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Posted: 17th February 2012 by pole position in Dennis vs. Richard: misc.0
Hey Dennis,
I am in the lead! My prediction of Alonso finishing third made the difference.
Result: P-Vet 1-But 2-Vet 3-Alo
Dennis(45p): P-Vet +3 = 48
Richard (45p): P-Vet +3 3-Alo +3 = 51
Greetz,
Richard
Hungary predictions
Posted: 30th July 2011 by Richard in Dennis vs. Richard round 11 (2011): HungaryHey Dennis,
Finally we have a prediction which is not exactly the same! Even though it is only 3rd place which is different:
Pole: Vettel, 1. Vettel, 2. Hamilton.
But third place will go to Alonso. Not Webber, like you think.
Looking forward to a close race!
Greetz, Richard
P.S.: Will Schumacher finish this race without damaging his car?
Zero to hero and vice Vettel
Posted: 26th July 2011 by Richard in Dennis vs. Richard round 10 (2011): GermanyHey Dennis,
From hero to zero and vice versa. That’s how fast things can go in F1. Most people lost confidence in Hamilton’s ability to control his ‘agression’ (let’s face it: we both did not think he would be in the top 3 in Germany) but this weekend he did claim an impressive victory by agressive driving, every lap 110% like his life depended on it. Zero to hero. Well done and hopefully only the start of the Hamilton revival.
Vettel has quite some difficulties in changing his mindset from cruising mode to fighting mode and is now slapped in the press: from hero to zero. And it is clear that Vettel has to change his mindset. Because after the race he was only talking about that the car needs to be made faster, but not about his need to start to push the car to the limits like Hamilton, Button and Alonso have done in the last races. Or were the mistakes Vettel made (going off track f.e.) a result of Vettel pushing too much? That would be worrying. Fortunately Vettel can still rely on the faster pitcrew which cost Massa fourth place in this race so the damage to his lead in points was not so big. And with the advantage in points he still has things will have to turn a lot worse for Vettel to miss out on the championship.
It is nice to see some other faces on the podium though, shame Webber again did not turn his pole into a victory. But he is qualifying and finishing ahead of Vettel these days so that’s good (or not too bad for a number 2 driver). 
Vettel's pit crew outperforms Massa's
Hungary will be a very interesting race. Red Bull’s good slow corner speed should give them back the advantage but predicting the result will be much more difficult as Vettel qualifying on pole is not a sure thing anymore and the race result can also be a surprise. And that’s what we all want, right?
Greetz,
Richard
Worst Result for Red Bull in 2011
Posted: 26th July 2011 by Dennis in Dennis vs. Richard round 10 (2011): GermanyHowdie Richard,
The title sounds worse than it is. Third and fourth is a result that many other teams would kill for. I said it before: the Red Bulls can be beaten. After being beaten in Silverstone by Alonso it was Lewis Hamilton who slapped Seb’ and Web’ in the face last weekend in Germany at the legendary Nürburgring circuit. As a result of returning to the pre-Silverstone regulations McLaren found its form back to win the German Grand Prix. To make the loss even harder for Red Bull it was Fernando Alonso finishing second in front of pole-sitter Mark Webber. Seb’ Vettel didn’t even make the podium to make things even worse for them.
However, fourth in an off weekend is still not bad as Christian Horner said. There are plenty good weekends to come, so it will be alright. If Seb’ would lose this year’s championship he would definitely be the Comedy Caper of Formula 1 history. But for us, spectators, it is nice that McLaren and Ferrari steal wins from Red Bull more regularly. Just to spice up the game a little.
