Formula One 2012

[Ryan]

In response to a previous comment, I don't actually think the USA GP will be held in New Jersey at any time since Austin was awarded a 10 year contract and is building a new track specifically for the event. From what I've heard, they've designed it to be one of the most challenging tracks in the world. Judging by the track layout, it looks like they'll be able to really blast through a large portion of it before hitting some sharp turns.

 

[AZUCAR!]

There's going to be 2 USA GP's. One in Austin (which debuts later this year) and the other on the streets on New Jersey.

The NJ one starts next year I believe.

 

[Ryan]

I have relatives that live near Austin so I may have to get down there to check out a race.

 

[Troy]

Massa really is racing for his seat this year. Ferrari want a second driver that is happy to play second fiddle but they still want them to perform so that they can challenge for the Constructors championship. He will need to improve as the season goes on to ensure he is offered a contract for next season. I am going to predict that he will be gone from Ferrari at the end of the season and he will head to one of the smaller teams.

 

[Shaun]

Personally I think Ferrari should have got rid of Massa at the end of last season and maybe should have tried to bring back Raikkonen. Massa has been under pressure ever since he returned from the accident that almost killed him and performances like his recent ones are slowly declining his reputation.

 

[AZUCAR!]

I agree. Massa hasn't really been the same since he returned from his accident. Ferrari though, for whatever reason, are still sticking by him. Perez would be an exciting young driver to partner up with Fernando Alonso, and it also helps that Perez is one of Ferrari's driver's.

It seems obvious that Massa is lacking confidence this year already after 2 races, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Fernando ended up scoring all of Ferrari's constructor's points this season. Massa needs a good showing sometime soon, to prove to Ferrari he deserves a new contract, or to prove to other teams he can be useful for them next season.

Massa is either going to get a new contract for next season from Ferrari or I see him leaving F1 all together and doing something similar to what Rubens Barrichello is doing at the moment, and that is IndyCar racing.

 

[Troy]

I liked the idea of Perez moving there but I hope that they wait until the end of the season for all this to occur. Massa should be able to finish out the season before being moved on. I think that he will improve as the season goes on and will start to pick up some points but I doubt he will challenge for a podium.

 

[Troy]

Finally after two weeks F1 is back

Mercedes continue their good qualifying form and lock out the front row thanks to Hamilton getting a five place grid penalty after changing his gear box. Rosberg got his first ever pole of his career and Schumacher joins him at the front. The biggest surprise was that Vettel didn't even make it to Q3 and will start from 11th. Kobayashi starts third, Raikkonen fourth, Button fifth and Webber sixth. Should be a good race.

 

[Troy]

Fantastic drive by Nico Rosberg to get his maiden F1 victory. He was the fatest all weekend and he was able to maintain that pace throughout the race. Schmacher was forced to retire after a pit stop went wrong where one of the mechanics didn't put the bolt on right. Button and Hamilton filled up the other podium spots whilst Webber took fourth again followed by Vettel.

 

[AZUCAR!]

Rosberg did well to get his maiden F1 victory. And the Mercedes DRS system finally lived up to it's hype too. Schumi was unlucky not to have finished the race with the problem that occurred during his pit-stop. McLaren were once again consistent, and it was a Mercedes Benz 1-2-3 for the first time ever too I believe.

Kimi got unlucky towards the end of the race when his tyres just went and he went from about 4 to 13 in the space of 1 lap. Vettel is pissed about the fact that Red Bull don't have enough straight line speed too. But so far, i'm loving the fact that this year so far, the title race is wide open and it isn't being dominated by Red Bull like it was for pretty much all of last season.

 

[Troy]

It is much better when there are multiple teams competiting, the Red Bull domination last year was a bit too much as was Brawn's a couple of years back. From an australian point of view it has been nice that Webber is performing better than Vettel as well after Vettel got the better of him the last two years.

Wonder how long it will take the rest of the teams to create a copycat DRS system based on Mercedes system now that it has been declared legal.

 

[Aniking]

It's not just nice from an Australian point of view that Webber is outperforming Vettel, it's also great because Vettel is an absolute tool.

 

[Troy]

Bahrain was an enjoyable GP and thankfully nothing happened to any of the teams or spectators during the event. Vettel went coast to coast and Lotus had a brilliant day taking second and third. Lotus looked fantastic out there and with a slight change in strategy they could have won. Webber got fourth again to make it 4 4th's from 4 starts. This race once again showed that this season is wide open with no one team dominating. With Vettel winning it meant that we have had four different winners for the first four races, hopefully that trend continues at the next race, the Spanish GP in a couple of weeks time.

 

[AZUCAR!]

Alonso is only like 10 points off the lead, which is quite remarkable, as Ferrari's car has been poor this season. There's a test coming up next week, and Ferrari have said they plan on bringing upgrades to the next race in Spain. And hopefully those upgrades will give Alonso a more competitive car to fight with for the Championship.

What i'm also liking this season is that there's been 4 different winners so far, and Red Bull haven't been as dominant as they were last year.

 

[Troy]

It has been an incredibly even season with four different winners, four different fastest laps leaders, four different winning constructors and three different pole sitters. I am amazed that Red Bull are actually leading the constructors title after their indifferent start to the season. Normally teams do some big upgrades in this testing period so hopefully they bring in some improvements.