Crown

I was afraid of this if it rained, F1 gets more pathetic with each year, in the old days the race would not have been stopped... 

+1

IMO it wasn't undriveable so no need to stop the race. But lap after lap behind the safety car would be boring too. Charlie Whiting could have just let them race without the SC ...

997.1 C2S GT Silver/Cocoa, -20mm/LSD, PSE, short shifter, SportDesign rims, Zuffenhausen pickup, BMW Z4 2.5i Roadster Sterling Grey/Red

Pentium:

My prayers were too intense :D

I'dike to win the lottery. Can you arrange something there? 

Unbelievable Alonso, another miracle he worked, what a driving and consistency lesson. Who would have thought, Alonso is leading the championship with a car that can barely get into the Q3's, by 5 points. What an injection of motivation for the team.

And unbeliebable Perez! He has a bright future in front of him if he keeps this up.

On the opposite side we have Vettel, the RBR is no slouch but that without last years stratopheric car he is not winning anymore it seems.


--

 

"forget 'bout it" :D Ferdie... Only Don Corleone can do that :)

Congrats Alonso, magic! (and I am not a fan)

But Perez was magnificent!!!!!! BRAVO! Too bad he did that mistake in the end...

Button :(( Vettel :(( Michael :((

There is no try. Just do.

GRANDE GRANDE GRANDE , GRANDEEEEE !!!!!            

i dont know how Fernando achived this today. Perez is a BIG BIG TALENT, I am SO HAPPY TODAY. Both deserved this result !

I was blown away with Andrea Stella reaction winning !!! This guy is all passion, he well deserves his position in Ferrari. GRANDE STELLA !!!!!!!

I PRAY FERRARI RETURNS BACK TO NORMAL FIGHTING CONDITIONS! , I only ask for that, just a competitive car in the top 4 car list !!!  

GRANDEEEEEEE !!!!!

Congrats to Alonso - good race. But he's really lucky that Perez didn't overtake him... he had the pace.

It was a wild race but most notably has got to be how 8 different teams are in the top 8! Says it all how close things are this season. Of course the weather helped add excitement but notice how Lewis and Vettel did not gain anything on the Ferrari and the Sauber out front at any point in the race. That was quite something.

Of course this is a well deserved and good job for Ferrari, and it just made this season a lot more exciting.

Perez is the man of the day but Raikonen and Maldonia impressed again! Sad about Schumi, but Mercedes really lacks race pace big time.

Alex18_996CC:, I only ask for that, just a competitive car in the top 4 car list !!!  

thats all Alonso needs to bag a title, he did it twice before 

un fortunately reality is what  it is and the Ferrari is a car that can barely make it into the Q3, and performances like this won't happen much the rest of the season, I don't think Ferrari can close that performance gap along the season.

Atzporsche:

 Of course the weather helped add excitement but notice how Lewis and Vettel did not gain anything on the Ferrari and the Sauber out front at any point in the race. That was quite something.

No, if you followed live timing you could see that when the track started to dry up and they switched to slicks, all the cars behind him (Sauber, RBR, McLaren, etc) started to gain on Alonso an average of 1 second per lap.

Only as the tyres started to wear off for everybody was Alonso able to decrease the time lost per lap to the others to a few tenths of a second (otherwise Hamilton and the others would of cought up by the end), except ot Perez who was much faster all the way till the end. Fortunately for Alonso, Perez made a mistake and Alonso didn't and that gave Alonso de 5 second breather to take the win.

The Ferrari is not even close to the top 4 teams, and not ahead of the 5th, in the dry, the only thing that saved Ferrari today was the wet track that evened the playing field and Alonso. BTW how long can Massa hold on to the seat? 

BTW, what a difference from Button today compared to Australia 

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I would even consider replacing massa for Marc Genė. He is just finished, its sad, because Massa has been always a talent, specially for Q3 !.  i think all this hype from press will help a lot his move from Ferrari.

i cannot understand how a team that manages a volume  of 200 million € to fight for the championship, cannot at least reach a competitive car in 4th grid position. Just that, not even in the level of Red Bull last year, because that is exceeding even dreams !!

