Well, Hamilton and Alonso are hoping for rain and so am I as it’s the only thing that might bring any interest to today’s race. Unfortunately it’s unlikely at last report which forecasts only overcast and high humidity.
Pirelli is racing an experimental Soft compound designed for next year. Pirelli is designing around a 3 pit strategy which frankly won’t be enough to introduce any competitiveness or position changes with 3 second pits despite protestations to the contrary. The other tire is the normal Medium. There’s only .8 seconds speed difference between them, the new Soft is expected to last 25 laps and the Medium 35.
Red Bull reports that they’re loosening the development restrictions in the next agreement which contrary to their intent can only be good news for the field filling teams. They’re also reportedly going to clamp down on Red Bull type flexy wings.
Austin’s ultimatum has been extended until Wednesday, but Bernie is talking tougher about licking the boots of Bahrain’s despotic regime than having a US race next year. It’s easier to hate on Rick Perry because he’s the local boy, but I don’t think there’s a dime’s worth of difference in their evilness and Perry’s more likely to lose because he’s also stupid.
Barrichello is probably a cut next year which is a shame because he’s performed really well in 3rd rate equipment and had a surprisingly good Qualifying yesterday. I don’t understand how you can rate drivers or teams with no points at all as being better than those that do. I guess it has to do with how our elites define persistent failure as ‘meritocracy’.
Below you will find the last pretty tables of the 2011 season. Unlike the Debrief crew I won’t bother revisiting them because nothing will change.
Starting Grid
| Grid | Driver | Team | Q-Time | Q-Laps |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 01:11.9 | 17 |
| 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 01:12.1 | 16 |
| 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 01:12.3 | 18 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 01:12.5 | 22 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 01:12.6 | 22 |
| 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:13.0 | 21 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 01:13.1 | 18 |
| 8 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 01:13.3 | 23 |
| 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 01:13.8 | 20 |
| 10 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:13.6 | 18 |
| 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 01:13.6 | 17 |
| 12 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 01:13.8 | 17 |
| 13 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 01:13.8 | 18 |
| 14 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 01:13.9 | 22 |
| 15 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 01:14.1 | 16 |
| 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 01:14.1 | 18 |
| 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 01:14.2 | 21 |
| 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 01:14.6 | 11 |
| 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 01:15.1 | 11 |
| 20 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 01:15.4 | 14 |
| 21 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 01:16.6 | 8 |
| 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 01:16.9 | 9 |
| 23 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 01:17.0 | 10 |
| 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 01:17.1 | 10 |
Driver Standings
| Rank | Driver | Team | Points |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 374 |
| 2 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 255 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 245 |
| 4 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 233 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 227 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 108 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 83 |
| 8 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 76 |
| 9 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 36 |
| 10 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 34 |
| 11 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 34 |
| 12 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 28 |
| 13 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 26 |
| 14 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 23 |
| 15 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 15 |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 14 |
| 17 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 4 |
| 18 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 2 |
| 19 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1 |
| 20 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 0 |
| 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 0 |
| 22 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 0 |
| 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 0 |
| 24 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 0 |
| 25 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 0 |
| 26 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 0 |
| 27 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 0 |
| 28 | Karun Chandhok | Lotus-Renault | 0 |
Constructor Standings
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1 | Red Bull | 607 |
| 2 | McLaren | 482 |
| 3 | Ferrari | 353 |
| 4 | Mercedes | 159 |
| 5 | Renault | 72 |
| 6 | Force India | 57 |
| 7 | Sauber | 42 |
| 8 | Toro Rosso | 41 |
| 9 | Williams | 5 |
| 10 | Team Lotus | 0 |
| 11 | HRT | 0 |
| 12 | Virgin | 0 |
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