I think it’s the first time since 2007 or 2008 Ferrari have the fastest car, so congratulation on them. The Bulls will got another weapon somehow, so it will be interesting. Mercedes and Lotus is there too, but it’s doubtful if they can do that all year long.
I think Massa has trapped himself again in the mindset that if he’s not ahead of Alonso, the race is over. He was doing well in the early part, so the car is good, but it’s the driver now I’m seriously questioning.
I know that Alonso completely outperformed Massa today, but Ferrari doesn’t seem to care! He was a second behind Alonso before the first pit stops.After the pit stops, Felipe lost 6-7 places to Fernando! And they did the same thing in Australia!
Good drive by Fernando, guess he was pretty happy looking at how he was celebrating. And that is some luck for Kimi that he didn’t damage the front wing with Perez. So, a 4 way shoot for the title perhaps? :)
@smashnfanatic I guess so. each team looks like put their effort mostly on single drivers. VET, RAI, ALO, HAM were all phenomenal they will be showing this performance all season. it’s down to their constructor to provide them a car to fight ’til the end, Ferrari and Red Bull have the edge on this.
There were a lot of cracking drives today. Alonso was peerless, Raikkonen did well to hold off Hamilton who pushed him hard at times, Vettel did a good damage limitation job and almost managed to sneak a podium, Button’s race was pretty sublime with the car he had underneath him. Ricciardo and Di Resta impressed me no end as did Bianchi who was again best of the rest (even if Pic was a bit closer this race).
But my main concern is with Williams, they are nowhere at the moment.
absolutely ! Sauber very disappointing after choosing a strategy for the start, Hulk was on the lead and then ran the last third as slow as the backmarkers! Two lousy and slow pitstops! What s going on with the Swiss? I would telll the pitcrew to train day and nite til Bahrein!
Considering Sauber don’t even have the pace of the Mclaren, I believe they are doing relatively okay. Guitierrez will be the reason why Sauber don’t score points consistently.
I think the strategy was right, but the two pitstops were too slow! they kept the soft for too long (Hulk was loosing two seconds a lap) and what happened in the last third we dont know but he lost again more positions as he was lapping to slow!
I think Mclaren experimented with Perez to see when to bring button for his final stop, but for that Perez looked like he was going to score some good points.
Awesome drive by the top 4 drivers! Very happy with Hamilton’s 3rd place! My pre-race prediction was Kimi, Alonso, Lewis. Obviously I would’ve been a lot happier if Lewis finished higher but the result was more than satisfactory.
Perez is now just starting to prove how good the Sauber was last year. No need to be disappointed by Sergio, there was and is no firm evidence that he is all that good.
Not taking Perez’s side here as he clearly was a bit all over the place (happened with Alonso too) but the Raikkonen thing could fall under a racing incident after all. It was defending taken to the extreme.
Webber’s move on Vergne is clearly ranking higher in stupidity than everything Perez did this race, in my humble opinion.
@calum let’s mention a conspiracy theory just for fun ok? ;P
“Webber won0t have team orders… just a loose tyre and a wrong fuel calculation” “Brawn put some glitches on Rosberg car so he can now say: I was right with my team orders in Malaysia after all!”
Well, that’s a great podium. It just looked so appropriate to see these 3 guys out there. That’s the podium which i want to see all the time. With SV there they never chat like these three did.
I agree with Rigi, I also felt like Perez was waving too much there.
The result, if something, shows how tough Red Bull’s mission will be this season.
Kudos to Button and Ricciardo for those drives. Except for them, no big dramas. Would have expected Hulkenberg to finish in front of Grosjean and Di Resta, maybe, but that’s it. Everyone in their place.
And I wonder if there’s anyone that’s actually surprised at the fact that Gutierrez is the first rookie to screw-up big-time. I guess not…
I never said they didn’t have the pace. I’m saying Ferrari, Lotus and Merc ALSO have the pace for podium positions. And various tracks, various tyre compounds, various temperatures suit these four cars differently.
Even if it’s early into the season, Red Bull now have three teams behind them to worry about (four if McLaren manage get their act straight by Barcelona), not only one or two.
Lets wait and see if this result is still standing because a LOT of cars are under investigation for using DRS under yellows including Vettel (1), Webber (2) and Raikonnen (7) but I can’t seem to remember the other numbers shown on screen. I think Perez and Grosjean were also among them but I’m not sure.
