McLaren: ‘We made it too easy for Vettel’

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh says his team should have made Sebastian Vettel work harder for his championship lead.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Sebastian Vettel title charge made ‘too easy’ concedes McLaren chief (The Independent)

Martin Whitmarsh: “We have made it all too easy for him. In India, for instance, we needed to get up there and give him a harder time at the start. But we weren’t able to make anything stick, and instead our two guys found themselves fighting each other and Fernando [Alonso] on the first lap.”

Raikkonen: I could join Ferarri or McLaren (The Telegraph)

“Ferrari could have ended in a slightly nicer way but the people I worked with who are still there, I had a very good relationship with them and go and talk to them still.”

Meet the man who designed the Yas Marina circuit (Gulf News)

“There remains a call to change the surface material of asphalt safety run-offs to gravel traps in order to penalise drivers edging too far wide. Something [Hermann] Tilke is against. ‘Nobody wants this, it will result in less overtaking and less risk taking from drivers because once you’re punished for your mistake it’s race over. Drivers will be too careful’.”

Designer Newey at the epicentre of Red Bull’s timely title revival, says Webber (Daily Mail)

“He is always coming up with ideas. Whenever Adrian is around it just brings everyone up – the engineering guys, the mechanics. He is such a beacon for our team. For us, when it is a bit smelly, he just sticks to his guns, and when it’s going well, you never notice it.”

McLaren: Perez still a work in progress (Autosport)

Martin Whitmarsh: “He has the speed, and he wants to get up there and win. But if he hasn’t got something to learn at 22, there is something wrong.”

Il tweet di Alonso non parte: in Ferrari la notte piu lunga (La Stampa)

This article in Italian newspaper La Stampa makes a headline-grabbing claim about Alonso. It has already appeared in numerous English-language publications, however I’m not sure whether I would take it at face value. See Tweets below and this comment from yesterday for more.

Wolff wants quick budget solution (ESPN)

Toto Wolff: “I think Bernie’s approach is a very effective and simple one; maximum budget, you don’t spend more, if you are caught cheating you are penalised – severely penalised – functions well. But we need to sort it out.”

Lewis Hamilton stays after India Grand Prix to help children left behind (The Guardian)

“I’m a little bit nervous about it because it was such a huge shock when I went to Manila, in the Philippines, so I can imagine here that it is going to be worse.”

The truth behind Ecclestone’s 258m legal letter (Eurosport)

“The bottom line is that Gribkowsky did sell to the highest bidder as no other offer was as high as the one made by CVC. Gribkowsky has claimed that he could have sold F1 for 685m but since no other bidder was prepared to pay BayernLB this amount it is hard to see how it can be anything other than hypothetical. Ecclestone says F1 ‘was something they couldn’t sell. They had six people look at them and wouldn’t buy.’ It could well explain why he isn’t worried right now.”

Buddh International Circuit hosts second edition of F1 Indian Grand Prix (The Times of India)

“Even with ticket prices slashed by some 40% from 2011, the cheapest ticket was Rs 2,000 [23.05]. This is far too expensive even for our urban population.”

F1 diary: Indian Grand Prix (The Telegraph)

“There are many banners in the crowd, most proclaiming support for perennial tail-ender and local hero Narain Karthikeyan. There are pockets of support for Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen, but not a solitary sign of affection for Force India, based at Silverstone but running with an Indian licence.”

Causing frustration (Sky)

“Pirelli really need to do something to strengthen the side walls of the tyres to reduce the number of punctures. Apparently these tyres are each around 2 kilos lighter than the Bridgestones and the sidewalls seem particularly vulnerable.”

Jacarepagua race track closes ahead of 2016 Games (F1 Pulse)

“The Jacarepagua track in Rio de Janeiro has hosted its last auto racing event before the site is redeveloped to make room for the 2016 Olympic Park.”

F1 circuit sues former web host over Hellmund video (Austin-American Statesman)

“Circuit of the Americas organizers are suing Dallas-based Rocket Red in district court in Travis County about that email, claiming its subscriber list was compromised. Circuit officials said that the unauthorized message, from F1 COTA News, was sent to a subscriber list that existed in January 2011, which is about the time the circuit’s contract with Rocket Red to manage its website was terminated.”

