Final F1 race of the season.

Count me in the happy column. While I wanted Hammy to win as he's the #1 overtaker, he just made too many bad moves this season. I think the fact that he was as high as he was, with a car that's been off the pace all year and the mistakes he's made shows that he really is possibly the fastest guy out there and without out a doubt the best overtaker. Vettel's earned it though, despite also making bad judgment he's been undeniably fast all year and put it to his more experienced team mate over the course of the season. He also has a massive advantage in that he isn't Webber or especially Alonso. I was never happier than when Alonso was stuck and could not make a pass, Webber just didn't seem to have it in him all weekend.

Some more of my random thoughts cut and past from an e-mail conversation I'm having re the race.

Random thoughts

Webber just didn't seem to have it in him all weekend. While A-lons-hole and Vettel were walking the walk and talking the talk all weekend Webber just never seemed like a guy on the verge of a Championship. I think he chocked and lost it before he even arrived at the track.

A-hole-o drove well in practice but let the fact he was stuck behind the Renault rattle him. He was the faster car, but I think he felt entitled to pass and when he wasn't allowed through he just couldn't hack it and started driving erratically, how many time's did he go 4 off trying to get by. Yes the stop strategy killed him, but he let it distract him and instead of driving like a champion he got pissed off. His pathetic behaviour of flipping off Petrov after the race just shows he's a tool.

The new Champ. Well what more could you ask of him? He qualified first, drove perfectly and won it. He did what he needed to do and didn't let anything else distract him. He was in control all weekend and didn't let what ever the convict and the tool were doing distract him. He was focused and in control. All in all he acted like a Champion and the result is he now is the Champion. Well done.

McLaren twins. Both drove well all weekend, not the fastest cars but they drove the wheels off them to Qualify 2nd and 4th and turned that into 2nd and 3rd in the race. I still favour HAmmy, not just because he's a Brit, but he's a racer and the best passer in the pack. Button I like too, but I don't rate him as an all time great.

The Chin, WTF if he were a rookie he'd never get another drive after a bone head move like that, simply over cooked it while trying to pass his team mate at the start of the race, oversteers into a spin and cause a mother of a crash that he was very lucky to walk away from. I bet the skid marks are never coming out of his Nomex. A few more inches and he would have had a Force India shaped indent on his chin, instant dimple enlargement.

You have to hand it to The Renault's, they handed it too, on paper better cars and drivers with the Tool and the convict, they raced the race, not the Championship which was the right thing too do. Yup Kubica has had some excellent drives this year and has kept Hammy honest on more than one occasion pressuring him, stopping him passing etc. A good driver with a good future. Personally I don't want him to go to Ferrari as then I might have to cheer for them and I'm not sure I could stomach that, I love to hate Ferrari these days. In my twisted world I'd love to see the Convict speak out about RBR one too many times, get his arse fired and replaced by Kubica instead. Then the Convict go to the red team and you'd have the perfect hate squad, Ferrari with my two least favorite drivers, ahh the bliss of it. :)

Only 118 days until the start of HAmmy's 2nd Championship year :)

I'm assuming The Convict is Webber, due to what Australia started out as? Alonso got a bit of red mist going and very nearly ended his and Petrov's days in tears going into one of the last few turns (not that familiar with the layout of Yas Marina circuit so I couldn't say exactly which turn, but it was a dual apex right hander that tightens up into a sharper right-left complex, if that makes any sense) and went off more places around the track than I can count. I think he pushed too hard trying to almost banzai his way past Petrov, lost corner speed, and got a poor exit from the corner, so he was never realistically close enough to get ahead of Petrov. that, or the young Russian kept late braking to keep Alonso behind him

HAM BUT VET WEB ALO

Wins 3 2 5 4 5
Poles 1 0 10 5 2
Fault incidents 2 0 4 3 1
Non-fault incidents 3 2 4 0 0
DNF 3 2 3 2 1
Maintained pos quali->race 4 4 4 3 3
Improved pos quali->race 11 12 4 5 10
Worse pos quali->race 4 3 11 11 6
Fast laps 5 1 3 3 5
Points 240 214 256 242 252

The formatting isn't great, but I am just going to leave this here.

Linked for better formatting.

In reply to Platinum90:

The point is to finish as high as possible.

Not most poles, not fewest incidents, passes, fastest laps. You can have 20 pole positions, and if you can't finish a race, the guy who finishes with ONE 10th's place will be ahead of you. You can finish every race worse than 10th, and get beat by one driver who competes and finsihes one race 10th or better.

What you don't have on the list it # of seconds, thirds, fourths, etc.

Points are scored on finish placement.

Therefore Vettel won. Everything else does not matter.

Unless you want to find reasons why your driver should have won.

Reflecting on this season... I'd almost prefer they just have qualifying and cancel the races unless its going to rain.

They really do need to do something about a race where guys who are known to be superb overtakers like Hamilton or Alonso cannot get past a single car. They had the speed to rear-end them for 40 laps.

I know what I'd like to see... lose fake imposed tire drama and all forms of driver aid. Open up the pits for refueling and open the specs for engineering imagination. Force the tech in the suspension and powertrain and get it out of the wind tunnel.

