Alonso ‘100% confident we will win title’

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Fernando Alonso says he is sure he will win the championship.

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Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Alonso confident he can still win F1 title (Reuters)

“I think it’s more challenging for us now but I remain 100% confident that we will fight for this championship and we will win it.”

Q&A with Red Bull’s Helmut Marko (F1)

“We have never had team orders but we bank on the intelligence of our drivers. I think they demonstrated their ability to use their brain as well as their feet very recently in Korea. Mark [Webber’s] start was not so good but there was no collision. As long as Mark has a theoretical, mathematical chance of winning the title it is understandable when he says that he is first and foremost driving for himself.”

‘Europe will lose out’ (Sky)

“We’ll keep trying to move forward. We’re a world championship. We’ll probably lose two or three more races in Europe as we have to sort of move on.”

I’m not retiring yet – Ecclestone (BBC)

“I will tell CVC [F1 owners] exactly if I’m going to turn it in when I’m 85 or something like that, which will give them plenty of notice.”

McLaren sure it can still beat Red Bull (Autosport)

Sporting director Sam Michael: “If he does get away and maintains a three second gap, there is still a possibility to get him on strategy, but it will be pretty hard. All the signs from practice are that we can run with them but, when you get there and get in the wake, you lose 10-15% of your downforce and then you start falling off the back.”

BJP slams Ferrari’s move to display the Italian Navy flag, while FMSCI is okay with it (The Indian Express)

“The [Bharatiya Janata Party, one of India’s largest political parties] in Kerala has slammed Ferrari’s move to display the Italian Navy flag on its racing cars during the Indian Grand Prix to express solidarity with two Italian marines facing trial in Kerala for gunning down two Indian fishermen.”

FMSCI backs Ferrari in flag issue (Deccan Herald)

“‘The FMSCI [Federation of Motor Sports of India] would like to maintain that the FIA code of motorsport is apolitical and non-religious and the FMSCI will not permit motorsports to be politicised in any manner,’ read the statement issued by its president Vicky Chandhok.”

Di Resta: ‘You haven’t seen real me’ (The Telegraph)

“Di Resta is too polite to say that is the reason McLaren have taken on Mexican Sergio Perez as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement next year, but he hints it may be what he thinks. Perez ‘opens up various different markets,’ he says. ‘But listen, it was flattering to be linked to a team like McLaren.'”

Narain Karthikeyan terribly underrated, says team mate Pedro de la Rosa (The Times of India)

“Narain is a very strong driver and terribly underrated. I think he still has a few more seasons of F1 left in him.”

Ferrari via Twitlonger

“To those who think that there’s a coldness between [Alonso] and [Ferrari] the truth is we have never been as united as we are now. Forza Fernando! Forza Ferrari!”

Formula One Betting: Indian Grand Prix Race Preview (Unibet)

My race preview for Unibet.

Tweets

Comment of the day

Minardi (@Gitanes) is disappointed with how the quality of racing has dropped off as the season has gone on:

What a drop off in the excitement level from earlier in the year, which was maybe at an all-time high.

The combination of Red Bull dominance, lack of rain, and teams finally adjusting to the new Pirellis, has totally ruined the season.

I can’t believe that some people were actually complaining about the randomness earlier. I would do anything to bring it back!
Minardi (@Gitanes)

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to D Winn, Nixon, Vinicius Antunes, Zahir, Doance, Eggry and Dimaka1256!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

And happy birthday to Bernie Ecclestone who is 82 today.

Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

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Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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80 comments on “Alonso ‘100% confident we will win title’”

  1. I’m 100% confident Alonso will not win the title. Discuss.

    1. He has a realistic shot if he drives the wheels off that Ferrari, but with Vettel on form in the fastest car leading the championship it’s an unrealistic proposition. He has a 20% chance of winning the title at this current moment in time in my opinion.

