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Maldonado set for 2 more years in F1 (00:47)
Race Control (01:26)
Korea’s last hurrah? (02:08)
Marussia confirm Bianchi for 2014 (02:23)
No single choice of F1 fuel? (06:00)
Some surprising, but not shocking recent F1 facts? (06:00)
Alonso et al… Broken (11:04)
Close to Kimi’s curtain call (11:44)
Vettel hits out again at the other teams capabilities (12:21)
Mexico 2014 improbable (13:44)
The annual Grand Prix Drivers’ Association Dinner (14:34)
Barichello gets serious (14:55)
McLaren/Pirelli test banned by the FIA (15:41)
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Maldonado set for 2 more years in F1
Who knows how the controversial recently departed president of Venezuela became fascinated in Formula 1. The answer presumably lies in the ability of certain people to influence him to ‘invest’ almost $200m in a young driver from his country and guarantee him a drive in the world’s premier racing series for 4 years.
The sponsorship of Pastor from the nationalised oil industry of Venezuela is due to run until 2015. Whether the payments for the next 2 years have already left PDVSA’s bank account is unclear and this could indeed affect Pastor’s ability to stay within F1. There are suggestions that PDVSA may be sold or privatised due to its grossly inefficient operations and losses despite being oil rich in reserves.
Yet for now, Pastor is sat on a guaranteed 2 more years as an F1 driver as the terms of the PDVSA sponsorship require Williams to employ a Venezuelan driver to qualify for the funding.
Maldonado can sit relatively comfortably as there is little chance of PDVSA sponsored Rodolfo Gonzalez (GP2) or E.J. Viso – who.competes for Andretti Autosport in Indy Car – to challenge him for his F1 drive.
Further, Pastor wants to give something back to the struggling tax payers of Venezuela and has established the ‘Pastor Maldonado Foundation’ with a primary aim, “to find a new driver from the very poor slums of Venezuela and give him the opportunity to become a race driver in the future in F1.”
Maldonado comes from a very different background and his place in motor sport was funded and encouraged by both his father and his uncle.
The raison d’être of Pastor’s foundation is explained by the Williams driver as follows. “We are focused on finding someone who is not even close to motor racing. At the moment we are staging a small go-kart championship and then we will select two or three racers and then put them in Europe with good teams, all paid for by the foundation.
We also help some with education, some who have lost their homes in tragedies and other sports. But now we are planning to find the second or third Venezuelan driver for a Formula 1 drive.”
Cynics may suggest it is fortunate for Pastor that the very people his foundation is looking to develop for Formula 1 are far from being capable to compete in the world’s premier class single-seater racing series.
So of course during the next 2 years where the PDVSA money is guaranteed, Maldonado is unopposed.
So how do the jury see Pastor Maldonado. Has he learned from his crash-fest days? Is he a genuine talent in a car that is unworthy of his talent? Will he make the step from the mid-field and like Grosjean get a chance to demonstrate what he can or cannot do in a better car?
Race Control
Following the questions raised by TJ13 regarding the ability of the stewards to do a proper job in Sinagapore, I thought we’d publish this article from Formula1.com which proudly explains how race control is a fully 21st century operation, with technology capable of tracking a distant space ship……..
The F1 era of hand-held stopwatches and buccaneering free-spirit control is history. Not only is the sport itself highly technical these days, but so is the way it conducts itself. The stewards and their driver advisers see all and know all as they ensure fair play on-track…
Out on track at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit things are moving pretty quickly. It’s only the second free practice of the Grand Prix weekend but the action is already hotting up as Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton trade fastest laps in pursuit of ultimate qualifying pace. The radio transmissions to the drivers advise them of potential hazards, keep them posted on car behaviour and tell them when to pit.
Back in the circuit’s control tower, however, the pace is altogether more sedate. In Race Control the fizzing radio transmissions are just a soft, white-noise intrusion on the focused silence. Twenty-two pairs of eyes are fixed on a vast bank of screens, each showing a different corner, a different view of the on-track action.
Information, in the most minute detail, floods through but is processed and acted upon as the situation warrants, while posts scroll up on screen with almost metronomic regularity: ‘Mercedes yellow wide T4’, ‘McLaren yellow wide T3’, ‘Lotus red wide T4’. A query appears from a marshal post asking if Race Control is happy with the position of a photographer at the bottom of the Corkscrew, near Turn 3. A check is made and the marshal post is told the position is fine and the focus on the track action continues.
