F1 2011 review - Sebastian's perfect season

THE 2010 Formula One season has gone down as one of the most special seasons ever and it ended with the youngest ever world champion.  Just what would 2011 deliver?  The new season began with new regulations, such as the introduction of DRS which was brought in to make overtaking more possible in races.  KERS made a return after its 2009 failure and Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli returned to the sport as the sole tyre supplier after a 20-year absence.  Uprisings in the Arab world forced the postponement and eventual cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix, so once again, the championship would begin in Melbourne.

     From the moment he arrived at the Australian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel set a benchmark which no-one could live with.  He was untouchable at Albert Park, controlling qualifying and dominating the race to win the first event.  It was Red Bull’s first Australian victory and a sign of things to come.  McLaren arrived with a car that looked miles off the pace from their winter testing figures.  They were the surprise of the first race, as Lewis Hamilton produced a fighting performance to come home second, underlining the team’s hard work.  Team-mate Jenson Button had a fierce dice with Felipe Massa in the early stages of the race and got a drive-through penalty for cutting a corner and gaining an advantage on the Brazilian.  It left Button down in sixth by the finish.  Vitaly Petrov drove stunningly to register his first ever podium finish for Renault, a brilliant boost for the team deprived of Robert Kubica’s services this season after the Pole sustained serious injuries in a pre-season rally accident.  Both Sauber’s were disqualified for technical infringements which robbed Sergio Perez of points on his F1 debut, but it did allow Scottish rookie Paul di Resta to get a point in his first race.

Vettel started how it meant to go by winning the first two events

     In the heat of Malaysia, a Red Bull weakness was identified.  The tight packaging of their chassis meant they were struggling to keep KERS reliable.  However, this didn’t stop Vettel who was in a class of his own again, looking after his tyres and an intermittent KERS issue and claimed his fifth victory in the last six events altogether.  Button launched his championship assault with a brilliant second place and Kubica’s stand-in at Renault, Nick Heidfeld was an outstanding third, benefiting from a flying start that had him second into the first corner.  Talking of flying, his team-mate Petrov took to the air in a spectacular exit from the race with three laps remaining.  Old rivals Hamilton and Fernando Alonso clashed again, when the Ferrari misjudged an overtaking move.  For a separate weaving incident, a frustrated Hamilton was penalised and wound up eighth, with Alonso in sixth.

     After running out of fresh tyres in Sepang, Hamilton played the strategy game in China and it worked with a brilliant victory.  He overcame a major oil leak in the garage before the race and saved an extra set of tyres in qualifying to use them in a race that went down in the history books as one of the greatest ever.  Vettel beat Button to pole, but made a poor start and looked tense all afternoon, but showed his championship might with second place.  More KERS problems left Mark Webber in a dismal 18^th on the grid, but he put in a sensational fightback to claim the final place on the podium.  Button was a dejected fourth and produced one of the blunders of the season.  Having led the early stages, he made a terrible mistake and stopped at the wrong pit!  A comical moment, but Jenson would make up for it later in the season.  Felipe Massa’s inferior strategy left him down in sixth, but beating Alonso by 15 seconds made it a solid and sweet performance.  Another man who impressed in China was Nico Rosberg.  He led a significant chunk of the race, but faded badly to fifth by the end.  It was the closest Mercedes GP would get to finishing on the podium this season.

     Another tremendous Grand Prix followed three weeks later in Istanbul.  Pirelli’s tyre mileage left us with a four stop strategy for most of the top runners and overtaking galore with the effective DRS.  Despite crashing in wet practice on Friday and losing a day of race setup, Vettel was a comfortable winner on what turned out to be F1’s last trip to Turkey.  Webber ensured Red Bull had their first 1-2 of the season, coming out on top in a feisty scrap with Alonso, who claimed Ferrari’s first rostrum after a difficult start to the campaign.  A sticky wheel nut at a routine pitstop left Hamilton over 40 seconds adrift in fourth place and Button’s gamble on one less pitstop didn’t work and left him behind Rosberg in sixth.  While Rosberg was picking up points for Mercedes, Michael Schumacher’s weekend was a disaster.  Unnecessary contact with Petrov in the early laps and losing out in many midfield battles left him admitting to feeling ‘no joy’ following his 12^th place finish. 

 

Next stop on the Sebastian Vettel crusade was Barcelona, which surprised many with an exciting duel.  Despite being beaten to pole position by team-mate Mark Webber, Vettel showed his superiority on raceday.  However, he was made to work very hard for his 13^th career victory.  Fernando Alonso’s adoring Spanish public witnessed an incredible start as their hero catapulted from fourth on the grid into the lead.  Sadly, dreadful tyre wear left him ending a lapped fifth.  Vettel led from lap 19 onwards, but Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren was the faster package and hunted him down.  The German’s brilliant defensive driving was enough to take victory again and the team rightly praised his driving, rather than his ‘Crazy Frog’ impression.  Having made an awful start and dropping to tenth on lap one; Jenson Button produced two cracking moves on Alonso and Webber to complete the podium.  Michael Schumacher responded to his critics with a solid run to sixth, ahead of his team-mate Nico Rosberg whilst Nick Heidfeld came from last after a fire in practice to eighth.

Perez's rookie season was put on hold after this crash in Monaco

     Any driver will claim that winning in Monaco will be the highlight of the season and Vettel added Monte Carlo to his ever increasing trophy cabinet on a turbulent weekend in the principality.  The weekend started with a sickening shunt for Sergio Perez in qualifying.  The Mexican crashed out of the tunnel in Q3 and suffered a bruised thigh and concussion, keeping him out for two races.  In the race, Vettel, Alonso and Button produced a supreme afternoon of driver skill.  Sebastian survived a bad pitstop on lap 16 and stayed out on weaker tyres to hold off the Ferrari and McLaren.  Hamilton had a nightmare weekend, which included a qualifying demotion, then two more drive-through penalties in the race for controversial clashes with Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado.  He attacked race stewards in an unsavoury post-race interview, beginning a dark period for the Brit.  Vitaly Petrov was admitted to hospital after being involved in a multiple crash with Adrian Sutil, Hamilton and Jaime Alguersuari late on which caused a race stoppage.  Fortunately, the Russian escaped serious injury.   