Plug in and play (Darren Heath Photographer)

“Leave Red Bull? Leave a team moulded around him [Sebastian Vettel], devoted to his cause, with a car penned by Adrian Newey, the greatest designer in the sport’s history, to go to a team who struggle to understand their own wind-tunnel? A team that are historically unable or unwilling to run two top-drawer drivers, with Fernando Alonso – by some margin the most politically astute guy in a race suit – already fully and adoringly ensconced? Yeah, right.”

Welcome to the future of Formula One (The Sun)

“If F1 is going to keep growing we need to embrace races in places like Abu Dhabi and India. If not, the sport will stagnate and I won’t be able to eat some of the best food in the world.”

Tweets

Comment of the day

@Jaymenon10 questions why Vettel gets criticised for having the best car:

What is the guy to do? He gets berated for winning just because he manages to get the best out of the best car on the grid? Ridiculous.

Vettel deserves the title as much Alonso, but deserving has got nothing to do with winning. You win because you are the best. People tend to forget that F1 is a team sport, it will be extremely improbable for a driver is a sub-par car to win the title (hopefully Alonso does). The romantics would love for this to happen, but the fact is it hardly does.

Adrian Newey and Christian Horner have put together a solid outfit, with an outstanding driver??because of this they win. Ferrari and McLaren have not, so it is simple. It is true to state that Vettel has had the best car in recent seasons, but so what? He is the one that’s made the best of it. He is a vital cog in a very complex operation.
@Jaymenon10

From the forum

Happy birthday!

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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

Having brought F1 back to Japan at their Suzuka circuit, Honda can’t have been too impressed that Gerhard Berger stuck his Ferrari on pole position 25 years ago today.

Indeed there were no Honda-powered cars on the first two rows, something which hadn’t happened in over a year. Alain Prost was second for McLaren-TAG followed by Thierry Boutsen (Benetton-Ford) and Michele Alboreto (Ferrari).

Image © Red Bull/Getty images

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93 comments on “McLaren: ‘We made it too easy for Vettel’”

  1. Interesting about Alonso… Whenever anybody used to say a Ferrari was not good enough, they were sacked…

    1. @craig-o Agreed. Seems another good reason to take it with a pinch of salt.

      1. @keithcollantine
        I don´t understand what is so strange about the comment. He´s not critisizing Ferrari… He is saying this so that people would open their eyes and wonder why now the parts work and they didn´t before… Maybe it´s because they worked all along and instead of blaming the parts for their lack of erormace people should blame something else?? Like lets say…. TYRES!!! Just saying…. at least that is what I understood…
        Of course there is always 2 ways of seeing things…

        1. @catracho504 I’m not saying anything about the comment he allegedly made, I’m saying I don’t automatically believe he made it.

          1. https://twitter.com/alo_oficial/status/263214433512333312

            He denyed the rumor yesterday. ¿LaStampa need to sell more newspapers?
            I always says Fernando is the most slandered F1 driver, the evil spanish driver xD.
            Something is WRONG when it’s so hard to tell the diference between a journalist (La Stampa journalist) and some internet troll .

          2. Can someone who speaks Spanish offer a translation of this? Using Google Translate it looks like Alonso is commenting on someone “copying a rumour from another country”.

            I always says Fernando is the most slandered F1 driver

            And tomorrow someone will be telling me it’s Vettel, and the day after that it’ll be Hamilton, or Button, or Maldonado, or Grosjean…

          3. He is scolding to F1aldia , some spanish internet publication.
            The best translation I can: “The nerve, to just copy some foreigner publication.” don’t know how to translate “así os va a algunos”, like “you deserve what is happening to you” i guess.”We will keep fighting forzaferrari”

            “Lantxito, the problem is when that isn’t the true” denied “And you from your chair in Madrid you use your creative vein” he is really pissed “This is not fair for the readers”

            The rumor says he decided to stop the rumor scolding this specific publication because some time ago they were divulging some os his personal love affairs, and we already know , Fernando never sells his personal life.

            Sorry for my english , I hope is good enough translation.

          4. Thanks very much @Juij – your English is much better than my Spanish :-)

            So it seems like he’s not actually saying whether the quote is accurate or not.

          5. He says “the problem is when it isn’t true”. So he says is totally false rumor.

            In my opinion any F1 driver would get mad if somebody inside his team criticize him for some mistake like Fry seems to have done about the last Q3.
            The 24 drivers on the grid are like divas xD. And i think Fernando is making and outstanding performance this year.

