Kimi Raikkonen’s amusing radio messages, Red Bull’s qualifying drama and Max Chilton’s F1 debut were among the talking points at the Abu Dhabi weekend. Here’s a look back on the Grand Prix in Tweets.
Thursday
Abu Dhabi 2012 will be the 1st ever race with Russian marshals working on track. @vitalypetrovrus says hi! twitter.com/MyCaterhamF1/s?óÔé¼?ª
— Caterham F1 Team (@MyCaterhamF1) November 1, 2012
Yas Marina is ‘Hot Stuff’ today as we get stuck into our usual Thursday routine of track walk, media, oh and readying the MR01 for action!
— Marussia F1 Team (@Marussia_F1Team) November 1, 2012
Showed kids the F1 paddock today. Lots of pictures with drivers, winners & world champs! Still they want to be rally drivers…
— alexander wurz (@alex_wurz) November 1, 2012
OMG. Watching the film ‘Driven’ atm. The one with Sly Stallone. A truer representation of top end motorsport has never be written…ahem
— Gareth Rees-Levins (@RedHeadF1Sparky) November 1, 2012
Watching a film called “driven” in my hotel room …… What a rubbish film. Nothing like driving a race car. So so bad. Laughable.
— sam bird (@sambirdracing) November 1, 2012
Friday
McLaren were fastest in first practice while Britain?óÔé¼Ôäós Max Chilton made his practice debut for Marussia. Second practice saw Vettel back on top with the McLarens second and third, but Fernando Alonso languished down in seventh.
My seat!!! Right opposite @jeanericvergne ‘s pit! :D twitter.com/GeeMac_UAE/sta?óÔé¼?ª
— Gordon McDougall (@GeeMac_UAE) November 2, 2012
Ferrari break curfew last night working on the car?óÔé¼?ªonly the first time they have done it this season?óÔé¼?ªtelling timing though #F1
— Jennie Gow (@JennieGow) November 2, 2012
Thanks for all the kind words!Very happy with the whole session just a shame I got traffic in the middle of my last lap when I was up!???©?£ãÆ
— Max Chilton (@MaxChilton_) November 2, 2012
There was a electric issue in Fp1, the guys really tried hard to fix it, but unfortunately we couldn’t go out anymore! So no laptime…
— giedo van der garde (@GvanderGarde) November 2, 2012
What a good track to drive at! We got a lot of work for the team done and it was great to be driving again :D
— Ma Qing Hua (@maqinghuaF1) November 2, 2012
Very windy here in Monaco. But have to start drinking now!! Otherwise can’t stand watching FP2. The reason why? Too boring to watch it!
— Taki Inoue (@takiinoue) November 2, 2012
“Rear tyres are finished,” reports Hamilton. “Pace on the last lap was extremely good, better than anyone else,” he’s told. #F1
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) November 2, 2012
Delighted to be testing again for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes next week in Abu Dhabi
— Oliver Turvey (@OliverTurvey) November 2, 2012
#socialfriday @super_ruck: “Have Lewis or JB tried the Austin circuit in the simulator yet?” No, Lewis has driven it on PS3 though! :)
— McLaren (@TheFifthDriver) November 2, 2012
Saturday
Vettel missed much of final practice while McLaren were dominant once again. Come qualifying, it was an easy pole for Hamilton while Vettel stopped on circuit after taking third. He was later relegated to the back of the grid.
Lewis has just visited the bathroom at the back of the pit garage, still wearing his helmet. Not as easy as it looks…
— McLaren (@TheFifthDriver) November 3, 2012
Only problem with Yas ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ TV just doesn’t show the sheer stupefying awesomeness of how fast everything is. Change of direction is insane.
— Red Bull Racing Spy (@redbullf1spy) November 3, 2012
Vettel has stopped on the track on his way into the pits. If he’s out of fuel we all know what that means… #F1
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) November 3, 2012
‘Call Me Maybe’ being pumped through F1 paddock sound system. Really?!
— Alexander Rossi (@AlexanderRossi) November 3, 2012
What is to become of it, its feeling a little sorry for its self!! twitter.com/wozzly/status/?óÔé¼?ª
— Warwick Pugh (@wozzly) November 3, 2012
Back of the grid. What a load of old bajs.
— Sam O’Keefe (@SamOKeefe) November 3, 2012
Sunday
In the race Hamilton retired, Webber crashed, Alonso and Button raced, but through it all came Kimi Raikkonen to secure his first victory in over three years. Vettel’s recovery drive to third behind Alonso meant his championship lead was cut to ten points.
