Formula 1 2012

[TheAdmiral]

Romain Grosjean’s hopes of a maiden victory in next weekend’s German Grand Prix have taken an early knock after Lotus confirmed they are going to have to change the gearbox on his car, a move which will incur a five-place grid penalty.

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[Rey C.]

It will be interesting to find out what went wrong. It does not sound like driver error more like something mechanical stuck.

That's what I thought too; I guessed that it was a stuck throttle. Luckily, in F1 (unlike NASCAR) the cars are fitted with enough sensors and black boxes that good root cause analysis can be done after crashes. And in this case, it looks like it wasn't a mechanical issue. Again, not to criticize Maria de Villota, but I just think it's a bad idea to stick someone in an F1 car that hasn't even driven a GP2 car before.

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(CNN) -- The Marussia Formula One team has ruled out a mechanical fault as the cause of a test crash which resulted in its female driver losing her right eye.

Maria de Villota was left in a serious condition after colliding with a stationary truck during a test event at a British airfield earlier this month, and needed two operations.

The Russian-owned marque has conducted extensive tests of the MR01 car involved in the incident, alongside investigations by British regulator the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and an external forensic body, but concluded a vehicular fault was not to blame.

 

[Petra]

Shame that they can't blame the car. Not saying that De Villota was or ever would have been the woman to break into F1 successfully, but this is going to make it even harder for that female prodigy that may come along at some point to break into the sport.

 

[TheAdmiral]

That's what I thought too; I guessed that it was a stuck throttle. Luckily, in F1 (unlike NASCAR) the cars are fitted with enough sensors and black boxes that good root cause analysis can be done after crashes. And in this case, it looks like it wasn't a mechanical issue. Again, not to criticize Maria de Villota, but I just think it's a bad idea to stick someone in an F1 car that hasn't even driven a GP2 car before.
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Paul di Resta?

 

[TheAdmiral]

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Pirelli's three-year contract as the sport's official sole supplier ends next season, with boss Paul Hembery indicating that an extension is not guaranteed.

Michelin, however, has said previously that it would only consider coming back to F1 - where it competed with Bridgestone between 2001 and 2006 - if the sport ends its current single-supplier rule.

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Jul.18 (GMM) Heikki Kovalainen and Jaime Alguersuari have emerged as possible candidates to move to Sauber next year.

Rumours indicate that one of the duo could replace Japanese Kamui Kobayashi in 2013.

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The latest reports in Germany suggest the circuit's management is close to insolvency, raising the prospect that a German grand prix could be held only once every two years, at Hockenheim.

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The back-of-the-grid team is currently powered by Cosworth, but there is speculation the independent British engine supplier is set to pull out of the sport.

When asked about Marussia's engine plans for 2014, chief executive Andy Webb said: "It's a difficult decision, because a lot will depend on the financial side."

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The Formula 1 star spent the early part of this week begging for mercy to new X Factor judge Nicole Scherzinger by phone after he had invited the women back to his Mayfair hotel. Lewis told her nothing went on in his ninth floor luxury suite and said he was desperate for the couple to spend more time together.

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Williams’ Bruno Senna journeyed to Italy on Sunday to receive the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy. The award is given annually by the town of Brisighella near Bologna, in memory of local driver Bandini, who was ****** at the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix.

The Brazilian is the 19th recipient of the Bandini trophy, which was first awarded to Ivan Capelli in 1992. Other previous winners include Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher.

 

[Rey C.]

Shame that they can't blame the car. Not saying that De Villota was or ever would have been the woman to break into F1 successfully, but this is going to make it even harder for that female prodigy that may come along at some point to break into the sport.

I hear ya. But kind of like Williams GP recently picking up Susie Stoddart-Wolf as a tester and Marussia giving this "test" to de Vilotta, I think the teams should identify young, female talent and bring them along (sort of like McLaren did with Lewis Hamilton), instead of bringing in people pushing 30, who are nice enough (and usually quite pretty), but have never shown the speed or talent to have a realistic shot at actually racing in F1. The Japanese used to be really bad about this back in the 90's. In CART and in F1, they'd stick anybody who could turn a wheel into a car, as long as they were Japanese, and then those pitiful people would give (some) fans the impression that Japanese drivers were ALL laughingstocks. Thankfully, with the arrival of people like Kamui Kobayashi, that has largely changed. Hopefully the same will soon happen with women. We just have to keep people like D@nica Patrick, Milka Duno and other attention seekers, away from test sessions. She's not very pretty, but if a team would give someone like Simona de Silvestro a hand into GP2 (before she gets much older and picks up any more bad driving habits dragging that dog car around in the IRL Indy Car Series) we might see a legitimate female F1 hopeful. There really are girls out there who could do it. But if they restrict it to just the pretty ones and wannabe models, the pool gets a whole lot smaller.

What happened to de Vilotta was bad, but more for her personally than the cause of women in racing (IMO). D@nica Patrick does more to keep women in racing from being taken seriously every week than de Vilotta could ever do.

Paul di Resta?

