F1 2011-2012 Season

[Alex]

New thread for this coming season, just to keep things nice and neat.

So what do you think about this season, predictions for the world champ, fastest car, biggest surprise?


Personally I'm looking forward to Schumacher getting a semi-decent car, as I've been a fan of his since I was a boy. As a proud Scot I'm also looking forward to Paul di Resta's rookie season, even if he won't be in a team famed for its reliability or competitiveness...

[Daft]

Too bad Kubica won't participate. He was one of my favorite pilots.

[Nude_not_rude]

No prizes for guessing who I'll barrack for. I haven't heard much about the new season yet, don't know who's in/ out or in what car...Hoping for a great championship though.

[hemingway]

It's difficult to ascertain the form based on pre-season testing, but the word is that RBR and Ferarri are looking the strongest. There's some unusual designs detailed on f1.com: STR double floor; williams' compact rear end and high angle driveshaft; and renaults forward exiting exhausts - so hopefully some of those teams can fight a bit closer to the front this year. KERS is back and with the new chassis and tyres teams are able to package them better minimizing the previous ballast issues. Adjustable rear wings are the fia's contribution to overtaking but I'm sure the top teams will figure out ways to spoil it somehow.

pirelli tyres will be the biggest change. Apparently they are very soft and should put a big emphasis on how drivers can manage the wear.

I'd say the order will be about the same (as usual), with Ferarri; mclaren; rbr up front - the usual mid-grid teams fighting it out - and the duds at the back. Lotus may be able to move into the pack with renault power but hrt and virgin seem to be lacking improvement. I've not heard much news of mercedes other than some reliability issues in testing. I'd say they will be fighting renault for the "best of the rest" again - with nico in front of schumacher again.

Looking forward to the new engine and chassis regs in 2013. Engine freeze for so long has been a bit stagnant hopefully it will free up design and allow some other teams to move up.

[Nude_not_rude]

So Germany's Vettel has won round 1 in Australia. Webber only coming in 5th, but not having seen the race I can't comment on whether it was a good race or not. Anyone here see it?

[Daft]

So Germany's Vettel has won round 1 in Australia. Webber only coming in 5th, but not having seen the race I can't comment on whether it was a good race or not. Anyone here see it?

I haven't watched it either...because of the time zone, it began very late here (3 AM)

[hemingway]

I watched it and I'm devastated....vettel looks absolutely untouchable!! according to brundles, in turn 11 he was 17kph faster than ANY OTHER CAR! His qualy lap was 8/10ths quicker than 2nd

regarding the form - the Red Bull is clearly superior again. McLaren (who were shit in testing) have redesigned their rear end and are now looking quite speedy. Ferrari were not looking good at all, but they are a team who will always improve quickly. Massa has not found his old form but expect to see alonso mixing it up front in a few months. Petrov put the renault in 3rd which is mega for him, and for renault. It's a real shame kubica is out, and is unlikely to return (to his previous form at least).

In the mid-grid: Mercedes where shithouse and it looks like their chassis is a dud; sauber were looking extremely speedy, but I heard today that they were disqualified for a non-compliant rear wing (we will see how that pans out for them after a re-design). Williams not looking good (no emoticon can express my disappointment with this); torro rosso seem to have improved while force india (who seemed to be making progress last year) seem to have stalled (though they placed ok). The three noob teams from last year did poorly, with lotus the best of them (again) but with the 107% rule BOTH HRT's failed to qualify.

looking forward to malaysia

[chrisw91]

I watched it and I'm devastated....vettel looks absolutely untouchable!! according to brundles, in turn 11 he was 17kph faster than ANY OTHER CAR! His qualy lap was 8/10ths quicker than 2nd

...and thats without the use of KERS. It looks like they could dominate the early stages of the season although McLaren are quickly improving. And as you already mentioned Ferrari always seem to improve quickly too. And with Petrov finishing 3rd and Kubica hopefully returning sooner rather than later, Renault could be the suprise package this season and play a small part in the title race.

[Daft]

I watched it and I'm devastated....vettel looks absolutely untouchable!! according to brundles, in turn 11 he was 17kph faster than ANY OTHER CAR! His qualy lap was 8/10ths quicker than 2nd

...and thats without the use of KERS. It looks like they could dominate the early stages of the season although McLaren are quickly improving. And as you already mentioned Ferrari always seem to improve quickly too. And with Petrov finishing 3rd and Kubica hopefully returning sooner rather than later, Renault could be the suprise package this season and play a small part in the title race.

Can Kubica still return this year? I don't think so, his injuries were pretty bad, weren't they?

[hemingway]

Last I heard on kubica was no chance of return to competition this year. It's sad to say, but I'd be surprised if he is still as competitive even when he does return.
We all know massa lost his edge after his accident. Ferrari have kept him on out of loyalty but it seems unlikely he will retain his seat beyond his 2011 contract. In an ironic twist, kubica was the most likely candidate to replace massa.

combined with webbers mountain biking injuries, it begs the question: should drivers be contractually obliged to avoid risking injury outside of f1? In the old days, a driver signing with ferrari mclaren etc.was expected to drive for the company, and would contest lemans, mille miglia, can-am, sports cars, f2 and many others. These days the risk would be considered too high and it does seem risky to let an asset like kubica contest low-level rallying (a rather dangerous sport itself) as a hobby.

I'd forgotten that the rbr's were not using their kers (a problem perhaps?). Has it been confirmed that they were not using the system or was it an issue with the tv graphic not showing it's use?

[chrisw91]

I'd forgotten that the rbr's were not using their kers (a problem perhaps?). Has it been confirmed that they were not using the system or was it an issue with the tv graphic not showing it's use?

They said that in practice KERS just simply wouldnt kick in. So they ran the race without it.

[chrisw91]

Who saw the grand prix this weekend? It was another won for Vettel but the McLarens are getting ever closer with Jenson just 3 seconds behind. It was great to see Heidfeld back on the podium, i think he is very much underated and its a shame hes just filling in for Kubica as I feel he deserves a permanent place and could also make a great 2nd driver for one of the top teams such as Ferrari. As a Brit it was great to see Di Resta in the points again, it looks like he could have a great rookie season.

[hemingway]

GREAT race!!! who says there's no overtaking in f1???  

kers is looking like a chink in the rbr armour though? Webbers failed on the grid with disastrous results, and vettel told to stop using it halfway through the race. with less than a week till china, it's unlikely they will resolve the issue in the short term and china has a mega long back straight - watch out for hamilton this weekend!

I read something about newey saying the kers problems are numerous and they are still finding new ones.

one funny thing I noticed though - the renaults appeared to have a visible gap in the rear wing (with the flap closed). As far as I know the wing must be "single plane" when the drs is not functioning. I'm sure if it was not legit it would have been noticed but they were the only cars with that gap.

[Daft]

One more time I hadn't seen the race :(

But everyone is telling me it was great!

[hemingway]

good race. webber made a great fightback from 18th to finish 3rd.

Jensen made a critical mistake and stopped in vettels box for the pit stop