If no Grand Prix victory is ever easy, Lewis Hamilton made this one seem so.
Amid continuing speculation about his future, he started the Italian Grand Prix from pole position, took the lead when the lights went out, and thereafter lost it only briefly – to Sergio Perez’s Sauber, no less – when he made his one and only pit stop shortly before half-distance.
Hamilton reckoned that, if anything, Ferrari had a slight edge on McLaren at Monza, but a roll-bar problem robbed Fernando Alonso of a probable pole position, and, starting only 10th – behind such as Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel – it was never a possibility that he would be able to threaten Hamilton. The spectators could only dream of the race there might have been between the two of them had they both started from the front row.
Still, it wasn’t a bad day for Ferrari, for Alonso finally finished third, with Massa fourth, his best result of the season so far. As far as his World Championship prospects are concerned, yes, Fernando dropped 10 points to Hamilton, but he increased his lead over all his other rivals. The Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber both went out with alternator failure, and Jenson Button’s McLaren retired with fuel feed problems. Kimi Räikkönen picked up more points for fifth place in his Lotus (and moved up to third in the standings), but, all in all, Alonso – after his qualifying tribulations – had good reason to be happy with the way things went at Monza.
The venerable Parco was at its best the whole weekend, hot and dry, with the long shadows of approaching autumn. Given the state of the economy in Italy, and the overwhelming cost of F1 grandstand tickets these days, it was perhaps not surprising that the huge stand opposite the pits was no more than half-full for qualifying, where once it would have been straining at the seams.
The passion, though, was undiluted, like nowhere else, and of course the focus of the tifosi lay squarely with Ferrari – and in particular the number 5 Ferrari of Alonso, the World Championship leader.
Fernando said he was absolutely none the worse for his scary accident at Spa the previous Sunday, when Romain Grosjean’s Renault flew across the top of his car at the first corner. “My shoulder was very sore after the accident,” he said, “but on the Monday morning I woke up feeling absolutely fine – and that was a relief because quite often when you have an accident you feel terrible the next day, from the where the belts have bruised you, and also in your spine – when you have been in the air, there is a big impact when the car hits the ground again. I was lucky, though – I had no pain at all. Very important, because here we are at Monza five days later – there would have been no time to recover…”
At the beginning of practice the big topic of conversation in the paddock was Hamilton’s future: the assumption has long been that common sense would dictate that he would re-sign with McLaren, but on the BBC website Eddie Jordan declared to the world that, no, Lewis was going to Mercedes – perhaps no contract had been signed yet, but terms had been agreed. McLaren folk wisely declined to get involved in the hysteria, quietly conceding that while Hamilton had not yet signed a new contract, their expectation was that ultimately he would. At the press conference on Thursday afternoon Lewis was playing it very po-faced, and said no, he didn’t know who he would be driving for in 2013. The only certainty is that, whichever team it is, the PR people will earn their money.
Although the Mercedes of Schumacher and Rosberg were well in the picture throughout practice and qualifying, as time went on the Italian Grand Prix began to look more and more like a two-horse race between McLaren and Ferrari. Although the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber were improved by Saturday, they were off the absolute pace.
“If you look from us to the front,” said Vettel, “the gaps are too big. All weekend we just haven’t been quick enough – although I think we’ll be better in the race.”
“It’s Monza, so never say never,” mused Webber, “but I think we’ve got a bit of slog tomorrow…”
For most of the qualifying hour Alonso looked like the favourite for pole position. Fastest in Q1, fastest in Q2…but then everything went awry. “It’s not often you can say this,” Fernando said, “but I think today would have been an easy pole. I did 24.1 on hard tyres in Q1, then 24.0 on medium tyres in Q2 – and it was really a very easy lap. I went into Q3 with three or four tenths in my pocket, and the car still felt perfect on my out lap – but then, on the first lap I started to push, I immediately felt something was wrong, so I backed off, and came in…”
The mechanics found that a rear roll-bar mounting was broken – and they told Alonso there was no time to fix it. “I went out again, to do the best I could, but…” In the circumstances a lap in 1m 25.7s was a pretty remarkable effort, but it was good for only 10th on the grid. “It’s maybe 15 years since something like this has happened,” said Fernando, but… it has, and there’s no point in crying over it. At least it happened on Saturday, not Sunday.”
