The Finishing Straight - Germany (By HappyDude88)

AFTER my planned absence from Silverstone analysis, I return with my strong opinions on last weekend’s German Grand Prix, held at a very chilly Nurburgring (a.k.a a typical November day in the UK).

ENJOYMENT: Hamilton liked spraying the bubbly at weekend

      Lewis Hamilton produced one of those weekends in Germany where he was unbeatable.  He is always exciting to watch, does Lewis ever do dull?  You can file this victory alongside the likes of Fuji 07, Silverstone 08 and Shanghai 11, as amongst his greatest.  After free practice, McLaren simply didn’t look in the game.  If they got their act together, Hamilton might have been fighting for the bottom step of the podium – but a victory chance looked very unlikely.  However, his qualifying lap on Saturday was magical.  To lap 1.1secs quicker than Jenson Button, in the same car was a mighty effort.  On Sunday, he was so determined and focused and all of his attacking was this time, for the right reasons.  His outstanding move around the outside of Fernando Alonso was one of the best of the season so far.  This was Hamilton at his best and I’m so pleased to be able to say positive things about him again in ‘The Finishing Straight.’  I hope he put a smile on many British faces, who let’s face it – Golf and Cricket aside, have had a pretty grim sporting year.

     Alongside McLaren, Ferrari has made significant upturns in its performance over the last few races.  The days of being two seconds slower than Red Bull and getting embarrassingly lapped by their closest rivals in Barcelona seem like a distant memory.  Fernando Alonso has been driving magnificently of late and once again, is leaving Felipe Massa trailing in his wake.  Alonso might lament a low-key qualifying performance, or the moment where he failed to spot Hamilton’s attack when he grabbed the lead after the second pitstops, but he seemed rather happy with second place.  I would certainly expect Ferrari, certainly in Alonso’s capable hands, to win more races between now and the season’s climax in Brazil on November 27.

     The most dramatic moment of the race was a collision between Sebastian Buemi and Nick Heidfeld on lap 11.  The result saw Buemi into the pits to replace a punctured tyre and Heidfeld spin spectacularly out of the race.  Renault team principal Eric Bouillier has gone public with his criticisms over Heidfeld’s lack of performance and you have to agree with him.  Heidfeld should be leading the team in Robert Kubica’s unfortunate and untimely absence and he isn’t doing the job required.  Bruno Senna will get his chance tomorrow morning in practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix and I’d even like to see Senna or the GP2 championship leader, Romain Grosjean be given a shot in the team before the season’s end.  Renault is trailing 12 points behind Mercedes GP in the constructor’s championship and Vitaly Petrov simply doesn’t have enough underneath him to fight two consistent points’ scorers from Mercedes.  In regards to the Buemi/Heidfeld crash at the weekend, I cannot understand why Buemi has been given a five place grid penalty for this weekend’s action.  He could have given Heidfeld a bit more room, but he was ahead approaching the braking zone for the chicane, didn’t make a dangerous move across to protect his position and with his experience, Heidfeld should have expected that the gap he aimed for was always going to close.  He was unlucky in Canada, being caught out by Kamur Kobayashi’s lack of acceleration, but he was fully to blame for his departure in Germany, so no symphony for him.  Plus, what is Buemi meant to do; jump out of the way!  He’s not Jarno Trulli!

SPIN: Karun Chandok looked a bit out of depth at Nurburgring

     Speaking of Trulli, he was absent from the weekend’s activities, as Team Lotus elected to give Karun Chandok a go in the car.  Karun is one of F1’s nice guys and it was pleasing to see him back behind the wheel for the first time since last year’s British Grand Prix.  He was treated like dirt at Hispania and seems happy at Lotus, but he did struggle all weekend, with brake and gearbox problems.  Sadly, he finished last, behind Jerome D’Ambrosio and both Hispania cars.  Chandok looked a bit out of his depth at Nurburgring and Trulli, if he was present, must have been cringing at the Indian’s driver lack of performance.  Jarno has a new power steering system this weekend, so he has no more pitiful excuses to save him now.  Also causing a stir was Timo Glock, who made some rather barbaric comments on the radio to his race engineers after another expected Q1 exit.  24 hours later, Glock confirmed that he had resigned for Virgin Racing for another two years.  I can’t work the 29-year old out; it was a strange move.  I have to appreciate his hard work and graft for the team, but he deserves a car firmly capable of his talents and frustration isn’t going to get him anywhere.

     I was totally convinced that Sebastian Vettel was not going to win last weekend at his home event.  If he has a bogey event, it is the German Grand Prix.  Vettel was chasing the ultimate set-up all weekend and looked a step behind Mark Webber throughout.  He made some uncharacteristic errors in the race, such as the turn ten spin he had early on.  However, fourth place, considering it was a pretty ordinary weekend by his high standards was a good result.  However, Red Bull must be worried.  They were outpaced by Ferrari on one of their strongest circuits, Silverstone and at Nurburgring, were behind both McLaren and Ferrari.  Not every race can be perfect, but there can be no doubt that their massive pace advantage they had at the start of the season has been whittled away by its closest competition.

      Mercedes GP scored some solid points on home soil, but for the second year running, both cars were lapped infront of many of their hard-working employees.  Nico Rosberg has admitted that he needs to work on his race pace and that can’t be argued with.  Mercedes don’t seem to have many issues on a Saturday, with both cars being regulars in the pole position shootout.  However, heavy Pirelli rear tyre wear has hurt them far too often on raceday.  I’d imagine Ross Brawn will be writing 2011 off very soon, if he hasn’t already and concentrate on 2012.  Although it is important to beat Renault in the battle for fourth spot in the constructors championship, that is no consolation for the team.  Results have simply not been good enough, in fact, they are worse than last year.  It’s been a year since Rosberg got their last podium finish, so it feels like the team are going backwards, not forwards.

