Red Bull to make changes to KERS before next race

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In today’s round-up: Red Bull will make changes to their problematic KERS.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Red Bull plans KERS upgrade for Turkey (Autosport)

“We have got another upgrade of KERS coming for Turkey. It is getting better and better as we get more understanding of the system and more mileage on it. So I am confident that the niggly issues that we have with it, we have fixes in the pipeline.”

Chinese GP Review (Williams)

“We had a number of new parts in China. The most visible one was the new exhaust system on Rubens’ car during practice. We saw some quite positive signs during the traction phase, but unfortunately we had some reliability issues with parts of the floor burning and subsequently causing degradation of aero performance. We’re redesigning some parts and intend to reintroduce an upgraded version of this exhaust system at the Barcelona Grand Prix.”

McLaren to invest 100m in best of British (The Times, subscription required)

“Team executives are prepared to sign both drivers to long-term deals to make sure that they stay together until at least 2017.”

Returning home with plenty of desire for redemption (Ferrari)

“The mechanic who was struck down by an aneurism last Thursday, Paolo Santarsiero, has clearly remained in Shanghai to recover at the Rui Jin hospital. His state of health is progressing in a positive manner and he was joined by his wife yesterday. Today Santarsiero received visits from his colleagues and then from Amedeo Felisa, the Managing Director of Ferrari. He is in Shanghai visiting the Salone dell’Auto, which has a press day tomorrow that will also be attended by Felipe Massa.”

Lewis Hamilton’s Formula One win peaks at more than 5m (The Guardian)

“BBC1’s coverage of the race averaged 3.275 million viewers, a 43.7% share, between 7am and 10.15am, peaking with 5.14 million at the climax of the race.”

Vitaly reflects on China (Renault)

“I think that the team has hugely improved compared to last year and the car is much nicer to drive. The balance suits me very well. We must still work on how to maximise the new Pirelli tyres. The team is doing a fantastic job. We have done two podiums so far this season, so I hope that we can fight back in Turkey.”

Fernando Alonso: "It’s impossible to race??" (Adam Cooper)

See this comment from Ads21 on this article.

Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.

Comment of the day

Dan Thorn thinks Ferrari need to add some variety to their strategies:

I’m amazed that Ferrari didn’t take the opportunity to split strategy and cover off what Rosberg and the McLarens were doing. Massa was looking good on the two stopper but ultimately dropped back from Vettel having to battle with Rosberg and Jenson.

With Alonso stuck behind Schumacher it was the perfect opportunity to try and get him up the field with a more aggressive approach, but for whatever reason they chose not to. Lack of decent sets of tyres perhaps?
Dan Thorn

From the forum

Enigma wonders how well DRS will work in the tunnel at Monaco.

Happy birthday!

Four birthdays today – all the best to Jiten, Lenny, The Comedian 39 and The_Pope!

On this day in F1

Red Bull won their first F1 race two years ago today.

Sebastian Vettel dominated in the rain at Shanghai.

Image © Red Bull/Getty images

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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133 comments on “Red Bull to make changes to KERS before next race”

  1. I think Ferrari could not have done anything better strategy wise.

    The only reason Massa was up front was because he made a stop less. Otherwise he would just have been around P5/P6 the whole race.

    Alonso’s race was compromised because of his poor start and the poor first pitstop. That put him behind Schumacher who was driving horribly slowly at that time. That cost Alonso 10 seconds already and it ruined his tyres.

    A 3 stop was out of the question since that would simply have put him behind Schumacher again.

    So the only race he had after that was with Schumacher and he won that. Barely.

    1. Alonso is just a crybaby. For sure he won’t complain if he was winning! He should get a piece of cloth and wipe his eyes. :)

      1. Alonso reminds me of Prost really. If they are winning everythings great, but if they are losing…

        1. sounds a lot like Hamilton…

      2. Dude Alonso hasn’t complained about anything. He said exactly what we all already knew.

        When they are slow, he says they are slow. When they are fast, he says “This is the best car ive ever driven”. He says it how it is.

        “Alonso reminds me of Prost really. If they are winning everything great, but if they are losing…”

        They are loosing and he is cool about it. You seem to be sucking this out of your thumb. He hasn’t done anything this year to put his team or himself into disrepute.

        I would hate it if he were a PR super machine like the others out there who are forced to be fake to keep their jobs.

        Would you prefer it if he said “Our car is great, we had a great weekend and a great result. Thanks to our sponsors and this cool cellphone I keep having to flash all over the place”?

    2. The only reason Massa was up front was because he made a stop less.

      Massa was up there after only one stop, behind Button and in front of Hamilton; after the McLarens pitted again he was 2nd, but had he followed McLaren’s strategy he would have been together with them.

      1. Massa was on P4 after his first stop.

        The only time he was on P1 was when he was the only one who hadn’t made a second stop.