      If anyone thought F1 2011 had been crazy so far, then the drama of the Canadian Grand Prix exceeded everything.  Five safety cars, a two hour stoppage for a torrential downpour and an amazing finish which had avid fans jumping up and around at 10.15pm in the evening!  Vettel drove brilliantly again and led through most of the chaos, until around the last lap, he ran wide and handed Jenson Button a sensational victory.  Button stormed back from 21^st and last at half-distance, following collisions with team-mate Hamilton and Alonso, which ended both of their races.  For once, Vettel showed he was human and still could crack under pressure.  Webber recovered from his own contact with Hamilton to make it two Red Bulls on the podium, just ahead of Schumacher, who ran as high as second and produced the best drive of his comeback.  Further back, a hard-fought eighth place from a pitlane start saved Jaime Alguersuari from the sack at Toro Rosso.

     After that Canadian excitement, the European Grand Prix disappointed with the usual lack of action in Valencia.  Vettel bounced back from his Montreal slip-up to dominate in trademark fashion.  He took pole position and won at a canter, whilst Alonso beat Webber in a straight fight to take an excellent second for Ferrari.  Hamilton had a very quiet run to fourth, followed by Massa and Button.  All 24 cars that started in Valencia made it to the finish; only the third time in history this has happened, after the 1962 Dutch GP and the 2005 Italian GP.

Alonso was in top form at Silverstone, taking his only win of 2011

An incident-packed British Grand Prix at Silverstone saw our fourth different winner of the season.  Alonso benefited from a poor Red Bull pitstop and Vettel being held up behind Hamilton’s slower McLaren in the middle part of the race to take Ferrari’s first victory since Korea last year.  Webber claimed pole position on Saturday, but dropped behind Vettel at the start and was forced by team boss Christian Horner to “maintain the gap,” in the closing stages.  There were time when memories of Turkey 2010 came flooding back, but a 2-3 result kept Red Bull comfortably clear in the constructors championship.  The Brits had a largely miserable day.  Paul di Resta made contact with Sebastian Buemi and had a dismal pitstop to wreck his hopes of points after qualifying a brilliant sixth, whilst a loose wheel nut ended Button’s grand prix prematurely.  Hamilton stirred the motions with fourth, holding off Massa in an exciting final corner duel, despite fuel management issues.

     Next was a trip to the chilly Eiffel Mountains and the Nurburgring, where Lewis Hamilton put a great weekend together to qualify on the front row behind Mark Webber and win the race.  He jumped the Australian at the start and used great strategy and daring overtaking moves on both Webber and Fernando Alonso to take the spoils.  Alonso was second and Webber back in third.  An off-colour Sebastian Vettel spun early on and seemed unhappy on home soil all weekend.  Nevertheless, smart pit work from Red Bull saw him leapfrog Felipe Massa on the last lap to salvage fourth place.  Once again, Jenson Button was out of luck, forced to retire with hydraulic problems, handing Adrian Sutil a best finish of the season for Force India in sixth place.  The pressure was growing on Nick Heidfeld at Renault after a clash with Sebastian Buemi put him out of the race and his seat in severe jeopardy.

      A week later and the McLaren summer renaissance continued at an unseasonably damp Budapest.  In a race decided by getting on the right tyres at the right time, Button mastered everything again to win in Hungary for the second time in his career.  The race was Hamilton’s for the taking, as he led the majority of it.  However, he was left to rue a missed opportunity when he spun into the path of Paul di Resta, forcing his countryman off the road.  Lewis got a drive-through and pitted six times, but still finished fourth.  Second place for Vettel increased his championship lead, with near rivals, Alonso and Webber finishing behind him in third and fifth respectively.  Heidfeld’s Renault career ended spectacularly when his engine air bottle exploded on pitlane exit, leaving his car in flames.  Fans also felt fiery, when news came through of a new TV deal in Hungary which sees Sky Sports receiving live coverage of every race next season and the BBC settling for partial coverage of ten live events.

Hamilton's crash in Belgium summed up a messy championship

After the summer break, Formula One returned at the end of August to Belgium and the daunting Spa-Francorchamps circuit.  Despite safety cars and serious concerns over blistered tyres after qualifying, Red Bull took a 1-2 finish.  Vettel handled it all with his usual panache and Webber recovered from a shocking start which saw him ninth into La Source to finish a very strong second.  Hamilton’s faint championship hopes ended when he had a silly collision with Kamui Kobayashi, which speared the McLaren into the barriers.  Team-mate Button started 13^th after a tactical mix-up in qualifying and had to pit early after first corner contact, but produced a stirring fightback to third.  Alonso was hindered by Ferrari’s decision to use one less set of dry tyres and without the grip levels of his rivals, the submissive Spaniard had to settle for fourth.  On the 20^th anniversary of making his F1 debut, Michael Schumacher stormed through from last on the grid after a wheel hub failure in qualifying to record a fabulous fifth place, narrowly ahead of team-mate Rosberg.  Pastor Maldonado scored his first and only point of the season, whilst Bruno Senna qualified a superb seventh on his Renault debut, but blotted his copybook by running into Jaime Alguersuari at the start of the race.