FORM: Sutil put on his best show of the season in Germany

     I was delighted to see Adrian Sutil have such a strong weekend and pick up valuable points for Force India.  For only the third time this season, Sutil outqualified Paul di Resta and was on the pace all weekend.  He ran seventh for most of the race, beat both Mercedes drivers fair and square and finished on the same lap as race winner Hamilton.  Sutil has had a tough season, but once again, proved he can collect the points the team need, especially with Toro Rosso and Sauber having improved drastically on their 2010 performances.  With Nico Hulkenberg waiting in the wings, it could also be seen as a career saving performance from Adrian, whose career has stalled in the past twelve months.  Hopefully, he has managed to turn the corner this season.

     Finally, it is time to nominate my Driver of the Day and Driver of the Weekend.  Sutil and Alonso both deserve valuable mentions, but Lewis Hamilton has to scoop up both awards for his extemporary performance at the Nurburgring.  You could see how important the win meant to him, as indicated by his team radio message after the race.  Hamilton is adamant that the championship is not over yet.  Well, Vettel still has a massive lead and I disagree with those who say he is cracking under the pressure but if Hamilton and Alonso can apply more pressure, we will see what happens.  Budapest will answer a lot more questions before Formula One goes on a deserved summer break.

The Finishing Straight - Europe (by HappyDude88)

AFTER the thriller in Canada, it was always going to be difficult to follow for any circuit on the calendar, let alone the most dullest and pointless track of the season.  The European Grand Prix in Valencia produced its usual lacklustre affair, and although there was some intense fighting down the field and the frontrunners stayed in close formation throughout, there was a lack of show stopping drama that the fans have been expecting throughout the season.

VIABLE: Alonso has been great for Spain, but are two races viable now?

    I think it is time for Bernie Ecclestone to consider the future of having two races in Spain.  There can be no doubt of Fernando Alonso’s impact on the sport and the massive adrenalin it has on the Spanish fans.  However, there are currently 21 races on the 2011 calendar, and presuming Bahrain returns next season, a race will have to go.  Istanbul remains the favourite, due to its lack of promotion, but do we really need two events in Spain?  We only have one in Germany; and it seems like that has sorted out the financial difficulties of both Hockenheim and the Nurburgring.  I honestly think Spain should follow suit.  Valencia may be a beautiful place to visit and the weather is gorgeous, but the race circuit looks like a supermarket car park, not a high-class venue.  I think it’s pretty shameful when you think of the world-class facilities in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai and the top circuits such as Suzuka and Spa. 

     The championship race is all over bar the shouting after Sebastian Vettel’s dominant weekend in Valencia.  Questions were raised by the media after Vettel’s last lap slip-up in Canada last time out, but he answered all those doubters in stunning and flawless fashion.  Once he got into the first corner first, there was little doubt that Sebastian was going to win the race.  Scary to think that if he had been on the right tyre strategy in China and not made that error in Montreal, he could have easily won all eight races so far this season.  He looks almost impossible to beat and if Mr. Optimistic himself, Alonso has ruled himself out of catching the German, you can understand why everyone else has him down as a double world champion now.  The engraving of his name might as well begin now.  In fact, give him the championship now; he doesn’t need to wait until the annual FIA Gala dinner in Monaco before Christmas to collect his prize!

     Arguably, they have had the fastest car in the last three races, but McLaren’s race pace went missing in Valencia.  It became a familiar theme in the race; Lewis Hamilton would pit early, set some searing quick lap times and then fade away with poor grip levels from the option Pirelli tyres.  In the end, Lewis salvaged fourth, whilst Jenson Button was a lonely sixth, losing a load of time behind Nico Rosberg in the early exchanges.  Both drivers seemed disheartened afterwards and a radically improved Ferrari was not on their gameplan.  Silverstone will offer a fair reflection on the pecking order and with Red Bull so far infront, the Woking team won’t want to drop behind Ferrari too.

UNWANTED: At least Karthikeyan now has a place in the records!

     On Sunday morning, I predicted that all 24 cars that started the European Grand Prix would finish the race and I was proven right.  I wonder how Narain Karthikeyan feels to finish 24^th in a Grand Prix!  It is only the third time this has happened in the sport’s history (discounting the six-car farce that was the 2005 US Grand Prix.)  Technology has improved radically and reliability is now incredible.  However, I do agree with Jarno Trulli’s viewpoint that it is becoming a bit too robotic now.  If a car retires now, I almost react with shock!  The days of 10/11 cars finishing races are well and truly over now.  Of course, we all want the drivers to be safe and well and no serious accidents, but I miss the spectacular engine blow-ups, the shearing of driveshafts and the explosive clutch failures.  Retirements from races should be part and parcel of the game and maybe FOTA need to look into this, especially if drivers like Trulli have these viewpoints.

     Two drivers who I was delighted to see in the points in Valencia were Jaime Alguesuari and Adrian Sutil.  Alguesuari made a two stop strategy work to perfection and finished a fighting eighth, matching his best career result.  For the third consecutive race, he went out in Q1, but more performances in the race like this will mean that Daniel Riccardo’s chance at Toro Rosso will have to wait.  It’s interesting to see that Alguesuari is now ahead of Sebastian Buemi in the drivers’ championship, despite Buemi outperforming him on a regular basis this season.  Sutil has also had a tricky season, with personal problems and the possibility of a court case hanging over him, following a nightclub incident after the Chinese Grand Prix in April.  However, he looked up for it on the streets of Valencia and for the first time this season, led the way in the Force India team, having been overshadowed all season by the plucky Paul di Resta.

