Niawm - Latest Comments

Re: Hungarian Grand Prix: Qualifying Report

Princess Rosebud — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 16:05:50 -0000

So cool what you learn about people, I didn't know you liked this sport!

Re: Italian newspaper claims Alonso was at loggerheads with Ferrari at Indian Grand Prix

joe — Sat, 25 May 2013 10:34:54 -0000

http://fernando.alonso.cc

Re: McLaren Team Battle in Bahrain: Why Was Perez To Blame?

Rodrigo Salazar — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:55:19 -0000

I think that Button was uncomfortable and exposed. Last year in Suzuka, Checo overtake Hamilton on the Hairspin... once. When he tries again after a pit stop, Hamilton apply to Checo the "brake-maneuver" which consist in to brake a little earlier and a little harder than usual for a certain pint. The result? Checo on the gravel avoiding Hamilton's rear wing. I think Button tries the same.

And when banging wheels at 300 km/h, Button could do the same as Alonso did: Give him space and they didn't touch, even was the same curve and the same movement.

After race, Sky F1 TV crew, showed to Button and Withmarsh the video in which explain the same I'm telling here. The result? No more smile faces on them,. Perhaps, a Mexican elbow is too sharp for their British ribs.

Re: Why Team Orders Need to be Banned from Formula 1

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 07:11:59 -0000

I don't really get this article. It's confusing what you are getting at and you trip yourself up several times and ultimately you end up defeating your own arguments.

Firstly, regarding Malaysia, you miss the point completely. Neither of the teams were favouring one driver over another in this case at all - it had nothing to do with 1st and 2nd drivers. For both Red Bull and Mercedes, the driver in front had both earned their positions and it was coming to the end of the race and the teams wanted to bring the cars home safely. Simple as.

Webber was fastest on that day and had beaten Vettel fair and square up until that point, only once the order had come through to hold station and when Webber did turn down his engine (I presume during his pitstop, and I guess at some point midway through the fight he turned it back up again but was too late) did Vettel not turn down his engine etc and suddenly have much better pace. It was a cheating victory by Vettel, and reflected very badly upon him. It was perfectly fair for the team to say 'bring it home now guys' especially with the sometimes fragile Red Bull and the history of Turkey 2010.

Regarding Mercedes, Hamilton had also earned his position and it wasn't his fault that he was low on fuel, so he also deserved for the team to hold station.

Drivers have taken each other out when fighting teammates (Webber and Vettel have history - Turkey 2010), or could easily damage front wings or get punctures, so they don't always 'know what they are doing' and can lose themselves and more importantly the team a lot of points when it's simply not worth i.e as it wasn't worth it at Malaysia. Thus the team orders at Malaysia were logical, fair and justified.

But now I turn to the roles of 1st and 2nd drivers in general. So you think both drivers should be equal all the time? That's what I interpret you saying. Ferrari favour Alonso because Alonso is a million times better than Massa and thus always more likely to get the team better results. That's why he's number 1. Likewise, are you saying that a new rookie should be equal in the team to an experienced, possibly world champion driver? It's nuts to suggest that they should. Completely nuts.

Team orders have always existed anyway. Everything about F1 is team orders. I mean, surely giving one driver new/faster parts first or first call on a pitstop (as has happened for literally forever) is artificial too? Is that not deciding positions in races too? Your argument is flawed.

Team orders should stay, it's a team sport. They make the cars, they hire and pay the drivers to drive them, the drivers are employees and should do as they are told. In any other walk of life if an employee behaved as Vettel did (blatant disregard for his superiors' orders) they would have been fired.

Re: Why Team Orders Need to be Banned from Formula 1

Pat — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:57:05 -0000

Why has the sport forced Pirelli to construct a tyre that forces teams and drivers (Canada 2010 exciting race with high tyre deg) to lap deltas over 0.8secs a lap slower artificaly manipulating the racing. These are the best drivers and cars in the world lets see what that can do. From lights out to flag, but its a team sport and its the CWC 1st, DWC 2nd

Re: Bring on Formula 1 2013!

