September 26, 2011

2011 Singapore GP

Sebastian Vettel controlled and dominated the week end once again. He is 9 for 14 this season, enough said.

Three points about the 2011 Singapore GP

Safety car:
Brilliant people work in Formula 1, nobody can figure out how to sort out the safety car rules properly? Lapped cars should go around. And Formula1 drivers can't figure out you should stick close to the safety car?
The restart in Singapore was a joke, with Vettel able to get over a five second lead by the time they crossed the release line! Race control seemed to be allergic to blue flags in Singapore.

Should he have been given a penalty? Well, by the letter of the rules, he certainly did cause an avoidable accident, there is no question there. Had Massa not gotten a puncture he would not have gotten penalized I would rather he had not been penalized than have to hear all the bellyaching about it.
What about Schumacher, the Ham brigade might protest, Hamilton gets penalized only because he's Hamilton... In Schumacher's case he put himself out and Perez was able to continue.

What's amazing is that Hamilton would make such a rookie mistake, Massa had out braked him into that corner and was fully ahead, Hamilton just turned in too early. He certainly needs to sort his mental game. He should ask Fernando some advice on how to keep cool and get the best out of what he has under him at the moment.

The track:
Looks cool under the lights and I'm sure journalist love to go there but man, Formula 1, concrete barriers and those awful curb chicanes don't mix.

Highlights after the jump


  1. love your opening picture, could you made it available as a screensaver.thx love you site

  2. I still cannot comprehend how mind-bendingly awful the 2011 crop of F1 cars sound on the overrun. Like a wet fart under a humid duvet...

  3. LOL, that puts "Hot blown diffuser" in a whole new light!

  4. * The safety car rules are depriving the fans of a proper race. Button was closing rapidly on Vettel at the end of the race and had the rules allowed the drivers to order themselves properly behind the safety car then we could have potentially watched an epic battle at the end of a snoozer of a race.

    * Button deserves a mention again. He has well and truly got Hamilton's number now. He out qualified him, out drove him, and out smarted him every step of the way.

    * I predict Hamilton will quick F1 soon. I've said it before, but Hamilton is more of Jacque Villnueve / Montoya than a Senna. He's finding out that F1 is harder than he thought, and he really doesn't seem to like it.

    * What is going on with Weber's car. He is still going backwards on the starts and having all kinds of technical problems. It just can't be a coincidence.

  5. Colin:
    - I agree Button deserves a mention, however claiming that he has Hamilton's number is a stretch. If you watch practice, you will realize that Hamilton still has raw pace over Button. Anyone who denies that is simply delusional, look at all lap times over any session.
    - Hamilton quit F1? Its better if you say you wish he would quit F1..rather than make the statement you made, which is as far fetched as any.
    _ I also wonder if the 2010 season had an effect on Mark. He might have realized that even though he was could challenge Vettel, he would never receive the same level of support and decided to just take it easy and take the check home....if that is the case, then it is a very sad case indeed.

    I also agree the safety car needs to be looked into.

  6. Kisii,

    In making my comparison of Hamilton to Montoya I mean that both drivers had TONS of "raw pace" but frequently struggled to translate that pace into results. To deny that Hamilton is such a driver is to deny all of this season and much of his past seasons. Button has quietly pulled ahead of Hamilton and is building that lead each race. Keep in mind Button also had two DNFs that were not at all his fault. I am sure that is eating away at Hamilton.

    Making it worse is that Vettel has smashed all of Hamilton's records. I am sure Hamilton is realized that he will be, or is being, eclipsed by another younger driver who is driving for a much less storied team. How can that not eat at him?

    Button is playing the "game" well and showing the team that he can lead whilst Hamilton is throwing tantrums in the garage and on the track. All of that looks like a young man who is lost and desperate. If Hamilton realizes that he can't get into a #1 position again, what is stopping him from walking? Does he really seem like the kind of guy who has the kind of personality to keep his head down for years and work for a result?

  7. There are 'GOOD' racing racing drivers - those who perform on the level of their cars, who take 100% of their possibilities. There are also 'SUPER' racing drivers, who can take 150% of their cars often or even always. Schumacher, Alonso, Raikkonen, Vettel - you know these names. And finally there are such drivers who perform below the level of their cars, those are 'DEEP SHIT' drivers, and nowadays Hamilton is definitely one of them. End of story...

  8. So much bias in article its not even funny. But of course this is someones blog opinion not journalism. I love how people can't pump up Vettel or Button without taking a stab at Hamilton. If these guys only succeed at Hamilton's misfortunes, what does that say about them? Are they better or as great as some of you think if all they do is capitalize every now and then? Like it's been said, you're delusional if you would take Button as a number one over Hamilton. You're assuming Hamilton is going to be in this slump forever. However, if you can give Vettel a RB/Brawn style dominant car year in and year out, you'll do fine.

  9. @driver, well you can read it here on "just a blog" or you can listen to the BBC Checkered Flag where John Watson turns out to make essentially the same points, but then he's not a journalist either.
    He also made a provocative, I thought, statement that great champions are only those who won championships in different cars. Not many of those around.

    Your statement about Vettel applies even more to Hamilton, at least Vettel drove and won in a Toro Rosso, Ham came in at the top.

  10. @driver, let's make it very clear - you're just a Hamilton fan. This is absolutely fine. But don't blame anybody in his own fails - nobody asked or made him to do what he did this season: accident with Kobayashi in Spa, two absolutely stupid episodes with Massa (Monaco, Singapore) - that would be enough I guess. As they say, wanna finish first - first finish... Ham is a top ten F1 racing driver, not 1st or even 2nd. He just can't stand this life with driving second quickest car on a grid...

  11. I think the BBC put it down correctly. Hamilton did drive a good race, he came back from very far. He did make a rookie mistake, but that's just him i believe. I'm personally amazed that McLaren is keeping up with those mistakes. Yes, everybody makes them, but hamiltons seem just a bit too much rookie. I think last year we talked about Vettel the same way, but he's grown up now...

    Maybe a year at another team would do Hamilton very good, who knows.

    On another note. Who thinks Vettel is a combi of Senna (concentration), Prost (thinking while driving) and Schumacher (politics and understanding what goes around in F1 - visiting the tire factory for instance).

    I really don't see what's keeping him from beating schumi's 7 world championship record.

  12. @driver:

    The thing about your comment is that Hamilton keeps making his own misfortunes...

  13. I could argue/counter you guys all day, but I don't think it would do much good. You guys make valid points, but you're not looking at the big picture. I agree Hamilton has made mistakes, but so has the team. Mistakes that have cost him dearly. Yet, no one seems to ever talk about that. I don't think his incidents this year have been outside what would be considered normal, but Hamilton being "Hamilton"...everything gets blown out of proportion. Think of the most recent champions and you will realize that their wdc years weren't smooth sailing like its been for Vettel. Then, ask yourself why? A large part of the reason is competition. Which has been lacking in Vettels case for the past two years. Last year was a little toughter, but that was due mostly to reliability issues. I'm telling you, winning and lack of competition hides many things. I'm not just a Hamilton fan, I'm a fan of F1 in general. I'm not convinced Vettel is that great based on his back to back WDC years for various reasons, but I'm not going to discredit his achievements either. I also wouldn't question Hamilton's abilities over a tough couple of years trying to win in a car that is constantly going up and down in terms of pace. Not just from year to year, but also throughout a season and from one race weekend to another.


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