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^^No question about it, Tex, and all true^^ Not to take anything away from his rewrite of the record book, but my thoughts on his driving tactics have been well chronicled here, and I'm just tired of his colorless demeanor. Had Senna been around things would have been quite different, to be sure, there is much more competition today than there was then, and it's just time to move on. Good for him that he just wants to drive, that's credible too, but I'd rather see Nico score.

jbossolo

Button FTW.

Ray S

Hamilton FTW

TexasRider

I agree with you on his flair. But hey, now they got Kimi back so who knows what could happen.

gomarlins3

Come on Kobayashi!

TwentySix

I'm going with Button because I admire his good looks and sense of humor

Nizer

Rough start to the weekend for Lotus:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98286

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98302

Ray S

Practice 1 and 2 results

Friday Practice Session 1
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT TIME
1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.021
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1:38.535
3. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 1:38.813
4. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes GP 1:38.826
5. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 1:38.919
6. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1:39.092
7. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault 1:39.128
8. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 1:39.298
9. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:39.323
10. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:39.440
11. Valterri Bottas Finland Williams-Renault 1:39.724
12. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault 1:39.783
13. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 1:39.896
14. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.910
15. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari 1:39.980
16. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:40.099
17. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Caterham-Renault 1:40.247
18. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:40.469
19. Vitaly Petrov Russia Caterham-Renault 1:40.857
20. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1:41.085
21. Timo Glock Germany Marussia-Cosworth 1:43.170
22. Charles Pic France Marussia-Cosworth 1:44.580
23. Narain Karthikeyan India HRT-Cosworth 1:45.360
24. Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT-Cosworth 1:45.528

Friday Practice Session 2
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT TIME
1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.172
2. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes GP 1:38.533
3. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.535
4. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 1:38.696
5. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:38.853
6. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari 1:38.891
7. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1:39.133
8. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:39.297
9. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 1:39.311
10. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1:39.402
11. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault 1:39.444
12. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:39.464
13. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 1:39.625
14. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.687
15. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault 1:39.696
16. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 1:40.271
17. Bruno Senna Brazil Williams-Renault 1:40.678
18. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1:40.947
19. Vitaly Petrov Russia Caterham-Renault 1:41.464
20. Timo Glock Germany Marussia-Cosworth 1:41.681
21. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Caterham-Renault 1:42.594
22. Charles Pic France Marussia-Cosworth 1:42.874
23. Narain Karthikeyan India HRT-Cosworth 1:43.658
24. Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT-Cosworth 1:43.823

Ritter v4.0

This. Button last week, but I'm going with LH this one.

theporscheguy

Voted for Button.

Ritter v4.0

He seems to be way looser since he came back. Smiling and mugging a bit for the cameras. And when he got taken out in that race last year- forget which one (someone checked up bigtime I recall) he was very generous afterwards basically saying it was just racing, when it really wasn't. I'm still not a fan but he does seem to have relaxed a fair bit.

But he's had his time- its Kimi's time now (again). But I picked Lewis this week.

Land Jet

I sticking with Vettel.

9.5 Degrees

I think it was Petrov that totally took Schumi out and MS just shrugged it off. No drama, real pro and seems to enjoy each moment in F1 knowing that his time is coming to an end.

Anyone notice how and where Alonso was today vs. Massa? Yea, 6th vs. 16th. Just a prelude to tomorrow.

Alonso getting the most out of that dog of a car.

ltc

And now for the rest of the story....

Your assertion that the best driver in F1 is once again getting the most out of a donkey cart is somewhat supported by Free Practice 2 times:

Felipe Massa, 1m 39.896s, P13/1m 40.271s, P16
Alonso and Massa went completely different ways with their set-ups, especially in FP2, when the Brazilian realised that his was not the right one. Alonso’s time looked good in FP2, but insiders at Ferrari expect to struggle come qualifying, as they did in Australia.

HOWEVER, if you were to ONLY look at Free Practice 1 times:

Fernando Alonso, 1m 39.980s, P15/1m 38.891s, P6

Then by applying your same selective logic and data, it would be just as valid to state that MASSA is the only one who can get the best out of the donkey cart.

Yet another season where it's the car's fault.
Another season, same tent, different clowns.

Not to worry, Alonso will always be the Friday Practice WDC in my eyes ...

RajDatta

Yawn, something will never change. Where is that freight train??