Have we forgotten Robert Kubica?...he was improving in every rally and had the best potential to do both F1 and rally...unfortunately this did not come to pass

Later, Ken

 

I think he is not allowed to participate in any rally event. Not because of his crash, i think because the f1.
Also he wasnt bad in rally driving, but the time and money he spend there, it wasnt spectacular either. Just like kimi.
to be top of the game in F1and wrc or irc, talent and money alone is not enough. You neeid 10000a hour at least to be there and so on so forth.
Just because you are world champion in one game doesnt mean you will be another one even though its a motorsport.
Best possible comparision is a ROC for drivers. But even then that will give you an overall skill/talent picture.so that is quite possible the winner is not a best in certain race. Example rally cars or touring cars.,

 

Racing has gotten so specialized that it is hard to cross over to another form of motorsport. Back in the day, Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones and a host of others were able to do F1, Indy, NASCAR, Sprint Cars, Sports Cars and even a drag race or two. Today, things are much different. Even with the incredible the talent of Kimi and Kubica, it just shows how hard it is to break into rally racing. The demands are incredible and it takes a considerable amount of time and experience to begin to master both the car and the rally stages.

 

Neat little video on how safe the noses of the cars are in a crash. Amazing how carbon fiber can absorb so much energy.

 

Ok, for Qualy and the Race, it will B considerably warmer than the free practices... extreme tire deg expected given the most difficult street circuit. This will probably result in a two even three stopper. So look for the end of the race to have the three stoppers trying to catch up to the two stoppers running on little to no rubber...should B interesting to C who wins out between these two strategies...most teams will probably employ both.

Later, Ken

 

I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see Sauber do well this weekend, given how well they are doing with tire management. Vettel looks strong though. Really hoping for Schumi and Kimi to do well and I would not mind seeing Jenson pull off another win.

 

Hmmm, I'm not so sure. The quicker teams seamed to get caught out by the unexpected temp differential at the last race, and I expect most of them to be better prepared for it in Valencia, i.e. you're going to see most of them sacrificing set-up/time in qualifying to ensure they have the set-up correct to be able to manage and better maintain their tires for the race, therby negating what Sauber did at the last race....at least for the most part. I suppose I could be wrong about that, but I have pretty high expectations of the elite engineering folks that are part of the top dog teams.

 

Qualifying was amazing. Talk about fast and furious. It looked like Grosjean, then Maldanado and then the Hulk before Vettel put in that incredible lap. I was a bit surprised to see Alonso get pipped from the top 10 by di Resta. I was wrong about the Saubers. Given how well they looked in practice and things I had read on F1 sites, I thought maybe they would be contenders for the pole. But, they did their usual middling performance and the top dogs are where they should be, except for Webber, who really looked hapless today.

 

^^I don't NO what U guys are talking about...first, Sauber never had a chance at pole based upon practice results. Second, they did better than "midfield"...ahead of Force India and Ferrari and 0.1sec off of Merc...7th is actually better than expected...in addition the consistency of Kobay was better than all the rest...Q2 and Q3 had identical times.
While pole is important here, it will not define the winner tomorrow...tire management and pit stops will be the determinant.

Later, Ken

 

^Ken, how are you responding to the rumors that Sauber may boot Kobay from the team next year? There is talk of Massa returning to Sauber. We'll see. And, before qualifying, a number of F1 experts were saying that Valencia suits Sauber and its tire management. They were also saying that about Williams.

 

Awesome race! Who woulda thunk things would turn out the way the did.
Alonso with the win in what is likely to be the last race @ Valencia!
Vettel, Grosjean & Hami (possibly 1, 2 & 3) out! Really wish Hami could've finished the race and collected some points. Avoidable contact with Mc-Donald-O! Shame ...
Crazy stuff ... Kobay driving dirty and not getting penalized twice.
So much passing on a street circuit = good times.
2012 is shaping up to be one of the best seasons ever!

 

^^First, to Samson...that talk about Kobay and all the other drivers, is just silly season BS....but Massa is in trouble...who replaces him next year is anyones guess at this point.
Second, the incident Kobay had with Senna was, IMHO, and the stewards, Senna's fault since he got a drive threw penalty...Kobay took the inside line going into the turn and Senna just, no deliberately, squeezed him into the wall...as far as Massa is concerned, we did not get a top view of the incident only that they touched in the turn...since no penalties assigned, I assume it was a "racing incident".

Now before this Valencia race, all the talking heads were claiming that Qualy position is "very critical" to the race...ignoring Vettels out due to something electrical/mechanical, Qualy position meant little to this race...rather throughout this season , it is the tire and pit stragegy that determnes the top ten...so it appears that Qualy is not as important this year relative to before Pirelli stepped on the scene...better approach for Qualy is save the tires for the race and don't burn them up in Q3.

Later, Ken

Later, Ken

 

Well, gotta hand it to Alonso. Masterful drive. Who would have ever thought that he would win the race? Vettel had the race in hand until the caution and phhht, there went his race. I feel Grosjean would have caught Alonso, but sadly, he broke down too. That shuffle between Lewis and Maldonado was interesting. Lewis got the worst of the deal and killed a podium. The Kimster looked good and it was nice to see Schumi on the podium. Old Krashoyabi did his usual stupid moves and hurt Massa. Krashoyabi will get a 5 place penalty for Silverstone. Pretty exciting race for sure.

 

SCHUMACHER!!! and Alonso winning his home GP, best race of the year.

 

I gotta ask the crash between Hamilton and Maldonado. Whose fault do you think it was and why?
Also the incident/spin between Kobay and Senna, whose fault do you think it was and why? Do you think Senna deserved a drive through for that?