Well done Seb, but....

[cooperlola]

So another F1 season comes to a close and we have a new world champion, the youngest ever.  No doubt the lad has talent to spare and deserved it.

However, apart from the undoubted nip and tuck nature of the championship, here was yet another dull as ditchwater grand prix on yet another dull as ditch water circuit whose only real appeal is the buildings around it and a few flood lights.  What can F1 do to bring back overtaking and thus a bit more excitement?  Sorry, chaps, it just doesn't do it for me any more.

[DerekJ]

Couldn't agree with you more. There was some tension in this final race of the season but this was down to how the points would pan out and who would place where in regards to the championship. As for overtaking, there was the usual precious little.

However, on a personal note there was big positive.... Alonso never won the championship. I was so pleased. Anyone but him.

[powerdesal]

I didn't watch the GP here in Abu Dhabi, it was 'pay to view' on TV and I had no intention of even trying to get to the circuit.

From photos on Friday, I think the best part was the yachts / super yachts in the background, and apparently the hotel is something else........there were apparently some racing cars around as well !

[cooperlola]

@ Derek : You sound like my o/h.  If he could have gone up and kissed Petrov, he would have done!

@ Steve : I did wonder if you'd have gone.   Lovely looking buildings and a great location in theory but still another circuit which ilicited the usual "well of course it's nearly impossible to overtake here, so it will be about tactics" bit from the commentators. 

Is it just an impression, or are the topograhically flatter circuits the most like this?  Why can't they build a few more circuits in the Belgian Ardennes?[Www]

[Bugsy]

[quote user="cooperlola"]  What can F1 do to bring back overtaking and thus a bit more excitement?  [/quote]

Remove two wheels and insist on leathers [Www]

.

[powerdesal]

I'm not an FI lover as I find it pretty boring, it seems to me that whoever gets in front at the start tends to stay in front, barring mechanical problems. Round and round for 'x' laps and then finish - boring or what?

[DerekJ]

[quote user="cooperlola"]

@ Derek : You sound like my o/h.  If he could have gone up and kissed Petrov, he would have done!

[/quote]

[:D][:D][:D] Just like me. As the laps progressed I was thinking "keep him there Petrov". 

[just john]

Well frustrating, but an interesting season, lots of tension in this race, as you say not enough overtaking, though whatever the speed a few Klicks an hour is enough to keep you in front (and just as well Vitaly did) though I almost wished the petulant one had got by to be held up by last years team; Bugsy's almost right except of course they have difficulty keeping it on the island and tend to suffer more injuries. I did feel for Webber and was pleased to see Jensen found it again. The real winner of course was Adrian, no doubt double joy to see the look on Ron's face, oh deep deep joy. It seems to me that it's just the constrictions of the regs that hold the cars back, they need to be a bit free'er and give the designers their head.

[DerekJ]

Well done to another Sebastien.... Loeb this time. Just been watching him win the final rally of the season, Wales Rally GB, having already wrapped up the world championship. The skill of these guys is unbelievable. It appeals to me a whole lot more than F1.

[Chancer]

I am quite pleased that I have managed to totally give up following the boring procession to the extent that I dont even now who this Seb is, what is his surname?

And has Mikael Schoomarrer returned to F1?

[Alan Zoff]

It just demonstates what's important now in all sports - the glitz, glamour and media hype. The setting and the celeb hangers-on become the event, while the media people do their best to hype up the sports angle.

Magny-Cours is a great circuit for racing but is in an unglamomorous backwater so was dropped by Bernie's media machine. Much better to encourage some self-promoting filthy rich to build a glossy, immaculate arena in a desert and then import loads of celebs.

The best bit today for me was the small piece with Murray Walker and Stirling Moss. So much more interesting than the trio of Jake Humphrey(?), David Coulthard and the annoying, attention-seeking Eddie Jordan.

[Weedon]

Amazing isn't it? The newest racing circuit to be built and, as Martin Brundle said on his pre-race walk of the track, there are no places to overtake. Great scenery though.

