F1: Yas Marina

One and done.

An interesting feature of the Yas Marina race is that it takes place at dusk and will finish under the lights like Singapore.

All the Top Qualifiers used Softs and they start on the same rubber.  The Bridgestone guys still swear they’re only good for about 10 laps, so perhaps we’ll see some early pits that mix up the field.  Were I a back marker I’d at least consider giving the Prime tire tactic a shot.  They take 2 laps to warm up and then they’re just as good as the Softs.

Something that doesn’t often get mentioned is that now days Drivers, while they are paid by the Teams, are also expected to bring their own sponsorship money to the table, effectively buying their seat.  While I don’t think any Team would start a Driver they thought was slow just for the money, I can’t see how this situation is good for the sport.

For all it’s recent expansion Formula One is on the financial edge and a lot of the rule changes are compromises to make it cheaper to field a Team (not that this helped the US effort much because it’s still very expensive).  I think this is an unfortunate development.

One change in particular I disagree with is the restriction on track testing time.  While it makes it cheaper for new Teams, it also prevents them from learning the things they need to know to be competitive.  For instance the Virgin Cars still don’t have enough fuel on board to go the whole race at top speed.

If “cost cutting” rule changes continue Formula One will degenerate into the Open Wheel NASCAR Bumper Car sport that IndyCar and all the ‘strict’ formulas have become and while you may think it’s thrilling to have the cars all bunched up so there are lots of chunks of twisted flaming metal, I don’t really watch for the wrecks.

That’s what Monster Jam is for.

I promised I’d talk about Auto World and Ferrari World, but I think most of it is in the links.  I will say that I had a chance to go to Auto World twice and I found it kind of sad in the same way Lake Compounce is sad.  The second time was the revival and they were only running the ‘Historic Flint’ front end, not that the back was much of a much.  An up escalator past painted walls with a sound track about making cars.  A moving Airport slide walk past cam driven HMS Pinafore wave cut outs of engines and stuff with a sound track about making cars.  A down escalator past painted walls with a sound track about making cars.  No wonder my Grandma thought Michael Moore was a smart ass.  Ferrari World is said to have the world’s fastest roller coaster.  We’ll see how long it lasts.

I really, really, really encourage you to click through on Yas Marina Qualifying, it’s a much better piece.

Pretty tables below.

Repeat at 4:30 pm.

Starting Grid

Grid Driver Team Q-Time Laps
1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:39.4 17
2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:39.4 19
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:39.8 21
4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:39.8 23
5 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:39.9 20
6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:40.2 19
7 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:40.2 26
8 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 01:40.5 20
9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 01:40.6 25
10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:40.9 21
11 Robert Kubica Renault 01:40.8 13
12 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:40.8 14
13 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:40.9 18
14 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:41.1 17
15 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 01:41.4 18
16 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 01:41.6 18
17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 01:41.7 18
18 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:41.8 11
19 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 01:43.5 11
20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 01:43.7 11
21 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:44.1 10
22 Lucas Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 01:44.5 9
23 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 01:45.1 10
24 Christian Klien HRT-Cosworth 01:45.3 10

Driver Standings

Rank Name Team Points
1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 246
2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 238
3 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 231
4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 222
5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 199
6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 143
7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 130
8 Robert Kubica Renault 126
9 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 72
10 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 47
11 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 47
12 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 32
13 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 22
14 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 21
15 Vitaly Petrov Renault 19
16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 8
17 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6
18 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6
19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 3
20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 0
21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 0
22 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 0
23 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 0
24 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 0
25 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 0
26 Sakon Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 0
27 Christian Klien HRT-Cosworth 0

Team Standings

Rank Team Points
1 RBR-Renault 469
2 McLaren-Mercedes 421
3 Ferrari 389
4 Mercedes GP 202
5 Renault 145
6 Williams-Cosworth 69
7 Force India-Mercedes 68
8 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 44
9 STR-Ferrari 11
10 Lotus-Cosworth 0
11 HRT-Cosworth 0
12 Virgin-Cosworth 0

38 comments

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  1. Isn’t that what I said yesterday?

  2. You know, I don’t much care whether Jack Nicholson is sitting courtside or not.

  3. Safety Car out.

  4. Liuzzi almost took Schumacher’s head off.

    Drove right over the top of him.

    In fairness Schumacher had spun out and was trying to get back on track.

  5. Vettel

    Hamilton

    Button

    Alonso

    Webber

    Massa

    Barrichello

    Rosberg (who didn’t boot Shumacher btw)

    Kobayashi

    Sutil

    Kubica

  6. Lap 5.

  7. per car, per race.

    Even for me that’s a lot.

    But I bet it compresses well since most of it is the same.

  8. After all that talk about him pulling a Hungary.

    And then nearly parks it pulling out of the pits.

    Both Red Bulls in tire trouble.

  9. Vettel

    Hamilton

    Button

    Alonso

    Massa

    Barrichello

    Kobayashi

    Kubica

    Sutil

    Heidfeld

    None have pitted yet.

  10. Comes out ahead of Webber.

  11. Vettel

    Hamilton

    Button

    Barrichello

    Kobayashi

    Kubica

    Sutil

    Buemi

    Rosberg

    Hulkenberg

    Only Rosberg has pitted.

  12. Vettel

    Hamilton

    Button

    Kobayashi

    Kubica

    Sutil

    Buemi

    Rosberg

    Hulkenberg

    Petrov

    Only Rosberg has pitted.

  13. Button

    Vettel

    Kubica

    Kobayashi

    Hamilton

    Sutil

    Buemi

    Rosberg

    Hulkenberg

    Petrov

    Vettel, Hamilton, Rosberg, and Petrov have pitted.

  14. Button

    Vettel

    Kubica

    Hamilton

    Kobayashi

    Sutil

    Buemi

    Rosberg

    Hulkenberg

    Petrov

    Alonso

    Button, Kubica, Sutil, Buemi, and Hulkenberg have not pitted yet.

  15. getting the most out of the tires.

    39 laps on Softs.

  16. Vettel

    Kubica

    Hamilton

    Button

    Sutil

    Rosberg

    Petrov

    Alonso

    Webber

    Alguersuari

  17. Barring passes or accidents and mechanical failures your final running order will be-

    Vettel

    Hamilton

    Button

    Rosberg

    Kubica

    Petrov

    Alonso

    Webber

    Alguersuari

    Massa

  18. Vettel

    Alonso

    Webber

    Hamilton

    Button

  19. See you again on March 12th.

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