Spanish GP 2012 - Barcelona

[zyphro]

Yep, I asked this on twitter; got an answer: he might've banged wheels with another car (hence the change in paint colour!). But anyhow, he wasn't running mis-matched compounds.

[fiohaa]

The cream still comes to the top. They just have to work a bit harder for it, especially because there are more competitors now close enough to take advantage of any mistakes.

well in that case - you have to accept this - that maldonado is world championship material.

Or. Williams finalised a setup on Saturday morning after FP3, which just so happened to coincide with track temperatures which gave rise to a pirelli operating window which happened to match the williams setup. Just like rosberg in china. Or alonso in malaysia. Or vettel in bahrain.

If youre choosing to take the 'the best drivers rise to the top, and the tyres are just another added complexity' argument, then you have to accept that maldonado deservedly won that race, and is now a genuine championship contender.

what are you going to say if, at the next race, he is back in the midfield? they suddenly, at the next race, 'got it wrong'? Or just so happens that the track temperature on the sunday happens to fall outside the cars setups operating window.

is maldonado now an 'elite' driver?

[Chuckjr]

I find it interesting that if you look at the posts in this set if forums from the beginning of the year almost everyone (except vettle fans) was saying they wanted a championship which was not like the Schumacher era or like last year--in other words--no one dominant team. 

What exactly then about this scenario is so disappointing? Do people really think that a formulae could possibly be developed whereby all teams, or most teams (say the elite 4-5 teams) would be able to be 1-2 tenths within each other every race as possible?? I think not. History has shown that is a very rare thing in the modern era--I personally don't think it's possible. I venture to say its not possible because money has determined championships for decades. To me, that's unfair.  

What we have here now is a position where any med or elite team has a shot. I think that's what we all want, no? Why should only Macca or Ferrari or RB be the only ones to have a shot? Do lesser teams with lesser money have less heart or work less hard and therefore don't deserve a win equally? Why should med budget teams be compromised because they don't have the developed empire or sponcer support? That to me seems much more unfair than this situation. What we have here is a real challenge that every team has to come to grips with at every weekend. It combines all options--engineering prowess, luck, driver skill, strategy, pit efficiency, weather, quali position, etc etc.and isn't that what we all want? --A combination of all factors at every weekend and whoever can put the pieces together reaps the spoils of winning.  Who cares if it's an elite team or not?!? Just because Macca or Ferrari have the biggest fan base and most money should not be the determining factor to the right to win. That right should be for the team that puts it all together each weekend by race time. Just my 2 cents. 

[myurr]

The cream still comes to the top. They just have to work a bit harder for it, especially because there are more competitors now close enough to take advantage of any mistakes.

well in that case - you have to accept this - that maldonado is world championship material.

Or. Williams finalised a setup on Saturday morning after FP3, which just so happened to coincide with track temperatures which gave rise to a pirelli operating window which happened to match the williams setup. Just like rosberg in china. Or alonso in malaysia. Or vettel in bahrain.

If youre choosing to take the 'the best drivers rise to the top, and the tyres are just another added complexity' argument, then you have to accept that maldonado deservedly won that race, and is now a genuine championship contender.

what are you going to say if, at the next race, he is back in the midfield? they suddenly, at the next race, 'got it wrong'? Or just so happens that the track temperature on the sunday happens to fall outside the cars setups operating window.

is maldonado now an 'elite' driver?

Maldonado's setup worked across two days with a wide variety of temperatures. It wasn't just luck it was a good car with a good setup and a good driver. That doesn't mean he's championship material, but if he can start stringing performances like that together then why couldn't he ultimately challenge for a championship? And I say that as someone who doesn't like the guy.

Most of the drivers on the grid are good enough to win a championship if they're given the best car and, at least with Hamilton out of the picture, Maldonado was the best driver in the best car on the day. It's great for the sport that so many drivers are able to challenge when they do get the setup right rather than it always being the same couple of drivers that win when they have a good day or come second when they have a bad day.

[mx_tifoso]

I missed the replay today, so is there "another" way for me to view it online? wink wink

PM me

[Ral]

The cream still comes to the top. They just have to work a bit harder for it, especially because there are more competitors now close enough to take advantage of any mistakes.

well in that case - you have to accept this - that maldonado is world championship material.

Or. Williams finalised a setup on Saturday morning after FP3, which just so happened to coincide with track temperatures which gave rise to a pirelli operating window which happened to match the williams setup. Just like rosberg in china. Or alonso in malaysia. Or vettel in bahrain.

If youre choosing to take the 'the best drivers rise to the top, and the tyres are just another added complexity' argument, then you have to accept that maldonado deservedly won that race, and is now a genuine championship contender.

what are you going to say if, at the next race, he is back in the midfield? they suddenly, at the next race, 'got it wrong'? Or just so happens that the track temperature on the sunday happens to fall outside the cars setups operating window.

is maldonado now an 'elite' driver?

Maldonado's setup worked across two days with a wide variety of temperatures. It wasn't just luck it was a good car with a good setup and a good driver. That doesn't mean he's championship material, but if he can start stringing performances like that together then why couldn't he ultimately challenge for a championship? And I say that as someone who doesn't like the guy.

Most of the drivers on the grid are good enough to win a championship if they're given the best car and, at least with Hamilton out of the picture, Maldonado was the best driver in the best car on the day. It's great for the sport that so many drivers are able to challenge when they do get the setup right rather than it always being the same couple of drivers that win when they have a good day or come second when they have a bad day.

