I stopped watching F1 this season..

About six races ago once it became clear that Vettel was going to bore the pants off us. Which he has done.


But I'm watching todays race, purely because it's Mark Webber's finale.

Pleasure to watch him. Shook his hand at Silverstone the other year. Hand like a shovel.

Be brilliant if he went out with a victory.

 

Yeah. Hopefully someone will take Vettel out at the first corner. Might make it a bit more interesting.

 

Indeed.

Fingers crossed.

 

Personally I I've watched a lot this year but I go through spells were I watch it and then I don't.

Think Mercedes will be up their next year. They have the mite of one of the biggest company's in sports behind them.

Would have been nice if webber retired last year and we could have had Hamilton vs vettel in the red bull this season.

 

Even though it's pretty obvious Red Bull favour Vettel, it's disappointing that he hasn't been anywhere near Vettel's pace seeing as he has the same hardware underneath him. Can't see him being anywhere near the front, unfortunately the only direction he ever seems to go is backwards.

I've fallen out with F1 this year as well, I thought the later Schumacher years were boring but the last couple of years have been far worse. The cars are too reliable now (more to do with engines being run well within their limits as opposed to extracting the maximum out of them up until a few years ago), and taking out things like refueling has put too much emphasis on qualifying.

Looking forward to this one though, no-one really has anything to lose and Interlagos is a proper race track, none of these daft technical corners, it's more about having the guts to take as much speed as you dare into the corners. Looks like there could be rain as well.

 

Next season sees the biggest change to the regulations in a generation with less emphasis on aerodynamics, the early season form will be a lot down to luck on who manages to bend the rules enough to get an advantage so we'll probably see some unfamiliar winners in the first half of the season. A bit like the year when we had 'Braun F1' - had to wait until the other teams had copied what they were doing before anyone could challenge them.

 

1 thing I've learnt from watching Formula 1 is the German national anthem

 

I think something that a lot of people don't seem to realise is that Vettel and Webber's cars are actually different and perform differently because of that.

In F1 size and weight is key because everyone wants the lightest car possible (for obvious reasons) and because the engine weighs so much and the driver weighs so much where they put everything on the car is vital. A light driver will have quite a lot of ballast added to his car in order to meet the minimum weight requirements so they can play around with where they put everything else a little more. If it makes sense aerodynamically and functionally to put a certain part on the car at the back then they put a lump of lead (or whatever they use) in the front to balance it out and visa versa. For a bigger heavier driver the amount of ballast they use is much less so they scope they have to arrange things is much lower. They get a choice between putting something in a stupid place aerodynamically or functionally because weight wise it's the only place it really fits or they put it where it should go and they don't have much ballast to counter it with in another part of the car and then the handling or performance is impaired.

Red Bull is and always has been firmly behind Vettel so the car is designed around him (like most cars are around their lead driver) but with Webber being so much bigger than him it means that his car doesn't perform the same way and things had to be changed. For example I believe his KERS unit is in a different place because it simply wouldn't have worked where Vettel has it so Mark has to have it somewhere else, somewhere it isn't designed to go and that's why he has KERS failures so often. There are other problems with his car as well, he often has worse handling than Vettel because he hasn't got the same amount of balance giving him the downforce etc.

Or there's something like that anyway, I'm probably wrong

 

Certainly something in that. Must be worth a tenth or two although I've never heard an F1 pundit, such as Gary Anderson, confirm this.

Never heard that Mark's Kers unit was in a different place though, I must admit.

 

I can't remember where I saw that about his kers or exactly what it was that I saw but I'm sure they said that it was either in a different place or was a different kind or something like that because of weight issues meaning he can't have the same system as Vettel. I also seem to remember seeing one of the sky lot mentioning that Adrian Newey is nortorious for refusing to compromise his car's design to accommodate a bigger driver so even Ricciardo who's just been signed up to Red Bull will struggle for space next season has his hips are quite wide but Newey's design is a narrow cockpit and it won't be changed for him regardless. But that could also be a load of rubbish.

 

I think I've missed more Grand Prix this year than I have in the last 30 years combined. The major problem for me on a personal level is the only bloke I really like is driving about in a Morris Minor. There's a few other decent fellas, but it's only Jensen Button that I really relate to. I can't begin to describe how depressing it is watching him driving the pants off the McLaren, consistently beating his team mate, who could well go on to be a real star, but finishing 12th. It's an awful car.

The major problem for F1 as a whole is that Red Bull and Vettel are too good. That's not their fault, they're doing their job, it's the other teams and drivers who aren't. A few years ago at least Mark Webber would give Vettel a bit of competition, but he's been miles off the pace this season. Before the race starts you already know you're going to be watching a race for second place while Vettel zooms off in to the distance. Where's the fun in watching a race for the runner up position? It's boring.

There have been a number of races this season where Vettel could have lapped the entire field if he hadn't eased off to stop the whole thing becoming an embarrassment. Check his lap times in some of the races. In the space of a dozen laps he builds up a lead that gives him a pit-stop in hand and then slows down by anything up to a couple of seconds a lap. He burns off fuel, puts on new tyres and goes slower. That doesn't happen when you're racing. It doesn't happen when you just ease off a bit. We're basically watching a 'race' where the leader is sand bagging himself. He's driving around the circuit playing with his i-phone.

Well done to Red Bull and well done to Vettell, fantastic work. But without any decent competition it's just not worth watching.

 

Did anyone notice Vettel putting all four wheels over the line into
The pits in the last lap

It was the same as Massa earlier and he got a drive through. He should have had a
Time penalty.

Red bull are the new Ferrari , mcclaren Benatton etc.its a weird sport.

 

F1 is not a sport. If it was, all drivers would have a the same make of car, viz. Red Bull.