Official F1/Motorsport thread

[CMcK]

My tickets for Silverstone arrived about two weeks ago. Really looking forward to it now. Any recommendations regarding hearing protection? Earplugs or full on defenders. Bear in mind I have tinnitus.

[Mr_Skinny]

Earplugs worked fine for me the one time I used them.

Got my tickets last week, can't wait!

[Dazzyman]

Earplugs work better than Ear Defenders so if you want full protection go for them. Company I worked for years ago had to switch to ear plugs under health and safety as defenders still let too much in which was pap cas their more confortable than 2 bits of spounge tied to a blue cable lol.

[CMcK]

Weird. We have the choice of plugs or defenders at work and the defenders do a far better job. And they make it easier to hear the radio with the built in speakers.

Anyway I think I'll just take ear plugs and plenty of them so the rest of the gang don't go deaf as well.

[Alastair]

Ear plugs were fine for me when at F1. We were right by the track (like 5 meters from the cars) just before bridge and although it was still loud through them it certainly didn't feel like it was doing damage.

[ChrisF]

Ah, phew. My ticket has been delivered to a neutral party. Gonna be selling it though... it's near the pits, so if anyone is interested let me know and we can work something out.

[ChrisF]

All sorted at Donington Park: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/8085316.stm

Preparations for the British Grand Prix at Donington Park will continue after the race operators reached an out of court settlement with the track owners

[Bort]

Turkish Grand Prix


Saturday 6
Third practice: 1100-1200 (0900-1000 BST)
BBC coverage (UK): 0900-1000, Red Button/5 Live sports extra/online
Qualifying: 1400 (1200 BST)
BBC coverage (UK): 1110-1315, BBC One/Red Button/5 Live sports extra/online

Sunday 7
Race: 1500 (1300 BST)
BBC coverage (UK): 1210-1500, BBC One/Red Button/5 Live/online.

[NW2013]

I thought there wasn't supposed to be any aerodynamic addenda on the cars this year? There seems to be some sort of fin at the front of the sidepod on the front of the McLaren now. EDIT - Actually I might have just been confused by the strut for the mirror. EDIT 2 - No I wasn't, I assume they're allowed the fin as it's where the mirrors are on other cars.

L Ham in qualy 1, not good times for the team.

Good work from Vettel, hope he wins tomorrow to keep the championship interesting.

[Bort]

[B]Pos  Driver                 Team                  Weight (kg)[/B]
 1.  Sebastian Vettel       RBR Renault            649.5
 2.  Jenson Button          Brawn Mercedes         655.5
 3.  Rubens Barrichello     Brawn Mercedes         652.5
 4.  Mark Webber            RBR Renault            656.0
 5.  Jarno Trulli           Toyota                 652.0
 6.  Kimi Raikkonen         Ferrari                658.0
 7.  Felipe Massa           Ferrari                654.0
 8.  Fernando Alonso        Renault                644.5
 9.  Nico Rosberg           Williams Toyota        660.0
10.  Robert Kubica          BMW Sauber             664.0
11.  Nick Heidfeld          BMW Sauber             681.5*
12.  Kazuki Nakajima        Williams Toyota        680.4*
13.  Timo Glock             Toyota                 689.0*
14.  Heikki Kovalainen      McLaren Mercedes       665.0*
15.  Adrian Sutil           Force India Mercedes   668.5*
16.  Lewis Hamilton         McLaren Mercedes       696.5*
17.  Nelson Piquet          Renault                689.6*
18.  Sebastien Buemi        STR Ferrari            686.5*
19.  Giancarlo Fisichella   Force India Mercedes   688.5*
20.  Sebastien Bourdais     STR Ferrari            701.0*

* declared weight

Stolen from AutoSport.com

[NW2013]

Very surprised at how light Vettel is running. Maybe Brawn have it all sewn up after all. Not as light as Fernando mind! Possible 3 stoppers?

[VR46]

Would say not, especially for Vettel, it'll just mean him pitting about three laps earlier. Fingers crossed for a good entertaining race.

Lewis being out qualified by Heikki, ouch.

[NW2013]

Love Brundle's phrases: "Mark Webber would rather eat his own fingers than let Vettel past."

Also love helicopter man, it was like Ridge Racer in real life when he was coming swooping out of turn one.

Odd that Vettel didn't go back to two stops when he couldn't get past Button, very poor choice. They must have thought he would be too slow on heavier fuel than Webber and on the softs.

KERS is proving to be a bit of a farce as the Barichello/Kovalinen scrap showed. It would add an interesting element if they all had it but it doesn't promote "good" racing if they don't.

[Roddie]

Actually, I think the KERS is only interesting if some of the cars have it. If they all have it then they all use it at the same time and it would be pointless.

[NW2013]

I disagree, if they all had it it may add more of a strategic element about where you choose to use it. If they don't all have it it ruins the races of faster drivers and adds zero excitement.