On the other side of the building, in the Stewards’ Room, the same sense of composure holds true. Here, stewards Lars Osterlind, Radovan Novak, driver steward Derek Warwick and local ASN steward, Khaled Bin Shaiban, studiously follow the session as an operator cycles through the multitude of audio and visual options available to them. There’s little talk beyond the occasional comment on the state of the timesheet.
This is how things get done in Formula One racing’s command and control centres. From the moment an incident occurs on track to the instant a decision is delivered, the process is all about keeping calm and carrying on. The basis for that is a carefully-constructed system called Racewatch, which makes the judgement on an incident well informed and almost fool proof.
“We have an extremely good system in Race Control that is able to detect incidents for us,” says race director Charlie Whiting, who presides over the nerve centre and who will be most familiar to F1 TV viewers as the man who pushes the button to start the race. “The system is programmed to highlight any incident – for example, if a driver goes too quickly in a section under yellow flags. That’s based on GPS tracking and timing, but the software also has a number of other inputs and is programmed to respond accordingly.”
And the response is swift. In the following day’s third practice session, Sergio Perez is caught speeding in the pit lane and incurs a €2600 fine. Later, the firebrand Mexican is cited for allegedly impeding Bruno Senna in qualifying. The stewards review all the available footage and hand the Sauber driver a reprimand.
Their day is about to get a lot more complex, however. At the end of qualifying third-fastest man, Vettel, slows and pulls over on track. The Red Bull Racing driver climbs out of his car and trudges towards pit lane. The stoppage constitutes a possible breach of the regulations and the stewards are immediately called to investigate. It’s a long, slow process as Vettel and team representatives are called to give their explanation and then the officials wait on technical reports from the race
scrutineers.
At last, though, Vettel is deemed to have breached fuel regulations by not having enough in his car – a full litre – for a sample to be taken, and he’s relegated to the back of the grid. It’s a sensational development in an already knife-edge championship battle, but it’s the sort of decision race stewards make all the time, as Garry Connelly – a regular chairman of race stewards who this year officiated at seven Grands Prix including the season finale in Brazil – explains.
“It’s a big responsibility but one that’s become a lot less of a burden simply because of the technology now at our disposal. We have a wealth of data, that most people won’t be aware we have access to.
“First of all, we have all the video feeds – the pictures that have gone to air; the vision captured by FOM [Formula One Management] but which hasn’t been put to air; the closed circuit cameras around the track, and all the onboard material as well.”
The vast amount of camera footage available to the stewards is backed up by a stream of data that feeds into both Race Control and the Stewards’ Room.
“We have GPS tracking, which shows where cars are at any given time,” says Connelly. “We also have access to all the team radio transmissions, which are very important as they allow us to know if a team has warned a driver that he’s about to impede another car and whether a driver has ignored that information.
“Finally, as of this summer, we can now obtain real-time telemetry from the cars. That’s really useful as we can overlay telemetry information from an incident with data from previous laps, so we can tell if a driver has done something like failing to back off under yellow flags.
“Linking all this together you can come up with a complete picture of what’s going on. You have a mass of information that isn’t available to the public or the teams. That’s why decisions are sometimes taken that people have trouble understanding, but they simply don’t have all the information the stewards do.”
And if meting out suitable punishment is still a cause for debate among the stewards, there is also the vast store of historical precedent for the stewards to draw on.
“We keep all the incidents from recent seasons on video on a hard drive, and all of that is available to the stewards,” says Whiting. “It’s an invaluable resource because, of course, the same stewards are not at every race. This way they can refer back to all that past footage and it helps them make a more informed and consistent decision.
“The stewards also have a list of penalties they can refer to dating back to 2003,” he adds. “It’s categorised by offence and penalty, so the stewards can quickly see who’s done what, where, and what penalties were handed out. That way they can, for example, look at all the penalties given for causing a collision over past seasons and then cross reference that with the video and you pretty quickly come up with suitable penalties for ‘crimes’, based on historical data.”
Connelly, however, insists that the stewards’ investigations often go deeper than even that, with consideration also being given both to how an incident impacts on a race and a driver’s previous race history.
“Take a driver who has caused as collision,” he says. “Typically the offence is punishable by a drive-through, but more recently there have been a couple of occasions where a stop-go has been imposed. That has typically been because the offence has been a second one or more by that driver during the season. So you do look at the driver’s record.
“We also now take into account the consequences of the penalty. This wasn’t done previously and it might lead people to think that there are inconsistencies, but if someone is coming third in a race by 50 seconds, then giving them a drive-through is not a penalty, potentially. So you do look at the consequences.
