2013 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix

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Ardius
Of course, my point is more about how this is rarely or never even considered when talking about other drivers. So to make it fair, it would make more sense (and less celebrity) if we just...

I should have also mentioned that nobody would care, pre-1995. I guess there's advantages to F1's lack of popularity in the US...the only time I've ever heard non-racing dirty laundry was Mad Max, Beyond Whippingdrome.
 
It's the first time I've heard Hamilton was a badboy. Sorry but where did you get that ? No one knows Hamilton outside of F1 in my country, maybe it's different in GB, sure he overspeed in a black merc and was at the Sutil incident but other than that I dont see it and most non-f1 fans have no idea that he did that (again in my country and in france at least). His image over here is closer to a superstar like hollywood movie star or very famous singer with it's up and down.

Relative to say someone like Button or Di Resta, he's a bit more on the edge. And he's pretty much synonymous with the word "penalty" now too. He's definitely got a completely different public image to the rest of the drivers, perhaps "bad boy" is not fully correct but in relative terms its pretty much how I see it.
He's not exactly Eric Cantona let's say at least. But he's not the smooth talker like Button or the frankly boring Di Resta.
Most racing drivers are fairly boring in celebrity terms. F1 isn't really the kind of sport that attracts the kind of gossip like football does. But Hamilton brings something else, partly because of the girl but partly because of his (numerous) very public controversies be it penalties, how he won his WDC, his tustle with Fernando or his crash-year-2011.

I should have also mentioned that nobody would care, pre-1995. I guess there's advantages to F1's lack of popularity in the US...the only time I've ever heard non-racing dirty laundry was Mad Max, Beyond Whippingdrome.

I don't know if thats really true.

Definitely popularity has made things like this worse, but generally the world of celebrity has been something that has got worse across all media the last 20 years. Its just that no one in F1 has been particularly interesting to journalists before Hamilton (at least in the UK anyway) during this era of celebrity-obsession.
 
I think Lewis gets a lot of flack for embracing celebrity culture and his bling attitude. Not a bad boy not even a playboy really but similar.

I had no idea he split up with his girlfriend, he mentioned some personal things going on in the post race interview. I wondered if this time it was a family member ill or something but I've found out on gtp it's the GF again.

I'm a fan of Lewis the driver but don't see the need for him to allude to relationship problems/in a bad place mentally at the races. He also shows his problems with muted celebrations, self reflecting moments many times. if its for real this time I'll let him off but really seems he's very melodramatic.

Got me wondering how we never see or hear anything about Vettel's private life, 3 times world champion. I actually thought maybe he's so focused he didn't have a girlfriend but apparently he does.
 
More importantly Ferrari was fined for the DRS misuse.

Apparently if your name isn't Grosjean you just get a fine.

That sort of sucks, IMO. As much as I like Fernando and I think the penalty is well suited to the crime in this case, if they're going to throw the book at Grosjean for the Massa move then they need to do more than give a slap on the wrist for DRS violations.
 
How do you give a DRS penalty, though? 20 seconds?

If this is how Hamilton drives when he's heartbroken, then he's matured a whole lot from his McLaren days.
 
How do you give a DRS penalty, though? 20 seconds?

No idea, but if I was a team boss and a place in the constructors championship was on the line at the end of the season, I'd think seriously about looking the other way while someone poured Coke into the DRS box.

I assume there's some sort of penalty on the books for using it outside the designated zones and times. If it's only a fine (and not a terribly large one, on the scale of F1 budgets), that seems like an opportunity for teams to decide that breaking the rules is worth more to them than the fine.

But yeah, 20 seconds/drive through seems like it'd be enough to stop abuse. It's how pretty much every other instance of gaining an advantage in an unapproved manner is dealt with. Stewards then get the usual final call as to whether an actual advantage was gained.
 
A closer look at how it could have been ruined for Jenson and Vettel

butt-vett-hung-2013-4.jpg
 
Apparently if your name isn't Grosjean you just get a fine.

That sort of sucks, IMO. As much as I like Fernando and I think the penalty is well suited to the crime in this case, if they're going to throw the book at Grosjean for the Massa move then they need to do more than give a slap on the wrist for DRS violations.

It wasn't his fault though. It's not like the DRS is manual and it's up to the driver to activate it only when they're allowed. It's automatically controlled, I assume by the McLaren ECU combined with the timing equipment. If it operated early it wasn't Alonso's fault.
 
It wasn't his fault though. It's not like the DRS is manual and it's up to the driver to activate it only when they're allowed. It's automatically controlled, I assume by the McLaren ECU combined with the timing equipment. If it operated early it wasn't Alonso's fault.

Not Alonso's fault, no. But it was the team's fault. They apparently forgot to change the DRS system into race mode.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/formula-1-alonso-ferrari-fined-drs-misuse-180317632.html

If it was a fault with the system itself, I could see it being a slap on the wrist. But the team messed up and didn't flick a switch? That's all Ferrari's fault. F1 is a team sport, and the result should reflect that part of the team stuffed up.
 
A closer look at how it could have been ruined for Jenson and Vettel

butt-vett-hung-2013-4.jpg
Watching Vettel get desperate and making amateurish lunges like that, was absolutely hilarious; not up to the standards of a champion at all. His eventual pass on Button wasn't that impressive either; he simply had the inside line on a car that had neither the grip or down-force to hang on around the outside! It's not as if he even held on round the outside of Jenson's McLaren at turn three, to have the inside line for four; he simply used KERS to draw alongside. Put simply he's had better races than what he showed yesterday...
 
Watching Vettel get desperate and making amateurish lunges like that, was absolutely hilarious; not up to the standards of a champion at all. His eventual pass on Button wasn't that impressive either; he simply had the inside line on a car that had neither the grip or down-force to hang on around the outside! It's not as if he even held on round the outside of Jenson's McLaren at turn three, to have the inside line for four; he simply used KERS to draw alongside. Put simply he's had better races than what he showed yesterday...

Yeah I agree, I think he had an alright race but it couldn't have been too bad for him to finish a position lower then his quali grid spot.
 
Yeah I agree, I think he had an alright race but it couldn't have been too bad for him to finish a position lower then his quali grid spot.
It certainly wasn't too bad; but I do feel he under-performed. Once again it was a case of Vettel not being able to win, without having pole/the lead at the first corner, and running off into the distance and hiding.
 
Yeah I agree, I think he had an alright race but it couldn't have been too bad for him to finish a position lower then his quali grid spot.

I think he had the best car on the day so he shouldn't have lost places but Button wrecked his chances of winning and he showed signs of frustration throughout the race.
 
I think he had the best car on the day so he shouldn't have lost places but Button wrecked his chances of winning and he showed signs of frustration throughout the race.

Not just Button but also Kimi at the end of the race. It was the worst race Vettel did this season.
 
I think he had the best car on the day so he shouldn't have lost places but Button wrecked his chances of winning and he showed signs of frustration throughout the race.

I don't know about that, maybe he did but I think the Mercedes was well set up for the track and handled the hot conditions like we've never seen before. And I'm talking this year and last year.
 
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