So have I mentioned tires are the story?
Teams are going to absurd lengths to save their Softs and in this race particularly so since Pirelli is introducing their new Super Hards and they are a full 2 seconds a lap slower. While Hards and Super Hards are supposed to produce durability benefits that offset their lack of speed, there is absolutely no evidence that they do so even with the small number of non lemming-like teams that have dared to persue unorthodox strategies.
This leads to spectacles like Istanbul where Red Bull ran their hot Qualifying laps and parked (which McLaren emulated yesterday) and the 6 also rans from Scuderia Marlboro UPC, Renault, Mercedes, and Williams staying off track until a mere 2 minutes were left in Q3 (Schumacher didn’t bother turning in a time). I hope Bernie heard the boos and jeers from the crowd at the empty track that were quite audible to the cameras in Pit Lane, but he’s such a arrogant and greedy bastard I doubt it.
Bottom line for racing? Red Bull and McLaren have an extra set of Softs and everyone else pretty much doesn’t.
But it goes to a bigger picture mentioned by one of the commentators- Formula One used to be about technology, innovation, and going fast. There used to be a U.S. series like that too called Champ or CART who’s turbo-charged cars in the early ’80s were actually faster than F1 because they also allowed more down force.
It’s successor, ‘IndyCars‘, is open wheel NASCAR- bumper cars so evenly matched (supposedly to highlight ‘driver skills’) that the only thing to watch is who ends up in a flaming chunk of twisted metal, modern gladiator games with rules designed to enforce nose to tail racing and bunch cars up whenever someone gets too far ahead so as to ensure more crashes for the blood thirsty fans.
Did I mention the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 is next week? Dad would want me to.
Circuit de Catalunya is notoriously boring and I expect nothing different today (the front five are exactly the same as they were last year). Next week is also Monaco which is all about glitz, glamor, and tradition. No actual racing is allowed.
I’ll probably produce 2 separate pieces, one for Monaco and one for Indy. I’ll have to watch them both anyway since Richard will quiz me at the end, but I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to keep my eyes open.
As usual I used up all my good material yesterday so I really encourage you to click that top link.
Speed has GP2 at 6 am to rubber in the track, Formula One at 7:30 am with a repeat at 4:30 pm.
Pretty tables below.
Starting Grid
| Grid | Driver | Team | Q-Time | Q-Laps |
| 1 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 01:21.0 | 12 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 01:21.2 | 13 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 01:22.0 | 12 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 01:22.0 | 15 |
| 5 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 01:22.0 | 12 |
| 6 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 01:22.5 | 14 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:22.6 | 14 |
| 8 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 01:22.9 | 15 |
| 9 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 01:23.0 | 14 |
| 10 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:22.7 | 12 |
| 11 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 01:23.2 | 6 |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 01:23.4 | 9 |
| 13 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 01:23.7 | 9 |
| 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 01:23.7 | 8 |
| 15 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 01:25.4 | 6 |
| 16 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 01:26.1 | 13 |
| 17 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 01:26.6 | 13 |
| 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 01:26.5 | 4 |
| 19 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 01:26.9 | 5 |
| 20 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 01:27.3 | 8 |
| 21 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 01:27.8 | 9 |
| 22 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 01:27.9 | 9 |
| 23 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 01:28.6 | 5 |
| 24 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | no time | 0 |
Driver Standings
| Rank | Driver | Team | Points |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 93 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 59 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 55 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 46 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 41 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 24 |
| 7 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 21 |
| 8 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 21 |
| 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 20 |
| 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 8 |
| 11 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 6 |
| 12 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 6 |
| 13 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 2 |
| 14 | Paul di Resta | India-Mercedes | 2 |
Constructor Standings
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1 | Red Bull | 148 |
| 2 | McLaren | 105 |
| 3 | Ferrari | 65 |
| 4 | Renault | 42 |
| 5 | Mercedes | 26 |
| 6 | Sauber | 8 |
| 7 | Toro Rosso | 6 |
| 8 | Force India | 4 |
| 9 | Team Lotus | 0 |
| 10 | Williams | 0 |
| 11 | Virgin | 0 |
| 12 | HRT | 0 |
67 comments
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Didn’t use a tire.
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Fast Lap, then the start.
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Not too hot, no rain expected.
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Interesting.
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Alonso, Schumacher, and Button views.
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Damage, he also changed tires.
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Alonso
Vettel
Webber
Hamilton
Petrov
Schumacher
Rosberg
Massa
Buemi
Button
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Used up a set of Softs!
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Well, and qualifying which is 2 or 3 more.
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Alonso
Vettel
Hamilton
Webber
Button
Petrov
Rosberg
Massa
Alguasuari
diResta
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Comes back in 7th.
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New tires after 7 laps.
His last set of Softs.
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A good stop will put him in the lead.
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Hamilton
Vettel
Alonso
Webber
Button
Schumacher
Rosberg
Petrov
Massa
Buemi
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Hamilton’s tires are going off a bit and the early pitters are gaining.
He needs a really good stop.
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the leaders are going to have to put in the last half of the race on Super Hards.
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Comes out 2nd.
Not so bad.
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Vettel
Hamilton
Alonso
Webber
Button
Schumacher
Rosberg
Petrov
Buemi
Alguasuari
Author
Kobayashi and a host of others.
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Webber at least is on the Super Hards.
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Vettel
Hamilton
Alonso
Webber
Button
Massa
Shumacher
diResta
Rosberg
Petrov
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He got 20 laps out of them.
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if you think this is exciting, I know people at Town Fair Tires.
No real passing.
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Hamilton
Vettel
Alonso
Webber
Button
Massa
Schmacher
Rosberg
Petrov
Maldonado
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About the first one I can remember seeing.
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Vettel
Hamilton
Button
Webber
Alonso
Schumacher
Rosberg
Petrov
Massa Buemi
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is because the Racecast site gets farther and farther behind unless you dump and reload it.
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Way to go guys.
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Vettel
Hamilton
Button
Webber
Alonso
Schumacher
Rosberg
Petrov
Massa
Buemi
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