True enough - Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen would also fall into that "young hot shoe" category with little racing experience before being tested. But di Resta (along with a few other prodigies) is more of an exception to that, as he'd won races and even championships in lower categories besides GP2. Maria de Villota, at 32 years old, as far as I know, hasn't won a race since her go-kart days - I could be wrong on that, but I've never heard anyone suggest that she was a "hot shoe" or a prodigy. She got the test because she's pretty and she has connections - just like Susie Stoddart-Wolf.

 

[TheAdmiral]

Results of P1:

1) Jenson Button - 1:16.595
2) Lewis Hamilton - 1:17.093
3) Fernando Alonso - 1:17.370
4) Michael Schumacher - 1:17.382
5) Sergio Perez - 1:17.413
6) Nico Hulkenberg - 1:17.599
7) Nico Rosberg - 1:17.915
8) Felipe Massa - 1:17.995
9) Pastor Maldonado - 1:18.020
10) Romain Grosjean - 1:18.130

Valtteri Bottas ran in place of Bruno Senna (13, 1:18.422)
Jules Bianchi ran in place of Paul di Resta (16, 1:18.972)
Dani Clos ran in place of Narain Karthikeyan (24, 1:21.740)

 

[TheAdmiral]

Results of P2:

1) Pastor Maldonado - 1:27.476
2) Nico Rosberg - 1:27.564
3) Sebastian Vettel - 1:27.902
4) Sergio Perez - 1:28.402
5) Romain Grosjean - 1:28.420
6) Nico Hulkenberg - 1:28.495
7) Daniel Ricciardo - 1:28.513
8) Jenson Button - 1:28.516
9) Mark Webber - 1:28.877
10) Kimi Raikkonen - 1:29.377

Session was red flagged towards the end, Schumacher ran wide and spun into a wall. His car looks to have suffered alot of damage. There was no restart.

 

[TheAdmiral]

Gearbox penalty for Nico Rosberg...

 

[TheAdmiral]

Results of P3:

1) Fernando Alonso - 1:16.014
2) Lewis Hamilton - 1:16.091
3) Sergio Perez - 1:16.202
4) Kimi Raikkonen - 1:16.238
5) Mark Webber - 1:16.447
6) Sebastian Vettel - 1:16.475
7) Pastor Maldonado - 1:16.664
8) Felipe Massa - 1:16.771
9) Kamui Kobayashi - 1:16.807
10) Bruno Senna - 1:16.930

 

[TheAdmiral]

End of Q1.

Fastest Lap:
Kimi Raikkonen (1:15.693)

Eliminated:
Vergne
Kovalainen
Petrov
Pic
Glock
De La Rosa
Karthikeyan

All cars qualify.

 

[TheAdmiral]

End of Q2.

Fastest Lap:
Lewis Hamilton (1:37.365)

Eliminated:
Ricciardo
Perez
Kobayashi
Massa
Grosjean
Senna
Rosberg

 

[TheAdmiral]

End of Qualifying!

Pole Position:
Fernando Alonso (1:40.621)

 

[Dr. Roche Fucer]

Formula One-topic? Cool. Ferrari-fan, happy with Alonso performing yet again. Was hoping for top-5 for Massa, but couldn't make things work in the rain.

 

[TheAdmiral]

Sunday's Lineup:

1) Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
2) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
3) Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)
4) Nico Hulkenberg (***** India)
5) Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
6) Jenson Button (McLaren)
7) Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
8) Mark Webber (Red Bull)
9) Paul di Resta (***** India)
10) Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
11) Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
12) Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)
13) Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
14) Bruno Senna (Williams)
15) Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)
16) Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham)
17) Sergio Perez (Sauber)
18) Vitaly Petrov (Caterham)
19) Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
20) Charles Pic (Marussia)
21) Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
22) Timo Glock (Marussia)
23) Pedro de la Rosa (HRT)
24) Narain Karthikeyan (HRT)

Gearbox penalties for Webber, Grosjean, and Rosberg. They originally qualified 3rd, 15th, and 17th respectively.
Sergio Perez was penalized five places for blocking. He originally qualified 12th.

 

[Rey C.]

The only thing I can hope for is that McLaren stuck with a dry setup through qualifying and tomorrow will be dry. Otherwise, tomorrow is going to be a loooong, sad race.

 

[Bonezstorm]

I believe Alonso is breaking away this year

 

[TheAdmiral]

Fernando Alonso wins in Hockenheim! Vettel and Button finish off the podium. Theres currently an investigation as to whether Vettel made a legal pass on Button to take second.

 

[Bonezstorm]

Fernando Alonso wins in Hockenheim! Vettel and Button finish off the podium. Theres currently an investigation as to whether Vettel made a legal pass on Button to take second.

He has been put back to the 5th place from the court

 

[TheAdmiral]

Sebastian Vettel has been relegated to fifth position and Jenson Button promoted to second in the German Grand Prix after stewards imposed a 20-second time penalty on the former for passing his McLaren rival from off the track on the penultimate lap of the race.

Button is therefore promoted to second place with Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen to the final podium position and Kamui Kobayashi to fourth for Sauber.

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