ltc

And regarding the backmarkers, the 107% rule can not come soon enough.

Weber's accident should never have happened IMHO...cars that slow should simply not be allowed on track....ever.

The 107% rule has taught many young karters the harsh reality of racing at the top levels....and when combined with the secondary rule of a black removal flag for any driver who is close to being overtaken by the leaders tends to promote a safer race for all those involved.

Screw Lotus, HRT, Virgin, et. al. You shouldn't jump into the deep end until you have learned to swim. Go play in the shallow end of the pool (GP2, etc) until you can prove that you are ready for Formula 1. Then combine the 107% rule with approved testing for first year teams and see the improvement.

ltc

Yes, it seemed a bit deja vu

It was nice that the camera picked up the Takuma Sato fan club at the 0:28 second mark...BTW, I'm the one on the right in my brief cameo appearance

Circuit Motorsports

Last place was 104.XX% off of #1 guy in Q1.

ltc

Q1 speeds are not often representative of Q2 or Q3 (i.e. race pace) speeds, but that is an issue with the current qualifying system.

The fact of the matter is that the new teams simply don't belong.
The sport of F1 doesn't need them, there are other forumulae available for them to participate in.
Just because you have the money to pay Bernie and the FIA to get a superlicense, does not mean you belong.

Safety should never be compromised for the sake of competition or commercial interests.

Circuit Motorsports

107% rule is meh.

Only the last few years with the 'spec' move by Bernie have the teams been close. Look at results from the 90's.

http://ndtv.f1pulse.com/racecard/San...d_qualify.aspx

Just as big of a discrepancy if not more in some races. Too many excuses for people not being good racers. Webber screwed up so did Kovi. Both were dumb and both paid for it. Webber should have known better.

ltc

The 107% rule, by itself, is of course not a complete solution. It needs to be part of a larger plan to address the issue.

There are some of the newer teams where the drivers clearly have minimal F1 level talent or experience; likewise there are other new teams with clearly experienced drivers who have been podium finishers in F1.

The issue is the new teams inexperience (engineers, drivers, etc) combined with the new rules.
I agree it was less of an issue in the early 90's, but the teams were more experienced than the new teams of this season IMHO.

enduro911

Overall - Track is lousy. I can think of much better venues in pretty much every continent.

Red Bovine - Congrads to Vettel who showed Red Bull still probably have the best car, but it's a matter of whether or not they can use it to its max capability. I'm glad Webber is ok, that was a really unnecessary accident.

Button - If he was that much quicker than Kamui then he should have been able to make the pass and chase after the other cars ahead of him. I know, it's a street circuit and a small mistake can really be costly, but you don't have the lead in the points that you once did over your team mate.

Cheater - Can we please make it a point to make more anti-Lewis comments? The guy is a numbskull who has shown that he, just like 99% of all the other world champions, does not abide by the rules. (Wayne, your signature is now amusing on two levels). The thing that really doesn't sit well with me is the good-boy images that they try and portray. At least Schumacher admitted he was insane. I really don't know what to think of the penalty. We seemed to see a softer, more forgiving FIA earlier in the year, but this is Lewis' second or third run in and he didn't seem to get what he deserved for a clear violation. Schumacher's ended up with a more severe penalty at Monaco that had greater consequences because everyone was bunched together, and that ignored any chance that he or the team may have not known the rule whereas here this looked more like a conscious choice.

Mercedes - Speaker of Schumacher, he had a pretty terrible race today which wasn't helped by his poor race strategy. Both he and Rosberg had major brake issues that, as Hobbs said, reared themselves here and not at Canada. I wonder why that is... Give up now, Ross. Go back to the drawing board so you can work everyone over next year.

Ferrari - are destroying themselves - this honestly smacks of the early 90s. Alonso's qualifying performance was pretty good, but to let KK get by him was pretty damn embarrasing. I probably should, but I'm not even going to blame it on Alonso even though he could probably be held responsible. I'm being overly nice because of the fact that KK got by JA, who isn't particularly easy to pass. I'll say the same thing to Ferrari as I did to MB - go back to the damn drawing board!!!! You need a lot more time than Ross Brawn ever will.

Renault - Would someone please, for the love of whateverthehellyouwantittobe, get Kubica in a competitive car?

Sauber and Williams - Particularly Sauber and KK, well done! Take advantage of any opportunity you can. That's the way the game's played. The Hulkster didn't look happy after he retired - soccer-kicking the tires.

ltc

IIRC, it was mentioned during the broadcast that Renault has an contract offer awaiting Kubica's signature, although it was mentioned that perhaps Mercedes is looking at him for next year.

Strange that Massa signed up thru 2012, taking Kubica out of the equation to be Alonso's teammate next season.

Kubica has done very well with the Renault this year and his teammate Petrov apparently just needs a bit more experience...

333pg333

To digress to an earlier point of discussion. I wasn't a fan of the 107% rule, but seeing the speed differential between Webber and the Lotus does beg the question. Sure, Webber can be considered having made a mistake in judgement and was also unlucky that as he was trying to move to one side the driver in front also moved. Similar to when you walk down the street and someone is walking towards you and you both move aside the same direction once-twice-three times. You can't get out of each other's way. The only problem is this was at a slightly higher speed!

J richard

How is it that you are expecting new teams to build experience? The 107% rule is crap...both drivers new better and both knew that they each screwed the pooch... Why have more rules that just dumb down the sport. And I'm getting sick of all the retreading of teams, drivers and engineers... Thank god for lotus, and despite himself brawn was an upstart team, and red bull was the brunt of many jokes just a few years ago...

multi21

Luca, is that you?

333pg333

I agree in principle...but there is the minor issue of driver safety. The fact very little has been said about Webber's crash is both testament to the structural and design integrity of these cars, and probably not a little bit of dumb luck. We could easily be discussing Webber's career being finished as he lies in a hospital bed or worse. Yes he did make a bit of a mistake, plus was also a bit unlucky...but he had not been making much ground on Hulkenberg and then he comes up behind the Lotus of Kovalainin who seemed like he was looking for a parking spot so slow was he going compared to Webber. Hardly surprising that this occurred. Maybe you have a system of promotion and relegation like European Soccer teams?

Did I just suggest a change based on Soccer...? I knew I was feeling a little unwell.

Larry Herman

Black shirt w/white stripe & funny hat?

Nizer

Schumacher:
Qualified: 15th
Finished: 15th

I'ma so happy I coulda justa cry

ltc

What is so funny about the hat?

What you can't see in the video is that Takuma autographed the hat.
Now I realize that based on poor camera work, it would appear as though the entire Takuma Sato fan club is only 2 people, but I can assure you (and as you've all seen based on RL poll results), that if the cameraman had zoomed out, you would have seen millions.