*****Official Formula 1 Thread*******

[KC native]

Everyone else gets an official thread, so I want one too.

I've seen several people make mentions of F1 on here. So, I'm giving us a thread. No more Speed bs coverage. NBC looks like they are taking it serious and will have some good coverage.

With DVRs now, it's no longer a pain in the ass to watch the races. So watch them and discuss

And if you don't watch F1. You suck. Best racing on the planet.

5799DB !important;">Breaking sports news video. 5799DB !important;">MLB, 5799DB !important;">NFL, 5799DB !important;">NBA, 5799DB !important;">NHL highlights and 5799DB !important;">more.

Following is this week’s coverage schedule for the Rolex Australian Grand Prix on NBC Sports Network:

Date Program Time Network
Friday, March 15 Practice #1 12:00 a.m. NBC Sports Network
Friday, March 15 Practice #2 1:30 a.m. NBC Sports Network
Sat., March 16 Qualifying 2 a.m. NBC Sports Network
Sat., March 16 Qualifying Re-Air 1:30 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Sunday, March 17 Australian Grand Prix 1:30 a.m. NBC Sports Network
Sunday, March 17 F1 Extra 4 a.m. NBC Sports Network
Sunday, March 17 Race Re-Air 1 p.m. NBC Sports Network
-

More practice times for the entire season can be found here.

2013 FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (Subject to change, all times ET):

Date Grand Prix Time Re-Air (NBCSN) Network
Sun., March 17 Australia 1:30 a.m. 1 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Sun., March 24 Malaysia 3:30 a.m. 3 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Sun., April 14 China 2:30 a.m. 1 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Sun., April 21 Bahrain 7:30 a.m. Noon NBC Sports Network
Sun., May 12 Spain 7:30 a.m. 2 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Sun., May 26 Monaco 7:30 a.m. 10:30 a.m. NBC
Sun., June 9 Canada 2 p.m. 7 p.m. NBC
Sun., June 30 United Kingdom 7:30 a.m. Noon CNBC
Sun., July 7 Germany 7:30 a.m. Noon CNBC
Sun., July 28 Hungary 7:30 a.m. 1 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Sun., Aug. 25 Belgium 7:30 a.m. Midnight NBC Sports Network
Sun., Sept. 8 Italy 7:30 a.m. 1 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Sun., Sept. 22 Singapore 7:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Sun., Oct. 6 Korea 1:30 a.m. 4 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Sun., Oct. 13 Japan 1:30 a.m. 1 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Sun., Oct. 27 India 5:00 a.m. 1 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Sun., Nov. 3 Abu Dhabi 7:30 a.m. 6 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Sun., Nov. 17 USA (Austin) 1 p.m. 6 p.m. NBC
Sun., Nov. 24 Brazil 11 a.m. 4:30 p.m. NBC

[alpha_omega]

Damn...busy weekend and i totally forgot this was on.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by alpha_omega

Damn...busy weekend and i totally forgot this was on.

That's okay. It really wasn't a race.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by Donger

The Pirelli tires are just ridiculous. Four stops, really? I read that the guys are so worried about degradation that they are seriously backing off. Something like three seconds a lap SLOWER than GP2 on the same track. That isn't F1.

Pirelli gave the FIA what it wanted for F1. After the delaminations this week I think there will be changes to the tires. Most of the races will still probably be 3 stoppers though.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by KC native

Pirelli gave the FIA what it wanted for F1. After the delaminations this week I think there will be changes to the tires. Most of the races will still probably be 3 stoppers though.

Yeah, just reading that Hembery pretty much acknowledged that yesterday was stupid and will make the tires harder. It really is a shame. I watched the race by DVR yesterday and I pretty much played it back at 5X speed.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by Donger

Yeah, just reading that Hembery pretty much acknowledged that yesterday was stupid and will make the tires harder. It really is a shame. I watched the race by DVR yesterday and I pretty much played it back at 5X speed.

I like the increased degradation but yesterday's race was ridiculous. Monaco with these tires will be interesting.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by KC native

I like the increased degradation but yesterday's race was ridiculous. Monaco with these tires will be interesting.

It won't be as bad as Spain. There aren't any high energy corners at Monaco

[KC native]

Hamilton to pole position

By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Monaco
Nico Rosberg won a close fight with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton and the two Red Bulls to take pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix.

It was Rosberg's third consecutive pole position as Sebastian Vettel edged out Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber to take third.

Vettel's title rivals, Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, were fifth and sixth. McLaren's Sergio Perez and Jenson Button took seventh and ninth.

Force India's Paul di Resta failed to make it past first qualifying and will line up 17th.
Rosberg, who has been the form man all weekend, was just 0.091 seconds quicker than Hamilton. The Englishman edged out Vettel by just 0.013secs.

The first two parts of qualifying were run in mixed conditions, with tyre choice between 'intermediate' tyres and dry-weather slicks tricky. And although the weather dried up for the top 10 shoot-out, and the drivers were able to use slicks throughout, spots of rain did return in the closing minutes.

"The conditions were all over the place," said Rosberg. "Then it started drizzling again so the lap times got a lot slower. It was changing so much - you have to be on the right tyres at the right time. Everything when to plan and the last lap went OK."

Raikkonen and Alonso were separated by just 0.002secs but both were almost a second off pole position.

Completing the top 10, Force India's Adrian Sutil was eighth and Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne 10th.

"I didn't expect to be here," said Hamilton. "I've been struggling all weekend. The first time I've have that in Monaco. Very happy to be here and lock out the front row."
"I was very close. Mercedes were very quick all weekend," added Vettel. "There was a bit more than a tenth missing and I think I had that today. It didn't come together on the last lap, I can only blame myself for that.

