Formula One 2010

[Rich]

Hamilton was supposed to slot in behind Vettel at that point, and he got released INTO the path of Vettel, which was dangerous by his pit crew. The other thing was on entrance into pit-lane, Vettel had the correct side of the line, and Hamilton came screaming up on the inside of him and nearly took him out to get into the pits first.

Vettel was not at fault in ANYTHING that occurred in pit-lane that day, and the fact that Hamilton didn't receive any punishment was just stupid.

So we'll just choose to ignore that Vettel tried to shove him into the Williams pit slot? Okily-dokily.

Hamilton was in the wrong too, but don't ignore simple facts just because you dislike him. The reason why Hamilton wasn't punished was because they would've had to have charged Vettel too for acting like a cunt. No idea why they didn't punish both, but the point stands...

GA knows his shit (Y)

I will fully admit that my dislike for Vettel will make me bias, but Hamilton was in the wrong on the way in as it was a little dangerous, but the two were still racing, it was a legal move. Hamilton's release from his pit slot was not illegal as the team let them go before Vettel had fully left his pit slot, therefore the pit lane was clear and he could be released, it was just that by the time he got going and in to the pit lane Vettel had go into the pit lane and pulled alongside and then passed as Hamilton was still accelerating. If somebod did do something wrong it wasn't Hamilton it was the McLaren lolipop guy, which you said, but again it wasn't Hamilton's fault, and there is no rule saying Hamilton should yield in the pit lane, just that he should not pass, which he didn't. Vettel then did nothing wrong in the rules by pushing Hamilton across, however it was a dangerous and dick move to puch him towards the pit slots where any of the other teams' pit crews could have been standing, for me thats inexcusable. Sure go away and race with guys, even make it a little dangerous as that makes it exciting, but never, NEVER endanger anybody who is not a driver, especially in the pit lane. I was disgusted personally, and I was pleasently suprised by Hamilton's reaction post-race as I thought he handled it with his improving maturity and class.

[maninblack]

Istanbul: Lewis Hamilton told fellow-Briton Nigel Mansell to get his facts straight on Saturday after being branded "manufactured" by the former Formula One world champion.

Speaking to an audience at Britain's Hay literary festival on Friday, Mansell suggested the McLaren driver had enjoyed an easy path to the sport after securing backing from McLaren at an early age.

"People have said to me 'what do I think of Lewis Hamilton?' and I've said 'Well it's fantastic what he's achieved but he's been manufactured''," the 1992 champion, who had to fund his own way into racing, was quoted as saying.

"How many people from seven years of age have been given two and a half million (pounds) to go karting?"

Hamilton, questioned about the comments after qualifying on the front row at the Turkish Grand Prix, was visibly taken aback.

"Wow," gasped the 25-year-old, who became Formula One's youngest champion in 2008. "Clearly he has not been reading the right stories or he just has not got his facts right.

"I wasn't signed up until I was 13, so I would love to see where the rest of that money was since I was seven.

"I just think he is clearly ill-informed and doesn't have the right information," added the Briton.

"He has his right to his own opinion, which doesn't really bother me. I don't really care about his opinion.

"He is a world champion, he was a great star and I look up to him, but I wouldn't have expected that from him."

Hamilton, who will be chasing his first win of the season on Sunday, made a sensational debut in the sport in 2007 after being brought up through the junior categories by McLaren.

The first black world champion, he emerged from a family with no motor racing pedigree. His parents divorced when he was two, the father holding down multiple jobs to keep the family afloat while his mother worked in a care home.

His grandfather emigrated from the West Indies and worked on the London Underground system.

"I don't know how he (Mansell) was funded when he was younger, but for us it was virtually impossible to find money. It got more and more expensive," said Hamilton.

"My parents paid all the way until I was 13, by re-mortgaging the house. They were broke."

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_lewis-hamilton-stung-by-ill-informed-nigel-mansell_1389678

[Farmer Reil]

Wow, never had Mansell down as the jealous prick type. Wait, yes I did. ¬_¬

[Lineker]

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has revealed that Mark Webber asked for Sebastian Vettel to 'back off' from him the lap before their collision in the Turkish Grand Prix.

