Safety Car

#F1 Race Review: Battle in Baku, Ham and Seb No Longer Best Buds; Podium for Stroll, Victory for Ricciardo! No, seriously!

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Brought to you by TheJudge13 contributor Mattpt55 Ambient 28° Track 49° Humidity 71% Wind 1.1 m/s Prelude Penalty-palooza for the start of the Azerbaijan GP with Sainz demoted to P15 for his naughtiness in Montreal and Vandoorne and Alonso having an epic battle which was eventually won by Alonso with his 40 spots triumphing over … Read more

Interlagos: Race review

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Predictable unpredictability

I have no intention of producing a detailed lap by lap, stop by stop report – the BBC and others have the resources to do that better than I do. Yet what has happened to F1 in the past few years? 6 of the last 8 WDC’s have been decided on the last race of the season.

This is the antithesis of what preceded when I almost stopped watching the sport after the borefest of Ferrari dominance from 1999-2005. Madmax Moseley changed something, and it was definitely for the better. My guess it was the beginning of engine restrictions in 2005 and then everything flowed from there.

@F1photographer was mocking those of us who have spent all week checking out weather forecast reports – because 1 hour before the race it was sunny. Having searched for and studied websites I didn’t know existed like some saddo trying to glean 3-4 day forecasts for the weekend, I didn’t take kindly to the picture man’s sneers. For example, The Brazilian ‘National Institute for space research’ is a most interesting proposition and a great read for those who suffer the ignominy of insomnia.

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Mallya on cash hunt, Storms now set for Interlagos decider, Austin 2013 now a double clash, Cash machines answer to Korea GP losses, Coca-Cola & Lotus for 2013

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Editor’s note: Many sites run driver polls after each race and we have done a couple. I’m not sure if it’s what thejudge13 readers want though. Let me know your thoughts. I am going to run 3 driver of the year polls – I’m thinking of splitting it into 1 poll for the bottom 4, 1 for the middle 4 and 1 for the top 4 teams.

Further, the end of season is swiftly upon us, and it may be there are not articles every day from thejudge13 after next week. So to save you from visiting the site unnecessarily – why not sign up for email notification (right hand side bar – top) and you will get an email when a new article is uploaded. I have no access to the email addresses submitted as in the software there is a ‘widget’ handles this.

Just in 17:18 GMT: Red Bull maybe using some fancy rear wing end plates, that have a ruffle sticking out of the back plate. Could be a defensive aero part to create dirty air behind the car making overtaking more difficult for the car behind.

This wouldn’t be an aero compromise because the cars normally in Interlagos run a lot of wing due to the altitude and thin air. Usually at sea level this would create more drag and affect the performance of the RB car too.

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Singapore GP review: Safety Car ruins the race! A boring race for Kimi

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“The Safety Car is now redundant in F1” – a review of the race.

The day after a race can be a something of an anti climax. We have eagerly anticipated the race weekend, and then in a couple of hours or even less it’s all over. The drivers and key players all have their say immediately and both official and social media declare their summary opinion in a matter of hours. There may be the odd contentious issue that drags on to the next day, but of course the day after an F1 race is always a Monday  – back to work for most.

Yet today it seems worse than usual and I’m left wondering why. As I reflect on the Singapore 2012 race it leaves me with a palpable feeling of disappointment. Such a fabulous setting, a championship well poised and with the chasing drivers qualifying better than the title leader.

Kimi, never one to mince his words said, “It was boring race. You can be quite a bit faster and you cannot get past so it’s not very exciting for us or the people watching.”

I don’t think hearing Lotus issue a version of the now infamous Ferrari dictum, “Romain – Kimi is faster than you” adds to the excitement, but to say the race was boring from a spectator’s perspective is probably a little harsh.

Massa and Senna’s battle and subsequent collision was pretty spectacular and after me criticising F1 TV last week for missing too much exciting action, it was inevitable they would catch some on board live footage that had us jumping out of our seats in amazement.

Schmacher gave us another spectacular example of why insurance companies general lay the blame for crashes firmly on the driver at the rear of the shunt, and for a moment it looked as though Verne was striding over to remonstrate with the F1 veteran. All ended well with a man hug and an apology – well admission of a mistake – from Schumacher.

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