    2. If he doesn’t win, he’ll have to eat his words.

      1. @osvaldas he said it in 2010 too

    3. He mathematically has a chance. Therefore, mathematically, he can win the title.
      Realistically, unless Vettel encounters bad luck and Alonso doesn’t, considering how much the Red Bull has improved and considering that the next tracks should suit it to perfection, Vettel is in the best position to win the title. Even with a retirement he would still be my favourite.

  2. Knee jerk reactions…..

    Brace yourselves

  3. I very much want to know what Mr. Alonso is drinking.

    1. I’ll take five of those thanks.

    2. I think he is hoping for alternators to start failing again. One DNF from Vettel and he is back in the game…

    3. @pprj

      You know what would have sounded even more bizarre? If Alonso said he would be fighting for the championship after the first race of this season

    4. He is drinking … Redbull

  4. There are 3 possibilities

    1) Alonso knows of a super-secret mega update that will make his car one second faster
    2) Alonso has a huge amount of self-confidence
    3) Alonso has lost his sense for reality

    I personally would love #1, while I think it’s #2 and I desperately hope it’s not #3…

    1. 1. no way
      2. He is always confident, not just now.
      3. I think it is…

    2. @wallbreaker – Alonso reckons that Ferrari is stronger over a race distance. Red Bull’s strategy has always been to build a quick qualifying car, set a couple of fast laps at the start of the race, and then maintain the gap. He was right when he said he was pressuing Webber towards the end of the Korean Grand Prix, and he probably hopes that the team’s latest updates will enable him to push harder. He’s probably also trying to put Red Bull in between a rock and a hard place by luring them into fighting him at the expense of the Constructors’ chmapionship, or fighting McLaren at the expense of the Drivers’ chmapionship.

    3. I think there might be a fourth possibility, and that is judicial editing by reporters. In the spoken language punctuation may be unsure, and I think Alonso’s actual statement might have been closer to:

      “I think it’s more challenging for us now but I remain 100 percent confident that we will fight for this championship. And we will win it.”

      In other words, he isn’t guaranteeing a championship like the media is saying. He is expressing his own confidence that they will fight for the championship and his belief that they will win it. It is generally frowned upon in all sporting events to guarantee a win.

    4. i think it’s 2.

    5. He is probably, in my opinion, lying to himself, both to boost his confidence and put pressure on Vettel.

  5. Di Resta: ‘You haven’t seen real me’

    So … we haven’t seen the “real” di Resta after two years, and he’s still wondering why he hasn’t been offered a front-running seat?

    “Di Resta is too polite to say that is the reason McLaren have taken on Mexican Sergio Perez as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement next year, but he hints it may be what he thinks. Perez ‘opens up various different markets,’ he says. ‘But listen, it was flattering to be linked to a team like McLaren.’”

    Or maybe Perez got the McLaren seat because he has shown everyone the “real” Perez.

    1. Couldn’t agree more. To me he wants people to believe that it was neck-to-neck competition between Sergio and him and they picked Sergio based on commercial appeal. I am not going to say that it wasn’t an important factor. But I doubt it was the deal breaker in this case. Sergio has capitalized on his chances, that is why he is heading to Woking, the rest is history now.

    2. While di Resta may actually have someting more to show – maybe he is trying to find an excuse for his lack of results lately – I think this statement was never going to bring him more positive than negative answers, as @prisoner-monkeys correctly noticed.

  6. Pretty sure Alonso said something similar after Silverstone 2010 too. Not that that turned out any better.

    1. Yep was about to post exactly that and he had a more competitive car in 2010 too.

    2. your memory is short. he was one tactical mishap from being a three time world champion (4 wins and 3 podiums). not that I’m a Ferrari apologist.

      1. Yes, I’m not denying that, believe me I remember it quite clearly. It hurt :P

        I’m just picking up on the similarity between the situations. His back is against the wall, everyone is counting him out and he comes out with a statement which, judging from the general reaction, people are calling him delusional for. Just like they did then.

        But in saying that, although he came painfully close to winning in 2010, that championship, like this one, was never in his control. As someone else said on here, he was and is just a passenger.

