April 12, 2013

F1 Practice: China 2013

Friday Practice sessions for Formula 1 almost always consists of two things: cars turning lots of laps, and cars turning lots of laps.  Today was just like that, only moreso.

In other words, it was dull.  The track at China doesn't help matters a whit, because even down the long straight, it doesn't like the cars are going particularly fast.  In fact, the big news out of today is that Seb Vettel, the man who wants to win so badly that he'll break team orders to do it, has apparently decided to drop the facade and turn full Hannibal Lecter:

"Had I understood the message and had I thought about it, reflected on it, thought what the team wanted to do, to leave Mark in first place and me finishing second... I think I would have thought about it and I would probably have done the same thing... ...There is quite a conflict, because on the one hand I am the kind of guy who respects team decisions and the other hand, probably Mark is not the one who deserved it at the time."

He then ate a reporter's liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.  Reportedly, Red Bull has decided to do away with team orders; they're kinda pointless when neither driver is going to follow them anyway.  The real loser in all this is the Team Principle, Christian Horner.  Clearly he isn't the boss of the team, Hannibal Vettel is.  Just like Webber said, no repercussions.  Should be extremely interesting to see how this plays out down the road...

Meanwhile, over at Mercedes, Hamilton and Rosberg are having no problems, despite their little brush against the team orders thing last week.  Unless you think that Hamilton's eye-and-nose problem on Thursday was caused by something other than Shanghai's air pollution... conspiracy!

Quals in the morning.  Unfortunately, I'll be at the Duck U Bookstore until mid-afternoon.  See you then!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:20 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 "...Mark is not the one who deserved it at the time."

I lost a ton of respect for Vettel when he dropped that bon mot, far more than he broke the team orders in the first place.  I know drivers have to be ultra-competitive to succeed in Formula One, but there's a difference between being ultra-competitive and being a selfish, back-stabbing SOB.

"I am the kind of guy who respects team decisions..."

Vettel has a promising career in politics waiting for him when he retires from racing.

Just like Webber said, no repercussions.

If I were Christian Horner, I'd save the Malaysian GP engine from Vettel's car (the engine he may have put extra wear and tear on when he blew off the team orders) and put it back in his car at the end of the season, when he's in a close race for the driver's championship.  "Oh golly, Seb, that DNF really cost you, didn't it? Can't imagine why your engine blew up like that."  (Yes, I know that would hurt Red Bull in the constructor's championship as well, but Vettel needs a lesson in teamwork and fair play more than he needs another trophy.)

Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at April 13, 2013 09:31 AM (ElBzz)

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