The Official 2012 F1 Thread. Spoilers possible!

[Josephvman]

Regardless of outcome, I think Alonso drove the single finest season of his career, and possibly the best season I've seen anyone race since I first started following F1 in the late 70's. To push Vettel within one position of a championship in what is the third or fourth fastest team on the grid is astounding, especially when you look at where Alonso qualified all season. Vettel may have won the championship, but Alonso deservedly will be remembered and loved by fans for wringing out that Ferrari for everything it was worth this year.

[RedRocket]

Originally Posted by Josephvman

Regardless of outcome, I think Alonso drove the single finest season of his career, and possibly the best season I've seen anyone race since I first started following F1 in the late 70's. To push Vettel within one position of a championship in what is the third or fourth fastest team on the grid is astounding, especially when you look at where Alonso qualified all season. Vettel may have won the championship, but Alonso deservedly will be remembered and loved by fans for wringing out that Ferrari for everything it was worth this year.

I agree. I think his avg. starting spot was 6th, and he made it to the podium more often than anyone else.

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by g®eg

good shot from one of the many great battles Sunday

That was really impressive driving by both guys. No sideways jerk to throw the other guy off, like Maldonado and Grosjean do. Schumacher obviously isn't as fast as he used to be, but to do that in damp conditions shows maximum skill. Loved seeing it. Proper, professional driving.

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by Josephvman

Regardless of outcome, I think Alonso drove the single finest season of his career, and possibly the best season I've seen anyone race since I first started following F1 in the late 70's. To push Vettel within one position of a championship in what is the third or fourth fastest team on the grid is astounding, especially when you look at where Alonso qualified all season. Vettel may have won the championship, but Alonso deservedly will be remembered and loved by fans for wringing out that Ferrari for everything it was worth this year.

I agree as well. Not sure he'll be loved, but he deserves a ton of respect.

Also, props to Massa for turning his season around once Ferrari showed him some love. The change in his drives was remarkable.

Still can't believe that collision didn't break Vettel's rear suspension.

[g®eg]

Originally Posted by wxwax

That was really impressive driving by both guys. No sideways jerk to throw the other guy off, like Maldonado and Grosjean do. Schumacher obviously isn't as fast as he used to be, but to do that in damp conditions shows maximum skill. Loved seeing it. Proper, professional driving.

agreed

[g®eg]

Originally Posted by wxwax

Still can't believe that collision didn't break Vettel's rear suspension.

I was jumping up & down "yes yes yes!!!"
of course it was not to be

*sigh*

well... there's next year

[Ragin Rabbi]

Originally Posted by g®eg

I was jumping up & down "yes yes yes!!!"
of course it was not to be

*sigh*

well... there's next year

Scared the pee (literally) out of my old Boxer doing that!!! The old guy deserves more respect then that....

Wife was upset to by my "outburst".

[wxwax]

Some interesting stats from Pirelli.

For the season, they provided a jaw-dropping 31,000 tires. Of that supply, 23,000 were actually used in races. All are recycled.

Good grief. If it's true that the manufacture of F1 race tires is not entirely automated, that there's more craftsmanship involved, the amount of work involved is staggering. Not to mention the transport logistics.

[hockeygoon]

Originally Posted by Josephvman

Regardless of outcome, I think Alonso drove the single finest season of his career, and possibly the best season I've seen anyone race since I first started following F1 in the late 70's. To push Vettel within one position of a championship in what is the third or fourth fastest team on the grid is astounding, especially when you look at where Alonso qualified all season. Vettel may have won the championship, but Alonso deservedly will be remembered and loved by fans for wringing out that Ferrari for everything it was worth this year.

I've never been an Alonso fan until this season. He really drove the tires off that car, one which really had no business being within 3 points of the F1 Champ. I hope the top 4 teams get even tighter next season. McClaren had the speed this year, but not the reliability. Ferrari had the opposite. Lotus/Renault slowly made strides in both directions. Wouldn't mind seeing Caterham do well too, maybe score a point or two.

[A. T. T-W]

Originally Posted by hockeygoon

I've never been an Alonso fan until this season. He really drove the tires off that car, one which really had no business being within 3 points of the F1 Champ.

He has always done the same. From his Minardi season onwards, Alonso has always driven uncompetitive, or at least, second-best cars. The possible exception was his year at Mclaren but even when frozen out of the development mid-season, he still did better than Hamilton after that point.

Both his WDC titles were won against the all-conquering Ferrari-Schumacher-Todt-Brawn stranglehold and in a Renault that shouldn't have won.

Alonso is either just very, very unlucky in his choice of car or as I continue to believe, his ability to 'lift' a car above what it should reasonably be capable of, masks its inherent faults from the engineers until enough races have taken place for them to understand and address the problems (the ban on testing has only exacerbated this).

Why the team don't use his team mate's feedback to develop the car early in the season is a mystery. Perhaps they are blinded by his talent believing that tailoring the car to him is the most likely way to garner race results. Maybe it's an insistence by Alonso that as the number one, all development must be centred upon him.

[Turder]

A page without Kimi pics...??



Fixt.

[Flys Lo]

What an incredible season, finished by an incredible race... I was on the edge of my seat for all of it.

Was so great to see the championship come down to the wire, to see a season where some of the midfield teams could win a race. Enjoyed seeing Kimi back in a car, he did exceptionally well to get 3rd in the championship, and complete the most laps of any driver.

All in all, I thought it was the best season of F1 I have followed. I hope that with minimal rule changes and tires that have a wider operating range that next year the better financed teams don't run away with it... it was really good seeing Williams/Sauber (and in Brazil, Force India) dicing it out with the big 3.
Also, I hope Lewis helps make the Mercedes more competitive... they were lucky to beat Sauber this year.

[g®eg]

ending with controversy....




and time for a new beginning....


F1 2013.... 108 days to go

[Josephvman]

Definitely one of the best F1 seasons ever, and with the Perez/Hamilton shuffle next year looks to be a very exciting one.

On a related note, in a few weeks I'll be involved with the first private track day at COTA, so I'm pretty excited at the prospect of driving that circuit. It's the first time I've even been on a purpose-built F1 track, though I did drive the Indy F1 track, and the old Nurburgring Nordschleife.

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by A. T. T-W

He has always done the same. From his Minardi season onwards, Alonso has always driven uncompetitive, or at least, second-best cars. The possible exception was his year at Mclaren but even when frozen out of the development mid-season, he still did better than Hamilton after that point.

Both his WDC titles were won against the all-conquering Ferrari-Schumacher-Todt-Brawn stranglehold and in a Renault that shouldn't have won.

Alonso is either just very, very unlucky in his choice of car or as I continue to believe, his ability to 'lift' a car above what it should reasonably be capable of, masks its inherent faults from the engineers until enough races have taken place for them to understand and address the problems (the ban on testing has only exacerbated this).

Why the team don't use his team mate's feedback to develop the car early in the season is a mystery. Perhaps they are blinded by his talent believing that tailoring the car to him is the most likely way to garner race results. Maybe it's an insistence by Alonso that as the number one, all development must be centred upon him.

Maybe. But Ferrari knew they had a stinker last season. And they knew they had a stinker even in pre-season testing this season. I'm not sure that Alonso's driving skill deluded them. I think they don't have the genius designer they need.

Three years ago the Ferrari was unreliable. So they put a lot of effort into making a car that doesn't break. They succeeded. But in the meantime (wind tunnel problems or not) they seem to have lost their design direction. All the important innovations are coming from other teams.