Zitat von icemaidHamilton says now Mecedes is the 2nd best team & the closest challenger to Redbull. Just the 2nd race & he is so confident.
and it was so different week and a half ago " title="" /> Hami needs to decide what to say, changing his opinion every week... well, we all know what to expect from Hami when he is not controlled, Twitter must be a place to check regularly h" title="hih" />
Zitat von icemaidHamilton says now Mecedes is the 2nd best team & the closest challenger to Redbull. Just the 2nd race & he is so confident.
and it was so different week and a half ago Hami needs to decide what to say, changing his opinion every week... well, we all know what to expect from Hami when he is not controlled, Twitter must be a place to check regularly
Mercedes pace looks genuine at the moment. But I'm not prepared to call them a title contender, yet. I can't get 2012 out of my mind. Nico Rosberg storms to a dominant win in China. And then the teams pace slowly declined over the remainder of the year. Their tyre degradation is as high, if not higher, than any other team on the grid. And this issue will need to be sorted out. Remember, Lotus' Malaysian weekend was significantly affected by the changing weather conditions. And Fernando exited the race on lap #2. If it was brilliant sunshine throughout the weekend, Mercedes may not have come to the finish line with a comfortable P3/P4. It's still early days yet, let's wait and see.
ZitatWhat’s all the fuss about? Why is everyone getting so agitated?
A reigning three-times Formula 1 world champion saw an opportunity and he took it, regardless of the voice crackling in his earpiece bearing the coded instruction “multi 21”.
Seriously, that should come as no surprise to anyone with the tiniest appreciation of the mindset of the greats of our – or any other – sport.
I know, I know; team orders, gentlemanly conduct, a fair fight, blah, blah, blah. This is the real world of cut-throat, top-level, piranha-pool F1 and Sebastian Vettel isn’t about to start looking gift horses in the mouth anytime soon.
Vettel, in his new position as Red Bull team principal, is just a reflection of where F1 is right now. The drivers have the power – the top four guys that is, the racers with the elusive ‘X’ factor, desired by so many, possessed by so few.
Lewis, Fernando, Sebastian and Kimi.
Not so long ago things were a little different; F1 teams were ruled by strong characters who were, in their own unique ways, mostly impressive men. Todt, Tyrrell, Dennis, Williams, Chapman, Briatore to name just a few. Sure they weren’t always likeable and could certainly be unpopular, but one was under no illusion that each was the boss and it was their way or no way.
Sitting on their big cheese pitwall perches these days are men (and a woman) who perhaps possess a little less in the either-you-have-it-or-you-don’t department of charisma.
It should therefore be entirely predictable, and certainly not shocking, that when Vettel is asked to play second fiddle to team mate Mark Webber, the German responds by waving a dismissive two-fingered salute instead of the usual one!
Ferrari will do whatever Alonso desires, Lotus adore “Leave me alone” Kimi, and German über-brand Mercedes have made it quite clear they favour their English main man Lewis over his team-mate Nico Rosberg, regardless of the black, red and gold flag beside Nico’s name.
The ‘famous four’ rule the roost and it’s not going to change anytime soon.
The post-Malaysian grand prix press conference room sizzled with tension as the three podium-placed drivers arrived. Glum faces, dismissive glances, pregnant pauses, empty apologies – this memorable 20-minute affair was a ‘joy’ to attend.
Debate will rage. The whys and wherefores, wrongs and rights, reasons and excuses for what went down at Sepang 2013 will run and run, but we can all be sure in the knowledge that it will happen again and again and again.
’Twas ever thus. At the head of the field there will be the racers who refuse to accept second place, who dismiss – when it suits – the rules of fair play; the men who achieve, the guys who set the bar at dizzying heights most can only dream of reaching.
Malaysia 2013 may well be the race at which Sebastian Vettel joined that legendary list.
McLaren will be powered by Honda in 2015! There is an excellent article in April's edition of F1 Racing UK regarding the dissolution of the McLaren-Mercedes partnership.
What about this apart it seems to me to be a big lie !!! Red Bull issues now 'settled', claims Marko ESPN Staff March 28, 2013 « Red Bull problems won't go away - Button | Ecclestone backs Vettel in team order controversy »
RELATED LINKS News: Red Bull problems won't go away - Button Feature: What next for Red Bull? Drivers: Sebastian Vettel | Mark Webber Teams: Red Bull Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has played down the rift between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber and claims the issues resulting from the team orders controversy at the Malaysian Grand Prix are now settled.
Vettel disobeyed team orders by overtaking Webber for the lead after both drivers had been told to hold position at Sunday's race. The drivers were ordered to turn down their engines and ease their cars to the finish by selecting 'Multi-map 21' on their steering wheels, but Vettel ignored the pit wall and attacked Webber when the Australian's defences were down.
The incident has called into question who is really in charge at Red Bull, with Webber saying on the podium that he expects Vettel to receive his "usual protection" from within the team. Now Marko, who brought Vettel through the ranks to Formula One and criticised Webber pre-season in a Red Bull publication, insists the issue is closed.
"They don't have to be completely on the same page but it must be a solid working partnership," he said. "Sebastian apologised in the press conference and I think that was the first correct step to make. There was a debrief afterwards with the relevant discussions about the race and then there was a handshake between the two drivers. For us now the issue is settled."
Marko admitted the pit wall could do nothing to control Vettel once he started disobeying team orders.
"We told Sebastian to hold his position because we didn't know what the tyre situation was and both drivers need to bring home a good finish for the team. But then came the attack against that strategy and it got out of control. You couldn't control it over radio or anything like that. Sebastian the racer came out and took the lead."
Horner told Sky Sports that Vettel had apologised to the whole team back at the team's factory this week.
