2010 Italian Grand Prix

Especially since he finished ahead of Weber anyway. :ouch:

I stopped paying attention to the race for a few minutes (and keep that in mind) but when I started watching again, most of that is due to Hulkenberg cutting corners, swerving, and just generally holding Webber up. I don't know if Vettel passed him before, or during...but that's about as much I can say about that. :p
 
Yes, Hamilton did, and he still does from time to time. I wouldn't call Hamilton inexperienced now, but he sometimes loses it in particular circumstances he hasn't been in before.
I find it hard to really call Vettel young and inexperienced still...yet it still sounds right. I think this is the problem - he doesn't appear to be learning. He's almost the exact same driver as he was at the start of 2009, fast but unrefined. 1 year and a bit since his brainfade at Australia 2009 and I still don't think he has learnt from it.

As we saw today, he has the speed, consistencey and head to win when there are no cars about. But once he is under pressure from cars behind and he has to use some racing room and spatial awareness, he seems to be pretty weak from time to time. Not all the time mind, he has pulled off his own great overtakes but he's had a lot collisions with other cars lately, almost always his fault.

I think its safe to say that Red Bull have the two worst drivers for close race craft, maybe they are learning from each other? :lol:

I stopped paying attention to the race for a few minutes (and keep that in mind) but when I started watching again, most of that is due to Hulkenberg cutting corners, swerving, and just generally holding Webber up. I don't know if Vettel passed him before, or during...but that's about as much I can say about that. :p

I think you need to pay attention to the races a bit more :p.

Webber pitted and was overtaken by Vettel in the pits (as were Rosberg and Kubica). Vettel stayed out till the end where he had created a big enough gap to Rosberg that he could pit and come out still in 4th. Even if Webber wasn't held up by Hulkenburg, he never had a chance of beating Vettel today.
 
Did Hamilton make these kinds of mistakes during his rookie year or anytime afterward (no need to inform me of the end of '08 and onwards as I've been watching consistently since then)?

Yes, Hamilton did make mistakes. I distinctly remember him braking late and getting stuck in the gravel in the pitlane entry or exit. Can't remember what track it was, but it was towards the end of the season. He made plenty of mistakes in his first year, and showed his immaturity in his championship year too. But he has matured very well as a driver, but Vettel hasn't, and unless i'm mistaken, Vettel has been in the sport longer.
 
As we saw today, he has the speed, consistencey and head to win when there are no cars about. But once he is under pressure from cars behind and he has to use some racing room and spatial awareness, he seems to be pretty weak from time to time. Not all the time mind, he has pulled off his own great overtakes but he's had a lot collisions with other cars lately, almost always his fault.

I think its safe to say that Red Bull have the two worst drivers for close race craft, maybe they are learning from each other? :lol:

Well as Webber (Yoda) to be as Vettels (Young Jedi) you can see some moves that Vettle does, like trying to block the other drivers before the first corner instead of just racing them off the starting line to the 1st corner and too eratic manuvers when trying to pass. That would be more of Webbers style and since he is the older one we could say that Vettle looks up to him for style. :sly: 👎

:confused:

Last I remembered he was over 2 seconds behind Webber, and Rosberg had quite a gap between himself and the Hulkenberg train. Either it's me, or Vettel found a new world of pace in those last laps :odd:

We all know Vettel is fast when racing on his own. :sly: See when Webber got behind him, "My engine is slowing." Team orders or nerves???? :scared: Who knows? :dopey:

I hope Alonso's engine blows on the formation lap.

Ferarri to Alonso haters! NOTTTT! Dosen't this make it more exciting since the contention for the drivers championship is so close.
 
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Yes, Hamilton did make mistakes. I distinctly remember him braking late and getting stuck in the gravel in the pitlane entry or exit. Can't remember what track it was, but it was towards the end of the season. He made plenty of mistakes in his first year, and showed his immaturity in his championship year too. But he has matured very well as a driver, but Vettel hasn't, and unless i'm mistaken, Vettel has been in the sport longer.

It was China. How he managed to get the marshals to put him back on the track and continue was beyond me! I dont know the exact rules but I thought he would be DNF for sure. They were all racing in the pit lane that day!

What happened today was just another mistake, I'm really suprised he didnt see that one coming as the gap was closing. Sometimes he goes for things way too eagerly.

Robin.
 
Yes, Hamilton did make mistakes.

Another one that comes to mind is when Hammy ran into the back of Kimi at the exit of pitlane (@ Montreal) like a complete blind man :lol:
 
It was China. How he managed to get the marshals to put him back on the track and continue was beyond me! I dont know the exact rules but I thought he would be DNF for sure. They were all racing in the pit lane that day!

I think someone has some memory loss ;) :p.

China 2007 - Hamilton went wide in the pitlane due to his tyre being down to the canvas and he became stuck in the gravel trap. It was a DNF.