“You’ve also got to look at the consequences of their action. To relate this to a civil situation, if I throw a punch at you and miss, I’m probably going to get charged by the police with attempted assault or something like that. But if I connect and break your jaw, I’m going to get charged with assault causing bodily harm or something like that. That could lead me to suffer more dire consequences. It’s the same action, but the repercussions are much different each time.”
Connelly points to Romain Grosjean’s one-race ban as a situation in which history, precedent and outcome all fed into a decision he presided over.
“That incident could have completely changed the outcome of the FIA’s premier championship,” he says. “But what Romain got the extra penalty for was not that, or at least not wholly for that. When you’re a relatively new driver to Formula One and you have the privilege of driving in a potentially winning or podium finish car, you’re mixing it with a group of drivers who have many years more experience than you do at the sharp end of the field. It therefore behoves you, in our view, to exercise greater care and attention because you are, with all due respect, the new kid on the block and maybe a little out of your league compared with the guys around you at that end of the grid.
“It was a very serious decision and one that was taken only after lengthy weighing of the facts, the evidence, history, everything,” he adds. “However, every decision weighs heavily on the stewards’ minds. No decision to penalise a driver is ever taken lightly.”
Korea’s last hurrah?
We met the promoter of the Korean GP in yesterday’s news, as he compared losing money on an F1 event as similar to the Olympics.
Mr. Park did indeed last year manage to negotiate away the FOM clause which increased the hosting fee for the Korean GP by 10% each year (compounded).
Growing in confidence, Park is calling out Ecclestone and FOM as he rates the chances Korea will remain on the F1 calendar for 2014 as “fifty-fifty”.
The race was indeed listed as provisional by the FIA when last week they released their 1st finger in the air guess at what the calendar actually resemble next year. Korea has been placed in a revised April slot meaning they would host an F1 race just 6 monthsafter the event this weekend.
Yet there have been continued doubts over the long-term viability of the Mokpo race, which will stage its fourth edition this weekend. Despite bullish forecasts of ticket sales and unbelievable reported historic race attendances, the race has continued to run at the biggest lost of all the annual F1 events.
Won-HwaPark insists the country is still determined to stay on the schedule. “We want to improve the current contract with Formula One Management. We are still negotiating with Mr Ecclestone. We wish to have a satisfactory conclusion with Mr Ecclestone” (SKY News).
In an amateurish attempt to play Ecclestone at his own game and negotiate in public, Park suggests the chances of the race continuing beyond this weekend are no more than, “50/50”.
To be fair to the Korean promoter he offers that he would be open to converting the race into a night-time event, provided the financial terms of the deal were right. “It’s a great idea. We’d be glad to consider to hold it as a night race with certainly better conditions from Mr Ecclestone.”
The clinching factor is clearly because, “This circuit is far from downtown so we do not have any noise problem.”
Korea should survive at least another year and get a Bernie discount due to the high level of uncertainty over New Jersey and Mexico to be ready for 2013.
Marussia confirm Bianchi for 2014
Another 2014 seat is confirmed and relatively early by the Marrusia team.
Team principal John Booth told assembled reporters in Korea, “Jules joined us at very short notice at the end of pre-season testing, with only two days of running under his belt. He rose to the challenge of his debut season exceptionally well and since that time has clearly demonstrated his ability and potential. 2014 heralds a new era for the sport and continuity and consistency of line-up will be important in helping us to navigate the transition.
We look forward to confirming our full race driver line-up later in the season. Until then we have an important job to do to ensure we retain our 10th place in the Constructors’ Championship and this is where our full focus will lie in the intervening period.”
Bianchi responded, “I couldn’t have wished for a more supportive environment in which to make my F1 debut and from the very beginning I have always felt completely at home with the team. We started the season very well and while the challenge has increased as the season has developed, we have learned important lessons together that will place us in a much stronger position next year when there are a lot of changes for the sport and the Team to get used to.
I am very excited to be part of the team as we all enter this new era of F1 and I look forward to achieving some rewarding performances together. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the FerrariDriverAcademy for their continued support for my career.”
Given Bianchi’s association with Ferrari this is hardly a surprise as the team are set to use a Ferrari engine and gearbox package in the coming season.
No single choice of F1 fuel
In a statement issued after the World Motor Sport Council meeting in Croatia, the FIA confirmed last Friday that there are no plans to go to a single fuel supplier, as has been the case with tyres since 2009. Many teams were believed to have been unhappy at the possibility of losing the choice over fuel supplier, as oil companies also deliver significant commercial revenue avenues to their partner teams.
Given how thirsty the 2014 engines will be, teams will not be keen to add yet another variable (no matter how minor it is considered) to their new packages. All manufacturers are believed to be worried at the 100kg fuel limit for 2014 onwards.
