit Length: 5.148 km
Race Distance: 308.863 km
Lap Record: 1:29.468 - M. Schumacher (2004)

I think this course is one of the most iconic, and the driver that masters it for the top spot truely shows what he's made of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nürburgring

Sadly, the 'Nordschleife', (Northern Loop) isn't featured any more, but it is just too unsafe for today's races.

Right now, they are doing the qualifying, so let's see who starts where on sunday

 

[larss]

Webber grabs pole from Hamilton with Vettel and Alonso making up the 2nd row. Rosberg's Mercedes joins Massa's Ferrari on the 3rd row, with Button in 7th alongside Sutil.

If Hamilton can get a good start, it could make for an interesting race.

 

[Rey C.]

I just saw Vettel on Top Gear. He comes across as a really likeable guy.
Oh, and he topped the F1 drivers lap in the old Suzuki Liana.

Even though I'm a Hamilton fan, Vettel is very hard to dislike. Since he hopped in that BMW on short notice, he's been nothing short of amazing. Unlike Alonso, I don't/can't dislike Vettel. I just wish he wasn't winning all the darn time!

 

[Bonezstorm]

Vettel is the best thing that could happen for us Germans. Of course we have some other talented drivers in the series, but Vettel is the most down-to-earth guy. And he is pretty funny if he wants to.

 

[larss]

Fantastic race today. Excitement all the way through. Brilliant drive by Hamilton to take the win ahead of Alonso and Webber. Vettel and Massa battle right to the end, so much so that they have to pit for tyres together on the final lap. Vettels team is quicker and he comes out in front to claim 4th place.
Button, after a poor start, went weel until a hydraulics problem forced him to retire.

 

[Bonezstorm]

Too bad it didn't work out for Vettel today. I guess his team was expecting rain and after he made the big mistake which took him more than 7 seconds it was clear that it was nearly impossible for him to make it up to the top 3. At least he got a few points

 

[Petra]

Fantastic race! When Hamilton is on his game, he's on his game and today was no exception. It was a shame to see Button have to retire though, especially since he had just made a fantastic pass and got to 6th.

It's just a shame next week is Hungary. What a flippin boring track.

 

[Supafly]

Hungary makes some fantastic babes, but the tracks are shite ^^

 

[Niels]

No hungary is great I think, hopefully Hamilton and Alonso will do it bad there.
I have both drivers! I hope Webber takes a win.

 

[Rey C.]

Hmm... what is that smell???!!! I know, it's the smell of Hamilton spanking Alonso's ass in a straight up fight!!! Lovin' it! Great result by Hamilton and his pitcrew! :nanner: :1orglaugh

But to me, the big surprise of the race was how Webber consistently can't get off the line on race starts. I realize they don't have launch control anymore. But good grief, how can a guy bog his car down every single race start?! Is it nerves or reaction time or what???

There was some really great racing out there today. I didn't watch them, but I hear that the past two IRL races have been crashfests (Toronto and Edmonton). They apparently can't make it through a single corner without three or four of them running over and into each other. Yet I was amazed today how the grand prix cars and drivers diced through corners with VERY little contact. Just another reason why I never miss F1 races! :thumbsup:

 

[Petra]

Hmm... what is that smell???!!! I know, it's the smell of Hamilton spanking Alonso's ass in a straight up fight!!! Lovin' it! Great result by Hamilton and his pitcrew! :nanner: :1orglaugh

But to me, the big surprise of the race was how Webber consistently can't get off the line on race starts. I realize they don't have launch control anymore. But good grief, how can a guy bog his car down every single race start?! Is it nerves or reaction time or what???

There was some really great racing out there today. I didn't watch them, but I hear that the past two IRL races have been crashfests (Toronto and Edmonton). They apparently can't make it through a single corner without three or four of them running over and into each other. Yet I was amazed today how the grand prix cars and drivers diced through corners with VERY little contact. Just another reason why I never miss F1 races! :thumbsup:

We were watching the GP2 racing yesterday morning and you're right, it's absolutely amazing how the F1 drivers can start and corner without incident yet the slower classes can't. They did have the bad luck with rain on the track for the Saturday heats though...