     The final European race of the season was as ever, at Monza and Ferrari country.  Red Bull feared they wouldn’t be very strong, due to the power disadvantage of their Renault engine, but Vettel blew the opposition away.  He produced a meteoric lap to take pole position by half a second on Saturday and despite Alonso beating him off the startline, made a brave and decisive pass on the grass to record another fantastic victory.  Button overwhelmed Alonso later in the race for second place, but despite poor traction from his Ferrari, Fernando still managed to make the podium to give the Tifosi something to shout about.  Michael Schumacher pushed the boundaries in a vigorous defence from Lewis Hamilton for half the race, with Hamilton eventually coming out on top for fourth place.  Massa was a distant sixth after contact early on with Mark Webber; the Australian having a pathetic off into the barriers on his way back to the pits with front wing damage.  Vitantonio Liuzzi produced his nomination for accident of the season, by trying to move his HRT into the points from the back row into turn one!  His ambition backfired, torpedoing Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg out of the race at the first chicane.

     The flyaway finish began under the lights in Singapore, where Sebastian Vettel eased to another victory and within one point of the title.  Jenson Button came second, which was enough to take the fight to Suzuka, but third and fourth place results ended any mathematical hopes for Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso.  The weekend was dominated by two run-ins between Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton, with a fuming Massa angrily confronting his rival in the interview pen after the race.  Paul di Resta was a notable sixth to achieve his best finish of his 2011 rookie year, whilst Michael Schumacher escaped injury after a nasty looking accident, when he went airborne over Sergio Perez.

Three wins for Button, including an emotional success in Japan

     Sure enough, as expected, Vettel sealed the world championship title at Suzuka, to become the youngest back-to-back champion in the history of the sport and only the ninth driver to achieve such a feat.  Button drove brilliantly once again to take victory, ahead of a hard charging Alonso, but third place was easily enough for Vettel in a gripping Grand Prix.  Once again, Hamilton and Massa made contact during the race, which saw a piece of McLaren bodywork deployed on the racing line and forcing the Safety Car out.  By their 2011 standards, the incident was relatively minor, but it was another flashpoint in a dismal season for both.  Michael Schumacher managed to split Hamilton and Massa at the chequered flag, whilst flu-ridden Perez drove well in his Sauber to eighth, as did Nico Rosberg from 23^rd on the grid to tenth.  However, Suzuka 2011 will be remembered for the place that wrapped up Sebastian Vettel’s glory season.

The German wasn’t finished yet though, as he cruised to his tenth victory of the season in Korea.  Combined with a third place finish for Webber, it sealed the constructor’s championship for Red Bull.  Hamilton blasted to pole, the first non Red Bull pole position of the season, but he was subdued all weekend as he finished second, his split from Nicole Scherzinger seemed to weigh on his mind throughout.  Button, Alonso and Massa completed the top six, leaving slim pickings for the rest.

      F1 made its inaugural visit to India and the sport gave the country the tradition in 2011 of a Sebastian Vettel pole position and a Sebastian Vettel victory.  He led every lap and was simply untouchable.  His 11^th triumph of the season put him within two races of equalling Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season.  Once again, it was Button and Alonso who completed the podium positions which provided a great circuit, but sadly, very poor racing.  Massa and Hamilton became attracted again with their sixth collision of the season.  The Brit’s front wing was damaged and he limped home in seventh.  Massa was blamed this time by the race stewards and awarded a drive-through penalty, but it didn’t matter in the end, as he abused his Ferrari over the plastering kerbing and broke his front suspension.  Mercedes equalled their best result of the season, with Schumacher leading Rosberg home to fifth, as he did at Spa earlier in the season.

      However, Vettel’s hopes of equalling Schumacher’s wins in a season record ended on the second corner in Abu Dhabi.  A sudden deflation on the left-rear tyre sent the champion spinning out of the race.  Hamilton took full advantage and returned to form to secure a brilliant win in a very controlled and measured drive.  As so often the case this season, Alonso outperformed his equipment to take second place for Ferrari and despite a KERS failure, Button made it two McLarens on the podium. 

      Red Bull may have finished off the podium in Abu Dhabi, but they showed their class in the finale at Sao Paulo.  Webber finally ended his barren run by taking a magnificent victory in Brazil, although he was aided by a faulty gearbox problem for his team-mate.  Button wrapped up second in the drivers championship with a podium finish, but Hamilton was out of luck, finishing his largely desperate season off with gearbox failure.  At least he ended his public feud with Massa after the race.  Fourth place for Alonso wasn’t enough to hold off Webber for third place in the driver’s championship final positions.

Vettel and Red Bull were the class of the field in 2011

So, after 19 races in 18 countries and five different winners from three teams, the end has arrived for F1 2011.  Sometimes in the sport, you just have to appreciate greatness and we must hail Sebastian’s perfect season!

DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP: Sebastian Vettel 392, Jenson Button 270, Mark Webber 258, Fernando Alonso 257, Lewis Hamilton 227, Felipe Massa 118, Nico Rosberg 89, Michael Schumacher 76, Adrian Sutil 42, Vitaly Petrov 37, Nick Heidfeld 34, Kamui Kobayashi 30, Paul di Resta 27, Jaime Alguersuari 26, Sebastian Buemi 15, Sergio Perez 14, Rubens Barrichello 4, Bruno Senna 2, Pastor Maldonado 1

CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP: Red Bull 650, McLaren 497, Ferrari 375, Mercedes GP 165, Renault 73, Force India 69, Sauber 44, Toro Rosso 41, Williams 5

F1 2011 - Computer Game Review

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

WHEN Codemasters released F1 2010 this time last year, it quickly received wide praise and applause as it was really the first game that actually captured the imagination of the sport.  This therefore put a lot of pressure on Codies, a company with a rich history of producing award-winning racing games, to deliver and most importantly, take it up to the next level with F1 2011.

     To start with, the essence of the game remains the same, built again upon the Career mode with its tagline, “Be the Driver, Live the Life, Go Compete.”  Starting with the standard pre-season interview with a member of the world’s press (David ‘Crofty’ Croft from BBC Radio 5 Live is used again on the UK version), the player has a much wider choice of teams to start their life in the sport with.  Obviously, all the options are midfield/backmarker teams, including the three ‘B’ teams, Team Lotus, Virgin Racing and HRT but it does gives the option to either begin the path to the front of the field quicker or longer for those new to the game.