  2. I agree with Alonso. It’s entertaining to watch drivers flip back and forth in the race order, but it’s not really racing. I’m afraid this game of “F1 ping-pong” is going to get tiresome really quickly.

    1. i agree,
      racing is when a driver doesn’t need to manage his tires so that no one with better grip passes him.
      and “really racing” is when you have a faster car, but you are stuck behind a turbulent car.

      1. I think Webber agrees as well. He said overtaking is not nearly as gratifying. Actually I was surprised this link didn’t make the roundup!
        http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/mark-webber-i-cant-wait-to-put-lewis-hamilton-back-in-his-place/story-e6frf9if-1226041132263

        1. Interesting read, thank for posting that Peter.

          Honestly I was getting a dig at Alonso for being unhappy he got beaten by Massa and ended up down in 7th.
          But this interview with Webber saying about the same, shows how important the language still is. I guess Webber says about the same as Alonso and I get the point where overtakes are not that much of an acheivement and defending with shot tyres must feel pretty desperate.

          Good job by Rosberg and even more by Vettel then in the race.

          1. Yeah, I think both Rosber and Vettel’s defenses of Hamilton under the circumstances have gone largely unnoticed post race with all the excitement over Hamilton and Webber’s performances, particularly Vettel’s as his KERS was ailing and he was on much older tires. His pace was at least a second a lap slower at that point, yet he defended brilliantly for about two laps straight.

          2. I don’t believe in the worn tyre argument.
            Every driver has 6 sets of tyres for the race qualifying and the race.
            If a driver chooses to save his set of tyres for the museum, then that is his choice.
            A driver who makes more stops, doesn’t immediately join the race directly behind his competitors, he also has to make up lost ground and in the process, wears out his tyres.
            Rosberg chose to pit early and go for the glory. Vettel chose to brave a 2 stop and give the spare tyre to his grand dad.
            We all saw Hamilton having massive lock ups as he battled with Rosberg, that is also tyre degradation, and it is risky when your strategy involves having to over take cars that can run at your own pace.

        2. Yes, interesting read, but how about that headline? In the text, what Webber actually says is that they’ll be looking to put McLaren back in their place, which is standard fightin’ words and far less provocative than “I can’t wait to put Hamilton back in his place”. I don’t know if I notice it more, or if there’s more of it around, but it seems to me that lately a lot of F1 headlines really don’t let facts get in the way of a good story.

          1. Yeah, it does seem that lots of articles floating around the internet lately have wilfully misquoted drivers or twisted their words to sound more provocative than they really were.

        3. The only thing controversial about Webber’s comments is the headline for baiting the readers. The reason it didn’t make the roundup, I suppose, is because it was a very vanilla article.

        4. Great article :) Love Mark’s fighting words.

        5. Depends if you overtake at the DRS zone or if you overtake elsewhere.

      2. George Manont
        19th April 2011, 3:23

        .

        Silva,

        Very well said to both paragraphs.

        I looked at BBC’s clip sometimes back, Martin Brundle, Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard sat with an inrerviewer. Their statement got me, ” Pirelli were told to shorten-quicken usage mile of tires … in order to get F1 more competitive ”

        Point # 1 : If the above statement was their interpretion of FOTA – FIA intention, these 2 organizations are CRAZY!

        Point # 2 : If this was their own opinions, it shows they underestimate the viewers like you and me. And that made them stupidier than their looks.

        .

      3. Meh, it’s all racing. F1 is and has always been about outright speed, and strategy. To win you need to master both. Strategy just changes with the rule changes. Last year it was whether to start on hard or soft tyres, year before it was re-fueling, and fuel loads. Now it’s just there are more options to strategy, and for me that makes it more exciting.

      4. DRS would fix the overtaking problem. We don’t need the tyres for that. They are just there to “improve the show”

    2. I did think the same when Hamilton breezed past Vettel on Sunday.
      Yes it was exciting to see a pass for the lead but Vettel was defenseless. As was nearly every driver who was passed when their tyres inevitably went off.
      The most exciting overtakes are the ones where one driver passes another then is immediately put under pressure and re-passed. Lather, rinse, repeat.

      I’m not going to complain too loudly though because it is exciting to not know who’s going to be leading at the end of a race for once.

      1. I did think the same when Hamilton breezed past Vettel on Sunday.
        Yes it was exciting to see a pass for the lead but Vettel was defenseless.

        I was impressed with how well he did defend the two laps previous to the overtake. That was some fantastic driving, and really made the overtake so much more exciting.

        1. Yeah, it was not exactly breezing past there. Vettel did a great job of defending for 2 laps.
          If he had had KERS working better he might have even prolongued the battle another lap. That was a great fight.

          Rosberd did well to keep Webber behind for quite a few laps despite running in lean engine mode as well. Those were memorable passes.