"But I am very happy there is not a Ferrari or Lotus ahead and I think we have a good chance tomorrow to win the race."

The top 10 shoot-out was run in dry conditions after rain affected the first two parts of qualifying.

Caterham's Giedo van der Garde took a career best 15th after making it through first qualifying, helped by Ferrari's Felipe Massa not running.

Ferrari were unable to repair the car in time after the Brazilian had a heavy crash in final practice.

Lotus driver Romain Grosjean, who also crashed in final practice, did just make it out on track and drove extremely well to make it through with just one flying lap.

But he was knocked out in the second session and ended up 13th, blaming traffic. He said he had the pace to qualify on the first two rows.

Force India's Paul di Resta failed to make it past the first knock-out session after his team failed to bring him in for a fresh set of tyres for a quick lap at the end. The Scot ended up 17th.

"I apologise for that; that was a mess," his engineer said over the radio after the session.

Qualifying result:

1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes - 1:13.876
2. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes - 1:13.967
3. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull - 1:13.980
4 .Mark Webber - Red Bull - 1:14.181
5. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus - 1:14.822
6. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari - 1:14.824
7. Sergio Perez - McLaren - 1:15.138
8. Adrian Sutil - Force India - 1:15.383
9. Jenson Button - McLaren - 1:15.647
10. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso - 1:15.703

.

[KC native]

Oh, and expect more Red Bull whining

20 May 2013 Last updated at 10:48 GMT
The FIA reject Pirelli's proposal to go back to last year's tyres

By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Formula 1's governing body has rejected a proposal from Pirelli to go back to last year's tyres in the wake of concerns over the state of the sport.

After the last race in Spain, Pirelli said it wanted to make changes to the tyres amid complaints their fragility had made tyre-management too important.

It proposed reverting to the tyres run in 2012 but F1's governing body, the FIA, says this would break the rules.

Only changes to prevent the series of recent failures will be allowed.

The FIA said going back to last year's tyres would not be allowed as it amounted to a change of specification.

Article 12.6.3 of the technical regulations dictates that it would require the agreement of all the teams for such a switch to happen.

Another part of the rules, article 12.5.2, gives the FIA leeway to ask the tyre supplier to change the tyre specification if it proves to be "technically unsuitable", but the governing body does not consider this to apply in this case.

World champions Red Bull, who feel that the performance of their car is being held back by needing to look after the tyres, have been pressuring Pirelli to make the tyres more durable.

Mercedes, who are having problems with excessive rear tyre usage, are also keen on a change.

Lotus, Ferrari and Force India, the three teams whose cars use up their tyres the least, do not accept that a change needs to be made.

The FIA has been concerned by the number of tyre failures in recent races and has asked Pirelli to modify the tyres to prevent this happening.

There were four similar failures in the last two races, where tyres that had been cut subsequently overheated and the tread tore off the carcass.

The issue is with the bonding between the tread and the carcass.

Pirelli will have to find a way to make that bond stronger without overly influencing performance. A source said that should not be particularly difficult.

A Pirelli spokeswoman said: "We are looking at what the change will be and trying to minimise its effect, so as not to advantage one team over another.

"We are trying to find the best solution that makes the least change in itself, hopefully will lead to (just) three pit stops, and to prevent the delaminations, which are not a safety issue but which don't look good."

A leading engineer told BBC Sport that the number of pit stops would likely naturally reduce from now on as the first five races were on some of the most demanding tracks in terms of tyre wear. He said that, of the remaining races this season, only Japan's Suzuka circuit compares with Malaysia, Bahrain and Barcelona.

Pirelli entered F1 in 2011 with a remit to supply tyres that wear out and/or degrade at a rate that will guarantee two or three pit stops at most races.

Guide to the tyres in Formula 1

In Spain on 5 May, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso made four pit stops on his way to victory, as did Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in winning in Malaysia in March.

Alonso and Vettel each made three stops on their way to victory in China and Bahrain, while Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen made two in winning the first race of the season in Australia.
Pirelli has changed the construction and compound of the tyres this year in a way that makes them behave differently.

The teams were all provided with a set of 2013-specification tyres to try at last year's season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.

Those who are against a change argue that all the teams have had the same data from Pirelli and that it is up to them to adapt their cars to suit the tyres.

[KC native]

Canadian Grand Prix is on NBC right now. WATCH IT YOU ****S

[Dylan]

Originally Posted by KC native

Canadian Grand Prix is on NBC right now. WATCH IT YOU ****S

Vettel is the new Shumacher -

Three World Championships and only 25 years old...

It does not look like they will slow down any time soon - They have an amazing package.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by Dylan

So Vettel is the new Shumacher?

It does not look like they will slow down any time soon - They have an amazing package.

Yes. Vettel's success is unprecedented. Just out of curiousity, I want to see how he performs outside of an Adrian Newey car. That's not meant to take anything from him. Mark Webber is in the same car and has not had the same success as Seb.

[Prison Bitch]

First F1 race I ever watched, and it was boring.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

First F1 race I ever watched, and it was boring.

Because you're a dipshit. Today's race was badass.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by KC native

Because you're a dipshit. Today's race was badass.

Sure, whatever. Pole sitter leads wire to wire, never once threatened, and wins by 15 seconds. If that is "badass" then you have a weird concept of what racing is.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by KC native

Yes. Vettel's success is unprecedented.

Originally Posted by KC native

Mark Webber is in the same car and has not had the same success as Seb.

I wouldn't be too sure of that. At least not the exact car.