June 24, 2012

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Enzo Ferrari always said to finish first first you have to finish. It's not really that simple but, it is. That and you need to be lucky as well as brilliant.

Fernando Alonso was all that. He is a pit bull, he never gives up and that is why he is head and shoulders the best driver in the current F1 field.

Even if you are the biggest Alonso hater in the world you have to bow to his performance today. Even without Vettel's retirement his march from eleventh on the grid to second was astounding. You can't deny that outside pass on the impressive Romain Grosjean on the restart, you can't deny how he managed these mysterious Pirelli tires, attacking when necessary, holding back when needed after the first lap charge.

Nobody guessed Valencia would be exciting but it was, unlike Monaco and Montreal which were very exciting last season.  Certainly nobody put money on a Ferrari win even if there were clues to their race pace.


Clearly, this was going to be Vettel's race, he was just insanely fast in the first phase of the race. But hey, things happen even to bulletproof Red Bulls. Was it really an alternator?  Was it the exact same failure on Vettel's and Grosjean's RS27 lumps? As a rule, whatever you are officially told is never the real reason.

Grosjean is now a force to be reckoned with, no doubt about it. His pass on Hamilton was "magnifique". Lotus is in a groove.

Speaking of grooves, or maybe, anti-grooves, there is something really wrong with the world of F1 when Mclaren can't build manual jacks that work!  Two failed on Hamilton's second stop? Really Mclaren, it's a jack!
Imagine if it had been Ferrari who had such a comical string of pit stop failures, you would be reading about it everywhere, not just as a side note.  Where are the calls for Whitmarsh and Michael's heads? Mclaren is failing and Williams is going fast...I'm just saying.

Maldonado and Hamilton...Maldonado was obviously at fault but Hamilton was just dumb: why fight there and in such a high risk way? He had to know he was a sitting duck.
So much for Hammy 3.0,  the one with the eyes on the Championship.   However, Lewis should never have found himself in that position, forced to push because of the botched pit stop. But he also made an unforced error locking up into the final corner probably delivering a death blow to his Pirellis.

Red Bull has an interesting pickle to sort: in the Championship their best placed driver is Mark Webber not Vettel.  Awkward.    I had to laugh at Helmut Marko blaming the safety car on "America" and implying there was a conspiracy to stop Vettel. . Hilarious.

I'm guessing Button and Massa must have spent the evening in a bar sharing FAIL tapas. Massa certainly had an eventful race but getting passed by Petrov in a Caterham must not have done his psyche any good.
 Button's bad performances could be down to his not coming to terms with the unpredictability of the Pirellis and a constantly changing car but it's a big failure on the team's part not to have found a solution for him yet.

Schumacher on the podium was almost a relief, certainly for him. With Kimi, Schumi and Alonso, a podium filled with Ferrari DNA.

We have to go with the BBC highlights as I'm currently internet impaired, thanks for your patience and feel free to comment, yes even the rabid Lewis fans!



23 comments:

  1. Maldonado drives like hes playing a video game. Just wait til he pulls some bs on Alonso like he has with several other drivers, not just lewis
    -rabbid lewis fan

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  2. 100% disagree with the stewards on the Hamilton Maldonado clash. Hamilton failed to give a passing driver racing room, forced him passed the limit of the racing surface. Maldonado tries to move back onto the racing surface, then Hamilton turns into him. How is Maldonado at fault?

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    1. Hamilton was turning left as the corner he was taking was a left hander. How was he to know LOLdonado was going to go all Cole Trickle on him. The man is a dangerous liability.

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  3. I don't think Maldonado was at fault, he had the wheels turned and the car slid back onto the track and into a Hamilton car that was trying to push him off. Lewis deserved to hit the wall on that one.

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  4. As Nick said, " ... then Hamilton turns into him." At least that's what I saw from the overhead shot.

    Hamilton was already wide, and Maldonado was alongside him, and Hamilton turned in for some reason. Given that Maldonado was going to pass him within a very short time, he stopped thinking and decided to fight a losing battle, and chose the wrong spot to do it on.

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  5. I do not agree with the stewards, what happened if Maldonado left the car in the track and Lewis tried to run wide....