     Mercedes GP had another dismal weekend and having looked threatening in China and Turkey to the frontrunners, the team has fallen behind the top three teams again by a considerable distance.  Although they are pulling away from the likes of Renault and Sauber, the gap is increasing between themselves and Ferrari.  Rosberg finished seventh, which was the best he could hope for.  Finishing 100 seconds behind race winner Vettel tells its own story.  After his Canadian exploits, Michael Schumacher made another rash overtaking attempt on Vitaly Petrov, and as in Turkey, came off worse.  Michael admitted fault after the race, although Ross Brawn seemed to hint that it was Petrov’s fault.  Sorry Ross, but what do you expect Petrov to do, drive into the barriers or vanish into thin air!  Heavy rear tyre wear is Mercedes real issue and it seems like a problem that won’t go away for them, definitely in the short-term.

     Finally, time to give out my Driver of the Weekend and Driver of the Day awards.  Vettel is the clear winner of Driver of the Weekend, whilst I give Alguesuari the nod over Vettel and Alonso for Driver of the Day.  Hopefully, the hustle buzz of F1 2011 will return at the British Grand Prix next week.

NOTE: DUE TO AN IMPENDING WORK PLACEMENT IN LONDON, THERE WILL NO FINISHING STRAIGHT BLOG FOR THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX DUE TO A LACK OF TIME.  THE SILVERSTONE WEEKEND WILL HAVE JUST A RACE REPORT.  I WILL RETURN FOR THE GERMAN GRAND PRIX AT THE NURBURGRING WITH A RACE REPORT, FINISHING STRAIGHT BLOG AND MY HALF-TERM DRIVERS REPORT.   

2011 Monaco Grand Prix - Vettel lucks in at the Principality

A MISTAKEN tyre strategy and a red flag helped Sebastian Vettel to be the new king of Monaco.  The German held off stiff challenges from Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button yesterday to win the Monaco Grand Prix.  It is his fifth win from six races in 2011, cementing his place as the runaway leader of the drivers’ championship.  His main challenger, Lewis Hamilton had a dog’s dinner of an afternoon, incurring two penalties and then sensationally blasting the race stewards in a post-race interview.

KISS: This will be the sweetest of wins for Sebastian Vettel

      The Monaco Grand Prix was building into a dramatic and nail-biting finish.  Vettel was on worn soft Pirelli tyres, which he’d had on his car from lap 16 onwards.  He only got those tyres after Red Bull had two awful pitstops in less than a minute, and put the wrong type of tyre on.  Despite this, Sebastian managed to master the quicker Alonso and Button behind him.  He then got a huge slice of luck, which could have ended in a cataclysmic disaster.

       With six laps to go, Adrian Sutil struck the barriers at Tabac, and was limping with a right-rear puncture.  Lewis Hamilton hit the brakes to avoid the Force India, but was clobbered by the Toro Rosso of lapped Spanish driver Jaime Alguesuari.  The Toro Rosso rebounded into the Swimming Pool guardrail, leaving the Renault of Vitaly Petrov with absolutely nowhere to go.  The Russian hit the same wall, and was briefly knocked unconscious in the crash.  The three race leaders were right behind the drama and only just avoided the stricken cars.  The safety car was deployed, shortly followed by a red flag.  Petrov complained of pain in his left ankle, and remained in the car as the paramedics attended to him.  He was admitted to the Princess Grace Hospital, with concussion and light bruising, and thankfully, was released last night.  Following Sergio Perez’s horrifying crash in qualifying on Saturday, which knocked the Mexican driver out of the event – Formula One can count itself lucky to have had two major escapes in the jewel in the crown of the racing calendar. 

      Surprisingly, the race wasn’t stopped and a result given and the drivers lined up on the grid for a restart behind the Safety Car.  Sadly for the neutrals, new tyres were allowed for all the drivers, which meant that Vettel’s tyre disadvantage had been wiped out.  It meant that he could have a fairly processional run to the chequered flag.  The McLaren team did a sterling job to fix Hamilton’s rear wing, which had been badly mangled up in the multiple crash with Alguesuari and Petrov.  However, Lewis wasn’t out of the wars just yet.

SMASH: Hamilton's hopeless attempt ended Maldonado's race

     As the green flags waved again, the Brit attempted a hopeless overtaking lunge on the Williams of Pastor Maldonado into the Ste. Devote corner.  Maldonado was knocked into the barriers, losing his chance of world championship points for the first time in his short career.  Remarkably, Hamilton escaped undamaged and went onto finish sixth.  After the race, he was given a 25-second time penalty for causing the crash with the Venezuelan.  Earlier in the race, Hamilton tried an ambitious lunge at Felipe Massa into the tight 30mph Loews hairpin corner.  The two interlocked wheels, and continued their fight into the tunnel.  Lewis charged through and pushed the Ferrari onto the marbles, which left Massa in the wall and out of the event.  The Brazilian’s crash bought the Safety Car out for the first time this season, and it’s fair to say, he looked unimpressed as he strode away from his damaged chassis.  Hamilton got a drive-through penalty for causing this collision.  After the race, he called a stewards a ‘freckin joke’ for the incidents, called Massa and Maldonado ‘stupid,’ blamed the team for a kamikaze pitstop, then made a jokey reference of being victimised to BBC’s Lee McKenzie by responding; ‘I don’t know, maybe because I’m black, that’s what Ali G would say.”  The comments were disgraceful and an hour later, Hamilton went back to the circuit to make his peace with the race stewards, who accepted his apology.  Whether the FIA will want to bring him into disrepute remains to be seen.

