Abu Dhabi GP Discussion

EvilMonkey

Thought I would kick this off.
Qualifying: 1700 (1300 GMT)
Race: 1700 (1300 GMT)

Seems to be a kers track, and suits McLaren this weekend.
The drivers seem to like the circuit from quotes I have read.

Top Dog

Just watching the free-practice replay on BBC at the moment and it certainly looks like a spectacular venue.

Just hope there'll be some decent overtaking so that the season finale isn't all limp-wristed.

Slutmonkey57b

Looking good for McLaren so far. But what about Button? What can he do here? Looking good, pushing on AAAAAAARRRGHH.

Sorry.
The drivers all seem to be pleasantly suprised by the new track, which is a good sign. Never before seen, so it could throw up some performance gaps. The two halves of the circuit are suited to totally opposite setups so a good all rounder is a benefit. Everyone looks revved up for it and Button is back on form. Could be a great race.

Irishshin

Am worried it will be a snoozefest, hope it won't be though

I will be very disappointed if nothing happens in the pit lane exit.

Top Dog

With a good few race seats still not confirmed, it might motivate some to make a bit more of an effort.

Plus with the titles sorted no-one really has much to loose so they might as well enjoy it.

Iron Hide

Irishshin wrote: »

Am worried it will be a snoozefest, hope it won't be though

I will be very disappointed if nothing happens in the pit lane exit.

Aye an engine blowout (or two:P) in the pit exit would make things rather interesting... Kobayashi went well in practice too, Toyota or maybe one of the new teams coul do worse than hand him a drive..

EvilMonkey

Red Storm wrote: »

Aye an engine blowout (or two:P) in the pit exit would make things rather interesting... Kobayashi went well in practice too, Toyota or maybe one of the new teams coul do worse than hand him a drive..

Supposedly there's a trap door somewhere in the tunnel so they can remove the cars quickly if there is a problem.
Looks like Toyota wont have too many options for drivers anyway so Kobayashi will probably get one.

I don't think it will be the most exciting race either.

IM0

EvilMonkey wrote: »

Supposedly there's a trap door somewhere in the tunnel so they can remove the cars quickly if there is a problem..

I think this is there in case it turns boring, a bit of 'race engineering' when the lead cars are passing overhead, should help liven things up if needed

mwrf

Final Practice starts on half an hour and is live on the bbc iplayer.

But I can't watch anything on the iplayer because I'm not in the uk I hear you ask!

This uk proxy is free all weekend:
http://www.ukproxyserver.co.uk/info/proxy-server-trial

Easy to set up

amacachi

Some coming out with the usual "oh people are complaining before we know anything." Look at the track, slow corners and long straights, why would it be any different as usual. Hopefully I'm wrong.

thebman

Trackside looks very boring TBH. Normally you have scenic backdrops, a lot of the background is just sky here as a car drives in straight line down grey track.

Its a bit weird and boring looking. Its ok in the grandstand sections I guess. Don't like the blue/green bits at the sides. Otherwise the track looks an is wide so hopefully will allow overtaking. Reminds me of Malaysia track for some reason.

EvilMonkey

Give me a few hills full of spectators any day over a couple of balconies with nob's on them.
Its easy to see why it sold out, there is only 2 or 3 not very big stands and there doesn't seem to be any general admittance spectators. Give it a few years and they will have covers over the stands just like China.

Hamilton easily on pole, he should have a decent fuel load too, it will be his race to loose tomorrow then its between Brawn and Red Bull for the rest of the podium.

amacachi

EvilMonkey wrote: »

Give me a few hills full of spectators any day over a couple of balconies with nob's on them.
Its easy to see why it sold out, there is only 2 or 3 not very big stands and there doesn't seem to be any general admittance spectators. Give it a few years and they will have covers over the stands just like China.

Hamilton easily on pole, he should have a decent fuel load too, it will be his race to loose tomorrow then its between Brawn and Red Bull for the rest of the podium.

Doubt it, Shanghai holds over a quarter of a million AFAIK, Abu Dhabi holds about 50,000. It'd be to not sell it out to be fair.

Hope for the sake of the race he's on low fuel. Funnily enough if it was his decision it wouldn't surprised me if he was, he seems like he'd prefer to have to drive as hard as possible for the win rather than just take it easy.

Ghost Train

Find it difficult to get involved with new tracks like this, I guess once it becomes more familar it will get better. Hopefully the race tomorrow will bring it to life a bit more

ottostreet

relatively spectacular looking track, but it still felt...gimmicky.

raikkonen & alonso ending their stays at ferrari and renault on a high note, arent they!

great drive from hamilton in qualifying, looks comfortable enough, may wait for the weights to be published though

Slutmonkey57b

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2009/10/31/abu-dhabi-grand-prix-fuel-weights/

Fuel weights are out.
Red bulls heaviest but only by a few laps. Brawn same weight as Mclaren and almost a second down.

This one is over, Hamilton has it in the bag.

