[nipcarlover]

20 minutes to go to the race, should be really exciting. My prediction is for a Hamilton win, but cannot count out Alonso or Kimi.

[delta5]

Alonso all the way.. Looks like Vettel won't be able to hold on to the second place.. Go kimi...!! what could be the penalty for using DRS under yellow flag?

[Meer]

That was close for Hamilton! Flawless drive by Alonso, Ferrari are coming on their own this season. Mercedes have improved, but still have some way to go. Not sure what the investigations will lead to. Force India finally score in China.

[nipcarlover]

Really epic race this time, beautiful drive by Fernando, impressive drive from Kimi to hold off Hamilton even with a damaged front wing.
Disappointed with Hulkenberg , had really fast pace initially but lost a bit in the final stints. Also, misfortune for Sutil with Gutierrez hitting him, but good drive from di Resta.

[thiagust]

Very good drive from Kimi inspite of a damaged front wing. Was a bit surprised that Lewis did not try to overtake during the last few laps, he sounded completely scared when he was shouting "blue flags" on the radio , when was behibd him on the last few corners. Kimi could have won the race but for thwarted damage imho. Promises to bw good season. Would we have a repeat of the last season, 7 different winners in the first 7 races

[Zed]

Todays podium reflects the pick of the lot. Alonso's flawless drive demonstrating his ability to extract the best from the car and conditions on a given day. With damaged aero bits Kimi was still able to snatch second. Interesting to note where their team mates finished.
Am rooting for kimi to take the drivers championship.

[myavu]

WOW! A fantastic race at last. Maximum number of overtaking. I am sure Merc will be in serious contention later this season and arrogant Vettel booted from the podium

Cheers!

Vinu

[aim120]

Why is ESPNSTAR not showing the post race drivers interview .All they showed in chequered flag was the repeat the podium chat from David Coultard ,who IMO this time did not do a good job in interviewing the drivers.

[Shashidl]

Man what a race. Flawless drive by Fernando. Disappointed with fillipe/nico though. Edge of the seat entertainment towards the end with the fastest lap 1:36 coming from vettel.

The championship is wide open. Can't wait for the week to quickly fly for the Bahrain gp.


Just was wondering whether the twitched/chipped up nose of kimi affect his performance in any way?

[MaserQ]

Alonso did not put a foot wrong all weekend, great race for him. Ferrari are really getting their act together this season. Kimi as usual, a solid race even with a damaged nose upfront. Hamilton may have finished third and only just, but I'm impressed with the progress that Mercedes have made so far this year. Vettel, well..he has had better days but a mighty impressive last stint, pulling back 13 seconds in 4 laps to catch Hamilton.

[mayankk]

It's turning out to be a sad season for me. Yeah, Hamilton is doing really well all things considered, but at the end of the day it's McLaren that is the team. Now we've got to wait till Barcelona to see what may be possible this season.

But at least with Hamilton, I got to see the occasional spark, when he wrung the neck of an underperforming car to take it places where it was not expected. Button, I never expected the same. Perez looks to be in way over his head,just side stepping from who he's replacing.

But hey, nice boot from the podium for you know who

[rana_kirti]

Why did vettel pit in from 2nd place with just 4-5 laps to go ? Why did he not stay in 2nd place for the remaining few laps ?

[Maky]

Originally Posted by rana_kirti

Why did vettel pit in from 2nd place with just 4-5 laps to go ? Why did he not stay in 2nd place for the remaining few laps ?

If I remember correctly he had not used the second compound(soft was it?) as required by the rules. He had not set a time during qualifying either so was free to start on whatever tyre he wanted to and chose the mediums(white sidewall) and had yet to run on the yellows.

All in all I enjoyed the race. The excitement is reminiscent of the first half of the 2012 season. This race in particular with so many changes in lead and the action right at the end with HAM and VET was just how F1 racing should be all the time.
I was dissapointed to see one FI go off thanks to rookie boy mexican but he got handed a penalty and the second FI of DIR made good positions. What makes me really happy is to see the drivers championship standings where the top guys are more evenly matched. Should make for an interested battle in 2013 or the first half anyways...

[asr245]

Fantastic last lap excitement. 13 seconds of lead eaten up by Vettel in 3 laps. I am not even close to being his fan but that was exciting!

So how many race leaders did this race have? 9, 10? Overtaking has gone from too hard to too easy with these tyres and DRS. They should get rid of these both compounds rule.

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by asr245

Fantastic last lap excitement. 13 seconds of lead eaten up by Vettel in 3 laps. I am not even close to being his fan but that was exciting!

So how many race leaders did this race have? 9, 10? Overtaking has gone from too hard to too easy with these tyres and DRS. They should get rid of these both compounds rule.

There was a time when Alonso was behind Button and could not get past, in P2, which got me a bit worried, then I realised race control had suspended DRS use after Webbers incident. He got past the very lap it was allowed.

While it might be a touch easy I prefer this to the contrary. The both compound rule really spices things up