     Essentially, the pit garage design remains the same from F1 2010, with constant reports from your race engineer both in the garage and on the track.  Team to driver reactions after qualifying and race are now implemented to give more a feel as to whether the chemistry within the team setup is strong or crumbling massively.  The agent that was featured in F1 2010 has been unceremoniously and thankfully, dumped.

     In game modes, two new modes have joined the setup this year.  Multiplayer returns after a year away, in a classic split-screen format.  Most exciting is the introduction of a co-op championship which allows 2 players to race as team-mates, so finally, an equal way to battle it out and see who the best is.  Online mode is also enhanced with it now being able to hold up to 16 players in one game session at a time.

     In the game itself, all of the 2011 rule changes in real life have been adapted into the game.  KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) and DRS (Drag Reduction System) give the player a boost to improve their performance.  Also the new Pirelli tyres are featured and have modelled to act in realistic form with a set of tyres only lasting 10 to 15 laps, depending on the circuit, until they “fall off the cliff.”  Although a promise was made to reintroduce mechanical retirements on the game, no evidence has been shown yet so it’s hard to prove whether it is possible.

WELCOME: The Safety Car makes a much anticipated return

     However one aspect that has been welcomed by many is the return of the Safety Car, which was last featured in an F1 game back in 2001.  It is not known yet if it can be deployed for any AI incidents on track but it can be deployed during heavy rain conditions.  In addition, red flags have returned for the first time in an F1 game since 1998 for instances when a crash is so severe, the Safety Car can’t get round the track.

     Another new feature is ‘Race Director.’  Accessed via the pause menu during a race, it allows the player to not only look at the latest race standings but browse through each driver’s lap times and see whether they are performing upto standard or starting to drop off the pace.

GUARANTEE: More wheel-to-wheel combat is expected

     Finally, not just Singapore and Abu Dhabi (in its day-night element) can be played in night conditions as some circuits are also playable as night races.  The new Indian GP circuit is also featured but not the cancelled Bahrain GP despite rumours that it may still feature on the game despite its axing earlier in the season.  Improved modelling in the AI has also promised to make the game more challenging for experienced racers.  The blogger founder Simon Wright asked John Boden for his thoughts on the game via Twitter; “It’s very good, but very hard at the same time.  They’ve tried to make it as close to life as possible.  It is quite rewarding though and I’d go as far as to say it’s the best ‘pure racing,’ game I’ve played.”

     Overall, my verdict of F1 2011 is that there is plenty more to offer for the next edition.  It beats F1 2010 quite comfortably in terms of the game style but it still hasn’t quite made the next leap forward in gaming levels.  Nevertheless, this is definitely another hit F1 title for both the sport and Codies in general.

     F1 2011 is available now for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows. Handheld editions for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation’s new Vita handheld console will be released at a later date.

The Finishing Straight - China (by HappyDude88)

SHANGHAI 2011 will go down among the all-time F1 classics.  Alongside Monza 1969 and 1971, Monte Carlo 1982, Silverstone 1987, Spa 1998 and Suzuka 2005 – this race will utterly breathless from start to finish.  This was the day when the 2011 Formula 1 One World Championship totally came alive.

     This was the day when Red Bull Racing realised that if they don’t get their KERS issues sorted soon, they will lose both championships.  The only flaw in the Adrian Newey design is the tightly-packaged chassis, which means that KERS doesn’t have the room required to operate properly.  At least, they now have three weeks to sort it out.  My views on KERS are crystal clear – an expensive waste of time!  However, when it doesn’t work, it is costing nearly 0.5seconds a lap, so it is an essential tool to have.  Once again, both devices failed on Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber during the race and it was a KERS issue in morning practice on Saturday that started Webber’s qualifying mess too.  Red Bull can’t let the matter head into the European season undeveloped, especially with McLaren hot on their tails.

     Shanghai’s long backstraight is the second longest on the F1 calendar, and this meant that the DRS system came into its own.  The FIA’s decision to not allow the wing to be activated until halfway down the straight on Saturday morning seemed like a rather questionable move.  However, they got it spot on.  Unfortunately, the amount of overtaking seemed quite DRS based, unlike in Malaysia.  It is tough to criticise one of the greatest innovations of recent years in the sport.  However, the FIA still need to work on how to make the racing even better.  Either two opportunities a lap or for the defending driver to be given the chance to use the device have to be thought about between now and Istanbul. 

     Thank you Pirelli was David Coulthard’s final few words in his BBC commentary and he was spot on with those.  Bridgestone did give an impeccable service to F1 for fifteen years.  However, they never came up with a dynamic tyre and Canada aside last year, it made race strategy fairly non-existent.  Now, Pirelli have produced the perfect balance of a tyre that when it loses grip, that’s it – it’s game over, rather than the tyre coming back to life.  They also have produced a tyre which does have the ability to do more than ten laps at least, or even more – as in Sergio Perez’s case in Melbourne.  I predict a very sweet relationship between Pirelli and the teams for some time to come.

WRONG PIT: An embarrassing error from Jenson Button!

     Jenson Button’s elementary mistake of stopping in the wrong pit box was a blunder of the highest magnitude.  It is bad enough to see a rookie driver doing that, but this was a former world champion, completely caught out in a moment of crisis!  Button got what he deserved, as Vettel jumped him at the first round of pitstops.  The Red Bull mechanics should have been crafty and quickly removed a wheel from Button’s car, whilst they had the chance!  Unfortunately for Jenson, he struggled to hide his embarrassment afterwards.  It is one of those moments that will appear on blooper DVD’s at Christmas and the ‘What Happened Next’ round on A Question of Sport forever!  Having cut a chicane blatantly in Melbourne whilst trying to pass Felipe Massa there, this suggests that Button is feeling the heat more than ever this season.  Desperate and clumsy moves however will not will you championships, and Jenson should know that by now.