At McLaren they couldn’t believe their luck, of course, and now the way was clear for Hamilton and Button to scoop up the front row, which they duly did. Aerodynamic developments introduced the since the August break have worked extremely well, and both drivers declared themselves well pleased with their cars. In the end Lewis beat Jenson by a tenth, but not far behind them was Massa, well on the pace throughout, and now the man on whom Ferrari was depending in the early laps.
The fourth fastest qualifying was set by di Resta’s Force India, but a gearbox change dropped him five places, and lining up fourth instead was Schumacher’s Mercedes, with Vettel next, then Rosberg, then – perhaps further back than might have been expected – the Lotus of Räikkönen. Unluckiest of all was Hulkenberg, whose Force India lost drive at the very start of Q1, before he could put in even one quick lap.
Race day was hotter even than Saturday, and Alonso murmured that he might have been better off starting 11th, rather than 10th, for then he could have had free tyre choice – as at Spa, Pirelli had hard and medium on offer at Monza – and gone to the grid on the hard tyres. As it was, he was obliged to start on the mediums he had used in Q3 – but Perez, starting 12th, indeed opted to start on hard tyres, and this was to have a crucial effect on the outcome of the race.
Perhaps no circuit has a more potentially chaotic first corner than Spa, but if it is less problematic than La Source, Monza’s tight right-left chicane invariably leads to problems on the first lap. This time though, there were none to speak of, although Hamilton and Massa almost touched as they scrapped over the lead. Lewis got the better of it, but Felipe – starting higher than for a long time, and with Italy depending on him – was clearly in a mood to go racing, and at least splitting the McLarens was a very good beginning.
Alonso too started well, and by the end of lap one was up to seventh (from his 10th starting position), and hassling Räikkönen, with whom he dispensed on the second lap. Now immediately ahead of him were Vettel and Schumacher, who changed places on lap four. Fernando quickly closed on Michael, but an attempt to pass him on the long pit straight – even with DRS – failed to come off, so he would have to try something else.
Twelve months ago, it will be remembered, Hamilton spent countless laps trapped behind Schumacher, and Alonso clearly couldn’t afford a repetition of that. As it was, he passed the Mercedes out of Parabolica, getting off the corner faster, and pulling early out of Schumacher’s slipstream.
Vettel was less easy, though. Alonso caught him quickly enough, but getting past was a different matter. The pair of them pitted at the same time, at the end of lap 20, but both stops were well executed, and so they left at the same time too, proceeding down pit lane almost side by side.
The McLarens, running 1-2, pitted on laps 23 and 24, Button first, putting Perez into the lead. On his hard tyres Sergio had kept up an impressive pace, and although Hamilton quickly closed on him, he didn’t give up the lead until lap 29, when he made his tyre stop.
By now all the front runners had exchanged the medium tyres on which they had started for hard Pirellis, but Perez, of course, was doing it the other way round. He had started on the hard tyres (which enabled him to run a much longer first stint than the rest), and was now going to the mediums, which were not only faster, but of course – by virtue of that late stop – considerably younger. It wouldn’t be long before the Sauber began lapping at a different sort of speed from any other car, Hamilton’s McLaren included.
Lewis now led comfortably again, with his team mate also looking secure in second place, but behind the McLarens Alonso was still doing everything possible to separate Vettel from third place. On lap 25 he went to the outside of the Red Bull at the exit of Curva Grande, and found himself being ushered off the road.
Twelve months ago their roles were reversed. On that occasion Fernando was in front, with Seb right behind, and at Parabolica he placed the Ferrari in the middle of the track, leaving his rival a choice between going left or going right. Vettel chose the outside, put two wheels on the grass, and made it through into the lead. Afterwards he was plainly a bit miffed with Alonso, but really there was no need to complain: in the best traditions of Grand Prix racing it had been hard, but it had also been fair. Fernando never deviated from his line, never closed the gap into which Sebastian took himself.
