Heros and Zeros at European GP

[Dare]

heros

Vettel-proves he's safer in the front

Kubica-raising his worth every race
           with results greater than the car

Barrichello-nice result proves he's a happy
                man when things goes his way

the officials-for taking a boring track and giving
                 us something to talk about

zeros

everything connected to the FIA!I think you could ride
around town and pick better officials and stewards on
the street corners

Webber-for being a little too anxious to pass Kovalainen

Kovalainen-for not moving over and letting Webber thru
                 in a clearly superior car

the track-made for a less than exciting spectacle

[SennaMan]

Sutil - his sixth position was overdue [but I did not pick him in the GG - darn it]

Hamilton and McLAREN for devising a new racing strategy:

pass the b safety car every time you figure it will be deployed for many continuous laps, and take the lesser hit of a drive-through penalty

McLAREN for LH and JB being first and second respectively in the WDC and the team now leading the WCC by 30 points over RBR - long may that continue!

the race for being interesting for the wrong reasons but it showed why the re-inclusion of the 107% rule for 2011 is so very necessary

Kubica - he will be WDC one day when he gets a major team drive
[he may just be the best of the current drivers]

Vettel for knowing how to collide with Hamilton and cause damage to lewis's car

WILLIAMS for a big improvement and RB's fourth place was well earned. He drove well all weekend [and I picked him in the GG to be amongst the points - thanks rubens.]

zeroes:

can these FIA stewards get even worse?

they seemingly want to outdo each other in stupidity

Kobyashi, while he had every right to stay out on track forever, he effectively handed the race to SV and LH by holding up those behind his third place race position

[lkjohnson1950]

Heroes: Kobayashi, yes he held up the pack, but he made few if any mistakes while
           doing it, and used his fresh tires to make 2 good passes at the end. He may
           be the most talented Japanese driver we have seen.

           Button and team for turning a poor qualifier into a podium even if he was
           speeding under the yellow.

Zeroes: The track. Another dreadful Tilke drome where it is impossible to pass. Several
           front rank drivers spent the race staring at the back of a much slower car.

           Alonso, could not find a way by the much slower Buemi for 2/3RDs of the race.

           I don't blame Kovi for the accident, it appeared that he moved to the left to
           let Webber by at just the moment Webber decided to pass on the left. The
           biggest heroes of the race are the rules makers, car designers, and car
           builders who created a car that could let Webber walk away after a crash
           like that. 

Lonny 

[Williamsfan]

Heroes:

Vettel- A top weekend for him, largely untroubled.  Back to what I expect to see from him!

Barrichello- Fourth place for him and more importantly for the team who have had a dreadful season so far.  Really pleased for my boys and girls at Williams!

Kobayashi- He drove a stunning race, highlighted for me by his overtaking move on Alonso near the end.  This is what made everyone rate him at the end of last season.

Zeroes:

Webber/Kovalainen- We're lucky there was not a serious accident.  Both drivers should have handled the incident better to avoid contact. 

Alonso- Calm down and focus on yourself Fernando!  You let Jugirl down!

FIA- Another race with massive confusion by the stewards.  Penalties not fitting the crime (lenient this time round).  Please, consistency!!!

[Monty]

Heroes
Williams for getting both cars upto a hot pace (very hot in the case of Nico )
Vettel - consistently fast
Hamilton - excellent racing as always
Button - clever or lucky, he keeps getting the results

Zeros
Stewards for penalising Hamilton (it may have been correct but I would loved to see Hamilton catch and fight with Vettel)
Alonso - stop whinning and start winning
Anyone that suggested Webber's accident was Kovalinen's fault. It was just a racing accident with most of the blame lying with Mark who had no reason to try to slipstream a Lotus

[cosworth151]

Heroes:

COSWORTH!!!!! - Showed what the CA2010 engine can do in a half decent car!!!

Kobayashi - He finally started looking like he did at the end of last season.

Vettel - He made it look easy.

Sir Jackie Stewart - Thank you again for bringing safety to F1. I'm sure Mark thanks you, too.

A special Hero to that brave turn marshall who ran onto the track to retrieve the beer bottle. Bravely done, sir! 

Zeroes:

The track - Another Tilke yawn-o-rama. May we please be spared yet another one in Texas.

The stewards - "We'll wait until well after the race to tell you how it officially worked out."

Fox TV - It was good to have the race on a network that more than a handful of people can get. Sadly, in typical Fox fashion, they screwed it all up. They showed the race with a 4 hour delay, then chopped it p to fit into a 2 hour time slot (less commercials).