     Reliability continues to shock everyone and it is getting to the stage where there is general shock when a mechanical failure occurs.  If it wasn’t for a Toro Rosso mechanic failing to tighten up Jaime Alguesuari’s left-rear wheel at his first pitstop, every single car would have finished the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix.  It is a pretty mighty statistic.  The day of 8/9 cars finishing races seem to be a thing of the past.

SCRAP: Alonso chases old rival, Schumacher

     Felipe Massa is starting to rekindle some of the form that has been missing from his driving ever since that horrific qualifying crash in Hungary 2009.  Sixth place at the finish was a poor reward for the Brazilian, who drove exceptionally well and was right in contention for the victory until the last 12 laps.  For the third successive race, he beat Fernando Alonso off the startline and beat the Ferrari No.1 by 15 seconds, despite his tyres being completely finished for the final stint of the race.  It was a drive that Felipe can be proud of and if Ferrari’s designers get their act together and sort out their aerodynamic flaws, Massa will win races at least this season.  Alonso’s seventh place could be vital come the end of the season.  It may not sound like it now, but if he wins the title by six points – he will think back to this day.  Fernando drove as hard as he ever could and had a memorable dice with old adversary Michael Schumacher for most of the race.  However, he was lacklustre by his high standards and the way the likes of Webber, Button and Nico Rosberg cruised past his defensiveness Ferrari, must have surely made the Spaniard’s heart sink.  Ferrari needs to improve fast, if Fernando is going to stay in the title hunt.

     After their Malaysian nightmare, Mercedes GP pushed themselves right back into contention in China.  Nico Rosberg was a star all weekend; hauling his car upto fourth on the grid for the race and then leading a fair chunk of it.  Ross Brawn’s decision to put both cars on a three stop strategy almost paid off, had it not been for a fuel consumption problem on Rosberg’s car.  Fifth place at the end left Nico absolutely devastated.  He told BBC’s Lee McKenzie afterwards that it was a ‘horrible’ fifth place and looked incredibly disappointed.  No wonder, because this was Rosberg’s best chance to win a race for the first time and although his defence against Lewis Hamilton and Button was fairly feeble in the end, he drove impeccably throughout.  Nevertheless, despite Rosberg’s disappointment, the team can leave Shanghai with heads held high, with their season not completely destroyed yet.

BACKWARDS: Williams have dropped down the order alarmingly

     Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Williams.  Their car did at least bring two finishes for its drivers and Pastor Maldonado got some critical race mileage underneath his belt.  However, 13^th and 18^th place results are absolutely shocking, for a team that has fallen from grace spectacularly.  It could be a slim picking season and with Team Lotus beating Maldonado fair and square, in the shape of Heikki Kovalainen, Williams are in big danger of becoming the first team to become victim to Mike Gascoyne and Tony Fernandes ambitious and ever-improving team.  Even Gascoyne himself admitted that it was ‘unfortunately Williams’ that his team is targeting to overhaul.  It is a sad and sorry decline for a world championship winning team and I can’t imagine how Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head must be feeling; seeing their great team tumble into also-rans at the back of the field.  Also, a special mention for Jerome D’Ambrosio – who beat Timo Glock at Virgin Racing convincingly in both qualifying and race trim.  Whether it was Glock’s twin brother that showed up in Shanghai, it was a notable achievement for the rookie Belgian, considering the lack of equipment available to the Virgin Racing cars.

BOUNCING: Lewis Hamilton recovered in China, in stunning fashion

     The final part of this latest edition of the ‘Finishing Straight’ will focus on two drivers, who were the stars of the weekend.  Lewis Hamilton bounced back from his Malaysian disappointment in breathtaking fashion.  His shrewd gamble to sacrifice a front row position in qualifying and save a fresh set of option tyres for Sunday was a masterstroke.  As was the way he stayed composed in the cockpit, as the McLaren mechanics ran amok in the moments leading up to the start, desperately making emergency repairs to a flooded engine, thanks to an overfill of fuel in his car.  Hamilton channelled any frustration he may have had into driving fast and pulling off some bold manoeuvres on track.  His pass on Button in turn one won him the race and Jenson does deserve credit for spotting Hamilton at the last minute, otherwise an aeroplane crash would have occurred between the two McLaren drivers.  In the end, his race-winning move on Vettel was fairly straightforward, thanks to Sebastian’s lack of grip from his Pirelli tyres.  However, the tactics that Lewis used, to use KERS in a place where Vettel would be surprised of a possible attack, was genius.  This is the Lewis Hamilton we love and I hope we see more of it, not the moody figure we saw after the race in Kuala Lumpur.  Finally, there has to be a special mention for Mark Webber – who is my ‘driver of the day,’ only just edging out Hamilton.  15 laps in and his race was going absolutely nowhere, having been passed easily by Perez and Rubens Barrichello.  Webber was struggling in 17^th but after Ciaran Pilbeam’s blunder on Saturday by not switching the Aussie on the softer, faster tyre in qualifying, he turned it around himself on Sunday.  True, Webber had three sets of the option tyres available to him after his Q1 shock exit, but he used them to perfection and the team’s decision to start Mark on the prime, less faster tyre at the start reaped rewards.  Webber’s charge through the field was akin to Michael Schumacher’s at Imola in 2005.  That day, Schumacher was only beaten by a stoutly defensive drive from Alonso.  Here, I’m convinced Webber would have won if the race went on four laps longer.  His pace was amazing and it surely will give him the lift in confidence he badly needed after a troubled start to the season.

     What a race and what a start to the season.  For once, I’m glad we have a three week break before Istanbul, because Sunday’s events in Shanghai have taken a long time to digest.  It was a special Grand Prix and one that will never be forgotten by the avid F1 fanatics.  