            Pat Fry “We were hoping to at least get our cars onto the second row, but we did not hit our target, even if we did get close. The result reflects our current potential, but in order to be where we wanted and where we were capable of being meant we needed to be perfect today and we weren’t”

            But i can’t imagine Alonso thretening with the Iphone to his team like some suicide with the red buttom in the hand …. i can’t.

          6. Moreover whith the Hamilton-Tweeter-gate…

      2. And the car’s aerodynamic package works as a whole. When new parts are put on, they are designed to work in harmony with every other part of the car. So even if Ferrari have kept the rear end of the F2012 the same since May, every part they have put on since will be designed to work with those parts at the rear – in which case, Ferrari would have felt that the most gains to be made would come from the front end.

        Alonso would know this; it’s the same for every team – the car has to work as a whole. So Alonso has no reason to criticise the team. Rather, I think this is just an Italian newspaper launching an attack on Ferrari because Alonso’s championship hopes are fading. At the very worst, they could be accused of being too conservative in their car design: the rear end of the car produces the most downforce, so developing it can yield bigger gains – but getting it wrong can be a disaster in the making. Ferrari would be understandably eager to avoid that eventuality.

    2. @craig-o i dont think ferrari will ever sack alonso, they’re just too in love with him, which is a gd thing.

      1. Interesting about Alonso… Whenever anybody used to say a Ferrari was not good enough, they were sacked…

        I’m quite certain that it is Ferrari who are fearful of the idea of even having a team without Alonso. Imagine if both Ferrari drivers performed equal to Massa this season, now multiply that by 3 years. By now Ferrari would’ve either pulled out of the sport or about 700 people at Maranello would have been fired and lost their jobs.

        Also, the fact that such a detailed story line has been created out of nothing but an un-send tweet makes me take it with several pinches of salt.

        1. @kingshark Makes you wonder where they would be without him. I doubt they’d be in the top three in the constructors’ championship.

        2. @kingshark I’m not sure. With LdM you never know. As I noted in a comment a while back, LdM can be prone to such decisions – look how easily he cast out Michael in 2006, and Raikkonen (who he had cast out Michael for) in 2009.

    3. Being Alonso must be great. When his car is the best on the track, it’s because of his ability to develope a car (2005, 2006, 2007). His skills are so marvelous, that his car is the greatest even a year after leaving a team (2008 McLaren).

      However, when his car isn’t championship material (2008, 2009, 2011, 2012) , it’s because of his team and he still manages to get his car on positions it doesn’t belong to.

      Or atleast this is how Alonso fanboys see the world.

    4. Montezemolo had say: Fernando Alonso is the best driver i have ever seen.
      Im a Ferrari fan from 1996 and i had never and ever hear Montezemolo says that before…never.
      Now i know that for most of non-ferrari fans they will love to see ALonso nad Ferrari in trouble…but that will never happen. Alonso in ferrari till 2018-2020…anyone ready to bet with me???

      1. At leats untill 2016

        But I’m with you +1

      2. Well, he made a strategic choice that so far it did not deliver. With this season turning up as another year with out Championship, I wouldn’t be surprised by anything LdM says.

  2. ‘Nobody wants this, it will result in less overtaking and less risk taking from drivers because once you’re punished for your mistake it’s race over. Drivers will be too careful’.

    I’m sorry, but I think many of us fans would like to see this. One thing is to punish a driver for a mistake and another is to let them overtake and cut corners anywhere. That way of thinking is killing circuits Mr. Tilke.

    1. He’s very sure in his use of the word ‘nobody’ there isn’t he? Is this the same ‘nobody’ that watches Monaco or the Indy 500 precisely because one mistake results in a narrower car and a finished race?

      1. Monaco is a dull procession, and the track has been left behind by modern f1 cars. Considering they pay nothing to F1 because of their history and grace and favour, if Bernie needs to drop European races so the teams can have more money – this has to be the first one to go.

        1. Agree 100%. Monaco is great for sundry “sightseeing” but dull as crud from racing point of view.

      2. Except Monaco is appallingly terrible nowadays.

        1. The race in 2011 was one of the best of the year until the last caution. Still, shows it has the potential to produce truly amazing races. I look forward to it more than any other race each year.

        2. I disagree. I know that it is often a bit boring, but I love Monaco and look forward to it every season.

    2. The worst thing about the Abu Dhabi is the track layout itself, I think. Suzuka boasts of its sequence of Esses, Spa boasts of its Eau Rouge/Raidillon combo, Silverstone boasts of the Maggots/Becketts/Chapel complex, even Noida boasts of its fast middle section, while what has Abu Dhabi to boast for? Its tight sequence of slow 90 degree-corners and long straights which lead to motorway passes using DRS. It doesn’t matter that there are no gravel traps, people won’t find a single overtaking opportunity apart from the aforementioned straights.