        1. @ella . Honestly, I had made the statement about his being a passenger in the WDC this year.. but I dont see how it was any different from 2010. In 2010, for the last 4 races of the season, ALonso just did his best and hoped for things to work out.

          1. @todfod – exactly. This situation is no different to 2010. Even Alonso’s recent comments acknowledge that he’s hoping for Redbull to slip up, or for their car to fail them. He knows the doesn’t have the goods to challenge them and his only chance is to hang in there and hope for a miracle.

  7. Also, I thought Ferrari’s tweet was a little odd. Are they perhaps referring to Alonso’s recent rallies for a more competitive car? No idea, really, just seemed like it came left of field.

  8. it rly doesn’t need one second improvement
    if it weren’t for suzuka, he still would well be in the lead, 3 tenths more is all he needs rly
    not for pole, but for challenge to the win
    in the past 2 years, he’s car never let him down (on the other hand, almost always, if i mean pace) mechanically, and vettel could get hit by someone, or another alternator.
    100% is ofc. VERy optimistic, but i’d still see 30-40% chance, and bwin gives 4,0 x for a Fernando WDC, it’s a steal rly :)

  9. Hahaha , Alonso complained the whole week, now he’s confident? Did Luca send him a message?
    Helmut Marko is one of the most annoying figures of F1. I don’t know what his job is. Defend Vettel. perheaps?
    Di Resta is overrated. Good driver, with potencial do grow, but there is too much of fuzz around him. That for me is not justified.
    Is absurd the idea of Europe losing more GP’s. A1 Ring (Red Bull ring) is out, Imola too, Turkey , Paul Ricard, Estoril. To name some. All of these circuits are much more exciting than Yas Marina, Yeongan, Barhain, etc. India has a good circuit but if you look at the stands today, they were almost empty. Austin appears to be a nice circuit. F1 has to look more to the sporting side, the business can’t control everything.

    1. Helmut Marko is one of the most annoying figures of F1

      Totally disagree i didn’t know actually how much of a comedian he was lol!!!!!!!

    2. “I don’t know what his job is”

      In fact he has not yet a job.

  10. On another note: I really hope Bernie will retire sooner than later. The prospect of losing 2 or 3 more races in Europe sends a shiver down my spine…

    By the way: Has anyone noticed that Alonso has posted almost the exact same picture of his car like Ricciardo did? @keithcollantine

    1. Whether Bernie sticks around or not is not going to improve the financial situation in the European market.

    2. It was announced yesterday (but Ferrari story dominated everything) that CVC have appointed a firm of search executives (headhunters) to provide a list of possible CEO’s for FOM. http:/wp.me/p2HWOP-go. There are senior F1 figures who believe the German problem with the sale of the commercial rights may be the biggest challenges Mr. E has ever faced and should corruption charges be successfully brought in Munich http://wp.me/p2HWOP-ft there are clauses that can invalidate the contract from the FIA to those who presently hold those commerical rights.

      Indications that CVC may be pretty concerned having the the commercial rights contract invalidated could be evident in the fact they are trying to get their hands on future years F1 revenues now as an advance by way of a dividend re-capitalisation http://wp.me/p2HWOP-8O. This means getting a high risk lender (private equity fund) to grant them a very expensive mortgage on FOM so that CVC and partners can have the cash now. CVC have already done this previously for $2.6bn.

      1. sorry headhunter link should have been http://wp.me/p2HWOP-go

      2. @thejudge13, as you point out, the defence for losing the commercial rights contract is to sell the rights in return for cash in the bank, this is what Bernie did when the teams started to flex their muscles which is why CVC now have those rights,
        every time it happens the teams lose potential income. The strategy is somewhat similar to the MAD nuclear strategy, if the teams do not allow enough revenue to go to servicing debt, the whole circus could collapse leaving the teams with all their costs but no income until such time as a new series could be organised, which could be years as most smaller teams would fail before anything could be done, shame.
        This is why I feel Bernie has breached his fiduciary duty to F1. When Bernie approached the teams, promising to help them make better returns for their efforts I believe he had a duty to put F1 ahead of personal interest, instead he put personal interest ahead of F1.

