Gran Premio de España Santander 2012

[mikhailv]

Wow, awesome write up. And thanks!

Yes, Ferrari have improved, but the car still struggled accelerating out of fast corners. Slow corners doesn't have an issue, so Monaco along with Alonso's skill doe's raise the expectations.
Though, as you stated, Hamilton gave half a second during qualifying. And if Lewis kept the pole he would have easily won it. He only came eighth as he had to climb up the field, and as stated by the commentators, the dirty air from traffic tends to eat up the tyres.

To clearly measure Ferrari's improvement, we need to see what another driver can do with the car. As you said, Alonso is one of the best, and if he has a decent car then he wouldn't have issues getting pole and leading to the end. Which means the present Ferrari isn't good enough... yet.
As for Massa, we can't blame his weak qualifying for his final race position. Something else is obviously wrong there, and really hope he's not a reflection of the car's true performance.

I think by Canada, Ferrari's next set of upgrades can better assess if they're successfully improving or not.

And for Button, well I think he got too over confident after Australia. That comment of his that it's 2009 all over again could very well be a sign of it. And maybe he relaxed a bit too much mentality, and now he's cracking?

I dont think Jensons cracking mentally, he just isn't that good. I mean, Australia was a simple and great drive. Everything was suiting him. Malaysia, his infamous drying track skill was nowhere. He hit kathikeyan on what, lap 17, and the other 40 laps he was abysmal and miles off the pace. China he wasn't that good, bahrain he was dismal, Catalunya he was dismal.

We all know why he beat lewis last year; Because he kept crashing out and throwing points away. Jenson doesn't have the ability to drive around problems. He cant cope with it. Everytime he fails its, tyres and this and that. When he wins i've noticed he always says 'we were having abit of problems with the tyres but we managed it' or something like that, asif he is making out it was such a hard win and he was fighting the car as it was so bad and he beat the car into submission.

I still say Jensons just a great driver, nothing special. Take 2009; when he was winning he was flawless. Soon as the car wasn't so dominant, he was performing quite poor.

[phil1993]

The way I see it - Jenson is in the top 30 drivers of all time. But Lewis, Fernando (he's already there IMO) and Seb all have the capacity to be in the top 10.

[mikhailv]

The way I see it - Jenson is in the top 30 drivers of all time. But Lewis, Fernando (he's already there IMO) and Seb all have the capacity to be in the top 10.

I agree. I mean, Jenson has done some great performances. But looking back over a 13 season career which will last at least 16 seasons, I cant see him doing much more. Few more wins here and there, thats it. 5th season brought his first podium, 7th season brought his first win, 10th season got his one and only WDC season which was right place, right time, a lacklustre 2010 in Mclaren, 2011 was a great season for him, and this season is just getting worse.

Its hard to think Jenson would be in the top 30 really, because when you look back I can only think of 20 drivers in no order

[donald29]

Something that should be noted is how Williams took their first opportunity at a win in ages. Compare with Lotus who have fluffed their chances these last two races. Very impressive from Williams.

[reppo]

Lotus kind of screwed up their tactics again. Interestingly they say that second stint showed hard tyres to be faster than soft ones in Barcelona. That's weird. Anyway if McLaren hadn't messed up with fuel Lewis would have won, no matter what ever tactics other teams had. This time car worked well for Lewis and he could control tyre wear easily.

[Mar]

Lotus always does weird things.
In Barcelona, they gave priority to the driver behind (Grosjean) in the two first pit stops and, afterwards, they told Kimi about Alonso and Maldonado needing to pit again when everybody knew that was not true

Off-topic: Reppo, sweetheart, would you mind sending a bit of Forochel's weather down here? I'm melting

[reppo]

Lotus always does weird things.
In Barcelona, they gave priority to the driver behind (Grosjean) in the two first pit stops and, afterwards, they told Kimi about Alonso and Maldonado needing to pit again when everybody knew that was not true

Off-topic: Reppo, sweetheart, would you mind sending a bit of Forochel's weather down here? I'm melting

Off-Topic: show

Yeah I know. This heat wave is suffocating. Thanks for heaven the swimming season has now opened in Forochel and we can get some relief

Go swimming

[JoostLamers]

Stop saying Lewis would have won!