        2. Yeah, he did really well to defend for that long, but it always seemed inevitable that he would get past.
          And of the overtakes we saw, that was one of the only ones where the leading driver was able to defend. Especially in the middle of the race. And we rarely saw a re-pass.

          Again though, I’m not really complaining too much. I wouldn’t change anything right now because China was an excellent race and even without the likelyhood of a re-pass or proper battle it’s better than nothing.

          1. *he did really well to defend for that long, but it always seemed inevitable that Hamilton would get past.

          2. Actually Hamilton was only 5 to 6 tenths or so quicker than Vettel. Not like Webber who was barreling down on Alonso at al at the rate of 3 seconds a lap.

            Hamilton only made it look easy when he tricked Vettel and caught him napping.

            If he had kept trying to pull the same trick in the DRS zone (as some others were doing) that battle could have lasted till the end of the race.

          3. And of the overtakes we saw, that was one of the only ones where the leading driver was able to defend. Especially in the middle of the race. And we rarely saw a re-pass.

            Which is evidence that the overtaking we saw was really all a result of speed differentials due to tire wear. For a second Vettel hung with Hamilton and it looked like he might have a shot at a repass in the DRS zone, but once Hamilton got away on that first lap after the overtake it was a done deal.

    3. That’s true, yeah.

      BUT, don’t get too excited about it. I’m sure after a couple of races, everything will settle and teams will start doing things quite similar from each other.

      IMO, it’s unpredictable because the teams still don’t have enough information about the tyres and the strategy, as Pirelli is changing the tyres consistently.

    4. So real racing was watching Alonso play safe last year by trailing in behind Vettel with no attempt to pass? Or radio for help when the ‘faster driver’ couldn’t get past his team mate?

      Alonso being stuck for so many laps behind Schumacher in China or Petrov in Abu Dhabi last year says it all. Perhaps he lacks the skills for this type of racing. Maybe complaining about the rules is also his way of deflecting the fact that Massa has finished in front of him this season, given he can’t plausibly claim bias against him in the Ferrari team.

      1. I’m surprised he made a statement like this. He just seems really frustrated with how the China GP went for him, a bad strategy, a bad start and a slow Ferrari car ruined his race. This year the races are unpredictable, and its hard to know a winning strategy until very later in the race. For a calculating driver who comes up with a pre-race plan, it can be very unsettling when so many unpredictable variables are thrown into a race scenario. Things didn’t work him in China, but there will be times that the race will pan out in his favour as well.

        1. I think Ferrari still is missing a trick in race strategy.
          They might have taken a gamble and changed Alonso on a 3 stopper as well. He is just the guy to make that work, isn’t he.

          1. They tried a 3-stopper in Australia and got yelled at by the fans for that too.

            They are simply not as fast as Red Bull and McLaren … and Mercedes … and possibly Renault.

    5. I think Alonso is right and he’s not the onl driver with this opinion. The new rules improved the show but they totally ruined racing. I’m afraid outcome of the races will not be determined by the fastest car and driver but by the amount of tires the driver has at his disposal. F1 looks more as a strategy game than a form of racing.
      Just look at MotoGP – they don’t have to refuel or change tires and the races are still nail-biting.
      I hope they get rid of this stupid idea with short-lasting tires soon.

    6. Agreed, I hate the tires of today. It’s just not real racing anymore.

      1. So were last years tyres real racing? Vettel cruising on softs until the last lap, when oh, he still needed a change to the hards, and other races where everybody does the mandatory stop after about 20 laps, and then they just cruise until the end, mostly just hoping someone ahead is having trouble so they can win some places because they surely aren’t going to risk an overtake?!

        Okay, that’s overstating it a bit, but that was the usual trend of races last year, and we had to hope something went wrong for someone to have on track action.

  3. Would he be saying that if he was winning?

    I don’t see what the problem is. Back when there was re-fuelling, if we saw someone on a 3 stop and someone else on a 2 stop we would sometimes see relatively easy overtaking. Obviously, variations in strategy were much less often back then but that will be the case again when teams get on top of things.

    Also, just a point I noticed about Lewis and Mark’s races. On the third stint when they were both on new option tyres, Lewis was actually faster over the stint, which for me solves the “whose drive was better?” question, and suggests Lewis could have even won the race if he was in Mark’s position!

    1. Would he be say that if he was winning?

      Spot on jake. He’s just a crybaby as always, typical Alonso and Ferrari comment, when things aren’t going their way blame something or someone else. They are a match made in heaven.

      1. Typical oligophrenic answer on a typical fake made-up comment

    2. Agreed, it’s Alonso throwing his toys out of the pram. I’m still waiting on The Horse Whisperer putting out a disparaging post about the new rules.