        1. @HoHum Agree entirely. The present view of Ecclestone as espoused on SKY F1 today is – he’s a bit of a rogue but made F1 global and a lot of other people rich along the way. Yet if it had not been Mr. E, someone else would have seen the commercial opportunity, and it is nigh on inconceivable anyone else could have acted as capriciously as he has consistently.

          History will not view Mr. E well – but for the moment most F1 media personnel go back a long way with him and very much enjoy his grace and favour.

    3. What is so important about having so many races in Europe?

      IMO they should have a race per X amount of KM’s so that people dont have to travel too far. Currently African residents have to fly thousands of KM’s and literally cross the ocean to view any sort of F1 show.

      1. @infy because the majority of fans are european, all teams are based in europe, most of the personnel is definitely european, heck, some races on other continents are held so that it pleases the european audiance – which was Bernie’s idea as well, the irony. I hope Bernie and his plans go away.

        1. I tried searching, but for the life of me I cant find any demographics to backup your statement. Can you please provide a link?

          F1 certainly has more teams based in Europe and it _might_ also have more viewers, but that is a result of Europe having the lions share of races for decades. It is fair to say that if the races were better distributed around the world from the start, the viewing figures and team locations would also be.

          I believe they need to make it a priority to create a WORLD championship that serves the entire earth equally and not just the First World.

  11. We’ll probably lose two or three more races in Europe as we have to sort of move on.”

    Move on from what? Tradition and excelent circuits? Aaah, so that’s the way F1 needs to go…!

    1. Yes, the Valencia Street Circuit was a “traditional” and an “excellent” circuit. So much so that everybody celebrated when it was removed from the 2013 calendar.

      I doubt too many people would complain if Barcelona or Hungary were removed, either. In fact, so long as the calendar kept Monaco, Silverstone, Monza and Spa, I’d say most people would be fine with it.

    2. The SKY article does not represent the TV interview properly. When asked why European races had to go Ecclestone responded that the teams needed funding and Europe was not the best way to do this. ie who pays the most will get the races.

      So Monaco should be the first to go because they pay no race fee, and even receive revenue from track side advertising, a right no other race promoter has. The event has always been a grace and favour agreement between F1 and the principality – and it used to be the place where the big corporate business deals were done with F1 as the backdrop. Now F1 has Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and even some of the Asian races – places where sovereign huge funds are available for investment – and the F1 weekends are where many commercial deals are now done.

      Monaco as a track has fallen behind the needs of modern F1 racing as is rather a dull technical processional – not a track that is conducive to F1 in the 21st century. Further Monaco is no longer the 21st century location where the big business deals are done at an F1.

      1. @thejudge13, when Bernie says the teams need funding, it is because CVC takes half the income to pay its debt, Bernie really means we have to make more money for the investors who paid me a couple of billion for my contract rights.

        1. Absolutely – and maybe they should consider themselves lucky (ironic). When he did his first TV deal, in 1982 as a FOCA (as it was known then) representative of the teams – he took 75% and the teams 25%.

          He gave them instantly double what they’d previously received, but they didn’t realise the TV companies were paying now paying about 10 times the amount they were paying under the previous deal.

  12. WOW!!!! I thought Bernie was 21 :P

    1. The clocks go back tonight, but not by 100 years.

      1. haha cotd

  13. Alonso lost the title fight at Spa when Grojean was being a rookie, Suzuka didnt help, but if he thinks he has a chance now, he better be doing some serious rain dancing and hoping the guds will help him out, cos its a fact that Ferrari aint getting faster, and those RB8’s have found another gear. Mechanical failure for SV is pretty much Alonso’s only real chance, unless he really setup the car for race which is why hes not up there going pole times during quali. Ferrari are gonna have to go at least 5 laps longer then RB per tyre set to have any chance! As a Ferrari fan, i think i am being realistic.

