Formula 1 CFA Comments
Chinese 2012 GP - Preview - and Bahrain or no Bahrain...
by Cato Batista, 12/04/2012 19:43:52
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let’s get ready for the 3rd and 4th rounds of the season in back to back weekends in China and Bahrain. Well, at least those are the plans, but only 10 days before the race in Bahrain there are still serious doubts the event will take place due to political unrest in the country. Word is that all F1 personnel was issued with return tickets to Europe after the Chinese GP, most Teams already making plans to skip the 4th race in the calendar.
But let’s focus our attention to action on track staring with tomorrow’s practice sessions. We know McLaren has the quickest (and prettiest) car right now, and that most teams will have very little changes on their machines for this race preparing big updates to be introduced at the Spanish GP in May 13. The big question is still how fast the Red Bulls really are, and given the Shanghai circuit’s characteristics it looks like the RB8 could be outpaced...again. This is rainy season in that part of the world, and so far the forecast is 50-50 for the weekend, so we may be treated to another thriller similar to Malaysia 3 weeks ago, and another chance for the smaller teams to pounce on the big ones...and for Alonso to keep his improbable lead in the championship. And yes, another chance for Perez to shine and make a large chunk of the CFA membership extremely happy (unless Peter Sauber gets nervous again and settles for less...).
Another factor for us to consider is that Hamilton will get a 5-position grid penalty for changing the gearbox in his McLaren.
This is the third and last race for you to analyse the field ...
Let’s get ready for the 3rd and 4th rounds of the season in back to back weekends in China and Bahrain. Well, at least those are the plans, but only 10 days before the race in Bahrain there are still serious doubts the event will take place due to political unrest in the country. Word is that all F1 personnel was issued with return tickets to Europe after the Chinese GP, most Teams already making plans to skip the 4th race in the calendar.
But let’s focus our attention to action on track staring with tomorrow’s practice sessions. We know McLaren has the quickest (and prettiest) car right now, and that most teams will have very little changes on their machines for this race preparing big updates to be introduced at the Spanish GP in May 13. The big question is still how fast the Red Bulls really are, and given the Shanghai circuit’s characteristics it looks like the RB8 could be outpaced...again. This is rainy season in that part of the world, and so far the forecast is 50-50 for the weekend, so we may be treated to another thriller similar to Malaysia 3 weeks ago, and another chance for the smaller teams to pounce on the big ones...and for Alonso to keep his improbable lead in the championship. And yes, another chance for Perez to shine and make a large chunk of the CFA membership extremely happy (unless Peter Sauber gets nervous again and settles for less...).
Another factor for us to consider is that Hamilton will get a 5-position grid penalty for changing the gearbox in his McLaren.
This is the third and last race for you to analyse the field ...
Malaysia GP 2012 - Results
by Cato Batista, 25/03/2012 19:54:13
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We enjoyed an action packed Grand Prix with the most unlikely drivers leading the field. Only Alonso’s brilliance could have produced this victory, but the shocking result came from Sauber’s Perez second place to send the large Mexican CFA contingent over the moon.
Manbos takes his first overdue CFA victory with mere 8 points, a great score given the unexpected results. The surprising Spanish rookie from last year correctly predicted 4th and 5th places to edge Champ Ian by 1 point and Ricky by 2 points. These three were the only colleagues to pick two 3-pointers in a day that will go down in the history records as one of our worst. We didn’t manage to score a single gold in first, second or sixth places. Only Ian & Ricky had Hamilton in 3rd, 4 of you (Manbos, Ian, Rocco & Santi) correctly got Raikkonen in 4th; our best result was 6 votes for Webber in 4th including Manbos’s for the win. Curro deserves special mention for his glorious point from Perez in 6th, the only one with the vision to include the Mexican in the top 6.