Great win for Lewis
It was a very nice win for Lewis, showing his immense talent and skills once more when he overtook Fernando Alonso after his second pits stop. That’s where he won the race. There we saw the difference between Hamilton and Vettel. Hamilton can actually overtake and Vettel can’t. Seb’ reigns when he starts from pole, no one can touch him. But Lewis is brilliant when he has to fight for positions, showing that he can do things with an F1 car that Vettel can only dream of. Vettel was not even able to overtake Massa on the track…
We saw it last year and I mention two overtaking manouvres from Vettel: Turkish GP, Seb’ tries to overtake teammate Mark Webber and takes himself out. Belgian GP, Seb’ tries to overtake Jenson Button and takes JB out of the race. Both times the mistake was made by Vettel. Of course Lewis has overtaking manouvres go bad too, but that’s always because of a mistake made by the driver he tries to overtake. I know it sounds a bit subjective, but not far from the truth. To make the comparison complete, Fernando Alonso is between them.
What else did we see in last weekend’s German Grand Prix? Kobeyashi back in the points after two poor displays in Silverstone and Valencia. And Mercedes just cannot get it’s car to work properly. We can securely conclude that Mike Shootme is in slightly better form than last year and Nogo Rosberg is slightly worse. On average the results from Mercedes GP are even worse than last year. We also saw one of the last ever races of Nick Heidfeld and what about Karun Chandhok in the Lotus instead of Jarno Trulli.
gpf1valencia.com The Man Of The Race Trophy™
Full points go to Lewis Hamilton. A very convincing victory to shut the mouths of people like Nigel Mansell and Niki Lauda among other people that accused Lewis of driving dangerous earlier this season. The losers!
gpf1valencia.com Dick With Fingers Award™
Good points go to Nick Heidfeld. ‘Yes, but Buemi moved in front of me, it was his fault’, he will say. We say, ‘no Nick, you cannot overtake on the outside before the chicane, it’s just not possible.’ A Renault written off and another zero points. ‘Robert Kubica, wish you were here!’ A couple of points for Vettel for not being able to overtake Massa on the track and a couple of points for Massa and Ferrari for allowing Vettel to overtake during a tyre stop in the very last lap of the race.
Stupid action from Heidfeld, Buemi got penalized
Next week it will be Hungary. Most of the times not a very spectacular race, unless the track is wet. Now I noticed that rain is expected. Nice!
See ya,
Dennis
PS. Oh yeah! There is our GP Race Predicting Battle. The score:
Race results: Pole: WEB, 1. HAM, 2. ALO, 3. WEB
Richard (43 points): Pole: WEB (0), 1. HAM (0), 2. ALO (+1), 3. WEB (+1) = 45 points
Dennis (43 points): Pole: WEB (0), 1. HAM (0), 2. ALO (+1), 3. WEB (+1) = 45 points
It’s still a tie, once more we had the exact same prediction and halfway the season we have the same amount of points. Our battle is more exciting than the 2011 F1 World Championship itself!
PS.2 Great to read that you would like to see the track flooded next year in Valencia. Amazing to see that one can still develop and be able to distinguish very good ideas from the very bad ones (Turbo engines, yuk!).
Alonso takes advantage in Silverstone
Posted: 11th July 2011 by Richard in Dennis vs. Richard round 9 (2011): Great BritainHey Dennis,
Alonso said before this Grand Prix that in order for him to have a shot at the championship he will need Seb Vettel to make mistakes. In the end it wasn’t Seb but rather the Red Bull pit crew having some difficulties putting on one of the rear tyres causing him to fall back behind Alonso. But Alonso did take maximum advantage, drove a faultless race and pulled an impressive gap to grab the win in Silverstone.
And Red Bull’s pit crew wasn’t the only one making mistakes. Button’s race, which might have ended with him on the podium, instead ended at the end of the pitlane when he was sent away after a pitstop with his right front wheel not secured due to malfunction of the wheel gun. ‘This is not good guys…’ said Button over the radio and I suppose that was an understatement.
Failing wheel guns played a crucial role
In the end it was an exciting race, starting with a partly dry and partly wet track (I wonder if it is a good idea to flood the track like that more times… ) which made the teams very nervous to decide on which compound to start and particularly when to switch from intermediates to soft tyres. It was Schumacher who took the plunge and switched first and immediately he started putting in good lap times. Other teams followed quickly. Unfortunately Schumacher did not stay out of trouble (again) and ran into Kobayashi and got a stop and go penalty for that a bit later. I am starting to think if Schumacher has ever finished a race with the same nose on his car as he started with this season. If he wouldn’t have made these mistakes he would have been able to finish around 5th or 6th I think. Like Rosberg.
