Thetownend.com

Unsure who's interested in F1 but figured as the season is about an hour away from kicking off i'd start a thread.

I reckons Vettle will rock it again this year, but Hamilton & Button will push him, a lot more than last year.


I also think Sky will wipe the floor with BBC's coverage. Taking Brundle off them will be a major factor.

I'm watching sky via a stream online now!

Managed to record the Quali preview and not quali.

Saw 20 minutes of the actual quali, seemed like the old BBC coverage, but only SD, not free and with adverts. There is only so much you can do with the basic coverage I suppsoe. Will try out the red button services next race.

So far, underwhelmed though.

Won't comment too much on quali for fear of spoilers. Surprising 3rd place and I thought Ferrari would do differently.

Anyone know what time the Beeb are showing qualifying? Not that it matters as I made the mistake of checking Facebook a few mins ago so pretty much know the lineup.

Really enjoyed watching it on the sky sports iPad app! Far more enjoyable

Ive just done the same. Its on at 1pm on BBC.  Going to have to get used to knowing the result before i watch the highlights. Fuck getting ripped off by Sky.

I think i'll invoke a self-imposed media blackout on race days and hope no one spoils it for me. Either that or someone with a Sky ID could be very kind and provide their log-in details for Sky Go...

Slept through it. Saw the result, pretty happy with that. I'll probably catch up with the re-run on the BBC later. Sky sucks.

Luckily for you Sky sucks Apple off when it comes to apps. While the rest of the world fully embraces Android Sky can't be arsed.

Just seen the Quali results, pleased about 1-2, some v. surprising other places though

How is sky ripping anyone off? F1 is a free channel to those with sports package which I'm sure most footie fans have anyway. £10 a month if not, seems fair price to me

Because if you don't have Sky, it'll cost you at least £30 a month.

That's £30 a month more than I was paying to watch it last season.

What Samdy said. If you already have Sky Sports then great because as you say it's at no extra cost.

I managed to avoid hearing of any of it until I went in the bookies. Damn.

If you already have Sky HD that should read. I don't have sky sports but I get the F1 channel, for no additional cost.

Reminds me of when me and the lads went to Swindon one day, and recorded the rugby. 5pm prompt another mate rung up one of us and asked if we'd seen the rugby, he replied no, then he said 'I won't tell you the score or ruin it for you but Jonny Wilkinson's a legend'.

Match ruined.

Best way not to spoil it is not comment on it at all I reckon.

If I was trying to avoid the result I wouldn't read a thread titled F1 2012 tbh

I did, until I found out the result, which is the same for everyone else who has commented. Innit.

Indeed, I was referring to not talking about the result on here for 'fear of spoilers'. If I was trying to avoid the result I wouldn't read the thread so giving away details doesn't matter.

Aha, I understand now and it's a good point.

Happy that Red Bulls domination seems over, Mercedes look quick as well. Ferrari are in a right mess.

Great drive by Grosjean.

Stupider things have happened than people check a thread before watching a race/tv program, especially when it is on bbc hours later.

Writing off red bull dominance is foolish after one qualifying session.

Front or rear ones?

I liked sky's coverage.


Even if it was a shitty online stream..

The best coverage is down to whoever has Brundle, therefore Sky wins.

This

Anyone have a link to a stream for the race tomorrow morning?

Interesting season so far.  Still think the Red Bulls are dangerous - race pace was good in Australia and Vettel was going well in Malaysia until the incident.  I'm enjoying the fact that, although very early, it does seem a bit more equal across the top teams.  I'd also say we've not yet seen the best of the Mercedes or the Lotus yet - I'd certainly back Raikkonen to have a great season.

Hamilton for the title though.

Vettel is a cry baby

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/motor-racing/vettel-is-a-cry-baby/story-e6frfgb6-1226314082475

Is that promotion from 'crash kid?"

Forgot to say - Alonso will not win the title as the Ferrari car is just not good enough.  He is,however, the best F1 driver in the world.  In terms of natural talent, he is ahead of Hamilton. 

Put Alonso in one of the McLaren's and he'd win it hands down. Look at the gulf between him and Massa. Although saying that I could probably beat Massa these days.

They tried that, it didn't go well, not well at all ;)

I've a feeling it's going to be an exciting season.

