Wow, good thing for the track organization and for Formula 1 that it rained, that way nobody saw how dismal a place that circuit is ( at least in its present form) and how if it were dry there would have been zero passing opportunities. It even ended in the dark so nobody saw what kind of shape that swamp was. As it was though, it turned out to be quite and exciting race after all, once they actually got to race, seventeen laps and two safety car starts into the fifty five lap contest.
Key to the race was Alonso's and Ferrari's ability to manage tires while keeping a good pace and reliability. Red Bulls are faster but more fragile and Vettel paid a high price for that in Korea. Webber is probably the luckies driver out there, after a very bad unforced error he finds himself still ahead of Vettel in points and with the team that will, you would think, finally forced to get fully behind him. After watching his off over and over, I keep wondering why he did not lock his wheels to stop rolling across the track, did his brakes totally fail or was it just an "oh crap" moment? Too bad for Rosberg's race being ruined.
Mclaren are in the same boat and Red Bull now with Button having, for whatever reason made a complete mess of his race and being effectively out of the championship running, they need to get fully behind Hamilton for the last two races.
Hamilton will seriously regret his silly mistake on the restart from the second safety car period. He was gifted a second place because of an errant wheel nut in the Ferrari pit stop, a second place he might have easily nursed home, as it turned out, for a win. Instead he blew the very first braking zone after the restart and let Alonso back through. Hamilton also continued to have, along with Mclaren, an issue degrading tires under these conditions, shades of corded tires passed.
Alonso really did not put a wheel wrong all race, he kept the pressure on just enough and in the later stages set a pace Hamilton could not cope with. Brilliant, for a guy who was almost written off after Spa.
Best of all, with two races to go, it's still all quite open at least for the top three. Very cool.
(it's a big file, if it's slow, let it load!)
end of post
It does look like its in a wasteland. The Speed broadcast talked about the area being a center of future development. All those rubbish burning farmers will be rich or pissed...
ReplyDeleteHow did the asinine pit in and out layouts get past any kind of QC inspection???
oh u missed the whacky jump on the podium...!! but otherwise great video review.. :D naice... feels like i almost saw the race again.. :)
ReplyDeleteI actually think Hamiltons mistakes on the re-starts were blessings in disguise.
ReplyDeleteIf he had not got overtaken by Rosberg he likely would have been collected of the track by Webber.
It was probably better of for Lewis that Alonso got a away early on. Lewis tyres were clearly de-grading very quickly and would have degraded even more if he was pushing his car even harded to keep ahead of Alonso. Better to get the car home with some good points!
Really I'd like Mark Webber to explain why he let the car cross the track until Rosberg was collected...
ReplyDeleteA brake failure? If the brakes can't stop the car at that speed that must be a damn total failure!
knock off the hamilton bashing. as much as i enjoy axis, but its every other weekend the same childish stuff with bashing on lewis or mclaren. see the "movable aerodynamic device inside the frontwheel" and refering to all his "stupid" mistakes, while praising ferrari / alonso beyond everything. in the words of the famous spanish philosopher alonso: "this is ridiculous!"
ReplyDeleteWebber's behavior was really strange and irresponsible. I'm sure that the brakes (at lease rear) were OK, cause all the wheels were in place after the first impact.
ReplyDeleteCurious about the negativity about the track. I thought FP1, 2, 3 and Quali were fantastic, the track a challenging spectacle, the proximity of the walls exciting, the overtaking opportunities numerous, the cambers interesting, even the strategic rise and fall of the track in the braking zones clever. It had something for the handling cars and something for the straightline quick ones. It rewarded big balls and had risk. Essential ingredients in motorsport.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't give a flying f*** if the scenery is unfinished.
Agree Alonso was class. Almost as classy as Vettel (who has lacked said ingredient more than once this season). Webber ballsed it up big time and I live in Australia. Didn't look like the McLaren had much grip so I think Hamilton deserves credit for second not critism for slip ups. Lets face it Sutil looked like a donkey and he's been one of the star drivers of the season. Hell, even Kubica looked crap.
Just my 2c.
Stig
PS Fantastic video compile. Thx.
ReplyDeleteI agree with "Anonymous" - this is a good blog that I follow closely, but the constant derogatory comments about McLaren / Hamilton / Button are getting really, really boring now. Give it a rest!
ReplyDeleteAs above. I agree.
ReplyDeleteCome on Brit fans, take off the union jack lenses for a second. The editor makes a good job in highlighting everyone's mistakes. You just happen to focus mostly on what it said about Hamilton, which happens to make always one costly mistake per race weekend.
ReplyDeleteOnly big miss to describe the race is that finally Ferrari and Alonso are being VERY LUCKY, which Alonso clearly acknowledge in the press conference.
The WDC will be between Alonso and Webber, both worthy winners..