Vettel was attempting to pass Webber for the lead approaching the final corners on lap 41 of the race when contact between them left Vettel with race-ending damage and dropped Webber from first to third - handing McLaren a one-two.

Although Webber had led the race from the outset, Vettel closed on him just prior to the crash and, in an exclusive interview with AUTOSPORT, Horner said Webber had radioed the team asking if Vettel could ease off - a request Red Bull was unwilling to allow with the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button close behind.

"It was quite clear that with the speed advantage the McLarens had on the straight, it was impossible to fall back into them," Horner told AUTOSPORT.

"Mark had requested the lap before to ask Sebastian to back off a bit. There was no way you could do that because of the McLarens being right there."

Horner acknowledged that Vettel had the faster pace at the time of the incident.

"It looked like Mark started to struggle with the rear tyres a bit more - that's what it looked like on the pit wall," said Horner. "And Sebastian, between laps 38 and 39, really closed up rapidly to the back of Mark, obviously got a run on him on lap 40 and they both found themselves in a situation they didn't want to be in."

He remains confident that the crash has not done irrevocable damage to the intra-team relationship.

"We're fortunate that both our guys are mature, balanced individuals," Horner said. "Obviously emotions were running high on Sunday, but they're both professionals.

"They are probably not going to be down the pub for a drink together, but they will continue to work professionally in the manner that they have done in the forthcoming races. They work for the team at the end of the day and they know what the rules are."

autosport.com

[Farmer Reil]

Kinda brings back up the Team vs. Individuals aspect of Formula One again, when you have two talented drivers in the same team. As Championship leader, Webber obviously has the "I need to get as many points as possible" argument, but mathematically Vettel is still very much in with a shout, so why should he back off and let Webber win (granted, that wasn't the only reason for the request, but you can't deny it was the main one)?

Edit: Wait, at the time Webber WASN'T Championship leader, was he? Vettel was level with him. So fuck Webber.

You're always going to get tactical racing in F1 (nobody did that better than Barichello and Schumacer for Ferrari, but that was largely because Barichello was perfectly willing to play second fiddle, since his team mate was both a legend in the sport, and a much, much better driver than Rubens). But I don't agree with the teams basically deciding who gets to win a race when their drivers are first and second.

I'm not saying Vettel is blameless, the actual accident was mostly his fault. But he had every right to try and overtake Webber.

Edited June 2, 2010 by Farmer Reil

[Adam]

He was championship leader on countback, two wins to one.

At the end of the day Webber's request was unable to be complied with, fair enough, but why does that mean Vettel had to turn into him? I don't see why that piece of information changes who is to blam for the collision at all.

[Farmer Reil]

It doesn't. I was just pointing out that Webber is a bit of a cock too. "Tell my team mate to back off because I can't stay ahead of him if he actually races me. QQ"

[IzzyX]

"Hi, I'm Sebastian Vettel, and crashing into Mark Webber was my idea!"

[Adam]

Tis a good point...I just hop they resolve this issue quickly and fully. The way Horner sounded at the end of that article suggests that maybe it'll be a bit more difficult than that.

[Slogger]

I think you guys are getting this all wrong. Webber didn't ask Vettel to let him win, He asked him to back off and not race so hard while they were so close because he was worried that Vettel was going to wreck him when it was still kinda early in the race.

And Vettel went and wrecked him anyway.

[Lineker]

Red Bull Racing says it has a drawn a line under the crash between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in Turkey following a meeting in its factory on Thursday.

In a statement issued today, Red Bull said Webber and Vettel met with team boss Christian Horner, tech chief Adrian Newey and consultant Helmut Marko at the factory today in Milton Keynes.

"It was a positive meeting, which draws a line under the incident that happened on lap 40 of the Turkish Grand Prix. The team is now fully focused on next week's Canadian Grand Prix," said the statement, which included a photograph of Vettel and Webber taken at the factory and captioned 'S*** happens'.

S*** happens

"The team had got us into a great position and it wasn't good for them what happened - so I'm sorry for them that we lost the lead of the race," said Vettel.

"Mark and I are racers and we were racing. We are professionals and it won't change how we will work together going forward. We have a great team and the spirit is very strong. I'm looking forward to Canada."