I think in this McLaren he would, as long as he had Button as a teammate and not Hamilton.  :D

Unbelievable events today, Williams win their first GP in 8 years or so. But afterwards there was an explosion in their garage, suspected fuel/kers fire. Ambulances on scene though unclear how bad injuries are...

:(

Not very serious from the sounds of it.

Good.

Then back to track action. Fantastic day for Williams, who are now really a mid-table team.

Great season so far, 5 races, 5 different winners.

Very happy to see Williams pick up a long overdue race win. Always had a soft spot for them as my family hail from Didcot, up the road from where the team is based.

Echo Fola's comments above, been a great start to the season. The midfield teams seem to have narrowed the gap to the top such that when the big boys aren't firing on all cylinders, like today, they are able to compete for race victories. Much better than knowing only 3 or 4 teams were going to be able to get a win all season.

and each winner from different constructors.

Add to that that Lotus look capable, Hamilton has yet to win a race and even Schumi must have an outside chance.

Lets hope a team doesn't make a breakthrough with one of their steps and pull away.

Sky f1 footage of the fire was laughable. Move out the way for ffs, dont walk closer to it!

Really happy for Williams, and for Maldonado, he drove brilliantly and should get rid of the pay driver tag now (which he never deserved)

Hope everyone is ok after the fire.

The documentary about f1 and safety is on bbc4 now. It is interesting but distressing too.

Great race to watch so far and as has been said, the unpredictability of this season has been great. Hamilton might have walked it today had it not been for the fuel incident, but we'll never know. A good drive from him. Also, Vettel turned it on towards the end. Goodness knows what was holding him back for the first half of the race.

Great story for Williams, and for Montoya [edit: Maldonado!]. Looking forward to Monaco now!

Think you mean maldonado reeves

I do indeed. It's late. Ish.

Yeah yeah ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybh61PkSVOk :eek:

After that race, Seranovich was called to see the Clark of the Course. He ended up flipping him off, I don't imagine he'll be back for a while...

Another fantastic race tonight. Good to see Perez on the podium again, he really is something special.

Yeah I tried to avoid the result as I've got it recorded for when I get home but I was stupid enough to go on Twitter. Still, sounds like it was a good race. Montreal usually is.

So, Hamilton to Mercedes in 2013. I think it is the right move for him. He might suffer next year but in 2014 the new engines will come in and Mercedes will definitely be the team to be at then.

And Sergio Perez to replace him at McLaren, that could be a great a combination, I think Perez is a very quick driver and now he will have a consistently quick car.

He's been there years and really had to move to stand a chance to have a realistic pop at the Championship.

what? McLaren are perennial front runners, despite the odd fuck up their drivers are generally there or there abouts. Although next year they're gonna be a Mercedes engine customer rather than a partner, they're still gonna be good! this deal is just all about money, I think...

Perez at McClaren is an exciting prospect, love his driving style.

Agreed. I think Hamilton is a bit of a petulent child with the charisma of plankton. Great driver but for some reason just don't like him.

To me it's more than about money. Ultimately the 2 deals on the table were largely the same, albeit Mercedes offered Lewis more flexibility in personal endorsements. For all the talk about McClaren having a quick car the statistics are brutal - they haven't won the Championship since 1997, and only had one driver winner (Lewis) since 1999.

Lewis has looked an increasingly frustrated and forlorn figure with McClaren over the last few seasons and they have developed a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The impression is something is fundamentally not quite right particularly when Whitmarsh took over.

I think Langers has it right, Lewis (after a year of settling in) has his eye on Brawn pulling something out the hat when the new engines come in (like he did when he delivered Button's Championship). It's a gamble, and a rather bold one, but it may just payoff.

Who knows, the dominance of Ferrari from a few years ago could be just around the corner again...


schumacher to Sauber now?  :cry:

The problem he would have at mclaren in 2014 is that it would be a customer team, so all the updates are going to go to the works team (Mercedes) first. For 2014 and probably the next few years after, the sport will be dominated by the works teams (Mercedes, Ferrari etc)

Another factor is the fact that Mercedes will give him more commercial freedom, which is what his management team want. It allows them to build brand 'hamilton'.

I'm sure money had something to do with it as well.  :)

I see Vettel has been put to the back of the grid for tomorrow. Really spices up the championship battle a treat!

Still expect him to score a few points but Alonso should still finish ahead of him, meaning the last 2 races should be very interesting.

