Abu Dhabi GP 2010 - Yas Marina Circuit

[alelanza]

Of all title prospects Alonso is really the one who did not put a foot wrong this year

Alonso is without a doubt one of the current top 2, or perhaps even the best F1 driver.
Having said that, he's made a ton of mistakes during the first half of the year and even in Spa. If we were to tally them together, probably he's made more mistakes than any other front runner this year, however he's been in top shape as of late so one tends to forget. In the same light people say RB drivers should have clinched the title by now, i think you could say the same of Alonso had he not made so many mistakes at the start of the season.

[marcush.]

yes? I fail to remember ....Spa was over in lap one for him ..so it was not really a disaster...
If you care to remember Schumacher had a lot of silly mistakes in his heydays but almost never when it counted .(apart from those red mist moments i would rather not dwell on)

[alelanza]

yes? I fail to remember ....Spa was over in lap one for him ..so it was not really a disaster...
If you care to remember Schumacher had a lot of silly mistakes in his heydays but almost never when it counted .(apart from those red mist moments i would rather not dwell on)

Well he was very lucky to continue after the crash, but then made a mistake in tyre choice that further compounded his problems. But yeah you probably could say he's made those mistakes in instances where he wasn't doing that well to begin with, but add them all up and they amount to something. Plus there were some bigger ones, he could have bagged more points in China w/o the drive through, Monaco pole and thus a win was well within his reach had he not crashed in fp3. Also an important mistake in turkey qualifying put him out of the top 10, where given his skill and using Massa's quali as a referrence it would have been reasonable to expect FA to qualify top 4 or so, instead of 12.
And that's not mentioning other errors that were not as clear cut his fault, ie Malaysia quali, overtaking through a chicane in Silverstone; or other stuff that was i guess closer to normal race situations such as tangling in Australia's first corner or making life a bit too easy for LH and Jenson in Canada, crashing in Spa, forcing his already ailing 'clutchless' car to overtake Jenson in Malaysia, etc.

Again, the guy is good, possibly the best out there, but error free in 2010 he's not. Does he deserve the WDC more than the bulls? in my opinion yes he does, even if it won't fill me with joy to see him take it.

EDIT:

Just to exemplify http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/2433 ... s-heavily/

[alelanza]

Fernando has a practically unused engine for Abu.

I saw that, interesting. Now, wouldn't that engine suffer from whatever design failure their first batch of engines had? prior to the fia approved change?

[raymondu999]

For me I don't like Webber to win the WDC because he's just there because of his fast car.

Aren't they all? No matter how good you are, having a crap car will get you nowhere, especially when they are talking hundredths of a second sometimes.

What omar seems to be saying (not that I necessarily agree with it) is that Webber needs a dominant car to win, whereas there are several other drivers around who need a "good" car to win

[imightbewrong]

Fernando has a practically unused engine for Abu.

I saw that, interesting. Now, wouldn't that engine suffer from whatever design failure their first batch of engines had? prior to the fia approved change?

No he does not, I'm assuming you are talking about the engine replaced before the race in Bahrain, and it blew up in china free practice.

"I am not worried," he said. "We lost an engine today, which is never a good thing, we would like to have all the engines perfectly OK. We knew that this engine was a little bit damaged after Bahrain, it was the one we replaced in Bahrain before the race so we are not too worried.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/ap ... lure-china

[alelanza]

Good info, thanks for clarifying that

[FrukostScones]

Ah, what I wanted to say, is that I believe that the Saubers could be strong in AbuDhabi, because the surface of the track is very smooth and not bumpy! Kubica maybe also better than in the last races??

[ecapox]

so if you are Ferrari, do you go all out in an attempt to win (max revs, engine at 100%, etc) or do you play it like you always have and hope someone has a mechanical failure (Webber)?

[netoperek]

As much as i like Kubica, i have no hope for great result. Yes, He's outperforming his car, but it doesn't make up for all the development from top 4 teams im afraid.

[Richard]

.... What I don't like is Ignorance!....

Such as not sticking to the topic of this thread?

[komninosm]

I think Alonso will win the championship. I base it on a tv trope of sorts. If he wins by less than 7 points it will generate the most discussion afterwards due to the team orders scandal. :p

[raymondu999]

Ah, what I wanted to say, is that I believe that the Saubers could be strong in AbuDhabi, because the surface of the track is very smooth and not bumpy! Kubica maybe also better than in the last races??

Don't forget this year's Macca suffers a lot from bumpiness, and it thrives on the smooth circuits. And the car will be a monster in Sector 2. But lately Mercedes seem to have caught up in the speedtraps department so I'm not too sure. Anyone placing any bets on when the championship will be decided? Last lap a la Glock?

[zeph]

I also have this feeling that MercedesGP might do well. Not based on anything substantial, just an inkling.

[Mr Alcatraz]

so if you are Ferrari, do you go all out in an attempt to win (max revs, engine at 100%, etc) or do you play it like you always have and hope someone has a mechanical failure (Webber)?

Qualifying will largely dictate strategy.
This is a track I think Massa can excel at because it is smooth with several slow corners. He may play a joker in this one. Fred has to play it smart. If he qualifies on the front row it's probably game over. Above all Ferrari has to take advantage of their tyre wear strength. Super softs are the options for this race. Red Bull can match Ferrari in the tire wear department, but not McLaren. The Boss should be fast at this track, but they will sacrifice rubber in the slow parts if they want any real traction. Fred has to play the hand he is dealt. We haven’t had a dry race in so long it's hard to know how well everyone will go.
This is the crazy part of this year’s reg’s If Fred is running third to the red bulls he will not pit until after them if he is in touch. They may go very deep into the race on those tyres if they are all very tight.
Then of course none of this may happen and then were back to qualifying.