      1. You cant answer any questions these days without idiots like the above tearing you a new one.

        1. People should get points on their “forum license” for that.

  4. Eh? “It’s impossible to race”?! Speak for yourself mate – Webber got up from 18th to 3rd and Hamilton did a fair few overtakes, they both seemed to be “racing” to me.

    On another point, good to see F1 is pulling in many viewers. I had heard some rumours that the BBC were thinking of dropping F1, hopefully this will consider them to change their mind had they ever considered it. F1 leaving the BBC is just too terrible for me to comprehend.

    1. Just Alonso hating anything that means he isn’t winning.

      1. Yeah it didn’t seem to stop the others. I don’t reckon this’ll get boring either, variable strategy and good racing is a big part of why were all here.

        By all means leave if F1 bores you an stuff, oh and shhhhh Fernando, no one like a sore looser.

        1. Webber said the same things as alonso.

    2. Maybe you should actually try reading the article instead of a knee jerk reaction to the title.

      1. Maybe you could look more carefully at the time I published the comment? For your information, I published my comment before Adam Cooper had realised that he had misquoted Alonso and changed the article.

        Of course, now I know he didn’t say it, I take back my original comment, and everything Alonso says I have no issue with, and actually agree with.

  5. I’m off to bed soon, but I bet when I check this page again in the morning there will be about 100 comments slagging Alonso off!

    I can make one such somment myself: he’s picked a very odd time to come out with such an opinion. It seems more like he’s bemoaning his own bad start to the season, but pinning the blame on the tyres instead

    1. I agree that the timing is odd, but look at Webber’s comments in the link I posted above. He agrees that the overtaking doesn’t feel as gratifying as in the past, because the tires make the speed differentials such that there’s no contest. I’m not defending Alonso, but I can see valid points in both sides of the argument. All in all I think it’s been a good thing so far. I don’t think Webber could’ve made it to the podium from 18th if everyone had been running last year’s Bridgestones.

    2. Don’t be so short-sighted, this isn’t (only) about his bad start to the season, it’s a real problem for all drivers. Remember Malaysia when Lewis dropped down the field from 3rd to 7th only because his tires died? So what should one think – he’s a slow driver with no skills? In China he was luckier but who guarantees that it won’t happen the same in Turkey? If it was Lewis criticizing the tires you would all agree that the new rules are a joke but if it’s Alonso – he’s a crybaby. I think we’ll hear the same complaints from more drivers pretty soon.

      1. We should think that he chose the wrong strategy on tyres. The same thing used to happen a lot when there were multiple tyre suppliers.

        1. The point is that tires shouldn’t play such an important role in the outcome of the race. Maybe it creates more events on the track but I don’t think anyone would like to see a good driver getting passed by midfield cars only because there are no sets of the right tires available.

          1. My point is that the only time tyres haven’t played such an important part in the race is when we only had one supplier.

            Everybody has the same number of tyre sets at the start of the weekend. If the “midfield runners” have built a car that utilises those tyres better, then they have built a better car.

    3. LOL, so far its not a 100 comments, but its close!

      I also think Alonso losing out a bit is part of the reason for him to say so. But he has a point about not liking to feel like a sitting duck when you are on shot tyres, must bring back Valencia 2010 memories for him!
      Webber also commented on how it takes a bit out of the skill in overtaking if you can just coast past on newer tyres.

      But apart from getting the car wrong for the tyres with higher temperatures, a large part of Ferrari not delivering is to do with what Dan writes in the COTD. They just seem far to inflexible with strategy.

      1. What possibly makes this even harder on Alonso, and maybe part of the reason for Ferrari not being flexible, is that they seem to be to much in the dark about what to expect.

        That must be very daunting to Alonso, the guy who is asking for information on the others all race to think ahead and guide team desicions on tactics (Schu might also suffer a bit here).
        Not knowing where he is at, and then getten taken by severel cars with new tyres must feel enormously depressive for Alonso.

    4. Pretty much my opinion too. The day tyre strategy bags him a win, whether it’s a Ferrari decision or a result of a competitors poor choice Alonso will of course change his mind.

      I understand his point but it’s just a bit of a weak argument.

  6. I’ll post this comment I just posted on Adam Cooper, I’m fairly sure Alonso’s been misquoted.

    His quote is word for word the same as this interview Alonso had after the race so I’m guessing that’s where he got it. But one line is different.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/13108565.stm

    Listening to that interview it sounds distinctly like “With this year’s tyres, some parts of the race you feel competitive, you feel you are doing a good race, and some parts of the race you feel very slow,”

    He may have got the quote from a different source, but I think it was a case of somebody mishearing what Alonso said. Having “some parts of the race” also fits more with what Alonso says in that sentence.

