Official F1/Motorsport thread

[Bort]

Turkish Grand Prix
Istanbul Park, 6-8 May

Friday 6 May: Practice one - 0800-0930
Friday 6 May: Practice two - 1200-1330

Saturday 7 May: Practice three - 0900-1000
Saturday 7 May: Qualifying - 1200-1300 (11am-1.30pm BBC 2)

Sunday 8 May: Race - 1300 (12.10pm-3.25pm BBC 1)


DRS activation/detection position.

[Bort]

First practice was very wet. Lots of spins and Vettel got it slightly wrong.


Second practice on now and it's dry.

[Rossco]

Love that pic.

[Flabio]

Well that's not the best qualifying session Kobayashi will ever have is it?

On the bright side, he'll get lots of overtakes in the race so I might get some decent fantasy f1 points off him.

Vettel is just in a class of his own this year, it's crazy how much faster than everyone else he is in qualifying.

[Bort]

Thanks go to Pirelli for keeping the championship alive. If they have fixed the battery issue Vettel would of had a Schumi-esque year on the old rubber.

Todt has been talking about bringing back limited in season testing (Three two day tests). If he doesn't get the teams to agree to including it for next year he'll try and force it into the 2013 regs.
Although it wouldn't help with bringing a Rossi into the sport it would be a good move.

[PeteJ]

Another good race today. I'd agree that overtakes seemed slightly too easy but I'd much rather than that no overtakes at all. Fantastic racing between the mclarens in the first few laps.

[Flabio]

The activation point needed to be about another 100 yards further down the straight really, but it's really hard to judge that with no data to go on.

[Bort]

Good one today. If the DRS can produce something decent out of Valencia all my qualms about it will be forgotten.

Good to see Ferrari are on there way back after the wind tunnel snafu.

[Bort]

Just finished watch my first full NASCAR sprint race (Talladega from last weekend). The feeder or regional series aren't readily available so I'll most likely have to wait till Kimi pops up next year in the camper to see one in full.

Some interesting elements. Very reminiscent of a Cycling tour stage. Two hours of endurance fuel burning sponsored by viagra whilst the main players sit back in the field letting the little guys lead for a few laps to gain points/coverage. Coming to the last 30-40 laps the Pizza hut fan favourites and their team/aides bring them into the correct position, Subway the correct position which builds to an exciting last few laps as they reach the chequered flag.

Everyone sounding like Smokey and the Bandit and the drivers having the ability to talk to each other ease the endless drafting and worthless position change. The gradual build up to the end is exciting and interesting but it's ultimately a futile as a notable race series. Understandable as a social or background activity but I can't see myself watch a full sprint race again.

[Bort]

MotoGP Le Mans, France
Saturday 14 May
MotoGP qualifying: 1150-1505, BBC Red Button/online
Sunday 15 May
125cc & Moto2: 0950-1205, BBC Red Button/online
MotoGP live: 1230-1400, BBC Two/online

Six nascar races in six days. Oh dear, oh dear.

[charlaph]

No comments about the MotoGP yet?! It was another fascinating weekend, spats aplenty, Lorenzo crashing in warmup and of course the Pedrosa/Simoncelli crash. Good on Stoner though - looking like he'll continue fighting for the next few rounds, probably Lorenzo will come back stronger in Spain but Stoner'll still take some beating I'd imagine. Rossi is all over the place, and although it came good on race day, the sheer 'luck' of Burgess being able to overhaul the bike on the sunday morning can't always pay off...can it? I'd expect no less of him to be fast when the bike's working, but when it's not he looks lost, so who knows how he'll fare next time out. I'm a big Dovi fan but he got lucky for 2nd tbh, he was a good way behind Pedrosa and Simoncelli before the crash, and Lorenzo overcooked it with a few laps to go, so if he'd been in touch it could all have been so different, but hats off to him for besting Rossi yet again.

As for the whole Simoncelli is a nutter argument, I'd say it's totally true. He's overaggressive to the point of reckless, but there's no denying his speed. I don't think he was 100% at fault for the crash and if it was on the last lap I doubt there'd be half as much of a furore, but there was a third of the race left, he was blatantly faster than Pedrosa and there was no need for such a high risk pass at that point in the race, it's fine to hold speed into the corner and put yourself on the outside ready for the next right like he did, but it didn't give Pedrosa any options if he didn't get his entry utterly perfect, which (IMO) he didn't. I don't know whether Pedrosa was purposefully going in hot to try and either scare Simoncelli (which was never going to work) or just try and regain the upper hand when he saw Simoncelli outside him on the entry. Hell, maybe he just got surprised and fluffed it, I doubt we'll ever find the truth, but Simoncelli is a very obvious scapegoat right now, so of course Pedrosa will point all the blame at him. I see it as more 50/50. Simoncelli didn't need to do it, but wasn't in the wrong for giving it a go, and Pedrosa had enough space to make the turn, but wasn't ready for what Simoncelli did. Oh yeah, and the punishment - a ride through?!? I couldn't believe it - I was shocked they'd made a decision so quickly and to my mind it was the wrong one.

One thing's for sure - it'll run and run. I can't wait for the next round.

[vanpeebles]

BBC Northern Ireland will be streaming the North West 200 which is the big road race and build up to the TT. Here's fan favorite Guy Martin:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/13373444.stm

Race is on Saturday:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/bikes/default.stm

[Bort]

Spanish Grand Prix
Circuit de Catalunya, 20-22 May

Saturday 21 May: Practice three - 1000-1100; Qualifying: 1300-1400 (12:10pm - 2:15pm BBC1)
Sunday 22 May: Race - 1300 (12:10pm - 3:15pm BBC1)


Nice write up about the current off throttle issue - http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/...terpretations/

[vanpeebles]

North West 200 on red button now!

[vanpeebles]

Hmph race delayed due to a security alert. Dumb ass bogtrotters.