Quote:
Originally Posted by
fir3fox 
k, I'm new to F1, new to all racing actually.
I watched this past week's race in China and hand a question. Michael Schumacher left the race when one of his wheels wasn't fitted properly after leaving the pit. Was his car damaged to a point beyond repair or is it some rule that the cars can't return to the race after they beach on the side of the track?
He claims the car was damaged. If it was not damaged, he can certainly get the car back to the pits and put a new tire on.
The rule used to be that if the car stalled on track you were not allowed to restart it, only in the pits. The cars now have anti stall mechanisms which make that rule moot.
You're seeing F1 as good as its ever been. Enjoy it. Lets hope we never return to the dark days of McLaren domination (Senna + Prost) then Williams, then McLaren again, then Ferrari, then Renault. Last year was dominated by Red Bull but there was some excellent racing. 2008 and 2009 were fantastic seasons. 2012 has the potential to be the greatest season ever.