F1 2012 Championship Thread

Discussion in 'Sports and Fitness' started by MacLeod, Dec 12, 2011.

  1. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Though we'll have to see a few different types of tracks/conditions before we can tell if its the car or track/conditions
     
  2. Dick_Valentine

    Dick_Valentine Commander Red Shirt

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    Everyone on the internet thinks the Red Bull is slow in qualifying but up to 1 second a lap faster than anyone else in the race.

    Which is nice, if they're going to run away and take it all again at least they'll have to pas some cars doing it!

    For the moment though it is nice and gratifying to see the best looking cars quickest and the ugliest towards the back, I hope that gives the engineers something to think about when planning the 2013 cars!

    No stepped noses please!
     
  3. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    It is possible for a car to be slower in qulaifing than in the race, we say that a bit last year where the McLaren's struggled a lit bit in qualifing but where good in the race but it was no where near a second. It's much easier to control the race from the front than to fight youe way through traffic.
     
  4. Geckothan

    Geckothan Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Red Bull wouldn't have been able to mix with McLaren without that safety car, in my opinion, and we've still yet to see the best of the new Mercedes. It's going to be an interesting year :)
     
  5. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    I was vaguely hoping that, since BBC1 started the actual race on the highlights show less than 15 minutes into the show, that they might sneakily squeeze in the whole thing - but no, they've just jumped from lap 6 to lap 10 while showing the replay of Vettel briefly skipping off the track. Subtle way of cutting out three laps, but cutting it is. Fuck the BBC for giving up their exclusive free to air rights because they viewed channel 4 as more of a rival than Sky, (BBC: Which media outlet is always trying to do you down, fuck you up, and get the government to hamstring you to better them? Clue- it's not Channel fucking 4) and fuck Sky for wanting me to double what I pay them a month to see this live.

    Oh. and the new commentary guy, Ben Edwards? He's rubbish. Incredibly false attempts at childish breathless excitement, that sounds nothing like...

    ETA- I don't like the new Irish guy who's replaced the guy on the grid either
     
  6. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    The only good thing about the "extended highlights" was that they could leave out the procession behind the safety car. But they still managed to sneakily disappear about 15 minutes worth of the race - it ran about 1:15 out of 1:30
     
  7. Geckothan

    Geckothan Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    If you're so bothered about giving money to "Darth Murdoch" or whatever the anti-Sky types call him these days, it's probably mentioning that BT and Virgin carry Sky's channel too, though I don't think they're any cheaper (though a lot of the naysayers seem more concerned with continuing their silly anti-corporate crusade and boycotting Sky on some hippie principles, than whether they can afford it or not), and they're probably only SD anyway...

    ...not that BBC One HD is much better than most SD channels, given that it's compressed into oblivion, particularly on satellite, presumably to free up some bandwidth on the transponder for all the needless variations of BBC One that differ only by their country-specific idents and twenty minutes per day of trivial regional news, or simulcasts of their countless ethnic quota-mandated minority radio stations that nobody even listens to on DAB or FM, let alone satellite.

    I watched both the live Sky coverage this morning, and the BBC highlights this afternoon, and the latter just didn't do it for me. The commentary didn't work at all without MB, Jake/EJ/DC didn't seem like their usual entertaining selves, and the cuts to the race were just awful (though not as bad as the cuts on the qualifying show, which removed some of the most significant parts). Sky's show felt a bit unpolished and lacking in direction, but they've improved dramatically over the weekend, so I guess the producers and presenters just need more time to get used to the format (though the commentary was fine from the start, as to be expected with Ant/Croft and Croft/MB).
     
  8. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    I have a Sky subscription, but I do object to the only ways to get F1 being ones that would double my payment every month for a single programme.

    I also, of course, despise the BBC's duplicitous stupidity in making this deal, depriving many of us of half the races in 2012-2018, just to stop Channel 4 giving us it free to air in 2014...
     
  9. Mr Pointy Ears

    Mr Pointy Ears Captain Captain

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    Round one was a good one,was hoping mercedes really did good.
     
  10. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Well Round 2 might be closer, though it looks like the McLaren of LH might have a slight advantage based on FP1 & 2. But then again we don;t know fuel levels etc..
     
  11. Mr Pointy Ears

    Mr Pointy Ears Captain Captain

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    practice 3 for malayasia just started.
     
  12. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Almost time for qual.
     
  13. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Well it's another McLaren front row lock out. With the Red Bulls still struggling somewhat for pace. Though qualification is differant from a race.

    But perhaps Red Bull have had their period at the top for now, and it's swung back to McLaren.

    We've seen it many times over the decades, where one team is more dominant than the others for a while before a new more dominat team comes along.

    Ah well at least the race is a little more reasonable this time. 09:00 BST (I believe).
     
  14. Geckothan

    Geckothan Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    No sympathy for Red Bull here. They ruined the championship battle last year with their insufferable "child prodigy" ("YABBA DABBA DEE RING DINGA DING DING DING DING" – enough said), so it's only fair that a proper team like McLaren gets a shot at winning it for a change.
     
  15. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    To be fair to Red Bull it was little different from the era of Ferrari and Michael's dominance.
     
  16. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    Not last year it wasn't - with Vettel and RB concentrating on qualifying on pole so he could then just pull away and cruise round without actually *racing* as such. We still don't know, really, how good a racer he is when he has to overtake and stuff, cos he's only had to do it about twice.
     
  17. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Well that was a bit unexpected a Ferrari win, from the snippets of the team radio it sounded as if the McLaren's couldn't get heat into the tyres. Though the pitstops didn't help them.

    Just a shame Perez didn't manage to overtake Alonso.
     
  18. Geckothan

    Geckothan Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    What an unexpected result!

    Very disappointed as a McLaren fan – though to be fair, despite them not looking as dominant in pace as expected today, I still think a McLaren 1-2 could have been possible if it wasn't for their terrible pit stops ruining the race for Lewis, or that hopeless HRT getting in the way of JB (the collision itself was definitely Jenson's fault, but given that Karthikeyan didn't have even the slightest chance of keeping that position, he shouldn't have even been anywhere near the racing line with a McLaren breathing down his neck, regardless of whether he had the right to be there or not, though he seems to have a habit of getting in the way even when he's being lapped) – but it certainly made for some thrilling viewing.

    Lots of exciting stuff happening all over the field (especially from Senna, Di Resta, Vergne and Ricciardo – and even Massa gave us a few good moments despite generally having a dismal race), and Perez chasing Alonso had me on the edge of my seat (it would have been nice if he'd actually got past, though, so we'd get to see a win from something other than a Ferrari, McLaren or Red Bull).

    Schumacher and Grosjean were disappointing as well, but on the plus side, at least Red Bull weren't on the podium, and McLaren still look good for the rest of the season (they clearly have a good car and the right drivers for it, though they might want to replace some of their mechanics and strategists).
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2012
  19. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    I think M cLaren have had some bad luck so far this season. With poor pitstops, safety cars erc... However the other teams have not really been able to take huge advantage of this.

    At the moment it's still looking as if the Ferrari is still possibly at best the fourth best car behind the Lotus or Mercedes. I think it is Alonso who is out performing the car.

    I think given a dry race with no safety car at the moment the McLaren's would be pulling away from the rest of the field bit by bit.
     
  20. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    Alonso winning- urgh.

    For once there was a bright side to this "extended highlights" crap - the BBC could just jut ditch the stoppage time and say "hey, we cut out 50 minutes" - cos a long red-flag is a pain in the ass to watch live, as we may remember from Canada last year...