This year he and Vettel were racing in the pitlane.

Drivers cannot recieve a push start during the race, though they can continue if they have kept the engine running. It seems a big of a gray area after Hamilton was allowed to continue at the 2007 European GP.
 
It was China. How he managed to get the marshals to put him back on the track and continue was beyond me! I dont know the exact rules but I thought he would be DNF for sure. They were all racing in the pit lane that day!

Robin.

I don't remember him being taken out of the pit. Wasn't that the European GP?
 
I think someone has some memory loss ;) :p.

China 2007 - Hamilton went wide in the pitlane due to his tyre being down to the canvas and he became stuck in the gravel trap. It was a DNF.

This year he and Vettel were racing in the pitlane.

Drivers cannot recieve a push start during the race, though they can continue if they have kept the engine running. It seems a big of a gray area after Hamilton was allowed to continue at the 2007 European GP.

OK I just mixed up 3 different races into one race, sorry about that. :lol: Clearly I have memory loss! but to my credit all three featured a Mclaren and Lewis!

Thanks for the explanation on the gravel thing, I was sure someone got pulled out and continued at some race... must have been the European GP like you said. ;) I hardly think its fair to be allowed to be pushed back on to the track just because your engines still running, not everyone has benefited from that rule as I have seen many guys stuck with wheels still spinning.

Robin.
 
I was going to post that but refrained from doing so because its pretty graphic. View at your own displeasure.

The mechanic was reported fine with only some serious bruises and scratches. Even so though, terrible lollipoping there, plus the guy wasn't wearing a high visibility helmet...
 
So-so race but mostly dissapointed with the performance of the Saubers and the Lotuses. Actually quite a fun race with Webber dicing around the back of Hulkenberg's car for quite a while. I have no idea what happened to Button's car towards the closing stages of the race as he slowed down for some reason and that let the Alonso to pull away and win the race... Anyway, I guess this race is for the Ferrari's own good. Vettel's last lap pit was quite.. amusing? Is that legal by the way?

I hope Yamamoto's pit crew will have a speedy recovery, because the impact is sort of like Raikkonen's in Valencia but this one Yamamoto just keep the pedal on the floor... Obviously lolipop man's problem.

So we'll move on to Singapore... 2 weeks time. 2 weeks of waiting.
 
Button didn't slow down... Alonso's car was simply faster... when Button was in the lead, he was holding Fernando up.

Pretty awesome race if you're a tifosi. Alonso has gained some of my respect back... showing that he's still a brilliant "hand"... I can't imagine how he managed his tires that well despite being on a lower downforce set-up than Button (no novice at tire preservation) and running in his dirty air.

While the clincher that gave him that victory was the amazing 3.4 second turn-around in the pits... Alonso's driving was still instrumental in that win... I can't imagine staying that close up another guy's tailpipe for that long!

Button drove a terrific race. Terrific qualifying, terrific race pace. He made a few mistakes, (one or two lock-ups) and he was never quite able to pull a gap on Alonso, but he did all you could ask for. If the pit crews had just been a hair faster, he could have won it all... but he didn't. He deserved a win for that performance, got second, but is still pretty darn happy.

-

Boo for Hamilton's silly shunt. Yay for Vettel's incredible drive and Red Bull's inspired pit strategy, landing him 4th (he won't be too unhappy about that!). The STAR commentators were wondering about the strategy, and they were questioning RBR's strategy... but when he came out back in 4th, it all suddenly became clear.

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Note to Ferrari and Alonso: This is how you win a grand prix. No whining. No bickering. Nose-to-the-grindstone. Keep this up and Alonso may yet get that WDC.
 
Button didn't slow down... Alonso's car was simply faster... when Button was in the lead, he was holding Fernando up.

But he was also giving him a toe down the straights every lap, so that balanced it out. The fact Alonso was matching Button's pace up to the pitstops allowed him to leapfrog with only a 0.7 difference in the pitstops. Alonso drove a magnificent race, and it was a very deserved win 👍

The traffic was tough for Button to pass due to his lower top speed on the straights, and they simply got in his way on the corners. Di Grassi cost him about a second. But there was no way he would have caught Alonso even with clear track. He did well to keep ahead of Massa in my opinion. Had the race continued for another 10 laps, it could have been a Ferrari 1-2.
 
I concur this is one of the best F1 seasons ever. 👍

I agree.

But for some reason when I'm asked for my favorite F1 season ever, I always go to YouTube to watch this lap:



Don't ask me why, though. Because it's actually far from the best F1 season. I don't know why I think so. The stupidly fast Williams, the balls-to-the-walls Montoya, old-school Kimi, Schumi at his peak.

Perhaps it's just pure nostalgia.
 
I agree.

