Official F1/Motorsport thread

[Roddie]

Brundle couldn't hide his excitement about having Legard replaced when he started the commentary this morning!

[Flabio]

Good session in the end. I'll spoiler this so people waiting for the lunchtime repeat don't moan...

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While it's never been Webber's best track, to be battered by Vettel by such a margin is going to be hard for him to take. And if it's true that Seb didn't even use Kers on his flyer (the bar certainly wasn't going down) then there's even more to come.

Hispania were dreadful, and while the other teams can allow them to race despite being outside the 107&#37;, I'd be really surprised if they let them. If they were just outside it, then maybe. But they were looking like F2 cars accidentally in the wrong session.

Sutil showed good skills keeping his spin out of the wall, and it shows that these rear wing flaps are not just a 'free speed boost' if you don't use them properly.

Not sure Massa's heart is really in it anymore, although at least that spin shows that Chadhok's mistake in the Lotus yesterday wasn't quite as spannerish as it seemed.

Really looking forward to the race now...

[Bort]

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HRT should be given a 2-4 race buffer before they get sent to bed without supper. If they get kickbanned every race they will never learn enough from simulators to advance enough. Liuzzi did a decent job considering his lack of track time.

Vettel was stunning.

edit,

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HRT requested an exemption but the stewards turned them down.

[Roddie]

Great to see the Red Bulls, being split; was worried about another RBR qualifying domination.

Anyone else read about this Red Bull KERS rumour? Word is that they've got a mini system that they only use for an advantage at the start of a race so that the cars don't have to carry around so much kit for rapid recharging, but will prevent them getting mugged off the start line (remember the Ferraris and McLarens in 2009?).

Articles by Ted Kravitz and James Allen:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9436936.stm

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/03/red-bull-using-start-only-kers/

[abigsmurf]

Well this is a procession...

Perez in 8th, on his first ever season has just got the fastest lap.

[PeteJ]

Been an ok race but not spectacular. Great effort by the new guys, especially Perez.

Alonso behind Petrov again

[Bort]

Zero to Moan in an hour. New record? ;P

Brundle and Coulthard weren't too bad. More sedate with no horse****. Brundle wasn't fantastic as a lead but we'll see with time.

Nice to have a decent alternative for when the race occurs during the day and the Five live feed is assaulted by football guff.

[NW2013]

Thought Brundle was good with no attempt to come up with a stupid catchphrase at the start of the race.

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Vettel was the deserved winner and really strolled away with it as much as commentary implied he was being caught by Hamilton at various points. What a bizarre radio message at the end though. He seems to be really full of himself now.

Great stuff from Perez and Petrov.

[Roddie]

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Is Vettel's finger celebration starting to get on anyone else's tits yet?

[Bort]

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Is Vettel's finger celebration starting to get on anyone else's tits yet?

You don't like a good

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fingering

?

German charm.

We don't need to use spoilers in here. If people missed an early race they wouldn't be looking in here if they really cared.

[englishbob]

Looks great in HD finally.

The commentary though, urrrgh, it gets worse every year. Now we have two old "pros" giving us a technical bore-fest. Jesus its enough to drive you to sleep, if the race doesn't at times. They need someone with a bit of fire and passion in it, all this pricking on constantly about tires surely interests no-one?

Can't they swap the Moto GP guys over to F1? Thats whats needed.

[Roddie]

I'd rather have commentators who know what they're talking about rather than the over-exuberant twaddle of Legard or Croft.

[Flabio]

Feel a little sorry for Perez and Kobayashi, good race for them, and then they're excluded for a technical infringement that almost certainly didn't give them any performance boost anyway.

Still, rules are rules, and it means Di Resta gets points on his debut.

[Richard.John]

What do you guys feel about the Button vs Massa and Button vs Vettel incidents. JB got a drive through for going off track, when trying to pass Massa yet Vettel did the same to pass JB and wasn't penalised.

[Flabio]

They tend to allow people to go wide on straights, but punish for cutting corners. Not consistent I know, but that's how they've tended to do it in the past.