The Finishing Straight - Malaysia (by HappyDude88)

THE second weekend of the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship took the teams and drivers to the heat and humidity of Malaysia.  Melbourne had left a lot of questions unanswered, rather than answers being given.  In Sepang, we got a taste of the exciting season we are set to have, and optimism that Red Bull aren’t going to have it all their own way, despite Sebastian Vettel’s formidable start.

     Sure, Vettel won the race and he had enough in reserve if he came under severe pressure I felt.  However, the KERS issues that the team have seem to be a plaguing matter.  It definitely seems that Adrian Newey hates the device and doesn’t want it around.  However, if Red Bull doesn’t run it, then they will be at the mercy of others by nearly half a second a lap.  I personally think KERS is an expensive failure and always have that belief.  McLaren were the only team to make it work in 2009 and I honestly don’t see any benefit this year, except the environmental impact it is supposed to have.  The reliability of the device has been questioned by some, and it is clear this is a problem that needs sorting out for Red Bull.  With the device not working, Mark Webber was made to look like a granny pushing a supermarket trolley around Sainsbury’s at the start!  True, he did bog down off the line, but through little fault of his own, the Aussie was down to tenth from third on the grid by the end of lap one.  Midway through the race, Vettel’s race engineer gave him a message which stated ‘DO NOT USE KERS!’  Although the system restored itself and Sebastian could partially use it in the closing stages, Newey and his designers need to get on top of KERS.  It will certainly cause some problems for them in Shanghai this weekend, especially with the longest straight on the Grand Prix calendar to contend with.

     The other main talking point to come out of Malaysia was the contentious clash between arch rivals Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.  The flashpoint moment of an action-packed race came with ten laps to go.  Hamilton was struggling on his harder compound Pirelli tyres and the Ferrari was faster.  Allegedly, Hamilton used aggressive defending tactics to keep Alonso behind, although the evidence doesn’t seem to support this.  Out of turn three and Alonso got too close to the back of the McLaren and ploughed into the back of Lewis.  The damage to Alonso’s car (a new front wing required) wrecked his chances of getting on the podium.  However, the Spaniard was his own enemy in this, as he completely misread and misjudged the situation, probably more surprised with Hamilton’s lack of speed off turn two.  It had echoes of an incident between the pair in Bahrain in 2008 and Ferrari clearly had feelings, although they didn’t express them publicly, that Hamilton had brake-tested their no.1.  The stewards, advised by former Benetton and Dallara driver and multiple Le Mans winner Emmanuelle Pirro elected to give Alonso and Hamilton both 20 second penalties after the race.  The penalties are totally unjustified and unnecessary and it disappointed me that such action was taken.  Maybe Pirro and the stewards had evidence, like telemetry traces etc that suggested such a penalty was required.  However, to the viewer’s naked eye, it was no more than a racing incident and at worst, Alonso should have received a reprimand.  To make matters worse, Hamilton loses a place, but Alonso kept his sixth place.  Why was Hamilton exactly penalised boggles my mind totally!

     After an unsuccessful start in Australia, the DRS system, which is such a horrible word by the way to describe the movable rear wing, came into its own in Malaysia.  We saw some tremendous battles down the field, and enough overtaking opportunities to last a season.  What pleases me is that DRS will allow drivers the chance to pass, without making it a simple overtake.  With the KERS effect, we do see some easy overtaking, but that can’t be helped, especially if a faster car is miles quicker than a backmarker for example.  The Pirelli tyres also played their part in Malaysia.  Hamilton and Webber both had to make four stops and everyone else had to make at least three visits for tyres.  The tyres are doing the job required and it is making the racing far more exciting.

FLYING: Petrov auditioned to be a Red Bull driver, but he failed!

     He had a frankly embarrassing start in Melbourne, but Nick Heidfeld came to form in Malaysia and recorded a fine podium finish for the Lotus Renault team.  Off the back of Vitaly Petrov’s successful podium in Australia, this proves that the team have overtaken Mercedes GP to be the fourth fastest team in F1.  In fact, some would argue that they are quicker than Ferrari too at the moment.  The starts of Heidfeld and Petrov were simply fantastic.  Whilst the McLaren’s and Ferrari’s diced on the inside of turn one, the Renault’s flew past the lot of them on the outside line.  Heidfeld showed some feisty aggression against Hamilton in the first corner, which was pleasing to see.  Nick is a very consistent driver, but has been criticised for not having ‘that’ cutting edge in the past.  In Malaysia, he showed a lot of grit, determination and panache in his driving.  He deserved his podium and it must make Robert Kubica partially sick.  Of course, Kubica, who still must be in such intense physical pain, will be delighted to see Renault doing so well, but I bet he’s wishing he would be there getting the results for himself.  Saying that, Lotus Renault still need to put together an error-strewn weekend for both drivers.  Petrov had a tough race and made a dramatic exit with four laps to go.  The Russian ran wide in Turn 8, hit the grass, then rather stupidly kept his foot firmly on the accelerator pedal, which led to his car going airborne spectacularly.  To add to this, the impact was so severe that it snapped his steering column.  Petrov has already a lot more maturity this season, but he does need to cut out the basic elementary errors such as this and it was a clumsy error to say the least.

     Hispania Racing were a total disgrace in Australia, but I was pleased to see them race creditably in Malaysia.  There is still a load of work to do and both cars failed to finish, but Vitantonio Liuzzi kept in sight of the two Virgin cars, which shows they can actually build a proper racing car.  However, Narain Karthikeyan looks terrible.  He is simply out of his depth in the sport and is simply there at Hispania to pay the bills.  Considering no team found him employable for five years after his Jordan excursions in 2005, it feels odd to see Colin Kolles pick him over the likes of Christian Klien and Bruno Senna amongst others.  In fact, I think Sakon Yamamoto could do a better job than Karthikeyan!