@bobmckenzieuk Thats not what happened. You don’t know the facts, neither do the media
— Jon Gates (@twoandeight28) November 4, 2012
Kept awake as the bar under my hotel room seemed to play ‘I’m horny’ by Mousse T about 35 times. I thought I was in Abu Dhabi, not 1998!!!
— Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) November 4, 2012
Rocquelin tells Vettel “You can burn fuel. Low gears, high revs.” A touchy subject… #F1
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) November 4, 2012
“OK Kimi we need to keeping working all four tyres.” “Yes, yes, yes, you don’t need to remind me all the time.” #F1
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) November 4, 2012
I take it we are all rooting for Kimi
— Jeremy Clarkson (@jcrclarksonesq) November 4, 2012
WOOOO HOOOOOOOOO …. WE WON! I have my 1st VICTORY! After 118 GPs I have it!!! TOMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! #GOKIMI @lotus_f1team @renaultsportf1
— Ricardo Penteado (@RicoF1) November 4, 2012
Can’t hear a word of the podium interviews and I’m right opposite it. Get rid of them. #F1
— Gordon McDougall (@GeeMac_UAE) November 4, 2012
Kimi asked ‘how many days and with whom will you celebrate’.He says there’s two weeks to next race..
— Maurice Hamilton (@MauriceHamilton) November 4, 2012
As one of the guy’s who was instrumental in bringing Lotus name back to F1 I’m massively conflicted to see “name”on the winning car today..
— Nino Singh Judge (@ninojudge) November 4, 2012
Anyone else feel like they’ve been on a roller coaster for the last hour and thirty four minutes?
— Red Bull Racing Spy (@redbullf1spy) November 4, 2012
Very happy for Kimi retuning to winnings ways, what a comeback season he’s had! Well done! My race was good, every lap qualifying, max attak
— Heikki Kovalainen (@H_Kovalainen) November 4, 2012
Tantalisingly close to 12th today, 2 to go, but first 3 days of young drivers test, we continue to push, I will get back home on Thursday
— John Iley (@John_Iley) November 4, 2012
Jenson comes home P4, giving VMM a record 56th consecutive points finish. Something for everyone in the team to be very proud of.
— McLaren (@TheFifthDriver) November 4, 2012
Great first experience of live F1! Action packed! Loved it! Thank you to McLaren for showing me the behind the scenes and Abu Dhabi!
— Jessica Ennis (@J_Ennis) November 4, 2012
A samurai work without hesitation, without the fatigue confess or the slightest discouragement until complete the goal twitter.com/alo_oficial/st?óÔé¼?ª
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) November 4, 2012
Official F1 Twitter accounts to follow
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Over to you
Did you spot any other noteworthy F1 Tweets during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix? If so, share them in the comments.
2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Raikkonen voted top Abu Dhabi driver in close poll
- F1 fans’ videos from the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Abu Dhabi voted best race of the year so far
- Top ten pictures from the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Podium possible before KERS failure – Williams
Sherlock
6th November 2012, 12:29
Alonso’s “way of the samurai” tweets were kind a cool in the begining, now they start to sound reilly weird.
sumedhvidwans (@sumedhvidwans)
6th November 2012, 13:32
Actually, I am liking his tweets more and more. I like the pic he has put with this samurai tweet.
He really knows how to use twitter without any controversy and in a popular manner.
Cosmas (@cosmas)
6th November 2012, 14:12
and the samurai saga continues…… i missed that tweet
Why does he talk in 3rd person as if he speaks about someone’s else achievement?
I thought samurai’s fighting their opponents with their sword and not by cursing them to fail so that they don’t have to confront them…. but that’s just me.
Gibo (@)
6th November 2012, 19:02
Totally agree, it was fun at first but now is weird. It feels like he has assigned tweeter to someone else by giving specific instructions of what line to follow.. (the Samurai line). Even the pictures are taken by someone else. “Alonso” (the product) is using tweeter the-Samurai-way. Well…., as long as Alonso (the man) is concentrating on the championship then that’s cool!
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
6th November 2012, 22:02
@gibo – I think the novelty wore off after the Japanese GP: it made sense there since Japan is obviously “the home of the samurai” but I’m pretty sure Abu Dhabi has no samurai tradition.
As I said, he is indeed a Spanish Bull-fighter!
