Zitat von miezicatThere was indeed something broken on Romain's car. Boullier said that there was a problem at the suspension and this plus wrong setup led to his slow pace. I really hope they found the reason in Kimi's case and that it's not that the car is only good in a small setup window. Sure Lotus' pace in the wet is bad, maybe the reason is that as the car is so easy on tyres, they don't get enough heat in and have no grip. Kimi said that afterwards the tyres look like new. Dry pace wasn't bad this race, if they could have started a bit higher up and wouldn't have been behind others so long, much more would have been possible. again they were able to do one stop less than others.
Okay thanks for me putting me right, I am glad to hear that they found the problem, at first Permane said that there was only something wrong with the setup not with the car itself and I never followed up on that. It is a bit worrying I hope reliability doesn't become to much of an issue like in winter testing.
It is still very difficult to say if the car might have a small setup window. Although it wouldn't surprise me that much that much if it turned out to be the case. But I think part of a reason for it might be the tyres. On the other hand these past two races have certainly not been straight forward conditions. It rained everyday in Malaysia, in other words the track changed every single day, and they were constantly driving in changing conditions. Therefore I am not surprised that they may have encountered some setup issues. What we need is just normal dry weather, is that to much to ask for.
Having read through the posts about yesterday the phrase 'double standards' seems to have cropped up a lot and that's pretty much my opinion on it all too.
Since when did team orders in the second race of the season become ok? I just remember lots of media people talking about how bad they felt for Webber when he was given team orders and good on him at Silverstone when he ignored them. But now? " title="hmm" />
Zitat Christian Horner: There was no conspiracy and Mark Webber will stay for rest of 2013 Red Bull boss has "no doubt" Aussie will see out contract
Team message was quite clear
Red Bull chief Christian Horner has insisted that Mark Webber will remain with the team for the rest of the 2013 season, in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports F1.
An angry Webber dropped a veiled threat to walk away from the Milton Keynes outfit in the immediate aftermath of the volatile Malaysian GP in which he was denied victory when Sebastian Vettel defied team orders and overtook his team-mate for the win.
Webber has since returned to his native Australia, but Horner has no doubts that the 36-year-old, whose contract runs to the end of the season, will be on the grid in two weeks' time for the Chinese GP. He also denied that Sunday's events were a display of Red Bull favouritism towards Vettel.
"Mark knows there was no conspiracy within the team," Horner told Sky F1's Ted Kravitz in an exclusive interview which was broadcast in Thursday's edition of The F1 Show. "We gave equality and our intention was to shut the race down and minimise the risk - particularly with the tyre degradation we had seen.
"It was the intent of the team for Mark to win the race. It wasn't that we suddenly gave Sebastian the instruction to 'go and pass your team-mate'.
"He is big enough to know there was no malice and no intent to create any situation like that. He is in a car capable of winning grands prix and hopefully winning World Championships.
"I have no doubt Mark will see out the contract with us."
Vettel apologised to Webber after the race and Horner revealed that the triple World Champion did the same to Red Bull staff during a visit to their factory on Wednesday.
"He's apologised to the team. He's apologised to every single member of staff earlier today for his actions, because he recognises that the team is vitally important and being part of a team is a crucial aspect to being able to challenge for those Championships," he said.
Of Vettel's decision to defy team orders and pass Webber after the final round of pit stops, Horner said that the German "probably underestimated the effect of his actions".
"He was quite surprised by the reaction after the race. But again, he received a call from his engineer pretty soon after that final stop and then I spoke to him a couple of times," Horner explained.
"I think the message we were trying to convey was quite clear. I think the situation was that he was very focused and very transfixed on making the most of the tyre he had on his car, a new set of tyres he had saved from the previous day, and capitalising on that in the early laps after that final pit stop.
"He's a race driver, a fiercely competitive individual and you don't win 27 grands prix, three World Championships and the amount of pole positions he's achieved at 25 years of age without being a very driven individual.
"We all know there's a bit of history between the two of them and I'm sure that was somewhere at the back of his mind as well."
The history Horner alludes to dates back to the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix, in which Vettel and Webber collided whilst disputing the lead.
Horner also had to fight allegations of favouritism at that year's British Grand Prix, during which a new front wing was removed from Webber's car to replace one which had broken on Vettel's during practice.
"Not bad for a number two driver," was Webber's pointed remark to Horner after he took the chequered flag at Silverstone the following day.
However, he pointed out that Webber has twice - at the 2011 British Grand Prix and also at last year's Brazilian Grand Prix - defied team orders not to race Vettel.
"There has been a breakdown of trust since Istanbul. It's something we've had to manage since 2010. But the most important thing is that they do have a respect for each other on track," he said.
"What happened on Sunday was unfortunate but let's not pretend it hasn't happened the other way round or in other teams."
Horner also defended Red Bull's decision to issue the order and joked that the 'Multi 21' and 'Multi 12' instructions his drivers have ignored in recent races might need a re-think.
"Of course, as a purist, you want to see the drivers race - and actually the show they put on was fantastic, it was great wheel-to-wheel racing," he said.
"But then you're steering the ship and your responsibility is to 600 people...they don't get paid on what the driver does, they get paid on what the team's constructor finish is. Then the responsibility is to make sure that the team achieves its maximum."
Explaining the codes, Horner added: "Multi 21 means car 2 ahead of car 1; Multi 12 means car 1 ahead of car 2. It's not complicated!