ROLLING: Mercedes seems to be going backwards, not forwards

     Heads will be rolling very soon at Mercedes GP after another dire weekend.  Michael Schumacher did muster a couple of championship points together, but even Schumacher is struggling to cope with the chassis he has on his hands.  Mercedes GP produced a poor car last year, and stopped developing mid-season.  How have they managed to produce an even worse car this time around!  To see drivers like Schumacher and Nico Rosberg struggle around in a terrible car is a sorry sight.  If anyone can turn it around, it is Ross Brawn for sure.  However, the board at Mercedes will not accept this underachievement again, and managerial changes may have to be made, to make sure that they don’t go down the route of other underachievers, Honda and Toyota in recent years.  At least Williams are independent and don’t have to worry about this, but a Morris Minor seems to have more chance to finish a Grand Prix at the moment than a Williams.  Rubens Barrichello’s body language says it all.  Of course, he will work extremely hard to turn around this depressing situation, but 15^th and 18^th on the grid was not what the team were expecting, especially after a very strong pre-season.  Barrichello picked up an early puncture and then retired with a hydraulics failure.  Pastor Maldonado is lacking race distance and only managed eight laps in Malaysia before an engine problem forced the rookie onto the sidelines.  Perhaps the money problems Williams are suffering is starting to harm their on track performance and reliability.

CLASSY: Vettel was Mr. Cool in Malaysia

    My driver of the weekend in Sepang was the winner, Sebastian Vettel.  Nick Heidfeld, Paul di Resta and Jenson Button all put in very notable performances, whilst Webber’s race effort, considering he was being hampered by no KERS and a four stop race was pretty impressive.  However, Vettel was once again in a class of one.  In qualifying, the pressure was on, especially against a fired-up Hamilton.  Once again, he produced the perfect lap to snatch pole position in a dramatic and nail-biting qualifying session.  In the race, he did brilliantly to handle the issues he had with KERS and the degrading tyres to handle Button and Hamilton from a fairly safe distance.  With 50 points out of 50 in the bag, Sebastian Vettel has already set the solid foundations down for a world class season.  He looks so relaxed and calm and it will take a lot to beat him this season.  Can the opposition respond positively in China?  I hope so, but Vettel turns up as the formidable favourite.

2011 Malaysian Grand Prix - Champ Vettel continues perfect start

SUCCESSION: Sebastian Vettel can't be beaten in 2011 so far

SEBASTIAN Vettel overcame KERS problems and degrading tyres to win the Malaysian Grand Prix today.  The world champion led for most of the race from the pole position in Sepang to make it two wins from two in 2011, and earn his fourth successive victory.  Britain’s Jenson Button finished an excellent second, but it was a day to forget for Lewis Hamilton, who wound up in the stewards room after another clash with arch enemy Fernando Alonso.

     Vettel led from the outset, but Red Bull’s advantage from the Australian Grand Prix wasn’t as clear-cut in Kuala Lumpur.  They had KERS fitted on their cars for the first time ever and both cars had problems.  Without the extra horsepower, Mark Webber was a sitting duck on the startline and got bundled down to tenth from third on the grid.  At half-distance, Vettel was told by his race engineer to not use KERS anymore.  At this stage, Hamilton had the potential to win the race, but his tyres wilted and the young German started to pick up the pace in another awesome drive.  Although Button was a late threat, Sebastian always had enough in hand against the 2009 champion to cruise across the line and achieve his second straight win in Malaysia. 

CLASH: The moment when Alonso's wing disappears

     Button and Hamilton were the closest challengers, but both lacked the pace when required to make the killer blow.  Hamilton was held up by the fast-starting Nick Heidfeld for the first stint, which gave Vettel a ten second head start.  When that gap closed, Lewis went for the harder of the two Pirelli compounds earlier than expected and the gamble backfired.  On lap 43 and 44, he got entangled in a battle with his bitter rival Alonso, which ultimately ended in tears.  After some clean and exciting driving, Fernando misjudged the McLaren’s speed exiting Turn 3 and ran into the back of Lewis.  The result saw the Ferrari limping back to the pits with a damaged front wing, which cost Alonso a certain podium.  Hamilton was already in trouble before the collision, and a fourth trip to the pits in the closing stages finished his race totally.  After the pair crossed the line sixth and seventh, they were hauled up to see the race stewards afterwards to explain the crash.  Both were giving 20 second time penalties, which kept Alonso in sixth, but pushed Hamilton back to eighth in the final classification.  Fernando got his penalty for causing the crash, whilst Hamilton received his for aggressive defending driving against the Spaniard on the previous lap.  Hamilton’s poor body language afterwards suggested some serious questions would be raised in a tense McLaren debrief afterwards.  Button made a slow start and struggled to find a consistent rhythm in the early stages.  He was passed brilliantly by a fired-up Alonso after the first stops and although he handled his tyres better than others around him, had lost too much time to Vettel by the time he started setting quicker lap times.

POINT: Heidfeld made his, to secure his third career Sepang rostrum

    After his abysmal start, Webber did well to fightback to fourth, considering he had a malfunctioning DRS system, no KERS all race and four pitstops to contend with.  He finished on the tail of Heidfeld, who sealed a second successive podium for the Lotus Renault team.  Heidfeld qualified sixth and made one of the best starts of his career, on a weekend when he proved he was a very adequate stand-in for the injured Robert Kubica.  His pace was consistent throughout; wrapping up his third podium in Sepang in the process.  Team-mate Vitaly Petrov made the most spectacular exit of the race.  The Russian was running a solid seventh, when he ran wide onto the grass at Turn 8, kept his foot on the throttle and was launched airborne in a spectacular incident with just four laps to go.

