Grand Prix 2012 Indian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

With the championship nearing the climax, the F1 circus rolls into INDIA for the best race of the season! With Sebastian Vettel winning in Korea to make it three wins on the spin it seems highly likely that he will make it three consecutive titles after taking the lead of the championship from Fernando Alonso in the less competitive Ferrari but he took third in Korea to show that he wasn't giving up.

Korea saw the end of Lewis Hamilton's title chances after a dismal race where everything that could go wrong did go wrong and he ended up with half of the astroturf hanging off the car as he just about held onto 10th place from Sergio Perez. Korea was a less than spectacular race with the top 4 not racing at all with strict team orders in place to maintain formation in terms of the team mates as Alonso couldnt catch Webber so there was no overtaking at the front after the first few laps.

India is another Tilke track and while in theory it promises exciting racing, in 2011 it was the scene of one of the most dominant performances by Vettel as he completely destroyed the opposition and winning by a country mile. It seems that now Red Bull have managed to recapture their 2011 form with the double DNF at Monza being a watershed moment as Vettel has won every race since then. In contrast Monza was seen to be where Hamilton launched his title bid as he went into Singapore closing on Alonso in a faster car. But just 11 points in the next three races has wrecked this and his title hopes are now over.

Despite still being yet to win a Grand Prix yet this year, Kimi Raikkonen lies in third in the Championship with half a chance of landing the championship although it is plainly obvious that it will be impossible for Kimi to catch Alonso and Vettel without winning probably at least 2 of the remaining races, and while Lotus is quick enough for solid points, Kimi is still falling short of the podium and this, along with Red Bulls resurgence means that it's really a 2 horse race with Vettel and Alonso.

Alonso has now not won since Germany and his once formidable 40 point lead has been completely wiped out and he's now second in the championship, this won't have been helped by DNF's in Belgium and Japan, races where Vettel took 43 points and that's where the gap was reduced and while i don't think these incidents will have cost him the title, it will have made it a helluva lot more difficult, particularly with the pace of the Red Bull. Now, it's a case of whoever finishes ahead of each other the most times between now and Brazil, at the moment I would say Vettel is the clear favourite unless the Red Bull's reliability gremlins return.

Write up of the best circuit on the calendar and we are all really privileged to have a Grand Prix there - http://cliptheapex.com/pages/buddh-international-circuit/
 
Surely if Massa could have got on the front row, wouldn't that have been a help to Alonso?
Either Ferrari are being blind to other possibilities through their dogged enforcement of team hierarchy, as they were in Korea, or Massa just didn't have the pace in the second and third sectors.
 
How can a driver slow by a few tenths margins are too tight to consciously drop a specified amount of time. The track is split into 2, fast start and twisty 2nd half where redbulls reign.
 
I think the qualifying outcome was actually more promising for McLaren than the times suggest. McLaren consistently struggled to get a time on the first lap and Button in Q2 got a time matching Vettel's after several laps. The option tyre is always at its best on the first lap in terms of optimum lap time and so if the McLaren did not have these heat issues, it's likely they could find a bit extra time. I believe they would have been on pole here had they not had the heating issues, which bodes well for the last 3 races as it looks like a one off related to this track.

The reason for this is if Lewis would have done a 41.4 first sector like he did in Q2 then he'd of been either on or within hundredths of pole. Also if you add up all the best sector times done by JB, LH, SV and MW then they are all pretty much within a few hundredths.

Maybe I'm trying to find a reason to believe Red Bull won't dominate everyone of the last 3 races but McLaren said they were bringing a lot of updates to India and Abu Dhabi and we haven't seen many at India, so I'm assuming they'll appear at Abu Dhabi. If they find 2 or 3 tenths then they'll likely be able to qualify on pole. Whether they can hold onto that with Red Bull always having better race pace comparatively, I'm not sure.

One other hope for a competitive race is the fact that McLaren are 7KPH faster and Ferrari 8KPH faster than Ferrari in the speed trap, so if they managed to get ahead, at the start for example, they may be able to hold them at bay. http://184.106.145.74/fia-f1/f1-2012/f1-2012-17/Qualifying Session Speed Trap.pdf
 
Strange that Massa was faster than the P1 time in the first sector on his last Q lap and then slowed up to be behind Fernando. No team orders there then.

McLaren and Ferrari were consistently 3 or 4 tenths faster than Red Bull in sector 1, which shows in the speed traps with large difference in top speed. So I think by the end of the lap the time had just dropped due to how fast RB are in S2 and S3. Massa was faster than Alonso on both of their 2nd runs but Alonso had put in a good time on his 1st run in Q3, which I assume was on scrubbed tyres as he only had 1 new set, thus Alonso has to start on a set of tyres that has done quite a few laps.
 
It is so disappointing that a Championship which looked like it could be a thriller around Silverstone looks like it's going to end in a damp squib somewhat

I know what you mean, it's like we're back to 2011 again. The problem with Red Bull, well in-fact it's actually a very good attribute, but it's a problem if you get bored of them winning, is that when they have a good car they make the most of it. You just need to look at McLaren for the opposite of that. They had the best car between Germany - Singapore and they dropped so many points.

All Red Bull are doing now is maximising their time at the top, which I believe will end in Abu Dhabi as I just have a hunch McLaren will bring a development step there big enough to jump Red Bull. Red Bull and McLaren have been out of synch with their big developments - RB were ahead from Valencia - Silverstone, then McLaren jumped ahead Germany - Singapore and now RB Suzuka - India.

In terms of the championship though, you'd want Alonso to get a big boost and after they've been speaking of big improvements in India for quite a while now, they have not delivered and are even further away than at the last race.
 
The only hope for the race tomorrow is that the McLarens are able to take advantage of their straight line speed advantage in the first sector of the race, and get ahead of the Red Bulls....

Also, Button has a joker to play, as he has an extra set of new soft tyres, as he only did 1 run in Q2 and Q3, whist everyone else did 2 in Q3.... (Although his tyres for the start have done 2 extra laps)
 
The third front row lockout for Red Bull in a row.
If Vettel wins tomorrow it will be the first time he has won four races in a row.

Sigh...
 
Massa went slow in the last two sectors but so did Webber, both brilliant moving chicanes for their respective team mates. Last thing Alonso needs is the two McLarens coveniently parking themselves between him and the Redbulls. I have a feeling Mac will trip over themselves and he will get on the podium.
 
I think it's debate time.
Vettel, all four wheels off the track, discuss
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Not once, but twice!
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Why do they have so many kerbs and why are they so wide? What Vettel was doing would not have been possible had the kerbs been half the width.

At one time there were no kerbs, if you went off the tarmac you were in trouble. Now, especially in India, if a driver goes off the track he is in a better position than someone who is on it.
 
I saw almost everyone having 4 wheels off the circuit at one or more points during qually, so I guess the stewards didn't care today.
 
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