Oh, and make more bumpy tracks so they don't just screw it down so tight its a kart.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

I'm fine without refueling. I like how the performance of the car changes a LOT from start to finish. IMHO, it's better than 2-3 little sprint races. I'm far from a fan of passing in the pits.

I don't like the tire drama. silly. I'm not a fan of the moveable wings, and they will get even more contrived next year when the followers will be able to lower the rear wings to pass. Combined with KERS, and straights are supposed to feature passes.

Tiny single element front and rear wings. Enough to cause decent drag, but not to much to prevent drafting.

Get rid of the carbon based brakes- the fact that honestly out braking each other is a matter of inches over the whole race is lame- leaning on your brakes for 1-2 laps and then keeping an eye on them is far cooler. Doubling the braking distance would be a good thing.

I'm ok with ground effects. Just make them run a higher ride height. And nothing at all behind the drive shaft. Nothing.

That should be enough that you can be nose to tail at the exit of a corner, and draft/outbrake the other driver for the next corner.

But I'm just a fan.

I never said vettel did not win. He clearly had 4 more points,and was crowned champ. I am simply debating the fact that he deserved it... I don't think he did. 11 races he lost position, and only 4 improvements of position...wtf is that?

In reply to Platinum90:

Since, on average, he finished races better than Alonso did, he deserved it.

I'm sure you can come up with a points system that awards for poles, fastest laps, laps lead, and passes. But the measure it what it is, and Vettel deserved to win.

(I'd much rather see Hamilton win).

In a completely pointless exercise I have a spreadsheet that calculates Championship points based on the different scoring systems used over the years.

From 1950 to 1959 the Points were as follows: 1st - 8pts, 2nd - 6pts, 3rd - 4pts, 4th - 3pts, 5th - 2 pts. Plus 1 pt for fastest lap. Total 24pts per race

From 1960 the Points were as follows: 1st - 8pts, 2nd - 6pts, 3rd - 4pts, 4th - 3pts, 5th - 2 pts, 6th - 1pt. Total 24pts per race

From 1961 - 1990 the Points were as follows: 1st - 9pts, 2nd - 6pts, 3rd - 4pts, 4th - 3pts, 5th - 2 pts, 6th - 1pt. Total 25pts per race there were also periods in here where although the points were the same, different #'s of races counted allowing drivers to drop their worst score. This did affect the championship outcome on some occasions

From 1991 - 2002 the Points were as follows: 1st - 10pts, 2nd - 6pts, 3rd - 4pts, 4th - 3pts, 5th - 2 pts, 6th - 1pt. Total 26pts per race

From 2003 - 2009 the Points were as follows: 1st - 10pts, 2nd - 8pts, 3rd - 6pts, 4th - 5pts, 5th - 4 pts, 6th - 3pt, 7th - 2pts, 8th - 1pt. Total 39 pts per race

For 20 10 the FIA decided to copy the SCCA autocross philosophy that every one has to go home with a trophy so started giving points to half the field. The points are as follows: 1st - 25 pts, 2nd - 18 pts, 3rd - 15 pts, 4th - 12 pts, 5th - 10 pts, 6th - 8 pt, 7th - 6 pts, 8th - 4 pts, 9th - 2pts, 10th - 1pt Total 101 pts per race

The good news is that in all cases Vettel would still be Champ with Alonstool 2nd. The first potential change comes with 3rd and 4th. The Convict would be demoted to 4th with all systems except the 91 to 02 system where he and Hammy would be tired for 3rd on points. With the convict having 1 more win I guess that would still give him 3rd over Hammy. You don't get any other changes until way down the grid where under most points systems Petrov would have finished 12th and Kobayashi 13th rather than the other way around as it is now.

Overall that's good news as the Champ is still the champ no matter how you cut it. I do recall people doing the same exercise many years ago and proving that Mansell would have one 1 or 2 more championships based on the change in the rules. One of those was changing the number of dropped races in the 80's. Even I'm not geeky enough to go back and check that out yet.

Platinum90 wrote: 11 races he lost position, and only 4 improvements of position...wtf is that?

To make that more fair, why don't we add to that 4 improvements number the 3 times he won from pole. Seems reasonable, since it's impossible to improve on first place.

I don't know, but something about turning 10 polls into 5 wins makes me wary of his actual talent.

Mostly hype if you ask me.

alfadriver wrote: I'm not a fan of the moveable wings, and they will get even more contrived next year when the followers will be able to lower the rear wings to pass.

HAHA! Jim Hall's REVENGE!!!

Sorry dude, you made some very good points, I just couldn't resist making the joke.

Platinum90 wrote: I don't know, but something about turning 10 polls into 5 wins makes me wary of his actual talent. Mostly hype if you ask me.

Sorry, but it sounds more like sour grapes if you ask me.

friedgreencorrado wrote:

alfadriver wrote: I'm not a fan of the moveable wings, and they will get even more contrived next year when the followers will be able to lower the rear wings to pass.

