2011 Formula 1 Gran Premio de ESPAÑA Santander (Catalunya)

[Mothers Worry]

You guys really need to get out of cloud cuckoo land.........

And, by the way, I disagree with you. Vettel is a better qualifier, he's not that great a racer.

[Bumble1290]

And, by the way, I disagree with you. Vettel is a better qualifier, he's not that great a racer.

I'd agree he's an excellent qualifer and sets himself up to keep out of trouble on a Sunday. His race craft is questionable but he's only going to get better as the years go on.

[bpratt]

Come on guys, let's keep some level heads out here.

Did Webber have KERS and Vettel not, or did both have KERS trouble  (again!) ??

Vettel does qualify extremely well, and whilst he is lacking in racecraft, i.e. if he has to fight to overtake, he just can't always seem to do so.

It was was interesting to see Buemi get up to 3rd in Qualy for a while, but he did it on option tyres, versus the RBR's on hard tyres... still shows there is a world of difference between sister teams.


Oh, and forgot to put the Qualy results online.... here it is.   :-




Interesting to see Schumacher fighting to get in to Q3, but then doesn't go out at all for a full lap ? 

[Bumble1290]

Vettel did not have Kers in Q2 or Q3, hence my comment about Marks lap not being that spectacular when Kers is worth 0.5 per lap and he only beat Vettel by 0.2 and he had Kers working.

Schumacher didn't go out in Q3 to save a the set of softs he burnt in Q1.

Pirelli need to do something about the difference in tyres levels as drivers appear to be willing to sacrifice grid positions for a fresh set of rubber in the race. It kind of takes away from the importance of qualifying.

[blacknwhite]

I think all the guys that get to qualy 3 get an extra set of softs that can only be used in qualy 3
Otherwise qualy 3 is getting to be a non event

[Bumble1290]

I think all the guys that get to qualy 3 get an extra set of softs that can only be used in qualy 3
Otherwise qualy 3 is getting to be a non event

Are you sure about that, Brundle was saying last night that they "need" to be given an extra set of tyres to stop the drivers not doing a lap in Q3.

[bpratt]

Vettel did not have Kers in Q2 or Q3, hence my comment about Marks lap not being that spectacular when Kers is worth 0.5 per lap and he only beat Vettel by 0.2 and he had Kers working.

Schumacher didn't go out in Q3 to save a the set of softs he burnt in Q1.

Pirelli need to do something about the difference in tyres levels as drivers appear to be willing to sacrifice grid positions for a fresh set of rubber in the race. It kind of takes away from the importance of qualifying.

Gee, RBR are having some huge problems with KERS on their cars... bound to see one or both their cars having KERS issues again during the race.

MS is understandable, as it was mentioned when he did an 'observation' lap, he went out on the harder tyres, so it was pretty clear he wanted to save whatever soft's he had left.

I see where you are coming from, but the differences in the tyres has certainly made for some interesting strategies and race results.... we haven't seen that much overtaking in years !

[Bumble1290]

Gee, RBR are having some huge problems with KERS on their cars... bound to see one or both their cars having KERS issues again during the race.

I don't think Kers is a problem for Red Bull as Vettel is 0.8 ahead of Hamilton on the grid. I think it's more a case of what can the other teams do to create more downforce to combat the speed of the Red Bull.

I see where you are coming from, but the differences in the tyres has certainly made for some interesting strategies and race results.... we haven't seen that much overtaking in years !

You raise a brilliant question, does lots of overtaking make for good or entertaining racing. I'd say it makes for entertaining racing over good racing, the aids that have been added this year certainly have spiced things up in somewhat of an artifical way. Does it keep people interested in the spectical yes it does, does it showcase F1 as the pinicale of motorsport I don't think so.

[blacknwhite]

I think all the guys that get to qualy 3 get an extra set of softs that can only be used in qualy 3
Otherwise qualy 3 is getting to be a non event

Are you sure about that, Brundle was saying last night that they "need" to be given an extra set of tyres to stop the drivers not doing a lap in Q3.

Sorry Bumble what I meant was that to stop the qualy becoming a joke the guys that get to qualy 3 SHOULD be given a set to be used in qualy 3

I also think that the DRS should only be used in the same spot it can be used in the race during Qualy, RBR is currently gaining a huge advantage with the aero by deploying it anywhere they like and is misrepresenting the relativity of the cars performance , so the other teams are basically sitting on the new rubber and waiving the white flag in Qualy

[Bumble1290]

I think all the guys that get to qualy 3 get an extra set of softs that can only be used in qualy 3
Otherwise qualy 3 is getting to be a non event

Are you sure about that, Brundle was saying last night that they "need" to be given an extra set of tyres to stop the drivers not doing a lap in Q3.

Sorry Bumble what I meant was that to stop the qualy becoming a joke the guys that get to qualy 3 SHOULD be given a set to be used in qualy 3

I also think that the DRS should only be used in the same spot it can be used in the race during Qualy, RBR is currently gaining a huge advantage with the aero by deploying it anywhere they like and is misrepresenting the relativity of the cars performance , so the other teams are basically sitting on the new rubber and waiving the white flag in Qualy

Totally agree. But non the less roll on the race in an hours time.

[Mothers Worry]

[Yawn]I need to watch more rallying.[/Yawn]

[bpratt]

Completely let down after all the promising signs of it being a fantastic race.


Here's the Live Timing graphic for the race :-




The tall poppy syndrome is alive and well in Australia still ... "Travis sports report" on one of the radio stations up in SE Qld, reported that it was all Webber's fault alone for failing to win the GP... no explanation offered, just the usual dig at a tall poppy.

We all know that you are compared with your teammate, and Webber was clearly trying to stop Vettel from going past, only to have Alonso sneak up the inside, and once that happened it was going to be very hard for him to get past him. In the meantime Vettel and then Hamilton were able to built up quite a decent gap, and of course the different strategy that Button took allowed him out of fighting most others for position by having good tyres when others had tyres well worn, and got past easily.


Nick Heidfeld put in a good drive from the rear of the grid up to 8th, but then again he had good tyres for the entire race.

[Ian G.]

Disappointing,really thought Mark would make a statement,my Brother must have a crystal ball,predicted the result exactly except he had Mark 5th with Alonso 4th.

[Mothers Worry]

The tall poppy syndrome is alive and well in Australia still ... "Travis sports report" on one of the radio stations up in SE Qld, reported that it was all Webber's fault alone for failing to win the GP... no explanation offered, just the usual dig at a tall poppy.

It's team sport.... or so I keep being told.

Tough luck for Webbo; that's racing.

My personal opinion is that the whole race was a dull a dishwater; except probably for the part when Webber and Alonso were going at each other. They have done that a lot lately and I'm grateful to them because at least that way I get to see some racing.

Anybody that thinks Hamilton was actually going to race and pass Vettel in the time left needs their eyes tested; in my opinion. Their tyres were stale. No racing happening there........

[Jiji_the_cat]

i kinda feel sorry for webber. kind of. Webber imo lost the race in two areas. 1. looking at the footage of the first corner he was very conservative going in, he braked earlier than both Vettel and Alonso. Which then put him on the back foot, also he was in the middle, which is probably the worst place to be, going into a corner.

2, the 2nd pitstop. At the first stop he was the only front runner to put brand new tyres on, this theoreticaly should have given him one or two more laps, Alonso pitted, Webber followed him in, this is where he should have stayed out for another 2 laps or so and jumped Alonso.

Anyway, at the end of the day, Seb won. Hamster boy gave him a good run for the money and the rest were also rans.