[PuntoMania]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Looks like Massa is in trouble again

Ferrari urges Felipe Massa to raise his game in Monaco - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

I foresee, another 3 races before he's shown the door, Its high time Ferrari finds someone to match Alonso.

I think that would be even more disastrous. Remember Giancarlo Fisichella in Ferrari 2009 ? Why, even Heidfeld struggled to match Petrov for sometime last year.

The peculiar characteristics of an F1 car these days along with the joker tyres will make it very hard for anyone to step into that Ferrari and start doing well mid season.

[gpa]

I have just four words: Ferocious Fernando and Frustrated Felipe. No wonder you have Fernando on 61 points and Felipe on 2. Although it is still early days, something tells me the way Fernando is driving, he is bound to win the drivers championship in 2013.

[polopm]

Changing tracks.... Sir Frank 'astonished' by Maldanado.

Finally we have the old man admitting that Pastor was taken on-board the team as a pay driver and to his delight proving real good.

From espnf1:
Sir Frank Williams admitted that he was "astonished" by Pastor Maldonando's performance during the Spanish Grand Prix.
Maldonado gave Williams its first victory in eight years in Barcelona, converting pole position in to a win despite losing out to Fernando Alonso off the line. It was a hugely impressive display of talent from Maldonado - who had previously been labelled a pay-driver - and although Williams admitted money had got him the seat in the first place he said that he never doubted his racing credentials.
"Yeah, he was to some extent (initially at the team because of money); I'm not denying that," Williams is quoted by Autosport. "But if we thought he'd been a wanker, he wouldn't have got in the team no matter how much money he had. He did a very sensible job in GP2 and he fully deserves to be in the team with or without the dosh. The truth is that if you haven't got the dosh, you can't go Formula 1 racing."

Sergio, Pastor are all of the same types, they are talented and come with huge sponsorships. It's a dream for Williams and Sauber who were sleepwalking backwards over the years and boom, suddenly they are back in contention with all the big boys.

Strange, with the way how you need to drive the car, like walking a tightrope and you get whacked for even thinking to drive on the limit, leave alone driving fast !!

[mgh]

Formula One has been trying to reduce emphasis on aerodynamics, as that is one area, where better your testing facilities, better the results – favouring the rich teams.
Methinks with the Pirellis, better aerodynamics means more problems – more the downforce, more the degradation. All teams are used to working for better aerodynamics – so better the car in their view, the worse it performs, which may be what happened to Ferrari . No wonder, the teams are confused, and no team seems to be having the edge.
Especially after Kimi paid the penalty for pushing the tyres at the Chinese Grand Prix, no driver is willing to push the tyres.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by gpa

I have just four words: Ferocious Fernando and Frustrated Felipe. No wonder you have Fernando on 61 points and Felipe on 2. Although it is still early days, something tells me the way Fernando is driving, he is bound to win the drivers championship in 2013.

Let me Re-Phrase this one for you

Ferocious Fernando in a Ferrari

and

Frustrated Filipe in a Ferrari

and let Ferrari Find another F1 driver Fast

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by mgh

Formula One has been trying to reduce emphasis on aerodynamics, as that is one area, where better your testing facilities, better the results – favouring the rich teams.
Methinks with the Pirellis, better aerodynamics means more problems – more the downforce, more the degradation. All teams are used to working for better aerodynamics – so better the car in their view, the worse it performs, which may be what happened to Ferrari . No wonder, the teams are confused, and no team seems to be having the edge.
Especially after Kimi paid the penalty for pushing the tyres at the Chinese Grand Prix, no driver is willing to push the tyres.

Aero is a dark art. Ferrari have top of the line facilities and are still having problems.
You are confusing downforce with drag. More downforce can never cause problems, it is what teams are always striving for.

Kimi/Lewis were pushing the tires like crazy at Catalunya, no problems in their last stints. Teams are learning and understanding the tires with every race.
Though, personally I hope some confusion remains, it makes for great racing!

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by anachronix

RUMOR: A big news will be coming soon from Lotus-Renault on a new sponsorship deal! The sponsors are said to be the big boys of IT from the US

I am guessing, its Microsoft!

Ouch. Just lost interest in Lotus team. Love the Iceman but hate MS even more!

[himanshukalia]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Feel its about time Massa got the sack. Ferrari losing valuable Constructors points.
Since it cant get any worse there is no risk in getting a new driver in.

Any guesses who could replace Massa in ferrari's seat ???

[smashnerd]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Ouch. Just lost interest in Lotus team. Love the Iceman but hate MS even more!

Could be Google, Facebook, Apple, Yahoo for all I care. Hope they make good progress with the cash inflow.

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Aero is a dark art. Ferrari have top of the line facilities and are still having problems.
You are confusing downforce with drag. More downforce can never cause problems, it is what teams are always striving for.

You too are mistaken my friend. With more downforce comes more drag. Finding drag free downforce is the dark art you are referring to.

The creation of downforce by passive devices almost always can only be achieved at the cost of increased aerodynamic drag (or friction), and the optimum setup is almost always a compromise between the two.

Source: Downforce - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by vikram_d

You too are mistaken my friend. With more downforce comes more drag. Finding drag free downforce is the dark art you are referring to.



Source: Downforce - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I mean no team has ever complained of too much drag being the reason they are slow.

[anachronix]

Originally Posted by Hatari

I mean no team has ever complained of too much drag being the reason they are slow.

The Redbulls were

Red Bull 'worried' about Spa and Monza's long straights | F1 News | Aug 2010 | Crash.Net

“It is in the twisty second sector [at Spa] that we will have to make up time,” Horner conceded in an interview with German publication Auto Motor und Sport. “Down the hill to Eau Rouge, and on the long straight and then back to the finish, we will lose out.”

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by anachronix

The Redbulls were

Red Bull 'worried' about Spa and Monza's long straights | F1 News | Aug 2010 | Crash.Net

“It is in the twisty second sector [at Spa] that we will have to make up time,” Horner conceded in an interview with German publication Auto Motor und Sport. “Down the hill to Eau Rouge, and on the long straight and then back to the finish, we will lose out.”

They'r actually complaining about the engine

“We know we don't have the most powerful engine, [so] we're a little bit worried about how the long straights might go at some of the other venues and maybe Monza.”

[anachronix]

Originally Posted by Hatari

They'r actually complaining about the engine

The link I posted is from 2010 and you should remember the Renault that denied Alonso his 3rd championship through the long straight of AbuDhabi! Its not the Renault V8 unit that loses breath!

[Hatari]

Here a quote from Pirelli boss, Paul Hembery's interview from this month's F1 Racing magazine

Q : Has it taken teams longer to get a handle on the 2012- spec tyres ?
Paul : I wouldnt say its taken longer. It took them a while last year but after five or six races, we were criticized for being far too cautious, which took us by suprise. By silverstone, teams will have worked out how to maximise their package and wont be talking about tyres like they are now

This year, from looking forward to every race.. I am counting down the days and cannot wait for the next one.
Last year Vettel had four poles and 4 wins in the first five races. This year we have 5 different race winners, and there are fans still complaining. I would understand F1 teams, including engineers/drivers who are, but fans not enjoying every second of this, is completely beyond the realm of my understanding.