So was this payback? Many saw it that way, but in fact it was rather more than that, for Vettel took up all the road at the exit of the corner, and Alonso, travelling way faster, had no option but to take – with all four wheels – to the grass. Fernando is not one to scream and shout, but he was plainly unamused by this, not least because inevitably there was some damage to the floor of his car: “This is almost bound to happen,” he drily suggested, “when you are bouncing in the gravel at 300…”
Four laps later he finally did find a path around the Red Bull, and at the same time it was announced that their ‘incident’ was under investigation. Soon afterwards the stewards decided that Vettel should have a ‘drive through’ penalty, which he duly served on lap 34, dropping from fourth to ninth as a consequence.
Not that it much mattered in the end, actually, because on lap 48 – only five from the flag – Vettel pulled off with alternator failure, just as he suffered when leading conclusively at Valencia. And two laps later, soon after spinning luridly at Ascari, Mark Webber’s sister car retired with an identical problem. Bad day for Red Bull.
After dealing finally with Vettel, Alonso was up to fourth which became third when he passed team mate Massa, and then second when the unfortunate Button pulled off with fuel feed problems, leaving Hamilton to go it alone. As Fernando advanced two places, the tifosi went nuts, but they should have kept a weather eye on Perez, who was simply flying along, lapping more than a second faster than anyone else in the race. Younger, softer tyres will do that for you.
By lap 43 Sergio was past Massa for third place, and the rate at which he then closed on Alonso was astonishing. There was absolutely no point, after all his efforts earlier in the race, in Fernando’s putting up a fight that was bound ultimately to be fruitless, and on lap 46 the Sauber went by the Ferrari with ridiculous ease. “It was great to be in that situation,” Perez said, “to be the hunter, in a car that was so much faster…”
The laps were running out now, and there was obviously no possibility of his troubling Hamilton, but even that gap began swiftly to reduce, at the rate of one second, sometimes two a lap. “I had a 14-second lead,” said Lewis, “so I was cruising – but then this guy started catching me, so I had to speed up, just to be sure…” At the flag the gap was just 4.3 seconds.
“It’s absolutely fantastic to win here,” Hamilton said afterwards. “I’ve loved everything about Italy for a long time – I’ve spent a lot of time here over the years, right back to when I was 13, and karting. I had absolutely no trouble with either the car or the tyres…”
“In qualifying,” said Perez, “I don’t think we had the one-lap pure pace necessary – mainly we were lacking straight line speed. I also didn’t do a great job myself in qualifying, and looking ahead to the race I thought a top 10 finish was possible, but not more than that. As it was, our tyre strategy was perfect, and it worked out better than I could have hoped…”
In some ways, though, the most contented man afterwards may have been Alonso, whose day did not start well – 10th on the grid – but who made it to the podium, and extended his World Championship lead over all his serious rivals, save Hamilton.
“Obviously the win was out of reach, after the qualifying problem yesterday, but if you cannot win, the podium is the next target – and in all the simulations and predictions we had, it was never going to be a podium finish today, so basically this is much better than expected. In the circumstances, it’s a perfect Sunday…”
All these last 2 GPs have shown for me is the way forward for F!.Scrap all Friday practice.Just 1 hour practice on Saturday followed by proper flat out qualifying ,then bring back the Sunday morning warm-up and let the drivers start on any tyres they wish.
I don’t think Vettel deserved his penalty. But how the stewards can award him a penalty and not give one to Rosberg and Di Resta for crowding Senna off the track mystifies me.
I’ve just finished watching it and have already forgotten most of what happened. I can’t work up any interest in it this year, I’m afraid. It might be better if we didn’t have to mentally compute how many laps each driver has done on these ridiculous tyres, and allow for the fact that driver A is on hard tyres, chasing driver B who is on soft tyres but will have to pit sooner. However, none of it matters much anyway, because here’s the DRS zone and we can watch one car overtake another as if it’s standing still. Then, if we’re BBC viewers, we can see the same pass in slow mo from six different angles as if it was somehow worth seeing even once. I think I might start watching the traffic on my local motorway instead … it’ll be just as exciting and I won’t have to tolerate the endless replays. Give the drivers one type of tyre and engineer it so they can actually race with it, get rid of DRS and maybe I’ll start watching again. But until then, I’m afraid, I’ll be finding better things to do with my Sundays.
