Formula One ( F1 )

McLaren sporting a new low nose this weekend I see..

Wow.
Hamilton 1st and Button 11th
Maldonado 2nd and Senna 18th
Alonso 3rd and Massa 17th

WTF!

Maldonado............. A star in the making.

And Lewis shows that he put his faster underpants on.

Yeah I'm quite proud of Maldonado.
This is going to be another ace race!
Still fancy a Lotus for the win.

Hamilton sent to the back of the grid for not having enough fuel in the car.

Maldonado on pole!!!!!

Good for Maldonado, but there will be fire and brimstone at McLaren. Thats a disaster for them, and shows that they keeping on making these ridiculous errors. It will be enough to push Lewis in the arms of Mercedes or Ferrari. McLaren have the car, and they have the driver, but due to (variously) slow tyre changes, and under-fuelling his car, I bet Lewis' mood must resemble that of Attila The Hun.

Lewis will want a head to roll.

As will Ron Dennis.

I can't help but feel that he misses the motor racing management. And as far as I know, the road cars are not doing as well as hoped. Plus, he's Mr.Nasty to Martin Whitmarsh's Mr.Nice. I think the McLaren engineers and staff are all on edge when Ron is about.

Someone's going to get an absolute rocket, and it might even be Martin Whitmarsh. It really is not good enough.

^This. Totally and utterly this.

I really feel for Lewis. He's not the allround racer that Jenson is, but he is the fastest driver on the circuit. I'm sure that he must have said to his team, you do the car, and let me do the racing. Its not too much to ask, or is it?

At the moment McLaren are become a laughing stock to their competitors. Every time they feel intimidated by the McLaren performances (ie. qualifying), then they can almost be certain that somehow the team itself will let the drivers down. How Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Williams, and Lotus must all look forward to inheriting places through the debacles that are now becoming a McLaren feature.

Its beginning to hack me off. I don't mind seeing Lewis or Jenson battling for 10th place, but if they have the pace to be at the front, then it is the team's duty to keep them there......not to allow others to pick up points and places for free.

Looking at the line up, this is how I see the race (from Lewis' perspective) being:

Only team tactics will help here.
1 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:22.285
2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:22.302
3 Romain Grosjean 10 Lotus-Renault 1:22.424
4 Kimi Raikkonen 9 Lotus-Renault 1:22.487
5 Sergio Perez 15 Sauber 1:22.533
6 Nico Rosberg 8 Mercedes GP 1:23.005
7 Sebastian Vettel 1 Red Bull-Renault No time
8 Michael Schumacher 7 Mercedes GP No time

Cruises past
9 Kamui Kobayashi 14 Sauber No time

These two won't give way; battle will ensue
10 Jenson Button 3 McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.944
11 Mark Webber 2 Red Bull-Renault 1:22.977

Will pass this lot pretty easily
12 Paul Di Resta 11 Force India-Mercedes 1:23.125
13 Nico Hulkenberg 12 Force India-Mercedes 1:23.177
14 Jean-Eric Vergne 17 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.265
15 Daniel Ricciardo 16 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.442

Not easy to pass; Felipe will be obstructive, a matter of pride and team orders
16 Felipe Massa 6 Ferrari 1:23.444
17 Bruno Senna 19 Williams-Renault 1:24.981

Should pass all of these easily
18 Vitaly Petrov 21 Caterham-Renault 1:25.277
19 Heikki Kovalainen 20 Caterham-Renault 1:25.507
20 Charles Pic 25 Marussia-Cosworth 1:26.582
21 Timo Glock 24 Marussia-Cosworth 1:27.032
22 Pedro de la Rosa 22 HRT-Cosworth 1:27.555
23 Narain Karthikeyan 23 HRT-Cosworth 1:31.122

Needs help from the baby Jesus, going that way ^^^^^
24 Lewis Hamilton 4 McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.707

EDIT:
Since Lewis is 0.5sec faster on a lap than the nearest person (Maldonado), over the 66 laps, he may, with luck, get to the top 8.
Any better than that, and the boy has done well.

With all this excitement I might watch my first GP for over 20years today

Go Hammy!

Heart says a Lotus win, head says Vettel.

Though with Maldonado's pace all weekend, maybe...

Anyone find it interesting that Sam Michael leaves Williams and goes to McLaren.
Williams go up, McLaren go down...

It doesn't surprise me. Sam Michael was totally incompetent.

...a Lotus win....

Its a possibility.

Lewis is driving out of his skin. This is why I love the guy. Genius at speed.

Hope alonso keeps it up

Fark me! Lewis up to 4th!!

:-)

Still will be no higher than 10th, after the first round of pitstops have shaken out.

EDIT:
Lewis is now up to 5th, due a drive through for both Vettel and Massa.

Maldonado is 7 seconds ahead of the field. Amazing.

Yeeeeeaaaaaahhhh Pastor Maldonado you beauty!!!!

Top drives of the day, plus finishing places.

1 P Maldonado Williams
2 F Alonso Ferrari
3 K Raikkonen Lotus
4 R Grosjean Lotus
5 K Kobayashi Sauber
6 S Vettel Red Bull
7 N Rosberg Mercedes
8 L Hamilton McLaren
9 J Button McLaren
10 N Hulkenberg Force India

This must be all the more galling for McLaren, as it was obvious that if Lewis had started in pole, he was more than a match for Maldonado. Still, moving up from 24th, to finish in 8th, was a great drive. I still think someone's head will roll though.

Well done Williams, and I thought the Venezuelan anthem sounded pretty cool.

Big fire in the Williams garages during the celebrations, several people taken to hospital! WTF!?

That's terrible news. Rumour is that it could have been from a malfunctioning KERS system. Good thing the race was finished!

http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33872:f1--formula-1-personnel-injured-in-huge-williams-team-garage-fire-after-race-in-barcelona&catid=1:f1&Itemid=157

Hope everyone is ok. Scary stuff.

The fire was much, much worse than I'd thought. :-(

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/sport/motorsport/from-race-winner-to-hero-maldonado-rescues-cousin-as-16-hurt-in-williams-team-garage-fire-20120514-1ylkn.html

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/179691/1/fia_says_31_treated_7_hospitalised_after_pit_fire.html

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120513/F1/120519915

There's even a video of Pastor Maldonado rescuing his cousin from the fire. Wow. What a day for him.
An enquiry has been launched. It really is serious.

Well done to the whole pitlane for helping, especially Caterham.