The 2011 Formula One Season

It can happen though, Merc gained a second with their upgrade. We dont even know how fast the Mclaren is as they have done hardly any running.

Its a risk but lets face it they were never going to be fast or getting to the end of the race with what they had.

We will soon see.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2011 03:10PM by marcl.

And also, even if McLaren gains a second, I'm sure that Red Bull and Ferrari have also made further time, so it doesn't mean much.

Melbourne might hide some of the car's weaknesses as well.

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X (@ed24f1)

marcl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It can happen though, Merc gained a second with
> their upgrade. We dont even know how fast the
> Mclaren is as they have done hardly any running.
>
> Its a risk but lets face it they were never going
> to be fast or getting to the end of the race with
> what they had.
>
> We will soon see.


Yes this is true about Mercedes but if you listen to Ross Brawns statements at the beginning of testing. He states that up-grades were ready but they just wanted to run the car naked to get a proper picture of it's performance, in retrospect it seems mclarens up-grades were not only obviously re-vised but a bit of an after thought also. So how much confidence we can put in that remains to be seen.


" Perfection is not a gift ....... it comes with practice."

Member of R.S.C.T Group

Mecerdes update was programmed as it happened, Ross reiterated his fear that they didn't know if it was going to be enough, but the stick to what they had programmed and at the end it worked (it seems). with Macca it seems they didn't had this planned. (which is exactly what Ross said they weren't doing even if they where nervous)

but imho, Lewis shouldn't leave even if Mclaren builts the worst car on the grid... nothing guarantees that he'll have success in any other team, there hasn't been a dominant team like Ferrari/Schumacher.. if a driver wanted to win 5 championships, they shoul've moved from Renault, to Ferrari, to Mclaren, to Brawn and then Red Bull.. everybody knows Mclaren can bounce back any time and he'll have his chance as well as Jenson



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2011 04:59PM by Slash.

It doesent look good for McLaren... the good thing is that Lewis (who already stated he wont leave Macca (source here) is going to run faster than his car and he will give us a lot of fun :P

in other order of things, looks like Lotus name issue will be finished in the few next days... today the 2 teams are meeting at the london high court. (source here), and also it seems that it exist a conflict between Fernandes and David Hunt (source here)

2010 - RBR
2009 - Brawn
2008 - Mclaren
2007 - Ferrari
2006 - Renault
2005 - Renault

That says it all IMO. Okay it might be an over-simplified look without considering rule changes but no 1 team has been the best. Ferrari were there or thereabouts in all mentioned seasons bar 2005 and 2009. Mclaren were there, or thereabouts in all but 2006, and 2009 (though the car did come good).

Will RedBull be one of the top teams for many years? Well its very possible, but historically, and logic tells you that Mclaren and Ferrari will be there too. If Lewis goes, it has to be RBR. I can very much see Lewis attempting to get Webbers seat, and I can see Horner wanting that to happen. The only real loser in that would be Mclaren. Button is good but no Lewis. So Mclaren really do need to keep him!

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Well Ferrari's record is pretty amazing. They've had a Top 3 car every year since 1993.

*In 2009 they were technically 4th, but the car was definitely 3rd best. McLaren only got ahead (albeit only by one point) due to Massa's replacements being unable to score when the car was at its best. Based on Kimi's score, and Massa vs. Kimi earlier in the year, Ferrari probably could have scored 30+ more points that year.

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X (@ed24f1)

I spotted a pattern...

Michael Schumacher
1991 - Debut mid-season, ends with different team to the one he started with
1992 - First win.
1993 - In and around the top area.
1994 - First title.
1995 - Second title

Sebastian Vettel
2007 - Debut mid-season, ends with different team to the one he started with
2008 - First win.
2009 - In and around the top area.
2010 - First title.
2011 - Second title?

Just a thought.

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

Michael Schumacher drove his first F1 race on a Sunday and won his first title 3 years later. Vitaly Petrov drove his first F1 race on a Sunday too....Petrov 2012 champion?

I do not think Lewis would leave I mean look in the past many drivers left their so called team to move to what they hoped would be a winning car.

But tbh for a top 4 team Mclaren have not been doing that well really, yes they win the odd race here and there but last year they never really looked the best we all new RBR was the fastest car all year and would get it right in the end.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2011 12:38AM by marcl.

Incident 2k9 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I spotted a pattern...
>
> Michael Schumacher
> 1991 - Debut mid-season, ends with different team
> to the one he started with
> 1992 - First win.
> 1993 - In and around the top area.
> 1994 - First title.
> 1995 - Second title
>
> Sebastian Vettel
> 2007 - Debut mid-season, ends with different team
> to the one he started with
> 2008 - First win.
> 2009 - In and around the top area.
> 2010 - First title.
> 2011 - Second title?
>
> Just a thought.

Basically to elaborate on Nick's point - there are apparent patterns everywhere. But they're all coincidence. For example, the first 3-and-a-half seasons of Lewis' career ended up very similar to how Nelson Piquet's career unfolded between the start of 1980 and the middle of 1983. But I didn't speculate that he might win the 2010 title because Piquet won in 1983. If we speculated on every situation like this that unfolded we'd be here forever :P

Vettel is more likely to be a title force this season, but because drivers who've won a title usually have greater confidence and are therefore more likely to win again off the back of it(With the odd glaring exception like Kimi).

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Wow, anyone reading the latest word about this McLaren 'Octopus Exhaust'? :D


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

McLaren 'Octopus Exhaust' is the scrapped one, they are not allowed it by sounds of it.

According to Helmut Marko, Redbull is a 1 second ahead of Ferrari in quali rim at barcelona and 1,5 seconds ahead of Mercedes and Renault [babelfish.yahoo.com] he says there is more innovative updates coming to Redbull cars .
Auto motor und sport then again reported that at barcelona Alonso did 1,21,6 with super soft tyres and only 15kg of fuel, while Schumacher did 1,21,2 with similar fuel load and soft tyres (around 0,3-0,5 slower tyres.

for me Red Bull is the favourite and clearly ahead of the rest again in quali trim, in races it's a bit closer but Red Bull has also been best for saving their tyres during long stints and that's a huge advantage. however in formula 1 nothing is sure and thing can change quickly and usually melbourne doesnt give clear picture who has the best car.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2011 12:28PM by vesuvius.

I see Lewis has been up to his silly pre season talking crap again.

he's right though, Red Bull/Vettel have a big fanbase so a lot will probably jump on him, but he's not lying on what he's saying

These next few days will go slow!

c'mon FP1 :D!

After reading the comments about Alonso's and Schumachers times at the last test im even more impatiently waiting! We will finally know whats what and i think that the's the best thing. Not necessarily f1 being back, but that we will know who's got the goods to deliver and who hasnt, thats what im looking forward to

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Look who's been to the Car Swap event (featuring Jenson Button) at Bathurst in Australia:



None other than Button's Japanese girlfriend, Jessica Michibata (my best wishes go out to countries affected by natural disasters recently)

I'm sorry if someone has already mentioned this.

But it just occurred to me that Michael Schumacher is the only F1 driver that has actually raced on Pirelli tyres in an f1 race.

When he drove for Benetton in 1991, they had Pirelli tyres. Has no baring on this season, but just a fun fact I felt like sharing

Yeah reading it again in the way he meant it Lewis is right and Ferrari and Mclaren need to sort it out as they are the builders and RBR are just a drinks company.

But come on any team that has Newey is always going to win.