The race itself was good but too much DRS action for my taste adn those Pirelli’s are starting to frustrate me more and more but as I’ve said time and time again it’s the teams and drivers job to get the hang of these tyres.
It’s seems for the top 4 that their teammates just weren’t in-touch with them at all: Alonso was clearly faster than Massa, Räikkönen again was clearly faster than Grosjean, Hamilton (although not to the same extent, and Rosberg could have had earlier problems) was faster than Rosberg and Vettel (even respective of Webber’s exclusion from qualifying and subsequent set-up changes) was clearly faster also.
I think that just goes to show what difference a driver can make!
@vettel1 I don’t think you can judge if Webber was faster/slower than Seb during this weekend. Maybe if he’d made it back to the pits during Q2 he could have gone out on a new set just like seb and get into Q3. When It comes to the race I think Webber was going superb until he tangled with Vergne. I mean he pitted on lap one for mediums an put in some really fast laps. When the front runners emerged form the pits he was right in the mix. I guess what I’m trying to say is that he just fell out of the race too early for a decent enough comparison.
I tend to agree about the race. When Vettel pitted he ended up with Webber. At that point they had both had 1 pit stop each. Webber had made up A LOT of time. Of course each pit stop Webber would need to do would push him back into bad traffic that he’d have to keep going past. It would cost him time and obviously was his undoing.
As Force Maikel ponted out correctly, it is hard to judge If vettel was significantly faster than Webber or not this weekend… Webber made up a lot of ground after starting from the pit lane and he was infact infront of Vettel when he had his incident with Vergne.. Vettel did drive a superb race though… it was clear that RB was nt that competitive today and he still rescued a solid amount of points… But as an Alonso fan I am very happy to see him win a race after a long gap:)
Never saw Kimi talking with drivers after the race like that before…Great race…Alonso drove perfectly…unfortunately missed a nice battle between Alonso n Raikkonen as i think Lotus has much more pace…Ricciardo drove well as well…Can’t wait for bahrain…i think Lotus will be very strong there…i hope all 4 hav the speed till the end to fight for the title..this year’s gonna give us an amazing battle for title between these four…
Kingshark (@kingshark)
14th April 2013, 9:44
Yes!
I can’t believe it! Ferrari were actually the fastest car in a dry race! :P
Giggsy11 (@giggsy11)
14th April 2013, 10:03
We’ve come so far! :’)
Giggsy11 (@giggsy11)
14th April 2013, 10:03
Im like a proud mother ;)
Aditya (@adityafakhri)
14th April 2013, 10:04
I think it’s the first time since 2007 or 2008 Ferrari have the fastest car, so congratulation on them. The Bulls will got another weapon somehow, so it will be interesting. Mercedes and Lotus is there too, but it’s doubtful if they can do that all year long.
ivz (@ivz)
14th April 2013, 10:31
In Alonso’s hands, but its not clearly the fastest by much, or Massa would have at least finished 3rd.
ivz (@ivz)
14th April 2013, 10:35
Also interesting to note Massa only finished a couple of seconds ahead of Ricciardo :-/
Ivano (@)
14th April 2013, 16:05
@kingshark @ivz
I think Massa has trapped himself again in the mindset that if he’s not ahead of Alonso, the race is over. He was doing well in the early part, so the car is good, but it’s the driver now I’m seriously questioning.
carbon_fibre (@carbon_fibre)
14th April 2013, 9:50
I know that Alonso completely outperformed Massa today, but Ferrari doesn’t seem to care! He was a second behind Alonso before the first pit stops.After the pit stops, Felipe lost 6-7 places to Fernando!
And they did the same thing in Australia!