The end of the race we saw an exciting fight between Hamilton and Massa, with some serious car contact in the last corners. Great stuff! Hamilton finished in front of Massa, but it was very very close. And at one point it did not look like Hamilton was going to finish at all as the team was telling him to start saving fuel. Another fight took place between Vettel and Webber, when Webber was closing in fast on Vettel. He was told by the team to keep the gap (yes, yes: teamorders) which he happily ignored at first. After the race Christian Horner was struggling to defend this decision after being so outspoken last year that Red Bull lets their drivers do their own thing. Now he was making excuses that this was best for the team, he didn’t want to see them crash…etc. etc. My conclusion is that Webber can put any ambitions towards the drivers world championship in a very dark place as it is clear that Seb Vettel is the chosen one (may the force be with you).
The issue of the blown diffusers was a constant discussion during this Grand Prix and it seems like the teams have reached an agreement to go back to the situation of before. That would be a magnanimous gesture of Ferrari as -even though denied by Alonso- it seems like Ferrari has had quite some benefit from the rule change. I still think the mid season rule change was ridiculous but it was very nice to see this close racing in Silverstone. What a contrast with Valencia. Next year they need to do something radical in Valencia, flood the track or something…
After Silverstone the result of our competition battle is:
Dennis (40 points): P: VET (0), 1. VET(1), 2. WEB (1), 3. ALO (1) = 43 points
Richard (41 points): p:VET(0), 1. VET(1), 2. WEB(1), 3. HAM(0) = 43 points.
As close as Massa and Hamilton in the last corners of this race! (with you being Massa ofcourse)
Next round: Germany! (ist dein töchter achtzehn, bitte?)
Greetz,
Richard
Silverstone: BIG question mark
Posted: 8th July 2011 by Richard in Dennis vs. Richard round 9 (2011): Great BritainHey Dennis,
This weekend will give a good view on what´s in store for the rest of the season. The ban on the exhaust blown diffuser will hit the performance of the frontrunners such as Red Bull and McLaren, but we won´t know to what extent until the qualifying on Saturday.
Jenson Button has painted a dark scenario in recent comments and so far all Red Bull has said that it will have an impact but they don´t really know until the car goes on the track. So I expect an exciting weekend with possible surprises.
I do have to say that if I see Ferrari topping the timesheets on Saturday I will feel pretty disgusted with the FIA. As said before, this mid season change is ridiculous (and that´s putting it mildly), and if Ferrari is the one to benefit I cannot help thinking that this is another display of Ferrari International Assistance. I hope Red bull and McLaren can keep the loss of performance to a minimum so we will see a close race on Sunday. I do not mind Alonso winning, but only if it is because of his performance and persistance. Not by sabotaging the performance of competitors.
Our predictions show confidence in Red Bull:
Dennis: Pole: Vettel, 1. Vettel, 2. Webber, 3. Alonso
Richard: Pole: Vettel, 1. Vettel, 2. Webber, 3. Hamilton.
So there might be a change in the score this time!
Enjoy the show.
Greetz,
Richard
Hey Dennis,
Although Spanish fans were hoping for a victory of Alonso, all Ferrari enthusiasts will be pleased to have seen Alonso on the podium. He drove a strong race, passed Webber -who was struggling with a gearbox problem-, but could not come close to Vettel. Vettel was controlling the race from beginning to end. No mistakes, no worries. Clean win.
I have to agree with you that apart from the fight between Webber and Alonso the race was not very exciting. I did not fall asleep but was left a bit disappointed. I have seen much more action and suspense in the GP2 race on Saturday, where Guido van de Garde drove a spectacular race. It was only because of a drive through penalty that he did not finish first, but he for sure is among the strongest drivers competing now in GP2. Let´s hope he can secure a seat for next year in Formula 1, with a team that offers the possibility to surprise from time to time.