Webber added: "It's a shame for the team, as we lost a good opportunity to win the race. It's sport and these things can happen, but it shouldn't have done.

"I feel for everyone at Red Bull, at the factory and everyone involved. Seb and I will make sure it doesn't happen again and will continue to work openly together, no problem. We have talked enough on it now, it's done, we're looking ahead and I'm focused on the race in Canada next week."

autosport.com

Somehow I doubt that this is really 'it', as far as Webber/Vettel are concerned. Canada will be most interesting indeed.

[Fry_4000]

let them keep at each other, another prost/senna type rivalry would be good to see

[Katsuya]

So, apparently, Webber didn't ask them to slow Vettel down, according to the official radio transmissions. He asked them whether Vettel was on the same engine settings, that's all. Plus, Christian Horner apparently told Webber's engineer to get him to let Vettel through if he was quicker...it certainly seems like they were favouring Vettel one way or another. Interestingly, Webber's now reported to have signed up for 2011 too, so he can't be all that unhappy with them.

[Lineker]

Yeah apparently he's signed up now. Meaning the drivers market will be extremely static; between the top teams anyway.

[Lineker]

& now Massa has agreed a new contract for the 2012 season at Ferrari.

Ferrari has signed 11-year-old Canadian Lance Stroll for its Driver Academy programme.

Stroll, born in 1998, is the youngest driver to enter the Maranello squad's programme.

The 11-year-old has two wins in the Canadian national championship in the Rotax Mini Max category as well as Coupe de Montreal and Coupe du Quebec Micro Max Championship in 2008 and both Mini Max Championships in 2009.

"We are pleased to welcome Lance to our group," said Luca Baldisserri, who runs the Ferrari Driving Academy. "He is very young, but he has already shown in karting that he is exceptionally talented.

"We will follow him step by step in his forthcoming events in North America and he will soon also take part in our courses at Maranello."

Emerson Fittipaldi is to be the drivers' representative on the stewards' panel at the Canadian Grand Prix. The former world champion has been drafted in to offer advice to the three other members of the panel - Lars Osterlind, Enzo Spano and Roger Peart.

Edited June 10, 2010 by It's Coming Home

[Rich]

They had been indicating that for a month or so now so not really suprised at the news, I am however suprised at the decision as even Massa has admitted he hast lost a few tenths because of last year's incident.

[Lineker]

Considering the next race is up this weekend, here's the closure on the whole Vettel/Webber issue:

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel say they have agreed to disagree over the Turkish Grand Prix collision that ended their chances of a one-two finish for Red Bull Racing.

Though neither man is prepared to accept full responsibility for the clash, which happened when Vettel tried to overtake Webber for the race lead approaching the final corners, both are adamant that the incident is now completely behind them.

"I'm cool, absolutely fine," said Webber when asked if there was any lingering ill-feeling. "I'm totally over it and ready to go this weekend. I'm looking forward to getting back on the track."

Vettel agreed that the crash was now in the past and that there was no point disputing blame anymore.

"What happened, happened so there's not much more to say," he said. "You can look at it from many different angles and you can't change it now, so looking back I wouldn't have done anything differently.

"What happened was bad for both of us and especially for the team because we gave a present to McLaren, but the most important thing is to move on.

"To be honest, F1 is not about yesterday, it's about tomorrow. I don't want to spend much time talking about what happened. It's important to understand what happened and that's why we met and talked about it."

Webber said he did not think continuing to debate whose actions triggered the crash would help the situation.

"It happened so bloody quickly," he said. "As I said at the time, I was a bit surprised at what happened, but that's how it was.

"Obviously I was disappointed with the consequences. Absolutely. Moving on from there, we can talk as much as we want about it, but it doesn't change anything."

With Vettel running different engine settings - having conserved more fuel - and Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko initially blaming Webber for the crash, there were suggestions that the collision proved the team favoured its young German driver over current championship leader Webber.

But both drivers dismissed this, with Vettel insisting any conspiracy theories were nonsense.

"There have been so many things in the press about engine turning down, turning up, this and that but most of it is not true," he said.

