F1 2012

Little bits of rubber debris building up off to the side of the racing line (“marbles”) is fairly standard, but yeah, it looked a lot worse than usual at China. Usually it’s not all that noticeable to me on the video feed, but it was really obvious there. (Though I am also watching it in HD now…)

They definitely have a negative effect on the handling and grip of the cars, so you want to avoid them whenever possible, but it’s temporary, so occasionally someone gets brave and tries going through them for an outside pass.

The rubber marbles that slough off the tires? Yes, it’s like, well, driving on marbles. You lose a lot of traction while you’re driving through them. If you try to accelerate, turn, etc while a wheel is on them, that wheel will spin or slide. Compared to the rest of the track, you may as well be driving on ice.

Finally got caught up and what a great race! Only one forfeit in all that madness is amazing. 10+ yrs ago there were so many accidents at the start and now we’ve got close racing almost all throughout and it was very clean. I suppose with all the overtaking opportunities, drivers aren’t as desperate to make passes at the start.


There was an instant of terror as I flashed back to Le Mans, 1999 when the Mercedes-Benz flipped on the Mulsanne straight. Webber flipped it on two separate occasions before the race:

Lotus on the podium! Now if they could only inject Kimi with some adrenalin or something for the interviews…

SPOILERS…

I am sooo happy that Grojean got a podium finish. He is a fast driver and imho future champion.

Five races. Five different winners. Five different manufacturers.

It’s Lotus’ turn at Monaco?

Kimi is the dark horse for World Champion this year imho

Either that or the dark horse to crack an expression of any sort…
;-)

I’m disposed to like Lotus as the company I work for has a large ad on the car, but I’m not sure they have the pockets to keep up with the development progress of the likes of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull. I’m not convinced the driver lineup is the best for car development either.

They started with a couple podiums early last year and then fell away, but this year has been bonkers so far, so who knows.

Not enough top speed sections to give them the advantage. So it must be Sauber’s turn in Monaco, while Lotus are destined to win in Canada.

Roflmao. He has a curiously sedated approach to just about anything.

Good race and I never thought I’d see a paid driver win a gp! I’m guessing Maldonado is the first to do so?
It’s been a fantastic season so far, I just wish they’d put Brundle back with Coulthard.
awesome gif^

Pay-to-drive driver. The other type wins all the time. ;-)

But point taken - Maldonado did pretty good job, in fact, rather than backing into the win with people crashing in front of him.

Schumacher on pole at Monaco!
But no. He caused an accident in Spain so he’s penalized 5 places on the grid so although he did set the fastest time in qualifying, he starts 6th. Webber’s on pole and the other Mercedes of Rosberg is 2nd.
What an unpredictable season, awesome stuff, though overtaking at Monaco is still tough.

Wooohooo! Another fun race, with passing!!! and differing tire strategies and a seventh different winner in seven races. Canada comes through!

Ro-Gro takes second! Come on, Lotus!

Ro-Gro: dumb nickname, or dumbest nickname?

I hope Hamilton doesn’t keep winning. Basketball is finally winding down and I’d rather take the summer off from sports. I’ve skipped the other races so far because I don’t care much about the other drivers.

It rhymes and I don’t want to look up how to spell his name all the time. Also, it has the bonus of being slightly demeaning. ;-)

I hope Hamilton doesn’t keep winning. Basketball is finally winding down and I’d rather take the summer off from sports. I’ve skipped the other races so far because I don’t care much about the other drivers.

Basketball wound down - I want both teams in the finals to lose, mostly because suffering through James or Westbrook being a champion will be…well…insufferable. Yeah, I’ll watch, I suppose, but time to enjoy Vin Sculley while we still are blessed with him!

I normally wouldn’t care about Ro-Gro - I’ve hated all things French in racing since the FIA did their best to reduce engine sizes and chase the original Ford GT-40s away (talk about a long and artificial grudge!), but he is such a happy and naively enthusiastic guy, I can’t actively hate him. And when faced with the other Lotus driver, the heavily-sedated Kimi, well, I just gotta root for him.

Loved seeing Hamilton take Vettel and Alonzo. Great racing.

Great racing? He just made automatic passes with the pass button. It wasn’t great or exciting or anything but academic. It’s fun to watch Hamilton set up and attempt and pull off real passes. It sucks when he doesn’t have to do that and is all but forced to just wait for the designated passing zone on the track to make his pass in a calm and controlled manner.

I was referring to the entirety of the race. And passes on the track of any kind trump those only made in the pits, though that was interesting in its own way. He made passes late in the race because he ran a different strategy that paid off, not because of an “automatic” pass button. Further, the tire strategy was interesting in its own right. So, I repeat, great race.