WTF - I'm totally disillusioned... 

Perez deserved to win this race and could have done so easily, but for two decisions from Sauber.. to protect their precious 18 points!!

First they keep Perez out an extra lap before changing to slicks... cost... 5 seconds!  Then, after he made up that time, they gave him a "be careful - don't take any chances" warning just when he was about to turn on the DRS which would have sent him soaring past Alonso...  The result was it distracted him sufficiently to make ( or fake) a mistake which cost him the race!

I know Sauber need points and I also know they don't want to upset their engine supplier i.e. Ferrari.  But, FGS this is supposed to be the summit of motor sport - you have to go for the win if you have a sporting chance of pulling it off and Perez certainly did..!!

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"Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out."

John, I don't think its like that at all. The call to keep Perez out one more lap cost them but that was a strategy desition and worked out good for Alonso and bad for Perez, it could have been the other way aorund just as easily. In fact it was Sauber team's desition to make the first pit stop before than anyone else on lap 1 to put wet tyres what got him all the way up to position 3 after everybody else pitted afterwards and gave him the chance to fight for a podium finish.

The radio messages we hear on TV are delayed several minutes so they gave them that message of caution befora that, and a young driver like that may sometimes get too exited and make a mistake that could cost him the race, so they tried to keep his head cool and feet on the ground for when he got a chance at a pass. Perez at no moment backed off, he kept his race pace even after his running wide (he had bad wear on the fronts) pushing Alonso until the last lap.

And as far as Sauber is concerned Ferrari is fair game as any other team, just like McLaren and Mercedes. And for Perez, he would have wanted to score a victory more than anything in the world and he tried his best but it just didn't work out. Fortunately if he keeps this up we will be seeing him a lot more 

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Can someone explain to me why the McLaren of LH didn't have the pace to make any impression on the Sauber of SP? I don't think LH got nearer than about 9secs after both cars had the same tyres.It was supposed to be a top team chasing a middle of the table team

We must not read too much into today's result. All three front running teams got into some sort of trouble and bad luck and Alonso exploited the variability of circumstances and drove maturely to take an unexpected win. Ferrari know that their win was a freak result, in spite of Alonso's mastery and I'm sure this win will not make them complacent and distract from the urgent need to improve their car.

Alonso himself agrees to that:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98370

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"Form follows function"

reginos:

Can someone explain to me why the McLaren of LH didn't have the pace to make any impression on the Sauber of SP? I don't think LH got nearer than about 9secs after both cars had the same tyres.It was supposed to be a top team chasing a middle of the table team

that surprised me too. Its one thing that the Sauber was competitive on the wet which evens things out, but when the track dried up the Sauber was the fastest car on the track  maybe it was that Perez chose hard compound tyres for the last dry stint instead of softs like everyone else 

We must not read too much into today's result. All three front running teams got into some sort of trouble and bad luck and Alonso exploited the variability of circumstances and drove maturely to take an unexpected win. Ferrari know that their win was a freak result, in spite of Alonso's mastery and I'm sure this win will not make them complacent and distract from the urgent need to improve their car.

Alonso himself agrees to that:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98370

x2 

BTW, did yo guys hear the radio for Vettel towards the end of the race? ... retire the car!!... stay in!!... stop the car!..  that was awkward...

Oh yes the RB strategy showing on radio was very bad PR for them. Very unprofessional. Retire the car, no wait stay in, then it's really an emergency now, come in LOL.

Massa was as poor as Alonso was shining in the same car, i think he should go sooner rather than later!

Great to see Sauber with such pace, wish he'd have taken the win today, much deserved based on pace. Most other, more experienced drivers, would have had no problem taking Alonso.. push behind him a couple of laps to benefit from an error (unlikely with Alonso) and than use DRS etc near the second last lap to pull ahead.. once passed he could have pulled away that 2 second buffer and come home with a Sauber win. Oh well, this is still good for the Ferrari morale.

