Official Formula 1 2012 thread

[frag]

did anyone else see the korea qualifying? how did jenson not even make Q3?

[Jon325i]

SPEED coverage sucked balls, hence torrents/SKY coverage

Please elaborate. I used to download torrents of Top Gear a while ago but haven't done any such thing for a few years. What are some reputable sites these days that carry F1 torrents? Or, is there a way to catch online broadcasting of the races? I found the Sky F1 page but I get the 'restricted access' message. I guess they don't want us Yanks viewing :roll eyes:

That's the only thing I will miss about F1 on Speed. I set the DirectTV DVR once to capture all F1 content and I was done.

[der affe]

Screw SPEED, ever since they dropped Vision from the name it has been down hill.

[z31maniac]

SPEED coverage sucked balls, hence torrents/SKY coverage.

Frag, thanks for the great pics!

[Jon325i]

Frag - awesome photos, thank you very much for sharing! I am jealous too...the GP in Singapore looks like an awesome event to attend.

Now for some F1 broadcasting news. It appears that Speed will stop airing F1 races after the conclusion of the 2012 season. Its all part of a morphing process with the network. They recently signed a 8-year broadcast deal with Major League Baseball and the plan is to make the network a more 'broad based' sports portal. I'm sure NASCAR will remain in their lineup - they sold their soul to them many moons ago. The Speed name will also be dropped in favor of Fox Sports 1 (or something along those lines).

As for who will take the reins for airing F1 in the states - it appears that NBC is considering to out-bid Speed for the broadcast rights. A lot is unknown at the moment, but I see this change as a mixed blessing. Speed carried every F1 race and broadcast them live which I was fine with, but holy fucking jumping shit balls did they pile on the commercials!!! NBC, in their desire to capture as much audience as possible with this 'world-wide' form of sport, might change F1 coverage as we know it, hopefully for the better. I certainly hope they don't cherry pick just the legendary races (Monaco, Spa, Canada, etc.) and then butcher them up with commercials and commentary by Bob Costas. We will have to wait and see what develops.

News article:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/motor/formula1/2012/10/12/speed-network-to-stop-airing-formula-one-races/1630479/

Thread from Speed F1 forum:

http://forums.speedtv.com/threads/12021-Speed-s-F1-Broadcast-Ends-This-Year

Jon

[frag]

this is a few weeks late, but i want to show off a bit :D got a chance to spend a lot of time in the paddock for the singapore gp, and had a blast!


at the mclaren pit friday night after practice ended


hanging out at the mclaren pit area with a few miss universe contestants


got a chance to meet jenson button. really nice guy in person!


checking out the red bull pit the morning before qualifying


hanging out in the ferrari pit after qualifying


top 3 qualifiers: hamilton, maldonado and vettel. too bad only one of them actually finished the race

spent most of the evening of qualifying in the paddock, and it was mind-blowing to see so many legends and drivers just hanging around:


sir jackie stewart


fernando alonso


niki lauda


schumi talking to a ferrari engineer? is there a ferrari comeback in the works?


david coulthard, eddie jordan and jake humphreys preparing for a pre-qualifying segment


damon hill


lewis hamilton signing an autograph for wifey


ouch...


fernando alonso on his way to a 3rd place finish


jenson button going for 2nd place


sebastian vettel celebrates the win


a bunch of F1 stuff to add to the collection, including autographed caps from fernando alonso and lewis hamilton, plus my F1 pass autographed by michael schumacher!

tons more pics here:

friday - practice day

saturday - qualifying day

sunday - race day

[Dave]

Forza Felipe!!!!!!

Shame about Fernando. What bad luck. I dont like how things look now that Seb has a new cheater car.

Well done Kamui.

[Hick]

Kimi is now at the top of my shit list.

Kobash is the man.

[z31maniac]

I get that, but it doesn't make sense for him to go while Alonso is there. Alonso is currently the best driver in F1 at present, IMHO. Vettel couldn't stack up regardless of what car they would give him.

I don't care for McLaren, but I find myself now pulling for Perez for the next few seasons. I see him becoming a top 5 driver there.

[Hick]

Vettel has said he wants to drive for Ferrari. I don't want him at Ferrari, but the guy I wanted (Perez) is now at Mecca... and is now dead to me.

[z31maniac]

I thought about that not long after I posted it up. Point being: it's somewhat necessary, and no moreso than at Scuderia Ferrari, to have a #2 driver (Massa, Rubens, Irvine, etc.) I just question the logic behind those rumors and wonder if it'd play out as bad as I think it would.

YEah, I don't see how it makes sense for Vettel to go to Ferrari. RBR is obviously HIS team now.

[zoyee]

Nobody is going to dominate here, Red Bull said on Friday. But the cars from Milton Keynes were in such a class of their own in final qualifying on Saturday afternoon that only Jenson Button in the hitherto pace-setting McLaren could get close to them.

Sebastian Vettel took pole position with a lap in 1m 30.839s, with team mate Mark Webber shadowing him on 1m 31.090s and Button hanging on with 1m 31.290s. But the Briton has a five-place grid penalty because of his post-Singapore gearbox change, which means he’ll start eighth.



thanks

[HarryPotter]

some interesting moves in F1 going on! is schumi retiring? he really should.

[TDE30]

I thought about that not long after I posted it up. Point being: it's somewhat necessary, and no moreso than at Scuderia Ferrari, to have a #2 driver (Massa, Rubens, Irvine, etc.) I just question the logic behind those rumors and wonder if it'd play out as bad as I think it would.

[z31maniac]

To be fair, in that picture Hammy wasn't a world champion yet.