     Felipe Massa produced a solid drive to finish fifth.  Massa beat Alonso, which will go down well for his confidence and only a poor first pitstop cost the Brazilian the chance to fight it out with Heidfeld and Webber for the final podium position.  Kamur Kobayashi was promoted to seventh by Hamilton’s penalty.  The Japanese driver won an entertaining scrap with Michael Schumacher, which seemed to last all race.  Schumacher made a superb start to split the Ferrari’s on the first lap, but fell back rapidly afterwards, with a car that simply isn’t up to standard.  Michael still wound up ninth for the team’s first points of the season.  Already though, it looks like being another tough campaign ahead for the seven-time champion.  At least he beat Nico Rosberg, who was a dismal 12^th and didn’t look interested all afternoon.  The final point for the second consecutive race went to Paul di Resta, who had a consistent afternoon and once again, beat his highly-rated team-mate Adrian Sutil.  Amongst the retirements were both Hispania cars, which competed solidly in their first start of the season and both Williams.  Pastor Maldonado has only managed 18 laps in two races this season and Rubens Barrichello’s day was ruined by an early collision with Sutil which left the Brazilian limping back to the pits on three wheels.  With lack of pace and reliability simply non-existent, these are very tough times for Williams.

    It isn’t long for the next race, with the Chinese Grand Prix only seven short days away.  The challengers saw chinks in Red Bull’s armour, which is encouraging for the season ahead.  So too was the DRS system, which provided the epic racing that Melbourne simply failed to deliver and the degradation of the Pirelli tyres, which came into their own in Sepang.  However, Sebastian Vettel is building up a healthy lead already, and it seems like it will take a lot to stop him in 2011.

2011 Australian Grand Prix - Vettel cruises to opening victory

WORLD champion Sebastian Vettel crushed the opposition this morning, to win the season opening Australian Grand Prix at a canter.

CRUSHING: Sebastian Vettel has sent out a warning sign

     The 23-year old produced a lights-to-flag victory, earning his third consecutive victory in the delayed start to the 2011 F1 season.  His Red Bull Racing car was amazing, and he was rarely threatened during the entire weekend.  Vettel won from McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by just over ten seconds, in a race that was not a classic, but was certainly interesting for the fans with the new regulations coming into force.

     The promised degradation of the new Pirelli tyres came into force, as drivers had to make between two and three pitstops for tyres that lasted no more than 15 laps.  KERS returned, but fairly unsuccessfully.  The revelation that Christian Horner made afterwards; Red Bull didn’t use KERS this weekend both questions its future and the confidence that the Milton Keynes based team has.  The DRS system (moveable rear wing control) made an unspectacular debut, with only Jenson Button making full use of the device in the race.  However, with some fine-tuning from the FIA, this could turn into a successful innovation.

     Vettel had cruised to pole position on Saturday, and made an unbelievable getaway, whilst Hamilton did well to resist the attentions of Mark Webber on the rundown to turn one.  Although Hamilton kept Vettel in sight throughout the first stint, the ultimate pace of the Red Bull meant Sebastian was rarely troubled.  Damage to the undertray on Hamilton’s car left him fighting a losing battle against Vettel.  Nevertheless, Hamilton’s second place finish will feel like a victory to McLaren, considering where they were in winter testing.  Button made a poor start and then received a drive-through penalty for cutting the Turn 12 chicane when making a failed overtaking pass on the slow Felipe Massa.  Jenson ultimately finished sixth in the final reckoning.    

     Webber struggled all weekend on home soil and was absolutely nowhere in comparison to Vettel.  He struggled to make his tyres work and a technical problem just after crossing the finishing line compounded to his pretty dire weekend.  He finished fifth, finally equalling his best result at Albert Park, set in 2002 with Minardi.  Ferrari had an unspectacular weekend, with Massa finishing a lonely and below average ninth, after another lacklustre performance.  Having started fifth, Fernando Alonso was squeezed out in turn one and dropped back to tenth by the end of the opening lap.  Ultimately, the Spaniard did well to recover to fourth, on a weekend where he was fighting his car all throughout.  Massa’s morale will be crushed further, as he finished nearly a full minute behind Alonso, despite leading his team-mate in the first ten laps.

SPRAY: Vitaly Petrov enjoys the feel of cold champagne!

All this allowed Russian Vitaly Petrov through to make his maiden appearance on the Grand Prix rostrum.  Petrov capitalised on a brilliant qualifying performance and passed Button and Alonso at the start.  He benefited from a better strategy against Webber to earn a richly deserved podium.  This was a much-needed result for the Lotus Renault team, still recovering slowly from Robert Kubica’s terrible rally accident in February.  Kubica’s long-time replacement Nick Heidfeld finished an embarrassing 14^th.

     Rookie Sergio Perez produced a sensational debut; winding up seventh at the end, ahead of his Sauber team-mate Kamur Kobayashi.  Perez also somehow made it to the finish having just made one pitstop.  Easily, it was the best debut from a rookie driver since Hamilton burst onto the scene here in Melbourne back in 2007.  Sadly, it turned into a nightmare, when both Sauber’s were excluded for a rear wing technical infringement.  Technical director James Key has confirmed an investigation into the issue, and a possible appeal.  The revised results mean that Scot Paul di Resta scores a maiden championship point.  He finished tenth, just behind his experienced Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil.  Sebastian Buemi finished in eighth place for Scuderia Toro Rosso.  However, it was a bad day for both Williams and Mercedes GP.  Neither of their cars finished the race; with Michael Schumacher retiring in the garage after his suspension was bent by Jaime Alguesuari on the first lap.  Nico Rosberg parked his Mercedes, after his radiators were damaged in a desperate overtaking attempt by Rubens Barrichello.  Barrichello earnt a drive-through for his indiscretion and like Pastor Maldonado retired his Williams with technical problems.

     It wasn’t quite the dramatic start that many hoped for, but there is enough encouragement and optimism for the season ahead.  However, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing have laid down an ominous marker to the rest of the competition.  He will head to Malaysia in a fortnight’s time full of confidence and looking almost unbeatable.