2011 Autosport International Show Review - Back to its best

AFTER last year’s disappointing and lacklustre affair, the Autosport International Show returned to its action-packed and breathtaking best.  The exhibition, held at the newly renamed LG Arena (the NEC) in Birmingham on 15 – 16 January produced plenty of thrills and spills, that would whet the appetite of anyone motor racing fan.  I went to experience the event on Saturday, and came away delighted with the whole day.

CHAMPION: Lewis Hamilton's winning 2008 car was on show

First stop was the exhibition of world championship winning cars by the McLaren Formula One team.  From the early days of Bruce McLaren, all the cars were shown to the public in stunning detail.  Amongst them were the first winning world championship car, driven by Emerson Fittipaldi in 1974, the beasts that were designed which saw Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost dominant the late 80’s, all the way through to Lewis Hamilton’s world championship winning car in 2008.  The public were allowed to get fairly close and personal to these monsters, and all credit has to go to McLaren for allowing fans to experience the intensity of what a winning Grand Prix racing car looks like.

SEXY: Lotus Renault's new F1 challenger looks stunning

McLaren may be a championship frontrunner for the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship, but it will take something special to overhaul Renault for the title of F1’s sexiest car of the year.  With official backing from Lotus, the cracking black and gold colour, synonymous with the Lotus team in the 1980’s is back for the new season.  It will be driven by Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov, and although it wasn’t the official launch, Lotus Renault showed off its new model, which looks stunning and breathtaking.  As this was a new car, access was limited – but the breathtaking pictures suggest that it will be one to watch – in many different ways.  In Kubica’s talented hands, I predict it will be a winner too.

DEMONSTRATION: The Virgin Racing pitwall was a starring spectacle

Last year’s dismal Autosport show was lifted by the appearance of the Formula One world champion, Jenson Button.  This year, motorsport stars were few and far between.  BBC F1’s anchorman Jake Humphrey and new main commentator Martin Brundle were in attendance.  Martin was quick to deny the media reports of a personality clash with Jonathan Legard, which led to Legard’s departure from the BBC team in midweek.  BTCC champion Jason Plato, 1979 world champion Jody Scheckter and sportscar aces Tom Kristensten and Allan McNish were the other picks.  Virgin Racing also allowed fans the chance to sit on their pitwall, play with some of the technical buttons and experience what the engineers go through during an everyday F1 race weekend.  I spoke to an employee from the team, who gave me a lot of useful information.  I asked him the validity of the pitwall, which he confirmed; “After the show, we will take down the wall, change the electrics and give the screens a dust and then, it is off to Valencia for the first pre-season test in three weeks time.”

SPONSORED: Fifth Gear put on a great show at the Live Action Arena

Plato went onto present the action from the Live Action Arena.  Sponsored by Channel Five, it was a show for those who are fans of Fifth Gear.  Plato was alongside the boring, useless Tiff Needell, with the glamour girl Vicky Butler-Henderson setting a series of challenges for the male stars to compete in.  In the show I went to, which I got front row seats for!  Needell got the better of Plato 2-1 in the challenges, but that sounded like a fluke, as people had been telling me that Plato had thrashed him all day.  This proved why Jason Plato stars on the British Touring Car circuit and why Tiff Needell is only a clueless TV presenter.  Sadly, he is nowhere near the class of Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond.  Nevertheless, the banter between the pair was well worth the entrance fee.  Once they disappeared, the crowd were treated to stunts from Terry Grant, and three-wheel racing from the likes of ‘Walliams,’ ‘McLauren’ and ‘Red Ball!’  By far, it was the best live action arena experience I’ve ever had.

LETDOWN: The F1 Racing Grid was the main disappointment

In previous years, there has been a lot of content at the LG Arena, but a lot of half-hearted attempts from manufacturers.  This year, the only main letdown was the F1 Racing Grid.  The cars of Ferrari, Sauber and Hispania were missing, making in half incomplete and by being sealed off, it made the exhibit very difficult for fans to take photographs of.  The F1 Racing Grid has been a dismal letdown for many years now, and I don’t think it will meet the highs of cars hanging from the walls, like they did in 2007.  Maybe they should do like the World Rally Championship, and scrap this display, because it isn’t getting any better.

That aside, it was a great day and a great event.  Last year, I left feeling very short changed and disappointed.  This year, it was totally value for money and a great experience.  I will be back in 2012 to visit again, but first – here’s to a classic motorsport season in 2011! 

© HappyDude88 2011 (All pictures and text is copyrighted under the name of HappyDude88 2011)

2010 Singapore Grand Prix - Flawless Fernando Triumphs In Singapore Night

Fernando Alonso managed to resist an all-race attack from Sebastian Vettel to clinch a priceless victory in today’s Singapore Grand Prix on the Marina Bay circuit.  The usually spectacular nightline sky was lit up by an eventful race dominated by Alonso and Vettel.  The pair finished a full half a minute ahead of the chasing pack, after sixty-one laps of torturous punishments in very humid conditions.

