2012 Formula One Season

[Root]

Reminder: the Italian GP starts on Friday.

[hopeful traveller]

Now that the Force India drivers have been confirmed, please recheck my post.

[tubeguru]

Which post? What are you on about now?

[Root]

I have no idea either. I can't see any recent discussion of the Force India drivers.

Anyway, the Italian GP is over. I thought it was decent, a little more exciting than Spa. Alonso started tenth but managed to salvage the race and extend his lead in the championship, despite Hamilton's victory.

The round was won by GV27, someone I know from another forum, who was actually at Monza this weekend. It's increasingly looking like a two-way battle at the front, though, with hopeful traveller and Garion pulling away from everyone else. They are separated by just three points now.

The next race is in Singapore in a fortnight's time.

[Root]

The Singapore Grand Prix starts tomorrow.

[tubeguru]

Which gives me an excuse to post this little gem from my favourite Japanese band, Shonen Knife. You probably won't like it, but I believe I am one of two forum members who have even heard of them. Correct me if I'm wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3x9D5LP30c

And if you can't understand what she's singing:

Little girl said Chinese
Dumplings taste so good
And the tourists take pictures of
The phoenix all around the town
Singapore, Ah, Singapore

Many tall skyscrapers
Standing all in a row
In this Asian country just
North of the equator
Singapore, Ah, Singapore

You can't buy chewing gum
Anywhere in Singapore
But you can buy
Peppermint candy
Cause you eat it til it's gone
Singapore, Ah, Singapore

[Root]

The Singapore GP is over, and I thought it was one of the year's most boring races. Alonso is living a bit of a charmed life at the moment; even though he hasn't won any of the last four races, his rivals keep taking it in turns to win, allowing him to keep his gap at the top of the championship standings. It's looking more and more likely that he will pick up his third title at the end of the year.

The player formerly known as uefacup81 scored the most points this round, while hopeful traveller extends his lead at the top.

Two weeks until the Japanese Grand Prix, which kicks off the intensive final chapter of the season, with six races in the space of eight weekends.

[tubeguru]

Mark Webber given a 20-second penalty, dropping him to 11th place.

http://twitpic.com/axoq2s

[Root]

I've updated the scores. No change at the top.

[tubeguru]

So, good old Lewis is off to Mercedes, and Perez replaces him at McLaren. That leaves Massa looking increasingly secure at Ferrari, with a new deal not far away according to some sources.

So that'll be Alonso and Vettel fighting for next year's championship then. Not that Hamilton is fighting for this year's ...

[Root]

I agree with what you wrote, Neil, but Hamilton is clearly playing the long game, in the hope that he'll be able to build the team around him and launch a title challenge in 2014 or beyond. He'll need a lot of patience for that, though, and patience is not the first word that comes to mind with Hamilton.

Still, I'm glad he moved, The top teams' line-ups had remained unchanged for so long, it was starting to feel stale. Now there is an added element of unpredictability for next season, as it's only when drivers switch teams that we get a real chance to assess their relative strengths.

[tubeguru]

I've seen a few pieces written by F1 observers (and NOT PlanetF1), who claim that Bernie wants Mercedes at the front (they recently signed the new Concorde Agreement), and pulled some strings to get a top driver on board. Time for MS to retire for good now. These last three seasons have dragged his previously-impressive overall averages down.

[hopeful traveller]

Everyone at school thinks that MSC will go to Ferrari and Massa will be out in the cold.

[tubeguru]

Yeah, I wouldn't put the mortgage on that particular prediction.

[Root]

Reminder, in case anyone didn't already see it on Facebook: the Japanese Grand Prix starts early tomorrow morning.