[mgh]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

Ferrari should have just ignored that and concentrated on their own race, after seeing that Webber had come out behind Rosberg and Petrov who had already made their stops. So i still don't understand why they made such a blunder.

If something similar had happened in cricket, people would have started yelling that the match was fixed.

All said and done, Vettel deserved the championship. Ferrari panicked, costing Alonso a chance at the championship.

[CPH]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

Not really. If he had managed to stay behind Button throughout the race, he would have become the champion. P4 was good enough for him. He lost because of the dumbest pit strategy ever executed.


I think next year you will see a much improved Vettel.

I was actually rooting for Webber. But he just crumbled. He had given up even before the qualifying. Statements like "if i don't win, it's not the end of the world" were clear signals that he isn't the one.



Webber pitted because of his potential tyre failure. His right rear tyre had kissed one of the walls. Unfortunately Ferrari team read too much in it and decided to pit both their drivers immediately. Ferrari should have just ignored that and concentrated on their own race, after seeing that Webber had come out behind Rosberg and Petrov who had already made their stops. So i still don't understand why they made such a blunder.

I am by no means a Ferrari fan. To the contrary, I hate the guts of Ferrari. However, the decisions to be made are not as easy as it looks from the arm chair. Hamilton did not understand why Vettel was in front of him after Vettel pitted.

Strategies change during a race. The cars are very close together in performance and often back markers are good for all sort of surprises. Constantly changing conditions need constantlly revisions of the strategy.

The circumstances was an unfavorable constellation of different things and it seemed at the time a decision. As the event went on other situations came up, which did not help.

If Vettel's engine would have gone up in smake, nobody would have questioned Ferrari's strategy.

[KRf1]

Well what a twist of fate for Seb Sonic Vettel !

Congratulations to Vettel and RedBull to win the title.

Alonso and Ferrari saw Webber as the only threat and in the process of keeping him behind let the title slip from their hands . That and Alonso's inability to provide any overtaking was the final nail . Though a large part of that can be attributed to the boring circuit which provides almost no overtaking oppertunities . But still , I was expecting the double world champion to hustle the rookie into submission . But lap after lap the move never came . What came was frustration after the race was over .

I also think Alonso was a little negative / defensive towards the race . He should have been wanting to win the race and finish it off and instead he was providing statements like "It would be great to see Massa win the race" and similarly for Hamilton winning the race.

Webber also never stood up and claimed his championship . He should have been up there in pole position or at least P2 but this was a weekend he would want to soon forget . Inadvertently helping Vettel in becoming champion would irritate him more I guess.

Vettel meanwhile was Masterclass . Perfect race pole to victory .Banging in the fastest laps and hoping for the best . The win would be sweeter for Red Bull as they did not have to get into any dirty business to win the title . Im sure they would have been dreading a position in which they would have to use team orders after berating Ferrari for doing so for quite a while .

All in all a Happy Ending! Just like 2007 .

[LandCruiser]

Originally Posted by KRf1

Though a large part of that can be attributed to the boring circuit which provides almost no overtaking oppertunities . But still , I was expecting the double world champion to hustle the rookie into submission

True Fonso could have tried more but still Petrov had nothing big at stake so absolutely no pressure on him. And moreover he is gutsy as seen earlier in this year when he had a duel with Hamilton tucking behind him and giving a fight.

2 Renaults absolutely made sure Alonso and Webber stayed behind them while a Renault powered RBR won the championship. Good advertisement for them!

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by CPH

I am by no means a Ferrari fan. To the contrary, I hate the guts of Ferrari. However, the decisions to be made are not as easy as it looks from the arm chair. Hamilton did not understand why Vettel was in front of him after Vettel pitted.

Strategies change during a race. The cars are very close together in performance and often back markers are good for all sort of surprises. Constantly changing conditions need constantlly revisions of the strategy.

The circumstances was an unfavorable constellation of different things and it seemed at the time a decision. As the event went on other situations came up, which did not help.

If Vettel's engine would have gone up in smake, nobody would have questioned Ferrari's strategy.

