The Official 2012 F1 Thread. Spoilers possible!

As compared to the strict letter of the law that Red Bull is held to?

Goodness knows that the stewards have been all up in Webber and Vettel's business all season. The number of investigations into the front wing for instance....




Oh, wait, no they haven't.

Remember when BMW wanted to buy Williams? Spurned, they bought Sauber. Then they fled F1.

I don't see this as an indication of anything, to be honest. As I understand it, somewhere in the Mercedes boardroom is the same discontent with spending massive money on F1 as there was at BMW and Renault. And Toyota. And Jaguar/Ford.

Like cheating bodywork, you mean?

If MBZ has any thoughts of bailing why would they step and buy the remaining 40%?

The way I understand it, it's not a single person making the decisions. It's a board. Right now, the majority favor the F1 expenditure. My point is that there is reportedly a significant faction within Mercedes that does not. Hence, an unstable situation. We've seen other manufacturers go through the same thing and ultimately get out of F1.

This is why Spanky wasn't so keen on manufacturers dominating the series, other than Ferrari. Williams and McLaren aren't leaving F1. But Renault, Ford, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes? Yes, yes, yes, yes and who knows?

Why not throw a wildcard into the season finale?

100% chance of rain on Sunday, according to weather.com and the announcers.

One thing that should help Vettel: they'll probably be starting on full wets, so there won't be the guessing game about when to come in and change from dry to intermediates or full wets.

It will be exciting for sure GOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Vettle

What setup do you quality with when its dry on Saturday but wet (maybe) on Sunday?

I guess you go for a wet setup, and hope everyone else does the same.
quali should be interesting.
Kimi's engine went pop in FP3, so new lump in the Lotus.

It certainly looks from Qualy that Alonso is on a wet set-up. With a forecast 80% chance of rain for the GP, that could be the key.

They signed Hamilton for three years, I'd guess they're in it for at least that.

They said during qualifying Kimi's new engine is the one from Abu Dabi..........yep the one he one with.

So no penalties for Kimi and Lotus.

Yeah, that would be my guess too. Big gamble. The forecast keeps reducing the chance of rain. weather.com now shows only a 50% chance of rain, and that rain is described as showers.

From Ferrari's point of view, the only good news is that there's a 50%+ chance of rain every hour overnight and through the morning, so the track is likely to be damp at the start of the race.

Can't blame Ferrari for taking the gamble. They have no chance if they run the same set-up as Red Bull. And although these cars are very different from early in the season, the Ferrari ran very well in the wet back then.

Perhaps they're only on the hook to pay him, not to run a team (depending upon how his contract is written?)

I'd think MBZ is a little too well known to make a move like that.

I've read speculation that LH's M-B contract includes a lot less PR activity on his part at and between the races, which by all accounts he despises, and a future role as a "brand ambassador" for M-B after he retires from racing. Seems contradictory, since both involve pretty much the same bullshit, but nothing about this move makes much sense anyway.

I agree with that last sentiment. Now watch Brawn steal the march on us all next season.

Who else would like to see Button drive a Ferrari?

The brand ambassador means a paycheck for life, and "hook up" for everything.

Did you guys see Kimi's dandruff shampoo commercial during the pre-race? Wonder how much they had to pay him to run his fingers through his hair while sitting in his F1 car ? Never figured I would see Kimi doing a commercial like that.