2012 Formula One Discussion

[François]

R.I.P. Superleague.

[phil1993]

In an unexpected twist, Fernando Torres is now driving for Sauber, while Checo Perez is partnering Didier Drogba up front next week.

[tderias]

If Chelsea win the CL its gonna work out nicely for Sauber ^^

[Eric_Cartman]

If Chelsea win the CL its gonna work out nicely for Sauber ^^

But Chelsea will not win!

[reppo]

Interesting, Chelsea is owned by Roman Abramovich, who is also main owner of Millhouse Capital, a filhty rich holding company, and a friend of Putin. Is he now interested in F1.

[Edi96]

18 years have now passed since F1 lost the legendary Ayrton Senna. Gone but not forgotten.

[iceman1]

Fancy racing with Red Bull Racing at this year's British Grand Prix? On 6-8 July, both of Red Bull Racing’s Formula One cars will be covered in a collage of pictures in a campaign for the charity Wings for Life. Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber invite you to join them in their race by adding your photo to their cars. To take part, simply upload your photo and donate 15 Euros to Wings for Life’s world class spinal cord injury research. To show our appreciation for your support, Red Bull Racing will match every donation made. You will also receive an official certificate from Red Bull Racing to authenticate that your photo has been added to the collage.

What’s more, once you’ve uploaded your photo your details will be automatically entered into a free prize draw. One lucky donor and a friend will be given the chance to see the Faces for Charity cars in action at the British Grand Prix, including exclusive behind the scenes access.

So what are you waiting for? Be part of our team, get close to the action and support this incredible cause.

https://www.facesforcharity.com/en/home.html

Donate to F1Zone and I'll post your photo on the main site and forum

[donald29]

I want to donate under the name 'Lewis Hamilton' and upload a picture of Lewis.

[phil1993]

Oi Khodr, how about a gift to your wonderful F1 editor, eh?

[François]

Life. Need one.

[tderias]

And you assigned different colours to the different points... Someone has a lot of time on his hands lol

[iceman1]

But where's the most important thing? the total number of points ?

Button in Budapest

[Zack]

Life. Need one.

OMG

Off-Topic: show

On seriously note you can help us. Maintaining F1 DB

[iceman1]

Very weird story from Joe

Two men in Wellford, South Carolina, have been charged with armed robbery. Mario Andretti Jackson, 38, and Tyler Alexander Fernandez, 19, were charged after being arrested on Monday.

For those of you who might not understand the significance of such a story, it should be noted that Mario Andretti is a legend of American racing, his name being synonymous with speed in the United States. He won the 1978 Formula 1 World Championship with Lotus and is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula 1, IndyCar, the World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR. He has also been a winner in sprints and midgets.

Tyler Alexander is one of the rare Americans who made a significant contribution to F1 in a career that stretched from 1963 until a couple of years ago. Alexander was one of the founders of McLaren and later became a director and shareholder. He oversaw much success for the company in CanAm and IndyCar before selling his shares to Ron Dennis. He later returned to F1 as a leading player in Carl Haas’s Beatrice F1 team before returning to McLaren as an engineer throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

[reppo]

F1: Formula One - On And Off Track Week 18 by Berthold Bouman, F1 correspondent

Is Formula One tired of the Pirelli tyres

Just like last year, the Pirelli tyres are dominating Formula One, but now drivers start to wonder whether the rapid degradation is a bit more than they have bargained for. Several drivers have criticized the Italian tyre company for this year’s tyre compounds, and several team have again huge problems getting the tyres to work on their 2012 contender.

Seven-times World Champion Michael Schumacher commented after the Bahrain Grand Prix, “I had to drive at a pace to manage the tyres to finish with tyres left over. We should question whether that should be the case. It's unsatisfying and not what a Formula 1 event should be." And he added, “If 80 or 90% complain, maybe Pirelli should think about it. I don't think it is right only one or two teams can handle it and the rest struggle so much.”

And Schumacher has a point, tyre degradation has never been so high, certainly in Bahrain, where most drivers had to take back the throttle to make sure they would make it to finish. “The main thing that I feel a little bit unpleased is I think everybody had to drive well below drivers’ and cars’ limit to maintain the tires,” Schumacher complained. What Schumacher is saying is that the tyres are too much a part of the equation, they should not play such a dominant role in a Grand Prix.

Pirelli was actually asked by the FIA in 2010 before they made their debut in 2011, to produce tyres that would improve the show, and Pirelli did that with tyres that would wear quickly, and spectators would therefore see more pit stops, which would lead to more action on track as drivers had to regain their position after a pit stop. The idea worked and Pirelli was praised by the complete Formula One fraternity, the media, and the fans as well. But now it seems Pirelli has taken it one step too far.

Schumacher isn’t the only driver to voice his concerns. McLaren’s Jenson Button also has his doubts. “Last year, we knew the tyres had high degradation but we understood them. This year, I don't really know what to make of the tyres,” but he said, “it's not an excuse because other people are doing a good job on them this weekend.” And McLaren Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh agreed, “He who understands the tyres first, will have a huge advantage in the world championship.”

Schumacher’s other argument that drivers cannot drive at the limit anymore also makes sense. Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso are drivers who always drive their car at the very limit, but they can’t do that anymore, driving three laps at the limit means the tyres are completely gone. Raikkonen proved it in China and Bahrain.

In China he was second with nine laps to go, but his tyres hit the cliff, the point where they start to lose grip, and four laps later he was in 14th position. On lap 43 he lapped the circuit in 1m41.794s, and on lap 49, after trying to hard, his lap time had dropped to 1m47.739s.

Lotus and Raikkonen did learn a lesson in China, in Bahrain Raikkonen was confronted with the same problem, when he had caught up with Sebastian Vettel who was leading the race, he had only one opportunity to overtake the German. He failed to do so and after that Raikkonen had to settle for second place as he knew another attempt might spell the end of the life of his Pirelli tyres.

Of course everyone wanted to see a battle between the two, but the tyres didn’t allow it to happen. In this case Pirelli achieved the opposite, fans want more action on track, but spectators were deprived of what could have been another epic Formula One battle for victory. After all, the name of the game is “who gets to the finish line first” and not “who is world champion in preserving tyres”.

Pirelli Director of Motorsport Paul Hembery was disappointed by Schumacher’s comments, "I'm disappointed to hear those comments from someone of Michael's experience. Others were getting on with the job and getting their tyres to work. His comments during winter testing were that he was very happy with the tyres, and now he seems to have changed his tune.”

And Schumacher later replied, “If it was a one-off car issue, you could say it's up to us to deal with it. But basically it is everybody, with maybe one or two exceptions, and if it is 80% of the field that has this problem, then maybe the tyre supplier should think about that. I'm not happy about the situation, let's see what happens in future.”