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

Got your breath back yet?

After an exhilarating grand prix which lasted for record time, it seems as if there is renewed optimism that Sebastian Vettel can be caught after a last lap slip in the moist conditions in Canada allowing Jenson Button to take his first win for over a year despite a turbulent race which included crashes with Alonso and team-mate Hamilton, a puncture and a drive through.

However, a candidate for most improved driver since the season started is a certain Michael Schumacher. Ridiculed early on after a poor start, he seems to have found the groove again and if it hadn't have been for the last safety car, he arguably would have gotten his first podium since returning to the sport, indeed he was closing the gap to Vettel and could even have taken the win at one of his favourite circuits. Now that he has overtaken Rosberg in the standings, is it time for him to push on and show that he is worth the 7 world championships to his name?

Another name that has been bandied about the press recently is Lewis Hamilton, after a disappointing race in Monaco, he followed it with a worse showing at one of his most successful circuits. During the race he hit everything that moved, and seemed to take the blame for most if not all of the incidents, whether he deserves the current criticism is another thing entirely. He knows he needs a strong showing in Valencia where he has finished 2nd on every single visit so far to the Spanish circuit.

It is the second home race of the year for Fernando Alonso, but it looks like he is going to need more than home support to beat the Red Bulls here, however an improved showing in Canada was masked by a clumsy incident with Button which punted him out of the grand prix. Felipe Massa had an overall strong race and recovered form an impact in the wall to finish 6th after beating Kobayashi in a drag race to the line.

Williams claimed their first points of the year finally with Barrichello claiming a handful of points while Toro Rosso managed to get both drivers into the points which will go some way into relieving the pressure on the two embattled drivers who will no doubt be looking over his shoulder.

Looking ahead to Valencia, it is easy for people not to get their hopes up about any exciting racing as the European Grand Prix here hasn't been known for frantic racing, particularly as the 2009 race didn't have any overtaking whatsoever, yes, there were 0 overtakes. But with a combination of two long straights and the new dual DRS zones, we should be seeing tons of overtaking into the hairpin, remember Kobayashi's overtake on Alonso late on last year.

No doubt Mark Webber will want to eradicate last years memories where he found that Red Bull literally did give him wings when he flew 360 degrees in the air after tagging Kovalainens lotus at high speed, seeing as this happened in what will probably be a DRS zone this year, I sincerely hope we do not see a repeat, while Webber walked away unharmed, it is never nice to see that happen in any kind of motorsport.

For Galahads superb circuit write up, see here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/valencia-street-circuit/
 
I'm not quite sure what everybody's on about here to be honest. Sure it wasn't a classic but it was a pretty decent race to me. There were 3 cars in contention for the win right up until the last round of pit-stops, and whatever hopes FA and MW still had disappeared when exiting the pits in traffic.
For the majority of the race there were 3 cars in contention which is close racing in my book.
 
Vettel was the only one constantly in clear air, and he was controlling the race, but I don't think he could really have pulled a much bigger gap because until the last round of pit-stops his advantage never exceeded 3-3.5 sec, which isn't a comfortable advantage and leaves you vulnerable to traffic/slow pit-stops etc...
 
It isn't comfortable, but he did the same in Canada, and then in Canada when Button started chasing him down in unique circumstances (over a second a lap) he managed to pull away from Webber and Schumacher quite rapidly....

I think he just conserves the car, think he's learnt from last years reliability problems, only push the car when you need to.
 
Vettel did what he needed to and the fact that he was consistently putting in purple sectors the whole way through meant he had that race covered from start to finish. When Alonso and Webber started closing he went faster. When they stopped he went back to a steady pace. He maintained the gap he needed to but he had more speed than he showed.
 
Hamilton in his post-race interview implied the ban of gas-blown diffusers at Silverstone will actually hamper McLaren more than the Red Bull, which when you think about it actually makes sense, considering the Merc is said to have more grunt and possibly exhausts more energy to be blown onto the diffuser.

Have to say I never understood the argument of those saying Red Bull's advantage was going to disappear once the ban came into effect?
 
Redbull have everything, this season is really a formality, may as well not bother racing the other races.

Redbull are handing the bigest hiding ever.

McLaren will be watching out for the "crisis team" Ferrari very soon.
 
Redbull are handing the bigest hiding ever.

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:whistle:
 
I think in comparison with the competition, McLaren and Ferrari are no shank when it comes to easy walk overs, and well RB are literally feeding them a dose of rear end sandwich.
 
Forgettable to be honest but it's Valencia so what did we expect? With the amount of great races we've had this year I suppose it was bound to happen some time that we'd get an average race. Still, it wasn't that bad.

I think the fat lady is already warming up her vocal cords in terms of this year's championship. Vettel is swanning away as the rest take points off each other.
 
If the partial EBD ban doesn't stop Red Bull in the next race then both titles will be wrapped up. They are not going to go from being 77 points better to 77 points worse than other drivers. For now the racing has been good, but we will have to wait till next season to see a title race.
 
Well, that was EASILY the best race we've ever seen at the Valencia Street Circuit - just a shame that it was the worst race of the year. Although in seasons like 2001, 2002 or 2004 we would have considered that race exciting! It's just that this season there has been 7 brilliant races this season, and one average one. I also think - like Turkey 2009 - everyone thinks that the race wasn't great because Vettel - or Button in 09 - just kept on winning.
Also, it is the first time that 24 cars have finished an f1 race, and only the third time where there have been no retirements (after netherlands 1961 and italy 2005 - I don't count Indy 05)
 
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