The real loser on the night was Lewis Hamilton, who suffered another damaging shunt, this time with fellow championship contender Mark Webber which saw the McLaren forced into a very costly retirement.  It was the key incident of the race that allowed Alonso and Vettel to make the decisive break on the rest of the field.  Despite an early Safety Car period to clear Vitantonio Liuzzi’s deranged Force India away from the Turn 10 chicane, the first half of the race turned into a processional affair, with the leading two driving around in circles and no sign of any dramatic action around the corner.

This changed on Lap 30 when Kamur Kobayashi, already nursing damage from heavy contact with Michael Schumacher seconds earlier, hit the tyre wall at Turn 18, just underneath the tunnel.  He was collected by the hapless Bruno Senna, which resulted in a second caution period.  At the restart, Webber was badly delayed by Lucas di Grassi’s Virgin which allowed Hamilton to grab a decisive run on the Aussie exiting Turn Five.  Into the braking zone for Turn Six, Hamilton was slightly ahead, but on the outside of the corner.  He turned in, thinking he had given Webber enough space, but slight contact was made.  As in Monza a fortnight ago, it was only relatively minor, but Hamilton had been critically hobbled and parked up the escape road with broken rear suspension, beating his arms on the cockpit in sheer frustration.  Lewis is now twenty points adrift with four races to go, and it now looks like a very tough task to regain the championship he won in such amazing fashion in 2008.  Webber just about survived to finish 3^rd, and maintain his championship lead, which now stands at nine points over Alonso.

All day, Vettel looked to have the measure of the former double world champion, but Alonso, a controversial winner in Singapore in 2008 for Renault was always a step infront and would raise his pace, should he come under any critical danger.  Despite a last-lap attack in backmarkers from the German, Vettel realised the valour was the better part of disgression and settled for the 18 points which keep him firmly in the title proceedings.  The other championship contender, Jenson Button looked unhappy all weekend with the balance of his McLaren kept his car on the road to finish 4^th, and therefore keep his hopes, though slim, still alive.

The most dramatic exit of the race came from the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen in the dying embers of the race.  Kovalainen had been spun around by the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Buemi, whilst dicing for 13^th place.  The contact damaged the engine on his car and set alight to his Cosworth Powerplant.  Foolishly, the team told Kovalainen to carry on past the pits, but he stopped on the start-finish straight, with his car very quickly turning into a flaming barbeque.  Heikki jumped out and grabbed a fire extinguisher off the clueless Singapore marshals, who looked very reluctant to help out.  Kovalainen did a great job to put the flames out on his own, but it will raise questions of the marshalling structure of street circuits. 

The other star of the race was Robert Kubica.  The Pole was running in a comfortable 6^th, when he had to pit on Lap 45 to replace a punctured tyre.  Undeterred, he drove out of his skin to pass six cars in eight laps, including one of the moves of the season around the outside of Adrian Sutil’s Force India at Turn Seven.  Kubica finished a very creditable 7^th, after his dramas.  Elsewhere, Nico Rosberg and Rubens Barrichello put in very solid drives to finish 5^th and 6^th, whilst the points were completed by Sutil, Nico Hulkenberg and the unlucky Felipe Massa, who after starting last, due to a gearbox glitch in qualifying, spent all afternoon in traffic.  Since the conclusion of the race, Sutil has been penalised twenty seconds for gaining a track advantage at the start, dropping from 8^th to 10^th in the final classification.  Fellow German Nick Heidfeld has a very unhappy return to the sport, clashing with Liuzzi on the first lap, then later, being rammed into the wall by a fired-up Schumacher, who picked up front-wing damage and finished an unlucky 13^th.

Singapore produced a glamorous spectacle and although five men still remain in the championship battle, Lewis Hamilton may well have kissed his chances goodbye for another season.  For Fernando Alonso, the momentum is 100% behind the Spaniard and it will be interesting to see how he will fair in Suzuka in a fortnight’s time, which technically should be a Red Bull walkover.  However, Formula One is never settled on a piece of paper and with the drama that 2010 has thrown up so far this season, anything is possible in Japan next time out.

Ayrton Senna - A Genius Remembered

This year, the legendary Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna would have celebrated his 50^th birthday.  Sadly, he isn’t around to cherish this amazing anniversary – sixteen years after he tragically perished at the wheel of the Williams FW16 in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.  However, this opportunity gives me the chance to produce my memories of Ayrton Senna: The Man, and Ayrton Senna: The Genius behind the Wheel of a Racing Car.  Forget Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher: In my opinion, Senna was the greatest ever human being to drive in Formula One.