Some surprising, but not shocking recent F1 facts
Upon reading some 2014 facts, it seemed strange how one-sided they are – but not entirely shocking…
a) Mercedes have been on pole eight times in 13 races. Vettel has taken the other five.
b) None of the five 2013 rookies has scored points so far.
c) No driver has won from pole in Korea so far.
d) Last year’s Koren GP had just 34 overtaking manoeuvres.
e) There have been more safety car periods (5) than race leaders (2 – Vettel and Alonso) in the 3 Korean GPs so far
f) Alonso has not been on the front row in the last 23 races and has not been on pole in a dry qualifying since 2010
Alonso being able to fight for Championships until the final race in 2010 and 2012 is made even more impressive by that last fact!
Alonso et al… Broken
The drivers’ press conference was rather a non-event. When asked about the lightening pace of Vettel in Singapore, I enjoyed Lewis cheeky grin and deliberate stirring of the pot when he remarked, “The last time I was able to put the pedal down that quick was errr. what… 2007… 2008?…. 2007 (smirking) when we had traction control”.
Clearly, Lewis does read…. the news…
Yet Fernando has decided he will defend Newey and the Red Bull team’s technology – which some may see as yet another indication that competitive attitudes have sunk to a lack lustre level since Vettel crushed all before him 2 weeks ago. Alonso doesn’t believe Vettel’s engine note in Singapore was is anything out of the ordinary.
“I think this engine noise difference has been all year there with Red Bull,” Alonso said. “It’s true that maybe in Singapore it’s more obvious because it’s a street circuit and people can watch in the corners but if you go to a winter test already in Barcelona we were in the corners following the test session and the Red Bull is a different sound.
So they are using something different compared to other teams but something that is completely OK because they pass all the checks every race on Saturday and Sunday. So they are completely OK and it’s up to us to do a better job and to maximise the potential, so I’ve not really got any bad feelings about that or any strange feeling.
Inside the car you try to maximise the car, it’s true that when you find a Red Bull you see they are faster than you in the corners but it’s also happened sometimes with other cars and we don’t say anything like Mercedes was pole position and winning easily in Hungary and you have the same feeling. But as I said, all the things are good and it’s up to us to do a better job.”
Drivers may not be best positioned to understand the precise sounds of a competitor cars engine – so whether Fernando’s comments are designed to oil the political wheels of favour with Newey et al or whether he is just a broken man… time will tell.
Strangely I’m missing the samurai warrior who will fight his enemy in the mountains or on the sea (or on twitter); I’m missing the whirling dervish matador who slashes his phone at Fry and Domincali, threatening to tweet to the world of their failures.
There’s a death pall hanging over the paddock at present. The atmosphere is thick with the stench of an indomitable rout of quite some magnitude; a crushing subjugation of all who dared to compete. Established has been a dominion of such supremacy that once proud warriors now willingly bend the knee to pay homage to the all conquering force that is Red Bull.
It’s all over and with 6 races to go.
Merry Christmas 😉
Close to Kimi’s curtain call
Davide Valsecchi states he is “ready” to make his Formula One debut this weekend. Kimi’s back problems continue and the decision to stand down and allow Valsecchi to race the car, will be made as late as possible by Raikkonen.
Those who have suggested Kimi is demotivated to race for Lotus because the team have failed to pay him his dues – clearly do not know the man. He is a born racer.
Meanwhile the team’s reserve driver has been questioned over his ability to replace Kimi if required. “My role requires me to be ready,” the reigning GP2 champion informed Autosprint. “The rest are situations and decisions that are taken by the team alone.”
The latest comments from Raikkonen suggest he will be attempting to drive the car as he pointed out, “It would be a bit pointless to come here if I didn’t think that I would race. Right now it’s ok. Obviously tomorrow we’ll see.”
However, with a new mega Ferrari deal now tucked away, the TJ13 reported some time ago that the Finn is seriously considering surgery to reconstruct a deteriorating problem he has been suffering with for some time. Ferrari for sure have clauses in their driver contracts which would be punitive were such an employee be medically unfit or incapable to properly pilot the car.
Kimi did appear to infer in Singapore that he was technically entitled not to race due to the breach of contract and TJ13 believes this is an angle being examined that may release Raikkonen early to undergo the medical treatment required.
Lotus may be too far behind Mercedes to realistically take 3rd in the WCC. Kimi would not shirk his obligation to fight for the team in this championship if he could make a difference, yet he has no interest in beating Lewis, Mark or even Fernando into 2nd in drivers championship. He’d probably rather be 4th thus avoiding the end of season F1 awards dinner.