Uwe had a bad outing today but still hangs on to the overall lead by one point (20-19) to Manbos (sounds like 2011 all over again). And then there’s a gap of 4 points to a very crowed chasing group comprised by Maria, Lou & Ian (15), Fernando, Joe, Ricky & Santi (14), Rocco & Tim (13), Curro & Sebastian (12). The bottom half follows like this: Fredrik (11), Rodrigo & Cato (10), Erik, IanM (‘Mac’ from now on) Matias & Ricardo (9), and Carlos (7).
We can expect 3 weeks of Mexican celebrations until the next race in China ...
We enjoyed an action packed Grand Prix with the most unlikely drivers leading the field. Only Alonso’s brilliance could have produced this victory, but the shocking result came from Sauber’s Perez second place to send the large Mexican CFA contingent over the moon.
Manbos takes his first overdue CFA victory with mere 8 points, a great score given the unexpected results. The surprising Spanish rookie from last year correctly predicted 4th and 5th places to edge Champ Ian by 1 point and Ricky by 2 points. These three were the only colleagues to pick two 3-pointers in a day that will go down in the history records as one of our worst. We didn’t manage to score a single gold in first, second or sixth places. Only Ian & Ricky had Hamilton in 3rd, 4 of you (Manbos, Ian, Rocco & Santi) correctly got Raikkonen in 4th; our best result was 6 votes for Webber in 4th including Manbos’s for the win. Curro deserves special mention for his glorious point from Perez in 6th, the only one with the vision to include the Mexican in the top 6.
Uwe had a bad outing today but still hangs on to the overall lead by one point (20-19) to Manbos (sounds like 2011 all over again). And then there’s a gap of 4 points to a very crowed chasing group comprised by Maria, Lou & Ian (15), Fernando, Joe, Ricky & Santi (14), Rocco & Tim (13), Curro & Sebastian (12). The bottom half follows like this: Fredrik (11), Rodrigo & Cato (10), Erik, IanM (‘Mac’ from now on) Matias & Ricardo (9), and Carlos (7).
We can expect 3 weeks of Mexican celebrations until the next race in China ...
Australian GP 2012
by Cato Batista, 24/03/2012 23:26:42
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Another front row for the McLarens but SCH is getting closer and Raikkonen is back at the front of the action splitting the Red Bulls, Vettel is already preparing for the race, Alonso just made it to Q3. The top eight are separated by 4 tenths of a second!
We had a point festival at the CFA breaking all kinds of marks: plenums for Maria, Joe, Rocco, Fernando and Santiago. We reached a totalof 39 points, our best ever QF record.
The grid for tomorrow:
HAM BUT SCH WEB (*) VET GRO ROS ALO PER RAI *Kimmi dropped to 10th due to gear-box change penalty
After Australia's this is a more conventional looking starting grid withthe current top 4 teams lining up at the front. Red Bull acknowledged theirMercedes-powered rivals are faster in qualifying and decided for Vettel to start the race on hard tires looking for an alternative race strategy. He wasstruggling with the car’s handling on the medium compound but the team is well aware that they have very good balance to cover race distance, so expect to himin a possible prime-prime-control 2-stop strategy to try to close the gap onthe McLarens. Vetel is the only one in the top 10 to start on hard tires.The norm will be 3 stoppers.
This is the second race in succession that we don’t have a Red Bull in the front row, something not seen since 2010.
The race has all the makings to be an exciting one for 2 main reasons:tire degradation and DRS. This is a circuit layout where DRS works wonders. Thedetection zone is in the hairpin between the 2 long ...
Copyright 2001-2024 MANBOS
Another front row for the McLarens but SCH is getting closer and Raikkonen is back at the front of the action splitting the Red Bulls, Vettel is already preparing for the race, Alonso just made it to Q3. The top eight are separated by 4 tenths of a second!
We had a point festival at the CFA breaking all kinds of marks: plenums for Maria, Joe, Rocco, Fernando and Santiago. We reached a totalof 39 points, our best ever QF record.
