The Official 2012 F1 Thread. Spoilers possible!

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by g®eg

Maybe NBC will just pick up the BBC coverage & rebroadcast it like TSN does in Canada...

NBC has also won the bidding for the Barclay's Premier League starting in 2013. I hope they do their hiring wisely.

It will be interesting to see if it's football or F1 that gets bumped to a tape delay on race weekends in Europe, when the qualifying and start times of racing will conflict with the kickoffs.

[RedRocket]

I'm hoping for another Vettel alternator failure

[g®eg]

Hope springs eternal

[g®eg]

the speed guys announced a block of rooms available at an Austin hotel.. theirs... the didn't seemed pleased. I guess they DID want to go to the race

go figure

[AngelFZ]

Originally Posted by RedRocket

I'm hoping for another Vettel alternator failure

Well, a lot of things have happened to all the guys either leading or in close contention of the championship.

Most likely this year it will go all the way until the finish line in Brazil.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Fajita Dave]

Originally Posted by wxwax

We human beings like patterns. We rely on them to cope with the bewildering simulation that life throws at us every day.

So I suppose I should be comforted that late in what had been a spectacularly unpredictable season, F1 has now settled into a familiar pattern.

Lotus can't win a race and won't. Ferrari is blaming their wind tunnel.

And Red Bull is cheating its way to another title.

Some will say I should toughen up. Racing has always been about finding a cheat. They're right. It has.

But there's something disillusioning about a season that had so much promise, a season in which the unlikely seemed possible every weekend, being soiled not by development, but by a blatant cheat that the FIA just doesn't have the ability to detect.

Typically, I watch every televised event on a race weekend: Prac 2, qualy and the race. This weekend, my heart hasn't been in it. I dumped out of practice. And jumped through qualy to the inevitable result. And I may only give the race itself a cursory viewing.

I mean, what's the point? Nobody's going to catch the Red Bull. How can they? The cheating wing has turned a so-so car into a world beater. And that's not likely to change in the remaining 4 races.

Weren't McLaren also using the "cheating" front wing? The McLaren who's nothing more than on par with Ferrari's terrible F1 car. Ya know, the Ferrari team who FINALLY caught on to the Coanda exhaust with only 4 races to go?

Its not only the front wing flexing a few degrees that makes the RedBull so fast. If they took that front wing off than they'd only be 0.3 seconds ahead of the entire field instead of 0.5 seconds (if its even worth that much). Yes, it makes them and McLaren faster but its not going to turn the RedBull from being the fastest car into a losing car. Everyone has seen you complain about it 10 times already so stop being such a crying pansy about one part on the dominant team in F1. What a shock it is for there to be one dominant team in F1!!! I can't remember the last time that happened. Maybe you should stick to watching nascar so you can complain about Jimmy Johnson winning 5 championships in a row.

For the record I also think the flexy front wing is cheating. The rules say that it cannot flex under aerodynamic load, however, they would still be winning anyway. But wait, F1 is about cutting edge technology and innovation isn't it?

[HarveyMushman]

Originally Posted by Fajita Dave

But wait, F1 is about cutting edge technology and innovation isn't it?

Not in a long time, no. It's about spending vast sums for ever diminishing returns at the furthest margins. Innovation is explicitly forbidden.

[Fajita Dave]

Originally Posted by HarveyMushman

Not in a long time, no. It's about spending vast sums for ever diminishing returns at the furthest margins. Innovation is explicitly forbidden.

Yup, the rules are getting pretty ridiculous. That doesn't mean the engineers aren't going to try though.

[g®eg]

Originally Posted by Fajita Dave

Ya know, the Ferrari team who FINALLY caught on to the Coanda exhaust with only 4 races to go?

there's a big loss of HP (longer exhaust) so there's a trade-off. Lotus has only been playing with it recently, and Williams have done tests, but still don't run it. I think Sauber were actually the innovators but could be wrong.

good news is a lot of things will stay the same for next year, so there may be a chance for more parity.

[A. T. T-W]

Originally Posted by g®eg

good news is a lot of things will stay the same for next year, so there may be a chance for more parity.

Personally, I think the 'parity' is the problem at the moment. The rules have been in stasis for too long. The 2014 changes were originally planned for next year and it's a shame that they were postponed. Another year of tiny changes and envelopes being pushed means yet more of the same. The same Big Three with two, maybe three teams just failing to join them.

I don't know what it is about the Red Bull era. I'm no fan of Ferrari but when they were the team in the sun, it didn't detract from the enjoyment too much. I've never been so ambivalent about F1 in my life as I am now with Red Bull's domination.

It's not their drivers. I quite like them, I enjoy watching them. It's something about Red Bull the team that turns me off.

Perhaps I'm an F1 snob. It might be something about an energy drink company buying success as opposed to a racing team that has a competition heritage.

[Thinc2]

Originally Posted by A. T. T-W

Personally, I think the 'parity' is the problem at the moment. The rules have been in stasis for too long. The 2014 changes were originally planned for next year and it's a shame that they were postponed. Another year of tiny changes and envelopes being pushed means yet more of the same. The same Big Three with two, maybe three teams just failing to join them.

I don't know what it is about the Red Bull era. I'm no fan of Ferrari but when they were the team in the sun, it didn't detract from the enjoyment too much. I've never been so ambivalent about F1 in my life as I am now with Red Bull's domination.

It's not their drivers. I quite like them, I enjoy watching them. It's something about Red Bull the team that turns me off.

Perhaps I'm an F1 snob. It might be something about an energy drink company buying success as opposed to a racing team that has a competition heritage.

With you 100% on this one. Almost any of the other teams would be preferable to Red Bull dominating.

It's kind of like if the LA Lakers changed their name to Nike...

[g®eg]

[g®eg]

pretty good series of pictures showing the development & changes the Lotus has undergone over the season



gallery LINK

there's animation too in the article, but it won't play for me:

article LINK

[g®eg]

Ferrari developments over the season so far



gallery LINK

article LINK

[g®eg]

pretty cool 360° onboard view of Red Bull in action

LINK