I am curious about what´s going to happen on Silverstone. Which teams will be hurt most by the ban on off-throttle exhaust blown diffusers? Renault has built its car around this concept so they will surely be affected. Red Bull has stated they do not know yet what will be the impact until they run an actual car with the changed configuration. Apparently they did drive with changed engine mappings in the Friday practice at Valencia, and then Vettel was not topping the timesheets. Red Bull´s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has said that Red Bull might lose up to 0.5 second due to the change. Lewis Hamilton has expressed worries and is afraid that they will see a significant drop in performance. Adrian Newey of Red Bull has said that he expects Mercedes and Ferrari to be among the teams which are less affected by the rule change. I still think this mid season rule change is totally ridiculous.
But let´s see in Silverstone whether Newey perhaps has found a new way to increase the gap to the competition. Or will we see a Mercedes/Ferrari podium? Predicting for Silverstone will be more difficult than previous races!
Greetz,
Richard
Hey Richard,
Uummm. Uummmmm. I have to dig deep on where to start talking about last sunday’s European Grand Prix in Valencia. What a bummer. After a Canadian GP that will go into history of one of the most spectacular races, this race will go into history as one of the most dull races. Really nothing happened. We watched the race for fiftyseven laps and Sebastian Vettel won. Nothing new. You were sitting next to the track and I assume that the only thing that kept you from falling asleep is the noise from the engines.
Well, that will be over in 2014 too. The new 1.6 litre turbo engines revving at 12.000 rpm. that will be introduced will sound like WOM-WOM… Who wants to have WOM-WOM if you are used to VVRRROOOAAAARRRR!!! At least it assures you that you WILL fall asleep next to the track at boring races like the one we saw last weekend. At Le Mans the fastest cars (Audi and Peugeot’s diesels) already sound like delivery trucks. Very fast delivery trucks, but still… delivery trucks.
One of the most important aspects of all motorsports, but especially F1, is the sound of the engines. Everytime again the noise surprises me sitting next to the track. The V8’s we have now are actually already less spectacular than the V12’s and even more so the V10’s of over a decade ago. It is rumoured that the F1 tracks might want to turn to Indycars if the new enginerules go ahead in 2014. I find that hard to believe as most tracks have longterm contracts with Bernie.
But if they are for real I stand behind them. The sound of a F1 car cannot be beaten by anything and it should stay that way. I asked you last year if it is time to establish a spectators organisation: the International Grand Prix Spectators Association or IGPSA. Maybe we should go ahead and form such an organisation and make sure that the sound, whether the engines have turbos, are diesels, hybrids or electric, will remain the same, one way or another. What do you say?
gpf1valencia.com The Man Of The Race Trophy™
The price goes to…, open the envelope, a little drum roll please: The spectators that were patient enough to sit out this race and not fall asleep. Respect! OK, and points for Felipe Massa too of course.
gpf1valencia.com Dick With Fingers Award™
FIA for not making a decision on Bernie Ecclestone’s idea of flooding the track before the start of the race. I am convinced that we would have had the same winner, but the race would have been much more spectacular to watch…
Next stop on the calender is Silverstone. Hmmm, the UK? A little bit of rain perhaps? Just to spice up the course of the race!
For what concerns our Race Predicting Battle, no changes:
Result: Pole: VET, 1. VET, 2. ALO, 3. WEB
Predictions: Pole: VET (+3), 1. VET (+3), 2. ALO (+1), 3. WEB (0), so +7 for the both of us as we had the same predictions (again).
Dennis 40 points, Richard 41
See you in Silverstone!
Greetz,
Dennis
Valencia Predictions
Posted: 23rd June 2011 by Richard in Dennis vs. Richard round 8 (2011): ValenciaHey Dennis!
It is unbelievable, but again we have made the exact same predictions for the GP of Europe to be held in Valencia:
Pole and win for Vettel, Hamilton second and Alonso third. Therefore no change in the competition, whatever happens. Let’s hope Webber’s race will go better this year!
Webber crashed last year
As you know I will be on the circuit so I will keep you updated on the latest developments!
Greetz,
Richard