Ghost Train

well deserved pole from hamilton, would have expected him to be lighter than that, given the time difference

thebman

ottostreet wrote: »

relatively spectacular looking track, but it still felt...gimmicky.

raikkonen & alonso ending their stays at ferrari and renault on a high note, arent they!

great drive from hamilton in qualifying, looks comfortable enough, may wait for the weights to be published though

As someone else put it, it looks a real life version of a trackmania track.
http://www.pimp-clan.be/site3/images/stories/trackmania_nation_007.jpg

bland and boring, hope the racings different. I don't mind most of the tracks although I prefer the classics but this one is taking the piss TBH.

amacachi

Barring some unreal bad luck I can't see anything other than Hamilton winning by 25+ seconds.

Eddie on BBC not wearing a poppy, have to admit I'm not a fan of that. Makes very little sense for someone who always refers to himself as british.

frostie500

amacachi wrote: »

Eddie on BBC not wearing a poppy, have to admit I'm not a fan of that. Makes very little sense for someone who always refers to himself as british.

When has Jordan refered to himself as British? He always had his team racing under the Irish flag, and to be honest I don't see why he should wear the poppy, that is to commemorate the soldiers that died fighting for British forces throughout the world. We have our own day of commemoration in July for our own fallen soldiers

thebman

amacachi wrote: »

Barring some unreal bad luck I can't see anything other than Hamilton winning by 25+ seconds.

Eddie on BBC not wearing a poppy, have to admit I'm not a fan of that. Makes very little sense for someone who always refers to himself as british.

:rolleyes: doesn't matter a fook TBH.

Eddie Jordan is Irish and always has been. The team ran under the Irish flag and when they won he stood on the podium and sung the Irish national anthem.

I don't think he refers to himself as British and even if he did, he can choose not to wear a symbol on the objective, unbiased BBC surely?

amacachi

frostie500 wrote: »

When has Jordan refered to himself as British? He always had his team racing under the Irish flag, and to be honest I don't see why he should wear the poppy, that is to commemorate the soldiers that died fighting for British forces throughout the world. We have our own day of commemoration in July for our own fallen soldiers

When the subject of british sport/british F1/british racing comes up he constantly refers to "us" and "we".
More Irish died while fighting for the british forces than died fighting for Ireland.

thebman

amacachi wrote: »

When the subject of british sport/british F1/british racing comes up he constantly refers to "us" and "we".
More Irish died while fighting for the british forces than died fighting for Ireland.

I think you'll find he is probably referring to himself as part of the BBC team not referring to himself as British.

It would be stupid to spend every 3 seconds pointing out that he isn't British but Irish. Anyway this is totally irrelevant to the gp.

frostie500

amacachi wrote: »

When the subject of british sport/british F1/british racing comes up he constantly refers to "us" and "we".
More Irish died while fighting for the british forces than died fighting for Ireland.

In all fairness as far as racing is concerned he is part of the British motor racing industry so I always take it that he is speaking in that regard and for sport in general when I talk about my football team in England I would always refer to "us" just like a lot of people so I think your'e a bit off base with that.

As a side note our day of commemoration honours our soldiers that fell for other nations such as when fighting for the British, and there is also a statue in Dublin to remember those soldiers. But enough on that the race is about to start!

amacachi

None of the top 10 1-stopping it seems, hopefully Kimi can nick a few places at the start and pick up some decent points. Sickner for anyone who gets stuck behind him today.

amacachi

Poor start for Kimi, great start for Kavalainen. Think Hamilton is taking it handy enough.

amacachi

Hamilton's tyres have been lookin awful since the first onboard round lap 6/7. Must've done his usual trick of blowing them too quick.

Ghost Train

the redbulls have done well to stay with hamilton, will be interesting to see where the top three are after the first stops, fuel load will be interesting to set up for the final pitstops

amacachi

Great driving again from Kobayashi there, Button was almost too fair with him.

amacachi

Disaster for Hamilton.

Coupla points for Kimi gets him 5th in the championship and if he can get two more than Heikki it's 3rd for Ferrari.

Irishshin

Hope Kimi can do it

vincenzolorenzo

How the hell did algersuari make such a balls of his stop?? Wrong garage :rolleyes:

Ghost Train

looking good for redbull, would be nice if the tires had some effect on the end of the race or some sort of excitement

IM0

wow this is a boring race

but on the upside theres one extra slot for the sterling prize :rolleyes: not

should be about time for that pitlane trap door now

Irishshin

vincenzolorenzo wrote: »

How the hell did algersuari make such a balls of his stop?? Wrong garage :rolleyes:

Was the most exciting part of the race so far though...

amacachi

Good God this was probably the most boring race of the year so far. Is it only us who don't care about the facilities or the decorations or the fact it has a long straight? Some decent ****ing racing is what we want. Gah!

IM0

Money talks and if its one thing arabs have its money.....and oil.

I personally cant believe how close to the track the hotel is and the bridge :eek: :crazy:

IM0

and the best bit? - the banter between the drivers at the podium room
thats great to hear in all its unedited glory! -moar moar of this in the future please.

