Official F1/Motorsport thread

[Richard.John]

What was that about by the way? Rubens was in danger of overtaking the SC or burning up his tyres and fuel? I don't have English commentary you see.

Anyway congrats to Jenson and Rubens. They deserve it.

[PeteJ]

I think he was still going at race pace to try and catch the safety car.

[Richard.John]

I see, so would have been penalised for unsafe driving under SC conditions. 　

[toythatkills]

Nah, I think it was the tyre thing. The softs were performing really poorly (look at Vettel) and they were worried he'd mess up

[TheForce]

great race start of the season, Qualy was excellent to watch and the race was interesting as well , especially to the end of the race. Great to see both Brawn drivers on the podium, Jensen drove a perfect race as well did Hamilton !
It's a shame for Rosberg though, he would have really deserved to be on the podium if he would have lost so much time in the pit...

But it's what happend after the race what really got my blood boiling, why the hell does Vettel get punished for what happend with kubica ??!!! all this talk all winter about better races and more overtakings and making it better to watch for the fans. And as soon as 2 racers are actually racing for an important position and there is the FIA again to punish one of them for it !!! in my opinion it was nobodies fault, it was just an race accident ! **** THE FIA with their stupid decisions. If they want to bring back racing they should stop giving those penalties to drivers that actually race!!
If it would be clear that one driver eliminates the other one it's ok to punish him, but this was clearly a racing incident !!
so that had to be said...

I'm looking forward to next week race already, let's see if Brawn and Williams can get up to speed again.

[sharky_ob]

But it's what happend after the race what really got my blood boiling, why the hell does Vettel get punished for what happend with kubica ??!!! all this talk all winter about better races and more overtakings and making it better to watch for the fans. And as soon as 2 racers are actually racing for an important position and there is the FIA again to punish one of them for it !!! in my opinion it was nobodies fault, it was just an race accident ! **** THE FIA with their stupid decisions. If they want to bring back racing they should stop giving those penalties to drivers that actually race!!
If it would be clear that one driver eliminates the other one it's ok to punish him, but this was clearly a racing incident !!
so that had to be said...

Couldn't agree more mate, it's back to the stupid stewards decisions from last season. It's almost as if they want a bit of the limelight.

Lets hope someone takes a sensible pill before this weekend, or at least gives the stewards a good slap.

[Shez]

It was Vettel that braked early, but yeah it was a bit daft to hit him so hard with that kind of penalty - Kubica wasn't totally past and therefore didnt have piority to the apex anyway, so it all seems a bit odd.

It shows how quick the red bull and BMW are though, because my feeling is Kubica would have had a dive at Button if he had cleared Vettel in a tidy manor - Remember both these cars are not using the super diffuser.

Vettel is such an honourable guy though, something certain other drivers could take a lead from.

[sharky_ob]

It was Vettel that braked early, but yeah it was a bit daft to hit him so hard with that kind of penalty - Kubica wasn't totally past and therefore didnt have piority to the apex anyway, so it all seems a bit odd.

It shows how quick the red bull and BMW are though, because my feeling is Kubica would have had a dive at Button if he had cleared Vettel in a tidy manor - Remember both these cars are not using the super diffuser.

Vettel is such an honourable guy though, something certain other drivers could take a lead from.

Oh, was Kubica passing Vettel? My brain must've totally scrambled that, I thought it was the other way round??

Can you still watch the highlights on iPlayer?

- Just watched the highlights - paragraph deleted from earlier post as I was talking bollocks. Still think it was 50/50 though.

[abigsmurf]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7978186.stm

You couldn't make this up XD

I'll reserve judgement on it though. It sounds like McClaren and Hamilton actively cheated, Forcing Trulli to pass then trying to get them penalised for it but the description isn't clear.

If he did, he deserves to lose his points. No doubt there will be clarification later but if true this'll damage Hamilton's reputation. No matter what though, it won't have helped the sport.

[ChrisF]

It's getting to the point where you may as well not watch the end of the race. You have to wait a week to find who's won after all the politics are done with.

[Richard.John]

The more serious point is that they gave false testimony to the FIA. Silly boy and his team for doing so.

[toythatkills]

It's getting to the point where you may as well not watch the end of the race. You have to wait a week to find who's won after all the politics are done with.

Yeah, they should stop having live coverage of the race since it's become utterly pointless, and have live coverage of the FIA hearings instead.

EDIT: With the diffuser row, there's a very real chance that the winner of the Australian Grand Prix actually crossed the line in seventh place. What a pathetic state of affairs.

[Senna]

F1 has always involved varying degrees of appeals and hearings, but I do agree that at the moment it seems rather a lot of things are being decided off-track.

Still, if they deliberately witheld evidence, they should be punished.

Regards the rear diffuser, I am almost 100% certain that any appeals will fail, based on what I have read from different sources. The rest will just have to catch up.

It does show though that the BMW Sauber and Red Bull cars are amazingly quick, considering they were on the pace but don't have the diffuser.

[abigsmurf]

The diffuser thing has pretty much wrecked the season for me.

When you've a set of cars getting a huge, unfair advantage like that, going against the spirit of the rules it just makes it farcical and cements my feeling that the difference in driving skill between drivers is of little importance compared to the cars.

[Flabio]

F1 has always been like that though. Every team will make changes that fit the letter of the law but not the spirit. Sometimes the rules change as a direct result (the 6 wheeled Tyrell, and the Williams ground effect, for example). Sometimes it's deemed legal and everyone else has to play catchup (the teatray wing on the engine cover).