2012 Abu Dhabi GP - Yas Marina

[gato azul]

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Any change to the gear ratios declared under d) below will incur a further five grid place penalty.
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http://argent.fia.com/web/fia-public.nsf/A0C5392CB79B3323C1257A85004FFAA9/$FILE/2012%20SPORTING%20REGULATIONS%2009-03-2012.pdf

As it only applies to the race weekend when it happened, it will not affect them.
IMHO, that will be the main reason to oped to start from pitlane instead of P24, the way they tend to set up their car, requires them to start from the front and run away, to make it work.
Without a change in gear ratio, it would not make sense to take down force off the car, it will make it only worse, as you would still not get higher top speed, due to hitting the limiter.
After the penalty, they did (IMHO) the only sensible thing, and going all out and setting the car up for the new situation. They need to be able to get good tops peed to overtake (or protect after a overtake at the end of the straight), to avoid a Alonso 2010 situation, where he got stuck behind a slower car, unable to overtake.
Anyway, will make for an interesting race tomorrow.

[JimClarkFan]

To be honest I don't know why some people are saying it to be Alonso's title now. This has blown the doors wide open now and Alonso can certainly regain an equal footing - but I still think either of the two can win it.

Will be interesting to see if the FIA have truly fixed the DRS zones - last year all we had was A passing B in Zone 1, and B passing A in Zone 2.

Who is saying that? Don't think anybody has said it is Alonso's title.

[Unc1e_M0nty]

Red Bull's decision to start from the pitlane means it will be able to make some changes to Vettel's car's set-up ahead of the race.

haha, you have to hand it to Red Bull, they're always thinking

[zeph]

It will be ironic if Vettel get stuck behind Petrov tomorrow

I would wet myself with glee, should that happen.

[Bomber_Pilot]

Red Bull's decision to start from the pitlane means it will be able to make some changes to Vettel's car's set-up ahead of the race.

haha, you have to hand it to Red Bull, they're always thinking

I have no doubts that Vettel will score some points tomorrow, and as I said before I just hope that for the sake of the championship Alonso doesn't get taken out or does something stupid in the first lap.

[Unc1e_M0nty]

Horner interview

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/20193639

[turbof1]

I also assume that Red Bull will be breaking the curfew?

[Unc1e_M0nty]

I also assume that Red Bull will be breaking the curfew?

According to this it's locked in the FIA's garage overnight.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20193637

[raymondu999]

Possibly. I don't remember if they've broken it already this year - can anyone confirm?

[turbof1]

I also assume that Red Bull will be breaking the curfew?

According to this it's locked in the FIA's garage overnight.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20193637

I am not from england, so I can't play the media.

[Shrieker]

McLaren were called numpties (and rightfully so) at Barcelona. The championship is on the line, and RB go ahead underfuel the car in q3 - for what ?! What the fu.k Red Bull ?!? As bad as it sucked, McLaren's were an operational error.

[FakeAlonso]

Anyone knows the race pace for tomorrow?

Alonso looked good, Button and HAM as far as I remember. Anyone has more information on race pace?

[raymondu999]

In my own calculations I had Maldonado and Massa tied at quickest. Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel didn't do representative-length race runs. Neither did Webber, for that matter. Button was to my calculations about 0.2 down on Massa/Maldonado

[FakeAlonso]

In my own calculations I had Maldonado and Massa tied at quickest. Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel didn't do representative-length race runs. Neither did Webber, for that matter. Button was to my calculations about 0.2 down on Massa/Maldonado

Ray do you think the Mclarens will have problems with the softs just like they had in India?

[raymondu999]

I don't know to be honest. From how it looked on Friday the McLarens did look to have problems with that. But remember that FP data in Abu Dhabi is just about the least reliable of the year - because the temperatures in the race are different (due to the time) to those in FP, generally.

I think even in FP3 vs Quali, the correlation is weakest in Abu Dhabi.