Tag Archives: renault

Apr201113

Rob

0

Lots of action in Malaysia except for Vettel who marches on

The Malaysian GP was full of overtaking, pit stops, accidents, etc… but is was serene for Vettel at the front as he waltzed off to his second victory and a 24pt lead in the championship. Jenson Button who described his own race as “confusing” finished up in second as he put his McLaren where it needed to be and kept hold of his tyres for long enough to make it stick. Heidfeld confirmed the pace of the Renault as he took the last podium place with Webber taking a hard earned fourth spot.
The DRS was used for the first time really in Malaysia and seemed to work quite well at certain points, i.e. getting people along side the other guy (Mark Webber used it a few times), but sometimes it seemed to spoil the show as the car using it just drove clean by – though you have to [...]

Mar201130

Rob

0

Australia provides an appetizer for the 2011 F1 season

Melbourne took on the task of staging the first GP of the 2011 season and did a pretty good job. Sure it’s a street circuit and doesn’t show up some of the real pace of the cars, and the new DRS systems couldn’t be used to their full potential but it was a good, interesting, and lively start to the year. I’m not sure that Bahrain would have offered the same experience.
So Vettel took his first win of the year and started his title defence in the best way possible, Hamilton showed that he’s not going to let Vettel get away if he can help it and Alonso showed that he is top dog at Ferrari. Button, Webber and Massa all had weekends that they would rather have gone differently but they all scored points which was important last year so they shouldn’t be as downhearted as guys like Kobayahsi [...]

Mar201118

Rob

0

Testing over, Australia is approaching

So testing for the 2011 season is done, the teams have their data and we have the times. There isn’t many surprises within the testing times though I would have expected more from McLaren – not another year spent catching up? If Red Bull stop throwing away points McLaren don’t have a chance. Ferrari should push them hard and expect Alonso to want that title.
Australia is an odd place, it doesn’t seem to be that indicative of the season and doesn’t always show the true pace of the cars. We also know that you can win by being clever here as Jenson Button has shown. Don’t expect the Red Bull to be off the pace though, or for the brakes to explode, they will be hard to beat.
The tyres will be the great unknown in Melbourne as there isn’t really anywhere to use the new rear wing or Drag reduction device, [...]

Feb201115

Rob

0

Testing continues in Spain

Williams will have done their stock price no harm with this test showing as Rubens Barrichello pulled out the fastest time in Jerez. The testing regime doesn’t really allow for a comparison, we all saw what Sauber did last year in the pre-season – and look where they are again.
The headline times don’t tell the whole story as the big teams seemed to set the most consistent fast times with Red Bull and Ferrari looking the strongest of those. McLaren may have to play catch up yet again, if only they’d make it easy for themselves at the start of the year.
Mercedes seem in all sorts of trouble with issues with the car and not seeming like they have the pace, though again it is only pre-season and in F1 terms there’s still a long way to go until that first race.
Renault continue to evaluate drivers to replace Kubica who [...]

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