But for some reason when I'm asked for my favorite F1 season ever, I always go to YouTube to watch this lap:



Don't ask me why, though. Because it's actually far from the best F1 season. I don't know why I think so. The stupidly fast Williams, the balls-to-the-walls Montoya, old-school Kimi, Schumi at his peak.

Perhaps it's just pure nostalgia.


Everytime I watch a clip from that era, I get all unhappy because I miss that V10 sound so much :guilty:
 
Note to Ferrari and Alonso: This is how you win a grand prix. No whining. No bickering. Nose-to-the-grindstone. Keep this up and Alonso may yet get that WDC.

I think Ferrari very well know that. They don't find much reason to whine and bicker when the stewards with their often controversial and sluggish decision making are left out of things. Thank god the pace car was unneccesary as well :)

Everytime I watch a clip from that era, I get all unhappy because I miss that V10 sound so much :guilty:

Well you'll be even more unhappy when the 4 cylinders arrive in 2013 :) :lol:
 
Well you'll be even more unhappy when the 4 cylinders arrive in 2013 :) :lol:

Well, I think the turbo sound will be better than the current V8s. The V8 sound is awful to be honest. Especially the Renault one.
 
Yea, it doesn't help that they've continually lowered the rpm limit either, as by now they would have been WELL over 20k if they were unrestricted. It should be interesting to see what kind of engine/exhaust note they manage with the new 4 cylinder though. It's just too bad the sound likely won't hold a candle to some of the older Ferrari V12's or even the V-10's from a few years ago that were so euphoric to the ears :indiff:
 
I think Ferrari very well know that. They don't find much reason to whine and bicker when the stewards with their often controversial and sluggish decision making are left out of things. Thank god the pace car was unneccesary as well :)

Not in this race, at least. (although the single one that I found controversial that went against Ferrari was the 5s penalty handed for speeding behind the safety car to a whole bunch of guys that didn't go Alonso's way)... With Alonso's diva-ish attitude and histrionics, it's often easy to forget what an awesome racing driver he is... until he does something like this. (Not that I've ever forgotten.. he's near the top of my list).

What the hell... Alonso's ego is half the reason to go watch him race... it's part of what makes him exciting. :D
 
That's not what I meant. I was thinking more of the way Lewis Hamilton is Public Enemy #1 in Spain.
 
That's not what I meant. I was thinking more of the way Lewis Hamilton is Public Enemy #1 in Spain.

I think it's a mutual thing. Hamilton fans hate Alonso just as much.

I mean, we're not likely to see Fernando Alonso on Top Gear are we? (Despite the BBC's strict policy of impartiality - which doesn't seem to apply to that particular show... :indiff:) Just an example.

He'd probably require a couple of bodyguards if he did.
 
My notes:

Superb drives both from Alonso and Button, either of them could be a deserving winner. As Alonso himself recognized, his mechanics gave him the victory.

Anyway, driving like they did, in such difficult circumstances, was a stellar job (Button because he kept his cool whiel at the same time driving at the absolute limit AND with Alonso breathing on his neck for more than half the race ... at Monza of all places; Alonso because he kept his relentless pressure, driving on his limit also, under th dirty air and with ever unpredictable downforce due to Button's wake).

I kept remembering how Massa went off at the Parabolica, "just like that" and because he met Schumacher's wake (in quali) and expecting Alonso to go off the same way (or at least to get a "scary moment" at the Parabolica in any given lap.

Massa was solid (rock solid, Lewis would say :p ), I don't think he could do more than follow those two, even if he had the same pace (he did).

Vettel, Rosberg, Webber and even Kubica did the best they could do, RBR's clever strategy making up (especially in Vettel's case) for poor starts.

Hulkkenberg could've had here his stellar drive, but it was spoiled by too many mistakes when under hard pressure (at the chicanes, he was lucky this was at Monza, and he was also lucky becaus the stewards turned a blind eye on his actions).

And when we all thought the championship was down to 2 contenders, here we have it back to being a 5 horse race. That's good news!
 
And when we all thought the championship was down to 2 contenders, here we have it back to being a 5 horse race. That's good news!

Not if you're a RBR/Mark Webber fan!:scared:
 
Not if you're a RBR/Mark Webber fan!:scared:

Hey cheer up, Hamilton didn't score and he's Webber's main rival :)

I bet Webber was happy. Bet he was panicking after his terrible start, but then drove past with a Mclaren in the gravel - No barn door of a rear wing, must be Lewis :p Bet he smiled as he drove past.

I think he may have got up to 3rd had he not crashed into Massa. But lucky for the other 4 contenders he didn't score, and unless Mclaren up their game for Singapore with their updates (Whether they work well or not) they've not got a chance against Red Bull, or ferrari for that matter.
 
Good race, great performance by Alonso and his pit crew. I think Massa could have pushed more to try and get 2nd place but Button was pretty fast and consistent too.
 
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