    1. Alonso lost the title fight at Spa when Grojean was being a rookie, Suzuka didnt help

      I don’t think so. Although he retired at Spa, he still had a race in hand, and he still managed to extend his lead again at Monza. No, it was Suzuka that really hurt his title chances, because he lost 25 points in a single hit.

      1. He lost 25 points in a single hit

        That isn’t quite true, as I’m sure Vettel would’ve won anyway. He was capable of 2nd as Massa showed but still he didn’t lose what Vettel lost in Valencia. Luck seems to have balanced itself out.

  14. There’s still a chance for Alonso to win “Best Joke of the Year” contest, though.

    BTW, I’m 50% confident that at least one of McLaren cars will get a DNF. But of course, I’m just a pessimist…

  15. I know the lot of you are based in Europe but let’s face it that money talks.

    Someone brought up “tradition and exciting races” but the Circuit de Catalunya is just above 20 years old, Valencia was borne out of unused port facilities, and Hockenheim and the Nurburgring are only legendary by name.

    1. Spa, Monza, Silverstone and Monaco are the only tracks in Europe that deserve legendary status as far as I’m concerned, as they are the only tracks left on the F1 calendar that remain “un Tilke-fied” and have a history spanning more than 4 decades. I am not necessarily in agreement with Bernie however that there should be even less European races, as Europe is still F1’s heartland; the continent which draws the biggest crowds.

      Personally I think Britain should have two rounds of the world championship (I may be slightly biased as I am British) as 9/12 teams are based in Britain. France should also have a round of the World Championship but yes there are certain races (such as Valencia) that aren’t deserving of a full-time slot on the calendar.

  16. From Hamilton to Pedro de La Rosa, looks like everybody is bracing for another season with Karthikeyan

    1. did you get to see much of the race in the end @malleshmagdum?

      1. @bascb yeah, thankfully power was back after 4 laps. But i couldnt watch our national anthem. It was telecast for the first time in India.

  17. Guess what? I read Deccan Herald. The FMSC story here is from Sunday’s issue which is yet to reach my doorstep :)

  18. Di Resta is obviously a bit miffed at being passed over for the McLaren seat, with nationality implied as a factor. It’s not the only one of course, it’s not like Perez is a rubbish driver and I think he probably got the seat on merit given his drives at Malaysia and Montreal this year.
    But the real advantage of McLaren signing a non-Brit is that it may get Ted Kravitz to poke his head outside of the McLaren garage once in a while. Maybe McLaren is sick of his company?

  19. Agree 100% with the COTD. If I take one disappointment from the season, it will not be Alonso’s championship lead loss or standing in the crowd at Spa fearing ‘the’ worst but that the season has almost ended in an anti-climax. I know many casual fans who no longer care but were beginning to love F1 at the start of the season.

    With regard to Europe losing more races, I think that this is an absolute tragedy. We need some heritage. And the move abroad is happening far too abruptly. Ten years ago we had 11 of 17 races in Europe, now 8 in 20 and rapidly decreasing. For me F1 should stick to where its core fan-base is and make it easily accessible to fans. I dislike watching empty grandstands in the flyaway races and without an African course can we really preach that its for ‘world championship’ reasons? We’re moving where the money is which is logical, but in years to come, without Bernie’s guidance, we could end up racing in places where the fans don’t care and all the best tracks out of business due to lack of funding. I believe F1 should go to the best race tracks regardless of where they are.

    Enjoy the race.

    1. I agree entirely with you, in fact I think 90% of the people on this site agree. Although we must see the world championship as something global, truth is that most F1 fans live in Europe. It seems kind of silly to host the races as far away from the fans as possible.

      But the unfortunate reality is that money talks in Formula 1: mr Ecclestone wants to make F1 as profitable as possible, regardless of anything. The way Formula 1 is going is a shame, because sometimes I feel like I’m not watching a sport anymore, but a 2-hour long demonstration of wealth.