I can't handle it

[donald29]

But he would have.

[mikhailv]

Lotus kind of screwed up their tactics again. Interestingly they say that second stint showed hard tyres to be faster than soft ones in Barcelona. That's weird. Anyway if McLaren hadn't messed up with fuel Lewis would have won, no matter what ever tactics other teams had. This time car worked well for Lewis and he could control tyre wear easily.

Boullier is a t***. Its simple as. He is dragging that team down and is a waste of space.

I dont think lewis would have won. Qualifying pace never translates into mclarens Race pace. We've seen lewis fall from pole to 3rd in 3 races, fell to 8th in Bahrain. Lets be honest, Mclaren botched lewis' stop in spain for godsake, cost him what, 5 seconds?

I mean, why they put him on a two stopper in spain is beyond me. He was a sitting duck doing 30+ laps on one set of tyres but the superior thicko's running Mclaren obviously thought it was better to run longer with p*ss poor tyres. But then again, he beat Jenson, so maybe the Mclaren had no race pace again. But im 99% Lewis wouldn't have won this race.

[phil1993]

Boullier is a t***..

Mais non.

[Omegablue]

Lotus kind of screwed up their tactics again. Interestingly they say that second stint showed hard tyres to be faster than soft ones in Barcelona. That's weird. Anyway if McLaren hadn't messed up with fuel Lewis would have won, no matter what ever tactics other teams had. This time car worked well for Lewis and he could control tyre wear easily.

Considering how close it ended, Lotus actually had a very good tactic. They just missed the execution by a couple of laps. And additionally how unpredictable these tyres are, I think they did pretty well.

[mikhailv]

I stand corrected;

Smug t***.

[François]

It's great because when Lotus lose and do terrible races like they did for most of 2011, it's because Eric Boullier is a t***, and when they have excellent results like in the past two races (60 points, more than any other team, in fact, more than RBR and McLaren together!), Eric Boullier is still a t*** for missing out on victories.

I'll bet that when they win, Eric Boullier will be the biggest t*** for failing to score a one-two. And if they do score a one-two, he will be a colossal t*** for, er... failing to score a one-one? Failing to score with the grid girls?

[mikhailv]

It's great because when Lotus lose and do terrible races like they did for most of 2011, it's because Eric Boullier is a t***, and when they have excellent results like in the past two races (60 points, more than any other team, in fact, more than RBR and McLaren together!), Eric Boullier is still a t*** for missing out on victories.

I'll bet that when they win, Eric Boullier will be the biggest t*** for failing to score a one-two. And if they do score a one-two, he will be a colossal t*** for, er... failing to score a one-one? Failing to score with the grid girls?

Its not whether they win or not, He is a t*** regardless.

Said it when he took over renault. Said it when he slated Briatore, Pat and Alonso. We all know kimi has that magic Finnish throttle touch that made Mercedes engines implode at the touch of the throttle and certain tyres to magically explode specifically through kimi's, but Heidfeld takes it further when he obi-wan kenobi'd the car to explode, as claimed by the t***. Said it when he was so cold about Kubica coming back and not helping unless he commits long term. Ill say it when he does nothing, Ill say it if the team wins, Ill say it if the team gets a 1-2, Ill say it if the team gets a pole position.

Said it when he bemoans everything like mugello, declares it a waste of time and money because they wont learn anything. Then goes. Said it when he moans about the young drivers test being at Silverstone and not Abu Dhabi moaning about cost and staffing, yet he's doing it as its cheaper in silverstone. Then moans about teams using it to test a few parts here and there, not like he wouldnt do anyway. He is a walking contradiction.

It doesnt change anything, he is an utter smug t*** who hasn't done much except be part of the ridiculous we are lotus, lotus lotus,chapman supported lotus, lotus/tata/lada/proton/renault, Real lotus, real lotus which isn't lotus as lotus doesnt sponsor lotus but they have the lotus name so they dont lose money at the end of the year-lotus, soon to be Lotus Genii capital banking group F1.

Joking aside, the man is an incompetant, imbecillic, arrogant and smug t***.