    1. I think you are right. I just saw a clip from a post race interview, which I’m guessing formed the article on Adam Cooper’s F1. The title that Adam Cooper put – “It’s impossible to race…” is put in quotes, to make it seem like Alonso said these words himself. The only thing is Alonso never did say it. Take a look at the clip below –

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4A_1ufIszQ

      Adam Cooper clearly formed his own personal bias in the title. Obviously a title like that will attract Alonso bashers to the article like moths to a flame.

      1. I sure he didn’t he make up the quote, I don’t think he’d do that. I’m just pretty sure Alonso was misheard somewhere along the way and Chinese whispers have lead to Cooper. then Keith mistakenly basing articles around a quote that seems to have never been uttered.

        1. Apologies for the appalling grammar in that comment, I’m only just up.

        2. Actually he did make it up.

          “With this year’s tyres, it’s impossible to race. You feel competitive, you feel you are doing a good race, and some parts of the race you feel very slow, because there are people who catch you and overtake you without any problems.

          If you look at the clip, Alonso says – “Yeah it was again a tactical race. With this year’s tyres some part you feel competitive, you feel you are doing a good race, and some parts of the race you feel very slow, because there are people who catch you and overtake you without any problems.”

          Every word in the article is a direct quote from the interview. But Adam Cooper just decided to add in Alonso’s quotes “it’s impossible to race.” Something which he never said. This was blatantly misguided journalism, in an attempt to drive hits to his site/blog.

          1. This is not the only case journalists put words into Alonso’s mouth. And by “pure coincidence” they are all British.

          2. And by “pure coincidence” they are all British.

            Utter rubbish. I didn’t read any of those nonsense stories about Alonso eating rice cooked in mineral water to avoid failing drugs tests in the British media.

          3. About the being british. Even without agruing about the worht of the argument, it is factually wront.

            The article that got us into this discussion was written by Adam Cooper for SPEED TV orignially. Both are American, and would probalby object to beeing called British!

            By the way, that Alonso prank about eating only mineral boiled rice was a nice one by him. Apparently there were some worries about food quality in China.

      2. Todfod, thanks for the link! It is actually possible to ‘hear’ Alonso say ‘it’s impossible to’ instead of ‘in some parts of’ because of his accent and the general noise around the interview. It’s what I heard first time. But playing it again (and re-confirming) he definitely says ‘some parts.’ I think the person who transcribed the interview probably misheard, though sometimes we hear what we want to in these situations! Makes a difference to the whole story though.

    2. Well spotted. That does change his meaning a bit.

      I’ve revised the round-up and put a different story as the lead. Thanks Ads21!

      1. Thanks for changing it Keith, I can’t imagine there’s many other sites that would be so responsive in spotting an error.

      2. Don’t take it personal Keith, I realize you’re only citing a source. The rice nonsense at least is a true nonsense. One has to admit that the British media has been pretty “agressive” towards Alonso since his troubled days at McLaren and they seemed to develop some sort of standard to put him in a bad light every time he opens his mouth. So anything written in the British media about Alonso should better be verified.
        BasCB – Adam Cooper is actually British, it’s clearly stated on his blog.

        1. As a British person who runs an F1 website I encourage you to think twice before you tar everyone with the same brush.

        2. And so they should! The guy is the biggest man-sausage in formula 1! (Well now Flav has gone anyway!)

    3. I’m sorry to tell you he hasn’t been misquoted, Ads. Although he doesn’t state it in his blog, I did a bit of digging and found out the quote comes from an interview he gave to Speed, not the BBC.

      You can find it here: http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-fernando-alonso-frustrated-by-lack-of-speed

      You’ll probably take issue with the fact that it’s Adam Cooper’s article for Speed TV, which would seem to take us back to Square One. But Alonso’s doesn’t speak exclusively to the BBC and doesn’t have one set of interview answers. If genuine, it is highly likely it’s from a different interview altogether.

      I have yet to find any video interview, if it exists. I can’t watch Speed TV’s post-race analysis because it’s region-locked, so it might be in there. I have posted a question on Adam Cooper’s blog asking him to clarify whether it’s a different interview or not. Hopefully we should find out the truth soon.

      1. Well here’s what Adam Cooper’s said in his reply to my comment on his article:

        You’re absolutely right. I was standing behind Lee McKenzie in a scrum of TV camera crews, and listening back to my recording – with a lot of background noise and without the benefit of seeing his lips move – that’s what I thought he said. I record and transcribe many hours of soundbites and interviews every weekend, and sometimes you hear a couple of words wrong – I can assure I am more accurate than most of the people who write team press releases! I’ve now changed that in the story. Apologies to Fernando and those who’ve criticised him for the ‘impossible’ phrase, but the fact is in the rest of what he says he’s still pretty negative and downbeat about how racing is these days…

        Very good of him to include an apology to Fernando. I think a there were far too many people who were far too quick to judge him in the comments here.

