F1/ Formula E/ Motorsport Thread

Pirelli certainly need to sort it out. Though exploding tyres almost sounds like another of Bernie's crackpot schemes!

 

It was a pretty ridiculous display on the tyre front today. And although at the time of posting, it had infuriated me to see the race being ruined, the second half of the race was fantastic. Only one exploding tyre, and a glorious display of driving from Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber in particular all following Vettel's loss of drive. What a blessing that was for not only the race, but also the championship. For once after it all seemed to fall into place again for him, it didn't last.

I'm not going to lie either. I celebrated that almost as much as I have welcomed 3 points in the past.

 

I think the cheer from the crowd when Vettel's car broke down, was even bigger than the one the main grandstand gave Lewis Hamilton as he drove past them in the lead after the 1st lap :sign12:

 

Pedro de la Rosa came first. In F1 2012, and being driven by me...

 

Great to see him edge Vettel, and with MW sat 3rd, barring another slow start, he could potentially nudge Seb back to 3rd.

Absolutely despise Christian Horner. When queried after the race on Red Bull's qualifying session.... not an individual driver's session... all he managed to talk about in his first couple of responses was Vettel. No mention of Webber until prompted. How that team is being run is an absolute joke. I'm hoping Lewis can get away tomorrow and lead the race the whole way. I would love for him to rain on Vettel's parade at his home GP.

Yet another particularly uninspiring performance from McLaren too, but a great qualifying for Daniel Ricciardo seriously staking a claim for the free seat at Red Bull in 2014.

 

At last!

Some proper tyres instead of the ones made from cheese....and we have a proper race!

Great to see 3 of the 4 fastest drivers going at each other full tilt for 70 laps instead of tyre conserving. F1 is back to its best.... I hope.....

 

well deserved by hamilton. has been very unlucky this season and should have won a couple of races before now really.

 

For once I don't begrudge Hamilton that win, it was a good race and he deserved to win. It seems like he needed it too, it made a change to see a humble Lewis in the interviews afterwards.

In other (belated) news, a few pages back we were discussing who Red Bull would get to replace Vettel. Well now it's Webber they're replacing, but it seems like Ricciardo is the preferred option and was given a run-out at the Young Drivers Test a couple of weeks back. Below is one of my pics of Ricciardo in the Red Bull from that testing session, if anyone is interested I have a few more of various cars.


DSC_1855 by sdjmorgan, on Flickr

 

That's a great shot you've got there Scummybear. If ever you have time, post a couple more up - I always like a good photo. F1 cars are not the easiest thing to shoot either!

 

Thanks, I'd like to pretend it's intentionally wonky for the artistic effect... in reality I was tracking the car with my camera and my lens got caught on the fence! Looks good though!






My attempt at getting an in-focus car with a blurred background. This was the best out of a lot of attempts!

 

Some more very nice pictures there Scummybear.

I've dabbled with going to F1 events before, a couple of practice sessions at Silverstone, and one Race Day. It's Spa this weekend, and in the past i'd deliberated going to this one with a couple of friends, however, it never happened. But in 2 weeks I'll be attending my first overseas Grand Prix weekend when I go to Milan and Monza. Really looking forward to it. Unfortunately due to the format of the trip (festival in Croatia the week before), I don't think it's a good idea to take my proper camera which i'd use for these kind of events, but should hopefully be a good experience nonetheless. Has anyone on here attended the Italian GP... if so, thoughts? Any tips on where's best to watch from?

(We have weekend passes, so this means on the friday we'll be able to access anywhere including grandstands, but on race day will be a case of finding the best possible spot).

 

got some tickets for the Sao Paulo F1. not knowing anything about F1, was this a mistake?

 

hmm di resta may be about to get pole at spa.

 

haha dried up right at the end of the session, very good qualifying by hamilton to get on pole.

 

Nope, generally an excellent GP. Quite short laps too and fast corners so should be good wherever you're sat around the track I'd have thought.

 

fantastic. now i just need to figure out if alcohol will be prohibited, like with most sporting venues.

 

I think it is at least frowned upon for the drivers.