The grid for tomorrow:
HAM BUT SCH WEB (*) VET GRO ROS ALO PER RAI *Kimmi dropped to 10th due to gear-box change penalty
After Australia's this is a more conventional looking starting grid withthe current top 4 teams lining up at the front. Red Bull acknowledged theirMercedes-powered rivals are faster in qualifying and decided for Vettel to start the race on hard tires looking for an alternative race strategy. He wasstruggling with the car’s handling on the medium compound but the team is well aware that they have very good balance to cover race distance, so expect to himin a possible prime-prime-control 2-stop strategy to try to close the gap onthe McLarens. Vetel is the only one in the top 10 to start on hard tires.The norm will be 3 stoppers.
This is the second race in succession that we don’t have a Red Bull in the front row, something not seen since 2010.
The race has all the makings to be an exciting one for 2 main reasons:tire degradation and DRS. This is a circuit layout where DRS works wonders. Thedetection zone is in the hairpin between the 2 long ...
Australian GP 2012 - Qualifying
by Cato Batista, 23/03/2012 17:15:51
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Hamilton dominated both practice sessions today, Button had minor problems and lost valuable time and Mercedes is again flying on the straights. Red Bull was the fastest in mid-stint race simulation on control tires but can’t match McLaren’s pace particularly in sector 2 where the long high speed corners are. Lotus has shown their potential but can’t quit dial the car properly and again Grosjean is easily faster that Raikkonen. Ferrari is now the second fastest Italian team, behind Toro Rosso. Alonso was as quick as the Mercedes in hard tires and heavy on fuel but in QF trim they fell an abysmal 0.7 seconds behind.
It was a very interesting opening day in Sepang with all the teams concentrated in tire analysis. Pirelli has brought the medium and hard compounds as this layout, surface and temperature generates huge tire degradation, and depending on how each team and driver manages this issue will decide the outcome on Sunday.
As important as grid position is, most teams used Friday's dry sessions to run their race-day programs, focused in tire wear and lap time differentials between compounds for race strategy.
P1- HAM 1.38.012 VET ROS SCH GOS WEB RAI DIR BUT HUL (MAS 13, ALO 15)
P2 - HAM 1.38.172 SCH BUT ROS RIC ALO WEB VER GRO VET (RAI 15, MAS 16)
There was no rain, but Kuala Lumpur is notorious this time of the year for it's sudden monsoon showers (remember when the race was suspended in 2009?). It was sunny, humid and very hot today, track temperature was 46C!. The forecast calls for similar weather tomorrow and ...
Hamilton dominated both practice sessions today, Button had minor problems and lost valuable time and Mercedes is again flying on the straights. Red Bull was the fastest in mid-stint race simulation on control tires but can’t match McLaren’s pace particularly in sector 2 where the long high speed corners are. Lotus has shown their potential but can’t quit dial the car properly and again Grosjean is easily faster that Raikkonen. Ferrari is now the second fastest Italian team, behind Toro Rosso. Alonso was as quick as the Mercedes in hard tires and heavy on fuel but in QF trim they fell an abysmal 0.7 seconds behind.
It was a very interesting opening day in Sepang with all the teams concentrated in tire analysis. Pirelli has brought the medium and hard compounds as this layout, surface and temperature generates huge tire degradation, and depending on how each team and driver manages this issue will decide the outcome on Sunday.
As important as grid position is, most teams used Friday's dry sessions to run their race-day programs, focused in tire wear and lap time differentials between compounds for race strategy.
P1- HAM 1.38.012 VET ROS SCH GOS WEB RAI DIR BUT HUL (MAS 13, ALO 15)
P2 - HAM 1.38.172 SCH BUT ROS RIC ALO WEB VER GRO VET (RAI 15, MAS 16)
There was no rain, but Kuala Lumpur is notorious this time of the year for it's sudden monsoon showers (remember when the race was suspended in 2009?). It was sunny, humid and very hot today, track temperature was 46C!. The forecast calls for similar weather tomorrow and ...
Copyright 2001-2024 MANBOS