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If any one race described the disaffection of the fans who are against the impact of restrictions in the current rules, then
I guess this one stands out.
TOIT picked it beautifully. Alonso and Massa had some great speed and both used it to get margin after each of their stops, whilst still being able to back off to reasonable lap times and inch away.
Kimi was clearly driving within himself and also managed the 'situation' quite well.
The rest were all over the place. It is quite telling that Button, who was woefully slow all weekend, still managed to pick up a reasonable place after being 17th early, simply by doing steady average (slow) laps, and keeping one pit stop in the bag.
Same thing for Webbber, who used the undercut in his first stint to set the base for a slow climb up the field that was very unspectacluar. Good to see Vettel struggle with the tyres for a change though.
At one stage, we were treated to watching Bianci trailing Hamilton with what was quite obviously much better pace, but having to stay there as he was a lap down. Hamilton's comment was superb; "I can't drive any slower".
Some bright spots, even still. Masssa was on fire, and fun to watch. Ricciardo looked very racy in his first and second stints, and looked to be on for a placing well inside the top 10 until he put on his used hards for the last stint.
Team orders at Macca just embarrassing. Checko must be fuming still.
Boring race, that really showed the problems being caused by these tyres. F1 has a problem.
Comments
The only point in the race where my interest started peaking was the last 10 laps, where Perez had to stay behind Button. Perez could have moved up another two places. Button was nowhere all weekend and did not deserve to finish in front of Perez. So much for all Macca's bluster about team orders.
Anyhoo, good to see Webber has improved his starts...
[Edited on 13-5-13 by SuperRoo]
That many pit stops they may as well have re-instituted refueling. Pirelli say they are going to work on having less stops by the British GP, we shall see.
If the Webber rumors are true regarding sports car racing at least rolling starts should improve his starting problems.
Weren't they instructed before the start of the season by the F1 Commision os FIA, to produce higher degrading tyres in an effort to spice up the racing a bit? They've cerainly done that, as instructed, and now they're being abused for it.
Everybody was bitching and moaning about processional one stop races. Well, they arent now. And if TOIT and especially Lotus have got their shit in a sock anbd sorted the problem, why can't the others? Or do we return to the days of producing specific tyres for specific cars/teams?
BBC piece on compound changes to ensure three stop max:
''Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said: "We hope that (helping Red Bull) won't be the case, but we always face that risk.
"People will say it is pressure from Red Bull but there has not been excessive pressure from them."
On Sunday, Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz was heavily critical of the current state of F1, saying it "had nothing to do with racing anymore". The Austrian met F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, although he did not reveal what they had discussed.
Ecclestone said in Spain: "The tyres are wrong, not what we intended when we asked Pirelli to produce something which did half a race."
Hembery also denied that pressure from Ecclestone had informed the company's decision, saying: "He was only sharing the comments of the majority, that we had gone a step too far and we needed to come back a bit.''
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On a broader note, I think this has become a major brand issue for Pirelli. We know the context but most casual viewers of F1 do not - are they going to want to put Pirelli on their road car? That is why neither Bridgestone nor Michelin would ever agree to this.
[Edited on 17-5-13 by viges]