The Official 2012 F1 Thread. Spoilers possible!

[bobobob]

WOW!!! What a race!!!

[bobobob]

Originally Posted by bobobob

I agree. Louis seems to have got his head on straight these days.
Should be a great race.

Well, I batted .500.

[markjenn]

Great race.

Very strange decisions by the stewards almost across the board.... I'd probably let most/all of them fly as racing incidents, but in almost every case, I thought the driver they penalized was less at fault than the other. Penalizing Senna after Kobayashi attempted from way back to squeeze his car into a non-existent gap with the barrier early in the race has to rank as one of the strangest stewards decisions I've ever seen.

Regardless of penalties, for Hamilton to be defending as aggressively as he was when he was so much slower late in the race after his tires went off was pure stupidity on his part. He takes a couple steps forward in race judgment and then another back.

- Mark

[wxwax]

Leigh Diffey, Will Buxton and Steve Matchett graduated cum laude from the Broadcast School of Hyperbole. Give it a rest, guys.

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by markjenn

Great race.

Very strange decisions by the stewards almost across the board.... I'd probably let most/all of them fly as racing incidents, but in almost every case, I thought the driver they penalized was less at fault than the other. Penalizing Senna after Kobayashi attempted from way back to squeeze his car into a non-existent gap with the barrier early in the race has to rank as one of the strangest stewards decisions I've ever seen.

Regardless of penalties, for Hamilton to be defending as aggressively as he was when he was so much slower late in the race after his tires went off was pure stupidity on his part. He takes a couple steps forward in race judgment and then another back.

- Mark

I agree. Other than Kobayashi's second incident, the stewards got it all wrong. Hamiton was clearly at fault. he just couldn't accept losing another place, so he threw away all of his points instead. Race management is still an area where he struggles.

Most entertaining race and for once, there was passing at this horrid little track.

Love seeing Schumi on the podium. Happy that big red got a win, unlikely as it was. Sorry Williams didn't get the podium I think they deserved. Creditable 4th for Webber.

Watching them on the pit wall, patting Vettel on the head like a pet dog reinforces my feelings about the kid.

A very nice season!

[A. T. T-W]

Originally Posted by wxwax

Hamiton was clearly at fault.

Maldonado was off the circuit completely. In that situation it is for him to rejoin safely. Hamilton was within his rights to maintain his position. The fault lies squarely with Maldonado.

[bobobob]

Originally Posted by A. T. T-W

Maldonado was off the circuit completely. In that situation it is for him to rejoin safely. Hamilton was within his rights to maintain his position. The fault lies squarely with Maldonado.

I disagree. Hammie's tires were shot and he threw away
championship points out of spite. I had thought his mental
situation had stabilized recently, but I was wrong.

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by A. T. T-W

Maldonado was off the circuit completely. In that situation it is for him to rejoin safely. Hamilton was within his rights to maintain his position. The fault lies squarely with Maldonado.

I'm not sure that all 4 wheels were off, although I could be wrong. Regardless, ask yourself if Hamilton is happy with the results of his assertiveness?

And, compare his final laps to those of Alonso in Montreal. Alonso accepted that his tires (tyres) were finished and he allowed cars to pass him so that he could salvage whatever points were on offer. No fight to the death.

Just when I think Hamilton has matured, his crappy race-craft resurfaces.

[markjenn]

In the Hamilton/Maldonado incident, I think it is very hard to succinctly assign blame - yes Maldo was basically off the track, but he was off essentially because Hamilton ran him off - so I'd tend to just let it go without penalty. Regardless, it was very poor judgment on his part to be defending this aggressively with wounded car under him and his position in the championship.

- Mark

[RedRocket]

Originally Posted by markjenn

In the Hamilton/Maldonado incident, I think it is very hard to succinctly assign blame - yes Maldo was basically off the track, but he was off essentially because Hamilton ran him off - so I'd tend to just let it go without penalty. Regardless, it was very poor judgment on his part to be defending this aggressively with wounded car under him and his position in the championship.

- Mark

I see it as being Hamilton's piece of road to defend, he's allowed to use the whole track once, and it was Maldonado's fault in the end, but Hamilton gets to pay for making a poor choice in defending like he did.

[AngelFZ]

Originally Posted by markjenn

Great race.

Very strange decisions by the stewards almost across the board.... I'd probably let most/all of them fly as racing incidents, but in almost every case, I thought the driver they penalized was less at fault than the other. Penalizing Senna after Kobayashi attempted from way back to squeeze his car into a non-existent gap with the barrier early in the race has to rank as one of the strangest stewards decisions I've ever seen.

Regardless of penalties, for Hamilton to be defending as aggressively as he was when he was so much slower late in the race after his tires went off was pure stupidity on his part. He takes a couple steps forward in race judgment and then another back.

- Mark

Awesome race.

I agree with your observations.

Apart from this, I thought it would have been pretty much impossible for Fernando to win.
He was moving very well through the field, with clean air his car was showing great pace.
Big help from the pace car and then out of the blue Vettel out of the race!!!!!!
McLaren again loosing positions with troubles at pits.

It is also a shame for Grosjean, excellent drive which should have given him a podium.

Alonso was the first to repeat a win this year and with both Vettel and Hamilton not scaring a single point. What and overall result for Alonso.


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[AngelFZ]

Originally Posted by RedRocket

I see it as being Hamilton's piece of road to defend, he's allowed to use the whole track once, and it was Maldonado's fault in the end, but Hamilton gets to pay for making a poor choice in defending like he did.

This championship has been very close. This was not the last race of the year and if Hamilton has the right to defend his position his aggressiveness, and bad judgement, got him with no points at all after the race.
Maldonado was fighting for position knowing Hamilton's tires were done and he had one more lap to overtake him.
Hamilton knew he was slower than Maldonado.

Consistency had Hamilton at the top positions in the championship, now he's lagging behind.


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[ramz]

From Formula1.com:

Mercedes' Michael Schumacher, who finished third, was also investigated for allegedly using his DRS under yellow flags, but stewards decided he had slowed sufficiently and deemed no further action necessary.
------------------------------------------------

Williams’ Pastor Maldonado has had 20 seconds added to his race time by the European Grand Prix stewards after colliding with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap in Valencia. As a result of the penalty, Maldonado drops from 10th to 12th in the final classification.

The Venezuelan was penalised for ‘failing to rejoin the track in a safe manner’ after he ran off the circuit while attempting to pass Hamilton for third place. Their subsequent coming together put the Briton into the wall and out of the race.

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by AngelFZ

McLaren again loosing positions with troubles at pits.

They're jinxed. I couldn't believe it when the jack failed.

[JBSmith]

Originally Posted by wxwax

Leigh Diffey, Will Buxton and Steve Matchett graduated cum laude from the Broadcast School of Hyperbole. Give it a rest, guys.

I've noticed the SPEED guys ramp up the hype whenever the F1 race is broadcast on Fox. Maybe the typical Fox viewer is more into NASCAR, and needs that extra juice to stay interested.

Mind you, Diffey does need a chill pill now and then, even when he's on SPEED.