F-1........race one
 

will watch qualifing tonight and get up at 4:30am pst to see the race

hold on ,it's going to be a bumpy ride !

xoxoxoo:thumbsup:

Watched qualifications this morning. They really screwed this track up. The new part is way too bumpy and is nothing by curves.

The race looks to be good though!

qualifing went pretty much as expected...cream rising to the top.....but the race was swell for the first one!

go red,I always liked Alonso,but hated the french team et al....hope Massa can come up to speed and keep red at the top !

on to Austrailia....xoxoxoo

I hope the racing improves, this one was a bit of a procession, again. It also has started up some discussion on how to improve the racing....

It was encouraging that the new teams did not create an undue risk for the leaders. That was being suggested leading up to the race due to the new teams lack of competitiveness.

Just watched the replay yesterday afternoon.

Perhaps the only eventful part of the race, (When Alonso passed Vettel for the lead) I missed out on by a measure of an untimely minute or so. Bitter.

Yeah I'm not a fan of the new pitstop strategy. Too many drivers are nursing their tyres and fuel load rather than pushing hard and overtaking.

They need to introduce something like... drivers have to start AND finish on the softer tyre, but must still use both compounds during the race. That way we'd see an aggressive start and end to the race. Maybe.

I personally think the racing would be better if they regulated less. I know NASCAR racing is completely different, but pit stop strategy is much more crucial and important because there's no rules regulating how many times you have to refuel (or not refuel) or change tires.

The F1 formula has matured to the point where there are very few variables during the race that have an outcome on the finishing order. The cars are usually very reliable, made all the more so by the engine development freeze. The drivers are exceptional, seldom do they make mistakes. Once they qualify what's going to change the order they finish? Fast guys up front, slower cars behind them. Take away refueling and that's one less variable that can effect the finish order.

Vettel's spark plug puts spotlight back on Renault
Mar.16 (GMM) Hours after Red Bull diagnosed an exhaust problem as the cause of Sebastian Vettel's Bahrain power loss, the team issued a media statement.

The 22-year-old race leader, having started from pole, fell behind the eventual podium sitters and finished the season opener just fourth.

Red Bull said late on Sunday that "further investigations have proven that the loss of power was actually due to a spark plug failure and not the exhaust".

The statement reminded observers about Red Bull's persistent reliability problems with its Renault engines last year, and ultimately futile efforts over the winter to switch to Mercedes.

"Failed world championship beginning: did Red Bull stumble with Renault?" read a headline in the Swiss newspaper Blick.

And McLaren's Lewis Hamilton is quoted as saying by The Sun: "If Vettel had a reliable engine, he's got so much downforce he could run away with it.

"But if he has problems it won't be a runaway year for anyone," he told the British newspaper.

Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull's motor sport adviser, said Sunday proved the talent of Vettel and the pace of Adrian Newey's RB6 design.

"What was shown by Vettel in Bahrain after the big horsepower loss was his incredible speed in the corners," he said.

According to Spain's Diario AS, however, Vettel ran out of fuel after crossing the chequered flag on Sunday.

But Ferrari's Fernando Alonso is celebrating cautiously after winning on debut with the famous Italian team.

"Red Bull are still a bit ahead of us," he is quoted as saying by Blick from his home in Lugano.

xoxoxoo