Formula One 2012

[sh@un]

Mansell never had a rich mummy or daddy to pay his way either.

history's quickest moustache for sure

[Dale FZ1]

bring back the days where the drivers earnt their drive and the sport wasnt driven by money.

Grand Prix racing has always been about money. Who has it, who doesn't, and the politics behind gaining the advantage and the financial resources or rewards. Any decade, any iteration of the technical regs in force at the relevant time.

Interesting article in Motorsport (July 2012) regarding the 1933 Tripoli GP helps clarify this, in my mind at least.

Paying drivers are nothing new, and raw talent is no guarantee of more than a second glance. Not saying I agree with it though.

[Roy]

hmmm bring back the days where the drivers earnt their drive and the sport wasnt driven by money.

Romain is a talented guy! He has worked a non motorsport full time job for much of his recent driving career. He has made one silly mistake this year, something that every driver ont he grid has done in their career (moving around at the start of a race and clashing)

SO he is a champion guy, not from money but results from talent....he has driven for good teams and had some support but thats no crime! Its insulting to mention his name in the same sentence as Maldanado who can be fast but is a hatchet man

[djr81]

hmmm bring back the days where the drivers earnt their drive and the sport wasnt driven by money.

It has always had pay drivers and always been driven by money.

grosjean

maldonado

are so fare away from mansell's skill level it would be a huge insult to even use their names in the same sentence.

Go have a look at Mansell record at Lotus. he sucked much worse than Gorsjean (who doesnt at all as it happens).

Then go have a look at the Monaco win Mansell threw away for Lotus. Makes Pasta look like a beginner.

mansell in my eyes was a better driver than senna

Now you are just being silly. Mansell never could and never did carry a car. He could make the most of a good one (eg FW14) but he was beaten by almost every team mate he ever had. The exception was Patrese who did not get on with the active ride on the Williams.

[tweety bird]

Renault have apologised to Red Bull after an alternator failure put Sebastian Vettel out of the Italian GP.

Renault, the reigning Champion's engine supplier, later revealed that it was an alternator failure that cost the seb a solid points-haul.

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/8068997/Renault-apologise-for-failure

Robert Kubica made a winning return to competitive motorsport at the Ronde Gomitolo di Lana in Italy on Sunday.

Driving a Subaru Impreza World Rally Car, Kubica won all four stages of the rally to claim the title by almost a minute over his nearest rival, Omar Bergo.

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/8069009/Kubica-wins-Italian-rally

[hrd-hr30]

Grosjean has had 7 incidents with other cars in 12 races. Paint it whatever way you want but he is ahead of Maldonardo on that scoreboard.

Edited September 11, 2012 by hrd-hr30

[Missileman]

It has always had pay drivers and always been driven by money.

Go have a look at Mansell record at Lotus. he sucked much worse than Gorsjean (who doesnt at all as it happens).

Then go have a look at the Monaco win Mansell threw away for Lotus. Makes Pasta look like a beginner.

Now you are just being silly. Mansell never could and never did carry a car. He could make the most of a good one (eg FW14) but he was beaten by almost every team mate he ever had. The exception was Patrese who did not get on with the active ride on the Williams.

You go look up the history books, I've seen them both drive and i base my opinion on that!

[djr81]

You go look up the history books, I've seen them both drive and i base my opinion on that!

Dont need history books I remember seeing it at the time. The amount of stupid sht Mansell did was beyond anything even Andrea De Cesaris could manage. The fk up at Monaco when, in the wet, he drove onto the road markings and then into the wall, depriving Team Lotus of a crucial victory at a crucial time for the team was just one of many. Then he blamed the team/car/track/marshalls/other drivers..

There was the inspired brilliance of the win he threw away in Japan for Ferrari when, with a massive lead, he used full noise to launch the 640 (?) out of the pitlane and destroyed its fragile gearbox. Or the brilliant effort in Canada where, again with a huge lead on the last or second last lap he let the revs in his Williams die to the extent he stalled the motor. He was too busy waving to the crowd.

On a good day (mostly Saturday) he was very good inded. But he had no mechanical sympathy and wasn't as quick as Senna. He always wanted to win going flat out as opposed to using his head and looking after the car or banking championship points when he couldn't win.