    3. Killing the circuits, and driving standards along with it.

    4. It’s another example of the F1 powers-that-be having an absolute obsession with overtaking. It seems that is the only focus at the moment.

      Unfortunately this leads to poor decisions in track design and chassis rules (thanks to astonishing reluctance to let go of the aero dominated era). Not to mention gimmicks like fall-apart tyres, DRS and the ridiculous “one/no move” offense/defence rules.

      F1 is currently a battle of aerodynamics research. The more money poured in and the better your design, the higher you’ll be on the grid and the easier you’ll run away from those behind you. That’s boring.

      As a physics geek (and student) I can somewhat hold an interest in drag coefficients and vortex generators, but I imagine most casual fans find it dull at best and totally unrelatable at worst.

      In my opinion, I think fans would be more interested in ‘the pinnacle of motorsport’ if that pinnacle was actually the most difficult to climb, so to speak. The cars simply don’t look difficult to drive. Between the massive downforce and the conservative, tyre-saving driving style, it literally looks like something I could do.

      As an analogy, imagine if Premier League matches were played in the style of hugely expensive Sunday league matches. A few die-hard fans might prefer it, but most fans (particularly casual fans) would turn off. We watch the matches because of the unbelievable pace and almost superhuman skill on display – I could only ever aspire to do what the elite footballers can.

      It’s not the same in F1. The cars can be a little twitchy, but it’s so rare that anyone ever makes a proper mistake. Some races there will only be one or two unforced errors aside from the start, sometimes there won’t be any at all.

      F1 should be the most challenging series of motorsport around (and maybe it is), but it just doesn’t look like that nowadays. When was the last time a top driver made a session ruining mistake in qualifying that wasn’t only noticeable in slow motion?

      Let’s reduce the aero massively (tightly restrict front and rear wings perhaps, or the reverse and have freely developed wings and tightly restricted chassis rules). Let’s increase available engine power so that Eau Rouge or 130R are a battle of wills with the throttle pedal again.

      These are the top 24 drivers in the world, as we’re so often told, so why not challenge them a bit more? You might even get some more overtaking into the bargain.

      1. Not to mention gimmicks like fall-apart tyres, DRS and the ridiculous “one/no move” offense/defence rules.

        Sorry but that is sort of **. Don’t know about the tyres and DRS can be discussed, but the defense rules make a lot of sense to me. I think it would be just stupid to have to do moving chicanes at 300km/h and very high closing speeds every time you want to overtake. I don’t know and don’t care how it used to be a million years ago, but as far as the one move rules, the safety and fairness arguments I have read are in my opinion quite solid. You need to provide some reason that is not the case.

        The cars simply don’t look difficult to drive. Between the massive downforce and the conservative, tyre-saving driving style, it literally looks like something I could do.

        Being able to get the car up and running may be possible, but to do the times required to compete is another story. Way to be completely unrealistic dude.

        It’s not the same in F1. The cars can be a little twitchy, but it’s so rare that anyone ever makes a proper mistake. Some races there will only be one or two unforced errors aside from the start, sometimes there won’t be any at all.

        So drivers that are actualy good or actualy have quite a good deal of concentration and stamina is a bad thing? Ok… But more to the point, the standard race transmission only gets a very minimal amount of the entire race for a particular driver. The correct phrase is it seems they don’t make mistakes because the race transmission will almost never bother to show it. And some mistakes can only be noticed with on-board cam. And finaly, if all drivers could barely keep the car on the track for 60 laps then I doubt anyone would let them race in the first place.

        1. the defense rules make a lot of sense to me

          Agreed. For years F1 has needed clear and consistent rules on defensive driving and finally we have them.

          They not at all unreasonable and they don’t prevent drivers from being able to defend their position. For that we should blame DRS.

        2. I said it LOOKS like something I could do – I’m well aware I’d last about 5 seconds in an F1 car (I don’t even have a driving license!) but my point is that on TV it looks easy. Maybe it’s a case of the drivers making it look easy, but compared to other categories (GT, V8s or F3 for instance) it just doesn’t look comparably more difficult.