Aimal (@aimalkhan)
14th April 2013, 9:50
Yaaaaaa !!! Absolutely flawless drive from fernando. Give him the car and he will do the business. :D
Thomas (@smashnfanatic)
14th April 2013, 9:53
Good drive by Fernando, guess he was pretty happy looking at how he was celebrating. And that is some luck for Kimi that he didn’t damage the front wing with Perez. So, a 4 way shoot for the title perhaps? :)
Aditya (@adityafakhri)
14th April 2013, 10:00
@smashnfanatic
I guess so. each team looks like put their effort mostly on single drivers. VET, RAI, ALO, HAM were all phenomenal they will be showing this performance all season. it’s down to their constructor to provide them a car to fight ’til the end, Ferrari and Red Bull have the edge on this.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
14th April 2013, 9:54
now THAT is a happy podium! great race
GeeMac (@geemac)
14th April 2013, 9:58
There were a lot of cracking drives today. Alonso was peerless, Raikkonen did well to hold off Hamilton who pushed him hard at times, Vettel did a good damage limitation job and almost managed to sneak a podium, Button’s race was pretty sublime with the car he had underneath him. Ricciardo and Di Resta impressed me no end as did Bianchi who was again best of the rest (even if Pic was a bit closer this race).
But my main concern is with Williams, they are nowhere at the moment.
Giggsy11 (@giggsy11)
14th April 2013, 10:02
Yeah I agree and Sauber are disappointing me too so far, I was expecting a similar start of the year as last year.
F1sauber (@f1sauber)
14th April 2013, 10:08
absolutely ! Sauber very disappointing after choosing a strategy for the start, Hulk was on the lead and then ran the last third as slow as the backmarkers! Two lousy and slow pitstops! What s going on with the Swiss? I would telll the pitcrew to train day and nite til Bahrein!
OOliver
14th April 2013, 10:51
Considering Sauber don’t even have the pace of the Mclaren, I believe they are doing relatively okay. Guitierrez will be the reason why Sauber don’t score points consistently.
Giggsy11 (@giggsy11)
14th April 2013, 9:59
Great Race, Now off to Bahrain and we now have to endure a week of moaning about the situation in the country, either scrap the race or caring on.
Giggsy11 (@giggsy11)
14th April 2013, 9:59
carry*
crazy.mechanic (@akshay)
14th April 2013, 9:59
Poor strategy by SAUBER for Hulk and McLaren for Perez!!!! Vettel was like a hunter, just missed his prey!
F1sauber (@f1sauber)
14th April 2013, 10:18
I think the strategy was right, but the two pitstops were too slow! they kept the soft for too long (Hulk was loosing two seconds a lap) and what happened in the last third we dont know but he lost again more positions as he was lapping to slow!
OOliver
14th April 2013, 10:41
I think Mclaren experimented with Perez to see when to bring button for his final stop, but for that Perez looked like he was going to score some good points.
SafirXP (@)
14th April 2013, 10:01
Awesome drive by the top 4 drivers! Very happy with Hamilton’s 3rd place! My pre-race prediction was Kimi, Alonso, Lewis. Obviously I would’ve been a lot happier if Lewis finished higher but the result was more than satisfactory.
Shomir (@shomir)
14th April 2013, 10:04
Great drives by Alonso and Vettel.
Good result for Ricciardo!
Dissapointed by Perez…
James Walker (@jameswalker)
14th April 2013, 10:26
Perez is now just starting to prove how good the Sauber was last year. No need to be disappointed by Sergio, there was and is no firm evidence that he is all that good.
Antonio Nartea (@tony031r)
14th April 2013, 10:44
Not taking Perez’s side here as he clearly was a bit all over the place (happened with Alonso too) but the Raikkonen thing could fall under a racing incident after all. It was defending taken to the extreme.
Webber’s move on Vergne is clearly ranking higher in stupidity than everything Perez did this race, in my humble opinion.
Rigi (@rigi)
14th April 2013, 10:09
perez needs to stop weaving around so much when he’s about to get overtaken, it was ridiculous!
other than that, good race, solid entertainment
Diceman (@diceman)
14th April 2013, 10:11
So sad for Nico Rosberg, a lot of bad luck for him again :(
SafirXP (@)
14th April 2013, 10:18
Bad luck indeed! :/
Calum (@calum)
14th April 2013, 10:12
Well done Alonso. Classy drive.
Kimi did well, considering his front wing wasn’t optimal.
Webber and Rosberg though, you can’t help but feel sorry for them.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
14th April 2013, 19:14
@calum let’s mention a conspiracy theory just for fun ok? ;P
“Webber won0t have team orders… just a loose tyre and a wrong fuel calculation”
“Brawn put some glitches on Rosberg car so he can now say: I was right with my team orders in Malaysia after all!”