The top speed of this years Ferrari is so pathetic, that he wouldn't even need DRS to overtake Alonso on the straight   ... if Perez would of managed to come into the straight close enought to Alonso in any of the laps, there is nothing Alonso could have done. Trying to overtake Alonso at any other place would have been a rookie move given how easily (and risk free) he could pass on the straight once he got close nough to Alonso. Unfortunately for him, right when he caught up he ran wide following him before he reached the straight.

Alonso does have talent . That's to him for making the impossible possible  , even If I am not a fan of him at all.

Raikkonen is  showing that even after 2 year of pause he is still 100% with it 

Button made a mistake I would of not thought he could do . He must of been in a bad day.

Grosjean  could do well but he  makes newbies mistakes....

I enjoyed that race .

--

 997.2 C2S, PDK, -20mm

Carlos from Spain:

The top speed of this years Ferrari is so pathetic, that he wouldn't even need DRS to overtake Alonso on the straight   ... if Perez would of managed to come into the straight close enought to Alonso in any of the laps, there is nothing Alonso could have done. Trying to overtake Alonso at any other place would have been a rookie move given how easily (and risk free) he could pass on the straight once he got close nough to Alonso. Unfortunately for him, right when he caught up he ran wide following him before he reached the straight.

Carlos, sorry but I am with John here. Sauber team radio talk was little bit over the top IMHO-Perez did the mistake few seconds later... Pressure was simply too big for him.

BUT... Perez had a clearly a faster car then Alonso. IMvHO today Perez had a chance to become a legend. Instead he become a looser. Yes, Alonso is a Alonso and overtaking him is not an easy job for a rookie. Just... Winning is apparently written in someones genes and Perez suffers from lack of it.

Atzporsche:

Oh yes the RB strategy showing on radio was very bad PR for them. Very unprofessional. Retire the car, no wait stay in, then it's really an emergency now, come in LOL.

Turns out Vettel did not hear anything since he lost radio contact so it didn't matter what they said.

BTW did is what Vettel had to say about Karthikeyan to the press, looks like the "old" Vettel is coming out again now that things aren't as easy and all is laughs:

 “like on normal roads you have some idiots driving around and you have one here.”

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After this race I would say that the cars now rank as follows in terms of race pace

McLaren
Red Bull,
Sauber, Lotus, Mercedes, 
Ferrari, 
Williams, Toro Rosso, Force India
Caterham, Marussia,
.
.
.
.
.
HRT

HRT should be taken off F1 - just like my wife was taken off HRT!! 

"Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out."

Carlos from Spain:

After this race I would say that the cars now rank as follows in terms of race pace

McLaren
Red Bull,
Sauber, Lotus, Mercedes, 
Ferrari, 
Williams, Toro Rosso, Force India
Caterham, Marussia,
.
.
.
.
.
HRT

 

McLaren
Red Bull,
Sauber (today it was very special, we have to wait China)
Lotus, Ferrari, 

Mercedes (they use the rear tyres to heavy)

Williams, Toro Rosso, Force India
Caterham, Marussia,

AM
www.aldo-yachting.de

John H:

We need some rain to mix this up nicely! 

Mercedes will probably be forced to 4-stop, due to tyre degradation,.... but if it rains - then all could change..

 

Totall agree, John. Specially in these conditions. There like 7 seconds off the pace of the fastest car in Q3, toooo much..

throt

"I didn't do it"

Carlos from Spain:

Atzporsche:

Oh yes the RB strategy showing on radio was very bad PR for them. Very unprofessional. Retire the car, no wait stay in, then it's really an emergency now, come in LOL.

Turns out Vettel did not hear anything since he lost radio contact so it didn't matter what they said.

BTW did is what Vettel had to say about Karthikeyan to the press, looks like the "old" Vettel is coming out again now that things aren't as easy and all is laughs:

 “like on normal roads you have some idiots driving around and you have one here.”

