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/
 
I was wondering about that, was Massa allowed to use DRS? Wasn't he in front of Kimi as they crossed the line (I'm assuming this is where the DRS deficit was measured) so shouldn't have been able to use it. Happy to be corrected.
FB - I suppose it depends which line you mean! The second DRS detect was between the first right hander andthe right hand hairpin....
 
The activation point was the line just before the apex of Turn 3 (the hairpin). Kimi went too soon and was slightly ahead of Massa and therefore Massa was deemed to be the overtaking driver within the one second window. Massa then proceeded to use the DRS to good effect on his former team-mate.
 
According to Massa when he was interviewed he deliberately held back to be after Raikkonen crossing the detection line, he thought that Raikkonen thought he was going to be second as he slowed as well.

What sort of series is this where being slowest is best? :rolleyes:
 
I think it's a problem where essentially you have 2 DRS zones one after another! It does disincentivise overtaking in the first, but it also means that it's almost impossible to defend......
 
Watching Massa breeze past Raikkonen after he had managed to claw his way in front demonstrated everything that is wrong about DRS.

As has already been mentioned, when drivers are fighting each other to go slowest so they can utilise the DRS advantage is when F1 needs to take a long, hard look at itself and question whether this is what the so-called pinnacle of open wheel racing is supposed to be.
 
Anyone see JB's interview with the Beeb after the race? He seemed pretty pleased that he'd managed to get fastest lap, and was sure that it might annoy another driver who will not be named even though he did win the race LOL
 
Anyone see JB's interview with the Beeb after the race? He seemed pretty pleased that he'd managed to get fastest lap, and was sure that it might annoy another driver who will not be named even though he did win the race LOL
He also said 'both McLaren's struggled with the soft tyres', I think. Seems strange that he didn't say me and Lewis... ['Lewis and I' for the Grammar Nazis among us].
 
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