You are making it sound like the teams are just relying on information what is shown on TV. They have access to much more information than us and the drivers themselves, and they have people on pit wall whose sole purpose is to come up with optimum strategy.
If Hamilton was surprised when Vettel was ahead of him, it was because he didn't know that Vettel did an amazing in lap, a good pit stop and exit. But his team did and that's what they told him on the radio.
All i am saying is that Ferrari pit wall panicked and messed up Alonso's and Massa's race. They saw Webber setting a fast lap after overtaking Jamie Algeursuari and panicked. So they first pitted Massa to see if he can jump Webber. That failed and he got stuck behind the Torro Rosso for rest of the race. Then they pitted Alonso as well to seal his fate. What they missed was the fact that Webber was already behind Rosberg and Petrov on track. Even if one assumes Webber overtakes both of them and jumps Alonso, even then Alonso would still be the winner, because there was no way Webber could have finished ahead of the McLarens.
Anyway i am off this discussion, as i am happy with the race result

[CPH]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

You are making it sound like the teams are just relying on information what is shown on TV. They have access to much more information than us and the drivers themselves, and they have people on pit wall whose sole purpose is to come up with optimum strategy.
If Hamilton was surprised when Vettel was ahead of him, it was because he didn't know that Vettel did an amazing in lap, a good pit stop and exit. But his team did and that's what they told him on the radio.
All i am saying is that Ferrari pit wall panicked and messed up Alonso's and Massa's race. They saw Webber setting a fast lap after overtaking Jamie Algeursuari and panicked. So they first pitted Massa to see if he can jump Webber. That failed and he got stuck behind the Torro Rosso for rest of the race. Then they pitted Alonso as well to seal his fate. What they missed was the fact that Webber was already behind Rosberg and Petrov on track. Even if one assumes Webber overtakes both of them and jumps Alonso, even then Alonso would still be the winner, because there was no way Webber could have finished ahead of the McLarens.
Anyway i am off this discussion, as i am happy with the race result

I do not speak from theory. And neither am I a spotty 16 year old. I have done race support as well as being in charge for a team on a much lower level.

When you have to deal with 150+ data inputs from each of your own cars, changing circumstances that might affect your set up, safety car incidents, the other 20 cars and their position and unpredictable other situations like the tyre wear prob;em that then seemed to have solved itself unexpectedly - then you are dealing with an amount of data that need time to be eveluated, which in most cases is not available. This is where humans come into the equation having to make decisions.

In my books the best strategist over the past 20 years is Ross Brawn and he made some decisions that did not lead to the results hoped for. The question we never will be able to answer is: What if...

Other factors would have come in and it might have worked better or even worse.

As mentione before I am by no means in love with Ferrari, but I respect the skills of engineers and other specialists.

[Mpower]

I think what is even more significant is that Vettel has not only been fighting the best of McLaren and Ferrari but he has been also fighting with the other Redbull which is also the best car out there.

Amazing that he took WDC despite an open battle with teammate until the last race. Kudos to him.

[Newpunter]

I'm happy Vettel won the WDC in the end. I think he was the best driver throughout the season except for a few costly mistakes. And if not for the reliability issues, he could have wrapped the title some time back. Congrats Vettel for a deserving WDC and hope he cuts down on the mistakes now.

[Hatari]

Ferrari have already admitted they erred in focusing on the goings on behind them rather than in front.

that was the key..
although in their defence.. no one could know webber being so far off vettel's pace..
that was shocking!

[hiren.mistry]

Super result for Seb Vettel and RBR. Finally justice has been served.

[manubhai]

Amazing result, least likely one...amazing race. Vettel sure looks to be a very long term champion, loved his exuberance & emotion.

[theMAG]

I understand that Ferrari's unsuccessful pit strategy with Alonso in this race has now become political with an Italian minister and Montezemolo exchanging public barbs !

[SchumiFan]

Alonso getting quite a bit of stick and deservingly so but one must understand he is also a human and he accepted that he was frustrated. Here is a man who has just seen his WDC hope slip through his hands in the space of 40 laps. Doesn't justify his actions but nothing to be examined under the microscope.

I hope he comes back strong next year with a better car from the beginning of the year and win his first WDC with Ferrari.

[finneyp]

Heads to roll at Ferrari, Chief Track Engineer who was responsible for the horrendous pitstop strategy likely to be sacked!

More here: Ferrari under fire as the dust settles | Ferrari | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1

[sameerpb]

Congrats Vettel and RBR. It was a well deserved victory!

Overall the Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes could not find a pace throughout the season and were at times struggling with the performance issues, on the other hand RBR has reliability issues but they really managed well and they deserved the victory

Race was full of excitement but end of it no great results

Thanks GTO it was good catch