Red Bull

[bmcecosse]

I don't believe a word of the 'Vettel gearbox' story - it was totally engineered to give Webber the win. Webber was rather less than 'overwhelmed' to have won at the end, and Vettel was still revving to the max in each gear long after they asked him to 'short shift' - and he was keeping right up with Webber after he let him go past while there was still another car close behind. Only when Alonso fell back did Vettel fall back slightly from Webber - and he quickly picked it up again when Button passed Alonso and started to close. It's a complete crock!

[PSL184]

I assume trying to maximise the chances of 1 & 2 in the driver standings, but JB had other ideas

[lambrettalad]

DRS what a waste of space 0/10

[bmcecosse]

I think Webber could only be 2nd if various others had failed to get ANY points at all.... But yes - can't blame them for trying, and I do have to admire the Red Bull team - come some way to beat down the 'only a soft drinks company' remarks from a certain now rather sorry looking person at the beginning of the season......

[Alex'n'Ane]

I have to disagree on this one. It wouldn't be in a drivers psyche to have unjustly won a race, its not like at any point webber handed a victory to vettel for championship purposes (ferrari did a similar thing with schumacher and barrichello, indianapolis 2002) And surely a slow pit stop would have been the preferred choice as it would have been less obvious than webber only won because vettel had a 'broken' car. Just my ones.
A fantastic season overall though, the best driver in the best car won. It was nice to see a return to form for JB, and next seasons mclaren dynamics should be interesting. Vettel made only 1 or 2 mistakes all season, a feat which few other drivers can match, and along with his consistently astonishing qualifying laps, and ability to simply drive off in the first few laps sealed the season very early. The pure design genius of the red-bull design team has to be the most remarkable aspect to take from this season.

[brucek]

Who's going where next season? Looks Like Kimi Raikonnen is going to Renault(Team Lotus) for 2 years. What about Rubens Barrichello ( toast or one more year? where?)

Who drives for Force India alongside Paul di Resta? Sutil has peromed well over last few races - has he done enough?

Who drives at Torro Rosso?

We have 4 months to keep our F1 gossip thread alive so let's here your thoughts!

[Alec]

Hello BMCE,

"'only a soft drinks company' ", yes but it must be very profitable as their involvement in motor sport is widespread, from F1 to boats and planes. i can't see Irn Bru doing it?

Certainly a great year for them which will make next season very interesting as the others will be throwing everything at it. We shall see?

Alec

[Alex'n'Ane]

Bmc was quoting hamilton at the start of the season as "just a soft drinks company" I think all the team always throw everything at f1 anyway. Adrian is indeed just a genious. Was always a big kimi fan, but as we saw with schumacher a big rule change and a few years out can change a lot. Hulk could well get the force india drive, which would be a shame for the flying sutil. Di resta has had a strong season, but in a results based game, sutil has dominated him, and should on paper keep the drive over the scot.

[rayofleamington]

yes, Sutil has been well ahead of Di Resta all the time and pretty consistent with it too.
If it was me I'd keep both of them.

Hulkenberg -should have a chance at a Williams seat if they want high performance young blood (maybe only wishful thinking). I'd have replaced Maldonado before the end of the season.

It's hard to rate the drivers from different teams as some drivers can't get a handle on some cars but do well in others. I never rated Trulli much when he was in a decent car but this season he's out driven his car many times.

As for Webber taking 1st - if it wasn't a Vettel gearbox issue he would probably have refused to overtake. I'm wondering if they faked it to satisfy Webber, not the general public. He looked very underwhelmed!

[bmcecosse]

Well -I won't be paying SKY to let me watch - so still looking for suggestions how to see the GPs live (and free) on my computer next year!