Formula One 2012

[AZUCAR!]

Just read that Mark Webber has a 5 place grid penalty for Sunday's race as he has to change his gearbox. Good news for Alonso.

Belgian Grand Prix: Mark Webber gets gearbox change grid penalty - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

 

[Troy]

Webber just signed a one year deal, he keeps taking it one year at a time. Bad news with the five place grid penatly for Webber and it was a bad qualifying session for Red Bull as Vettel ended up 11th and didn't even reach Q3. Button was incredible and posted the three fastest laps, he never looked like he would end up anywhere other than on pole. Kobayashi had his best qualifying result with second and it is going to be a great start to the race with him up there. Interesting top five of Button, Kobayashi, Maldonado, Raikkonen and Perez. Alonso will be happy that none of his top challengers are in front of him for the race. Pumped for tonights race because it has been too long since the last race.

 

[Troy]

!!!!!

Holy crap that was ugly. First lap and a big crash with Hamilton, Alonso and Grosjean out. Ugly incident but it looks like everyone is okay.

 

[Troy]

Caught a replay and it was Grosjean touching Hamilton's wheels that caused the crash. Grosjean then flew over the top of Alonso's car and the footage from Alonso's car was scary. So lucky that there wasn't a serious injury. Under safety car and they will be for a few laps because there is a lot to clean up.

On a side note Maldonado jumped the start by a huge margin.

 

[Troy]

Great race by Button to lead from start to finish. In all the drama it was easy to forget him out the front and his lead never looked in trouble. Vettel had a great race to finish second after qualifying eleventh and Raikkonen took the last spot on the podium. Webber could only manage sixth but both Torro Rossos manage to finish in the points which is the first time that has happened this season. Dramatic race but thankfully all are healthy.

 

[AZUCAR!]

Ugly incident at the start, shame Alonso couldn't have avoided it. Vettel is now 24 points behind Alonso in the World Championship, so hopefully Alonso can get a win at Monza next week. Grosjean got a 1 race penalty for the incident too. So he won't be racing at Monza next weekend and he also got a €50,000 fine from the stewards.

 

[Troy]

Good to see the stewards come down hard on him. He has been involved in seven first lap incidents this year and he deserves the one race ban. Any word on who will fill in for him at Lotus for the next race?

 

[AZUCAR!]

From what i've read on Autosport, it look's like it maybe Jerome d'Ambrosio who raced for Virgin last year and is Lotus' test driver.

 

[Troy]

You are correct D'Ambrosio did get the chance. Massive opportunity for him to race for a team that has managed to be reasonably competitive this year rather than racing for a backmarker like Virgin.

Read something interesting that Lotus and Kubica haven't been in contact for the last couple of months. Doesn't look like Kubica will be returning to F1 in the near future which is a shame since he looked so promising before that accident.

 

[Troy]

Strange qualifying session which has shaken things up quite a bit. Hamilton and Button managed a front row lockout and were followed by a Ferrari but surprisingly it was Massa in third. Alonso had a shocking Q3 and finished tenth a long way off the pace. For the third race in a row only one Red Bull has made it into Q3 with Webber finishing 11th. Red Bull have some serious issues with the car, the straight line speed is poor and KERS never seems to work in Webber's car.

Should be a quality race tomorrow with Alonso hunting down the nine cars in front of him trying to protect his championship lead.

 

[AZUCAR!]

Stefano Domenicali said Alonso had some sort of problem at the start of Q3, which they didn't have enough time to fix. So that seems to be why he qualified 10th, after looking strong in Q1 & Q2. Hopefully Massa can get a good start tomorrow and overtaker both Jenson and Lewis, and if the Alonso problem is fixable without a penalty, then hopefully Fernando can get a good start, gain a few places and finish hopefully ahead of both Mclaren's.

 

[Troy]

Hamilton managed to lead from start to finish to get his first win for the season. Perez had a stunning drive to go from 12th to 2nd and Alonso did what he does best to go from 10th to 3rd. Massa had a great start managing to jump Button and nearly taking Hamilton but incredibly he still managed to finish the race behind Alonso. Red Bull had a shocking day with Vettel having to stop the car due to engine trouble and then Webber losing traction late which caused him to drop from 6th right down the pack. To make it worse Daniel Riccardo was on target for 10th but on the final lap he was passed by Senna.

 

[Troy]

Singapore GP is on right now. One of my favourite races, it looks so good lit up at night and it is a very difficult track with the close walls.

Drama already with Hamilton having to retire after his gearbox failed him, nothing to do with his driving just a mechanical failure. That livens things up a lot and now Vettel has taken the lead infront of Button and Maldonado with Alonso chasing. Webber is in sixth spot and hopefully he can move up another spot or two during the race.

So far no safety car which is odd for the Singapore GP but there is still plenty of time left. I am sure that we will see a safety car before the end of the race.

 

[Troy]

I spoke too soon, Karthikeyan hit the wall soon after that post and the safety car came out. 5 Singapore GPs and 5 safety cars so the 100% record remains. Safety car coming in this lap so it should be an entertaining restart.

 

[Troy]

Make that another safety car after Michael Schumacher drove right into the back of Vergne. No idea what Schumacher was doing as he braked way too late. Race getting very interesting.