Anyway, that to one side - how bloody brilliant was Sandro Zanardi at the Paralympics?

Edited September 11, 2012 by djr81

[wolverine]

What did Zanardi do at the Games?

[djr81]

Former F1 driver Allessandro Zanardi has won a Paralympic gold medal at Brands Hatch. The Italian, who lost both legs in a CART accident 11 years ago, is entered into several hand cycling events. Wednesday’s success came in the Men’s Individual H 4 Time Trial, which took place across 16 kilometres (10 miles), instantly sparking a series of congratulatory messages from various names in the motorsport world.

Now 45, Zanardi clinched the top prize with a winning time of 24 minutes and 50.22 seconds, edging out Norbert Mosandl of Germany by just under half a minute. The bronze medal was taken by American Oscar Sanchez.

"There was great emotion," he told ITV News. "Very, very happy but in a way, you know, this moment brings also a little bit of sadness because this was the horizon towards what I set my life for the past two years. Had it not been as exciting, as great in every day of training, I wouldn't have got here.

"What I've learnt in life is that the results you get are a simple consequence of the effort you put into it."

Dropped by Williams after a disappointing campaign in 1999, Zanardi returned to CART. His accident at Germany’s Lausitzring, which made worldwide headlines, saw him t-boned by Alex Tagliani after spinning across the racing line from the pit lane exit.

[Missileman]

Or the brilliant effort in Canada where, again with a huge lead on the last or second last lap he let the revs in his Williams die to the extent he stalled the motor. He was too busy waving to the crowd.

Well no not at that corner he wasn't waving at anybody...

cue the video to 10:40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6DigtE4dpE

[wolverine]

Thanks for posting up the Zanardi results.

[tweety bird]

Renault says low RPM corners could be factor in alternator failures.

"Our investigations after Valencia revealed potential overheating problems at low RPM," said White. "We developed a revised alternator that was validated on the test bench and trialled at Spa by Red Bull and Lotus - the teams that suffered the issues in Valencia - and no issues were found.

"The fundamental change was to lengthen the alternator stator and rotor by 10mm to increase its electrical power generation capacity where current demand exceeded the alternator's capacity to supply.

"With this new spec we can deliver around 30 per cent more current to try to address the problems at low RPM."

"In each case it was a brand new example of the new spec," he added. "After the incidents in FP3 and qualifying, we changed the alternators on the Red Bull of Vettel and the Lotus of d'Ambrosio. The race incident was therefore a further early life failure.

"Other parts have achieved much higher mileages; it is therefore a priority to discern the significant differences between the two. The situation is not acceptable; we must address the problem for Singapore."

White says Renault's options for Singapore are reverting to an old specification design or trying to come up with a brand new part.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102454

[djr81]

Well no not at that corner he wasn't waving at anybody...

cue the video to 10:40

Does it really matter? He wasnt concentrating on what he was doing and threw away a win because of it. That he stopped waving for however many seconds before hand is neither here nor there.

Typically, he went on to blame everyone else.

[djr81]

Thanks for posting up the Zanardi results.

Actually he won more than that -

gold medals in both the men’s road time trial event and the individual time trial, before collecting a silver medal for his part in the mixed relay race.

[89CAL]

Could Hamilton be leaving McLaren? I never thought I'd say this but I get the feeling it might happen

Maybe I can like McLaren again.....

Now all they need to do is make the car look like this again:

[260DET]

..............................................................

On a good day (mostly Saturday) he was very good inded. But he had no mechanical sympathy and wasn't as quick as Mansell. He always wanted to win going flat out as opposed to using his head and looking after the car or banking championship points when he couldn't win.

............................

Fixed the mistake for you As we all know though, once Senna died then he became the best hero driver ever

[Berk]

I heard Craig Lowndes is in line for a drive at McLaren if Lewis leaves, that would be interesting.

[sh@un]

Could Hamilton be leaving McLaren? I never thought I'd say this but I get the feeling it might happen

and go where?

it's not like Mercedes are likely to provide him with a more capable ride than McLaren can, based on recent evidence

unless of course someone has insider info that the 2014 Merc V6T is going to blow the others into the weeds, and they intend not to share it...? lol

[Berk]