"It's not that difficult to translate but both our drivers in the last three races have failed to understand both of those messages.
"I think we're going to give up on that code. We need to probably try something else."
This GP certainly gave a lot to talk about... it seems I chose a bad GP to miss... well I saw a few laps, enough to see Alonso take a big risk, Hamilton do a big blooper, Force India's pit crew mess up both their driver's race and two rookies crash in the pit lane.
What I didn't anticipate, is the mess that was reserved for the final stint of the race... I was planing to watch the race later but the only channel that had problems at the TV hotel was the one repeating the race " title="mad" />
So after Holy Week I'm trying to keep up with all the discussions, but I think I'm a little late for " title="sissy" /> " title="pillow" />
No, to tell you the truth I feel very neutral on the subject. I can understand everyone's point of view. Dealing with people is always complicated, not everyone's has Kimi's integrity so he's got us all spoiled. Although there are a lot of things I don't like about Kimi (the selfishness, the smoking, the drinking, the nail-bitting, etc., etc.) he's someone I admire a lot because he acts as he thinks, and he's actions are almost always endorsed reasonably by him. He has a talent for taking good decisions in a split second. And one thing's for sure, he would have backed up his decision afterwards, unlike Vettel and Hamilton.
I would rather have just one car per team and the problem is solved. But I understand that is more fair to have two cars and two drivers to really know who is best. But I say let them race! yes is risky but not if you do it right and if you're not capable of making a clean battle, and know your teammate is clearly faster, be a team player and move out of the way before anyone asks you to. " title="wink" />
The race edits I'm sure are not accurate with radio messages.
They seem to only pop up when THEY find it relevant.
I remember in 2011 a big fuss was made about the Massa nad Hamilton incident in Singapore, whoever did the race edit thought he was smart to play the message of what Smedley said:
"Destroy his race"
When Hamilton sliced Massa's tyre.
With all the Hamilton fans kicking up a fuss about the message, it was found out, that the message was much earlier than when it was put in.
A couple of articles from Wolfie to discuss while we wait for China...
ZitatTension in the air - "Alonso doesn't handle losing to his teammate well"
03.04.2013 11:33 | Formula 1 |
Felipe Massa has a chance to outqualify Alonso in China for the 5th time in a row. According to Brazilian reporter Livio Oricchio nothing similar has ever happened during Alonso's career.
Previously Alonso was outqualified 4 times in a row by Trulli at Renault in 2004. Back then Trulli was faster on Saturday from Spain GP all the way to Canada GP.
Lewis Hamilton also outqualified Alonso 4 times in a row at McLaren in 2007. His row started from Canada GP to Silverstone GP.
Jackie Stewart told Oricchio that it might emerge tensions inside the team.
- Fernando is exceptional, but he doesn't handle losing to his teammate well.
Oricchio says it more straight:
- The fact is that when Alonso has a good teammate he doesn't always react to it in the best possible way, like in 2007 when he started a war against rookie driver Hamilton inside McLaren .
- In the end of the year the young Brit won the qualification battle 10-7. The same lack of controlling emotions might surface in Alonso again.
ZitatThe disregard of Webber's actions confuses - "Others get penalties for less"
03.04.2013 19:39 | Formula 1 |
Mark Webber who took the victim's role in Malaysia GP might have escaped consequences for his own actions because of happenings in the race.
Webber was assured in the team radio that he could drive to finish line as the winner, but after his engine was put down Sebastian Vettel overtook him.
Webber was so furious over what happened that he gave Vettel his middle finger when Vettel passed him and after they both crossed the finish line Webber wedged in Vettel pushing him almost to the pitwall.
Yet there was no investigation about Webber's actions. An anonymous team manager wondered over this to German Auto Motor und Sport -magazine.
- Other drivers get penalised for less. Mr. Webber got away with it. Lewis Hamilton would have been whipped by the judges.
ZitatJon Noble â€@NobleF1 Here is Vettel's Twitter-length summary of what happened in Malaysia: "The bottom line is I was racing, I was faster, I passed him, I won."
ZitatRed Bull team orders row: Vettel says he would probably do it again By Jonathan Noble and Matt Beer Thursday, April 11th 2013, 09:19 GMT
Sebastian Vettel, Red BullSebastian Vettel says he would probably disregard team orders and pass Mark Webber again if the Malaysian Grand Prix situation was repeated, as he does not believe the Australian deserved victory.
Despite apologising to the Red Bull team for his decision to contravene its 'multi 21' hold position request and overtake Webber in a fierce late-race battle, Vettel told reporters including AUTOSPORT in China on Thursday that Webber had not assisted him in the past and was not entitled to the Sepang win.
Vettel argued that he had misunderstood the team's message, yet admitted that even if he had comprehended, his actions would likely not have changed.
ZitatRäikkönen: I don't understand the thinking of judges
11.04.2013 11:06 Erkki Mustakari erkki.mustakari(at)mtv3.fi
Kimi Räikkönen was still astonished over the grid penalty he got in Malaysia.
Räikkönen was dropped down to 7th in Sepang.
- The judges thought that I slowed down Nico Rosberg's driving and they decided to give me the smallest possible penalty because of that. They could have just easily given me a warning, but they told me that it's not nice to get a warning right in the beginning of the season since you get a harder penalty at once after three warnings. I don't understand the logic but judges do what they want. But that's in the past already, Kimi said.