F1 Official Thread - Grand Prix of Britain

[Sinner]

FP1 is back beotches! 

Lewis' Reebok boots on Instagram

And shot of the day...

 

[zk1mpls]

I've never seen JB's shoes up close... always Lewis' pair. They definitely great-looking. Interesting lacing, too. They seem to be always worn down a bit, though. I wonder how many pairs of boots they go through in a season...

 

[Sinner]

I think JB wears Alpine Stars boots.  I think they're all-black.

Lewis' lace-locks appear to be something like what they have on the Jordan VI's... 

 

[zk1mpls]

Well, that was a very unusual qualifying session. Well done, JB and Kamui Kobayashi. All the Germans out of the top ten. Yikes.

Praying for a lot of rain tomorrow.

 

[Sinner]

That was all sorts of crazy. JB's pace was ridiculous. If he gets a good start and is able to pull-away, he shouldn't have any problem winning the race. 

Alonso will be reasonably happy as his main rivals are behind him.  

Lewis' pace. 

Vettel's pace. 

I think they're predicting a dry race, but as it's Spa... who the hell knows!

I think Kimi and Maldo are under-investigation, so it can still change. 

 

[zk1mpls]

^ Under investigation for what?

Yeah, Lewis' and Seb's lack of pace is pretty surprising, especially when their teammates have done pretty well in Q3. Schumi' and Britney's lack of pace as well. The lack of running/setup testing during yesterday's Free Practice sessions definitely affected some teams badly.

Should be an interesting race tomorrow.

 

[flashout01]

i want the start to be dry then finish in VERY wet

 

[Sinner]

This just in... Maldo has been dropped 3 spots for impeding Hulk during Q.

Kimi was believed to have cut a chicane during his hot-laps.  Not sure if a decision has been made yet.

EDIT ~ No penalty for Kimi.

 

[Thierry Henry]

Damn I wasn't able to watch any of the Free Practices or the Qualifying sessions


Will def be watching the race tomorrow though, I hope that Sauber does well!

 

[zk1mpls]

Damn, that was a disappointing start.

 

[Thierry Henry]

What a start to the Belgian GP!!! I knew some **** was gonna happen. Grosjean you ******g idiot you took out all the wrong cars! I didn't think Maldonado jump started, that was a clean start. His reaction time was just

Damn man I wanted Sauber to do good, I spoke too soon

 

[Sinner]

Grosjean... 

 

[zk1mpls]

Just a perfect drive for Jenson Button. Fantastic race for him. Mr. Finger finishing second, though.

Too bad Michael dropped down to 7th since he had gearbox problems. Massa suprisingly finishing fifth.

Will Schumi and Maldonado be penalised? The Grosean-induced pileup would probably be considered a racing incident, unfortunately. :\

EDIT: I think Maldonado did jump the start... but that was reallllly close. If you saw my tweets on Twitter... I was pissed off at Hamilton at first, though.

 

[Sinner]

JB 

VET 

 

KIMI 

MAS 

Lew 

GRO 

I think Schumi might get a penalty... they handed a similar one in Monaco (not to him).  Not sure about Maldo.

Gros squeezed Lew into the grass/wall.  He definitely caused it and we've seen penalties cuz of it.  

 

[zk1mpls]

^ My take:

JB
Vettel
Kimi
Felipe
Lewis :\
Grosjean >:
Fernando :x |I so close to his head.
Michael :\

 

[zk1mpls]

Good to have McLaren's "Tooned" back as well. This episode's particularly hilarious compared to the last (which I didn't really appreciate. Lol.).


Interesting rear wing art for the McLarens this weekend:

Millions of dollars worth of wreckage. :x

Interesting from Pirelli, too. Didn't know they made these:

 

[Sinner]

 

[zk1mpls]

^ That was practically a meter from his head and above his feet. Damb crazy.

I was like, "no... no... no... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" when Fernando got taken out. He and Lewis had basically nowhere to go.

 

[zk1mpls]

Then it gets worse.

F1: Ecclestone Says Schumacher ‘Leaving’ Formula One
Bernie Ecclestone hinted Sunday that Michael Schumacher will not be back on the grid next season...
SPEED Staff / GMM | Posted September 02, 2012 GMM Newswire

New comments from Bernie Ecclestone (Pictured) have fueled doubts about Michael Schumacher's plans to possibly remain on the grid for another season. (Photo: Getty Images)
Bernie Ecclestone on Sunday hinted Michael Schumacher is set to return to retirement.

Asked by Eddie Jordan at Spa-Francorchamps about the seven-time World Champion's career spanning a 300 Grands Prix, the F1 chief executive answered: "I'm sorry that he's leaving us not being a winner (with Mercedes), because he is a winner."

The surprised former team owner Jordan, now working as a pundit for British BBC One television, asked 81-year-old Ecclestone if his comment means Schumacher is set to return to retirement at the end of the season.

"I don't know, I don't know," Ecclestone quickly replied.

Got to catch him live at a race sooner than planned. Damb.

 

[Sinner]

BREAKING ~ 1-race ban for Grosjean! 

http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/09/02/grosjean-receives-one-race-ban-after-spa-shunt/

Grosjean receives one-race ban after Spa shunt

Romain Grosjean won’t be taking part in the Italian GP for Lotus after receiving a one-race suspension for his role in the first corner crash in Spa.

He has also been fined 50,000 euros.

The FIA Stewards decided that he had committed an “extremely serious breach of the regulations which had the potential to cause injury to others. It eliminated leading championship contenders from the race. The stewards note the team conceded the action of the driver was an extremely serious mistake and an error of judgement. Neither the team nor the driver made any submission in mitigation of penalty.”

Lotus can of course run another driver in Italy.

And 10-place grid-drop for Maldo!

Haha, let Schumi and Merc decide when he should retire! 

 

[zk1mpls]

Surprising he got one ahead of Maldonado.

BUT

Breaking news: Maldonado receives a ten-place grid penalty. Five for the jump-start; five for causing an accident?

This is why I love Spa. Always exciting and special; always controversial.

Can't wait for next week at Monza!

 

[zk1mpls]

Surprising to see that we had a dry race, too, considering the monsoon during Free Practice!

 

[Thierry Henry]

Damn what a race there gentlemen!!!

JENSON!!!!!


I didn't know that the McLarens had that Tooned decal behind the rear wing.


That's very surprising that we see Grosjean get suspended before Maldonado.


Can't wait for Monza next week

 

[Sinner]

That's the problem with the FIA penalty system... it's very case-by-case.  

The reason for the tough penalty against Grosjean, I think, was cuz of how many cars it took-out... and how potentially dangerous it was. It could have caused serious injury to Alonso or some other driver.  Also, they had to take into account that it was not his first start-incident.  I think he crashed 7 of his 12 race-starts or something like that.  Track-record.

Of course for Maldonado, who have probably had more incidents, it was probably because each incident was "smaller" and (relatively) wasn't as dangerous.  If anything, I felt Maldo's crashes have been more "malicious".  Remember how he crashed into Lewis last year in Spa after quali?  It was intentional.  

I know it seems unfair cuz if anything, Maldo should have been banned first, but that's the problem... it's the rules.  It leads to seemingly-inconsistent rulings.  The FIA will probably need to work on that. 

 

[robsheedwallace]

Wow at the race I missed. Sucks Lewis was out but glad Jensen was able to get the checkered for us. After seeing those pics, I'm glad everyone is a ok.