 

As UEA says, it's usually a good race and (in my opinion) one of the classic tracks. This link might help:

http://grandprixadvisor.com/index.php/circuit-guides/formula-1/brazil-sao-paulo

Much like Brands Hatch the main grandstands/pit straight are on high ground and look down over most of the circuit, I've never been but I'd imagine there are plenty of good spots where you can see a lot of the track. Regarding alcohol, the rules may be different over there but generally drinking is part of the racing experience - I've never been to a circuit without more beer stalls than toilets!

 

So Kimi now 100% confirmed to be driving at Ferrari next year in place of Massa. Nice to see him line up against Fernando (and show him who is the best driver in F1!) but I wish Kimi was at a Brit based team. Never mind..Italian owners can't be bad I guess

 

I was at all three days of the Italian GP at the weekend. Fantastic experience, particularly getting on the track under the podium after the finish.

Got to say, Monza's not much of a spectator-friendly track due to the high average speed of the circuit, but was a great weekend nonetheless.

Would I go back? Yes, but there would be other grand prix on my list to attend before going back.

As for Kimi to Ferrari - that is indeed a very interesting move as I don't think Alonso is going to like it one bit. Two drivers with genuine title aspirations in one team is a recipe for disaster, so from his point of view it may not be a good thing. That said, it's probably what Ferrari need to help them get back to the top.

 

Where abouts were you sat/stood Ashdon? A friend of mine wants us to go to Monza next year, but I've managed to convince him to put us on the Spa-Francorchamps waiting list first (his girlfriend works for Mercedes). The plan is eventually to tick off all the European GPs.

Kimi's move is understandable from his perspective - who wouldn't want to drive for Ferrari, even if they are off form?? Although it could be a lively season with him and Alonso both wanting all the attention. Prepare for fireworks!

 

As we were only tagging it on to the end of 2 week's travelling - Outlook Festival in Croatia, camping at Lake Garda and then the Grand Prix (commuting to the track daily from a hostel near the San Siro) - we only purchased general admission tickets (a very respectable £95) for access on all 3 days. This meant that on the Friday we were able to watch from wherever we wanted, whereas Saturday and Sunday was limited to just General Admission areas.

On the Friday, we watched from the first Chicane for P1, Ascari for the GP2 & GP3 Practices, and then a grandstand on the outside if the entry to Parabolica for P2. Saturday we basically had to show up as early as possible to secure a fairly decent seat - and we wanted a view of a big screen for obvious reasons too - which limited options somewhat. Anyway, for the whole of Saturday and Sunday, we arrived at the track at around 8am and based ourselves on the inside of the exit of Parabolica heading onto the main strait. Great stuff as we had a good view of a screen, and it's also an area where a lot of cars run wide and onto the gravel - the Porsche Supercups had a couple of hairy moments, as did Jean Eric Vergne and our own Lewis Hamilton in Qualifying.

Good thing about the GA tickets is being able to explore all the possibilities if you go for a whole weekend. The Lesmo (sp?) corners also looked like they'd be quite a good place to watch if they had a screen or two more.

Just note that getting away from the track on the sunday is an absolute b@s**** of a job. Italians don't really do organised queues.

Great shout on Spa. We were meant to be doing that 2 years ago following our excursion to the Le Mans 24h, however we never got round to booking it, but that's the next one on our list to do really. Definitely looking at doing Le Mans again in 2014 due to the re-entry of the Porsche team and Mark Webber into LMP1.

 

That is actually pretty good value, just highlights how extreme Silverstone's prices are! Are there plenty of areas for G.A.?

Sounds like you managed to get a few decent positions, although like you said before, it's such a high speed track (and seems to have a lot of tree coverage) any spot probably has a limited view. I was thinking of aiming for the Lesmo corners, it seems quite open and you get a couple of corners. What were the fans/atmosphere like? Also, any pictures?

Is Le Mans as good as it's made out to be? I half want to go, half think it's just too long to find interesting - I guess it's the off-track stuff that makes it entertaining?

 

Silverstone last year was my first actual F1 race-day that i'd attended. I'd been to Friday Practice the year before, but never a race. The prices for Silverstone are extortionate, however, i'd say it was a better spectacle for fans with regards to viewing positions. The problem with Monza is due to the high average speed, and the nature of how close you are to the track due to the trees (very surreal having such an incredible track located in a park and woodland like it is), it means your actual view of any racing is very limited - making sure you have access to a big screen is crucial.

