2012 Abu Dhabi GP - Yas Marina

[Vasconia]

What a spectacular race, with good overtakes and some incidents, I dont want to see anyone injured of course but accidents are sometimes needed!!

Kimi was lucky with Hamiltons retirement, but he made a great start and his pace was tremendous. Alonso also did a good race but he has had better days. Vettel was so luck but he was simply perfect, pushing all the time and overtaking some cars, although this the spanish "rubbish" media insists that he doesnt know how to overtake, mehh...

And once again, very bad luck for Schumi, he made a solid race and he deserved to finish 8th, what a pity...

[beelsebob]

What a spectacular race, with good overtakes and some incidents, I dont want to see anyone injured of course but accidents are sometimes needed!!

Kimi was lucky with Hamiltons retirement, but he made a great start and his pace was tremendous. Alonso also did a good race but he has had better days. Vettel was so luck but he was simply perfect, pushing all the time and overtaking some cars, although this the spanish "rubbish" media insists that he doesnt know how to overtake, mehh...

Eh? "Simply perfect" is now breaking your own front wing twice?
And yeh, I'd agree with the spanish media...
Alonso on tyres equal to buttons got passed in 1 lap.
Vettol on softer, newer tyres, with a car geared for overtaking took 5 laps.

[Richard]

Alonso said in the interview that the simulation put us somewhere between 4th and 6th.

"Simulation" is not the same as "simulator"

I think Alonso is referring to inputting FP data into a computer model and determining the optimum strategy and result.

[Kiril Varbanov]

Alonso said in the interview that the simulation put us somewhere between 4th and 6th.

"Simulation" is not the same as "simulator"

I think Alonso is referring to inputting FP data into a computer model and determining the optimum strategy and result.

Indeed. I just posted on RBR simulator here,
whereas the simulation software - for race strategies and fuel stuff is very different. I will try to gather more details on this topic, as my info is surely old.
Example: Bosch Lapsim. In Ferrari's case the software calculates predicted race strategies based on input data such as fuel usage, tire degradation, and is being operated remotely by Neil Martin, used to be Luca Baldisserri.

[Phil]

Eh? "Simply perfect" is now breaking your own front wing twice?
And yeh, I'd agree with the spanish media...
Alonso on tyres equal to buttons got passed in 1 lap.
Vettol on softer, newer tyres, with a car geared for overtaking took 5 laps.

Button was stronger on the hard-tyre though - and I'm pretty sure he admitted that himself in the post-race interview. I'm not here to defend Vettel either way, but the comparison I think is not very objective and is rather simplistic. When Alonso overtook Button, he was vulnerable still with cold tyres, possibly brakes as well.

When Vettel caught up to Button, the race had already stabilized to some degree and one could argue that Vettel didn't *need* to overtake Button - much less take unnecessary risks. At that point, even finishing 4th, he'd have a lead in the championship. Also, as I understand it (and I thought this was quite evident during this part of the race), the nature of his gearing - allowed Vettel to be quicker on the straights, but compared to a very quick McLaren, it compromised his pace in the corners leading up to that DRS zone slightly. It's the reason why he was able to close the gap (with KERS), but wasn't able to pull off the move as he had hoped - hence why he changed his approach slightly to one that then later did the trick. I'm not sure one could argue that Alonso (with different car, different set-up, different engine, different race and stategic approach altogher) would have faired better in Vettels car and his situation.

IMO - both drivers showed an excellent race. It would be unfair to both to concentrate on the few mistakes they did given there's an overwhelming majority of things they did very well during the race.

[MarkedOne8]

Look.Vettel was starting from the pitlane.If I was F1 driver, and if I had to start from the pitlane, I would be happy to even score some points.Vettel didn't had to risk.Even the 4th place would be more than good hunt for Vettel.

If your goal is to prove that Alonso is better than Vettel because he managed to overtake Button faster/better, you proved it.That is still easy and simple overtaking on the straight with DRS.

And one more thing.When you others say "the Ferrari is slower than RB", what does that means?They are putting the same amount of money in the car as Red Bull or maybe even more.They, as a team, are not capable to score as good results as Red Bull can.The team, including Alonso.Maybe Alonso's feedback is not as good as Vettel's?Why they can't design so good car?They don't have Newey?Do Lotus have Newey?Do McLaren have Newey?Neither of them have Newey, but they are still fast, from time to time even faster than Ferrari.McLaren's could have snatched WCC and WDC easily.