Ryan Reader — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:49:02 -0000

I should be able to start writing again just after the season starts, when uni finishes.

Re: Robert Kubica – The Champion That Never Was

James — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 09:37:29 -0000

@Forza Robert/PL @Polish Man

Many thanks to both of you for your kind words, I have long been an admirer of Robert and can realistically now see him perhaps following up a career in Endurance racing if his recovery will ever be completed, much too soon to tell however.

@PetrolHeaven

Many thanks, it was a pleasure to dedicate a guest post on the blog, and I thought given the current uncertainty surrounding Robert that an article about him would be the best way to remind everyone of the current situation. I have to agree with you in that his arm will never fully recover, in fact I do believe his F1 dream his over, which to many will be a huge shame.

Could you see him at Le Mans perhaps? I feel he would be brutal behind the wheel of a prototype.

Re: Robert Kubica – The Champion That Never Was

PetrolHeaven — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 06:41:02 -0000

Great article James, Sadly though Robert Kubica won't ever regain the physical strength to race at the top line in Formula 1 again.....his arm was almost severed - and having been in a similar (but not as bad!) situation with my leg - I can assure you that making a racing return is difficult.

When a limb is damaged so badly it never completely recovers - the movement - the strength aren't what they once were, and phsycologically speaking, it takes a little bit of the edge away.

I too would like to see Robert back at his very best, but sadly I think he's destined to be one of F1's nearly men.

Re: Robert Kubica – The Champion That Never Was

Forza Robert/PL — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 17:01:49 -0000

I agree with @Polish Man
Forza Robert

Re: Robert Kubica – The Champion That Never Was

Polish Man — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:37:05 -0000

One of the most beautiful article about Robert I have read. Thank You very much James.

Regards,
Polish Man.

Re: Were Ferrari Right To Break Felipe Massa’s Gearbox Seal?

RosieBaillie — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 04:02:21 -0000

I completely agree with you, while it might not have been illegal it was seriously poor sportsmanship, very disappointing to watch. Not only did it affect Massa, it affected other drivers who had qualified on the clean side.

Re: Were Ferrari Right To Break Felipe Massa’s Gearbox Seal?

Phil Lam — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 22:27:47 -0000

Seriously, I thought that was very poor sportsmanship. It runs in the line of like purposely losing at badminton in the olympics just to get a better draw (probably). It's one thing for an individual, it's another for a world wide brand name company to have to do this stuff. Oh why not accidently hit vettel during the race in a more grey area move.

Re: Were Ferrari Right To Break Felipe Massa’s Gearbox Seal?

planetf1 — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 07:18:10 -0000

f1 is also highly competitive and is IMO all about maximising the results within the boundaries of the current rules. This is what teams like Red Bull have, quite correctly, done in the past.

it's a team sport, and the move was legal so I'd argue it was a creative move by ferrari. Sure not the best for racing, but if that's what the rules allow, they were doing what they should do.

I'm pleased they came out straight and said the reasons why too. It's all crystal clear. If the FIA want to legislate to ban this approach then so be it.

And to clarify my preferred order of teams would be RBR/Mclaren before ferrari, but I give them credit for this one.

Re: US Grand Prix: Yay and Nay

Ryan — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:24:03 -0000

I think the Ferrari gearbox thing was completely fine Rosie. It's perfectly within the rules (no loopholes) both in technical regulations and from the team orders point of view and is no different to Red Bull pulling Vettel off the back of the grid to change his gear ratios, suspension and wing setup in Abu Dhabi. That affected other cars too, as it meant he had a much more competitive car to overtake other people who otherwise would have finished at least a place higher. And if we're talking about unsporting or trying to take advantage of loopholes, think back to Red Bull's illegal engine maps which were pushing boundaries, or cheating as some would say as they were not within the rules. Or they're incredibly flexi-wings in previous seasons which they could get away with because the flex-tests were not stringent enough. I'm just trying to say it's swings and roundabouts really.

Re: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Yay and Nay.

Rosie — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 04:05:59 -0000

very nice post, enjoyed reading it.