        But as I said in on his blog, I still think he’s an excellent F1 reporter and it seems a very easy error to make. He was just unlucky his mishearing completely changed the meaning of Alonso’s comments.

        1. Well that’s probably the best possible outcome of this.

        2. Great sleuthing Ads! You’ll be an F1 reporter yourself in no time at all!

        3. It’s always the same driver who is “misheard”, who is quoted saying outrageous comments he never said, and that are always uncritically quotepasted here in big titulars.

          The blog title should be changed to

          F1FerrariFanaticHaters, or better yet
          F1AlonsoFanaticHaters

  7. In today’s round-up: Alonso says “with this year’s tyres, it’s impossible to race.”
    Everybody else seems to be doing just fine, Fred.

  8. Of course Alonso has turned out to be wrong this winter when he said new rules wouldn’t help spectacle. I don’t think he said like that, and even if he did, he could be wrong again. I don’t think it would be his fault, maybe it’s hard to distinguish if you feel like “not racing” because of the new style of it or because the non-existent pace of your car.

    This has just happened to Hamilton: this winter he was all unhappy and feeling he was just looking after the tyres and not pushing at all but i dare him to say it again today.

    1. Hamilton moans, like most drivers some of the time, but then he just gets on with what he’s given and learns to adapt. That goes for the car, the tyres, the rule changes, the team mates, or the endless stewarding decisions curbing his racing style. Alonso on the other hand would complain the sun wasn’t shining properly if he thought he could get it changed.

      1. Why not they all have a point. It makes the less skillful drivers luck into more points

  9. At first I thought the ‘dodgy-tyre’ formula was too artificial. But by China the front-running teams seem to have fund the zones in which they work best. Maybe other things have hampered Fernando finding this zone, but he will, he always does (and better than most). I like the tyre-mix now, it is giving great races that we have not had in a long long time. In any event working with the tyres has been an essential part of Grand Prix Racing from the very beginning.

  10. Impossible to race?? Pfffttt hahaha!!! Someone should let Fernando watch a DVD of the previous race.

    Of course he’s having a moan though. The only other time I can remember his team mate out performing him was when he drove for McLaren and he wasn’t happy then either.

  11. Didn’t Webber also complain about the tyres? He had that stonking drive yesterday but I think I read him saying somewhere that its too easy to overtake on fresh rubber.

    1. He did, US_Peter posted a link to an interview with Webber about that above.

      I guess they do have a point there.

      1. But on the other hand, it is just a matter of knowing that, and using the right strategy and keep the tyres well to not get into that position – easier said than done, clearly, but still a matter of skill, not just luck.

        It does mean a team and driver need to be aware of more things going on than last year where after the single pitstop (most of the time) if you were ahead and faster than someone, you’d stay there barring mistakes.

        But it is strange to not see Alonso ahead of that game, he seemed to be at his best in that sort of situation, but now the car just doesn’t seem to give him confidence to do it.

        Hamilton even made a point to congratulate Vettel and Rosberg on their good defending even though they clearly had trouble with his pace, so it’s not as if you can’t put up somewhat of a fight regardless of the much faster driver coming up behind.

    2. Wrong blog, this is not F1WebberFanaticHaters so anything MW has to say about tyres is of no consequence here

      1. Maybe you should just take a brief breath of fresh air, and then realize that people can make mistakes, and be happy they correct them.

        Yes, Alonso is often slagged when he says something, as is Hamilton, and Vettel nowadays too. Seems to just come with being successful or something, and major news outlets do it to get sensational headings. The best thing to do is do like Ads21 and check for yourself, or just shrug off those who are too quick to judge, to avoid becoming one yourself, as you just did.

  12. I’ve reserved my opinion on DRS until I saw saw it used in anger and I must say that after 3 grands prix I am still not convincedwe need it in F1..

    My biggest problem with it is it caters more to the casual observer with a short attention span who just wants to see cars overtaking each other or crashing.. As an F1 fan of 10 years without missing a grand prix I can appreciate the finer points of our fantastic sport and DRS just simply isn’t needed to enhance my enjoyment, I would much rather see a pass that is based on pure racecraft..

    Why stop with F1, perhaps we can use this approach on football also and remove the goalkeepers so all the causal observers with short attention spans there can see more goals.. If we really think about it, over time we can take all the skill out of sports completely..

  13. I’ve been at the Lake District all weekend and just caught up on the weekend’s action – what a race! I got a bit too excited when Rosberg was in the lead and Button’s mistake was a shame, but amazing really, from every driver.

    DRS showed us once again it doesn’t guarantee an overtake, but sure gives the driver the confidence to have a go at it.