A surprise...the old "not enough fuel" trick that Hamilton got done for in Barcelona with the same punishment. Eddie Jordan was adamant on the BBC coverage that it wasn't a fuel issue - oops

Ridiculous that they could be stupid enough to do this, the title was there's to loose.

Absolutely, all they have do is score decent points, pole is not necessary. Obviously margins are very tight in F1 but they just have to bring Vetall in on race day close to Alonso' position, not necessarily to be ahead, but close enough to win both driver & constructor championships. What a fuck up on their behalf.

Fair play to Vettel today, starting in the pit lane and finishing on the podium is hugely impressive.

Agree that it was a big fuck up on the team's part, a driver who performs like that despite the best efforts of whoever calculates his fuel deserves a lot of credit.

Good drive from Vettel, but he also got quite lucky too what with the double safety car, the Webber crash and getting away with nearly rear ending Ricciardo

Yeah he drove past everyone really well as they pitted.

I nearly lumped on him getting a podium! Anyone know what the odds were?

If there were no safety cars then Vettel was getting nowhere near the top ten. A shame, because I can't stand his smug face. I don't get EJ creaming all over him saying that he's now proved he's a racer and doesn't only win from the front. Apart from the pass on Button, the rest were all easy passes because of his longer top gear.

Anyway, good to see Kimi winning again. Loved hearing him basically telling his race engineer to fuck off and leave him alone over the radio.

EJ doesn’t come across as knowledgeable as he should considering his background.

Plus he is a cock

I enjoyed the expletive-filled podium interview...

That was brilliant. I love Kimi, so great to see him win again.

Well, not a bad way to end the season.

Vettel had everything thrown at him today, felt for Alonso who I thought was brilliant this year, that car had no right to be anywhere near the championship battle.

Great race to end on. Shame Vettel won again but he produced a good drive under pressure. Bit of a shame for Hamilton to go out in such a way in his final race for McLaren. That summed his season up to be honest. Can't see why he's going to Mercedes next season. The more I think about it the more stupid the move seems.

I thought this today a lot too.

The guy he's replacing (Shumi) started 14th today, Hamilton was on pole.

It makes no sense to me, but I guess when the new engines come in it may well prove to be an inspired move.

Still got another year to wait for that though. So I hope he is prepared for another frustrating season next year. Having said that it'll be interesting to see how he fares compared to Schumacher and Rosberg in that car. I don't Schumi had his magic when he returned.

I haven't watched F1 for years and thoroughly enjoyed that race. Particularly when Kimi went rogue

Exactly,

Seems odd to me his quotes recently that he's seeing it as going "Traveling"

Will McLaren have him back in a few years if it all goes tits up at Merc?

Probably I would imagine.

Yeah they will have him back in a flash. He's got a great relationship with the team. I just think his head has ruled his heart and maybe the engine changes the lure of Brawn at Mercedes was too much to turn down for him.

F1 is a ruthless business when it comes to winning. Of course they'd have him back if it was the best option for the team.


I'd agree, but at the same time the car wasn't up to it. I reckon in a Red Bull he'd have won one or two..

Anyone else seen this?

Nico Rosberg showing wannabe armchair racer, Sergio Aguero, how it's really done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnXRk73Wo-Y

Even more reason to watch the BBC coverage next season.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20812990

Georgie Thompson on sky. No contest imo

Plymred wins by a country mile

Agreed.

She doesn't present the races though?

She sure stands next to a monitor in a weird white room well though.

Maybe its my age, Thompson is better looking but yet I'd still choose Suzi every time. She'll probably be better at presenting as well.

The commentator on BBC really really annoys me, so it's sky every time for me!

It helps I much prefer Georgie Thompson too though!

I'm the same. Think its due to Suzi having that "I'm a dirty slut" look.

Good that they've gone with someone who knows about motor sport and has a history presenting it, rather than just a slick presenter. 

:) That must be it.

Some of us don't have the luxury of being able to watch the Sky coverage, so for the BBC to get someone who's a) got knowledge and passion for the sport and b) is rather good looking gets a large thumbs up from me.

Maybe I'm slightly biased because she was a great presenter for MotoGP for many years.

Chris Evans was the no 1 choice for the gig apparently but he wasn't prepared to sacrafice some Monday mornings of his day job.

If that is true it was a lucky escape for the viewer.

His love of cars is well known but can't say I've ever heard him speak about F1

He'd just bum Ferrari.

only if they painted their cars white though!