2012 Japanese GP - Suzuka

[aral]

Vettel kept well over to the side. If he had moved to the other side of the track, he would have been on the apex, and Alonso would have also claimed that he was blocked. Dont forget, Vergne has been penalised for being on the apex, even though Brundle etc were saying that Senna could have stayed on the power.

Vettel is seen by Alonso to be his biggest threat, and complains every time that he comes across him. Looking for the unfair advantage?

[FLuidd]

I am tired of this Vettel ... that finger is just awful.

[raymondu999]

I am tired of this Vettel ... that finger is just awful.

Mate - I get that you may be frustrated. But I recommend if you want a place to just vent, go to Autosport or Planet F1 forums, as opposed to F1Technical - where a lot of the users prefer something slightly more technical than your post.

I think the fact that a lot of people have been downvoting your posts is telling you something.

[hendrix]

I don't see anything worth a punishment in the situation. When you chose only one run late in the session you knowingly take the risk of something going wrong. Raikkonen's spin disrupted the planned lap run of the rest and it's difficult to know when and where someone will catch you. Alonso gambled, didn't succeed, and then sought advantage in asking for penalty. Again.

This could be a great idea: you do I first lap in the first minute of Q3 and then you can keep on the track at low speed to ruin every else lap.

[f1316]

One way or another, you surely can't deny that Alonso was very unlucky on his lap - both yellow flags and a little bit of traffic from Vettel. It might be unfair to punish Vettel, but the reprimand proves that Alonso was hampered a bit.

Had he not had those two things, he might well have 4th, which would turn to 3rd, and that would be pretty good for Ferrari's general qualifying pace.

Nevertheless, despite the huge RB quali advantage, the set-up here is a compromise one way or the other. I think they've gone very much for quali pace, but, as Martin Whitmarsh said, you make the compromise and then live with it in the race. Red Bull went too far on this score in Canada and may have the same thing here. I think you'll see that Alonso was careful with his tyres and will be much stronger in the race.

Not to mention that, if Kobayashi's actually allowed to get through the first corner this time, the Sauber's tyre management could well be key.

[raymondu999]

Alonso didn't do too many fp long runs, but RBR's long run pace looked the best to me in fp2 laptimes, with McLaren second best.

RBR did the mistake of overprioritising qualifying pace last year - I doubt they'd make the same mistake twice. Red Bull operationally are a very solid team - I hate to say it, but I don't remember when they last made the same mistake twice when strategy and setup choices are regarded

[Shrieker]

if this isn't blocking then what is? Vettel got away because of cheap politics!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ8cnvSFQLo[/youtube]

Until seeing this I thought Ferrari were just being bitchy. But this is blatant blocking. I can clearly tell Alonso brakes at least a good 5-6 meters early to avoid running into the back of Vettel. When you factor in that back in the day Alonso was penalised for being 50-60 meters up the road in Monza '06, it's all the worse. We all know it's about politics and looks like the balance of power was on Red Bull's side this day. I wonder what Marko said to threaten the stewards.

[clipsy1H]

Until seeing this I thought Ferrari were just being bitchy. But this is blatant blocking. I can clearly tell Alonso brakes at least a good 5-6 meters early to avoid running into the back of Vettel. When you factor in that back in the day Alonso was penalised for being 50-60 meters up the road in Monza '06, it's all the worse. We all know it's about politics and looks like the balance of power was on Red Bull's side this day. I wonder what Marko said to threaten the stewards.

but MOnza this year? what happen there with Vettel

btw: also Michael think he was blocked by Hamilton

Perhaps I could have made it through to Q3, because the data showed that I lost two tenths in Turn 11 [the hairpin] because of traffic, but I wasn't quite sure what Hamilton was doing ahead of me

[godlameroso]

Man I really hope Kamui gets away cleanly so he car race on his home race. The Sauber is very fast, I counted no less than three mistakes for Kamui on his fastest lap, on turn 6, the hairpin, and he didn't use DRS through 130R, in fact I think Vettel was the only driver to do so. It will be different in the race, the Saubers look very competitive in high fuel, and if they can push the tires longer than the Red Bulls, then no amount of one lap speed will help in the race. Remember the balance of the car changes albeit slightly with heavy fuel, this tends to have an equalizing effect.

[spadeflush]

btw: also Michael think he was blocked by Hamilton

Perhaps I could have made it through to Q3, because the data showed that I lost two tenths in Turn 11 [the hairpin] because of traffic, but I wasn't quite sure what Hamilton was doing ahead of me

Yes, he put in a 41.3 in the middle sector, two tenths down on Rosberg after being 2 tenths up in sector 1. Can anyone please post a video of the supposed blocking?

[hendrix]

Until seeing this I thought Ferrari were just being bitchy. But this is blatant blocking. I can clearly tell Alonso brakes at least a good 5-6 meters early to avoid running into the back of Vettel. When you factor in that back in the day Alonso was penalised for being 50-60 meters up the road in Monza '06, it's all the worse. We all know it's about politics and looks like the balance of power was on Red Bull's side this day. I wonder what Marko said to threaten the stewards.

but MOnza this year? what happen there with Vettel

btw: also Michael think he was blocked by Hamilton

Perhaps I could have made it through to Q3, because the data showed that I lost two tenths in Turn 11 [the hairpin] because of traffic, but I wasn't quite sure what Hamilton was doing ahead of me

That's the question: What was Vettel doing there? Was he out only with the idea of blocking his rivals knowing that his lap was by far pole position?

[Gerhard Berger]

I don't see anything worth a punishment in the situation. When you chose only one run late in the session you knowingly take the risk of something going wrong. Raikkonen's spin disrupted the planned lap run of the rest and it's difficult to know when and where someone will catch you. Alonso gambled, didn't succeed, and then sought advantage in asking for penalty. Again.

Brilliant, so it's Alonos's fault for only doing 1 run?

[Gerhard Berger]

Man I really hope Kamui gets away cleanly so he car race on his home race. The Sauber is very fast, I counted no less than three mistakes for Kamui on his fastest lap, on turn 6, the hairpin, and he didn't use DRS through 130R, in fact I think Vettel was the only driver to do so. It will be different in the race, the Saubers look very competitive in high fuel, and if they can push the tires longer than the Red Bulls, then no amount of one lap speed will help in the race. Remember the balance of the car changes albeit slightly with heavy fuel, this tends to have an equalizing effect.

I hope so too, but unt unfortunately the 2 times he qualifed near the front he messed up the start.

[Chuckjr]

Amazing the time RB has found as of late. Newey is incredible. Did any other driver besides Vettle use DRS through 130R? This is reminding me of the downforce RB had last year....

[Gerhard Berger]

Amazing the time RB has found as of late. Newey is incredible. Did any other driver besides Vettle use DRS through 130R? This is reminding me of the downforce RB had last year....

Have to give credit to the guys at Red Bull. All the rule changes in the last year or so affected them more significantly than others - flexi wings, EBD, engine mapping, off throttle blowing - yet they always seem to come back strong. you can't keep a good team down.