Gibo (@)
7th November 2012, 4:28
:) well said
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
6th November 2012, 21:44
I agree, I think possibly he may have gone slightly mad! All jokes aside though, he isn’t a samurai warrior, he’s a Spanish Bull-fighter.
GeeMac (@geemac)
6th November 2012, 12:36
I love these summaries of the weekend’s tweets, particularly when I end up in them! Twice! :p
Mike (@mike)
6th November 2012, 13:00
Nice. :D
I loved Hamilton’s. Two weeks, ha.
BasCB (@bascb)
7th November 2012, 9:02
Cheers, nice way to top off a great weekend!
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
6th November 2012, 12:45
No idea who half these people are. PR? Hangers-on? Fans?
Could you add that in next time please?
Tony F (@anthonyfrench)
6th November 2012, 13:30
Thank you for the comment @bullfrog, that may be something to look into adding for the subsequent Grand Prix.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
6th November 2012, 13:38
@bullfrog They’re all listed in the directory:
F1 Twitter directory
OmarR-Pepper (@)
6th November 2012, 17:02
About the “Driven” film, (or so-called film), well, I’ve never liked any racing film, not Fast and Furious (1, 2,3, 4… don’t know when they’ll stop it), not Driven or that one with Tom Cruise in the 80’s, for a simple reason… The victory is completely fixed, you know the good guy will win. That never happens in real racing, that’s the thrill that makes me wake up early to see a race. To enjoy a great race like this Abu Dhabi one… you might like or not wo the winner is, but that’s part of the emotion right?
And NEVER, even if you have insomnia, see that “Driven” film. Just awful!!!
And about Alonso Zen thing, a little weird isn’t it? He should ask Ma Qing Hua if he knows other memorable and philosophycal phrases.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
6th November 2012, 17:03
wo = who Oops!!!
dodge5847 (@)
6th November 2012, 19:44
Give La Mans 1971 a go with Steve Mcqueen, now that is a racing movie, and I am not even a La Mans fan. One of my favourite movies of all time. +1’s if anyone else agrees.
dodge5847 (@)
6th November 2012, 19:46
But better on DVD to put the volume right up
dodge5847 (@)
6th November 2012, 19:47
that is the link above to youtube for the full movie
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
6th November 2012, 21:47
The only racing film I have truly liked is Senna, and that is because it is based on real events so it feels more connectable. I haven’t even seen driven, but it’s about CART and there are F1 drivers in it. Doesn’t that strike you as an epic failure?
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
7th November 2012, 7:43
@vettel1 – Driven had a failed troubled pre-production. It was originally going to be an Ayrton Senna biopic, with Sly himself as Senna, as well as writing and directing it. That idea got shot down pretty quickly when Stallone decided to set a film in the world of Formula 1. The project had some support, but as it gained momentum, Bernie Ecclestone started losing faith in production in general and the script in particular. Stallone made a few changes, most notably bringing Renny Harlin (probably best-known as director of Die Hard 2: Die Harder) on-board, but by then, Bernie had pulled all of his support for the film. At the same time, studios had already sunk a lot of money into production, and they wanted the film to go ahead. They had a script, but no racing series, and so production was based on CART with only minimal changes made so that the film could be shot quickly.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
7th November 2012, 16:00
@prisoner-monkeys – I know, so it doesn’t really tie in then! Still, I just don’t think fiction can match reality for drama and excitement: the Senna movie was so good because it was essentially a documentary in my opinion.
Ella (@ella)
6th November 2012, 21:30
I actually like Alonso’s Samurai tweets. Don’t know why really…
I guess it’s the optimism, the defiant belief that he can still win? And call me naive, but I actually thought he was in charge of his twitter account. It didn’t sound like a PR person… but then it wouldn’t would it.
And *shudder* Driven is one hour and a half I’ll never get back.
Really loving this feature by the way! It’s such a nice way to sum up the weekend. Nice job!
Tony F (@anthonyfrench)
7th November 2012, 16:18
Thank you @ella, it’s quite a nice little way to see the personalities of team members that you don’t see on television as well.
I’d just like to add my thanks to @keithcollantine for his patience and work in getting the articles online and functioning properly!
Ella (@ella)
8th November 2012, 4:24
Yeah it’s definitely one of the main reasons I’m even on twitter – I love the insights into their personalities and the ins and outs during a race weekend. I love how this article almost presents it as a sub-plot to every grand prix weekend.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
8th November 2012, 19:18
I don’t really think there’s any justification to get rid of podium interviews if only a few thousand people can’t hear it at the circuit…millions at home!