NOt sure why Hamilton fans get so bent out of shape, I just pointed out things that actually happened, did he not blow the first brake zone after the second safety car to lose the position he gained? He did. Did he not have issues with tire wear? He said so himself. Did Button not make the wrong choices? I think it's clear he did.
ReplyDeleteNow you get a lot people saying how Ham was "a real man" for wanting to race based on a couple of delayed radio messages (while totally ignoring the ones where Lewis made the same calls as everyone else) . News flash, they all raced, some went faster too. The only reports I'm perplexed about are those claiming Webber was trying to get the race called before it started, that would be a disappointment if true.
I suggest reading James Allen's latest column about the radio transmissions....I think he gets it right.
@Stig, I'm not sure that track would have seen any passing at all in the dry.
ReplyDelete@CG yes, indeed luck is part of it, but Ferrari had its share of mechanicals as well. Don't underestimate the factor of Vettel having to push as hard as he did and maybe running his engine higher than he might have liked to keep in front on Alonso (and Hamilton)
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I missed it but does anyone know what other races were on Vettel's engine already?
ReplyDeleteLOL, the fact that Axis is virtually the only English-language F1 news site that doesn't idolize Her Majesty's Royal F1 Drivers is the biggest reason I read this blog. BBC and Eddie Jordan are more propaganda than commentators.
ReplyDelete"If you then think about what happened at races such as Valencia and Silverstone, you can really say that what goes around comes around." -Alonso
It is ironic that Webber is arguably in a better position with both RB6s DNFing rather as opposed to a 1-2. Especially if Ferrari engines woes are to be believed.
ReplyDeleteI would also be surprised in Red Bull failed to put their resources behind Webber at this point.
@AC My expectation for a dry race was F ducted McLarens slipstreaming to the front on the 1.2km straight (having used the preceding straight to close the deficit) but being mugged in the twisty bits by RedBulls and Alonso - repeated 53 times.
ReplyDeleteOK I'm a little delusional but a 10km/h top speed difference PLUS the slipstream would have been entertaining.
I'd like to throw in an opinion, from a very non-British non-Hamilton-obsessed fan. Most readers who complain on here claim that the blog is targeting one team or one driver. I don't see that. What I find disappointing is that the blog consistently portrays races in a negative light. It doesn't matter who the driver is, or what team he drives for, if someone makes even the tiniest mistake, he gets attacked. Even if a driver doesn't make a mistake, there's often some highly judgmental paragraph written about him. Quite often I'm convinced that the author believes his SCCA license gives him some insight into the world of a top-level racing driver that a normal human being doesn't have. Unfortunately, this is just not the case.
ReplyDeleteAll in all, this blog takes a very simplistic view of Formula 1. The author seems unable to appreciate the sport for what it is, and instead faithfully watches each fortnight in order to criticize. I wish he (she?) would celebrate F1, not undercut it.
Other than that, great videos!
@James, couple of points, some meant in jest
ReplyDelete1) if I praised Alonso, Ham fans would get mad
2) If I praised Ham what would be the point everyone else already does that!
ok those were the funnies, now. I would venture to say it's quite likely I have been following F1 since before a large part of Axis readers were born, The only reason why I bother to do what amounts to quite a bit of work, for no money, is because I love the subject so.
I understand why F1 wants to go to Korea, F1 has become like a shark that cannot stop swimming (or perhaps like Bernie Madoff:)) but I don't have to like it. You have to admit Korea was a dreadful show saved buy Webber's mistake and Vettel's blow up. A just built track with such poor drainage that the race has to be run 17 laps under that SC? c'mon. They put mechanics up in whorehouses, they on TV the journalists go out of their way to say how fabulous the hospitality was? What did they all get 50 inch Samsungs to take home?
In the end though, if you read how I finish this piece, I'm always amazed at how F1 in the past couple of years has managed to put on a halfway decent show in terms of the championship.
Finally, there are so many opinionless sites out there where you can get the straight facts, I go on the assumption that readers are very well informed, do you really want us to be bland at that point? Whatever the case, thanks for reading and participating!
AC:
ReplyDeleteThat's all fair. It's safe to say that I visit this website more than any other, so at least all your work isn't in vain. Keep it up...
@ Shane, I don't know which races were on Vettels engine but he had done 1600km out of its 2000km life. He has no new engines so expect fairly limited practice sessions for him in the next two races.
ReplyDelete@CG Hamilton has not made one costly mistake every race weekend! He made a mistake crashing into Masa, the Coulthard crash was 50/50 and he crashed in practice at Suzuka but apart from that he ha not made any more mistakes than Vettel, Webber or Alonso.
ReplyDelete@James: On the other hand, neutral opinions are not interesting, we already have dozens of other sites with boring reviews and comments. I think that the fact that AC has his own, sometimes highly subjective opinion (that I personally hardly disagree with), makes Axis unique.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Sorry for my bad English.