      McLaren had a terrible weekend with race strategy.  They covered a possible Safety Car for Timo Glock’s Virgin with Button, which turned into the wrong move.  A horrendous miscommunication led to no-one being in the pits with Hamilton when he arrived for tyres on lap 25.  The possibility of another race victory slipped through their fingers.  Behind the first three, Mark Webber recovered from a horrible pitstop in the early Red Bull chaos to finish fourth.  The Aussie pulled off a stunning pass on Kamur Kobayashi to clinch fourth spot with two laps remaining.  Kobayashi still finished an outstanding fifth, having made a one-stop strategy work to perfection.  It is the Japanese’s driver best finish of his career, and a much-needed boost for the Sauber team after Perez being hospitalised by Saturday’s smash.  Sutil recovered from his puncture to end up 7^th behind Hamilton, with the final points going to Nick Heidfeld, Rubens Barrichello (Williams first of the season), and Sebastian Buemi’s Toro Rosso.  Scotland’s Paul di Resta clashed with Alguesuari and Jerome D’Ambrosio during the race and also earnt a drive-through penalty for his risky overtaking attempts.  He finished 12^th.

      In the celebrations, BBC pundits Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard were thrown into the Red Bull party pool by an ecstatic Vettel, who now looks uncatchable in the championship.  Vettel’s achievement will however be overshadowed by F1’s worst weekend of serious crashes in a decade.  Luckily, there were no serious injuries.  As for Lewis Hamilton, he has a lot of soul-searching to do before the circus meets up in Montreal in a fortnight’s time.  

The Finishing Straight - Spain (by HappyDude88)

THE teams are gathering in Monte Carlo for the most spectacular and exciting weekend of the calendar.  This gives me the time to reflect on the events of last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya.

PUSHED: Vettel was made to work incredibly hard for his win

     Red Bull Racing seems to have all the covers based, against main rivals, McLaren and Ferrari, particularly on a Saturday afternoon.  However, Barcelona showed signs that they can be beaten totally fair and square.  On Sunday, Lewis Hamilton seemed to have the faster, more stable package than Sebastian Vettel.  If only his McLaren could stay close through the last corner, it would be a similar result to China last month.  True, Vettel was hobbled again by the lack of use of KERS during the Grand Prix, but his car did look far more unstable compared to Hamilton.  He was far from comfortable and really had to work hard for his victory on Sunday, unlike previous successes in Australia, Malaysia and Turkey this season.  Some will say that Vettel’s regular successes are now getting boring for the sport.  Thankfully, there is plenty of entertainment further down the field to keep the purists interested. 

     Although Vettel won again on Sunday, Lewis Hamilton must be encouraged by the form and speed that McLaren had last weekend.  Traditionally, Barcelona is seen as a circuit which rewards those teams who have the best technical package around.  Consequently, it will suit Adrian Newey’s team, and it is no secret to look at the previous history of results at the Spanish Grand Prix and see the domination of Williams and McLaren in the 90s here, when Newey was the spearhead of those teams.  So, for McLaren to be so close to race-winning pace was very encouraging.  Hamilton is the best hope for many to challenge for the championship, as long as he stays consistent and continues the discipline he has shown so far in 2011, Malaysia aside.  It is disappointing to see him accuse the likes of Sebastian Buemi, Jamie Alguesuari and Michael Schumacher of deliberately blocking him last weekend, in his pursuit of Vettel.  From watching the race again, I saw no evidence of this, and if Hamilton has anyone to be aggrieved with for blocking, it has to be the Hispania of dopey Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan.  Karthikeyan never seems to check his mirrors at any stage, and is more of a stationary roadblock on the M1 than a racing driver!  Looks like Andrea de Cesaris influence on Grand Prix racing has continued into the 21^st century then!

     Mark Webber will be mystified by his lack of race performance on a circuit, where he has outshone Vettel significantly in the past.  Webber produced a perfect lap in qualifying on Saturday afternoon to end Sebastian’s pole streak, which had stretched back to Brazil last season.  However, 40 seconds behind at flag fall does tell its own story, and the Aussie is likely to be mentally shattered to have been outperformed so dramatically by his younger team-mate, on a Webber-style circuit.  Like Vettel, Webber had limited use of his KERS power boost button during the race, but I was disappointed to see him just sit behind Fernando Alonso’s much slower Ferrari and not do anything about it.  On harder tyres, Alonso was a sitting duck and I expected Mark to breeze past him.  He didn’t, and with the force that Jenson Button showed in passing both Webber and Alonso aggressively in just one lap, it highlights the fact that Mark Webber has never won the world championship, whereas Button has.  That’s the difference; you need to have that killer instinct as a racing driver at all times.  As sad as it is, Mark just doesn’t have that.  It is okay to produce stunning drives like the one he produced in Shanghai, but it has to be done on a consistent basis.  Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso and Button are all capable of it, and are all world champions.  Sadly, Mark Webber can’t.  I can only see him being an occasional race winner now this season, and riding shotgun to Vettel for the rest of the campaign.  It will have to take a staggering amount of bad luck on Vettel’s side of the garage to allow Mark a shot of the drivers’ championship in 2011.

REWARDED: Alonso got his desserts for a special start

     Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicalli has admitted that their hopes of winning either championship are looking increasingly slim, especially if Vettel continues on his victory charge.  Well, if that’s the case; Stefano will need to pick up his P45 from Luca di Montzemolo with immediate effect.  The highlight of the Grand Prix was Fernando Alonso’s incredible start.  From fourth on the grid, Alonso repeated Jarno Trulli’s trick in 2004 at the same circuit and vaulted into the lead by turn one.  There was a load of bravery, aggression and commitment from Alonso in those first few hundred metres and he deserved the rewards.  The onboard camera from his car off the grid was just a joy to behold.  For twenty laps, the home hero used all of his driving skill to keep the much faster cars from Red Bull and McLaren behind.  Ultimately, as Ferrari had a useless set-up on the harder Pirelli tyres, he was powerless to resist them through the pitstops.  By the end of the race, Fernando had been lapped.  Not his fault, his car is severely limited and Barcelona just highlighted how far Ferrari really is behind.  When a Ferrari is lapped, they will claim it to be a national embarrassment in Italy, and it is.  My advice would be to write this season off and concentrate on next year’s car.  Like Webber, they might win races, but have more chance of winning the EuroMillions jackpot than either world championship!  Felipe Massa had a very poor weekend and was struggling to even rescue a point from it when he stopped with gearbox problems five laps from home.  There is a lot of soul searching to be done at Maranello.

