2012 Bahrain Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

i m pretty sure you are everything but a schuey fan, mate. you cant just throw arguments in the air like that. schumacher was ahead of rosberg, both in the 1-st and 2-nd gp, but retired due no fault of his own. In bahrain he started 17 positions behind rosberg, yet , he only finished 15 sec. behind. True, nico was faster in China, hats off to him about that, but i dont think that we have the case of rosberg being faster than shcumacher. i think the situation there is pretty similar to the one at mclaren.

I agree with the view that if schumacher had got a great result he probably wouldn't have made the criticisms he did, although i can understand that he feels the racing is no longer about who is the quickest outright but who can make tyres last the longest.
however fair play to him, he was only 16 seconds behind rosberg at the end after having to come from 22nd and being stuck behind slower cars at times.
also his quickest lap time was only .040 slower than rosberg whereas hamilton's was nearly 0.3 quicker than buttons. if he can improve qualy then he's a threat (melbourne & china before his enforced stoppages).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2012 06:02PM by thestig88.

actually Rosberg hasn't been THAT faster than Michael, in Malaysia, even after the spin, Michael was dead last and recovered whereas Rosberg finished behind him, in China we didn't get to see what Michael could do, he only lasted until the first stint and by this point in the season we can assume safely that the action usually starts by then or just before the second pit stop.

what Michael's saying is true, but that's modern F1, you have to adapt or suffer consequences, Lotus seems like a team that can push all the way so hats off to them but everybody else is "racing" pretty much the same way so . i guess it might be the frustration that he can be as competitive or probably even more than Nico and has ony got 2 point whereas Nico has a lot of points in the bag.

what really cought my attention this weekend was Mclaren, they seem to look like the faster team during practices but then on race day they didn't have the speed and they don't do a good job on pit stops either. i don't know if Lewis had any problems but he did little running on practice and always seemed to be aiming to get the top spot or post the fastest lap.. for what purpose? even without the pitstop his race pace wasn't that good, maybe their approach to the race is the problem?

mitadumapaga Wrote:
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> i m pretty sure you are everything but a schuey
> fan, mate. you cant just throw arguments in the
> air like that. schumacher was ahead of rosberg,
> both in the 1-st and 2-nd gp, but retired due no
> fault of his own. In bahrain he started 17
> positions behind rosberg, yet , he only finished
> 15 sec. behind. True, nico was faster in China,
> hats off to him about that, but i dont think that
> we have the case of rosberg being faster than
> shcumacher. i think the situation there is pretty
> similar to the one at mclaren.

It's not as simple as being a fan or not. Since Schumacher and Rosberg have been team mates, Rosberg has been consistently the quicker driver. My statement was referring to his overall performance at Mercedes, not just the 2012 season. I actually would like Schumacher to be up front fighting for wins with the other World Champions. All the other drivers are having issues with tire wear. Schumacher seems to be using it as an excuse for his lack of pace. When he was racking up the wins in his Ferrari, he did not seem concerned about his total domination ruining races. I just think that the current rules and regs doesn't suit his style. He always seemed to be a driver that preferred pushing hard lap after lap, not one that was concerned about driving to manage tires and fuel.

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He's definitely struggled to get used to the new/current regulations(which were/are radically different to the regs when he last raced for Ferrari in 2006). Whether that's an age thing or whether it would've stumped him at any stage of his main career too, it's not easy to say. But I too would like him to get his ass properly in gear and start beating Rosberg, as he's shown an ability to do before now.

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I would like to see what Schumacher would do if he could lead from pole. Would he go backwards like the McLarens yesterday or would he do a Rosberg/Vettel and convert the pole position to a win? Trying to fight your way to the front normally kills your tires much faster than leading from pole.

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He always seemed to be a driver that
> preferred pushing hard lap after lap, not one that
> was concerned about driving to manage tires and
> fuel.


Spot on, dear f1 fan !!! you can conclude that alos from the fact, that schumacher has always given it his utmost to be in great physical shape for a race. I didnt ask whether he is right or not. i just wanted to hear your opinion on the way today's racing is taking place. i certainly do like many many things about f1. However, i cant help a feeling that the winners this season are achieving the victories by awhole lot of luck. rosberg didnt know how he manged to make his tyres last in china, alonso was a craqzy winner in malaysia, vettel didnt expect for a second to be first in bahrain. and actually f1 is about pushing the drivers and technology to the limit. both are absent nowadays. first one because of all the limitations, the second one is because of the tyres, as schuey pointed out.

I get the feeling Michael just needs one more breakthrough result - one more race like Canada last year, except he ends up winning it. I think that would be what would fire him up to 100%. We saw how much his confidence picked up last year after Canada.
It's a shame that he seems to need this kind of circumstantial confidence boost in order to find another gear, but then again he's in a far more challenging team situation at Mercedes than he ever was at Ferrari or Benetton.

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Schumacher seems far too laid back at times to me, which is understandable as he has almost nothing to prove. Things like this could fire him up big time (or have the opposite effect).

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Hmmm I don't think Mercedes have another chance to win this year now, Red Bull and Ferrari will start improving soon and then you have those totally mental Lotuses in the mix too.

I think it's too early to say that. Nobody could've guessed they'd win by over 20 seconds in China.

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Well.. The season might calm down a bit from Barcelona onwards but it does seem that small changes in conditions are currently bringing about larger changes in the behaviour of the Pirellis with the result of 4 different cars winning the first 4 races. Bloody fantastic!

Overall.. You have to concede that Red Bull have come through the best because despite of Vettel's mixed fortunes start, 2 podiums and a win allied to Webber's consistency has given them the lead in both championships. Mclaren have failed to capitalise on generally what has been the quickest car with too many pit stop problems and a shocker for Button in Malaysia.

Schumacher has driven well each weekend so far, obviously he's frustrated because he hasn't got a result yet, and traditionally he's always been a flat-out sprint racer. He really doesn't like the endurance type conservation of car, fuel & tyres. Even when he drove for Merc in sportscars in the early 90's it was Frentzen, Wendlinger etc who took to it better.

who said the bridgestone tyres did not degraded in 2010. i remember schumacher struggling like a pig in hungary tat year. the main problem i think, came from 2-3 races: bahrain, valencia and abudhabi. With the exception of the first one, every other was just as boring in 2011, despite other tyres, DRS and KERS.

i personally did not like the pirelli tyres round about the turskish gp in 2011. Later in the season they became more stable and actually alowed a driver to push, while in the same time producing different strategies and more than just one pit stop. however, the 2 dry races so far (bahrain excluded) provided great racing. maybe if pirelli had supplied the HARD and MEDIUM compound for bahrain, instead of the SOFT one, the race would have allowed for more pushing.

I'm happy that its a close fight. Also, the drivers must make best use of the tools they have available. They say that cream rises to the top. Some of the cream might be a bit sour but its still far, far better in 2012 compared to what i've seen in previous years.

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Just found this on PitPass.com:



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slider Wrote:
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> I'm happy that its a close fight.

It's been pretty awesome so far, it's got to be said. First time 4 different constructors have won the first 4 races since 1983, and just 10 points between the top 5 drivers in the Championship - pretty unusual. Barcelona should be a good test for the competitiveness of the 2012 field as well, since it's usually one of the dullest and least closely fought races(2011 having been an exception to the rule).

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2012 11:32PM by EC83.