GG06MR

iTrader: (9)

+1 I think Webber decided that he wasn't going to make a run at Alonso unless Vettel broke, since he wouldn't be able to gain enough positions to win the championship if Vettel won, and he certainly wasn't going to help Vettel's chances of winning the championship by either passing or wrecking Alonso.

Ludikraut

iTrader: (17)

Wow, what a finish. Interesting that Vettel was so focused on driving and staying in front, that he didn't bother to check the scoreboards, and no-one @ RB told him until Alonso crossed the finish line. You could really hear the surprise and overwhelming joy in his radio transmissions on his victory lap. Kudos to him for never giving up. Well deserved victory and championship, IMO. Had Alonso won by a handful of points, I would have probably stopped watching F1 altogether in disgust.

l8r)

OldschoolEVO

iTrader: (24)

not trying to cause a fuss but i'm pretty sure RB pulled a fast one on us

just my opinion......i believe that they pitted webber early knowing alonso would jump resulting getting stuck in traffic.

either way a great finish to an awesome season.

GG06MR

iTrader: (9)

Interesting hypothesis, but I just don't see it. I don't think there's any way that RBR could have predicted that Alonso would not have been able to get around Petrov, Rosberg, etc. And lets be honest, Webber is no more self-sacrificing than Vettel, and since the Red Bulls have been quickest on the primes all season, then I think that Webber pitting early was simply their last ditch strategy to find a way for Mark to get around Alonso on the pit stop exchange when Alonso eventually pitted later in the race.

KPerez

Congrat.'s to Vettel and RB...beat the upper crust of F1...Montizemillo (sp?) is ready to slit his wrists!...please go into politics...anywhere but F1!!...difficult track to pass...Renault was the spoiler team for Weber and Alonso...this Renault car has been getting better and better...too bad season is over for them...interesting to see if they R as competitive next year...what the hell happened to Kobay??..one minute he is fourth and then after pit is 16th!!.. anybody have any info?

Later, Ken

Crester

I enjoyed the last race of the season... it wasn't as exciting when Hamilton won his championship in the last corner of the last lap of the race in Brazil... but still it was great to be able to have 4 guys that could've won the Championship today.

I would have been happy if anybody except Alonso won the title.. so I'm happy Vettel won. He deserves a title. I feel bad for Webber tho because I think this would have been one of his last chances to get a title. Being a McLaren fan I was also happy to see the two McLarens on the podium.

At first I was criticizing Alonso for being pissed off at Petrov at the end of the race... but I guess he was just emotional because he could see the Championship slipping away more and more after each lap went by and he couldn't pass Petrov.

Schumacher's crash was scary as hell. Imagine watching a car drive right beside your head?!?! I would love to see the onboard camera. After the incident he acted like everything was cool... but judging by how he moved in the car as Liuzzi's car went over his... you could tell he was about to **** his pants. lol

Aby@MIL.SPEC

iTrader: (161)

Congrats to Vettel!

It was a boring, yet exciting race......the renault's could just put the power down exiting the corners......funny how alonso couldnt get around his old car/team!!

Petrov put in a strong finish while being under constant pressure.

i agree, webber didnt look like he was trying either, maybe he did have issues - he did thump the wall & went off a few times........he was the first driver to pit (not including the lap 1 guys) once the race really got underway.....

KPerez

Earlier in the year I thought that having two drivers on a team that were equally talented was a detriment, not an asset, aka RB. Why?...because of the in fighting between them resulting in the fiasco were they both collided unnecessarily. However, this strategy turns out to be not flawed but rather an advantage and probably resulted in them winning the driver champ.

Ferrari assumned it was Weber they had to worry about, not Vettel because of the points spread between the two. So they were covering Weber. This decision turned out to be one of their undoings as best articulated by Newey: "That is where our policy of allowing our drivers to compete against each other got us into the position where they had to worry about two and not one...That had to be key because they did not know which one to cover."Of course, Ferrari made another major blunder and that has to do with the eyes and ears: Ferrari should have seen Weber hit the armco and heard him say thereafter that something was loose on the rear tire. So when he pitted they thought it was graining on Weber's tires that brought him in. They then thought that the same would happen to Alonso's tires and pitted him for a change to cover Weber...this cost them the driver's champ.

Finally, a great F1 year..enjoyed it and all UR thoughts and comments with hopefully more to come

Later, Ken

KevinD

iTrader: (56)

and goes to show, racing just to cover a guy isn't racing. you need to go 100% if you want to win, and alonso's team let him down with a poor strategy (although i was rather shocked he wasn't able to pass petrov)

DaWorstPlaya

iTrader: (31)

I know exactly what you mean. It was the most boring (due to little position change due to over taking), yet the most exciting race. It's weird but the lap counter seemed to be going down a lot faster than other races.

Congrats indeed! I know Alonso and Weber were trying their hardest, you could tell by all the slipping and sliding they were doing in the corners. As I suspected the McLarens and Renaults were the spoilers in this race due to their superior straight line speeds. The only clear way to pass in this race was to do it the straights and the Renaults had one of the highest straight line speeds. You could tell as it pulled away from the Ferrari in the end of the long straight aways even though the Ferrari had a toe on the Renault.

When Alonso would get on the back of Petrov's Renault in the corners, the Ferrari's grip would wash away due to the turbulence caused by the blown double diffuser system on the Renault in front. You could see Alonso's car lose downforce and subsequently grip and slide off. Thus although the Ferrari was overall faster than the Renault it couldn't pass the car in the corners.

This is one of the main reason teams are doing away with the double diffuser next season. Hopefully more passing in the corners

Crester

If they want to allow more passing... they need to increase mechanical grip. All this aero stuff is what makes it difficult because airflows get disturbed by the leading car. Even if the FIA bans double diffusers... the teams will just come up with some other aero device.

This is why I was surprised when they made the front tires skinnier this season. They need more mechanical grip that obviously wouldn't be affected by the car infront. Or maybe ground effects... that worked in GP2 and allowed for more passing.

Crester

It would make for a better show if all the drivers drove *****-to-the-walls like Senna or Gilles. But with the amount of money and resources involved... I don't think they have a choice but to rely more on strategy to succeed.

grillpt

iTrader: (24)

It was def pretty cool to see the kid win...

I think Fernando's tires were going off too quickly, thats why they brought him in... I could be wrong, either way the strategy certainly didn't workout, the same goes for Weber. Getting stuck behind the Renualt's was the kiss of death yesterday, no matter who you drove for. Those cars were just too quick in a straight line.

GT-One

iTrader: (2)

So were there any passes on track? The Toro Rosso seemed to be extent of it after the pit stops for Webber and Alonso. I hope Tilke does a better job on the Austin track, for all the novelty of the Abu Dhabi track, it seemed like the hungaroring/monaco there.

Ludikraut

iTrader: (17)

^ Passing: Kubica/Sutil, Kubica/Kobayashi, Hamilton/Kobayashi, Weber/Alguesari ... that was about it.

l8r)