Whilst dead and done in terms of who will win the drivers’ title, there may be a few moments of interest and excitement between now and Brazil. Given the green light, Raikkonen’s exit would afford Valsechhi a unique opportunity as a rookie to drive get a late season drive in a car which has won already this year.
Vettel hits out again at the other teams capabilities
There must be moments that as the head of PR and Marketing you wish you could just stay under the covers for the day. TJ13 has just written a 3 part series with in some 5,000 words deflecting some of the attention away from Vettel and crediting him with being a highly intelligent and funny individual. Then up pops some 66 year old bloke who has a mischievous pop at the Milton Keynes outfit and BOOOOM!!!!
#TractionControlGate
Sebastian’s response to the accusations the RB9 has illegal systems is to hit back at the rest of F1’s designers and engineers. “We are pretty proud of the system we have because other people will never figure out how we have done it. Constantly we try to improve the car, that is part of the homework we try to do.
We were playing around quite a lot in practice [in Singapore] and the first time it worked was in the race. I’m quite confident because other people will never figure out how we do it.”
So, Red Bull work harder while the rest of F1 are playing with their genitals. Further, the other teams do not have the mental faculties to even conceive of the techniques, systems or component design used by Red Bull to achieve their current dominance. Would this be inferring they’re all a bit thick?
Mmm. Did someone mention Vettel may have an image problem recently?
I retract from my previous opinion. Twitter is probably not a good idea for young Seb.
Mexico 2014 improbable
I was chatting to our TJ13 man on the ground in Mexico last night, and he is amused at the idea the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez will be ready to race in 2014.
When the last race was hosted here in 1992 many things were different. Nigel Mansell triumphed for Williams in the indomitable FW14B en route to his world championship title. The car from Grove won 9 of the 16 races, came second in 3 and retired from the other 4.
The circuit at that time was some distance from the edge of Mexico City, yet in the intervening period the growing conurbation has crept out and engulfs the nigh on derelict circuit.
People have makeshift homes on the Autodromo, they walk their dogs there whilst children play games and impromptu football matches spring up around the place.
There is considerable re-constructive work required to make this wasteland fit to gain the required FIA approval to host an F1 event.
It appears the money behind the scenes may not yet be in place to begin the required construction.
Many believe the cash will come from Carlos Slim Domit’s organisation, though he appears to suggest otherwise to ‘Mexico Today’.
“I believe there is potential to do more races in the Americas and I believe that Mexico is in the right spot to do it. It’s a stable country, our economy is doing quite well and we have drivers people can identify with. All of the pieces are coming together and I believe the potential promoters are doing a good job in trying to secure something.”
That hardly inspires anyone with confidence.
This all reminds me of one of the first TJ13 pieces written which predicted 19 races this year when others felt the high watermark of 20 would be maintained – if for no other reason than it would smack of an Ecclestone failure.
22 green bottles standing on the wall, 22 green bottles standing on the wall
And if one green bottle should accidently fall, they’ll be 21 bottles standing on the wall
New Jersey and Mexico look doubtful – so the teams needn’t worry, 20 is as good as it gets. But then again as TJ13 reported yesterday Korea want a cut in the price of the hosting fee or they may default
…they’ll be 19 green bottles…..standing on the wall.
The annual Grand Prix Drivers’ Association Dinner
Good to see the effort made by the competitors from the premier global motor racings series. Guess they’re tired of suits and ties from the day job….
Barichello gets serious
Barichello is pushing for an F1 return
There have been reports all week that Barichello is set for an F1 return. Monisha Kaltenborn confirms this is the case and further that he is under consideration for a drive in the 2014 Sauber car.
“There are a couple of options out there and we know what he has is experience. He would like to come back, so let’s see.”
No one can accuse Monisha of inconsistency because when pressed on the matter she replied, “I always have to give you the same answer – we will [announce our drivers] in due course.”
There were rumours in the German media yesterday that Barichello may in fact take the wheel of the Sauber at his home GP in Brazil this year. Kaltenborn quashes this idea, “I don’t see any possibility there. We have no reason to change our two drivers for that race”.
With the prospect of being forced to field 18 year old Russian kid Sirotkin as a driver in 2014, it makes sense that Sauber are considering the services of an experienced and reliable driver which may prevent them being sucked into battles with Caterham and Marrusia.
McLaren/Pirelli test banned by the FIA
Recently Ferrari and Red Bull have done some testing with Pirelli. McLaren planned to do something similar in Austin Texas in mid October.