Toxic (@)
14th April 2013, 10:22
Well, that’s a great podium. It just looked so appropriate to see these 3 guys out there.
That’s the podium which i want to see all the time. With SV there they never chat like these three did.
I agree with Rigi, I also felt like Perez was waving too much there.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
14th April 2013, 19:15
@toxic Probably because Seb has beaten the 3 of them the last seasons?
Broom (@)
14th April 2013, 10:27
Forza Ferrari & Forza Fernando
Antonio Nartea (@tony031r)
14th April 2013, 10:28
The result, if something, shows how tough Red Bull’s mission will be this season.
Kudos to Button and Ricciardo for those drives. Except for them, no big dramas. Would have expected Hulkenberg to finish in front of Grosjean and Di Resta, maybe, but that’s it. Everyone in their place.
And I wonder if there’s anyone that’s actually surprised at the fact that Gutierrez is the first rookie to screw-up big-time. I guess not…
OOliver
14th April 2013, 10:48
The tyres today was the problem Redbull had. Redbull had the pace for second place at the least. It was their race strategy that cost them 2nd.
Antonio Nartea (@tony031r)
14th April 2013, 11:16
Thanks. I know that.
I never said they didn’t have the pace. I’m saying Ferrari, Lotus and Merc ALSO have the pace for podium positions. And various tracks, various tyre compounds, various temperatures suit these four cars differently.
Even if it’s early into the season, Red Bull now have three teams behind them to worry about (four if McLaren manage get their act straight by Barcelona), not only one or two.
Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
14th April 2013, 10:32
Lets wait and see if this result is still standing because a LOT of cars are under investigation for using DRS under yellows including Vettel (1), Webber (2) and Raikonnen (7) but I can’t seem to remember the other numbers shown on screen. I think Perez and Grosjean were also among them but I’m not sure.
The race itself was good but too much DRS action for my taste adn those Pirelli’s are starting to frustrate me more and more but as I’ve said time and time again it’s the teams and drivers job to get the hang of these tyres.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
14th April 2013, 10:34
It’s seems for the top 4 that their teammates just weren’t in-touch with them at all: Alonso was clearly faster than Massa, Räikkönen again was clearly faster than Grosjean, Hamilton (although not to the same extent, and Rosberg could have had earlier problems) was faster than Rosberg and Vettel (even respective of Webber’s exclusion from qualifying and subsequent set-up changes) was clearly faster also.
I think that just goes to show what difference a driver can make!
Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
14th April 2013, 11:07
@vettel1 I don’t think you can judge if Webber was faster/slower than Seb during this weekend. Maybe if he’d made it back to the pits during Q2 he could have gone out on a new set just like seb and get into Q3. When It comes to the race I think Webber was going superb until he tangled with Vergne. I mean he pitted on lap one for mediums an put in some really fast laps. When the front runners emerged form the pits he was right in the mix. I guess what I’m trying to say is that he just fell out of the race too early for a decent enough comparison.
Alexis Ryan (@wench)
14th April 2013, 11:45
I tend to agree about the race. When Vettel pitted he ended up with Webber. At that point they had both had 1 pit stop each. Webber had made up A LOT of time. Of course each pit stop Webber would need to do would push him back into bad traffic that he’d have to keep going past. It would cost him time and obviously was his undoing.
puneeth Bharath (@puneethvb)
14th April 2013, 14:30
@Vettel1
As Force Maikel ponted out correctly, it is hard to judge If vettel was significantly faster than Webber or not this weekend… Webber made up a lot of ground after starting from the pit lane and he was infact infront of Vettel when he had his incident with Vergne.. Vettel did drive a superb race though… it was clear that RB was nt that competitive today and he still rescued a solid amount of points… But as an Alonso fan I am very happy to see him win a race after a long gap:)
Rahim.RG (@rahim-rg)
14th April 2013, 11:24
Never saw Kimi talking with drivers after the race like that before…Great race…Alonso drove perfectly…unfortunately missed a nice battle between Alonso n Raikkonen as i think Lotus has much more pace…Ricciardo drove well as well…Can’t wait for bahrain…i think Lotus will be very strong there…i hope all 4 hav the speed till the end to fight for the title..this year’s gonna give us an amazing battle for title between these four…