  20. I am a Ferrari and a Fernando Alonso fan and, I can´t help noticing that all you people think it´s over just because Vettel has a 6 point lead.. and is on pole for India… Spa taught us that things can get twisted really quickly… anything can happen and it is best to be cautious of what everyone says so that in the end, you don´t feel like an Ass(donkey type animal)…
    I feel Fernando has a hill to climb but it is not impossible…

    “he who laughs last, laughs best!!!”

  21. Regarding Alonso’s statement, It’s a long shot but anything is possible. Besides, you can’t really criticize him for saying he’s confident. I’m pretty sure a lot if folks would be just as displeased if he’d said he’s given up. It’s just a shame that numpties Grosjean & Maldonado ruined what could’ve been a close three-way battle in the end. Now, I fear the last races will be the usual Vettel/RBR snooze-fest. Such a shame… an anticlimactic end to what started as a cracker of a season.

  22. Bob (@bobthevulcan)
    28th October 2012, 3:46

    I wouldn’t rate Alonso’s chances very highly. At Red Bull’s current pace (barring any mechanical failures or retirements on their part) and taking into account how the remaining races of the season (Austin, Interlagos, Abu Dhabi – two of them tracks RBR has won at before, the remainder a Tilkedrome) seem to suit their car’s strengths, Vettel is almost assured of strong performances to come. Whereas Ferrari’s updates have done little to improve the car relative to its competitors, while McLaren seem to have rediscovered their pace, throwing another spanner into the works.

    In all likelihood, Vettel will win or finish on the podium for the remaining races of the season. Even if we suppose Vettel records 1 DNF, Alonso still has an uphill battle if he wants to outscore Vettel – in addition to contending with the Ferrari’s shortcomings, he’ll have to deal with fighting Webber and the McLarens for those all-important podium spots.

    100% confident? Good to see that Alonso is keeping himself motivated. 100% guaranteed? Nope.

  23. Thanks Kieth!
    And happy birthday to Vinicius Antunes, Zahir, Doance, Eggry, Dimaka1256, and D Winn.

  24. I don’t quite understand the fuss over European rounds being dropped as for me the only circuits that stand out are Silverstone, Spa, Monza and Monaco while others like Catalunya and Hungaroring are not much better than the Tilkedromes. Heritage is built over time. Every race was a new addition to the calendar at some point. We should give the new races a chance to establish themselves and not shoot them down because of a lack of motor racing culture. Who knows, in 20 years time Shanghai could be a classic with enthusiastic spectators. The notion that “races in Europe should stay simply because of their tradition” is detrimental to the sport. F1 cannot sustain itself if nobody pays money.

    1. I agree with you. Dropping Catalunya can only be good for F1. But then it will be good to go to NICE, GOOD tracks. If F1 is the pinnacle of car racing, they should go the pinnacle in track design, not Yas Marina. For tradition reasons, we will find in Europe tracks proved again and again as good ones. It is interesting the idea of transforming F1 in a worldwide show, but doing racing in dull, boring , empty tracks everywhere doesn’t help either, even if those countries and TV networks do pay the hefty bills…

  25. I couldn’t possibly agree with the COTD more, now where are the people who moaned and cried out about “unpredictability in races”. Pirelli have done a fantastic job, and it was unfortunate that due to (some) pressure from teams and with teams finding the sweet spot in the tyres, we’ve now got fairly processional racing.

  26. Have to agree with COTD; after the first few races we (or at least I) was expecting this to be one of the greatest seasons ever with a tight championship fight and great races, but seems like it has all fell apart somewhat. Hopefully there are still surprises coming up in the remaining races.

    Actually, I think this recent lack of randomness is one of the factors why I’d like to see a shorter season (16 or so races). Give the teams less time to get everything perfect.

  27. Bernie wants to cash in with the ipo and therefore Concorde is now 10 years. After ipo and worldwide economic turmoil the stock will plummet. And then his heirs will step in, buy the entire stock and the story starts all over again.