     Youth continues to shine in Formula One and Sergio Perez showed signs that he could be a natural successor to Felipe Massa at Ferrari.  After a breathtaking debut in Australia, which ended in an unfortunate technical disqualification, Perez has gone off the boil, but it has to be expected for the Mexican to have peaks and troughs in his rookie season.  He looked strong all weekend in Catalunya, outqualifying and outracing Kamur Kobayashi.  Plus, he passed Massa on-track, although the Brazilian was already struggling with a gearbox problem.  This time, his points stood and they won’t be the last this season.  Credit has to be given to Kobayashi too, as he had contact with Jaime Alguesuari on the first lap and had to pit to replace a punctured tyre.  To come back to tenth and the final championship point is then some effort.  Sauber have a very good motor car this season, and they could well be challenging Renault to be best of the rest behind the four main teams; Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull by the end of the season.

     A driver who is under a great deal of pressure, both on and off the track is Force India’s Adrian Sutil.  Sutil’s dalliance at not signing a contract extension last season with the Silverstone based team angered some members inside the team.  His 2011 season did start with points in Australia, but he is struggling to recapture the form he showed in the closing stages of 2009 and early exchanges of 2010.  After the Chinese race on April 17, Sutil is reported to have been involved in a nightclub incident with the chief executive of Genii Capital, Eric Lux.  Genii Capital owns the Renault Formula One team.  Lux has filed a criminal complaint against Sutil, who could go the same way as Bertrand Gachot did in 1991, when the Belgian was unfairly jailed for spraying CS gas at a London taxi driver.  With Paul di Resta continuing to outperform him on the circuit, this is a tough time in Sutil’s career, both personally and at his occupation.  It is clear that the German’s performances have suffered; due to the lack of technical development from his Force India team, plus the penalties that hang over his head should he be found guilty of this nightclub incident.  I’m pleased to see Vijay Mallya has come out in support of Sutil and will honour his contract.  The ‘innocent till proven guilty’ aspect is the right way to go, and I just hope that Adrian Sutil, who is one of my favourite F1 drivers can pick his form up, fight these charges off and turn his career around from this stalling point.

BLAZING: The charred remains of Nick Heidfeld's Renault

     Finally, Hamilton is my driver of the day, for his relentless pursuit of Vettel, but Nick Heidfeld deserves a special mention.  On Saturday morning, a spectacular exhaust fire saw Heidfeld forced to abandon his burning Renault chassis.  Despite the best attempts from his mechanics, Nick had no chance of qualifying, so he had to start last.  Granted, he had six sets of fresh tyres available, but on a track where overtaking is normally impossible – it looked set to be a fruitless weekend.  Come the end, Nick had been able to climb from 24^th to finish eighth, which was a great performance and had the race ran two more laps, it would have been sixth.  However, with team-mate Vitaly Petrov starting sixth, running fifth early on and ending up out of the points, it does reveal a qualifying flaw.  Saturday is starting to become a non-event, and I’d like to see the FIA make some tweaks to flatten out the Saturday failings with Sunday’s action.  Let’s see what will happen this weekend in Monaco.  It could be interesting to watch, especially with DRS available.  Don’t miss it!

F1 2011 preview (Part 2)

THE new Formula One season begins this weekend, two weeks later than initially planned.  The Australian Grand Prix takes over the mantelpiece of the F1 opener, after Bahrain’s cancellation, following the current unrest in the Middle East.  With another big shake-up in the rules, another new race in India to look forward to and a rather stable driver market this time around, 2011 can beat the drama of 2010.  Can Sebastian Vettel defend his title?  Will Fernando Alonso bounce back from last year’s Abu Dhabi heartbreak?  How will Renault fare without Robert Kubica?  Is Michael Schumacher going to prove his critics wrong?  Have McLaren been sandbagging in testing?  All the talking stops this weekend in Albert Park, so here’s the inside guide.  

Force India Mercedes

14           Adrian Sutil (GER)

15           Paul di Resta (BRI)

As 2010 continued, Force India dropped down the pecking order and 2011 could turn into a very tough one for the Silverstone-based team.  The loss of key technical staff is James Key and Mark Smith has hit the team hard and testing form suggests that they could be looking backwards rather than forwards in the incoming campaign.  Adrian Sutil is a proven point’s scorer and ditched his accident-prone image last year to score some solid points results.  He will do well to match his best results of 5^th in Malaysia and Spa last season.  After four seasons in DTM, culminating in the 2010 championship, Scot Paul di Resta joins the grid.  He deserves his chance, and is bound to be more of a match for Sutil than Vitantonio Liuzzi ever was.  However, the car’s ultimate lack of pace could be the downfall for these two talented racers.

Sauber-Ferrari

16           Kamur Kobayashi (JPN)

17           Sergio Perez (MEX)

The distinctive feature of the Sauber last year was no sponsorship whatsoever.  However, with rich Mexican businessman Carlos Slim onboard, that changes in 2011.  Young Mexican Sergio Perez’s arrival is a interesting move, as it means there will be a lack of experience on the driver front.  Perez looks either fast or wreckless and he is bound to add a lot of flair and charisma to the team.  They have plenty of that in Kamur Kobayashi already.  The Japanese is expected to thrill everyone again with his no holds barred attitude of driving and has all the talent in the world, if he tones down on the wackiness that can lead the Japanese into serious trouble.  The car looks very promising but it may need early development if they wish to be regular point’s scorers.

Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari

18           Sebastian Buemi (SUI)

19           Jaime Alguesuari (SPA)

The departures of Gerhard Berger and Sebastian Vettel hit Toro Rosso very hard at the end of 2008, and they haven’t recovered since.  The car looks very strong and far more consistent than its previous challengers.  Even Lewis Hamilton has told the media to keep a watch on them.  Sebastian Buemi enters his third season and was a massive disappointment last season.  The Swiss driver is under pressure to deliver, especially with the highly-rated Daniel Ricciardo waiting in the wings as third driver.  Buemi will need to perform from the off, if he doesn’t want to go the same way as Scott Speed and Sebastian Bourdais; in earning the sack mid-season.  Plus, we know Franz Tost doesn’t accept any excuses.  Jamie Alguesuari is in a slightly more secure position and has the knack to pull off some daring overtaking moves.  He needs to improve his qualifying performances, and eliminate some of the careless driving which you’d expect to see from a rush hour driver on the M25’s hard shoulder!  With Ricciardo waiting and watching, the loser of this team-mate battle is likely to be out of F1, so this could be an intriguing watch.

Team Lotus Renault

20           Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)

21           Jarno Trulli (ITA)

Team Lotus, as they are now known were the class of the new teams in 2010, and have closed the gap to the midfield in winter testing.  With two experience racers and a strong reserve in Karun Chandok, excuses will be less vain this season.  The move to Renault engines and gearboxes has caused some severe reliability bugs, which has consequently hurt their testing mileages.  However, don’t be surprised if they begin to give Toro Rosso and Force India some severe headaches this season.  Points are a necessity this time around and Heikki Kovalainen looks a class driver, after his mere at McLaren.  Kovalainen is expected to lead the team from the front again and will cause some giant-killing upsets, similar to Takuma Sato at Super Aguri in 2007.  Jarno Trulli’s speed over one lap is still as strong as ever, but his racecraft last year was frankly dismal.  2011 is surely Jarno’s last chance to fulfil anything decent onto his CV, otherwise he will end up like Olivier Panis; winning the Monaco Grand Prix once and did very little else with so much supposed talent.

HRT-Cosworth

22           Narain Karthikeyan (IND)

23           Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA)

Is this becoming the ‘Andrea Moda’ of 2011?  Remember that joke of the 1992 team that evaded taxes, cars broke down meters from rolling out of the garage.  Well, having your entire car failing to get through customs certainly qualifies for this title.  Narain Karthikeyan is only on board for Indian sponsorship whilst Vitantonio Liuzzi will bring experience of driving for backmarker teams.  With no pre-season testing AGAIN, it is once again going to be a battle for survival till the end of the season for HRT.

Marussia Virgin-Cosworth

24           Timo Glock (GER)

25           Jerome D’Ambrosio (BEL)

They were F1’s joke team of 2010, especially by not building a fuel tank big enough to finish the early season races.  However, the future looks bright, especially with backing from Russian sportscar brand Marussia and a confident new rookie in Jerome D’Ambrosio.  Timo Glock drove brilliantly in the second half of last season and will be there to pick up the pieces and grab the odd point, but they will struggle to be regular midfield runners.

Rules

As with nearly every F1 season, there have been some changes to the rules this season.  The 107% rule returns for qualifying for the first time since 2002 to prove that cars are quick enough to race, this will only apply to Q1 and if the qualifying session is wet, the rule will not be used.  Pirelli replaces Bridgestone as the tyre supplier and has been challenged by the FIA to produce a tyre that grains more and causes drivers to pit more often.  So far, this seems to have worked and it certainly spice up the racing.

     KERS returns after a season away and is once again optional for the teams to use it or not.  The most innovative concept for 2011 is an adjustable rear wing, which will aid more overtaking particularly on very long straights.  Gearboxes must now last five races instead of four in another case of cost cutting measures and the safety car rules have been tweaked once again with the overtake line abolished after the controversy surrounding it last year, meaning drivers again can only overtake when they’ve crossed the start/finish line at the restart.

For the 2011 season, I will be posting the following on the Formula One season

- A race report from all 19 events in the 2011 FIA Formula 1 World Championship

- NEW! F1 classic races (A brief lookback at six/seven classic events from the country that is about to stage a race that weekend)

- NEW! Replacing 'The Conclusions' will be a new personal blog.  'The Finishing Straight' by HappyDude88 will be online every Tuesday after the Grand Prix weekend, where I will be giving my own personal take on the weekend's events.

2010 Korean Grand Prix - The Conclusions

IN THIS piece, I will be assessing ten key features from each Grand Prix weekend from the 2010 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.  With three races remaining, it was a new venture for Formula One into Korea, which put on a spectacular show.  The title race took several more twists, but are more going to come in the last three weeks of a gripping season.  Here is a round-up then of the race of the season so far. . .

Fernando Alonso – Champion-Elect

AFTER a dismal day at Silverstone, Fernando Alonso fell nearly fifty points behind the championship leaders and vowed he would win the championship.  At Spa, a costly accident looked to have buried his chances for good, but what a fightback in the last four races.  He now is the red-hot favourite for his third title, after a stunning drive on Sunday afternoon.  Alonso knew Ferrari were going to be strong in Korea, so he did well to contain his frustration at being beaten to the front row by those pesky Red Bulls.  On Sunday, he pressured Mark Webber into a rare mistake, and kept Sebastian Vettel honest all day.  Even though Vettel looked to have the race under control, one mistake and the Ferrari was through.  Like in Bahrain though, a failure with the Red Bull allowed Alonso to cruise through to his fifth win of the season, his fourth in the last seven races.  You would be a brave man not to back Fernando now for title glory in Abu Dhabi in three weeks time. . .