  14. This is the usual isnt it?..Alonso’s words are always misquoted. The guy isnt a native English speaker for god’s sake, people always misconstrue what he says..and of course, most people love to do that since it makes him an easy target

    To be fair, Alonso really needs to pick up his game when it comes to starts, he has been absolute rubbish at it. His performance over the last two races have been unfortunate. He was going great guns in Sepang until he plowed into the back of Lewis, which is why Massa ended in front of him, but he absolutely drove flat out towards the end.

    The team should have brought him after he used up his tires fighting Schumi, but Ferrari have been slow to react to changing conditions during the race.

    I dont why Massa is so chuffed, its not as if he finished on the podium! Yeah so he beat Fernando for the past two races, but so what? The season is still young..everybody knows that Alonso is the better driver, but since people love to hate him, he’s slagged off at every opportunity!

    1. To be fair though, he is a multi-millionaire and has been at the top level of the sport for nearly a decade. You’d think he’d have taken some English lessons by now.

      1. How is that fair?

  15. classic alonso, when hes not winning hes pointing the finger at everything and everyone but him. it seems that when hes not in a race winning car he just doesnt try and blames everyone else. Like blaming petrov for not winning the WC last year?

    1. By the way Petrov. He looks like he is really growing into the job this year.

      He is apparently looking forward to the race in Turkey, lets just hope for Alonso, they do not meet on track again and he keeps Alonso behind for most of the race.

      Altought that might mean an improvement for Ferrari, to actually be able to chase the Renault on pace ;-)

      1. I’m hoping for another great performance from Petrov in Turkey!

        1. Me too! I really like him. More of Melbourne please, his start was fantastic.

  16. I wonder if Ferrari will ask Pirelli to come out with the alonso special, a tire thats gone in one lap so he can actually blame the tires instead of his driving. It seems to me its just him look at felipe he had a pretty good day.

  17. Michael Griffin
    19th April 2011, 3:49

    So, Alonso disapproves of F1 finally getting incredible racing because it doesn’t suit him?

    Well, if it makes him unhappy, that’s an early christmas for me.

    1. To be fair the top 10 (if not more) drives have all complained about the tyres over the last two months.

  18. I’m not sure if this has been mentioned anywhere yet but whiile watching Speed Channels coverage of the race here in the USA they showed Alonso using his DRS in an area where it wasnt supposed to be used. My understanding is that it could only be used down the long back straight but Alonso clearly activated it on that straight just before pit entrance while he was behind Schumi

    Why no penalty ?? Did the stewards miss it ?? What are the penalties for using DRS when you’re not supposed to ?

    1. He didn’t intentionally use it, it’s been posted before, it was a delayed reaction from the system, so it didn’t open that lap on the back straight, but then opened in the corner after. The system then realised this was wrong and shut it down, which is why it was only open for half a second, tops

  19. So you can’ think well & can’t build a car good enough for victory, the spectator are enjoying & that makes you (Alonso) bored of this year’s racing. GOOD

  20. Alonso should just man up and go racing. This so so tyical of him, I am not surpriced at all. Its only “impossible to race” until he starts winning. F1 and its rules are dynanic and I expected him to adapt rather than complaning all the time.

    If anything the race showed us the race on Sunday showed us that you don’t necessarily need a very fasy car to do well. RBR is the faster car but Lewis won because of the strategy. Masssa was looking good for a podium until Ferrari put him on a two stopper.

    Alonso will do well to stop crying and taking the fight to the bulls. But then again this is the same guy who complained because he couldn’t overtake Petrov. The same guy who demanded #1 status as LH was getting the better of him. The same guy who demanded that Massa let’s him thru and I can go on and on…

  21. It is funny to see how things reversed in Ferrari from one year to the next. In 2010, Massa spent the season fighting to adapt his driving style to the tires, without complaining and being humiliated by the press, while Alonso went to fight for the title. In 2011, even with a piggy car, Massa seems much better adapted to the tires than Alonso, who after three races is already crying and putting even more pressure on his team.
    So, we know how Massa reacts to team pressure (and he had very strong teammates), and also know already how Alonso reacts to team pressure. My bet is that if Alonso continues crossing the finish line behind Massa, he will start poisoning the air at Ferrari. It is a pity that such a good driver needs to show such immaturity to always blame others for his own faults.

  22. Fernando, just get on with it. You and your team haven’t got the car to win (yet), so keep your whining mouth shut for now.

  23. McLaren is willing to spend 100 million GBP on both drivers for the next 6 seasons? That’s about 8 mil per season per driver on average. Not a lot, especially since I expect both Lewis and Jenson to be title contenders in most of the next 6 seasons.

    If Red Bull manage to get their KERS working the way it should, that can’t be good news for the rest of the field!

  24. It seems that the huge advantage of new tyres is great for the show, but it kills the driver’s satisfaction of overtaking. As there is no refuelling, there is no difference in fuel-load between the cars at any stage in the race, so only the condition of the tyres determines the pace. If refuelling is allowed again, then the advantage of fresher tyres is compensated by a heavier fuel-load, which makes overtaking more challenging. I think refuelling in combination with slightly more durable tyres is the way to go for F1.

