Grand Prix 2011 Indian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Is the season over yet?

Unfortunately the answer is no as the F1 circus rumbles onto India for a brand new track, but after problems with the construction of the track, there is a degree of hesitation as not everyone is overjoyed about the prospect of a race there at the current moment in time. Added to the fact that it is another Tilke track, many fans aren't optimistic for an exciting race, but we've been proven wrong before. After all, we thought 2011 would be a close championship!!

Red Bull reasserted itself as the best car on the track after a dominant win in Korea with Vettel taking yet another win as he continues to rewrite the record books in the same way as Schumacher used to, just not as controversially as the elder German. Mark Webber had his strongest races recently pushing Hamilton very hard for second place, perhaps showing that he still has it for next season.

Hamilton put a long list of poor races behind to finish second in Korea after taking his first pole position of the season and it turned out after the race that he was running with tyre bits in the front wing which was costing a good couple a tenths a lap, something which would surely have cost him a true crack at a third race victory of the season, but at the very least it shows that he's getting back to his best, but a split with his partner might explain a less than happy mood recently.

Ferrari are constantly lingering as the team behind the top 2 and they are almost in a race with themselves as they are far quicker than Mercedes but not quick enough (mainly Massa) to challenge the Red Bulls and Mclarens for victories, particularly on a consistent basis after the problems with the EBD after Silverstone.

In the midfield there is a serious log jam as Mercedes, Renault, Force India, Sauber and Toro Rosso fight over points and championship places as a lot of money is at stake for 4th-8th in the championship and it's probably the best place to see action at the moment as the racing has been close and extremely well fought with different cars being better at each different circuit with none having the best all round package of the 5 teams. Now even Team lotus is getting involved in the action as they are starting to beat some of these cars on pure pace which will no doubt please the owners, and Kovalainen beating Petrov on pure pace in Singapore would particularly have pleased the team after the rows with Group lotus this season.

No-one knows what to expect from the Indian track, but early reports indicate it's better than previous Tilke tracks, but then it can't be worse than Bahrain and Abu Dhabi really.... We hope so anyway.

For Galahad's superb write up, see here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/buddh-international-circuit/
 
I have to say, speaking of more positive things, my drive of the day goes to Michael Schumacher - I thought it was a brilliantly controlled race and how he kept his tyres in and then pumped in very fast laps to jump Nico was impressive. I really hope Mercedes have a fast car next year, both for him and for Nico. If McLaren or Mercedes had the Red Bull pace and dominance then it would at least be more interesting as I couldn't see it being a walkover for one driver, like it is at Red Bull and would be at Ferrari also.
 
This was before the stewards decision as well I think. I couldn't believe it when Brundle and Coulthard were even contemplating that it could be Lewis' fault on this occasion. .

To be fair, DC put it down as a racing incident and MB said Hamilton would get a penalty just because it's Lewis Hamilton. It's hard to make a balanced assessment without considering the driver involved and previous incidents so kudos to Davidson for calling it as he sees it. Vettel pulled a similar move in Korea and Hamilton allowed him through by giving him plenty of room. That's the way racing should be.
 
Isn't that more to do with the fact that Jenson's tyres are generally in better shape going further into the race? If you look at this year, for most races, either Lewis or Jenson has been faster than the other for the whole race, not just part of it.

Also, if Button is faster on lighter fuel then why is he generally out-qualified, or am I misinterpreting something?
My thoughts exactly. It has to be some kind of setup issue - but just can't understand why because even on Pirellis for the first half of this seaon Hamilton was always fast on race day. Another issue is his blistering starts have all but deserted him for much of this season. Just scratching my head.
 
I have a good idea. Put Nico Hulkenberg in at Ferrari with Alonso and we could have another 2007 style battle. I really rate Nico and think he would give Alonso a hard time once he settled in.
 
Massa bashing has started, as has the DC bashing, as has the "Whitmarsh loves Button and hates Lewis" discussion :rolleyes:

Sorry but Massa deserves some stick. People are entitled to be annoyed by his actions today. With regards to your other points - I know you're being a little facetious, but I personally feel nothing bad whatsoever towards DC or MW.
 
the thing i dont understand is why lewis was so slow for the whole race?coz usually he will go through a phase in a race where he's setting fastest lap times before his tyres start to go.but today he was very slow from start to finish,eventhough he was happy with his car in quali.
 
the thing i dont understand is why lewis was so slow for the whole race?coz usually he will go through a phase in a race where he's setting fastest lap times before his tyres start to go.but today he was very slow from start to finish,eventhough he was happy with his car in quali.

I suppose he was coming to the boil in the second stint, hence he was on Massa's back to be turned into!
 
