That was a great race! Impressed with Vettel and happy for Jenson, he's my man to take the championship this year. Hamilton is pouting once again, I want to like Lewis but I just can't with a poor attitude like that.

Can't believe Maldonado crashed it at the end, he lost a lot of points for Williams.

 

Agreed

Glad to see the McLaren boys take 1st & 3rd! Kobay finishing 6th. I was predicting Kimi would finish top 8th and he did.

HRT couldn't even race!

 

LOL at Hamilton's attitude after the race. Congrats to Button.

 

Beautiful nose-1, Ugly stepped nose-0. While one race does not a season make, it bodes well for McLaren. I have to say that I have done a 180 with McLaren. I supported McLaren until Ron Dennis took over with MP4 and have never ever rooted for them until now. Jenson Button was spectacular last year and he gained my respect. I am also happy to see Lewis make a turnaround. The cars are beautiful to look at and they seem to be a well rounded package.

It seems to be pretty universal that the stepped nose is hated by everyone who is anyone. Not only commentators on Speed, but countless websites, magazines and former drivers as well as current drivers have spoken out against the design. As much as I hate to say it, Marussia's design makes Ferrari look like wart nosed old hag. And to think I took crap here because I had the audacity to say that the Caterham and Ferrari were ugly and was subsequently told that if I knew so much, I should go and design my own car. Well, I am no designer, but as I have said before, usually, the best looking cars are champions.

Two more things: First, Mercedes seems to have designed a pretty good car this year. Schumi looked really sporting until his off. His qualifying made me jump up and down. I am looking for good things this year from both Shumi and Rosberg. And, Red Bull certainly does not have that superior advantage that it had last year. Vettel put in a good run, but he was struggling to keep up with Jenson. All in all, this should be a great year. Nice to see McLaren not allowing Red Bull to run away and hide.

 

- IMO Vettels pass on Rosberg was epic.
- Drive of the day has got to go to Alonso.
- Loved the battle between Kobay and Kimi. Kimi put a hell of a pass on Kobay, only to have the favor returned a few laps later
- Massa - WTF?? - IMO if he doesn't shape up, I don't see him lasting for the entire season
- Webber - slow start again? Really? Not going to win any championships with that as your achilles heel, mate.
- LOL @ Hamilton getting pwned by Button ... again. I suspect a lot of upset Hamilton fans out there, particularly on the PlanetF1 forums.
- Maldonado - poetic justice

Will be very interesting to see how things shake out in Malaysia. I can't help but wonder where Kimi would end up if he has a better grid position. The fight in the mid field is going to be epic this year.

l8r)

 

Pretty exciting race......behind button.

button would just check out, even after the safety car on the harder tires, but i am truely impressed with vettels drive to reel him back in. 1 would think that button is nice to the tires, but vettel was precise with car placement during that last stint. as much as i hate to say it, webber was looking good too.

RB may not have the quali pace @ the moment, but will find it soon enough...

Hamilton, thought he would win it, but during the pre race, saw his girlfriend on the camera, new it was over before it started...his head is elsewhere...such a ****

Grosjean- did anyone notice his steering wheel displaying "2" when they gave his in car view before the lights fell?

looking forward to the season....hopefully more schumi & kimi.

 

If U R referring to him crashing out, due to his own driving, as justice for what he did to Grosjean, then I agree...thought he just plowed his way through right into him...don't NO why the stewards did not catch...Grojean was kind saying he (Maldenado) braked too late in turn and then hit his right front suspension...IMHO Maldenado has replaced Petrov's "driving style"...we shall C if it continues.

Later, Ken

 

lucky guess
ugly nose did get a close second place.

 

Well, it seems this issue is not dead yet...despite Whiting's nod that Merc's F-duct is legal, RB and Lotus say otherwise:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98184 ...their pt. is, F-duct is driver activated when DRS activated...apparently McLaren R already working on a copy...this will require big $$ to impliment which small teams do not have...so much for the Concord Agreement to keep costs low...Now if Merc could just figure out to get better tire wear, they would B golden.

Later, Ken

 

I pretty much agree with all this. Only want to add that I feel it was a shame Micheal had that gearbox problem, he was looking very strong. I don't think he would have held off Vettel for too much longer, but he looked good none the less.


I find it very funny how Horner is speaking out about this and saying how he wants clearification on the wing... I think he's just mad Newey didn't come up with it first.

 

I would disagree. Sure Button won and I am happy for him, but Vettel came from 6th in an "ugly", under performing car and passed the pole sitter who is supposedly better than Vettel just never had the car to beat him. Will now he does, and he didn't. Truth is, Button is the better of that duo. He is a better driver than Hamilton and has a better attitude. But if you think they have a chance against Vettel, I would like to revisit these posts at the end of the season for giggles. All the Hamilton fanboys screaming Vettel finally doesnt have the better car. Based on that what are we to conclude when Hamilton couldn't hang on to his pole position? Oh yea, I forgot, the SC is the only reason Vettel came in second. BTW I still think the RB8 is a better looking car than the McLaren. It had to grow on me, but it did. Pretty cars don't win races, the reliable, aerodynamically superior ones with the best drivers do. And Red Bull still has Vettel and they still of the best car designer in the business. While I think it may be a good season for the fans, the season will end like it did last year.

 

LOL That forum is something special. I was banned once for daring to talk negative about Hamilton. I didn't realize at the time it was so pro Hamilton. I made a few comments about why I thought Vettel was the better driver just like others were commenting on why their driver was better. I got called a troll and kicked off. Now I go there for comic relief. Never seen so many delusional fans. Never seen so many excuses and conspiracy theories. I figured after Vettel came from 6th in what everybody was calling an inferior car prior to the race that Hamilton fans would have to give Vettel some credit. NOPE, many gave the credit to the Safety Car.

 

This almost makes it sound like the gearbox just failed on it's own, rather than from him skipping and bouncing the car off track.

 

I'm not saying him going off didn't cause it, but look at how many other drivers did the same thing and continued on. He should have only lost that one spot.

 

After this first race and everyone has pulled their pants down, all the engineers have been analyzing photographs and motion pictures of all the cars to C what they R doing so as to copy or modify their cars for the added performance. Focus has been on the exhaust layouts and DRS activated F-ducts. But this is all about the outside of the car. What surprized me were the stealthy means to which some have gone to look at the hidden components, like the engine. Specifically, at least one of the teams has gone to monitoring the exhaust notes of its competitors...This from one of the german mags"...Mercedes' sound analysis indicated Renault-powered Red Bull is deploying an "illegal engine trick", apparently involving the turning on and off of individual cylinders." Do all the teams have sound monitoring staff and engineers working on this?...HRT's sound analysis team must be, Wait, I just heard Lotus go by...did U catch that?

Later, Ken