But yes, seemed to be plenty of areas for GA. On race day, the train went to the Lesmo station as opposed to Monza which meant we walked around the entire circuit over the course of the weekend, and pretty much all along the sides there are GA stands. So you do have plenty of options, and for example, where we watched Saturday and Sunday from, that was a GA stand of about 6 or 7 rows situated next to a a grandstand that you'd pay more for - and we had pretty much exactly the same view, only maybe at a slightly lower elevation - but you could still see over the catch fencing for photos too.

With regards to the fans and atmosphere - the Tifosi was absolutely incredible. So many Ferrari caps and shirts everywhere. I don't think i've ever experienced anything quite like standing on the track about 20 meters from the podium, with everyone boo-ing Vettel throughout his speech and his national anthem (a bit of a shame), and having the sea of red on the track chanting Alonso's name for the entire presentation and interviews. Crazy stuff, but a great experience. If you can get on the track it's well worth it, and we managed to climb up on the old banking of the old track too... it is stupidly steep.

With regards to photos - unfortunately due to the nature of the trip, I did not take my DSLR, merely my very old 10 mega-pixel Lumix. So I need to upload them onto the computer later and sift through to see if I got any decent shots. Won't have been able to get any of the blurred background with the focus on the car unfortunately as a result. I'll aim to see how these came out later, and if there are any worth posting, i'll upload them soon.

As for Le Mans. Myself and my two friends did it at the end of my first year of uni. I was sceptical, but have to say it was a fantastic trip. Whether it be from the convoy of exotic cars ferry-ing across the Channel and along the motorways to Le Mans itself, through to the camping, and then the event itself. So many places to watch from, a brilliant circuit, and ultimately one of the toughest motorsport challenges that exists. The fact that those cars run further in that 24 hour spell than an F1 car does in a season is amazing, and an incredible feat of engineering to think they can run like that for 24 hours with minimal reliability issues. In the year I went, the top 2 cars were a mere 12 seconds apart by the end of the race - which seems pretty crazy for a 12 hour race. The array of various classes on track at the same time also adds to the spectacle. I'd say it's definitely worth doing at least once if you're a motorsport fan.

 

I went to Spa in 2000 the year Mika Häkkinen did his famous double manouvre on Schumacher and a backmarker to win the race. Me and a mate drove there from England and we stayed in a hotel in Aachen over the border in Germany. Spa sits right next to the German border. We met up there with my brother in law who had flew over from Finland and his mate.

We had race tickets for a grandstand at Eau Rouge and wow that is an experience never to forget, you just dont get a feel for the steepness of the track on tv at all. It is a long track in the forests so you dont see the cars go past as many times as in other GP's but we had a screen to watch and could see right up to the first hairpin corner. Unfortuntately the actual passing happened down at the next corner but we could see after hunting down a big lead Mika was close enough to attack.

After the race people ran onto the track and up towards the podium. We joined in (surprisingly the podium was not on the start/finish straight but round the bend nearer us where the support race garages were) and got to watch the whole winners ceremony waving a big Finnish flag. An experience I'll never forget. The track setting is very picturesque (probably a bit similar to Monza - in forestland) and the Spa roads are open to traffic when not a GP. I have seen a few GPs at Silverstone and that is much easier there for seeing the race from different viewpoints. To walk around the whole Spa track would take bloody ages.

Here is Mika's finest moment. Shame this video does not show the in-car camera from Mika's car. He very very nearly got taken out at full speed in his first attempt to pass after which he put his fist up to Michael. All this with only a few laps left. The day holier than thou Michael got humbled.
[video=youtube_share;-eE3gCy5zvM]http://youtu.be/-eE3gCy5zvM[/video]

 

Korean marshalls had no idea what to do.

 

vettel wins again zzzzzzzzzzz!

 

got my brazil tickets in the post today. still can't figure out if the same rules apply for f1 as they do for football, regarding alcohol. i'm guessing since its an event for the social 'elite' different rules apply