The OFFICIAL 2013 Formula 1 thread!

[PReta]

Anyone else pumped for this race? I'm happy to finally see the red bulls not be on pace. Rooting for the Mercedes boys and kimi of course

[illest318i]

Whose going next week to long beach? Isnt next week first round or something?

[pharow]

That might have been the worst qualfying session I have seen. I was sooooo bored, I fell asleep. I'm hoping the race will be better. I need to see racing till the end of the race... Not shutting down with 10-15 laps to go.

[GAbOS]

Wow! Real racing!

[Roysneon]

Poor Mark...

[Hick]

Alonso is the man.

[naplesE30]

This is just silly...... numerous radio transmissions,,,, can I race? What a joke... FIA FTL. Close to boycotting f1.

[unevolved]

That's a tad dramatic. I don't think that's the FIA's fault, teams have to be able to manage their resources, and how they do that is up to them. IIRC, Button was trying to stick to a two-stop strategy, so they were being careful with their tires. If they wanted to run three stops, they could have run balls-to-the-wall they whole time.

[naplesE30]

The FIA is the one mandating the awful tire compounds Pirelli is making.... I understand pace/performance balance but guys cruising around at 80% of the cars capability is stupid. Guys running one lap in qualy. You don't need to be a world class driver to get 80% out of a car. Avg lap times were around 15sec slower than qualiy. Time how long that is. Its a long time. The FIA have gone off the deep end in terms of tire degradation... If I wanted to see manufactured racing Id watch nascar. Ill watch old races on http://www.justin.tv/bwass244_8

[Hick]

Let me ask you this... If driver A races at 80% and driver B races at 100%. If racing at 80% will win the race, who will win the race?

The world class driver is the guy that can race harder and faster than the other guys and STILL manage his tires enough to win. Just cause the tires are not as good as they could be does not mean the drivers are not pushing.

[tg318is]

Let me ask you this... If driver A races at 80% and driver B races at 100%. If racing at 80% will win the race, who will win the race?

The world class driver is the guy that can race harder and faster than the other guys and STILL manage his tires enough to win. Just cause the tires are not as good as they could be does not mean the drivers are not pushing.

I couldn't agree more.

[Thaubigi]

your website

Your posts are so informative that I always come back for more.

[markd248]

The FIA is the one mandating the awful tire compounds Pirelli is making.... I understand pace/performance balance but guys cruising around at 80% of the cars capability is stupid. Guys running one lap in qualy. You don't need to be a world class driver to get 80% out of a car. Avg lap times were around 15sec slower than qualiy. Time how long that is. Its a long time. The FIA have gone off the deep end in terms of tire degradation... If I wanted to see manufactured racing Id watch nascar. Ill watch old races on http://www.justin.tv/bwass244_8

To the same effect though, the cars and technological advancements are limited by the FIA. Bring back adjustable skirts so that downforce can reach absurd amounts due to the low pressure created underneath the car. Honestly, I'm pretty okay with the Pirelli compounds, its just an artificial difficulty created to make the races more interesting and open. I'd argue that so far they're successful. Drivers like Raikkonen, Button, and Alonso have shown that you can run an effective and efficient race this way.

Do you guys think F1 and MotoGP should just let the teams work unhindered by regulations to create ungodly fast machines or are the regulations that help keep the smaller teams in (but also keep the cars/bikes slower) are a fair trade off?

[unevolved]

I think the regulations are necessary. Cars could be much faster, I don't think anyone's arguing that. Current technology being what it is, costs would spiral out of control, effectively dooming the sport. No one would watch if it was just two teams going at it.

Not too long ago they let teams make whatever they want (Can-Am) and the cars rapidly outpaced the safety systems of the time, and we lost lots of great drivers. That could become a problem again. Like they talked about not too long ago with the whole closed-cockpit thing, but bigger.

[GillesBigCowboy]

Nice to see Nico get pole, but I am afraid his race pace will not be as competitive. I am enjoying the tight races and unpredictability this season.