Two comments:
The job of a good race driver is to outdrive the competition, even if they have better cars. That's just what Kobayashi did.

Hamilton was penalised. Without the drive-through, he might well have caught and passed Vettel for the win.

[John S]

Heros

Kobayashi for taking full advantage of a lucky break and not making any mistakes, top bit of entertainment and overtaking at the end as well. 

Williams who seem to have got their act together for once, good drive from Both boys but Rubens was the better.

Vettel for a good race, he did enough so full marks, but because of all the circus unfolding behind him he was never really tested.

Sutil for capitalising on a Luizzi mistake early on and then making some crucial overtakes on a track that supposedly is impossible to pass on. Oh and he got me a GG point as well, top bloke.

Zeros

Mercedes - did anyone actually see the Silver Arrows in the race at Valencia or were we just shown re-plays of the cars at other tracks this year in amongst the race footage? 

Glock for having a pointless accident with one of the Hispanias whilst holding up some of the leaders under blue flags.

Webber for a Vettel style move on Heikki, which was for position after all. Now Mark you just might understand a little about Seb's reaction over your coming together. So if that was all his fault then it follows I guess that this one must be down to you.

Special mention for David Coulthard, in the Zeros, because of his repeated claims in TV commentary after the Webber smash, about the new slow teams having no place in F1 and something must be done as these slow cars are a menace to other faster drivers. I seem to recall you took a very different stance when one MS, really shifting in a wet race, ran into the back of your, tentatively driven, slow moving McLaren in almost a copycat shunt. I know you are getting older david, like the rest of us, but you are a bit too young to have memory problems.    
 

[Jericoke]

the race for being interesting for the wrong reasons but it showed why the re-inclusion of the 107% rule for 2011 is so very necessary

Kovalainen's Q1 time was within 103% of Vettel's pole time.  107% rule is not a factor in the crash.

Kubica - he will be WDC one day when he gets a major team drive
[he may just be the best of the current drivers]

Alas, he comes along at the same time as Vettel, Hamilton, Rosberg, Kobayashi, Petrov, and also when Button and Webber discover they are capable of winning themselves, and Alonso isn't going away any time soon.

I hope you're right, but Kubica runs a good risk of being among the best to never win

Kobyashi, while he had every right to stay out on track forever, he effectively handed the race to SV and LH by holding up those behind his third place race position

1.  I never saw footage of anyone right on Kobayshi's rear wing, nor heard about anyone magically closing the gap once he did pit.

2.  He passed Buemi and Alonso, who he was supposedly holding up, for position.

The best drivers are the ones who can take a speck of luck and turn it into a result.  Kobayashi's drive might've been the best instance of that since Vettel's win for STR.
Kobayashi passed both Alonso and Buemi for position.  He's got greatness in him, and it's up to Peter Sauber (or maybe another team) to unlock it.

[SennaMan]

the race for being interesting for the wrong reasons but it showed why the re-inclusion of the 107% rule for 2011 is so very necessary

Kovalainen's Q1 time was within 103% of Vettel's pole time.  107% rule is not a factor in the crash.

????? I did not say it was Jeri!

F1 is, or should be, a showcase for the fastest cars not an exhibition for newbies who lap slower than GP2 cars. Hence the comment I made supporting the the re-inclusion of the 107% rule for 2011. In fact I wish they make the cut-off 105%. 

[Alianora La Canta]

Heroes

Kobayashi - it was great to see him running so well near the front. Overtaking Buemi in one lap after watching Alonso fail to do it in 16 was amusing. Seventh was a neat reward.

Rosberg - critical brake temperatures before the halfway mark were insufficient to prevent him from scoring a point in Mercedes' most difficult weekend so far.

Hamilton - got muddled, took a penalty and still took second. Well run!

Zeroes

The stewards - please check the regulations before issuing non-existant penalty types. It would save much bother for all concerned.

The bottle lobber - that could have been really, really dangerous.

Hulkenburg - this isn't for retiring because that looked pretty technical to me. This is for the embarassing spectacle of repeatedly kicking the tyre barrier afterwards. I bet Nico had sore toes after that one...

[Andy B]

Hero's

• Hamilton and Button taking it to the Red Bulls and beating Ferrari
• The Marshal who removed the bottle when I was expecting another safety car.
• Williams for upping their game.