    You read it here first.

  28. Agree with COTD & @rbalonso. All the people were wishing for NORMAL race weekends. Well look at the last few weekends and compare that to the start of the year. Needless to say the race ratings here have tumbled as has the general interest in the sport.

  29. All I know is that with DRS, KERS, small toy engines and tracks like Yas Marina and the like, I would seriously consider dropping F1 after more than 25 years of being a fan.
    And regarding Alonso’s comments, seriously, it is not even funny anymore.
    But to me, the championship is entering the phase in which I get bored: when the drivers start thinking about the championship more than the race.
    This has been a lifelong doubt for me… What is more important for a racing driver: the race or the championship? The drivers I talked to (and that includes Nelson Piquet, Carlos Reutemann, Mauricio Gugelmin, Ayrton Senna and Raúl Boesel, among other less known), told me that in the beginning the race is the king. Nothing gives a driver more happiness than to do a good race, with good figths, and win a race. A championship is a consequence of have many good races. That’s why we remember drivers that made the race the ultimate spectacle. So, where is the point where the driver decide the lift the gas pedal thinking in the extra couple of points? One can say that is the decision to give up a bit of the racing spirit thinking in a higher goal. But to me then is not “pure” racing anymore.
    We had a good example of that in the last GP: Massa was faster than Alonso and could be able to hunt Webber, a scenario that would give a good race, but no, Alonso decided to drive like a taxi driver, grab the points and that was that. To me, that was a sad shadow of a race, with a faster driver being asked to slow down behind a slower driver in the name of a championship…
    Ok, rant over. Enjoy the race later on, folks!

  30. The German magazine Motor Sport aktuell (MSa) reports that there is a clause in Mark Webber’s agreement that says he must play number two role in the team if Seb has a certain points advantage after a certain number of races. They also claim that that is what Mark is doing now and that their fight in Korea was just a theatre.

    While I think it’s possible that Webber is not allowed to attack Vettel as soon as he mathematically cannot catch Seb in the championship anymore, I am rather sceptical towards the other MSa suggestions.

  31. “We’ll probably lose two or three more races in Europe,” he said as he planned to add France to the calendar.

    1. As long as they’re the Hungaroring, Catalunya and the Hockenheimring it will be nearly acceptable. Unlikely that we’ll lose these three as I’ve heard the Hungaroring is planning updates and changes, Catalunya has announced its rotation with Valencia and the Nurburgring is having problems and could hand the German GP to the Hockenheimring. These three are not great tracks but I’d rather have a boring track in Europe with a long history than a boring Tilkedrome somewhere in the Middle-East.

  32. @gitanes In reference to your COTD, I can’t agree! The season hasn’t been ruined, this thing has to be won at some point and while many perceive this fight to already be over that’s not the case. It’s rare that the fight goes down to the last race and to be honest, I’d be disappointed if none of the teams managed to take control of tyres or other factors!

    Now back to the round-up…Di Resta probably makes a good point but simply, he’s just not as good as Perez in my opinion.

    1. Yeah, I suppose its not really “ruined” because Alonso is still right there, but the races now seem even more predictable than last year when Vettel was winning everything. Really, I think we all could just use a wet race again with Alonso on pole and Vettel in 10th. That would revive things in a hurry!

  33. Have a great birthday everyone, even if the race didn’t do that much to help, there’s still enough time to improve on that with a good party :-)

  34. Regarding de la Rosa’s comments on Karthikeyan: I’m sure he isn’t that bad a driver, although many not in F1 are better than him, but this comes from someone who has beat him nearly always this year despite not being in F1 last season. Also, today during the pre-race I saw a lap on board with Karthikeyan’s commentary, and he admitted to running wide at turn 3, 4 and cutting turn 7. And that probably was his best lap. Usually when you see an on board lap from another driver their lap is pretty much perfect.
    He might have some more seasons in him, but why should better drivers waste seasons out of the sport for Karthikeyan to be there?

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