Well THAT was a brilliant experience and I highly recommend it. The sound is fucking SPECTACULAR, and the smell is pretty good too. Didn't think the atmosphere lived up to what I'd heard it was like, but that's a minor thing. The cheer when Hamilton came through in front of Alonso fairly early on wasn't that impressive at all. I was at Copse so I didn't really see any major action, all I saw really was Buemi driving past with a shredded tyre and Schumacher sans front wing. The speed is much more apparant that close though, we moved down to Maggots halfway through and it's really amazing how quickly they take those few corners through there. Amazed at how Vettel was so close behind Hamilton through there lap after lap when any non-F1 driver would have no chance of not crashing into the back of him. Also really glad Alonso won, obviously would've preferred a McLaren 1-2 but it was good to see him winning, especially as I've grown to like him this year. And the Italian national anthem is good to hear and pretty nostalgic. Also I've been told I was on TV, dunno if anyone recognised me from Facebook or anything? Gonna have to watch it anyway, still have no idea what happened to Kobayashi. Gotta put a good word in for Perez though, it was really great to see him keeping up with Rosberg all the way through the race. I managed to come away with a small piece of carbon fiber from the Vodafone tent, supposedly from this year's McLaren car, and I picked up some marbles from the track afterwards.
If JB got away from the pits with his tire intact, I think he would have been on for a podium. Also, im glad Webber ignored team orders from Red Bull and went to fight Vettel for position, hes a good driver and he deserves to be fighting for a drivers world championship.
Someone at work today said the Sun said Webber's disobeying of team orders might make the team get rid of him and bring in Hamilton... yeah because Lewis Hamilton is more likely to obey when he's told to slow down...
I can see a potential switch between Webber and Button to be honest, both don't seem too happy and both are out of contract at the end of the year and are in/approaching their final couple of seasons. Really enjoyed the race but I felt slightly bitter about not being there again. The Massa/Hamilton scrap was absolutely brilliant. Also pleased to see Alguesuari in the points for the third consecutive race. He's really turning his season around after a dodgy start. He showed what he could do last year and it's nice to see the STR a little more competitive so he can build on that.
I still can't see Button leaving McLaren, he seems happy there, I reckon any talk that he is looking to move is mostly made up by the press to make McLaren look bad.
Loved the race! Was a shame Webber had to 'maintain the gap', but then it was totally understandable.
I am watching F1 for the first time in a while. It's crazy. It's constant. I have no idea what's going on.
Brilliant, brilliant first half of the race. It faded towards the end but that was fine because the result was glorious
Asides from Vettel's ever-ridiculous lead in the championship, I'd say on a race-to-race basis that this season's topping last year already. As Martin Brundle said before, 8/10 have been great viewing. I really hope today can act as a springboard for Hamilton for the rest of the season; he proved why he's the best driver on that grid today in a car that even Button was absolutely nowhere in. There's next to no chance of him or Alonso winning it but a strong second place this year could bode well for 2012. Also - Paul Di Resta, just give up that seat and give it to Hulkenberg!
Bollocks, Di Resta is brilliant. Heidfeld punted him off at the second corner leaving him dead last - it's not easy to come back from that. Also, compared to Sutil, he's outqualified him 7-3 this season. This for a guy who had never driven an F1 car before this year compared to the very experienced Sutil.
He drove in FP1 regularly last year. He had a couple of solid early races but since has made a ton of errors that have ruined his race. I could understand that if he was 20/21 and had been thrown in at the deep end somewhat, but he's 26. He has a lot of racing experience. Sutil is also not that experienced, this is only his fifth (?) season. Hulkenberg just has more potential. It also doesn't help that PDR is the single least inspiring person in the paddock; he's a fucking robot.
Yeah, he did drive in practice occasionally, but never in race trim. Clearly that is taking some time for him to adjust to - but even Schumacher is struggling in that regard. Clearly, Michael has even more racing experience. Five seasons is more than most drivers get in F1, though. I like Di Resta anyway. I imagine most of his character will be down to PR management. Most drivers tread carefully in that respect in their first seasons. He's been fun in the BBC features he's been in. I think to say Hulkenberg has more potential is a little unfair because we haven't seen a full season out of Paul yet. And there's a reason he demolished Vettel when he was his team mate in GP2.
Paul Di Resta's doing a great job in that car, and he's a really nice guy too. He drove in about 4 P1 sessions last year I think? Which is a lot less than Hulkenberg getting every P1 this season. The amount of points he's scored really don't reflect the quality of his driving at all. Sure he's made a couple of mistakes and lost front wings but so has the second most experienced man on the grid and seven time world champion..... The rookies this season have all been pretty good tbh, I was skeptical of Maldonado at first but he's doing a fine job, Perez has had some good performances as has Di Resta, and D'Ambrosio hasn't exactly been miles behind Timo Glock. Even outqualified him a few times. Also Button might be 'nowhere' in a few races but in all his time at McLaren the only times he's retired, it hasn't been his fault, and Korea is the only time he's finished out of the points! This is a bit of a different Hamilton than we've seen earlier in the season, he seemed much more at ease with himself. Earlier on, in Monaco and Montreal and a few times last year he pushed too hard and took himself out of the race. Button is always happy to finish where he can, not take stupid risks and bring the car home in one piece. Better than coming away from a GP with no points at all. I definitely think if Ferrari and McLaren can dominate from now on and keep Vettel well away from the podium, one of their drivers can win the WDC if he keeps coming on top, like Alonso did last year. Hopefully it'll be Hamilton this year though.
Absolutely disgusted. I guess it's now only a matter of time before they get Winbledon too and BBC is left broadcasting stupid sports with tiny audiences and the Olympics. In other news Hamilton was quickest from Vettel and Alonso in P1 for Hungary.
Oh fuck. What happened to Bernie saying "its not for sale" a few weeks ago? Guess he's gone back on that one then. How does putting it on channels that not everyone has mean "more coverage" - you don't get more coverage than a channel that everyone has! It'd be preferable for them to move back to ITV to get the advertising money if that's what they're after - atleast then I could see every race. I don't really get it though - it's not like F1 is a poor sport that relies on lots of money from the broadcaster who pays for it just to survive. If anything this is going to make advertisers pull out, as they're probably going to get a lot less viewers now?
