Yeah, looks like Kimi didn't get the Lotus to work for him the entire weekend to be honest.

On the race as a whole, it's every year the same. It's the race with the highest profile on the calendar and you expect, every year, that it's gonna be great. And every year, it sucks! http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif

From the parade we had, it looks like the Mercs and Fezzas looked quickest... so did the Saubers!

Huh? Kimi was on supersofts, not softs like Vettel & Button were, they lost their performance while Vettels and Buttons softs continued to work.
If Kimi had started on softs like they did, the story would have unraveled in completely different manner, of course

Last years's was pretty good iirc. It seems to be hit and miss whether DRS, the tyres and KERS produce an interesting race at a "boring" circuit.

Raikkonens tyre/pit stop strategy was identical to Webber's. He stopped on the same laps and put the same tyres on. He maybe just isn't isn't used to driving to preserve the rubber?

Sorry I had a "senior moment". He was on the same strategy as everyone else then and was still slow! Why complain? Imagine the bigger train he would have created if he was on the slower hard "soft tyre". His speed would have mean't even the Caterham's would have been on the Kimi train http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif

Webber drove most of the race in the lead, your tires last a lot longer there as all the professional commentators (like ex-drivers) have said countless times over the season. It's also possible that Lotus/Renault just can't utilize supersofts as well/long as others

Different positions on track (like webber comparison) matter, as does the car - when his laptimes suddenly plummeted the team should have acted then, not several laps later when the gap to Vettel had grown so big.
F1 strategy isn't just about watching what other teams do, but how your own teams cars do, too.
If your teams car suddenly slows down up to several seconds per lap compared to how it was going before, you pit it immediately, not when the gap is far too big to be really caught up by driving.

Kimi had clear air ahead of him (being so slow) so the excuse of running in turbulent air doesn't wash. Also the rain was a factor, everyone stretched the first stop to see if they could hold out until it rained. Seriously you can't blame Renault on Kimi's performance last week, it was subpar all weekend if you compare him to Grosjean. Hopefully he bounces back next week.

He hang right behind Vettel for the first 15 laps (within ~1 sec), he left there a couple seconds of gap after that, not too much, and then the tires just died, he started losing 2+ seconds per lap around lap 20

Lotus also already commented that the tires died on him, here's direct quote from the team:
Conversely, the tyres had their part to play. Once their lifetime is run, the super soft compound seem to go further than merely ‘falling off the cliff’, they dive head first from it. The soft compound also proved to be a temperamental ally, with traffic and cooling track conditions in the latter stages of the race making it tricky to maintain the correct temperature in the rubber. Regardless if his general performance this weekend was subpar or not, what happened in race was due the tires, not just driver performance.

So know you blame the tyres? Everyone else managed to "follow the leader" on the Webber train with the same tyres, Kimi wasn't fast enough and started his own train.

Yes, because all cars are the same and handle tires the same way http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo.../rolleyes1.gif
What's your explanation for the first 15 or even 20 laps if Kimi wasn't "fast enough"?

What still amazes me more this year, just look at where Alonso is!, leading the championship in a car Ferrari acknowledged was pretty poor.

He's going to have a repeat of 2010 I think, but probably even better this year. Consistent podium finishes will give him the title, whilst everyone else is having inconsistent results.

Like him or loathe him, the guy is brilliant.
He is probably the most consistently quick guy out there.
I think I'm gonna invest in him in F1manager! http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif

I don't think Alonso has ever had a bad season in F1 tbh, his cars and his teams have!, but he's been rock solid all the way through.