Apparently Force India were the stalking horse who complained on behalf of others to the FIA about the venue for the test. The reason was that this would be just weeks before the Grand Prix at the same venue, and McLaren would gain an unfair advantage running this year’s car there ahead of the rest of the field.
Clearly Ferrari did this successfully in Barcelona earlier in the season and the result was a romp home to the chequered flag for Fernando Alonso in the subsequent Spanish GP.
Yet this decision appears reasonable, though McLaren and Pirelli will now need to look elsewhere for somewhere warm and with rain free weather to perform the test.
“Following the questions raised by TJ13 regarding the ability of the stewards to do a proper job in Singapore…”
Is this not an extravagance of space to reprint some mildly entertaining article that is 1,500 plus words long? Many of us will not have the time, nor desire to slog all the way through that thing.
Of the many things that occurred at the Singapore weekend, the reprimands to Alonso and Webber were low in significance.
Candidly, the controversy that you see there is not apparent to all of us. Would you care to be specific and direct as to what irritates you about these reprimands?
Extravagance of space?? What nonsense. I loved reading that and wouldn’t have seen it had TJ13 not reprinted it. You always have the option of skipping over an article you don’t wish to read, but don’t try to deny others the opportunity of reading such gems!
Ditto 😉
Nice name, btw.
Merci Monsieur 😉
The thing that irritates him is that Mark Webber got reprimanded.
you are bad – stoke those fires DS
No I’m glad Mark was reprimanded and will start about 14-15th – because he’s now no threat to Vettel’s race win in Korea, so Horner may give him the same gismo Vettel has been using…..to help him cut through the field 2 s a lap faster than the rest…….. 😉
I’m here to serve, your honour 😉
No seriously, the constant harping on about the stewards looks silly. It was one of the less controversial decisions they’ve made this year. What about them punishing Hulk for the fact that Perez piled into him? Now that would have been a reason to lambast them, but you don’t even mention it, which is why it looks like you’re just bumhurt about who got a reprimand. Just an observation 😉
The stewarding function has been on my radar for a number of years.
Despite all the recent technology, the grace and favour appointments of various FIA affiliated representatives is blatant nepotism and this still delivers too many inconsistent decisions.
There should be a regular professional group of 5 or 6 stewards, together with a small panel of ex-F1 driver stewards – preferably who last clambered into an F1 car since pneumatic tyres were invented – who each adjudicate at least every third or every other race..
The excuse, “We missed it because we were watching telly”… is ludicrous, and demonstrates the lack of professionalism afforded to this role.
… in my most humble opinion…..
All valid points. I’m merely saying, you selected the wrong example for showing their incompetence. There are about 20 completely ridiculous stewards decisions to chose from this year, which serve better than the ALO/WEB case, in which I think they got it right for once, even if somewhat belatedly. 🙂
Maybe it will make a good category for the TJ13 “Oscar awards”. There must be plenty of nominations on which we can vote. 🙂
Fair point – re: reprint of story…. I’ll flag them up in future as such with the word count to help those avoid them who wish to…..
I accept the reprimands completely…. they are fair and just and deserved.
I’m irritated that the stewards were ‘about to leave the room’ because they were enjoying the victory lap – or doing whatever the hell they were doing
Then we only have the appropriate reprimands because somebody tapped on the shoulder – “hang on lads before you slope off – check this out…any thoughts???”
Its indicative of a mindset….
Just post a link? We’d all come back, you know 🙂
lol. I used to do that – but some complained about being diverted away from the current page and having to return….
Others suggested unless titled properly the click through would not attract their interest…..
damned if you do… damned if you don’t I guess….
But also praised if you do – remember, in such incidents one always receives more complaints than compliments…
Do something good and 5 people will say well done, do something truely great and 10 poeple will pat you on the back, do something not so popular and every keyboard warrior and his wife will stick their 2 pence worth in!
As long as you don’t do a ‘Kimi’ on us all will be good – even giving the tiniest level of caring what we think is good enough for me!
How can the Judge ‘do a Kimi on us’…? – apart from going to work for Joe… That might be Richter-9… 😉
No, it’s not. The space is free and you don’t have to read it. I didn’t. But I don’t mind it being there. It’s not like it’s there at the expense of something else – as you say, it was a cut and paste, so it must have taken all of two minutes to fabricate.
TJ13 has been posting as may swim since Singapore about the stewarding, so this is a continuation of the story.
What was the outcome of the taxi ride for Alonso, was he reprimanded too?
Both drivers were.
Yes. His first of the year, so no immediate consequence as such…
Yep. Alonso was reprimanded for stopping on the track immediately after the exit of a blind corner (turn 7), while Webber got whacked for running onto the track without permission.