Thank you for a great read Nigel Roebuck. You are the best.
[quote]Sergio had kept up an impressive pace, and although Hamilton quickly closed on him, he didn’t give up the lead until lap 29, when he made his tyre stop.[/quote]
Hamilton passed Perez on the track to retake the lead – just before the Sauber pitted.
Not impressed by the booing italians during the podium ceremony either.
Hamilton was in control the whole race and made it seem effortless – good win for Lewis and very unfortunate luck for Button.
Alonso – good grief, DRS and tyre arguments whilst valid, generally do not apply to the man, I just love to watch him wring the neck of that car – worth watching EVERY race for in my opinion.
Not sure about SV’s penalty – whilst I am not a huge fan of his antics, they were both going flat out and there was always a risk for Alonso on passing to the outside. Having said that – FA is nothing but fair in these situations (remenber Webbers pass at Spa last year) and perhaps the stewards got it righ after all.
So, can Lewis build some momentum and deliver a robust title challenge in the remaining races? – let us hope so…..
No mention of the crowd making monkey noises at the podium?
Lewis did all that could be expected in the race, and stayed dignified on the podium in a way that I wouldn’t have. Great racer, great guy.
Perez (especially) and Alonso, great stuff (though I would’ve liked to have seen whether Massa could have kept FA at bay had he wanted). Button, hmm. Great drive, very unlucky, but did he have to get out of the car and start waving gaily to the crowd (who were only cheering because he’d just gifted FA a position) straight away? I mean, straight away? Couldn’t he at least kick a wheel or shake his fists at the sky for a few seconds first, act like it ‘hurts’ to be robbed like that, like he ‘cares’?…
And God, I still hate DRS overtakes, and these darn tyres.
LdM moaning about costs too. Not surprised. WWIII has just been fought and Germany now owns continental Europe. Perhaps Merc can buy Ferrari for 20 quid and run it as a feeder team?…
PS. I’d say Vettel was innocent, seemed committed before FA went to the outside. Strange to have both an Italian and a Spaniard as two of the three stewards (i.e. the majority vote) for a Monza race where FA’s so involved in the championship…
I was (once and again) dismayed at the totally unjust penalty inflicted upon Vettel for having done absolutely nothing wrong at Monza.
Sebastian was decidedly ahead, keeping his trajectory exiting the curve, didn’t do any sudden maneuver or anything like that, or what did you expect for him, to go into a spin jerking inwards from his exit inertia just to let her majesty the red car behind through???… Fernando was trying way out to force and push his way through his opponent ahead in an impossible and dangerous way, and thus showing the FIA’s absolute lack of consistency in applying the rules.
Or does that mean that whenever there’s a Ferrari behind, drivers from other teams shall stop competing and just move over to let them go ahead.
What does this mean FIA?, FERRARI INJUSTICE ASSISTANCE…
Shame really, the greatest team in racing does not need any of that.
McLaren is by far the fastest team in F1 now. It took a while for a team to step forward. However, they have won the last 3 races from pole. Each track very different than the last which shows they can win anywhere. I just hope it is not back to the old days where bulk of races are won from pole again.
Vettel did not make a sudden move, or any move outside of the driving line, yet a penalty appears. Booing of Perez by Italian fans. Another example of great Italian sportsmanship (and this is coming from an Italian). Frankly, I was surprised Perez was allowed to pass the Ferraris at all.
Shame on McLaren, they backed the wrong horse. By season’s end, the will rue the Spa weekend as the race and championship they threw away by childish squabbling over Hamilton’s contract, over acting like professionals.
I think that F1 has become a branch of show business.The drivers,the team spokespersons and the commentators sing from the same hymn sheet and all is bright and beautiful.
Sky F1 coverage does go on for hours…..but they haven’t half the amount of fresh material they need to fill that slot,so it turns into “F1 Groundhog Day and time to hit the “remote.”
I must admit I wondered how interviewing drivers on the podium would work at Monza – next an interview with Alex Furguson at Anfield!!
By the way Kimi doesn’t “murmur”, he “mumbles”
Ferguson
Murmur, mumble, doesn’t matter, they all read from the exact same script.