Red Bull Racing – From Saturday Heaven to Sunday Hell

The first sector of the Korea circuit was never going to suit the Red Bull cars, so for them to button up the front row in qualifying spelt ominous signs for the closest opposition.  Twenty-four hours later, they were reflecting on their first double DNF of the season, and it can’t have come at a worse time.  Mark Webber has had a near-perfect season, but he had one of those slow, frustrating spins early in the race under green flag conditions.  The Aussie was powerless to control his spinning missile and Nico Rosberg unluckily collected the remains.  It was only Webber’s second non-score of the season and after his previous retirement, which was THAT scary flip over Heikki Kovalainen in Valencia; he won next time out at Silverstone.  He also won imperiously in Brazil last year, so who’s to say that Webber’s out of the battle yet.  It was a damaging crash, but not a terminal blow.  The same can’t be said for Sebastian Vettel though, who had to endure the cruel misfortune of a spectacular engine failure with just eight laps to go.  Vettel put a very philosophical face on this setback in the pits, but by being a full race win behind Alonso now with two races to go, it looks like he will have to wait until 2011 to get his hands on the cherished prize.

Jenson Button – Time to Back Lewis Hamilton

He has battled on very gamely all season, but Jenson Button even admitted after his horror race on Sunday that his chances of retaining his championship are now all but impossible.  Sunday’s conditions were meant to put Button in the driving seat.  After all, he won his two races this season in similar conditions.  However, he had no grip, no confidence and the aggressive set-up on his car just chewed up its tyres.  By the end of the race, only the Hispania’s were lapping slower than Jenson, which says it all really.  With Lewis Hamilton bringing his A game to Korea and winding up with an excellent second place, Button now must play the team role and help McLaren and Hamilton out in Brazil and Abu Dhabi if they are to walkaway with any of the top prizes this season.

Wet Weather – Lack of Racing Sets a Dangerous Precedent

Safety is absolutely paramount in Formula One, but I shared the frustration of Lewis Hamilton and BBC commentator Martin Brundle at the length of time that the Safety Car stayed out on the track.  The first attempted start had to be suspended and rightfully so, as the Korean track looked like a lake, not a race circuit.  However, on the restart – another thirteen laps were run under yellow flag conditions, when the track looked almost ready for intermediate tyres, which Hamilton confirmed to millions on his team radio.  These drivers are paid millions of pounds to go racing, and without wanting to sound too naïve, they could have gone racing at least four/five laps earlier than they did.  This sets a dangerous precedent for the future; maybe it is time to limit the driver’s voice on these decisions.

Nico Rosberg – An Innocent Victim

Nico Rosberg was the most unluckiest driver on Sunday in Korea, even more so than Sebastian Vettel.  Rosberg has quietly gone about his job all season, in quite frankly, a poor car.  He has trounced Michael Schumacher and starred again on this new track, qualifying an outstanding 5^th on the grid.  On the race start, he ducked underneath Lewis Hamilton and was threatening Alonso, when Mark Webber’s spinning Red Bull came into his path.  Despite Rosberg’s best efforts, including driving on the grass, he couldn’t avoid Webber and the contact ripped his suspension off and sent him off the track, and into a painful retirement.  Schumacher’s strong 4^th place suggested how good the Mercedes was in these mixed conditions.  Had Rosberg managed to avoid the out of control Webber, who knows where he could have finished in the final reckoning.

Adrian Sutil – A Chaotic Afternoon

In 2009, Adrian Sutil should have had a big WARNING sign pointed onto the back of his Force India, as he had a scenic ambition of crashing into other drivers.  He has got rid of that tag this year, with some very solid drives – most notably in Malaysia, Spain, Valencia and Spa.  However, it was a return to the bad old days in Korea, with a series of crazy, chaotic and unnecessary incidents.  Sutil was reckless for the most of the day, but you couldn’t fault his commitment to the cause.  His move on Jenson Button was fair, if brutal, when the Brit was shoved off the track and he had a feisty dice with Jaime Alguesuari too.  His downfall was the Sauber drivers, who he seemed to be passing twenty times in the race.  Eventually, he hit a damp patch, rammed into the side of Kamur Kobayashi and broke his steering column, finishing his race.  At least we found out that Kobayashi’s Sauber can take a strong hit and survive.  Later, it was revealed Sutil knew of a brake problem, yet kept crashing and failed to report his issue to the race stewards.  A $10,000 fine and a five-place grid penalty for Brazil seem like a suitable punishment, but despite the craziness, you can’t fault a guy for trying!

Vitantonio Liuzzi – Career-Saving Drive?

Whereas Sutil had one of those days, when he seemed like he was going to crash into anything, team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi picked up some massive points that might have saved his Formula 1 career.  For the sixth time this season, Liuzzi was bundled out in Q1, then bitched like a typical, frustrated Italian driver does, blaming everything but himself.  Whether it was the conditions or something in his breakfast porridge, but you couldn’t fault him in the race.  He took advantage of Williams’ late tyre issues and kept Robert Kubica in his sights throughout the race.  Liuzzi’s sixth place result equals his best result ever (set in China 2007).  Will it be enough to keep him at Force India?  It is a tough decision for Vijay Mallya, but this result will have done him the power of good.

Sebastian Buemi – Another Man under Grave Pressure

Another man in the paddock who is under grave pressure is Sebastian Buemi.  After a promising rookie season, the Swiss driver’s momentum has stalled this season and he made another rookie mistake in the race, locking his brakes in a panic and smashing into Timo Glock’s Virgin.  Virgin couldn’t believe it, as they reckoned Glock might have scored a precious championship point and Buemi picked up a similar penalty to Sutil for Brazil.  It has been a tough season for Toro Rosso, but Jaime Alguesuari has done a better job, so Buemi needs to up his game over the winter for next season.