Vettel has proved himself many times.He was bashing Webber even back in 2009.Webber then already had 3 years of experience with that team.Vettel managed to win with Torro Rosso the year before.He was better than Mark for all this years, but you will simply say ,,Those were team orders.".

[GrizzleBoy]

If your goal is to prove that Alonso is better than Vettel because he managed to overtake Button faster/better, you proved it.That is still easy and simple overtaking on the straight with DRS.

Except Alonso did it before the DRS was even activated in the race, while Seb needed multiple laps and multiple DRSs to get by him.

I believe that was the actual point.

[turbof1]

Vettel did drove a good race, but when people like Lauda call it "his best drive" then I have to put question marks at it. He did made mistakes. Still a good race anyhow. I also want to notce Vettel didn't had that much luck with the safety cars as is suggested: if the first safety car was not out, he wouldn't had made that mistake behind the TR and didn't had to come in. He actually nulified any advantage he would have had from that one. The second safety car only closed the gap between him and Button; the difference is only one place.

[MarkedOne8]

If your goal is to prove that Alonso is better than Vettel because he managed to overtake Button faster/better, you proved it.That is still easy and simple overtaking on the straight with DRS.

Except Alonso did it before the DRS was even activated in the race, while Seb needed multiple laps and multiple DRSs to get by him.

I believe that was the actual point.

Ahem, that was especially tough and atractive overtake by Alonso on first lap.On the straight with 7 km/h advantage over Mclaren (DRS not active on both cars).

[CHT]

If your goal is to prove that Alonso is better than Vettel because he managed to overtake Button faster/better, you proved it.That is still easy and simple overtaking on the straight with DRS.

Except Alonso did it before the DRS was even activated in the race, while Seb needed multiple laps and multiple DRSs to get by him.

I believe that was the actual point.

Not sure you noticed this the reason why Vettel was having difficulties over taking Button after the 2nd SC car was because Button was also within 1sec from Alonso hence both are running DRS.

Actually if alonso did stayed within 1sec ahead of Button and allow button to use his DRS to defend Vettel, Alonso might have gain an additional few more points on Vettel.

[Lastonedown]

I think overtaking on a straight with or without DRS doesn´t proof if a driver is good or not.
It´s all about topspeed and acceleration.

[MarkedOne8]

I think overtaking on a straight with or without DRS doesn´t proof if a driver is good or not.
It´s all about topspeed and acceleration.

Exactly.I totally agree.But maneuvers made in corners are those which count and Kimi has made most of them during the season without having a single incident with other drivers.

[Intego]

I partly agree. Passing on straights without DRS sometimes has to do with forcing the opponent into a defensive strategy or even mistakes, choosing a different line etc.

[f1316]

Vettel did drove a good race, but when people like Lauda call it "his best drive" then I have to put question marks at it. He did made mistakes. Still a good race anyhow. I also want to notce Vettel didn't had that much luck with the safety cars as is suggested: if the first safety car was not out, he wouldn't had made that mistake behind the TR and didn't had to come in. He actually nulified any advantage he would have had from that one. The second safety car only closed the gap between him and Button; the difference is only one place.

No, the first safety car allowed him to close up a large gap and then have very little time period punishment for a pit stop of his own making. This pushed him onto a strategy where he could make the same amount of further pit stops as the guys in front with far fresher tyres.

It's also a question of what Martin Whitmarsh said, he was fortunate in that a lot of the cars who were harder to pass were out of his way. A few times he tried to pass a decent(ish) pace car like Senna and Grosjean and he made mistakes.

He was fast in clear air, as usual, but it really wasn't a "great" drive. He was clumsy in traffic, which again, is as usual.

[Richard]

safety car only closed the gap between him and Button; the difference is only one place.

Surely if there had been no safety cars then Button would have been a minute or so further down the road?

Anyway the thing that gets me is being allowed to change the car so much. In future if a team has a problem and it looks like they'll not get through P3, they simply need to park the car on track with no fuel and they're allowed to completely reconfigure the car?