I’d say it was a fairly mad idea. The last place you want to be into the first corner in Brazil is mid-pack. I can’t recall a start when there hasn’t been some sort of incident at the start. It would be so easy to have a wing taken off or to pick up a puncture.

Far better to start as high as you can and the turn the wick down a bit on the engine. As we’ve seen so often in the past – its far easier to keep someone behind than it is to overtake.

IMO of course! 🙂

Depends on whether they think the engine will last. Better to start midpack and risk not finishing than start on a fubar’d engine that you know will pop.

Although Alonso’s only got one new engine left, the rules say he can put any one of the older engines in the car with no penalty. He doesn’t have to run with the engine that’s just finished the last race.

I don’t think it’ll be a major issue really.

I didn’t think Alonso had any new engines left?

Interlagos is very hard on engines. Since they changed Hockenheim I now think it has the longest full throttle section of any track – from Juncau all the way to braking for the Senna chicane so I can see why the theory of going for a new engine comes from.

But its still bonkers, Alonso will have 2 Red Bulls and 2 Mclarens, 2 Mercs, 1 Renault in front of him and will be surrounded by Force India’s and other assorted midfield runners going into the first corner.

Its true that others have made a poor starting position work fro them in Brazil but none of them would have put themselves there by choice

Engines used

but none of them would have put themselves there by choice

But given that Abu Dhabi is awful for overtaking it’s not necessarily as simple as that.

Hamilton or Webber for me, Alonso to crash out.

nickc

Alonso has no engines left!

First practice over…

…and Alonso pulls over to the side of the track to ‘preserve his engine’!

Ferrari have also said they’ll be swapping a lot of engines around this weekend between sessions!

Preserve it in landfill maybe. Sounded as sick as a parrot before he parked it up.

Have they bought a truck with all the engines in, just in case… 😉 Unlikely, but depending on your point of view, it’ll either shoot the fox or liven things up if he has to take a 9th engine this weekend or next. Do you tactically take the hit and potentially have reliability from a 9th new unit, or fit a biffer for the last race and cross your fingers/roll the dice for the championship?

How has Nick Heidfeld used 9 engines already? He’s only done 2 races!

I know that De La Rosa will be included in that count 😉 😉

The car has the allocation, not the driver.

Damn your editting sir! 😉

Ferrari said before they started the session that that particular unit was beyond its design mileage and they were going to change it after FP1 – quite amazing really that they can predict when it will blow. They will e fitting another (used) engine for FP2, and I guess a different one again for tomorrow and the race.

Red Bull situation is fascinating. Vettel just can’t help himself getting the fastest lap – he’ll do another engine if he’s not careful.

Wet for quali – real dice-shaker. Hopefully a completely topsy-turvy grid for Sunday. Come on MW!

Lol Bristol Biker 🙂

Hopefully Vettel and Alonso both kill their engines and Button falls off. Idealy I’d like Hamilton, Massa and Webber. Don’t like Massa but it’ll make Abu Dhabi exciting at least with Webber and Hamilton tied on 235 points and Aloosenso on 230. And before Fred goes on about the Hamilton fans complaining about Aloosenso I used to like him when he was at Renault before 2007. It was only when he came over to Mclaren and put them in the sh1t i went off him. Being a life time Mclaren fan I see drivers as once a Mclaren driver always a Mclaren driver. Like Raikkonen. Even winning for Ferrari I was supporting him.

Best season I can remember

Realistically it should now be a three horse race between Alonso, Webbo and Lewis but Vettel is still lurking in the background like a floater in Mark Webber’s pint of Fosters.

Can’t wait to see how it all plays out

gah – BBC practice commentary has had jackie stewart wittering on for about 20 minutes now….

Calm down, he’s shuffled off now…. 😉

Qualy coming up and a wet track.

Bring it on!

And before Fred goes on about the Hamilton fans complaining about Aloosenso I used to like him when he was at Renault before 2007. It was only when he came over to Mclaren and put them in the sh1t i went off him.

Oh you mean when he threatened to ‘grass up’ McLaren for cheating? Alonso ‘put them in the sh!t’? Really?

Fact is the British media love a villain, and Alonso was the perfect choice, as he was the foreigner upsetting the British applecart at McLaren. The vitriol aimed at him is simply bigotry and jingoism.

Alonso had every right to expect No 1 status at McLaren. I’d imagine he was pretty much promised this before he signed for them. Seems that Ron Dennis had other ideas, and wanted his protege as WC. Which, considering Alonso was 2 time WC and had beaten Schumacher to win, seems a bit daft. Surely it would’ve been better to back Alonso for the WC, and let Hamilton gain experience. As it turned out, McLaren ended up winning nowt and getting a massive fine. Dozy buggers.

Fact is the British media love a villain, and Alonso was the perfect choice, as he was the foreigner upsetting the British applecart at McLaren. The vitriol aimed at him is simply bigotry and jingoism.

😆

Alonso had every right to expect No 1 status at McLaren. I’d imagine he was pretty much promised this before he signed for them. Seems that Ron Dennis had other ideas, and wanted his protege as WC. Which, considering Alonso was 2 time WC and had beaten Schumacher to win, seems a bit daft. Surely it would’ve been better to back Alonso for the WC, and let Hamilton gain experience. As it turned out, McLaren ended up winning nowt and getting a massive fine. Dozy buggers.