Vitaly Petrov – Has He Just Slammed Into The F1 Exit Door!

If Liuzzi thought he was under pressure and Buemi is struggling, Vitaly Petrov may well have kissed his chances goodbye to racing in F1 next season.  Despite his undoubted pace, he looks set to join Piquet and Grosjean in the Renault reject bin.  After his customary qualifying spin and the grid penalty for his Japanese startline antics, Petrov drove calmly in the early stages, and made a smart move onto intermediates in the early stages.  The move left him up in 7^th, and two places ahead of Robert Kubica, who was having a quiet day.  Then, on Lap 41 came the expected . . . Petrov crashes again!  Another Renault that ends up looking like Bambi after he had been born and a stern face from Eric Bouillier on the pitwall said it all.  Petrov’s inconsistency has cost Renault a shot at fourth place in the constructor’s championship, whereas at Mercedes, Schumacher has at least been consistently scoring minor points to back up Rosberg.  The way the Russian looked after the crash, shaking his head with his helmet firmly on, I think he may have just realised that this was his most expensive mistake of the season.

Korea’s First Taste of F1 – the Final Verdict

Considering we had absolutely no idea of what to expect, Korea certainly didn’t disappoint.  We were told that the circuit looked like a building site, but it is an impressive little venue.  Finally, after years of constant frustration, Hermann Tilke has created another good circuit.  Why can’t he make more decent tracks like this one and Istanbul, yet ruin the old Hockenheim, and produce mediocre attempts at Bahrain and Malaysia remains a mystery!  Changes have to be made to the pitlane entry and exit, as that looked precariously dangerous, but at such short notice, they did a good job.  When it is all complete for next year, Korea should look like a stunning spectacle.  It’s a big thumbs-up from me.

2010 Hungarian Grand Prix - Webber Accepts Seb's Hungaroring Gift

Mark Webber won the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday August 1^st, to reclaim the lead in the drivers world championship, before Formula 1 headed for its four-week summer break.  The Aussie accepted a gift from his team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who was awarded a drive-through penalty for ‘sleeping,’ on a Safety Car restart.  Mark’s fourth win of the season sees him now lead a group of five drivers, covered by a mere twenty points.

Vettel had started the race from a dominant pole position, and drove away from the rest of the opposition with alarming ease.  Any thoughts of a walk in the park for the German disappeared when Vitantonio Liuzzi dispensed with some debris from his front wing in the middle of the circuit at Turn 11.  As a result, the Safety Car was scrambled and only a late call from his race engineer saw Sebastian head for the pits.  Webber opted to stay out and try and gain a tactical advantage on Vettel and Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard having jumped Webber off the startline. 

He didn’t need the pace against Vettel, as on the restart, he followed the Safety Car closely.  Vettel backed up the pack, but was caught out by the quick decision to restart the event under green flag conditions.  Consequently, he fell ten car lengths behind Webber and the Safety Car, meaning his fate was ultimately sealed.  After receiving the drive-through, his frustration out of the cockpit could be there for all to see.  Afterwards, he was seething with rage, and at a loss to what happened.  Third place was not what he was expecting, especially after Red Bull’s annihilation of the rest, which saw them a full second quicker than anyone else all weekend.

Alonso took full advantage on Vettel’s misjudgement and held off the erratic German with the widest Ferrari possible.  He couldn’t match Webber’s hot mid-race pace and had to settle for 2^nd.  Nevertheless, it was more than what he could have hoped for going into the race.  Felipe Massa was a quiet figure in the background, in a lonely drive to 4^th.  On his first return to the circuit that nearly claimed his life in 2009, the Brazilian failed to capitalise on Vettel’s issue and punish him completely.  Ferrari will be disappointed that he didn’t, costing them valuable constructors points.

The talking point of a race that provided a lot of drama, but a lack of overtaking on the tight Hungaroring layout was the cynical chop by Michael Schumacher that his ex-Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello called ‘the worse manoeuvre anyone has tried on him in his career.’  On a radical strategy, the Brazilian had dropped to 11^th and was lapping three seconds quicker than the ailing Schumacher, who having his customary drive in the midfield.  Out of the last corner, the Williams had better traction, allowing Rubens to pull alongside.  Michael refused to give up, and pushed Barrichello millimetres away from the Budapest pitwall.  Barrichello made the move stick, and Michael has since apologised for the incident.  However, he has landed a 10-place grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix and received more hostile calls for him to walk away from the sport he truly loves.  

Mercedes awful day was capped by a $50,000 fine, for releasing Nico Rosberg back into the pits when his rear wheel was loose.  Unsurprisingly, the wheel flew off and bounced down the pitlane, causing minor bruising to a mechanic from Williams.  As Rosberg slithered to a halt on the pitlane exit, Adrian Sutil and Robert Kubica had frighteningly connected in the pitlane, ending the race for both drivers and earning Renault a similar fine for an unsafe pit release.

There were career bests for Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hulkenberg, with both rookies finishing in the top six after fine weekends.  Pedro de la Rosa produced a season’s best in 7^th, whilst team-mate Kamur Kobayashi came through from the back row to finish an impressive 9^th; Sauber’s first double points finish of the season.  However, it was a weekend to forget for McLaren, with Jenson Button lapped six laps from the end, finishing in a dismal 8^th and Lewis Hamilton retiring from 4^th place on Lap 24 with transmission failure. 

As Grand Prix racing enters its summer hiatus, Mark Webber has put himself in the pound seat, but with seven races still to go, anything can happen in Formula One and on the evidence of the 2010 season so far, it normally does.