The 2012 Season

[Incubus]

Well in that case with a name like "Fry" it's no wpnder the car was cooking its tyres earlier in the season.

 

[teabagyokel]

As has been remarked, 6 winners this season. In January, the sixth last unique winner took you back to the 2009 Italian Grand Prix. Mark Webber is now the only repeat winner in the last 8 Grands Prix.

 

[Brogan]

Sam Micheal has confirmed that most teams are off throttle blowing.

I thought that had been ruled illegal for this season onwards?

Edit: It seems it's permitted as long as it's not as much as last season nor directly onto the diffuser.

 

[teabagyokel]

Brogan - since when has illegality stopped F1 teams doing anything?

 

[Brogan]

See my edit teabagyokel - it would appear it is allowed, just in a different form.

Glad that was all cleared up then...

 

[teabagyokel]

There's nothing like clear technical regulations, Brogan. Etc.

 

[Incubus]

Whoever is in charge of writing up the actual wording on the FIA's little rule-book can't have been doing such a great job in the past 60 years or so. Otherwise "clarification" wouldn't have become the FIA's favourite word.
Add to that the fact that FIA's "clarifications" mostly result in adding to confusion and it's no wonder so many loopholes are there for top designers to exploit, which in turn leads to ever-more "clarifications"....

 

[Brogan]

Seven races, seven different winners.

What a strange season.

 

[mjo]

What are the odds on an eighth?

 

[RasputinLives]

Well as the top 3 had all failed to win a race this season I'd say we have a chance!

 

[Brogan]

Hamilton and Alonso are the only two drivers to have scored points in every race so far: http://cliptheapex.com/pages/2012-results/

 

[ExtremeNinja]

That was the case a couple of races ago.

 

[tooncheese]

I expect very soon it will evolve into a three-horse race, when the teams are on top of the tyres.

 

[Brogan]

After 7 races in 2011 the top 5 were: Vettel 161, Button 101, Webber 94, Hamilton 85, Alonso 69 - a total of 510 points

After 7 races in 2012 the top 5 are: Hamilton 88, Alonso 86, Vettel 85, Webber 79, Rosberg 67 - a total of 405 points

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

What are the odds on an eighth?

Well... if the Mercedes pace around Monaco was indicative... Valencia could be a considered a longer Mickey Mouse version Monaco... could Schumacher bung it on pole and could the Merc stand up mechanically and last the distance...

 

[Jos the Boss]

Not gonna happen, Mr Optimistic about Schumi doing well is losing hope, another mechanical failure, you watch!

 

[KekeTheKing]

Interesting quote from Christian Horner;

I think that the [tire] window is so narrow on this that it's difficult," explained Horner. "You can move the performance around: you can attack qualifying and maybe it hurts you in the race, or you can go soft in qualifying like Lotus did and perhaps be stronger in the race.

I guess this was becoming increasingly obvious anyway, but it's nice to see it acknowledged. Certainly makes for unpredictable racing!

 

[Josephiah]

Apologies if I've missed a discussion of this somewhere else (and didn't seem new-thread-worthy), but did anyone else find Schumacher's DRS issue a bit odd? - I remember when they were first thinking about introducing it how much they were talking up its fail-safe attributes - i.e. it ought to fail closed, so no loss of downforce. A rap over the knuckles for the Merc technical department perhaps?

 

[no-FIAt-please]

I don't think so. If the hydraulics failed then the DRS flap wouldn't shut at all, doesn't matter which car it's on. Now they need to find a way of making the flap close no matter what happens.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

no-FIAt-please, that would be no excuse. The rules require, for obvious safety reasons, that the DRS flap fails shut. It's up to the designers and engineers to ensure that this happens in every eventuality, including hydraulics failure.