From my perspective it seemed Hamilton was just pacing himself to Massa in the early stages, waiting for the pit stops much as Button has tended to do this season. Obviously I've got nothing to base this on other than my assumption that he had quite a bit of pace in hand.
 
On the 1st set of tyres he was off the pace of Button however, on the 2nd set, for a few laps before he crashed with Massa, he was matching Jenson just about. We've seen it happen to many drivers this season where their pace can go up or down a lot from 1 stint to another because of a set of tyres or a setup change. It has to be said though that in general over the last few races with Suzuka and Singapore being good examples, he wasn't on the pace of Jenson.
 
I have to say, speaking of more positive things, my drive of the day goes to Michael Schumacher

Schumie did well today, picked up 4 places from his starting position and is threatening Nico place in the WDC table. Be interesting to see how the season ends. Certainly looks a lot happier than he did at the beginning of the season and ran a very good strategic race - any once else hear his comments about not using KERS off the line but waiting until the straights.
 
What a surprise on the forum, Felipe is moaning about Lewis lol. Get over it for god sake Felipe. He has now managed to turn Lewis saying "have a good race" into a negative. To be honest, even if Lewis didn't want to speak to Massa, then so what? He needs to sort out his issues.
 
The race went out with a bit of a whimper, after all the excitement. Tilke doesn't seem keen on trying new things, and that back straight is a few hundred metres too long, just like UAE and Korea. As for Hamilton-Massa, I saw a crash coming a soon as Lewis started looking up the inside some distance before the non-overtaking spot. However the stewards don't seem to know the meaning of a racing incident, and had to give a penalty to someone when none was needed.
 
Admittedly I wasn't sure at first whether it was Lewis' or Felipe's fault but watching the replays it was definitely Massa's fault as he did see him and Lewis was alongside him at one point, so a fair decision by the stewards. The stewards definitely did a pretty good job this weekend in my opinion.
I thought it was odd that Lewis didn't have any pace at all during the race. I wonder if we're going to find out why?
Really good drive by Jenson and Fernando to get on the podium and really great drives by Schumacher and Perez. Schumi is definitely the driver of the day for me.

I'm sure some people will take Martin Whitmarsh's comments after the race as more proof that he "loves" Jenson and dislikes Lewis, but I actually think he should be applauded for diverting the attention away from Lewis' accidents as that's exactly what he (Lewis) doesn't need right now.

Despite all the problems leading in to this grand prix I was actually really impressed by the circuit. They did a really good job to get most of it done in time and I really hope and expect this race to stay on the calendar for a long time. I hope they take Martin Brundle's advice though and bring some of those high-pressure water hoses to the track next year to get rid of the dirt - I expect we'll be seeing a lot more overtaking then.
The fans were really great, they obviously have a passion for motorsport and are really proud of their country and the circuit. I really enjoyed watching the race and seeing the atmosphere - if it's any good next year I'll definitely start thinking about going there.
 
My thoughts on the race, quite boring, it reminded me of Bahrain just the way the circuit was, it was also reminiscent of Abu Dhabi aswell (to me) can't put my finger on it on why.

Amazing qualifying lap by Vettel, and just cruised to the end. Webber can't say I am impressed by him this season and uninmpressive in this race. Alonso and Button doing their best and just keeping their head down. Schumacher had a very good race from 11th to finish 5th good drive by him. Very annoyed by Buemi's luck, again once in the points and has a failure which isn't his fault (yes I am a fan of his if you don't know :D) Hamilton, well it was stated in commentray that he wasn't very fast compared to Button and the main reason he closed on Massa was because Massa went off. It seemed to be a very good race for the Lotus and HRT drivers a lot of the time running ahead of the established teams.

Have to say, great weekend for Karthikeyan, although he really does irritate me when there's a car lapping him, he just never seems to get out of the way!

Midfield battle, wasn't that great was it? Usually that's what perks up the race, definitely not this time, quite a bad race, "Tilke's finest"? I really don't think, just because sector 2 has fast corners does not make it a great track, the sector 1 and sector 3 remind me of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. I am highly critical because the way the track is bigged up but provided so little, of course it was it's first race and should be given some slack.

As for the incident, well my opinion on it, it's not a place where you can overtake, and I didn't expect Massa to vanish, Massa had the racing line, Hamilton the inside line, it was a racing incident for me, it reminds me of the Monaco Maldonado incident quite similar, although I feel Massa was more at fault here 65%. It is really quite sad to see these two drivers keep colliding with each other, yeah I am a Massa, and I feel that he is getting a lot of unfair criticism and quite a few people claiming that he deliberately tries to get into an incident with Hamilton, not only that, from the same people he seems to get criticised in all areas as he's had a few tangles with Hamilton.
 
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