Topic: Let's Talk F1

[Gentleman Jack]

Singapore?  Elff, you want to go?  I've got a free place to stay and a few connections locally in Singapore.  You cover the flights, I'll take care of the rest.

[kennysabarese]

F1 hasn't been in the US in a while, but is coming to Austin Texas November 2012

Next race is in Singapore in two weeks.

http://www.formula1.com/races/in_detail/singapore_854/circuit_diagram.html

[elff]

How about I use my connections and you pay the airfare.
If we fly coach, we should be there in 14hrs for about $7k for the both of us.

Last time I was in Singapore I stayed in the Swiss Hotel.  We had a little misunderstanding on which rooms to book.
We were told to get ones that cost a certain amount of $.
They meant Singapore dollars but didn't say that, so I reserved the rooms that cost that in American dollars.
Turned out we got Executive suites.  Totally amazing!!

[Gentleman Jack]

How about I use my connections and you pay the airfare.
If we fly coach, we should be there in 14hrs for about $7k for the both of us.

Last time I was in Singapore I stayed in the Swiss Hotel.  We had a little misunderstanding on which rooms to book.
We were told to get ones that cost a certain amount of $.
They meant Singapore dollars but didn't say that, so I reserved the rooms that cost that in American dollars.
Turned out we got Executive suites.  Totally amazing!!

$7000 ?  What?  I just went on Expedia and found one stop flights for 1296.00 each, round trip.  That's 2600 bucks.  What were you going to spend the other 4400 bucks on?  You need a better travel agent!

[elff]

What type of sh1t plan and how many stops would that be.
If your paying, I'm not flying GhettoAir and stopping once in every country between here and there.

last time I flew, I went First Class, so it was $8500 round trip paid by the company.   Singapore Airlines has the most amazing planes.  I basically had a small apartment with television, game system, about 300 movies I could watch and the most beautiful women kept bringing me alcohol.
Aaaaaaa Good Times

[Critterman]

Schumi has always double blocked, some times tripled.  He has the art of making a car wide, but at Monza he did it several times and only after it was said that the stewards where investigating, did the team owner come on the radio and say something.  And the second transmission if you read between the lines, basically said let him by or get penalized.

We can talk about it, when I got off the plane last night I watched the race, I have to go back and watch all the lead up now.  One thing I did notice was Alanzo's launch.  The inside shot showed him sitting at 14-15 grand waiting for the lights, where at Spa it showed Weber at 10 grand.  I had always thought Weber launched low and everyone was in the 14-15k range.

So now the question is how does Vettel do it?  And yes he was great on top gear, also posted the fastest time of all the professional drivers to drive the reasonably priced car.  You can't help but like him, he has a great personality and can drive.  He is F1 history in the making.

GJ  - two weeks in Singapore, under the lights the only night race.  It is always a great race.

[kennysabarese]

Schumi has always double blocked, some times tripled.  He has the art of making a car wide,

I don't think blocking is an art. If they didn't have the one move rule, no one would ever pass. It's not hard to steer left and right when the person behind you steers left or right...

[Critterman]

He used to do it so seamlessly that even though you knew in your heart he was doing it, it just looked like the natural flow of his driving line.  Now he is a lot more ovious about it.  Anyone remember last year when he took Barracelo through the grass to the infield wall?  The only reason he didn't hit the wall was because it stopped at the pit exit.

[kennysabarese]

Yeah that move on Barichello was not cool.

[elff]

The first block was obvious, but the second one, even though it was a block, really looked like he was setting up wide to dive into the apex of the turn.
I think it was close enough that he didn't get called.

I'm totally a Vettel fan.  The fact that he has the series won already, but is still driving with passion and absolutely loving every minute of it is great.
Like you said, he has a great personality and because he speaks multiple languages is an excellent person to have in the spot light to advertise the sport. 
He is a sponsors dream. 

So yea, wtf is weber doing on starts.   Is he botching them on purpose?

Do you think he will still be the #2 driver for Red Bull, or do you think someone might try to snag him on another team?
I do think Ferrari will have a different #2 next year.

[kennysabarese]

Last time I saw Weber interviewed he said why would he go to any other team where he has no chance of winning the title.

[elff]

My question was more about does Red Bull want to keep him or go for a new driver.
But he is #2 in the series so that would be stupid on Red Bulls part.

The problem with the above statement is while Vettel is on Red Bull, Weber will always be #2

[kennysabarese]

He's already extended his contract for 2012 so the team want him.

Weber is #4 in the points right now

http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/

1    Sebastian Vettel   German    RBR-Renault   284
2    Fernando Alonso   Spanish    Ferrari   172
3    Jenson Button   British    McLaren-Mercedes   167
4    Mark Webber   Australian    RBR-Renault   167
5    Lewis Hamilton   British    McLaren-Mercedes   158

[elff]

Wouldn't that be tied for 3rd?

His crash this weekend definitely hosed him

[kennysabarese]

I guess because he didn't complete the last race technically one is above the other. Or maybe they just don't put the number 3 twice in the list *shrug* but yeah. I dunno if they technically allow a tie for place. But either way. He's not second

[elff]

He lost 15 or 13 points this race by not finishing, so that was enough to knock him out of second place.

Now 2-5 all have excellent chances of finished in 2nd place for the year.  That will be interesting to see how it pans out.

[Gentleman Jack]

Elff,
Airline tix have been purchased.  You need to get to San Diego by next Wednesday.  See you soon.

I've googling races to try to get caught up with you guys... I'll have a steep learning curve.

[elff]

All you really need to do is catch the debriefs.
They do an excellent job of summarizing the year to that point and giving a detailed run down of the last race.

[Critterman]

Singapore this weekend, I am sitting here watching the practice sessions.  Street circuit under the lights, only night race in the season.

[Gentleman Jack]

It's the misses b day this weekend... Have to sneak away and catch some racing....

[elff]

I have practice recorded and will watch it tomorrow

[elff]

Scratch that
Watched it tonight.

Holy crap this is a tight course.  Loved the Caliper fire.  When these race cars stop, everything heats up sooooooo fast. it's amazing how airflow is the only cooling for a lot of the components

[Critterman]

Racing in the concrete valley is a great and exciting race, can't wait until tomorrow.  Watch the light show put on by the hotel.

and GJ, record it.

[elff]

Just finished watching the qualifying.

Sorry if this is a spoiler, but I love how each row starting tomorrow is a team.
Pretty crazy how it ended up that way.

This track is F-ing crazy.  Loved the pics of the skyline. I recognized a bunch from my last trip there.
Aside from the stupid heat and humidity [Its like Houston Tx]  Singapore is an amazing place

[Critterman]

Just got finished with the race.  I will wait to see if GJ recorded it, before i start talking about it.