I echo myurr's response.

Also, specifically to your statement that if I stand by my statement which you quoted (I do) that I have to accept that Maldonado is capable of winning a championship, and/or that he is one of the elite drivers:

1: And why not? He's won minor/junior championships before. On the face of it, his style isn't that different from Hamilton's, apart from being perhaps not quite as polished.
2: And if he isn't elite as such, he is clearly one of those drivers close enough both in his own ability and the equipment available to him this season to take advantage of the faster cars/teams not getting it right. This weekend actually being a prime example.
Hamilton beat him to pole. Hamilton's team messed up (something other than the car in this case, but they messed up) and he's there to pick up the points which quite possibly would have gone to Hamilton. And while Alonso/Ferrari pushed Maldonado/Williams in the race, one could argue that it looked like the Williams was just faster.

Why does it matter if the teams take all season to figure out the tyres? They are still the same tyres for all the teams. I don't see how the tyres are any different than the blown diffuser last year for example and it's actually fairer because it's the same for everybody from the start and everyone has the same chance to get their car to work with the tyres.

[mx_tifoso]

Recent discussion about tyres has been moved to the "Thoughts on 2012 tyres?" thread.

[Speedster]

Great win by Maldonado. Brilliant drive, all weekend long. I see a lot of posts saying that it is becoming too random. I can sort of agree with it, but Maldonado didn't win because of tyres. He has shown pace all weekend, topping a free practice, getting second on the grid on merit (and first by chance), and didn't put a single foot wrong all weekend. Realistically I think Hamilton would've won if he'd started on first, but his penalty wasn't about tyres either.

Certainly, we see different teams winning this season, but this particular winner wasn't lucking his way, it just all came together. Fernando had a chance to pull away in clean air, Kimi was racing in clean air for most of the race too and they were slower overall.

Great win for Williams too, whether it is a fluke (a rightly deserved one in that case no doubt) or not we're going to see in future, but hopefully they can enjoy the moment despite the horror ending of the weekend. It's great to see an old name back on top, and especially if that name is Williams. Perfect timing as well, with both the Williams and the Maldonado family present.

Alonso rode a brilliant race as well, he had a chance to win in the final part of the race, but wasn't that much quicker than Maldonado, who, as we found out afterwards, waited a bit for him too, to have some reserve. It's a pity that we didn't enjoy a longer battle for P1 between two seemingly similar paced cars due to the nature of the tyres, but at least we got to see one on merit, a fight between the fastest two cars (or two of the fastest cars, taking into account the bad decisions in the Lotus team in my opinion and obviously the penalty of Hamilton, but that's racing and that's Formula 1).

[ParanoiD]

Great win by Pastor, didnt see that coming.

Still confused what make 2012 season different, lots of speculation but in my opinion, i think it is down to the Pirellis that are set-up sensitive. Once the teams get it right, it will serve its master.

If it keep going like this, podium consistency will be pretty much get you to the top of the WDC/WCC.

[PlatinumZealot]

Great win by Maldonado. Brilliant drive, all weekend long. I see a lot of posts saying that it is becoming too random. I can sort of agree with it, but Maldonado didn't win because of tyres. He has shown pace all weekend, topping a free practice, getting second on the grid on merit (and first by chance), and didn't put a single foot wrong all weekend. Realistically I think Hamilton would've won if he'd started on first, but his penalty wasn't about tyres either.

Certainly, we see different teams winning this season, but this particular winner wasn't lucking his way, it just all came together. Fernando had a chance to pull away in clean air, Kimi was racing in clean air for most of the race too and they were slower overall.

Great win for Williams too, whether it is a fluke (a rightly deserved one in that case no doubt) or not we're going to see in future, but hopefully they can enjoy the moment despite the horror ending of the weekend. It's great to see an old name back on top, and especially if that name is Williams. Perfect timing as well, with both the Williams and the Maldonado family present.

Alonso rode a brilliant race as well, he had a chance to win in the final part of the race, but wasn't that much quicker than Maldonado, who, as we found out afterwards, waited a bit for him too, to have some reserve. It's a pity that we didn't enjoy a longer battle for P1 between two seemingly similar paced cars due to the nature of the tyres, but at least we got to see one on merit, a fight between the fastest two cars (or two of the fastest cars, taking into account the bad decisions in the Lotus team in my opinion and obviously the penalty of Hamilton, but that's racing and that's Formula 1).

I think Pastor's win is of a higher quality than Rosberg's, much, much higher.

[zorog]

Think people are devaluing Pastor's win, He had a good start and didn't put a tire wrong despite having Alonso in close company for most of the race.

I was half expecting him to have a small off and Alonso pounce, However he proved me wrong and was fully in control of the race pacing himself to the flag.

[marcush.]

would like to see what correlation we gotr on change of ambient and change of track temp from Qualy to race through the field.

[andartop]

I can remember at least a couple of the "elite" drivers, and recent world champions, cracking under the pressure on the last lap and losing a race win/podium finish, much like Mr Pastor "non-championship-material" Maldonado in Australia but unlike Mr Pastor "hey-maybe-he-is-not-that-bad-after-all" Maldonado in Spain!

[zoro_f1]

i don't know how your eye's are working but this is another proof of your mistery

Did anyone notice this or any news about Vergne starting on different compounds?

image from reddit

[zoro_f1]