2013 F1: Italian Grand Prix (September 8, 8am ECBT on NBCS)

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edit: just gonna change the title and use this thread for the remainder of the F1 season

If anyone's interested, it's on NBC at 8am. Nico Rosberg (McLaren) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) are starting 1 and 2, respectively, but the Red Bull drivers are favorites. If you've been following F1 for the last few years, Red Bull Racing debuted in 2005 and has won the last three season championships (2010-2012). For the newest kids on the block, they've created a lot of animosity...and jealousy...among the old guard of F1. And it's understandable considering a beverage company is currently engineering better cars than dedicated manufacturers like Lotus, McLaren, and Ferrari.

Anyways, I think this is the best motorsport race in the world. Even if you're not an F1 fan, it's highly fun to watch considering how intimate and demanding the Monte-Carlo track is.

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Charles Pic's (Caterham) Renault engine just caught on fire. Effing French "engineering."

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Felipe Massa (Ferrari) crashes his car in the exact same way and corner he crashed yesterday while practicing. That's not good at all for a professional driver.

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Pastor Moldonado (Williams) crashes, damages Max Chilton's (Marussia) car, destroys the safety barrier, and causes an extremely rare red flag.

edit: race will resume at 9:35am.

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Romain Grojean (Lotus), a notorious driver for pushing the boundaries, crashes and is out.

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Rosberg leads the whole race and wins, resulting in Mercedes' first Silver Arrow win at Monaco. That said, Red Bull gains the most points towards the championship with their 2-3 finish. A HUGE unexpected Top 5 finish for Force India though...Adrian Sutil made some really ballsy moves towards the end of the race to gain three spots in a relatively short period of time.

Next on the schedule is the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on June 9.

[93henfan]

Thanks for sharing.

Did Danica Patrick finish last in that race too?

[Grizalltheway]

Thanks for sharing.

Did Danica Patrick finish last in that race too?

She's actually on one of the loungers in Trip's picture. Looks like she finally knows her place.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

Romain Grojean (Lotus), a notorious driver for pushing the boundaries, crashes and is out.

Perez is also a hard charger.

F1 is fun to watch.

Hopefully I can make it down to TX for the F1 race in the fall.

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Canadian Grand Prix is on this afternoon at 2pm on NBC. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) are starting 1/2, but this is a fast race track so I'm expecting an RB9 or W04 to take it. If wet, I think Vettel (Red Bull) will win as he's one of the best drivers in mixed conditions, plus the RB9 has the best down-force among F1 chassis.

Montreal Circuit:

Hopefully I can make it down to TX for the F1 race in the fall.

Same.

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A lucky Sutil (Force India) spins on the 6th lap fighting a Williams driver and yet hits no wall and all drivers avoid him. He loses five spots but recollects and is racing again.

Vettel (Red Bull) is currently in first with a 5 second lead over Hamilton (Mercedes).

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Vettel's Red Bull RB9 is destroying the field with a 17 second lead on the 32nd lap; he can pit and he'd still have the lead. However, the major players this year (Merc/Red Bull/Ferrari) are currently having an entertaining fight for the other places on the podium.

edit: Mark Webber, Vettel's teammate who was in third, is hit by last place Garde (Caterham) while Webber was passing him in a corner. The aerodynamics on the RB9 got messed up and Alonso (Ferrari) made up ground and took over 3rd. Granted Alonso holds on, this is huge for Ferrari's points on the season.

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Alonso (Ferrari) is quickly closing in on Hamilton (Mercedes) for 2nd place, now 1.2 secs behind.

edit: and he passes with 7 laps to go.

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Vettel wins the CGP for the first time by 14.3 secs with an amazing car. Just total domination by the team.

1. Vettel/Red Bull
2. Alonso/Ferrari
3. Hamilton/Mercedes

Good day for Ferrari and Mercedes in not letting Red Bull Racing widen the points gap by a lot, but Red Bull Racing still built its lead a little bit on the rest of the field. Next race is the British GP at the end of June.

[Grizalltheway]

So is Vettel the next Schumacher then?

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So is Vettel the next Schumacher then?

Schumacher won his first World Championship at twenty-five. Vettel is twenty-five and already has three (and will probably win his fourth this year). I mean, a lot will depend on if Red Bull Racing can stay dominant, but I think he'll win seven championships by the time he retires, if not more. That said, I'd be amazed if he can win thirteen races in one season like Schumacher did.

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Just a reminder for anyone that cares, but the F1 season continues tomorrow with the British GP.

CNBC @ 7:30am ECBT.

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The British GP has taken a pretty dramatic turn as three cars have blown tires within the first 15 laps, and another during the practice session. All of them were near turns four and five, and all with the hard-compound tires (made by Pirelli). The race officials have sent out the safety car for now.

[93henfan]

The British GP has taken a pretty dramatic turn as three cars have blown tires within the first 15 laps, and another during the practice session. All of them were near turns four and five, and all with the hard-compound tires (made by Pirelli). The race officials have sent out the safety car for now.

Were there any Somalis with machetes near the turn? It might be a trap!

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The British GP has taken a pretty dramatic turn as three cars have blown tires within the first 15 laps, and another during the practice session. All of them were near turns four and five, and all with the hard-compound tires (made by Pirelli). The race officials have sent out the safety car for now.

Were there any Somalis with machetes near the turn? It might be a trap!

Haha, unfortunately not. Both Hamilton (Merc) and Massa (Ferrari) lost podium spots, including Hamilton who was 1st at the time. Also, Vettel's (Red Bull) just lost his gearbox with 10 laps to go while he was in first.

Exciting race today.

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Great finish to the race with a bunch of position changes. Best race of the year IMO.

1. Rosberg (Merc)
2. Webber (Red Bull)
3. Alonso (Ferrari)

Also, a great recovery by Hamilton (Merc) to get back to 4th place.

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The F1 season continues on Sunday with the German Grand Prix. However, if the same tire malfunctions that plagued the British GP manifest themselves again, the drivers have threatened to immediately withdraw.

[CAA Flagship]

Prix.

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Vittel and Webber (Red Bull) jump to an early lead with Hamilton (Mercedes) in third.

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A huge blow for Ferrari as Massa bows out of the field on the 4th lap. Not sure what happened yet, but it doesn't look like it was a tire issue.