In Codemasters F1 games, there is actually a part of the game that hampers your progress if you deviate from a positive message when interviewed by the press. This is now part of being a F1 driver.
Regardless of Italian fans, their boys got thoroughly schooled by a low budget team and an upstart driver with exactly the same drive train.
RBR and Renault cannot seriously source a reliable alternator? I guess this is what happens when you blow the budget on wind tunnels.
G’day Ray,
Alternator? It may be code for a serious design flaw.
Call me a cynic, but I remember when some used to say “distributor” when a conrod went through the block and knocked the distributor off!!!
I found the booing very disappointing. I did not hear monkey noises but if there were I would expect serious sanctions – up to and including no race next year. I was there in 2009 when Hamilton crashed near the end. Although this promoted Raikkonen there was a particular nastiness in the reaction once Hamilton (and then his dad) appeared on the large screen. A political group had a march that Sunday in Milan – you can see their symbol prominently even yesterday at the podium ceremony so they continue to exploit the Grand Prix for political purposes. This may bring people who would not otherwise attend. Otherwise I agree with Nigel, no place in the World quiet evokes the past like Monza.
The fans at Monza have booed non-Ferrari drivers since God was a lad. It does seem that Hamilton’s fans are more than a touch sensitive about any perceived slight, nearly to the degree that he exhibits.
Alonso performed as expected. Seeing how Perez performed, it’s even more of a shame that the Saubers were so messed about last race.
Ray FK’s comment at the start of the comment thread is spot on, unfortunately. Too many limitations to make the Friday running really worthwhile, it seems, in the current Mosely/BCE/CVC spec-racer “F1″…
Sick and tired of Alonso always complaining on radio through the years. I felt like he ran extra wide to make his point. To this day anyone who thinks Alonso did not know everything about Crash Gate you are crazy. He is the busiest driver on the radio complaining always, and always knowing where and exactly what every other driver is doing at all times.
A little research threw up http://www.leganord.org as the group with the flags
Spot on Michael. That’s exactly it.
You know, at Shanghai last year at the party after the race (and encouraged by a drink or two), I told Fernando that though I admired his driving prowess, I thought he would be an even better driver if he wasn’t so arrogant and, that just because he was driving a Ferrari he should’n expect other drivers to move over for you, you have to EARN your passing ahead of another competitor, or isn’t this called Motor ‘Racing’?
He was kind of surprised by my straight comment (for which I apologized the manner, not the content), but he told me he appreciated my sincerity. And this time (as usual)to top it all you have even his engineer Stella backing him up (‘yes I’ve seen that’ – Vettel’s maneuver ???…), not to mention the most biased press in the world when it comes to their Ferrari team where they turn Day into Night or Night into Day according tho their need to appear in the right.
NO. That is not on in my book, or is it in yours dear fans?…
Yes, Michael, agreed, good driver that he is, FA has become a right whinger when it comes to radio comms (especially this time, as he’d put Di Resta on the grass himself earlier in the race).
But his conduct in Crashgate (and what appears to be blackmail in the Spygate saga) will never, it seems, be acknowledged by his fans, who seem to include certain prominent writers in motorsport magazines.
With luck, with the economies of Italy (Fiat/Ferrari) and France (Renault) in crisis, we’ll see Ferrari fade away. Merc will be the only team with decent resources when the new engine rules come in – thank goodness it looks like they’ll have a decent driver to do them justice…
Wow, no cynics writing in on this subject! Heck, I thought the race was fun to watch – I had no idea how bad it was until reading some of these posts … Anyway, it’s hard for me to judge the SV penalty, as what I saw from the camera angles was inconclusive. I’m assuming the stewards had more video information/telemetry. As to whether it was a reverse of last year, we need to recall that the FIA said they were less tolerant now, so the rules have changed about blocking and swerving – which I think is a good thing.
Interesting to note the comments about people frustrated with Alonso’s comments on the radio. Equally interesting is that at least one of these folks is a massive fan of Hamilton. I’ve heard quite a few negative radio transmissions from Hamilton, where is the ire for that? He’s slammed his own team over the radio, as well as other drivers. No negative comments about that from Michael or hammy?