You often see drivers crossing the track after they retire. That’s legal if they have the permission of a track-side marshal. Webber obviously hadn’t asked for permission and it nearly got him Rosberg’s tyre marks in the face.
Regarding Kimmi taking a time out:
The details of such a switch are probably to complicated (they allegedly had 5 lawyers working on a draft for the Ferrari contract that didn’t happen in the end) but isn’t Hülkenberg free to leave Sauber anytime as well?
Would be a nice chance for Lotus to give him a try for next year.
It would definitely be an option for the team
That could tie in nicely with the Barrichello option. Hulk takes over the Lotus and Rubinho finishes the season in the Sauber. One is allowed to dream… 🙂
I have my fingers crossed for Davide Valsecchi 😉
How much more exciting would the races be if pit-to-car radio was banned? Surely these calls with drivers being instructed how to take individual corners, after the engineers have analysed the telemetry, are a step too far? The stewards have flags and lights in the car to instruct the drivers, surely we don’t need this situation where the infamous “we’re talking to Charlie” is delivered over the radio. Imagine a race where the drivers all had to manage their own pace and decide when to use the life in their tyres. The radio is more of a “driver aid” than traction control or active ride ever were, bring back the skills required to manage their own race and then we’ll really see the best drivers shine.
…indeed and it adds to the argument that Vettel is a less important cog to Red Bull winning than say an Alain Prost … who had to cope with a far less drivable beast whilst managing all his resources with little assistance from the team during a race….
Exactly. Admittedly we’d lose the little gems like “Fernando is faster than you” but I think the added element of unknown would more than make up for it. Remember how interesting it was watching Lewis at Monza when his radio failed? It’s a different beast but I’ll cite MotoGP as an example – no radio, brilliant racing.
Here’s an idea Bernie may like…
He suggested fitting the circuits with sprinklers to randomly produce a monsoon here and their…
The pit radio could have an over ride from race control to ‘fail’ drivers pit to wall communications – as some kind of handicapping system….. 😉
Or invoked by X-Factor style, live SMS voting… ha don’t even joke, if Bernie smells profit it might just happen 🙂
We could rebrand to ‘F1x factor’.
A little squinting gives Fix factor, surely Mark would approve?
All that success has gone to Vettel’s head. Really disrespectful comments there. There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence and that ‘child’ has gone so far beyond the line that he can’t even see the line any more (to quote Joey from Friends).
Are you surprised? He’s probably on top of his game and all he’s getting is a load of shit from the media. It was only a matter of time that he bites back. His drive in Singapore was sublime, but as a reward all he gets is the usual ‘it all the car’, ‘Newey won’ with a side dish of booing and accusations of cheating (traction control).
How long would you accept your professional achievements being denigrated and being hated for being good at your job?
He’s not being hated for ‘being good at his job’. Federer wasn’t hated. Bolt isn’t hated. Marquez and Lorenzo are not hated.
His attitude, arrogance and win at all costs behaviour makes him less appealing in fans’ eyes. It is fine to support a driver, or any sportsman for that matter, but let’s not try blame it all on others.
And to close my mini-rant, if you want to be respected, you don’t make more disrespectful comments when people bite you. You dig a bigger hole. You eat your humble pie, try to understand why this happens and try to correct it. Hence why I call him a ‘man-child’.
I would lose the last bit of respect for him, if he started to grovel just because the British press tells him to. That’s complete and utter nonsense. No, I’d prefer him to wrap a German flag around his shoulders during the podium interview, just to stick it up their noses a bit more. Vettel is not a single bit more arrogant than any other driver. People keep prattling on about the finger, for crying out loud! Since when has showing your finger become a sign of arrogance? As far as I’m aware, showing your index finger is not a rude gesture in any culture I know.
What is he suppose to do? Apologize for winning? Red Bull have done the best job so far. That is shown by the little fact that four of the five fastest pit stops at Singapore have been done by them. It’s obvious that they do their work better in all areas, not only the wind tunnel. Saying so is no sign of arrogance. The word you’re looking for is self-esteem.
He’s been called arrogant (baselessly I might add) for years now and suddenly people complain if he acts the part. So what do you want?
You argue well that any previous accusations of hypocrisy be dropped – DS 😉
I’m all Seb’d out, at the moment.
I hope Kimi talks about his bowel movements to Brundel at the next GP to give the F1 masses something else to get hysterically exercised about…
Pfff, I guess if one day I take my Hamilton-coloured glasses off and you take your Vettel-coloured glasses off, we’ll prob agree on something 😉
Don’t hold your breath, mate 😉
vettels biggest misjudgment was giving an apology, schuey wouldnt have done that (not in public at least)
So Lewis took the picture at the drivers dinner, where’s Kimi?
