The OFFICIAL 2013 Formula 1 thread!

[PReta]

Yes! Amen to that. I love not knowing whose gonna win. I'm tired of seeing vettle dominate every race. I think kimi and the lotus boys have the best consistency so far.

[Jand3rson]

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.

I was saying this earlier on FB, Rosberg does't have the pace to hold a pole and take it to the end. Vettel will be RIGHT UP his ass as soon as the lights drop, he KNOWS it and he won't hold onto it for even the first half of the lap.

As much as I love my IRBR boys, I'm secretly hoping for another Raikkonen win. I'm just really enjoying watching the whole field, this year. I'm kind of rooting for everyone. I find myself pulling for Button and McLaren a little more now that Hamilton is gone. I'm okay watching McLaren do well now.

[hfabricius]

I've gotta say this has been the best race so far this year, or at least the most entertaining. So much one on one battles and some incredible blocking.

[GAbOS]

Wow.. Great race.

And Lotus is sitting pretty well now in constructors. ;>

[Hick]

Alonso = the man. One extra pit stop, non-working DRS and finished 3 seconds out of 5th place.

Great race at tr beginning, I am surpised some of these guys were not knocking front wings off. Later on, Perez took it to Button. Team won't like the foreign rookie pushing around their golden child.

[TDE30]

Echoing earlier posts, that was a pretty stellar race. How about Checo?! Good that someone is checking to see if Button still has a pulse. I was a little surprised to see Mercedes not perform well, especially Hamilton. Rosberg was driving like a dodgy bastard for most of the race, but I figure that was mostly out of desparation for constructors' points. Glad to see my favorite finger-waving driver put the conspiracy bullshit in the rearview.

[z31maniac]

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.

As I've said before, open the regs, institute a spending limit.

That would be far more interesting. To me at least.

[Cephas]

Good FIGHT: one driver with a detuned car running 16k rpm holding station vs a driver with 18k rpm and charging against a driver who thinks the race has ended, isnt that exciting.

A norrow minded viewpoint if I do say so...

This x eleventy billion. This isn't racing. It's a whiny bitch not getting his way and forcing a potentially dangerous situation to get it.

I just started watching F1 last season after seeing "Senna" on Netflix. I wasn't decided on a favorite driver yet, but now there's no way I could root for Vettel.

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but I think calling what Vettel did "racing" is pure unadulterated bullshit.

Can't wait for the next race!

[TDE30]

This x eleventy billion. This isn't racing. It's a whiny bitch not getting his way and forcing a potentially dangerous situation to get it.

I just started watching F1 last season after seeing "Senna" on Netflix. I wasn't decided on a favorite driver yet, but now there's no way I could root for Vettel.

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but I think calling what Vettel did "racing" is pure unadulterated bullshit.

Can't wait for the next race!

Well since you're a bit new to Formula One, don't bother watching races from the Schumacher era because Vettel's "pure unadulterated bullshit" is remarkably similar to the bullshit displayed by a seven-time WDC.

And hell, if you're a fan of Ayrton (enough of a fan to start following F1,) then even Vettel's most controversial moves shouldn't be as offensive as you make them out to be.

[Jand3rson]

Well since you're a bit new to Formula One, don't bother watching races from the Schumacher era because Vettel's "pure unadulterated bullshit" is remarkably similar to the bullshit displayed by a seven-time WDC.

And hell, if you're a fan of Ayrton (enough of a fan to start following F1,) then even Vettel's most controversial moves shouldn't be as offensive as you make them out to be.

This x INFINITY. There are SO many people here demonizing Vettel, who must never have seen some of the shit that Schumi and Senna pulled back in the day.

This in no way disparages my rabid love of the sport, but F1 now is TOUCH FOOTBALL compared to what it was 10-20 years ago.

[unevolved]

Yeah, but people hated on Senna and Schumi back in their day too. It's definitely a "love to hate" relationship.

[z31maniac]

Well since you're a bit new to Formula One, don't bother watching races from the Schumacher era because Vettel's "pure unadulterated bullshit" is remarkably similar to the bullshit displayed by a seven-time WDC.

And hell, if you're a fan of Ayrton (enough of a fan to start following F1,) then even Vettel's most controversial moves shouldn't be as offensive as you make them out to be.

This x INFINITY. There are SO many people here demonizing Vettel, who must never have seen some of the shit that Schumi and Senna pulled back in the day.

This in no way disparages my rabid love of the sport, but F1 now is TOUCH FOOTBALL compared to what it was 10-20 years ago.

You guys are comparing aggressive driving to disobeying team orders.

Two different things.

[TDE30]

^ No, I'm not actually. I'm making a comparison between people's reactions when Vettel made his move in Malaysia and people's general admiration of the ruthless driving of Senna/Schumacher. Funny how the bandwagon of hate overlooked those types of driving and chose to focus on Vettel, where were you guys when Webber ignored team orders previously?

[naplesE30]

z31 hit it on the head. Two totaly different things.

Hugo is also right when he says F1 has become touchfootball, with the whole one blocking move, drs, and all the other gimicks to create artificially close racing. Its closer to nascrap than the roots of f1 now. Dont kid yourself about pirelli changing compounds in season due to routine analysis, the good teams have already figured out the new tires so they are switching them to level the field again......Soon they will abanden local yellows altogther(sarcasim with a touch of truth prob).

[Cephas]

Well since you're a bit new to Formula One, don't bother watching races from the Schumacher era because Vettel's "pure unadulterated bullshit" is remarkably similar to the bullshit displayed by a seven-time WDC.

And hell, if you're a fan of Ayrton (enough of a fan to start following F1,) then even Vettel's most controversial moves shouldn't be as offensive as you make them out to be.

From what I've read, Schumacher never disobeyed orders and passed a teammate - maybe I'm wrong and maybe google is hiding it from me. It looks to me like his team was told to let him win. ENTIRELY different, even if it still is BS.