Senna was very successful in the junior formulae in Brazil and in England.  He had begun karting at the tender age of four.  For him, racing was in his blood and so to, was his will and desire to win.  To him, second place wasn’t acceptable; he felt it was first of the losers.  He underlined that ruthless streak early on in his career, in the tense and exciting duel with Britain’s Martin Brundle for the 1983 British Formula 3 Championship.  Senna dominated the first half of the season, Brundle the second half and it left Ayrton to pull off some crazy overtaking attempts that often ended in accidents.  Eventually, he overcame Brundle in the season finale at Thurxton, and Formula One beckoned.

Despite testing for McLaren and Williams in the winter of 1983, Senna opted to sign on for the Toleman team, an unfamiliar name to many in the sport.  Immediately, Senna made an impression, despite his inferior equipment.  He came so close to winning his maiden race that season too.  In Monaco, Senna made full advantage of the awful weather conditions, to charge through from 12^th on the grid.  He pulled off some stupendous overtaking moves, with the confidence that suggested he would be a champion in future waiting.  Only the insistence of race leader Alain Prost got the race red-flagged, though the half points would eventually cost him the 1984 championship.  Senna insisted that he would have won if the race had run just one more lap.  The determination to succeed was firmly there.  Podiums at Brands Hatch and Estoril followed, but Senna knew that Toleman was not a long-term stay.  He went to Lotus for the next three seasons, convinced that this might be the team that could deliver him the world championship.

In only his second race for the famous British marquee, Senna won in Portugal – in very similar conditions to those of Monaco 1984.  Second placed Michele Alboreto was the only driver not to be lapped, in a clinical and masterful performance in the wet.  Not only did Senna edge himself into a great wet weather runner, he developed a close association with the Japanese manufacturer Honda in his time at Lotus, and also the amazing skill he had to pull off a flying lap when the chips were down.  Eight pole positions went his way in 1985, and this skill remained in Senna’s book all the way through to his untimely death.  Although Schumacher has beaten this statistic now, it took him twelve years to do it after Ayrton’s death.  Sixty-five pole positions in 161 races, over 33% is one of the most impressive ratios I’ve ever seen.  In his three years with Lotus, Senna achieved 3^rd place in the 1987 championship and six wins, including a maiden triumph on the streets of Monte Carlo.  However, the British team was on a steady rate of decline and Ayrton elected to jump ship, taking Honda with him to McLaren.

Frustrated by seeing the more superior Williams of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell often get the better of him, despite his undoubted talent, Senna was convinced the switch to McLaren would finally give him the success it craved.  There, he was partnered with the Frenchman, Alain Prost, the golden boy of McLaren at the time.  Fireworks would explode between the pair, though not initially.  The 1988 McLaren Honda was the most dominant car in Grand Prix history, winning 15 of the season’s 16 races.  If Jean-Louis Schelesser hadn’t rammed Senna in the closing stages at Monza, it could well have been a clean sweep.  Senna won eight races, to Prost’s seven – though the ‘Professor’s’ consistency meant he went on to score more championship points.  However, on a countback system, which the sport used at the time, Senna knew that victory in the 1988 Japanese Grand Prix would be enough for his first championship.

The start was a disaster, Senna squandering pole position, and dropping to 14^th by Turn 1, giving Prost a colossal advantage.  Very quickly, Senna showed the superiority of his McLaren, and charged through the pack.  By Lap 16, he was fourth and eleven laps later, was challenging for the lead.  When Prost was trapped in backmarkers, Senna seized his opportunity and squeezed past his team-mate on the start-finish straight.  It was a clinical piece of overtaking, and a drive that thoroughly deserved to win the championship.  Prost was very gracious in defeat, admitting that Senna had been the better driver during the campaign.  Apart from a moment in Portugal, when Ayrton had nearly put Alain into the pit wall, their battle had been clean and a joy to watch in 1988.  Sadly, the next two years bought politics and accusations to the heartfelt of the game.

Race two of 1989 was the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.  Prost and Senna had entered a gentlemanly agreement, that the man who approached the breaking point for the Tosa hairpin first, would go onto win the race.  Senna took pole position and led on the first lap.  However, when his good friend Gerhard Berger crashed at Tamburello and his Ferrari burst into flames, the race required a restart.  Prost made the better start, and led approaching Tosa.  Senna, presuming that the agreement only meant on one attempt, stole the lead into the hairpin and drove into the distance.  Perhaps a gentle misunderstanding, but Prost, who finished over a minute adrift, refused to talk to Senna again.  

