Yeah, great race. Interesting to see the difference between RB and Merc in terms of team orders and their drivers' response to them. While I agree that what Vettel did was not very sporting, I also think that this type of mentality is what makes a champion - especially a repeat champion. He's simply not going to take no for an answer. What's RB going to do, fire their three-time world champion? I don't think so. Now look at Rosberg. He could have done the same thing, but whether it's the fact that, unlike Lewis, he doesn't have a WDC under his belt, or if he just doesn't have that 'fuqitol' attitude in general, he chose to play it safe.

I have to LOL at Alonso and Ferrari. Domenicali is now claiming that it was a call from the pit wall ... why do I not believe that? Epic fail by McLaren again and I feel bad for the FI drivers. Clearly they could have been in the mix if it wasn't for that odd wheel nut failure/issue on both cars.

Lastly, some damn amazing pitstops - a whole bunch under 3 seconds... wow. And with team orders coming into play, that pretty much voids the whole FIA/Pirelli tire strategy. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd rather watch a race where the drivers can push to the limit than a race dictated by tire management and team orders.

l8r)

 

Vettel didnt follow orders & that sucks, as i am a vettel fan, so its tough for me to admit....

The merc boy's played it right.....maybe the call from brawn would have been different if the finishing order was reversed from the 1st race. Then i think brawn would have allowed nico to pass & gain maximum championship points. Since lewis was leading after R1, brawn is maximizing his drivers chances.

but i cant help but look back to brazil & recall the multiple times that weber did his best to put vettel @ a dis-advantage relative to Alonso.

I honestly have to believe that the brazilian GP plays a part of vettels decision to say FU to webber, more so than the team.

Force india....can you say dark horse? I wonder if they will win this year with sutil?

Alonso boned himself IMO. He's driving the car & the team knew the situation & was most likely preppared for the pitstop. Alondo decided to continue racing since the wing didnt fall off when heading down the backstraight, DOHHHHH

Alonso will have a worse nights sleep than vettel

 

Lol "hi old pit crew"

"Bye old pit crew"

 

^ that was funny. McLaren could have screw hami badly by pretending to service his car then half way through realize it wasn't the right car and stop making hami lose massive time.

 

Vettel didn't lose any sleep last night. When you have a team mate who says "Of course I ignored them, I wanted another place" when told to back off VETTEL (yes Webber did this many times). Its not surprising Vettel didn't allow him the favor. I like how much Webber whines and cries about this when he himself was in Vettel's shoes many times and made the same decision Vettel did. . .

Also, I think its funny that Webber 'thinks' there is favoritism towards Vettel...DUH. When you can't pull off a successful start more than once in every 4 races, why should they put him above Vettel who is hundreds of times more consistent. Not to mention 2-time, 3-time and possibly 4-time WDC is much better for the team financially than 36 y.o first time (not that I think Webber is in any way consistent enough to do anything other than help clinch the constructor's championship for RB)

 

i agree that webber a dirt bag and has done shady things in the because he's desperate but vettle doesn't have to stoop to that level. vettle is clearly a better driver, he's not showing any body buy making a pass on webber. he's a paid driver and has to listen to the team. half the drivers on the grid are capable of winning champions if they were driving a RB car, i don't think vettle is any special.

fyi, hami was over a second faster than vettle in the same affordable car

 

Lol!

. Nobody at red bull was frowning other than the drivers from what I saw..

 

As far as hamilton and vettel, we would have been able to see both in a RBR car if webber had left.

 

Thats true....

 

What would Alonso do if Vettel had done that to him. Doubtful if he would take it as lightly as Webber did. LOL Webber will be gone next season, i wonder who will take his place ? Sergio would push Vettel more in a a better car like the RBR.

In any case, Schumacher was right lightyears ago last year. Give them great tires they dont have to worry about so they can go full bore from the gitgo...Basically it is what several teams are now saying this year...F1 isnt NASCAR, it is about the very best in technology with the very best drivers. And now we have tires that are clearly not up to the potential of the cars, limiting the racing, the drama and the enjoyment of the spectators...

 

tire management, fuel management, equipment management has always been part of racing. i don't see anything wrong with making the tires ware fast and make the teams use different compound. obviously they can make tires that would last the entire race as they did in 2005 when they didn't allow tires change, but that proved to be boring to watch.

 

How pissed was Weber... Vettel ****ed him hard!

 

OK, so many comments and so many opinions. There is so much to consider before posting an one's thoughts.

First of all, we know that tire preservation was paramount to Red Bull going into this race, moreso than Australia with the high heat at Malaysia. We saw how quickly the teams came into pit for tires around lap 7 or so. Given that the tires were not lasting, it is safe to say that Red Bull was sweating bullets about how to maintain their performance.

Webber clearly had the better car after Seb initially established a nice lead. When Seb came out third after a round of pit stops benind both Hamilton and leader Webber, I thought that this is how they might finish. On a later pit stop however, Seb was right there with Webber and almost pulled off a pass. From then on, the two mixed it up before settled in the lead.

Now this is where it gets interesting. The two were told to maintain their positions. Webber dialed it back and assumed that Seb would do the same. Seb, for whatever reason, disobeyed those team orders and passed Webber. Maybe it was payback for the cheap way Webber treated Seb at Brazil, or maybe it was Webber supporting Alonso for the championship, but in any event, Seb took the lead and stayed there.

I think the smart move would have been for Seb to stay behind Webber. That alone would forever had shut the collective mouths up of those who say that Seb is the favored driver. We clearly saw that Red Bull was more interested in team points than Seb winning. Allowing Webber to win would have possibly improved their relationship and motivated Webber to try and help Team Red Bull win the championship. By Seb throwing a bone to Webber, team morale would have been very high.

Seb now has the absolute pure hatred of Webber and this animosity will carry on for the rest of the season. He also has the ire of Christian Horner and from it looks like, Adrian Newey. Those guys were ticked, especially Horner who told Seb his move on Webber "was silly". Seb will now how to look over his shoulder protecting himself from Webber in addition to Alonso and the rest of the field. Not a smart move IMO.

This has happened before in F1. I remember Didier Pironi and GillesVillenueve at Ferrari when Pironi disobeyed orders and beat Villeneuve. Villeneuve was livid. Sadly, he died in the next race. As much as I like Seb and Team Red Bull, Seb tarnished his image today. Hopefully, time will heal all wounds, but somehow, I see a very tense rest of the season. And, THIS MAY BE THE IMPETUS FOR SEB MOVING TO FERRARI IN 2014.

READ THESE TWO ARTICLES:
http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/...op-Seb-leaving

http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option...:f1&Itemid=157

 

I think Horner and Newey will get over it rather quickly, unlike Webber, of course. IMO Vettel's behavior is no different than what I would expect of just about any repeat champion. Would Alonso, or Schumi, or Senna, or any number of other multi-WDC holders have done any different? I doubt it...

I also think Alonso should have a grid penalty for China for the stunt that he and Ferrari pulled. That car was not safe to stay on the race track. That front wing could have ended up anywhere. Especially with everyone still bunched up on the first lap, that was inexcusable, IMO.

l8r)

 

OKjust came back to this forum so I could have a place to post this, since nobody on FB follows and CBS/ESPN dont have coverage.

GREAT FOR VETTEL! While it would have been collosally dumb if he wrecked both Red Bull cars, He upheld the integrity of the sport. It is racing. He is racing to win. If webber wanted to win he should have drove better. Issuing orders to stay in position and let webber win may have been a safer move for the "team", but would have diminished the integrity of the sport.