On the flip side, at least with the GP2 it's young guys who don't have a lot of race experience and don't have that finite control of their car.

 

[Rey C.]

We were watching the GP2 racing yesterday morning and you're right, it's absolutely amazing how the F1 drivers can start and corner without incident yet the slower classes can't. They did have the bad luck with rain on the track for the Saturday heats though...

On the flip side, at least with the GP2 it's young guys who don't have a lot of race experience and don't have that finite control of their car.

I fully agree with that. Add to that, the GP2 guys only have a couple of seasons to make their mark... so for them, it really is do or die. I can forgive the occasional brain fart on their part.

But since I was a huge fan of the old CART series, it makes me both sad and angry to see how far American open wheel has sunk with the IRL. Their cars are something like 8 years old now, so it's not like in F1, where the cars change every single year, or even GP2, where they change every 3 years or so. These guys (and gals) have been racing long enough, with the same cars, that they should be able to at least go through a corner without taking out half the field. Bu tthey can't even do that.

I guess I pissed some people off on a racing board I'm on when the question came up: "Who in the IRL could/should go to F1?"

I said none of them. Maybe, MAYBE Will Power. But the rest are either too old now or just flat not good enough. Kamui Kobayashi would whip most of them with a flat tire on his car. But I'd like to see Simona de Silvestro and Graham Rahal (and maybe Marco Andretti) go to GP2 and see if they have anything. But as it stands now, I figure once they have a few more birthdays, they'll be stuck in the IR(hel)L forever. And anyone who even mentions D@nica Patrick going to F1 I just dismiss as an idiot. How the hell can a person who has never won a road race in her life (12 years racing cars now???) go to a series that's nothing but road/street racing?! Idiots!

But that F1 race yesterday... all was right with the world as I was watching that one.

 

[frostyone]

indy car in my opinion has two types of drivers road/street drivers and oval drivers.

so based on that i think will power is the best person to switch to f1(if he ever had the chance) because he dominates on road races.

 

[D-rock]

indy car in my opinion has two types of drivers road/street drivers and oval drivers.

so based on that i think will power is the best person to switch to f1(if he ever had the chance) because he dominates on road races.

For oval courses I don't know how somebody could be a real "oval driver" especially in the type of cars they drive where they often barely need to touch the breaks while racing on them. I think it would come down more to what teams can set up their cars the best more than the driver in the car. :dunno:

 

[Petra]

So, now that we all know BBC is going to only broadcast 10 events next year...what do you think?

I really, really, really don't want to go back to the barely understandable dutch coverage (they guy gets so excited even dutchies can't understand him) and commercials during the race. ;-\ It's kind of sad really because the coverage and pre-race/qualify show has really helped make me a fan of the sport. Not only do they get personal with the teams and drivers, they take the time to explain rules and whatnot. Real shame.

There may be a boycot in my household next year.

 

[Rey C.]

So, now that we all know BBC is going to only broadcast 10 events next year...what do you think?

I really, really, really don't want to go back to the barely understandable dutch coverage (they guy gets so excited even dutchies can't understand him) and commercials during the race. ;-\ It's kind of sad really because the coverage and pre-race/qualify show has really helped make me a fan of the sport. Not only do they get personal with the teams and drivers, they take the time to explain rules and whatnot. Real shame.

There may be a boycot in my household next year.

Is Sky Sports part of BSkyB? Just curious, since most of our F1 coverage comes from Speed Channel (owned by Fox/NewsCorp). Before he stuck his foot in it with NOTW, ol' Ruppie Murdoch was rumored to have an interest in buying F1, or FOM, I guess. Seems like he now has a lot of broadcast control anyway.

I've never had the pleasure of seeing F1 on the BBC (I've heard it's excellent though). And it would suck to have to pay for what you've been getting for free. But I guess I'm such an F1 addict, they could force a subscription on me and I'd sell a kidney to pay for it.