    I do agree that Maldonado picked the wrong place to make the move... but maybe he though we could catch Kimi.. or was rushed by the team to do the move and try and a shoot for the second place.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. You're trying to judge the accident as it happened in your neighborhood and involved two speeding drivers. What we have here is not more or less than a typical racing accident and you have to judge & discuss it the way it is. Taking this into account I rather say that Hamilton is not at fault:
    1) Maldonado hit Hamilton, not vice versa
    2) Did Hamilton do anything illegal? No, he didn't - he was protecting his position
    3) Has Maldonado had a chance to avoid the accident & make the move later? Yes, he has.

    Stop being Mr. I-could-have-done-it-better, guys

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  8. Maldonado is the last person in the world to be able to complain about not being given room.
    Hamiton didn't turn into Malodonado, he is turning to make the apex of the corner. Malodonado was four wheels of the track at that point and turned into Hamilton to avoid the speed bumps in the run off area. Maldonado should have backed out of it and tried again using DRS. If they hadn't crashed and Maldonado had got past on the inside he would have got a penalty anyway for cutting the corner.

    Why does everyone expect Hamilton to just let Maldonado past him without a fight? They were fighting for a podium.

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  9. Gotta agree. I'm not a big fan of Alonso but he really is the finished item when it comes to great driving and great tactical drives.

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  10. Agree with anonymous, that's how I saw the accident. Maldonado has been doing some pretty dirty and overly aggressive racing himself. Every time he gets inside you he drives you off the track on the corner exit. After watching Maldonado do that kind of shit all race I thought it was fair play for Lewis to give him a taste of his own medicine. Once Maldonado was off the track there was a moment where he should have decided to turn left and miss the corner, instead he turned right and crashed into Hamilton.

    As Brundle said after the Maldonado/Perez incident in practice, sometimes a "red mist" just comes down with this guy (Maldonado).

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  11. The problem with the Lewis/Maldonado incident is that for some reason it's deemed acceptable to drive as though someone alongside you on the outside doesn't exist. Lewis had every right to defend his position, but I don't understand why it's accepted that he can drive the corner exit like Maldonado didn't exist on track. Driving a normal racing line with someone on your outside is basically forcing them off track intentionally. It doesn't matter who is in that situation, what cars or involded, teammates or no, or what position is being fought over. Driving people off the track because it's "your" corner because you are on the inside is dangerous. I don't think Lewis was at fault or Maldonado, I think it's a completely stupid and selfish way to drive and it shouldn't be allowed. If two cars enter a corner even, then the driver on the inside should not be allowed to drive off the corner like the other guy doesn't exist.

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    1. Right. If it was grass the story might be "Lewis pushed him in to the grass." Just because there is a paved/safe runoff area doesn't mean the defending driver should be able to use it to defend position.

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    2. YES is deemed acceptable because if the guy on the outside is slightly behind the one in front has the right to take his normal racing line.. the guy who couldnt complete the pass must lift in order to not get pushed out the track...

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    3. Except that at turn in Maldonado is ahead and on line.

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    4. If Maldonado was ahead and on line then it would be impossible for hamilton to push him out without actually crashing into him..

      Hamilton mistake was after that... trying to go for the second apex knowing maldonado was trying to get back on track...

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  12. Lewis was on the inside, on the racing line, with shot tyres. Maldonado had no right to expect a place gain at that point on track, just like he shoved Webber off at T25? earlier in the race.

    I personally was surprised PM wasnt given a penalty for next race also given that it screwed LH of vital championship points but hey, i'm sure he will get his comeuppance!

    On the flip side, i do think its a shame this story is taking precedence over the facts 1. SV in the RB is riiculously quick again, and FA is imperious in making his tyres last compared to the masters old (JB) and new (SP)

    Rgds, Lewis Fan

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  13. Replies
    1. Video not working? I'm currently in a very non Internet friendly place. I'll upload the proper video, probably, tomorrow

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  14. So Maldonado doesn't have the right to shove someone off track, but Lewis does? How exactly does that work? I think they were both at fault, but it's even worse that people think that in Formula 1 you can drive the circuit like people don't exist.

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    1. Hamilton is definitively NOT without blame in this incident even though by the letter of the rules, Maldonado was wrong. Worse for Hammy, it was a stupid move on his part for the championship. Maybe that's why he chose not to say much about it.

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    2. Sorry AC, I was replying to Sorrento. I wasn't making a comment on the article itself, didn't mean for it to sound like a criticism of the post in general.

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  15. Anyway,I think that those friggin' tarmac runoff areas are a big part of the problem.
    Drivers wouldn't feel allowed to push others out of the track if gravel was still there...

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