True, that was a poor statement right after and it shows how angry Vettel is getting with the progress of this season... Sure the guy was 51% at fault, but i think Vettel had a solid 49% fault on this by the early move to the left there...

Button made a very surprising unusual mistake, but this happens i guess.. all humans.

Grosjan is plain stupid this race. Way too over excited and just unreliable. You have a great Q, just take it easy.
I was very angry when he nailed Schumi out of the race, that is just plain bad luck at the wrong moment for Schumi.

RBR will have some explaining to do for this radio communication in the end...

Atzporsche:

Grosjan is plain stupid this race. Way too over excited and just unreliable. You have a great Q, just take it easy.
I was very angry when he nailed Schumi out of the race, that is just plain bad luck at the wrong moment for Schumi.

 I missed that incident so I have no clue who's fault it was but Grosjean claims it was Schumi who hit him 

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/7625416/Grosjean-Schumacher-hit-me

I really enjoyed the race ... so unpredictable.

The unpredictable nature of events played into the hands of Alonso. He is very good at adapting to changing events in the race. He drove very well today. Massa really is living on borrowed time. I wonder not if but when the axe will fall.

I think Perez did superbly for someone in his 2nd season. I really do think he will be ready soon to join Ferrari. A little more experience of pressure situations is all he needs. I think the radio message was the kind of message made by a small, timid team that was too afraid of losing 18 points to let him do what he could do naturally. I don't think it was a coded message to let Alonso get away. Plenty of cars use engines supplied by engine suppliers that have their own race team as well. McLaren isn't afraid of showing up Mercedes when they use the same engine. Neither is Toro Rosso - Ricciardo and Vergne both overtook Massa today. BTW where was Kobayashi today before his DNF. He is being outshone by Perez big time.

Button made an uncharacteristic mistake today. Overtaking Karthikeyan for a race position as if he was lapping him was a misjudgement. Hamilton had a reasonable day today, like he was just collecting a solid points total since he has a bigger target in mind. It seems like aiming for consistency is his new mantra.

I think Vettel too made a misjudgement. He should have kept a bigger safety margin when overtaking Karthikeyan. I too heard the insulting comment he made about Karthikeyan afterwards. It isn't right for a reigning double world champion to be speaking like this. Webber seems calm and happy. He is performing far better this year as a result. He had a solid race.

Schumi's bad luck continued. Rosberg was underwhelming. Mercedes has a quick car in qualification that only goes backwards in the race in terms of race position. I no longer think they are a serious challenge this season. They desperately need to fix their tyre degradation problem.

Grosjean made some errors today. He needs to iron these out. Raikkonen drove maturely and well today. He has made a superb comeback and has earned a lot of respect for being right on the pace from the get-go.

A reasonable day for Force India. Both Hulkenberg and Di Resta are performing well. Di Resta is playing it smart. He is keeping out of trouble on track since he knows that consistent points finishes are what will add up at the end of the season.

Williams has really turned things around this year. They have produced a decent, driveable car. Well done to Senna for a great points finish. Maldonado had bad luck mechanically today to add to his own mistake in Melbourne, otherwise he would have scored two good points finishes by now. Williams needs those points since the midfield battle is cut-throat.

Caterham and Marussia were just invisible today. Another forgettable race.

HRT was in the thick of the action today for all the wrong reasons. They don't want to be known as a banana skin to be avoided.

997.1 C2S GT Silver/Cocoa, -20mm/LSD, PSE, short shifter, SportDesign rims, Zuffenhausen pickup, BMW Z4 2.5i Roadster Sterling Grey/Red

Race result

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/results/9705704.stm

BBC's Andrew Benson's blog on Alonso and Perez's error

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/alonso_sets_the_standard.html

More on Perez's error

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17505391

997.1 C2S GT Silver/Cocoa, -20mm/LSD, PSE, short shifter, SportDesign rims, Zuffenhausen pickup, BMW Z4 2.5i Roadster Sterling Grey/Red