    1. No, they will just wait until the driver ahead stops for fuel, we had that before!

  25. If Alonso would have won the new rules would be just great.

    1. *according to Alonso I would think.

  26. Happy birthday to all of the F1Fanatics celebrating today!

    Jiten, Lenny, The Comedian 39 and most certainly The_Pope as well, make it a memorable one!

    1. Yes, I don’t recognise the names but if you are here, have a good one!

    2. Thanks, I’m The Comedian 39 by the way, but now post under this name instead, not that I do often though :)

      18 at long last, down to the pub!

      1. Let’s hope you get a great birthday present tomorrow evening!

      2. Have fun Mr 39!

        1. Haha, cheers guys :)

  27. Lets be honest here people, this isn’t a real thorwing toys out of pram moment from Alonso, ask any driver about the race, (and get them to cut through the PR Rubbish they spout) and unless they won the race by 3 or 4 laps they will be unhappy about something. Just because this is the only interview on the round up, doesn’t mean Alonso is the only one complaining

    1. True, look how unhappy Rosberg was with his race – of course, he had some reason to think he could have been right there at the front until the end if he had had a bit more fuel, but still.

  28. I imagine that as usual with pretty much everything in life, Alonso’s statement is not all black or all white, though he and Ferrari really do have a knack for making themselves F1’s bad guys. I imagine that if I was driving for a reputed team who showed strong form in testing only to be finishing well outside the podium I’d get a bit testy myself.

    As for Webber saying that passing isn’t as gratifying – I guess he can afford to say that since he has the fastest car on the grid. Maybe he thinks that 18th to 3rd is now a given?

    Anyhoo, I think that within the next couple of races we’ll see far fewer different strategies. Actually I would expect that we’ll three-stoppers become the norm, with two and four-stoppers becoming the more adventerous options that may pay off once in a while (depending ion the circuit of course, but that’s the general direction things will go I think.)

    1. I agree that the strategy will get more stable as the teams learn what the tyres do. Part of Alonso feeling at sea with the tyres will be, that Ferrari especially seem very uncertain about what to expect from them.

  29. Regarding the Webber interview: it’s never going to be perfect. It’s incredibly difficult for the cars to pass when the performance difference between the pair is only slight. You have to be a considerable margin ahead of someone because 0.2s around a single lap turns into almost zero advantage when you’re going towards one specific corner to overtake. On exactly the same tyres, the aero wake would make it impossible to close in more than 0.5s behind unless your card had that much of an advantage in pace.

    If everyone had been on exactly the same strategy, with no DRS, we would have had far less passing. It’s not the tyres but the fact that the tyres allow for contrary strategies that create the differences in speed required to overtake.

  30. I guess the RB7 is such a fantastic car that the only thing left to improve there is KERS.

    1. Plus a little more straight line speed ;) But you can’t have everything!

      1. One could help provide the other perhaps.

    1. He’s being a good sport isn’t he?

      Hope he’s not taken the same bet this year.
      He’s screwed if he has! :)

  31. I think the problem for Alonso (and I would have to say Hamilton also) is not the tyres or rule changes but the fact that Vettel could be close to matching or beating their pole/win stats, could be youngest double champion etc. To a driver like Button things like this don’t seem to bother him but to Alonso and Hamilton that’s a big big dent in their pride.

    1. Hamilton didn’t look all that unhappy on the podium when Vettel took his Youngest Ever WDC Title.

  32. Can it be fixed? It seems like they have fundamental cooling issues and if it was designed not to interfere with aero performance, ergo fixing it will compromise the aero. Seems a no-brainer though, sacrifice a tenth or two instead of losing three halfway through the race,

  33. Not sure if anyone has posted this but apparently News Corp Mulls F1 Bid

    It’s not just TV rights – they want to buy F1 from CVC.

  34. Kind of off topic but the site seams to be loading better with chrome today from the US, dont know if you changed anything but it seams better although it seams to still sending requests for ads but the page is loading first.

  35. They would be slow with or without KERS in a straight line relative to the other top teams. Doesn’t phase them though…heaps of downforce!

  36. Sure, some passes where one is at the end of his stint and another has fresh tires on will be walks in the park, but the top runners won’t always be on different tire strategies, eg.: Hamilton passed Button in a non-DRS zone, with tires just 1 lap younger than his teammate so that one was down to pure racing, as were many other passes in China.
    Another note about Massa: he drove a good race ofc and kept pace with the leaders on the softs but his primes were two laps younger than Vettels’ in the final stint yet he still dropped back way more than Vettel did on the same strategy – perhaps ferrari is not so kind to its tires after all?

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