YourFace

Why is it that they can spell Schumacher.. but yet Corina the wife get's the typo? Corona.. Corina... word association

gums

I don't think Vettel was a sore loser at all, his body language and congrad's to winner were signs of a good sport, I thought all seemed satisfied and the podium was a happy place.
Also have no problem with Ferrari using Massa to take one for the team.
Schublocker up to his usual tactics got nowhere again.

Astroman

Disappointing? Yes. Surprising? No.

Schublocker's sportsmanship OFF the track is second to none; but ON the track is entirely another matter...

J richard

Good race. As soon as I saw Seb pull the start I thought it was over, glad to be wrong. The Ferrari trick was cheap, feel sorry for Massa getting used as a tool, but nothing new. He ran a good race, nice to see some drive out of him.


I hope that GrandAm and the NASCAR boys were watching. I think it shows the real interest in international road racing and how it can capture an audience with the right setting. I sat and watched the top teams roll off the formation lap into the garages back in 07, figured it was all over in the US, it's only been 5 years glad to see it back in grand form, let's hope for NJ and Ernie doesn't screw this all up again...

morganabowen

Have you forgotten this is a team sport. Massa has no chance of winning the WDC, so it makes perfect sense to use the rules to your advantage. They do it in football, baseball and other team sports. You do what is best for the team Anytime Ferrari or Fernando do anything that is outside the box, you. I am very happy for Hamilton, I knew he would win one before the end of the season and I guessing that Sergio is wetting his pants anxious to get into that McLaren. I predict Sergio on the podium many times during the 2013 season

GT3 Techno

Indeed...

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/11/1...-fastest-laps/

Adam@Autometrics

I've no issues with Ferrari's move. In fact, I think it was clever and necessary. Frankly, I don't see how you can enjoy F1 if you don't like when a team uses a loophole in the rules to exploit the "letter" of the law rather than the "spirit". Every team does it, and the teams that do it best share the champagne.
If the loophole is applied to the car, its "innovation," but applied to strategy and its "cheap tricks"?
Is there objection when the 2nd driver tests newer parts, or gets the "old" parts when the new parts prove to be better? Where is the limit on the "team" aspect?
Ferrari could have changed the gearbox claiming a problem, and they'd be called "shady." They blatantly use an exploit in the rules and they are "cheap." Ignore the obvious potential advantage (following the written rule to the letter), and I'd call them fools.
Just my opinion, of course. If the series has a problem with it, they are free to adjust the rules.

Astroman

+1000

Well stated and so true.

My993C2

It was a long shot, but Ferrari was still alive in the hunt to win the WCC and instead of supporting both drivers at the start of the race, they screwed Massa over (not to mention screwed over a few other drivers who were supposed to start on the clean side but were instead relegated to the dirty side). Just par for the course for Ferrari. The 2013 season has not even started and we already know the best Massa could hope for is a 2nd place finish.

FrankyV

Absolutely Ferrari did the right thing, nothing shady about it. Isn't this what success is all about, exploiting the rules of the game to your greatest advantage? I don't get all the complaining and Ferrari hating as being part of a team means doing whatever is necessary for the best team result. Massa is a class act, I am sure he was more than happy to take one for the team.

e9stibi

As others said: Great event. it was my first F1 race and i will be back next year. T12 is the spot where you want to be. I was positvely suprized about the logistics. The bus transportation to the P&R was very efficient. Only issue was that the lines for food and beverages were far too long and that they ran out of Stella far too early. They could have made much more money by having more people selling beer out of a portable cooler.

Flying Finn

While I (and I'm sure most of us) understand the reasoning, I think this is something FIA should think about because soon we have "everyone" fixing the starting order, even at Texas, lying Horner could've done it.
I'm probably over thinking since this was a special case of fresh track and Ferrari being so strongly a one driver team.
Sucked bad for Massa though, he was faster than Alonso whole weekend, including Sunday but maybe this will boost his confidence even more. He had hell of a weekend, I'm sure he is on fire next weekend.
I don't know if Alonso's comments ("being proud of his team's decision") was very cool though...

RajDatta

Couldn't have said it better.
It's people's hatred of anything Alonso and Ferrari that gets spewed often here..

consolidated

Your bias are clear, however Horner had the option of doing the same to Webber gearbox and putting Alonso back on the dirty side. When asked if he would counter Ferrari's move RB said no.

Ferrari's move was clever and perhaps even correct, but anyone who doesn't also see it as also as underhanded, desperate and cynical is partially blind.

This is what I generally dislike about Ferrari and their most indoctrinated fans, it's like a religion.

Great race by Hamilton. He and Vettel put a on an F1 clinic, top drivers in top cars. Hamilton with nothing to lose, and Vettel mitigating his risk and keeping the big picture in front.

Alonso just got damn lucky (shoe's on the other foot this week no?). Massa's manufactured failure, Webber mechanical, Button Q3 failure, Mercs doing on track testing with a new car, RoGro gearbox, Lotus' having lackluster pace and issues on track...

multi21

Initially I saw it as a calulated move, not underhanded, and the fact that Ferrari did not try to hide it and admitted it was to move Alonso up one spot and to the clean side leads me to believe they were not thinking down the road and this is probably a one off circumstance that the FIA will soon close the loophole.

I think this could be used as a defensive move in the future to move your opposition to the dirty side of the track even if up one spot by sacraficing your pawn (Massa or Webber), but most tracks are not as green or dirty as COTA. It was simply the perfect storm of circumstances on where everyone lined up and the strategy worked out.