:rotflmao: Lauda just on German TV: "Shame on me!"
He had predicted before that Merc was too slow this weekend :blackeye:
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:rotflmao: Lauda just on German TV: "Shame on me!"
He had predicted before that Merc was too slow this weekend :blackeye:
And Nico last year in China doesn't count? :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by Rollo
Does anyone understand the point of McLaren going out and then not setting a time? They were last out so would not have started ahead of anyone else who did the same thing.
agrees, didn't make much senseQuote:
Originally Posted by AndyL
Nice one Nico. Alonso aborted the last flying lap... Does that mean he'll be starting on the hard compound?
I think sky sports have it wrong in their provisional
Webber drops 5 places as does hamilton so it should be
8. button
9. Hamilton
10. Webber
as Hamilton's penalty applies last
correction:
so is it a 2 place grid drop only for Webber?
No.Quote:
Originally Posted by dj_bytedisaster
Rd. 2 Malaysia - Hamilton (McLaren)
Rd. 3 China - Rosberg (Mercedes)
Rd. 4 Bahrain - Vettel (Red Bull)
As far as I'm aware, McLaren and Red Bull aren't Mercedes. Unless... er... what now?
Wasn't back to back with anything was it! It was preceded by a McLaren pole and followed by a Red Bull one.Quote:
Originally Posted by dj_bytedisaster
By not setting a time they have free tire choice. I think they felt that much more than 9th or 10th wouldn't be possible anyways and all others had set a time.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyL
nopeQuote:
Originally Posted by webberf1
worse yet, he will start on the used softs he set his first Q3 time on
Mark only got a 3 pos demotion and gains one because of ham if I calculated right.Quote:
Originally Posted by truefan72
Webber only has a 3 place penalty though doesn't he?Quote:
Originally Posted by truefan72
Great Q3 for the 2 FIs. Hopefully, their race pace will be as good as their qualifying. I suspect tire degradation will be far less than Malaysia since Pirelli has gone conservative. The first pitstop may be on lap 16 to 17 for mediums and Massa may stretch as far as 25 laps.
Were they definitely used? He only did 4 runs in total, the first one being on hard tyres in Q1 I think, so it's possible both runs in Q3 were on new tyres.Quote:
Originally Posted by truefan72
Most of them do their first run in Q3 on used tires to save a fresh set for the race.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyL
Great to see PdR is back on the pace. Should be an interesting start and look out for Lewis coming through the field.
We shouldn't forget Felipe. 6th on hard tires is mucking fagic. Due to HAM and WEB's penalties now 4th - that's strategy gold. Too bad he's not allowed to win :(
Actually theres very little pace difference between the hard and medium so 6th place isnt all that mega. And its not that Massa wont be allowed to racs for the win, its just that if the first 3 races are any indication, his overall race pace will disappoint.
How you know that ?Quote:
Originally Posted by dj_bytedisaster
He's racing for Ferrari and since 1996 with the exception of 2008 only one driver is allowed to win. If Fernando conks out, maybe, but else, he won't. Just remember Germany 2010.Quote:
Originally Posted by pino
If massa wants to win he should start by doing something he hasn't done for the last two years: being quick.
Since Austin last year, Alonso has outqualified him only twice and one (today) doesn't count as they weren't on equal tires. I'd say that's pretty bloody quick. He was way better than Fernando at Austin, sacrificed at Brazil and several times screwed over by strategy this year. The only time he's been back to his lacklustre self of last year's start was Malaysia. This was his big chance, but he blew it by being mediocre, but for most parts of this season he's been on equal footing with Fernando, which is why I think - even if Fernando should fail to win the WDC (which I doubt) - Ferrari surely will blast RBR in the constructors championship.Quote:
Originally Posted by webberf1
Half a second the commentators are saying, so Massa being 0.54 behind Alonso's pretty decent.Quote:
Originally Posted by webberf1
Not quite. For Ferrari the difference was only .200 sec in free practice, The tire difference is the bigger the bigger the tire problems are for the specific cars, which is why the difference is relatively modest for Ferrari and Lotus and quite stark for "problem bears" like Merc and RB.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyL
Still, qualifying 6th on the hard compound is a brilliant performance.
dj, when you race for Ferrari, you decide your destiny and career...not the Team. Massa is allowed to win but in order to do that he has to beat Alonso, that's something he hasn't done in the past two years...