Zero's

• Ferrari for moaning again because they didn't win.
• Alonso moaning again because Hamilton beat him.
• The safety car rules for causing complete confusion, I thought they were supposed to pick up the leader and with GPS they missed him!!

[Jericoke]

the race for being interesting for the wrong reasons but it showed why the re-inclusion of the 107% rule for 2011 is so very necessary

Kovalainen's Q1 time was within 103% of Vettel's pole time.  107% rule is not a factor in the crash.

????? I did not say it was Jeri!

F1 is, or should be, a showcase for the fastest cars not an exhibition for newbies who lap slower than GP2 cars. Hence the comment I made supporting the the re-inclusion of the 107% rule for 2011. In fact I wish they make the cut-off 105%.  

I'm not sure how the race demonstrated the 107% (or 105%) would be important.  I don't remember slow traffic being an issue like it was 2 weeks ago.

[lkjohnson1950]

I not sure either. It looked like Webber had room to get by on the right, but he jinked left just as Kovi moved to the left. Purely a racing incident. Didn't these people know the new teams would struggle to get on pace? I think they have done pretty well.

Lonny

[SennaMan]

the race for being interesting for the wrong reasons but it showed why the re-inclusion of the 107% rule for 2011 is so very necessary

Kovalainen's Q1 time was within 103% of Vettel's pole time.  107% rule is not a factor in the crash.

????? I did not say it was Jeri!

F1 is, or should be, a showcase for the fastest cars not an exhibition for newbies who lap slower than GP2 cars. Hence the comment I made supporting the the re-inclusion of the 107% rule for 2011. In fact I wish they make the cut-off 105%.  

I'm not sure how the race demonstrated the 107% (or 105%) would be important.  I don't remember slow traffic being an issue like it was 2 weeks ago.

well obviously the FIA et al think slow cars are an issue hence the new rules for 2011. Long overdue too.

and may I repeat F1 is "......not an exhibition for newbies who lap slower than GP2 cars."

so Jeri do you seriously believe a gaggle of F1 cars lapping consistently up to 3 to 5 seconds slower a lap on every circuit is not an issue?

if you do, i cannot agree with you; traffic that slow is always an issue especially on tight circuits like Valencia - hence the necessity for the new 107% rule.

if ya don't shape up ya don't get to race as you are not worthy to be in F1.

bring it on I say to end the cringe/embarassment of the woeful current spectacle.

[Jericoke]

the race for being interesting for the wrong reasons but it showed why the re-inclusion of the 107% rule for 2011 is so very necessary

Kovalainen's Q1 time was within 103% of Vettel's pole time.  107% rule is not a factor in the crash.

????? I did not say it was Jeri!

F1 is, or should be, a showcase for the fastest cars not an exhibition for newbies who lap slower than GP2 cars. Hence the comment I made supporting the the re-inclusion of the 107% rule for 2011. In fact I wish they make the cut-off 105%.  

I'm not sure how the race demonstrated the 107% (or 105%) would be important.  I don't remember slow traffic being an issue like it was 2 weeks ago.

well obviously the FIA et al think slow cars are an issue hence the new rules for 2011. Long overdue too.

and may I repeat F1 is "......not an exhibition for newbies who lap slower than GP2 cars."

so Jeri do you seriously believe a gaggle of F1 cars lapping consistently up to 3 to 5 seconds slower a lap on every circuit is not an issue?

if you do, i cannot agree with you; traffic that slow is always an issue especially on tight circuits like Valencia - hence the necessity for the new 107% rule.

if ya don't shape up ya don't get to race as you are not worthy to be in F1.

bring it on I say to end the cringe/embarassment of the woeful current spectacle.

Absolutely the 'slow cars' need to more competitive.  However, in this race all cars qualified within 107% (not sure about 105%).   

I was just thrown off the point by your 'worst' comment.  There was enough action at the front of the field that I never noticed the slow cars.  Heck, one 'slow car' that was knocked out in Q1 absolutely stole the show!  (in a good way... while one other was involved in the worst part of the race.)

An ideal F1 grid has 26 cars, all of which are capable of winning the race.  The driving talent is there.  The rules are there (subject to debate, but I think the average dry race this year is better than the [i}average[/i] dry race from any recent season, even if you include the yawners to open the season).  We just need the teams... and I'm sure an extra year's experience, plus a full year lead time into the next season, will go a long way to closing the gap (I wouldn't be surprised to see Lotus sneaking into a few Q3s next season).