          And in regards to driving rules, I’m not saying they be gotten rid of but compared to GP2 or Indycar they’re too restrictive IMO.

    5. This comment clearly demonstrates that Tilke just doesn’t get it. Drivers will take risks on any track. In the old days, with very poor safety regulations, while racing without runoff areas, next to walls or trees, they were talking risks. They will be taking risks with gravel traps. Punishing drivers for their errors without actually harming them is the best way to find out who is truly the best.

      If Tilke had an ounce of passion for this sport, he would be able to understand the competitive nature of a racing driver. But he doesn’t have this passion. I really don’t know why he’s still allowed to design F1 circuits.

  3. Nobody wants this, it will result in less overtaking and less risk taking from drivers because once you’re punished for your mistake it’s race over.

    Not at all Mr. Tilke. Give them huge run-off areas and it wouldn’t be called risk taking at all. Nuff siad.

  4. The real interesting part of the Alonso fury at Ferrari story, is La Stampa is the newspaper of Turin, owned by the Agnellis and very much part of the same family as Ferrari. So this is not a speculative story – in fact the level of detail is quite remarkable.

    But it is the trail of Ferrari’s subtle in-fighting, much of it played out in a benign manner on Ferrari.com that tells the story over the past 3 weeks (trail of posts)

    It began with Luca, Il Padrino countering Alonso’s meandering musings in Singapore over who Ferrari should choose as his team mate for 2013. He said at the Paris motor show that Alonso should first win the WDC and then ‘they’ (read him) would consider not putting a driver alongside him who would ‘bother’ him

    Then we had Stefano suggesting a change of race strategy was required (post Japan), the inference we cannot keep looking to only beat our closest rival in the race but go for wins.

    Alonso rejected this in the press conference before Korea, saying they had achieved the maximum (he said this word 4 times) possible whether wins, podiums or 5th at every race.

    Stefano also commented post Japan that he would not accept wind tunnel excuses from his engineers. 4 days later Ferrari.com publish a thesis on wind tunnels that fly in the face of Dominicali’s post race thoughts.

    Then last weekend Pat Fry suggests the car was capable of more than the drivers delivered in qualifying for the Indian GP – causing the Alonso fury. All is very much not well in Maranello.

    1. Seems cracks in the seemingly stitch-less Ferarri to be opened to the world? This bodes not good for next year. Hammy already to struggling Mercedes, McLaren sitting down with, well, anyway two guys there, I suspect the only team chuckling here will be Red Bull and Golden Finger boy, with the prospect of 4th consecutive WCC and WDC.

    2. Great piece of tracking, @thejudge13. It’s a testament I think to the problem with Montezemalo himself. Ferrari, to a lot of modern fans, means dominance, winning and leading from the front. That however doesn’t come from Ferrari, it came from 4 people, 4 foreigners who were successful in their careers before they set foot in Maranello. In years gone by, Ferrari were a disorganised, unreliable bunch.

      LdM has been involved with the race team for decades, with a slight break here and there, but he embodies what Ferrari really is as a culture: pride, touchiness, passion, arrogance and self delusion. Only when he relinquished control to Todt did the team spend its energy racing instead of infighting, posturing and waffling.

      His first mark on taking control of the team was to announce schumi’s retirement while he was still in the car racing, apparently much to the surprise of the sport’s best known champion.

      Since then, the ham fisted manoeuvres have come faster and faster: ditching todt, turning Ross Brawn away from the top job in favour of a less talented but Italian underling, ditching kimi in a similarly embarrassing fashion to schumi, the hockenheim travesty, the annual “leaving f1” charade, the often bonkers and insulting Horse Whisperer, and now arguing with the only man keeping his team anywhere near the front of the grid. Not that this is new behavior, as Lauda famously commented back in the 70’s.

      Based on what Alonso did to McLaren when he fell out with them, LdM would be well advised to keep his mouth shut and his nose out of the sharp end of the business.

      1. Should read “first mark on retaking”

        1. Spot on, the Brawn/Schumi years were the exception not the norm at Ferrari.

      2. That second para is poetry!

        1. +1 Comment of the day for me

      3. I wonder if the Vettel to Ferrari story has been leaked (which I somewhat doubt is true) to pressure Alonso.

      4. Interesting comment, I have always wonderhow much LdM is using Ferrari as his political tool… sad to see it… as much as I´m not a Ferrari fan the team an the people on it deserve respect…

    3. Nothing but conspiracy theories. If you look hard enough for something you will persuade yourself that you have found it.

