Abu Dhabi GP 2010 - Yas Marina Circuit

[andrew]

If he did he would have been pulled up for it and I am sure Ferrari would have been at their usual games of crying to the race stewards. It was marginal but I don't think he did.

[netoperek]

As RK fan, i was paying more attention to him than others. RK said after Qually, that his set-up is totally messed up, resulting in very poor rear wheels grip. Considering that, P5 finish from P11 is absolutely amazing. More, RK showed some neat overtaking moves in that car as well! Sutil did not manage to hold him off for long, same with Kobayashi. And i guess the performance difference between Renault and Force India or BMW-Sauber is comparable with McLaren-Renault or Ferrari-Renault, so Alonso could do it, if it wasn't for all that pressure on him
As for Webbers race - i think his setups were totally screwed up. He really was driving to the limit in my opinion, and still couldn't match the pace of Alonso and Petrov. How on earth could that happen with RB having such potential??
Speaking of Petrov - by far best performance from him to date. After all those mistakes he did before, i was sure he just cant cope with pressure - and after this race...hats off to Mr. Petrov - he showed some really smart and mistake free racing today. And his speed too! If it wasn't for Alonso, he had a chance to beat Kubica in this race, and that would be an achievment!
Back to Kubica one more time...I wonder how fast could he be if they managed to find the sweet spot with his setups :]

[timbo]

2 more lessons: in a championship fight race to win!!
Track position is king!!

Oh, surely Hamilton followed that in Brazil 2008

Fact is, they haven't got the speed. Webber was gaining on Ferrari after the stop, Alonso came out in front of him with very small gap, and that's after Webber had a fight with Algersuary!

It was not very easy to correctly judge the situation.

[ringo]

You could see how much earlier Petrov could get on the throttle out of the hairpin than Alonso could. He could never wind him back in after that point. The Ferrari could close up with better braking and entry speed, but that was about it. Lewis was the exact opposite, closing on Kubica towards the end of the straights, but not being able to attack the corners nearly as good.

Alonso was braking very late as well, and maybe overshooting a little. Stella had to tell him to get his braking points.
Anyway it shows that even the best drivers can't do anything if the speed differential is too close.
Worse if there's no refueling, the race will be tortuous for guys like Alonso and Hamilton, and Massa too behind that STR.

Redbull had it in the bag today, they had 3 teams, redbull, str and renault working for them. Alguashari let through webber and locked out Massa the whole way.

[andrew]

I was very disappointed to see Alguashari let Webber past then block Massa.

[thestig84]

Remember when comparing Alonso and Hamiltons lack of success with the respective Renaults Alonso HAD to pass where as Hamilton didnt need to take too many risks as Kubica was stopping anyway. Vettel was well down the road and Mclaren wanted a good finish for constructors.

I think if Kubica had made his stop Hamilton would have gone for it on one occasion.

[noname]

And I wonder what happened to Kubica after his tyre change. He should be flying with little fuel on fresh soft tyres. I hoped he would overtake Rosberg easily. But he struggled, his lap times on options were worse than on worn-out primes.

he was struggling with the car a lot this weekend, especially on softs. he was complaining on oversteer hurting the traction at the exit from slow corners.

knowing he does not have the pace to pass the Rosberg he just went for the 5th place, I think. at the end of the day not a bad one for someone starting from 11th on the grid.

[timbo]

I think if Kubica had made his stop Hamilton would have gone for it on one occasion.

Still he was running very close and it's not good for a F1 car to run in traffic for too long.
He also could've loose to Button.

[marcush.]

I´m disappointed to some degree by Webber and Alonso both played it safe when they needed to attack.
the RedBull car was good enough to win it obviously so there is no real excuse for
Mark not to be up right there to fight it out to the very last moment.
same goes for Alonso he never ever showed the determination to really want the title in this race ,same for Webbo.
Hamilton really was the one who tried hard ...but it was not going to happen for him unfortunatelly.

[andrew]

http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/Ital ... -loss.html

Man are these Italians serious! I fully expect David Cameron or one of his aides to call for Martin Whitmarshes head on a plate now. It's only a sport!

Fastest laps for the race:

[vall]

http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/Ital ... -loss.html

Man are these Italians serious! I fully expect David Cameron or one of his aides to call for Martin Whitmarshes head on a plate now. It's only a sport!

Fastest laps for the race:

It's Italy, man! They act exactly as they should!

[timbo]

It's Italy, man! They act exactly as they should!

Considering that it was rumored that Monte is looking for a career in Italian government I think that guy has a deeper motives in his action))

But, for once, Monte shouldn't be at the race today. Always a bad luck to have him along)))

[marcush.]

by the looks of things it was more track position and the good start that did the trick for Seb....
So poor Hamilton so close but no cigar...

[Raftaar]

Want to say something about Fernando's, and indeed Ferrari's race today!!

He didn't have a good start, but either ways, I don't think he would have panicked there. I thought he had enough to fend off Webber, or even perhaps finish on the podium. He knew that, and indeed the team knew that.

Coming to the turning point, Webber pitted early because he complained of graining, but plainly because he opted for an optimistic plan-B.

Now, Ferrari were concerned that Webber might ride quicker laps with new tyres, but thay didn't even wait to confirm it.
They pitted Massa first, I presume that was in the hope that he might come ahead of Webber, and block him if he could; He joined behind him and it did not happen after that.
Then they pitted Alonso straight away, he came out just ahead of Webber, that too because Webber was supposedly delayed a little by a Torro Rosso.

We all saw what happened after that!!!

Ferrari, and Alonso have followed the same strategy in this race, as they did in Brazil; THEY WERE RACING WEBBER, NOT VETTLE
At the end, maybe that is what let them down.

I can't believe, Mr. Stella and Co. didn't notice at that time, that two drivers in the top ten had already pitted.

Let us just say, they were distracted by Webber, and paid the price.

I really feel for Alonso, can't believe how frustrated he must have felt in and after the race.
For once he didn't deliver under pressure.

It is a bit like Italian football, and their man-marking tactics. They tried to mark Webber the whole race, only to see Vettle scoring the goal.

Button ran 2/3rd of the race on the "Super Soft", certainly Alonso could!!

Can't say if it was Ferrari's fault, but there certainly was an error in their judgement!!

[timbo]

by the looks of things it was more track position and the good start that did the trick for Seb....
So poor Hamilton so close but no cigar...

Seb never put a foot wrong last two races. That did it for him.
As for today, I think he owes a fair bit to Button honestly.