What did you take to believe that?Quote:
Originally Posted by pino
He was faster in Germany 2010 and Austin 2012, but still wasn't allowed to finish ahead of Fernando. Austin last year is understandable, as the title was at stake, but it wasn't in 2010. That was what broke his will and it took him until 2012 to recover. 2011 doesn't count as he was usually nerfed into the armco by Lewis anyways.
Rubens was faster than Michael on so many occasions, like in Spielberg 2002. Guess who won anyways. So much for the team not deciding your destiny. Ferrari have always blatantly preferred one driver over the other for almost two decades and they never made a secret of it.
Cant quote on my mobile but lol @ dj-byte saying Massa has been level with Alonso. Such breathtaking levels of denial... ITS OVER 9000!!! :P
You gave me my laugh for the day. thanks bud
If there aren't any more penalties, the starting grid will be:Quote:
Originally Posted by truefan72
1. Rosberg
2. Vettel
3. Alonso
4. Massa
5. di Resta
6. Sutil
7. Webber (+3)
8. Raikkonen
9. Hamilton (+5)
10. Button
Great lap from Rosberg. Will be interesting to see what Massa does starting on the hard tyres from 4th.
Well he outqualified Fernando 4 times in a row from Austin to Malaysia. doesn't sound like OVER to me...Quote:
Originally Posted by webberf1
Thats cute and all, but come back to me when Massa shows he can still consistently cut it with the big boys in the race. I dont call finishing China 2 secs ahead of a Toro Rosso on the exact same strategy convincing.
If your team mate always gets the better pitstop timing, you are disadvantaged by default. The race that convinced me was Austin last year. Massa had outqualified Alonso and was relegated five positions due to his team's grid manipulation. By the end of the race he had caught Alonso and had to be told to stay behind and finished right on Alonso's tail. How much more convincing do you need it?Quote:
Originally Posted by webberf1
But this is going off-topic. We should return to the topic at hand - the GP this weekend.
dj, let me remind you that Massa performances in the last two years have been so poor that Ferrari for months had considered to replace him. Fortunately so far he's done a good job, yet he's behind Alonso on points, and it's up to him to change that. He needs to be faster than Alonso both in practice, pole and race. All the rest is pure fantasy...
Could you split the Massa discussion into a separate thread to keep this one clean?Quote:
Originally Posted by pino
Anyways - Massa was faster in training and quali often enough in the last races, yet he won't be allowed to finish ahead of Fernando. That's how Ferrari has always worked. They didn't hire Alonso as a potential #2. The moment he arrived it was clear, who would finish ahead.
Lol WHY do you need to keep making excuses for Massa? You're hilarious. He's getting consistently whooped by a far superior teammate - deal with it. Pitting 1 lap after your teammate is NOT an excuse for finishing 40 seconds down. And whoopdeedoo that he managed to match Alonso in one race.
Yes. End the Massa discussion now. This is supposed to be a race thread, not a comedy thread.
Well, if your username is any indication, you're the last one to talk :DQuote:
Originally Posted by webberf1
if it were, then yes. fortunately though I prefer to focus on whats happening on track: in this case Alonso being the best to watch.
Sorry but cannot split threads as I am using my iPhone at the moment, so lets just stick to topic :)
I think we found something to agree upon. He's a bloody joy to watch now that he has a car to match his talent :DQuote:
Originally Posted by webberf1
Since Austin? Pretty selective with your figures there buddy.Quote:
Originally Posted by dj_bytedisaster
If we take last year as a whole, Fernando outqualified Massa 19:1 if we look at where they qualified and ignore the bogus gearbox demotion otherwise it would be a false 20:0.
If we factor in average qualifying place, again by adjusting Massa 5 less and adding 1 on to Alonso just to make it fair, we find that Felipe managed an average 9.6 slot while Alonso was a 6.15 so nearly 4 places between them in equal cars.
Massa has done better this year winning the qualifying battle 2:1 but one swallow does not a summer make. Lets see how it pans out shall we.
He's a nice guy but the butt monkey in the team because Fred is the faster driver. Ferrari is the very best he can get and he knows it. If he was quicker than Fred, he would peddle his wares elsewhere and team bosses would be falling over themselves to sign him.
BTW, the reason he went on Hards today was because he admitted he was struggleing for pace and knew Webber and Hamilton were going to be demoted so it was a low risk strategy. Still a reasonable time so well done to him.