      1. You know what this whole saga reminds me of? The pre-Schumi era at Ferrari. Drivers like Berger, Prost, Mansell & Alesi were all there, all of whom were very quick (Nigel and Alain being as good as Alonso imho) yet no-one could clinch a world title, although Prost got close once. All the key technical guys from the Schumi era have left – Brawn, Stepney, Byrne and Todt, along with Chris Dyer, Schumi’s race engineer who also (I think) engineered Kimi’s WDC. The issue here is that there is no key technical group that can develop the best car. Alonso has driven the wheels off that ferrari this year but the you can only do that for so long. We all know in F1 the best car wins 99% of the time and this is proving true in the back half of this season.

        Red Bull have done things the way they should be done – hire the best technical guy in Newey, build the best car, use a young up and coming hotshoe (who probably was not the most expensive to hire back in 2009) and this combo will get the job done. It could have been Vettel or Di Riesta, Hulkenberg, Rosberg – any of those guys could have won races and dominated in the RB cars as the car was very quick. The point is that Ferrari have got things backwards, doing a BAR if you will. They’ve hired the best driver in F1 but do they have the technical team to build him the best car in F1?

        I doubt it.

      2. The problem for most non Italian F1 fans is they do not really understand Ferrari. They expect logic where there is passion and pride, order where there is chaos and
        ineptitude, a desire to win at all costs when Ferrari would rather bask in the glory that is Ferrari.

        Ferrari sacked Lauda, Japan 1991 in public calling their car ‘a truck’ – Alonso has been put down twice by Ferrari in the past 3 weeks – very clearly and publically.

        Luca told Alonso to win the title and stop bothering with who should be his team mate, then 36 hours after announcing Massa – this little Ferrari.com gem – 2 para’s only

        Ferrari: 18th Oct 19:15 GMT: Just released this explanation for retaining Felipe. “The decision to extend the agreement with Felipe Massa for another season was carefully weighed up and not just the obvious one. Nor was it inevitable because of the lack of alternatives, nor was it in any way guided by the wishes of his current team-mate, because Ferrari alone chooses its drivers” (LINK)

        Alonso by receiving all the plaudits makes Ferrari look bad – can’t build a decent car and they are oh so lucky to have such a good driver – not the Ferrari way – and Luca has been there a long time and still does things the Ferrari way.

        As I said in my own article, of course Alonso will be there in 2013 – but the reigns have been shortened a little – if you prefer warning shots fired across the Spanish bow.

        1. A part of Ferraris problem is that they no longer have the option to build a more powerful engine than the opposition, Ferraris traditional way of impressing the fans even if they weren’t winning titles.

      3. When you work hard all year around, just to have a man show up in your garage to diminish any idea you have about a team with out thinking/making sense. You start question whenever it worth the hustle. Jean Tod is very good at damage control and he kept it all together.

        Now, every time I see LdM in pit-lane I get a feeling like I’m watching “Catwoman”(with Halley Berry) – I’m embarrassed to watch him.

        He is an pretentious copy of Berlusconi, and should have quit F1 as he initially planed.

    4. @thejudge13

      La Stampa is the newspaper of Turin, owned by the Agnellis and very much part of the same family as Ferrari

      Very interesting, thanks for that.

  5. “There remains a call to change the surface material of asphalt safety run-offs to gravel traps in order to penalise drivers edging too far wide. Something [Hermann] Tilke is against. ‘Nobody wants this, it will result in less overtaking and less risk taking from drivers because once you’re punished for your mistake it’s race over. Drivers will be too careful’.”

    It can’t be possible… I failt to understand what the **** this guy is on about !

    How’s UNLIMITED tarmac better than a gravel that penalizes you? If you make a mistake, GAME OVER, mate. That’s the way it should be.

    And besides, compared to Canada, for instance. Has Abu Dhabi or India produced MORE overtaking because of the tarmac run offs?

    You annoy me, Tilke.

    1. I agree, Tilke has some warped logic of he thinks drivers won’t take risks if the track is harder. He’s just insulting the current generation.

    2. @fer-no65 You’re not being any more convincing than Tilke himself.

      “That’s the way it should be”? According to who? Even Tilke himself knows better than an armchair expert.

      1. @pamphlet that’s true. But drivers love tracks that are punishing. They like Spa, or Monaco. Not an endless series of corners with nothing to worry about.

