So what the hell happened, exactly?

Alessandro D. Petaccia

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Oct 7, 2012, 3:23:00 PM10/7/12

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...But first, let me quote Nico Rosberg: "Yeah, Grosjean hit Webber
and Mark was sideways on the track, so we all had to brake rather hard
and some of the guys behind me obviously didn't realize what was
happening and one of them hit me. So it was all Grosjean's fault.
Again."

Wow, the kid's building himself a reputation amongst his peers, isn't
he. But having said that, back to the original q: what happened to
McLaren being the best car? What happened to RBR being probably second
if not third best? I've concluded that when Lewis complains about the
tyres only to set a quick lap right afterwards it's because he simply
doesn't like the car, and Jenson's message about the gearbox sounded
similar, so both McLaren clearly had problems; meanwhile, Vettel made
it look like it was 2011 all over again. Was it the odd track? Have
the RBR evil geniuses come up with yet another trick? Is the
championship over?

...Blimey. Vettel again? I doubt if I could stand it - the man has too
many teeth!

ADP.

Noj

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Oct 7, 2012, 3:30:25 PM10/7/12

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Alessandro D. Petaccia wrote ...

Nico was hit by Senna - another clown who can't be long for F1.
RB have sorted a version of the Double DRS and it seems to have gained
them a second.
McLaren have failed under pressure - like they do every year. LH said
his car was shit for the first 10 laps - then something went bang and
the handling improved!

www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/10/red-bull-double-drs-revealed-in-suzuka/

AC

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Oct 7, 2012, 3:53:31 PM10/7/12

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Same was said of Kobyashi, worse if memory serves. How long has he had
compared to Grosjean?

IMHO, he is just having one of those nightmare runs where the more he
thinks about it, the worse it gets.

McLaren wise, in a sport of 100th's of a second, it doesnt take a lot to
know teams off, as it were. Seems to me they are merely on a bit of a
hangover from the Lewis moving stuff.

This track has been a RBR type track for sometime, and that car was
never bad, it just needed recovering from rule changes. They are well
down the road of recovery and with the track, they kicked ass.

WDC excitement wise, the big problem is that Ferrari's run of luck has
ended and its evening out.

--
AC

Bobster

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Oct 8, 2012, 2:11:18 AM10/8/12

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On 7 Oct, 21:22, Alessandro D. Petaccia <ale...@despammed.com> wrote:
> But having said that, back to the original q: what happened to
> McLaren being the best car? What happened to RBR being probably second
> if not third best?

Development. McLaren started off as the fastest, then went backwards
for a while (well.... not really, they just didn't advance as fast as
others) then found something that gave them an edge again. Now RBR
have found that something. Development amongst the top teams is
usually relentless and RBR have a very good engineering team.

Also RBR have opted out of the RRA and McLaren have not. So RBR have
less constraints on budget, wind tunnel time and so on.

Bigbird

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Oct 8, 2012, 6:28:47 AM10/8/12

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Alessandro D. Petaccia wrote:

>
> back to the original q: what happened to
> McLaren being the best car?

For me that notion was looking suspect many months ago.

This season has not been as simple as having the best car but making
the best of what you have.

> What happened to RBR being probably second
> if not third best? I've concluded that when Lewis complains about the
> tyres only to set a quick lap right afterwards it's because he simply
> doesn't like the car, and Jenson's message about the gearbox sounded
> similar,

There was mention of a brake fire which may have damaged some sensors
giving gearbox problems or false data.

> so both McLaren clearly had problems; meanwhile, Vettel made
> it look like it was 2011 all over again. Was it the odd track?

It has all been about hitting the sweet spot this season. RBR both had
their cars tuned in to the track and the track suited their strength.
Massa showed that Ferrari, yet again, had a very good car on the Sunday.

> Have
> the RBR evil geniuses come up with yet another trick?

Yes, that too.
http://www.formula1.com/news/technical/2012/878/1012.html

> Is the
> championship over?

