The Official 2013 F1 Thread. Spoilers possible!

Look at the quote, I didn't say he was a bad driver, quite the opposite, I said he was a better race driver than qualifier. That is why I asked about Senna, he had 41 wins and 65 poles vs. Alain Prost who had 51/33, Senna was a better qualifier, arguably the best ever. Race driving requires planning, strategy, and knowledge, as well as skill, but qualifying is pure car control, the ability to move that car around the course in the shortest possible time. With a "hand grenade" qualifying engine and super sticky, 2 lap qualifying tires, Senna was on another level. And looking at Alonso with 32 wins and 22 poles compared to Vettel with 29/39, shows Vettel the better qualifier and Alonso the better racer.

I just don't think you're allowing for the clear superiority of Vettel's machine. I don't believe one can look at the numbers in a vacuum.

There's not a shred of doubt that Vettel is driving a machine custom designed for qualifying and running at the front. It does both those things better than any machine in F1 and has done so for going on 4 years now. You simply must account for that when citing numbers.

http://stream.nbcsports.com/f1/inde...ferrer=http://stream.nbcsports.com/liveextra/

Love the live streaming, HD and no friggin commentary

Anybody who wins or gets pole has a great car, I am simply saying certain drivers are better at qualifying or racing and I think those numbers prove it. This has more to do with the particular driver, not the car. Although the Mercedes does have a problem with tire wear this year, making that car a better qualifier, but this is the exception not the rule.

When one car consistently outperforms the others at certain tasks, then you have no choice but to notch down the driver's impact.

I'm not saying that Vettel is a bad driver. I'm saying that in the Red Bull era which we are currently enduring, it's a bad idea to draw any conclusions about the qualifying skills of other drivers. Alonso's 12 poles in '04 and '05 didn't happen by themselves. Since then, other than his brief McLaren fiasco, he has been in mediocre cars.

The tire problem is solved.

Looks like it's going to be a Mercedes/Red Bull battle. Ferrari seem to be the third-best team. Forecast is dry, so form will hold.

Alonso starting on hard tires... Massa too.
Could throw a wrench in red bull and Mercedes plans. Kimi and big John look good too

Not Available on DirectV, Tell me again why I pay over $100 per month for Basic Cable. Contracts up in Augest, can't wait to go kick that fucker off my roof.

Rosberg the latest victim of pit road blundering. He doesn't make Q3 while his teammate grabs pole. They park him with 4 minutes left in Q2 and he's 2nd. While he sips a latte in the garage, 9 cars go by him. Ross Brawn's reputation takes a blow.

Funny thing is, with 30 seconds left in Q3, he was still 6th. He was taken out by the final laps of five cars.

Ferrari don't even make an attempt at pole, take Q3 on the intermediate tires.

Practices times suggest that the softs fall off by more than a second a lap after about 10 laps and get progressively worse. But we've seen time and again that certain teams -- Red Bull and Lotus come to mind -- find a way to get more laps than expected out of the softs. So I'm not sure that Ferrari will inherit the lead when the cars which are on intermediates finally pit.

Thanks for the heads up! Thought I may watch it live on the net instead of the 10 am showing.

Should be a good race. Alonso, Kimi, and Hamilton all have won and run there well. If rain was to come it would be ever more interesting.

9 hours and we'll know how it starts... and then see how it goes.

Let it be a great race without the Vettel gapping everyone on the start and running away.

Dammit, not available through my cable company. Not surprising, though, as my cable company is pretty much a guy named Dave operating out of a barn on a sheep farm.

Forecast is 0% chance of rain.

It's good to know we'll have a tactical battle from the start. I guess Ferrari saw Hamilton's time and decided it was hopeless. I know Alonso was on track at the time and they yanked him in and changed tires.

The TV kids were saying that it takes three laps to get the Kevlar tires to peak performance. But then all the front runners came out of the pits for just one final lap, so that makes me question all the "prevailing wisdom" about these new tires.

I suspect it has more to do with the fact that their car isn't particularly good when light, it's not much cop in qualifying trim but it has so far this season shown that it's one of the better ones with a full tank.

They've then opted for a strategy where they (hopefully) make up some positions in the opening laps and can run longer on the Prime to gain track position when those ahead on the Option have run out of rubber.

Possibly so, though it would be optimistic to hope to make up positions on the prime tire when everyone else is on the option.

It will be a simple waiting game. And the gamble is that the option teams will have to pit before the lead equals or surpasses the pit delta time. And even if Ferrari then inherit with the lead, they'll have to be fast enough to hold the it while the other teams emerge on fresh tires.

I guess it will be somewhere between laps 10-20 (more likely, 10-16) when we'll find out if Ferrari's gamble has worked.

That should favor Ferrari. The prime is said to be about 1 second a lap slower. 16 laps is roughly 16 seconds, not allowing for tire degradation. I don't know what the pit delta is for Nurburgring, but it might be close to 20-25 seconds.

It's gonna be close.

Alonso has been making good starts this season. Then there's the usual poor starting from Webber and the usual opportunistic moves within the first few turns - it's then a case of keeping everyone else behind until those ahead on the Option are forced in. After that, push to extend the gap before pitting and hope that it gains track position.

It's a strategy for coping with their poor qualifying trim. It's not calculated to win races but optimises the chances of podium places.

Maybe the Scuderia are planning on a first turn dust up between Hamilton and Vettel.

Matchett's explanation of the tire construction helped me a lot. I could not figure out how a slick could be directional.

Guess that's why I'm watching the race and not at the Nurburgring.


Go Webber!!

Or Kimi!

Finally found the race on live in my T.V. package. Commentary is in Spanish. I don't know what they are saying, but I'm hoping that Kimi can hang on for the win!:huh

Wow! That was close.:eek1