        Nobody wants this, it will result in less overtaking and less risk taking from drivers

        That’s just not true. Drivers risk it everywhere. But the risk becomes real when there’s something that penalizes you for taking it “a bit too far”. When there’s kilometres of free-to-use tarmac, it’s hard not to take the “risk”. So the “risky” line through a corner becames the normal line through a corner.

        As we saw in India. People are saying that Vettel put 4 wheels off the track, meny times during his pole lap. And others did it aswell. Had the track been designed properly, the stewards would not need to “take a look at the situation” and then not penalize anyone because the drivers would not go off-track “on purpose”. They risk it everywhere, and it’s hard to care about making it or not.

        You don’t see that kind of controversy at Monza, for instance. And drivers risk it anyway. Maldonado’s last lap in Q2 pops to my mind.

        1. @fer-no65 Maybe Tilke’s thinking about the incoming swarm of pay drivers – and how embarrassing it would be for F1 to have half the field beached or tiptoeing around trying to avoid being beached.

        2. But drivers love tracks that are punishing. They like Spa, or Monaco. Not an endless series of corners with nothing to worry about.

          Monaco is a bad example, the only reason it is tough is the existence of the walls, that is what makes it hard. And drivers probably like having to do a bit of extra work to get a decent lap time. But you can make a difficult track even without sand or barriers so the point is moot. Also ironicaly, a very fair percentage of the viewers hate monaco exactly because of the tiny track with walls that give no space for any overtaking…

          When there’s kilometres of free-to-use tarmac, it’s hard not to take the “risk”. So the “risky” line through a corner becames the normal line through a corner.

          Risk doesn’t have to end with ones race in order to have consequences. Perhaps taking the normal “risky” line can be harder for your setup, you do that in Q3 and lock a tyre, lose place on grid. Do that on race and lose maybe 1-3 places depending on situation. You see, there are still consequences, and being conservative throughout the track at times is still the correct choice despite the miles of run off areas.

          Personaly I much enjoy this era of F1 that we actualy have a fair chance of having 100% finishers, rather than silly amounts of drivers that will not finish a race because of a mistake on a corner.

          Oh look Driver X could be fighting Driver Y for position right now, but he beached the car on turn 3 after a lockup… Whoops too bad? Yeah, I don’t like that idea.

          1. The only way you would get “silly” amounts of drivers not finishing a race because of a mistake, is if the drivers were lemmings. All people want is for some mistakes to be punished with more than a couple of tenths lost.

  6. On COTD, There’s nothing wrong with winning year over year driving the fastest car. And nothing is expected for him to do. But in the same context, there’s nothing weird or incomprehensible in people not hailing him as some want others to do or expect to do.
    Maybe this analogy is bit far fetched but the perspective or perception on Vettel to non-his-fan is that he’s someone like who inherited a billion – or happen to be the son of a billionaire while others are earning way less money with much harder endeavors and efforts. Then it would be surprising if people see the sibling of the rich as well deserved to his richness and accordingly praise him for his achievement.
    I hear some saying he’s as talented and capable a driver as other top guns, or some cases way better than them. How do we know that son of the rich is smarter and more talented than others? Until we get some empirical data and partial answer to this, that strong resistance to recognize him as his stats want them to believe, or even bashing though I want to digress, should be taken as more or less natural.

    As side note, same could be said to the case of Hamilton, which I assume is one of the key reason he has so many anti-fans. It would have been much more severe if he did get the WDC in 2007 and McLaren was in a different league like current Red Bull. But still he drove same car against at that time pinnacle driver Alonso.

    1. But still he drove same car against at that time pinnacle driver Alonso.

      At that point, the pinnacle driver had driven for Minardi for 1 season, doing a great job, and 4 years at Renault, winning the championship twice. Prior to 2012, Vettel had driven 1.5 years for STR, doing a great job, then 3 years for Red Bull, winning the title twice. So it’s not hard to see why people get annoyed at the resistance.

      1. Alonso though was probably not as rated as highly in 06 as he is now. In 2005 it was all about how unlucky Kimi was and 06 Schumi being denied his right to end as WDC.
        Its because Alonso has been on top and been winning in such a variety of situations over a number of years that people now regard him so highly.

        1. I was referring to how he was still considered the pinnacle driver back in 2006, as the poster above suggested.

  7. The rejection of Force India is in stark contrast to what I saw last year, every time the Force India even did an out lap, it was followed by a round of applause/ screaming. Narain tended to go past and, at least my stand, didn’t seem to care.