Interesting. I suppose it was Alonso who stole the Ferrari IP back in 2007, too. And of course, Hamilton did not benefit in any way from that stolen IP, just Alonso. Right, got it…
Excuse me Rich, What’s the Ferrari ‘IP’ ?
IP is Intellectual Property’. In ’07 it was the dossier sent by a ferrari employee to a McLaren one, not stolen as some would have it.
There should be no radio at all in any car. Maybe a light or beep system to tell drivers when to pit or when flags are out or when the data shows a punc or engine failure, but beyond that I’d scrap the lot. I’ve heard Hamilton question things on the comms, but never whine or over-exaggerate as I think FA did on Sunday. But maybe he has and I’ve missed it, in which case it’d be as silly as when FA does it (and I’ve heard him do it a few times).
Specifically, on Sunday, it was FA’s closing speed that caught Seb out. SV was taking the standard line and I doubt, mid-corner at that speed, he had capacity to look at anything but the road ahead. FA must’ve known how fast he was closing and could’ve gone inside or out – and also must’ve known SV was taking the standard line. I have no idea why he risked the outside, but I concede he had a split-second decision to make. Just a racing incident to me. Seb made no sudden direction change (unlike MSC chopping LH on the inside last year). Lucky it had no effect on the final result, else we’d all be here till Xmas debating it…
PeteH, anyone who has worked for any corporation dealing with high-tech is educated/indoctrinated about what to do if they receive any information from another party that may go against IP laws. On receiving the information one is to immediately let the company counsel know, and from there it is dealt with as transparently as possible.
The fact that the Woking squad held onto the information when it was known to be received illegally would not have been tolerated in any other arena than BCE’s dog and pony show. As well, Stepney was what is known as a disgruntled employee, and his actions did not represent those of Ferrari. He was a loose cannon and Woking illegally took advantage of the information he illegally passed to them.
All I have to say further on the matter is that the whole thing worked out very nicely in ferrari’s favour. I suspect that was by design from the outset.
No, PeteH, it worked out to the detriment of the sport. The Woking squad was able to get away with an international crime with very little in the way of penalties. They benefitted far more than they lost financially. In most other contexts (non-BCE managed entertainment, though he’s not unique. MLB in the US is very inconsistent regarding rulebreakers), the team would have been banned, and individuals within the organization would have gone to jail.
You are wrong. And I don’t give a stuff what would happen in the USA.
Dear Nigel, excellent article, thanks a lot.
I want to make a clarification regarding some comments about the stewards of the meeting one being itailan and another one being spanish.
For those not familiarised with F1 stewarding, there are three of them in each GP. One is from the hosting country (the italian one) and the other two, in this occasion, one was spanish and the other one was GERMAN.
Frankly I can’t find anything wrong with the stewards panel selection.
The penalty can be disccused but please not conspiracy theories, thank you.
Thanks Pat Kenny, I wondered what those flags were.
I’ve just been looking elsewhere and it seems at least two teams did charity auctions to raise funds for victims of the Emilia Romagna earthquake. I didn’t see anything about that on TV, but did see lots of flags that I assumed must relate to the Tifosi or marque owners club.
There’s no need for conspiracy theories on Alonso going off around the outside trying to pass Vettel as something very similar happened last year but with the roles reversed. Was there an intervention by the Stewards last year? It’s just the usual variability and inconsistency though at least now the Stewards are ex drivers as opposed to inexperienced, unqualified dignitaries with links to somebody in high places.
Vettel should have borrowed a line from Schumacher:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urAzPF6Yw8w
Montoya was right, it’s racing.
I posted the link as I thought it was also relevant to the post Spa discussions on driving standards, safety and the influence over several years of drivers widely regarded as champions and legends.
Monza again provides much to ponder.
My impression on Alonso’s overtaking excursion is that it was a moment of critical mass, in his mind. He was slightly more hospitable to Vettel last year, than was reciprocated.
That was “oh,cheeky, all right then”, this “hard work if you can get it, mate!”
In 2012 an “under review” lottery move.
Alonso’s mental silicon chip is set full on “aquire”, so I think recall at work.
He’s looking formidable, and not in the best car.