"He's said he can't turn back the clock but he's accepted what he did was wrong," Horner said. "He's apologised to the team and to every single member of staff for his actions, because he recognises the team is vitally important and being part of the team is a crucial aspect to being able to challenge for those championships."
Zitat FIA orders top teams to change flexible splitters
2 April, 2013
It has emerged that Formula 1′s governing body has warned three top teams to make immediate changes to their cars ahead of the next race in China.
Italian reports, including in the pages of Italiaracing and Omnicorse, claim the FIA has reacted after scrutineers flagged controversial solutions in the area of the underbody presented in Malaysia by Red Bull, Lotus and Mercedes.
The reports say the cars’ ‘splitters’ are too flexible, with the teams told to make changes for Shanghai to avoid sanction.
Have spoken to Lotus and Merc who say FIA splitter story is just that - a story! Both teams passed tests and no changes to make. #F1 Retweeted by Dimi PAPADOPOULOS
ZitatRaikkonen baffled by tyre complaints By Phillip Horton on Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen says he cannot understand why people are complaining about Pirelli’s tyres.
Several drivers, most vocally Mark Webber, have complained that Formula 1 has become too tyre centric during the early part of 2013.
But Raikkonen, who won in Australia, believes that using the tyres correctly is simply part of racing.
“I think you can push on these tyres, but it’s never perfect. You cannot always push 100%. I think they are very good in qualifying and have good grip, so it’s up to you and you have to look after them a bit more in the race,” he said.
“It’s not really any different from last year – at least for us anyway – so I don’t really understand why people are complaining.”
Team principal Eric Boullier believes it is up to the teams to understand the tyres.
“As a sport we asked our tyre supplier, Pirelli, to provide us with tyres which encourage different strategies and adapting to this is part of the competition,” he said.
“We’ve seen some great racing so far this year and Pirelli can take some of the credit for this. We are all allocated the same tyres so it’s up to us as teams and the drivers in the cars to make the most of them.”
Everyone’s favourite little-BIG man who controls all things Formula 1 wanted more overtaking (because that’s what people asked for), so what to do?
Brief Pirelli: make tyres with a chemical compound biased towards high levels of grip that doesn’t last for long.
They delivered, because that’s what good companies do.
Of course it may seem strange making a product that, as part of its design, falls apart. All publicity isn’t always good but mostly the maxim is true.
Ecclestone gets what Ecclestone wants and therefore – mostly – so do we. A variety of polesitters, random race winners, and championship showdowns straight out of the Hollywood play book. Everyone’s happy, right?
Wrong.
As is usually the case, the moaning starts when results don’t go as planned and understanding of how the compounds behave is low. I didn’t hear many requests for harder tyres last Sunday evening from Messrs Vettel and Horner – did you?
Generally, teams and drivers are making far less noise about their Italian rubber than they did last year. Skill sets have been honed, driving styles altered and car designs fettled as knowledge and experience increase. This year’s aggressively engineered tyres seem to be causing fewer headaches. Don’t expect Pastor Maldonado to ascend out of the blue to the peak of competitiveness at Barcelona in a few weeks’ time!
Back in the press room the story is a little different…
Everyone, and I do mean everyone in F1 likes to think of themselves as the font of all knowledge, the best informed, an original thinker, the smartest tool in the shed. Only these enlightened souls are qualified to shovel unendingly their authoritative predictions into the craw of the ravenous beast that is the punditry-obsessed 24-hour news cycle.
Trouble is, unpredictable tyres by their very nature make for unpredictable racing.
So, post-race, with all those sagacious prophecies unfulfilled, what to do?
Blame the tyre supplier, that’s what. Must be their fault – they make the damned rubber after all.
As is so often the case, each generation endlessly refers back to how great it used to be – conveniently forgetting that they’d moaned just as much back in the day. When dismissing Pirelli, the de rigueur follow-up subject for derision is, of course, the Drag Reduction System. For heaven’s sake, stop it. How many years have I and the millions more who love our sport had to defend F1 from those who bemoan the lack of overtaking?
How short memories are. It is, after all, fewer than 10 years ago that we had race after race, championship after championship so utterly dominated by the charisma-less automaton, Michael Schumacher. Steamrollering his way to five successive titles in a less than charming fashion on – lest we forget – bespoke Bridgestone tyres tailored perfectly to his driving style.
Formula 1 at that time was almost unsellable, such was his and Ferrari’s domination.
Sure, Sebastian Vettel is on a roll and Red Bull are looking strong, but the racing is good and we go into every grand prix not knowing who the favourite for either pole position or the race is.
Despite all this, one still returns to the media room after another fantastic afternoon’s racing and tactical nous to be greeted by know-it-all hacks busily telling the world – and anyone in earshot – how boring the last two hours of their privileged lives just were.
My heart sinks…
How could a sport so deep in fascinating subjects ever be described as dull? To say such things is to display a complete lack of understanding of what Formula 1 stands for.
Of course it doesn’t help when scruffy and spiky little upstarts such as Jacques Villeneuve chip in with ignorant lines (as post-China) describing how as a commentator (of modern day F1) one has no idea what’s happening.
Surely that says far more about the Canadian’s intelligence than about the sport that has served – and still serves – him so well.
Some suggestions have merit. A few more sets of tyres wouldn’t go amiss, since it would encourage more on-track activity during practice and qualifying. But when, in a few years’ time, you hear TV pundits, ex-drivers, retired team technical directors, free website armchair experts and Fleet Street hacks tell you how good it used to be, remind them and remind them well what they said in 2013.
When Pirelli leave and we go back to long-lasting, ever so predictable, expert-flattering tyres, perhaps the naysayers will pipe down. I’m guessing they won’t, quickly pining for the good old days of now.
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Wed Mar 27, 2013 12:55 pm
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" title="yawn" /> When is the next race? 
