2012 Formula One Season

[Root]

Oh dear, I wonder how Hopeless Traveller will explain this one:

8 Valtteri Bottas 2:14.660
9 Sebastian Vettel 2:14.860
10 Michael Schumacher 2:15.402
15 Lewis Hamilton 2:16.827
16 Jenson Button 2:16.861
22 Fernando Alonso 2:40.749
23 Kimi Raikkonen 2:46.580

Ahead of six world champions in wet practice.

In fairness, his team-mate, Pastor Maldonado, was second. Bottas has beaten him in FP1 quite a few times this year though.

[Steeevooo]

But for a guy that has only ever had about three hours worth of F1 driving experience*, to finish in the wet ahead of so many prestigious names is a tremendous achievement.

*hours of F1 driving experience as per Hopeless Traveller stats

[hopeful traveller]

Oh dear, I wonder how Hopeless Traveller will explain this one:

8 Valtteri Bottas 2:14.660
9 Sebastian Vettel 2:14.860
10 Michael Schumacher 2:15.402
15 Lewis Hamilton 2:16.827
16 Jenson Button 2:16.861
22 Fernando Alonso 2:40.749
23 Kimi Raikkonen 2:46.580

Ahead of six world champions in wet practice.

Well, does Pic deserve to be in the second Ferrari seat then?

[Steeevooo]

Haven't you realised yet that your attempts to change the subject don't actually work with us?

[hopeful traveller]

I didn't - if you think that Bottas deserves to be in the Williams seat for being six world champions in wet practice, then doesn't Pic deserve to be in the second Ferrari seat?

Have a look at my, for once, unbiased view of BBC v Sky here.

[Steeevooo]

I'd be happy for you to explain the relationship between Pic and Ferrari to me... Bottas has a connection with Williams, Pic has no such connection with Ferrari, hence your point is, at best, tenuous.

[tubeguru]

I was going to suggest that his reasoning might be that if Bottas deserved a good seat because he finished practice ahead of six world champions, then Pic would deserve a similar promotion because he had also finished ahead of them.

But Pic finished the session in 17th place, so I don't see the correlation.

[Root]

The Belgian GP scores are up, after a pretty dramatic race that has made the championship battle somewhat more interesting.

Well done to Urzzz1871, the winner of this round. He moves into joint third place overall, with hopeful traveller moving back into the lead on his own.

Only one week until Monza!

[tubeguru]

You're not going to wait for any penalties that might be dished out?

[hopeful traveller]

Pic finished Practice 2 in first. I'm just ridiculing you here.

[Root]

You're not going to wait for any penalties that might be dished out?

I'll just update the spreadsheet if any are forthcoming.

[Root]

Maldonado picked up two penalties, but they are both for the next race. More significantly, Grosjean won't be taking part in that race at all, as he has been banned for the dangerous collision he caused today. His replacement will be Jérôme D'Ambrosio. Any Grosjean picks will automatically be transferred to D'Ambrosio because it's only going to be a one-race swap.

[hopeful traveller]

Erm... it may not be D'Ambrosio. If I were Lotus I'd pick Alguersuari - he's done Pirelli testing in a Lotus car this year.

[Sam]

It's more than likely going to be D'Ambrosio though

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102202

[tubeguru]

Whoever it is, Grosjean becomes the first driver to be replaced this year for any reason other than illness. That will affect the side competition (so long as someone actually chose him).