And there was me thinking that Alonso wasn’t expecting “the Rookie” to be as good as him. The pit box incident shows Alonso’s true nature…couldn’t let a “rookie” show him up now. Alonso is a brilliant driver, but he’s now at the appropriate team.

Well said.

The pit box incident shows Alonso’s true nature…

After Hamilton had disobeyed team orders to let Alonso past?

Don’t kid yourselves that Hamilton’s some goody-two-shoes British sportsman who’d never cheat. He lied to race officials in Australia, and has been penalised for several incidents such as blocking during qualifying, and the safety car incident this year in Valencia showed that he’s as wily as anyone. He’ll do what he can to get an advantage, as would any driver.

No, carry on with Alonso as your pantomime villain. I’m sure he’s bothered.

😯

Hulkenberg!!!

What a result!

Hulkenberg by a second!

But Vettel, Webber and Alonso all together on the grid. The Senna S will be interesting on the first lap tomorrow

great session 🙂

Should have brought a smile to Frank’s face.

But Vettel, Webber, and Alonso, and Hamilton all together on the grid.

Corrected that for you! 🙂

We needed that after more redundancies were announced this week , knowing Frank he’s probably sold nico already!

Don’t kid yourselves that Hamilton’s some goody-two-shoes British sportsman who’d never cheat. He lied to race officials in Australia, and has been penalised for several incidents such as blocking during qualifying, and the safety car incident this year in Valencia showed that he’s as wily as anyone. He’ll do what he can to get an advantage, as would any driver.

Which of course I never said otherwise. Just pointing out the rookie is as good as the champion. Certainly learned some lessons from him. Of course he’s a champion now as well.

No, carry on with Alonso as your pantomime villain.

I wouldn’t call him a pantomime villian…I’d call him a racing driver that along with all the other drivers on the grid have a single minded determination to succeed. It’s just some throw their toys out of the pram when they can’t get their own way.

I’m sure he’s bothered.

Well you are, anyway I thought you weren’t talking to me anymore?

The key point about Hungary was that he tried to blackmail mclaren into doing what he wanted. That for me is what I have found to be very negative about him, particularly since he was perfectly happy to be involved in the espionage and knew full well what was going on. As to it being reasonable to expect number one status that’s patently wrong McLaren haven’t historically worked that way, at least not to that extent and certainly not when one driver hasn’t established superiority over the other.

Speaking as an ex-Alonso fan fwiw. Nothing to do with the media either. 🙄

It’s just some throw their toys out of the pram when they can’t get their own way.

Like Hamilton swearing at Ron Dennis, Hamilton moaning at his mechanics for not making the right tyre choice, whining whenever Button has been faster than him, etc.

Anything you can do, I can do better….

I thought you weren’t talking to me anymore?

Am I not? Dunno I can’t remember. Who are you?

Does anyone else get the impression that Massa’s heart isn’t totally in it this weekend?

Home track where he always flies, home crowd that won’t tolerate him bending over for Alonso, a local judge putting more pressure on him by saying he could be jailed if he takes a dive & Ferrari expecting him to sacrifice his position if needed.

Better off being a bit mediocre this weekend & staying well & truly away from the front 😆

Massa is a confidence driver don’t reckon he’s ever been great when up against a driver who’s performing better than him.

The key point about Hungary was that he tried to blackmail mclaren into doing what he wanted.

Amid media allegations that Alonso threatened Dennis with reporting the team to FIA himself if he was not given number one driver status, Ron Dennis stated in a televised interview that there had been an argument, and that Alonso had said something in the heat of the moment but immediately apologised. This was when Dennis found out about Ferrari data and immediately informed the FIA.

So, Ron Dennis himself makes no such claim. IE, it’s just media-generated vitriol against Alonso. Fact is, only Alonso and Ron Dennis really know what went on there, so any speculation is pointless. Perhaps if relations hadn’t deteriorated between the two, then Alonso probbly would’ve won the DWC.

In the last few races, Alonso has shown himself to be a true great. Hamilton on the other hand has made mistakes under pressure, and shown that he’s still got a lot to learn. Both are brilliant drivers though, and IMO, probably just a bit better than the rest. Cept maybe Vettel. Definitely better than yer Webber, Button etc.

Tomorrow is going to be fun…

So, Ron Dennis himself makes no such claim. IE, it’s just media-generated vitriol against Alonso

So why did Alonso leave a team that could have given him more championships? If him and Ron had kissed and made up there’s no way he would have spent 2 years stuck in the midfield back at Renault. No smoke without fire as they say.

No question that Alonso is a fantastic driver, one of the greatest. He’s made plenty of mistakes too this year though but quite sensibly he’s pointed out that they’ve all made mistakes this year because it’s so close and there are/were so many drivers in contention.

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2010/09/alonso-mistakes-ive-made-a-few/

Alonso did threaten McLaren withdrawn or not. He was also well aware and involved in the espionage. Enough for me to think less of him as a man. Similar for Lewis after various events fwiw though I can mitigate some ( the earlier ones ) to a small extent due to his relative youth/inexperience at the time.