  8. There is a solution, really.

    Paul Ricard abrasive stripes

    As everybody, knows, the blue abrasive stripes damage your tyres forcing you to pit, the red ones disable the tyres and put you out of the race. Both types allow you to brake and recover if heading for the barriers. I have no idea what the white ones are for.

    I wouldn’t call FIA accomplices, I would call them cheap. Besides, if you ask me, the track looks cool.

    1. This link got left out for some reason

    2. I can’t believe that more tracks haven’t taken up this option, it’s (almost) the best of both worlds.

      1. @plushpile Yes – the Paul Ricard stripes really are a wonder. They give you high grip, and thus allow you to safely brake, but they cause extreme levels of tyre wear. It’s a fantastic compromise.

  9. “‘Nobody wants this, it will result in less overtaking and less risk taking from drivers because once you’re punished for your mistake it’s race over. Drivers will be too careful’.”

    Did he actually said that? Are you freaking serious? We have a Rainbow Pony Happy Times making tracks for a Formula One, great.

    Obviously Mr. Tilke is not of the competing nature. Should have stick to designing safe Grand Stands.

  10. “Pirelli really need to do something to strengthen the side walls of the tyres to reduce the number of punctures. Apparently these tyres are each around 2 kilos lighter than the Bridgestones and the sidewalls seem particularly vulnerable.”

    Or the FIA could reduce the knife edge on the front wings.

    1. They are reducing the width of front wings in 2014, right?

      1. Yes, from 1.8m to 1.65m

    2. @maksutov Paddy Lowe said a couple of weeks ago the 2013 tyres will be heavier.

    3. I thought Pirelli wanted to switch to 18 inch rims or something with a profile more like road car tyres. What happened to that?

      1. I thought that was Michelin’s idea, when they were in the running to provide tyres in F1 from 2011.

  11. Pirelli need to ‘strengthen the side walls of the tyres’? And what’s next, titanium tyres?

    The tyres are too conservative and too durable now, they need to be made more vulnerable again. And it is completely OK if you get a puncture during a collision.

    1. It does seem a bit strange to be complaining about the tarmac runoffs one minute and saying the tyres need to be puncture-proof the next (two different stories I know, but I’m sure I’ve heard Brundle complaining about the runoffs before).

  12. I hate to brag, but on my F1 2012 career, I drive for HRT and on Legend difficulty, I won in Bahrain.

  13. ‘Nobody wants this, it will result in less overtaking and less risk taking from drivers because once you’re punished for your mistake it’s race over. Drivers will be too careful’

    Shut up Hermann.

  14. No one wants to hear about what Hermann Tilke thinks about circuit design.

  15. Seriously, why didn’t Raikkonen join McLaren instead of Perez?

    1. Probably because they didn’t want him. Or maybe because he didn’t want to be there. McLaren drivers have a pretty heavy sponsor load, and Kimi doesn’t want all that crap. All he wants is to drive the wheels of a Formula 1 car.

      Or perhaps because Perez opens whole new worlds when it comes to sponsorship income, I can see McLaren being in need of more money as they have to pay for their engines soon.

  16. Hermann Tilke is one of the worst things ever to happen to F1. We may as well find a disused car park and just put some cones out. Gravel traps back please.

    1. The Vegas GP held in a casino car-park was just as, if not more entertaining, than plenty of the races we get at the modern Tilke tracks and at a cost of a few thousand dollars for some cones it must have been a damn sight cheaper to build too, and at least the car park could continue to be used once the F1 circus left town – unlike many of the Tilke tracks which stand empty for most of the year due to a lack of local, national or continental racing series in the countries they’re in.

      1. @beneboy id forgotten they did that! though it was before my time

      2. @beneboy, I remember Las Vegas as the absolute epitome of bad tracks/races. I do not find half a dozen cars piled up across the track entertaining.

  17. Very interesting article on Lewis and the charity work. You do get a sense he is in a much more relaxed state of mind since his signing with merc. Sounds like he will be able to do more charity work with more time on his hands.
    Its great to see

  18. Good I am sick of twitter. Maybe like politics and F1 they should be kept apart, but I guess that’ll also never happen. I mean the fact that this is just appartently draft, just shows that it doesn’t really matter.
    And as for the source I think I’ll quote Stephen Fry, who quoted Abraham Lincoln ‘The problem with the internet these days, is that you can never trust what you’re reading’

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