F1 abu dhabi.....SPOILER!!!!! Don't even click if you haven't seen the race......

[imcarthur]

What is this talk about cars? F1 has little to do with cars. They are just the vehicle for this year's batch of prima donnas aren't they?

But it's still better than circles.

Ian

[nostatic]

This whole "gift" thing is nonsense. Just like people who single out one play in a baseball game and talk about how that gave away the win. Baseball games are 9 innings, races are x number of laps and the driver's championship is determined over 19 races. A single "gift" is just something for people to talk/whine about.

I also can't agree about it being a boring race. My g/f has only been exposed to F1 racing for the past couple years (since she met me). She was riveted by the race. She points out (for better or for worse), F1 is high drama where the drive is just part of the story. When you factor in the teams, the history, the personalities, you have awesome stuff that even people who don't swim in car tech geekery can latch onto.

Face it - "sports" are entertainment. And the best forms are one that mix the talent and technique with the personality and backstory. This was a great season from a spectator standpoint. That said, I still miss refueling as I find the pit strategy game to be fascinating.

[Noah930]

I thought pit strategy was more interesting with refueling. Why was it abolished this year, safety?

[nostatic]

I think it was safety and cost. I did love trying to predict how many stops teams were going to make and when they'd make them...only to have a safety car muck up everything and have them recalculate everything on the fly. Even without it the issue of tire management was critical this year. Was interesting to hear Hamilton wanting to come in for a 3rd stop because his tires were going off and the team said, "um, no." Drive what you got, son...

[Noah930]

Cost was an issue?! In F1?! Of all the things they thought cost too much, fillin' up the cars was it?!

What did all those teams do with their suddenly obsolete custom made carbon fiber and titanium refueling rigs? Recycle them into grey water storage tanks to water the front lawns at the respective factories?

[Scott Watkins]

Abu Dhabi GP urged to alter circuit

autosport.com - F1 News: Abu Dhabi GP urged to alter circuit

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by Noah930

Cost was an issue?! In F1?! Of all the things they thought cost too much, fillin' up the cars was it?!

What did all those teams do with their suddenly obsolete custom made carbon fiber and titanium refueling rigs? Recycle them into grey water storage tanks to water the front lawns at the respective factories?

Noah,
Maybe air transport and slepping the stuff around the world. In addition, newer teams don't have to go to the expense of fabricating them. Among other things, F1's new agreement limited the total number of bodies a team could employ - not including pit babes and race groupies.

I suspect the fuel concoctions used were so exotic, they had to bury them in some mountain in Utah or Siberia along with spent uranium from nuclear plants.

Sherwood

[ted]

Originally Posted by emcon5

Well, they were racing for position. Petrov even said post race he would have given Alonso room if he made a move, but he never did.

I read somewhere...later Alonso complimented Petrov on his drive.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by nostatic

This whole "gift" thing is nonsense. Just like people who single out one play in a baseball game and talk about how that gave away the win. Baseball games are 9 innings, races are x number of laps and the driver's championship is determined over 19 races. A single "gift" is just something for people to talk/whine about.

The folks who run the Ferrari team disagree with you. They admit that they blew it by making a bad decision based on a flawed philosophy, which handed the win and the championship to vettel.
From planet F1:

Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa said Fernando Alonso lost the World Championship in Abu Dhabi because the team decided to play it safe with their strategy.

Alonso headed into the final race of the season with an eight-point lead in the Drivers' standings but eventually lost out to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.

While the German led from the front at the Yas Marina circuit to eventually claim victory and also become F1's youngest ever Champion, Ferrari decided to follow Red Bull's lead in pitting Alonso's nearest challenger, Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber, early.

Webber and Alonso stopped for tyres at the start of laps 12 and 16 respectively but the tactic backfired when both became stuck behind cars that had stopped even earlier behind the safety car.

Alonso and Webber tried and failed to pass Renault's Vitaly Petrov for 40 laps and eventually finished seventh and eighth respectively.

The Spaniard, who needed to finish fourth in the race, ultimately lost the crown to Vettel by just four points.

Costa told Italy's La Repubblica: "We got it wrong. We didn't approach the race to do our best but to obtain an average result that would have been sufficient.

"And when you do that a little thing, a 'Petrov', a safety car, comes along and everything falls apart.

"Never again," he added.

Costa said the mood in the Ferrari garage when they realised their title hopes had gone was bleak.

"When Fernando crossed the line we were all frozen. For five or 10 minutes we stared at the monitor," he said.

"No one budged, no one took off their helmets. No one spoke. No one wanted to accept the reality."

Costa admitted that Ferrari "made impulsive and erroneous decisions" in deciding to pit Alonso early but also criticised the relationship between Red Bull and sister team Toro Rosso.

Both are backed by the Austrian energy drink brand, with Webber easily getting past Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari after his stop before getting stuck behind Alonso and Petrov.

[911pcars]

History is full of "what ifs" and F1 is no exception. It's done. What if Ronnie Peterson, Jochen Rindt, Gilles Villeneuve or Ayrton Senna hadn't died?

Sherwood