Stewards seem to be “an evil necessity”, every other race.
Hamilton owned Monza, and the title race awakens again.
Sauber’s recent pace is good news, and perhaps Suzuka will reward them more.
Lotus are just not finding top step form, but have usurped Force India and Mercedes.
Kimi has been racey, and Grosjean’s real speed needs a more meditative component. Singapore may bode well.
The latter perhaps distracted by the continuity saga. Rosberg’s first stint so poor, I thought the KER’s was shot. MSC on the old tracks, his better lately.
Red Bull fell here, but many upcoming ( Tilke ) circuits favour them.
Williams have quite evolved, but both pilots grab corners rather than earn them by times. Senna is improving, Pastor real quick but unruly. Been a few good ones like that.
I think the MLB mentioned above is Major League Baseball.
Sea of acronyms, everywhere lately. The forum is international, many not having English as a mother tongue.
Perhaps we could revert to spelling it out in full. Those not F1 related, or regional especially.
Uses characters, yes, but considerate !
PeteH, I’m referring to international IP law, not just what happens in the U.S.
McLaren really look like they can take both titles. It’s still in their control: if Hamilton can take 6 points per race off Alonso that;s the WDC. The constructors is only 29 points to Red Bull, so if they can finish with both cars, that’s really doable.
Rich A.
OK, I’ve got it, but the fact that you are completely anti Senna, anti McLaren, and anti Hamilton, and though your different views certainly contribute to debate the circumstantial aspects of history in our sport, I honestly think that your biased hatred against these blinds you from reality in a big way, with all due respect to your, or anyone’s opinion.
In regards to the IP scandal of 2007, the only thing I sustain is that McLaren had a very incompetent lawyer to defend themselves from Ferrari’s shrewd accusations (and good Lawyer) against them.
I mean Mclaren did not set up any spying operation to intrude into Ferrari and steal any of their information. It was handed to them by a disgruntled employee. I mean like if one of your cooks takes your recipe book to some other restaurant, then it is your (and nobody else’s) fault if you did not manage to safeguard your own information at home!…, for one. Two, ridiculous how they used radio communication recordings where Mac where heard to interchange info about the opponent’s set up to compare, and/or improve upon and so forth…!? That happens all the time in every sport and walk of life doesn’t it?!… Don’t you think that Nike is constantly monitoring what Addidas uses in their shoes to improve upon for themselves (and vice-versa), and likewise in skiing, and swimming, and so on ? Believe me, I read the entire legal interchange between Gino Macaluso, Ferrari’s accusing lawyer, and McLaren’s (don’t even remember the name, I would never contract him anyway…) and it all put to shame the power wars at the top.
Carlos, you seem at least as biased for the current Woking team, as I am disgusted by it. I have a lot of respect for the original McLaren team, and even more for Bruce McLaren. Ron Dennis’s operation has often been hypocritical, and works the English-speaking media quite well, in spite of his “Ronspeak”. Otherwise, why was it worse for Ferrari to issue team orders midway in the season (’02), than it was for McLaren to order them at the very first race of the season (Oz, 1998). And please don’t trot out the “Mika screwed up his pit stop, so the switch was fair” line of thought. It was still team orders.
I like Jenson Button, he’s a class act. I felt terrible for Dave Ryan when he was scapegoated for Hamilton’s lies. I had a lot of respect and appreciation for Mika when he drove for Woking. I even acknowledged many times that while Senna was completely unsporting (and worse) on track, that he did a lot for the Brazillian people.
None of the above will blind me to the negatives of the Woking squad. C’est la vie, no?
Well, there’s not much else to say except: Lewis, Sergio and Fernando were superb! Have we forgotten that?
Regarding the differences between the two passes between Alonso and Vettel this year and last at Monza, seems there could have been a rule change since then.
Absolutely no difference between what Alonso did to Seb in 2011 and what Seb did to Alsono this year. You cannot justify one and condemn the other.
Jackal, I’m not seeking to justify or condemn. See my previous post.
The point I was making was that I’ve read elsewhere that the rules have changed since last year. Perhaps another could explain how the rules have changed or been tightened or it could be covered in the Motor Sport magazine next podcast?