HAHA! Jim Hall's REVENGE!!! Sorry dude, you made some very good points, I just couldn't resist making the joke.

??? No reason to be sorry- that IS a great joke!

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Why is Webber a convict? I don't get it.

dankspeed wrote: In reply to Adrian_Thompson: Why is Webber a convict? I don't get it.

Because the whole island is full of convicts.

Wiki to the rescue

oldsaw wrote:

Platinum90 wrote: I don't know, but something about turning 10 polls into 5 wins makes me wary of his actual talent. Mostly hype if you ask me.

Sorry, but it sounds more like sour grapes if you ask me.

Maybe I expect too much out of someone called "World Champion". Clearly the kid has talent, proven by hustling the Toro Rosso to a win in the wet in Monza. I still contend, however, that it was Newey's RB6 that carried him this year. He could not have been as quick in any less of a car. Obviously, luck has as much to do with winning as anything, so he was lucky that he had such a good car.

I hope he does go on to improve, but if he keeps going like he did this year, there is no way I will ever consider him a Champion.

Again, I feel similarly about Hamilton, he did not deserve his 08 championship either, but I feel like he is slowly growing into the roll. Early this year, it all looked like he was throwing the toys out of the pram with all the whining he did about his team, their choices, and the car they built. Again, hopefully with a little more maturity, he will be deserving of his World Champion title.

Platinum90 wrote: I never said vettel did not win. He clearly had 4 more points,and was crowned champ. I am simply debating the fact that he deserved it... I don't think he did. 11 races he lost position, and only 4 improvements of position...wtf is that?

Not to pick nits but this isn't figure skating. There is no "deserve". He had the points - he won. To say someone else deserved the championship is really to say that someone who did not perform as well within the rules as they are defined should be appointed champ instead. Look where that got College Football.

By that reasoning, I would go back and strip Schumacher of at least three championships just for being a ruthless dick. Wait... maybe I do agree with you

Platinum90 wrote: I don't know, but something about turning 10 polls into 5 wins makes me wary of his actual talent. Mostly hype if you ask me.

How many times was he in a guaranteed 1st place, not under threat and his car let him down compared to the other front runners? It's hard to win when chunks of piston and rod are coming out your exhaust.

Platinum90 wrote: I don't know, but something about turning 10 polls into 5 wins makes me wary of his actual talent. Mostly hype if you ask me.

How many times was he in a guaranteed 1st place, not under threat and his car let him down compared to the other front runners? It's hard to win when chunks of piston and rod are coming out your exhaust.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Platinum90 wrote: I never said vettel did not win. He clearly had 4 more points,and was crowned champ. I am simply debating the fact that he deserved it... I don't think he did. 11 races he lost position, and only 4 improvements of position...wtf is that?

Not to pick nits but this isn't figure skating. There is no "deserve". He had the points - he won. To say someone else deserved the championship is really to say that someone who did not perform as well within the rules as they are defined should be appointed champ instead. Look where that got College Football. By that reasoning, I would go back and strip Schumacher of at least three championships just for being a ruthless dick. Wait... maybe I do agree with you

I am not saying that at all. Clearly he garnered the most points during the season, therefore he did gain the championship, and by all rights, WON the championship.

Winning, and Deserving to win are completely different things. Do I think they should strip his title? Of course not. However, is it too much to ask that he perform slightly better than he did? No way. Given that he was in the BY FAR best car, he should have been BY FAR the champion.

In the same way that Kubica (or Alonso of 2009) drove the Renault above its capabilities, Vettel and Webber, for that matter, drove the Renault to levels of mediocrity that should not be expected from FORMULA 1 DRIVERS. These people are supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport, excuse me if I expect them to be good at it.

^He had the FASTEST CAR, not THE BEST CAR.

The BEST CAR would not have let him down NUMEROUS TIMES. Like I said earlier, Bahrain and Korea alone cost him 35 points.

Guess you think Button's title from last year should be removed as well, I mean because it was clearly the car and not him. You know, as long as you ignore that he was in the hunt this year as well.

We all know having a good car is part of the equation. Look at how Schumi struggled at Ferrari until they got the car together.

You obviously have something against Vettel, so be it.

z31maniac wrote: ^He had the FASTEST CAR, not THE BEST CAR. The BEST CAR would not have let him down NUMEROUS TIMES. Like I said earlier, Bahrain and Korea alone cost him 35 points. Guess you think Button's title from last year should be removed as well, I mean because it was clearly the car and not him. You know, as long as you ignore that he was in the hunt this year as well. We all know having a good car is part of the equation. Look at how Schumi struggled at Ferrari until they got the car together. You obviously have something against Vettel, so be it.

Yeah, I obviously do.

Platinum90 wrote:

z31maniac wrote: You obviously have something against Vettel, so be it.

Yeah, I obviously do.

And yet, you favor Alonso - the driver whose team and #2 driver conspired to manipulate a race win. No, he wasn't punished, but it's reminiscent of the time he gave testimony during "spy-gate" and escaped that one, too.

How can anyone can ignore the stench that surrounds him after those episodes? There are times when personal behaviour offsets professional behaviour.