EvilMonkey

Not even a cheer from the "Fans" at the end, maybe they were asleep.
Very few waving flags too.

Ghost Train

the last few laps from button and webber were good to see

if redbull can carry there advantage throught to next they could have another very good year, great race for vettel and good season

bad race for Ferrari a lot of work for them to do

Grim.

thought it was a great race tbh another masterclass by vettel last lap between button and webber was fantastic.

kobayashi done a great job in sixth aswell

Woden

enjoyable race. Really liked the BBC coverage this year also!

IM0

is that JA doing the press conference?

aidan_dunne

me@ucd wrote: »

is that JA doing the press conference?

Yep, he's done it a few times this year when Peter Windsor's been busy with his duties at USFOff, sorry, I mean USF1. :D Or something like that.

Expect to see Windsor back in the role full time next year when USF1 doesn't make it onto the grid and it's slot ends up getting sold to the ex-BMW Sauber team. Me, cynical? Never!

G-Money

EJ on the grid with Brundle was very funny. As was yer man offering them a round of shots live on air during the forum

Slutmonkey57b

Very tedious race up to the Button/Webber battle, but really all that does is prove that
a) Tilke is a moron
b) The single most important factor in exciting racing isn't aero, track layout, or rules, it's performace differential. If all the cars are similar spec, have similar characteristics and similar lap time, there's little or no overtaking to be done. Up until the tyre change, it was a procession. Suddenly, Button has an advantage of .75 a lap and things get very very interesting.

As for Button:
Another great drive, and most revealing, his post race press conference and the talk in the weighing room proves why he's a better champion than Hamilton or Schumacher will ever be. Class act all the way through.

thebman

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Very tedious race up to the Button/Webber battle, but really all that does is prove that
a) Tilke is a moron
b) The single most important factor in exciting racing isn't aero, track layout, or rules, it's performace differential. If all the cars are similar spec, have similar characteristics and similar lap time, there's little or no overtaking to be done. Up until the tyre change, it was a procession. Suddenly, Button has an advantage of .75 a lap and things get very very interesting.

As for Button:
Another great drive, and most revealing, his post race press conference and the talk in the weighing room proves why he's a better champion than Hamilton or Schumacher will ever be. Class act all the way through.

In fairness if it wasn't for dirty air, Button would have passed Webber I'd say.

It is the dirty air that prevents proper overtaking as the drivers have to put in a miracle lap to get the car close enough to even have a go at another driver.

Slutmonkey57b

I think if Button had switched to the option tyre in the second stint he'd have had Webber regardless.

Q: Why do they show us the boring parts ("official FIA questions") of the driver press conference instead of stuff like this:

Q: Jenson, no win to round off the season but obviously an upbeat ending for you.

JB: For sure. < Tedious corporate blah > Now I am going to enjoy myself and celebrate what I have achieved this season.

SV: I hear you are getting married.

JB: Are you proposing?

SV: I heard you will get married.

JB: You know, they write great things in the press. Thank you for that one Seb, but I am going to enjoy this as we often look too far into the future and I want to just enjoy this moment and then I will look to the future after that.

Q: (Anne Giuntini - L'Equipe) To all three of you: considering there is a long break before February, I suppose you won't be on holiday all the time. What is your working programme?

SV: Jenson's getting married, we heard. So he's busy.
MW: And we're all invited as well.
SV: Yeah, everyone.
JB: Next question.
MW: But Japan's a long way.

It continues on from there:
http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_5668433,00.html
Funny stuff, would like to see a video of that.

amacachi

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

I think if Button had switched to the option tyre in the second stint he'd have had Webber regardless.

Q: Why do they show us the boring parts ("official FIA questions") of the driver press conference instead of stuff like this:

Q: Jenson, no win to round off the season but obviously an upbeat ending for you.

JB: For sure. < Tedious corporate blah > Now I am going to enjoy myself and celebrate what I have achieved this season.

SV: I hear you are getting married.

JB: Are you proposing?

SV: I heard you will get married.

JB: You know, they write great things in the press. Thank you for that one Seb, but I am going to enjoy this as we often look too far into the future and I want to just enjoy this moment and then I will look to the future after that.

Q: (Anne Giuntini - L'Equipe) To all three of you: considering there is a long break before February, I suppose you won't be on holiday all the time. What is your working programme?

SV: Jenson's getting married, we heard. So he's busy.
MW: And we're all invited as well.
SV: Yeah, everyone.
JB: Next question.
MW: But Japan's a long way.

It continues on from there:
http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_5668433,00.html
Funny stuff, would like to see a video of that.

Heh, cheeky ****ers. :pac:

Grim.

just seen this on Rubens Barrichello's twiter page http://twitpic.com/o1h0s

amacachi

Grim. wrote: »

just seen this on Rubens Barrichello's twiter page http://twitpic.com/o1h0s

Well he has signed for them.