Do you hear singing?

>
> ...Blimey. Vettel again? I doubt if I could stand it - the man has too
> many teeth!
>

"In the end it will probably be about which of the bigger teams drop the
ball less...but nobody owns the ball this year."

Mike P

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Oct 8, 2012, 10:07:28 AM10/8/12

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On Sun, 07 Oct 2012 21:23:00 +0200, Alessandro D. Petaccia wrote:

> ...But first, let me quote Nico Rosberg: "Yeah, Grosjean hit Webber and
> Mark was sideways on the track, so we all had to brake rather hard and
> some of the guys behind me obviously didn't realize what was happening
> and one of them hit me. So it was all Grosjean's fault. Again."
>
> Wow, the kid's building himself a reputation amongst his peers, isn't
> he. But having said that, back to the original q: what happened to
> McLaren being the best car?

Nothing. This season has been swinging backwards and forwards between the
top two or three teams. Lewis was just at Singapore as RBR were here.
It'll change again in Korea.

--
Mike P

yourspamhere@nowhere.com Oliver Crawford

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Oct 8, 2012, 2:14:50 PM10/8/12

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I haven't been a big fan of Vettel's personality but I enjoyed his post race
interview on BBC, he was far more relaxed than usual yet really thrilled
about the performance of the car - he said "David will know what I mean ...
when a car just hits a sweet spot - I wasn't trying to do anything silly,
the car just kept going faster and faster ..." (not his exact words but near
enough) - it seemed that he enjoyed the drive even more than the victory - a
sign of a true driver IMO!

Noj

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Oct 8, 2012, 3:10:21 PM10/8/12

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"Oliver Crawford" wrote ...

Drive is right - he certainly wasn't racing. And he seldom does race.
There are times when F1 is more like a time trial and Sunday was one of
those times.

Mower Man

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Oct 8, 2012, 5:37:43 PM10/8/12

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...an obvious difference being that a time trial has the fastest staring
last.

Any time trial where the fastest finish first is just - boring. :-(

--
Chris

'Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it
every six months.'

(Oscar Wilde.)

Noj

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Oct 8, 2012, 6:01:49 PM10/8/12

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Mower Man wrote ...

I was thinking of bike racing on the Isle of Man.

>
> Any time trial where the fastest finish first is just - boring. :-(

Dunno. Did you watch the last BTTC race at Silverstone yesterday?

CatharticF1

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Oct 9, 2012, 2:36:14 AM10/9/12

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Alessandro D. Petaccia <ale...@despammed.com> wrote in
news:2gk378thkaittd2j7...@4ax.com:

>
> q: what happened to McLaren being the best car?

Well the FIA _did_ change the test which made the bendy (rotating) FW
illegal.

> What happened to RBR being probably second if not third best?

They maintain their race and particularly qualifying pace advantage over
Ferrari. I think McLaren have moved back again.

> ...Blimey. Vettel again? I doubt if I could stand it - the man has too
> many teeth!

I think the pace advantage is likely to give it to him, yeah. Pity - not
much Alonso can do.

--
CatharticF1

I can't resist no crossing signs

Bigbird

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Oct 9, 2012, 4:35:26 AM10/9/12

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CatharticF1 wrote:

> Alessandro D. Petaccia <ale...@despammed.com> wrote in
> news:2gk378thkaittd2j7...@4ax.com:
>
> >
> > q: what happened to McLaren being the best car?
>

> Well the FIA did change the test which made the bendy (rotating) FW

> illegal.
>
> > What happened to RBR being probably second if not third best?
>
> They maintain their race and particularly qualifying pace advantage
> over Ferrari.

The Ferrari has often had better race pace. That has been it's
advantage.

build

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Oct 9, 2012, 5:55:27 AM10/9/12

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> CatharticF1

or the track changed?

We'll see.

build

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Oct 9, 2012, 5:58:27 AM10/9/12

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I agree. After Japan that can't be disputed.

beers,