I'm with Bugs in his summing up.

[just john]

I like Eddie especially, unlike many, he's been there and done it at whatever level, and still remains knowledgeable, passionate with a great many contacts, he and Martin I like, the rest, well I agree about Mr Just Hardly and also Mr not quite right LeGard soon to be replaced by MotoGP presenter Charlie Cox allegedly.

[virginia.c]

I couldn't agree with Alan more, regarding Eddie Jordan. He and coulthard have ruined F1 for me and I also agree that Murray and Stirling gave us a taste of how things used to be...

[Théière]

A brand new circuit but what twit put the pit lane exit on a 180 bend. Still it was just worth watching to see Ferrari and Alonso fail in their quest. Totally boring circuit though.

 

[Alan Zoff]

I thought that was the most exciting corner.

[virginia.c]

If i were Petrov I'd be sleeping with the lights on tonight...

[Chancer]

Help me people, Seb who? and what team

[Théière]

[quote user="Alan Zoff"]I thought that was the most exciting corner.[/quote]

Me too,  I just wondered how the safety car would get round if there was a pile up exiting the pit [:)]

Sebastian Loeb or Sebastian Vettel? (Strange a man with a bottled water surname racing for Red bull stimulant drink)

[just john]

Alan Zoff wrote:

I thought that was the most exciting corner.

Didn't Webber make it look fun though[:)]

[Alan Zoff]

It would have put the icing on his cake today if he had slid it into the pit lane wall

[just john]

Even Waldorf and Staler were rooting for him  http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9188082.stm

[cooperlola]

[quote user="DerekJ"]Well done to another Sebastien.... Loeb this time. Just been watching him win the final rally of the season, Wales Rally GB, having already wrapped up the world championship. The skill of these guys is unbelievable. It appeals to me a whole lot more than F1.
[/quote]Just so, Derek. 

As for the commentators, I'm a huge fan of Brundle who is so perceptive of what is going on and can describe things beautifully so that somebody who has never driven these kind of cars can really appreciate the challenge.  My o/h and I had a mutual dislike of Walker who never had any idea of what was happening on the track because he was gibbering so much about something which had happened ten minutes previously.  If anybody else had been so inaccurate they'd have been sacked, but for some reason he was allowed to go on for years beyond his sell by date.  Incomprehensible to me.

Humphreys, Coulthard, Jordan et al are irrelevant as they aren't on during the race and thus I don't watch them.  Couldn't give a monkeys what goes on outside the cars - only the racing counts and that is going down the drain.  Real men (and women) do it for 24 hours, or on open roads and forest tracks.[:D]

[just john]

[quote user="cooperlola"] only the racing counts and that is going down the drain.  Real men (and women) do it for 24 hours, or on open roads and forest tracks.[:D][/quote]

The beauty of Le Mans to me is the variety of the cars, to me that is to the benefit of the man and different designer machines, I still remember the Targa Florio for the same reason and a real challenge of 72 kilometres (45 mi) Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie which was lapped 11 times. (and not a lot people know that Porsche named their convertible after the Race Trophy having been a giant killer a few times) Incidentally talking of difficulties overtaking, although the porsche won (Ferrari and Alfa had both dropped out), It was harried for several laps by the Lancia Stratos which danced behind the porsche unable to get by. Even before homologation, the Lancia Stratos won the Targa Florio in the prototype class, and within days of achieving homologation, Sandro Munari had given the car victory on the San Remo. This was followed by victories on Giro d'Italia, Rideau Lakes, and the Tour de Corse, and a third place on the British RAC Rally.

 

[Théière]

I remember watching Michelle Mouton destroying Audi quatros through the Forest of Dean, if it needed to be downshifted for a bend, it was downshifted regardless of the speed or rpm of the engine. She shot the biggest flames from the tailpipe [:)]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMKeJ7AEBm4&feature=related