So the 2011 season is done and dusted!
What was your take on the season, teams, drivers, Pirelli, Dumb Racing Solution (DRS) etc?
Discuss :)
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So the 2011 season is done and dusted!
What was your take on the season, teams, drivers, Pirelli, Dumb Racing Solution (DRS) etc?
Discuss :)
...yawn...
Finally the season's over! And I've finished my Xmas shopping before the red lights went out!
season... boring
teams... RBR and the rest...
drivers... Button beating Hammy... that was the surprise of the year for me.
pirelli... did exactly the job they were asked to...
drs... the reason I'm not looking forward to the next season
so I guess I have no problems it's over. I've missed most of the races anyway.
Well, to sum up the season. Some of the racing was good. I really liked Pirelli tyres, the best thing of the whole season. I also liked that passing was easier than in the past, although admittedly DRS zones were too long on several circuits. But this is something that can be fixed.Quote:
Originally Posted by 555-04Q2
What I didn't like. The performance differences across the teams have been too big this year, perhaps the sign of financial crisis that only a few teams have managed to have a really competitive budget and not needed pay drivers for instance. Even though we had some fights and passes on track, we could have had much more if the field was closer, like it was in 2008-2009. But now with the exception of the opening two races, only five drivers collected all podiums, even Massa didn't have a look in.
Other teams behind the first three are lightyears behind. And looking at the back, someone like Lotus never had even a remote chance of getting a point. I mean 20+ years ago there were teams that were worse than current Lotus/Caterham, yet they got championship points during a season and back then only Top6 got points! Now the reliability levels are so high that it's difficult to get a point even if Top10 are awarded points. I really hope other teams behind the Top3 find a way to close the gap and start mixing with them, getting surprise podiums like Renault managed early in the season. But I'm not sure their budgets and infrastructure allow them to make such a challenge.
Most memorable moments of the season? Perhaps Button's comeback win in Canada and the fight between Top3 at Monaco was quite thrilling too. Overall 2011 won't go into the history as a classic. The racing has improved, but we need a close title fight and generally a tighter field to make it memorable for all fans. :)
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Hmm, and finally evaluating some drivers and teams. Whoever doubted the excellence of Vettel or Button, were proven wrong. But perhaps the rules suit them really well as well, enabling to get the best out of themselves. Sutil has gradually been driving off the bad reputation from his early years. For Massa 2010 may have looked like an exception, but if a driver has multiple very underwhelming seasons in a row, it can be claimed with more confidence that the driver has lost it and Ferrari should start looking for a change.
Red Bull Racing looked very impressive in past two seasons already, but there were doubters, who thought this is only temporary and soon McLaren/Ferrari will start beating them. But RBR has proven in 2011 that despite their success in 09-10 they were still in development phase (!), that they have still been capable of improving and becoming even a more complete team, and left all the chasers in dust. So the bar has been raised to an extremely high level for 2012 for anyone aiming to beat that team.
In contrast Ferrari has indeed really dropped back to their 94-95 days with the difference of having an excellent reliability (I can't remember any car problems for Alonso this year). Last year Ferrari managed to improve the car in the second half of the season, getting a few wins in the process, making it look like they are still very good. But in 2011 the Prancing Horse got only a sole win over a full season, just like in 94-95. Ferrari should be grateful that they have a driver in the caliber of Alonso to maximize the point-score as much as possible.
2011.. A season to forget for me. It's a pity as the first few races were -fantastic- I thought we were really in for a classic year. But then either the teams got used to the Pirelli tyres; or Pirelli changed the tyres which took away the variables which were present at the start of the year. Then Red Bull and Vettel really hit their stride and the usual F1 problem of predictability came back to haunt us again. It doesn't matter how good Vettel is, and he's very good, any season where the championship ends 6 races before the end is going to be boring.
It's many a long year since I'd been less interested in the end of a Formula 1 season - I barely remembered that Brazil was happening and in the end I watched the race on Sky+ and skipped through a lot of it. Contrast that to 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 where I was glued to the TV for every second of the last race weekend.
Ditto.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
I didn't even watch the last three races this season :mark:
It was a very good season with a very strong champion. But too long. 16 races were the optimal amount IMO.
Yeah, the end of the season was a bit anticlimax and as it is fresh in the memory, it devalues the season as a whole. And as we saw in Abu Dhabi, it's not just about Vettel's dominance, it has generally been about (lack of) racing at the end of the season.
But I think the general high-period of the year was mid-season. Monaco, Canada, UK, Germany, Hungary, Belgium - all were excellent races. Earlier China was pretty stunning too I think.
Part of the problem was that once it was obvious that the championship was going to be won by Red Bull / Vettel every team then pretty much stopped development on their 2011 cars in preference to 2012, which basically meant that Vettel had a clear run for the remainder of the season.
It remains to be seen what that means for the 2012 season, but equally as McLaren and Ferrari were concentrating on their 2012 efforts, so was Red Bull.