Spooked by the bottles of Acqua Panna on the table?
Them two are not in the GPDA are they, kimi and Lewis? Sir Jocky lambasted Lewis a few years ago for it, and I’m sure at the Nurburgring he said any GPDA boycot wouldn’t affect him anyways for this reason?
Why are the Mercades drivers missing from the GP drivers dinner photo?
Perhaps they sat Lewis and Adrian opposite each other….. As for Nico?
Nicos on teh left table between DiResta and Pastor, I’m not sure if Lewis is a GPDA member as mentioned above, perhaps he is now though, I’m not sure?
I think the reflection in the glass door is Lewis, so that leaves Kimi, who can blame him, dinner without wine? I would leave to.
Ah right, I thought Lewis was in it last year, but wasn’t certain… Sir Jockys mithering must have worn him down! ha!
Who is that in the back left corner, I’m struggling to place them! I think Kimi must be missing, Where is Bottas too, can’t identify him there?
If you include LEwis there are 21, so must just be kimi, but I can’t put that blurry back left silouhetter to Bottas’ face
Well the blurry back left is Bianchi, who I thought was next to Alonso, but that is DeLaRosa, so Bottas and Kimi are missing, its a Finnish boycot!
AFAIK, Kimi is the only current driver, who’s not a member of the GPDA.
Another theory is that he’s already lying somewhere outside camera range wasted out of his skull or falling off a yacht or something 😉
Lewis is hanging with Beckham – his ‘homie’?
Anyway done some research on this ‘homie’ malarkey…
‘Homie’ is apparently an English language slang term found in American urban culture, whose origins etymologists generally trace to African American Vernacular English from the late 19th century, with the word “homeboy” meaning a male friend from back home.
So when did Beckham last live in the UK? Wasn’t Lewis a Swiss resident for a while? Now in Monaco…
The urban dictionary is pretty enlightening on this subject matter
Homie is a term that now refers to a close friend. Historically, it was once used to called friends who would come to your house and smoke some weed. Hence, your “homie.”
Below is a list of friends characteristics juxtaposed with those of a homie
Friends: Never asks for anything to eat or drink
Homies: Help themselves and are the reason why I have no food
Friends: Would bail you out of jail
Homies: would be sitting next to you sayin’ “THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!! Lets do it again!”
Friends: Won’t laugh at you.
Homies: Will embarrass your Ass when everyone is around!
Friends: Has never seen you cry
Homies: Won’t tell everyone else you cried…just laugh about it with you in privately when your not still down.
Friends: Asks you to write down your number.
Homies: Have you on speed dial
Friends: Borrows your stuff for a few days then gives it back.
Homies: Loses your shit and tells you, “My bad…here’s a tissue.”
Friends: Only knows a few things about you
Homies: Could write a very embarrassing biography on your life story…
Friends: Will leave you behind if that is what the crowd is doing
Homies: Will kick the ASS of the enitre crowd that left you.
Friends: Would knock on your front door
Homies: Walk right in and say “I’M HOME”
Friends: Know some of your embarrassing moments…
Homies: Are next to you making them!
Friends: You have to tell them not to tell anyone
Homies: They already know not to tell…
Friends: Are only through highschool
Homies: They are for life
Friends: Will be there to take your drink away from you when they think you’ve had enough
Homies: Will look at you stumbling all over the place & say “Bitch drink the rest of that you know we don’t waste good shit!”
Friends: Will leave you in a ditch
Homies: Will drag you out of the ditch and laugh at your ASS later!
Friends: Would ignore this letter
Homies: Will send this this back to the person who sent it to u!
Does David know what he’s been signed up to???
Friends: Would tell you to NOT shag the nanny.
Homies: would be sitting next to you sayin’ “THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!! Lets do it again!”
Ok, got it…
Oh no, you didn’t!
All this homie talk has me feelin all gangsta.
Westside!!!
Part of the TJ13 massive, comin at ya like Cleopatra, keepin it real like a happy meal……
Quick, someone call the doctor – I’ve caught Hammibollockitis!!!
Thanks Colin, i just received a whatsapp from a friend, saying:”i didn’t know you had a nanny”
I was of course referring to Beckham. 😉
Notice Lewis isn’t there… Maybe he’s scared if a Sutil glassing?!
vettels biggest misjudgment was giving an apology over the multi21 affair. schuey wouldnt have done that (not in public at least)