"If you look, all four cars - Mark, myself, Lewis [Hamilton] and Jenson [button] - we were all of a similar pace and it was quite exceptional to have a race for 40 laps within three or four seconds. Nobody was a second faster than anybody else and at that time I felt that I could go quicker, and as I said I got close enough, tried to pass and didn't work."

Webber has subsequently extended his deal with Red Bull for another year, and said he would not have done so if he felt the team was out to undermine him.

"Look, I'm bloody comfortable in the team, and have been since I arrived," he said. "When Seb arrived there was some nice momentum, a young, new charge and all that sort of stuff, which was good.

"I've just kept my head down and tried to do my job. It's turned out pretty well for me this year, and the team have, to be honest, been great to both of us, and that's why we've a good package. We're pushing each other, and it's been good."

When asked if his new contract guaranteed equality, Webber replied: "Nothing has changed in any of the contracts since I've been here, ever. It's always been straight up. At this stage in my career I would never hang around for another season if I didn't think I was going to get a fair crack, so it's all good."

P1


Pos  Driver         Team                    Time              Laps

 1.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:18.127            23

 2.  Schumacher     Mercedes                1:18.285  + 0.158   19

 3.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes        1:18.352  + 0.225   19

 4.  Rosberg        Mercedes                1:18.356  + 0.229   23

 5.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:18.549  + 0.422   27

 6.  Kubica         Renault                 1:18.662  + 0.535   19

 7.  Alonso         Ferrari                 1:18.726  + 0.599   21

 8.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes    1:19.097  + 0.970   25

 9.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth       1:19.282  + 1.155   31

10.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1:19.313  + 1.186   19

11.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1:19.373  + 1.246   12

12.  Massa          Ferrari                 1:19.511  + 1.384   21

13.  Petrov         Renault                 1:19.549  + 1.422   24

14.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault        1:19.609  + 1.482   26

15.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari          1:20.186  + 2.059   33

16.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:20.320  + 2.193   27

17.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari          1:20.584  + 2.457   21

18.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:20.823  + 2.696   28

19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth          1:21.869  + 3.742   24

20.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth            1:21.977  + 3.850   27

21.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth          1:22.543  + 4.416   12

22.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth            1:22.701  + 4.574   28

23.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth         1:22.713  + 4.586   20

24.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth                              4


All Timing Unofficial[/code]




[code]P2


Pos  Driver         Team                   Time              Laps

 1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1:16.877            32

 2.  Alonso         Ferrari                1:16.963  + 0.086   35

 3.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1:17.151  + 0.274   34

 4.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:17.273  + 0.396   33

 5.  Massa          Ferrari                1:17.401  + 0.524   33

 6.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:17.415  + 0.538   28

 7.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:17.522  + 0.645   29

 8.  Kubica         Renault                1:17.529  + 0.652   36

 9.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1:17.688  + 0.811   34

10.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:17.903  + 1.026   35

11.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:17.961  + 1.084   33

12.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:18.385  + 1.508   27

13.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth      1:18.447  + 1.570   41

14.  Petrov         Renault                1:18.582  + 1.705   40

15.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari         1:18.658  + 1.781   34

16.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1:19.142  + 2.265   38

17.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:19.168  + 2.291   32

18.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:19.274  + 2.397   41

19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         1:19.969  + 3.092   35

20.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth           1:20.879  + 4.002   29

21.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth           1:21.097  + 4.220   31

22.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:21.346  + 4.469   11

23.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:21.488  + 4.611   25

24.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        1:21.577  + 4.700   30


All Timing Unofficial

Edited June 12, 2010 by It's Coming Home

[Rich]

I am afraid Christain Horner, you can say who was at fault, Vettel moved in to Webber, if he hadn't have turned his steering wheel right he wouldn't have hit him and they wouldn't have had that accident.

[Katsuya]

Can Eddie Jordan please stop pissing on everything that Lotus manage to do? Seriously, it's getting pretty tiresome of him constantly going "they should be doing better" when Lotus are doing better and better. Fine, call out Virgin and Hispania on being shit, but Lotus are genuinely getting stronger as each race goes by. Plus, for all Kovalainen was pretty crappy in the McLaren, he's driving that Lotus ridiculously well.

[GA!]

...did the BBC feed just bleep?