1989 was not a lucky year for the Brazilian, losing certain victories in USA, Canada and Italy due to mechanical problems, whilst he was taken out in Portugal by the already disqualified Mansell.  Once again, Suzuka would be the deciding factor in the championship battle, this time with Prost the overwhelming favourite.  Senna had to win, to stand any chance of taking the fight to Adelaide.  He lost the lead with a poor start, and harassed Prost all afternoon, with little chance of getting ahead.  On Lap 47, he closed up and made his move into the final chicane.  Prost, knowing that Senna had to win turned into the corner and the accident was inevitable.  The two McLaren’s interlocked wheels and slid to a halt.  Prost unbuckled his belts and walked away, but Senna kept his engine running and restarted.  However, he needed outside assistance from the marshals to get going again.  Despite needing to pit for a new nosecone, catching and overtaking the Benetton of Alessandro Nannini, Senna won and was promptly disqualified, for the outside assistance offence.  Prost was champion.  Ayrton was furious, almost refusing to race in Australia, threatening to walkaway from the sport he loved, believing that a conspiracy had been set-up against him, by Prost and the unpopular FISA president, Jean-Marie Balestre.  More allegations and accusations followed, and Senna’s super license was revoked.  Had he driven Formula One for the last time?

The following March, he was back, having apologised for his actions and won the season opener in Phoenix.  Once more, the fight for supremacy was between Senna’s McLaren Honda and Prost, who had swapped seats with Berger and moved to McLaren’s arch-enemies, Ferrari.  For the third successive year, Japan was the deciding point for the championship saga.  This time, it was Prost who needed to win to keep his title dream alive.  Senna took his customary pole position, but bitterly complained all weekend that pole position was on the dirtier side of the grid.  He campaigned for it to be changed, and Prost actually agreed.  The officials granted Senna’s request, but Balestre refused to back down.  Consequently, Senna vowed that if Prost turned into Turn One first, he would regret it.

Twenty-four hours later and Senna sprinted away, but Prost got the better start and took the immediate advantage.  Senna looked for a gap on the inside of the first corner that was simply always going to disappear.  The result was catastrophic.  The McLaren and Ferrari disappeared into a cloud dust, the pair clambered out of their battered motorcars, neither talking to the other but the outcome of the 1990 FIA Formula One World Championship had been decided in a matter of seconds.  Replays clearly put the blame fair and square at the Brazilian’s door, though he defended his actions long after the event.  It was a second title for Senna, but bittersweet and distasteful in the circumstances.  Only at the same event a year later, with Balestre gone and replaced by Max Mosley did Senna admit that he deliberately ran Prost off the road in 1990.  He will and desire to win couldn’t be faulted, but in attempting to knock another car out on purpose was a hideous crime, which on a normal UK road would land you with at least a driving ban, and possibly a jail sentence.

In 1991, Senna won his third and last drivers title, for the umpteenth time at Suzuka, the deciding point of most title battles.  Prost fell away and was fired by Ferrari before the season’s end, so it left for a renewed rivalry to remerge between Senna and ‘Il Leone,’ Nigel Mansell.  Senna won the first four races in 1991, but as the Williams Renault became the stronger package during the campaign, Senna grew frustrated, realising that McLaren were being out developed by a rival for the first time in his stint with the Woking team.  Eventually, reliability and a terrible pitstop in Portugal shot Mansell’s 1991 title dream, but not for the worth of trying.  He went wheel-to-wheel with Senna, sparks flying at some 200mph down the backstraight of Spain’s Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, one of the sport’s most iconic images.

As the Williams team mastered the active suspension and traction control systems, McLaren drifted further behind the game and Senna had to work especially hard for any of his later victories in his career.  1992 was a major disappointment, as Ayrton finished 4^th in the final standings, with just three wins, compared to the nine of the dominant Mansell.  Honda pulled out of F1 at the end of the season, and Senna questioned whether he should remain in the sport, especially when Prost ‘vetoed’ him not to drive alongside him at Williams in 1993.  Senna was incensed with this, but pot, kettle, black spring to mind when he did the same thing in 1986, to deprive Derek Warwick of a Lotus drive.  One of his greatest victories came in Monaco 1992, when he managed to hold off a hard-charging Mansell, who clambered all over the back of his McLaren in the last five laps. 

However, he had saved the best for last on a damp, dull Easter weekend in 1993.  The venue was Donington Park for the European Grand Prix.  Senna, now in a McLaren Ford had qualified 4^th and made a bad start, squeezed out by the uncompromising Michael Schumacher on the rundown to Redgate.  Undeterred, he out-accelerated the young German on the exit, and then swept past the fast-starting Karl Wendlinger in his Sauber around the outside of the Craner Curves.  Next target were the dominant Williams and just three corners later, he went inside Damon Hill to move into second.  He tore into Prost’s early advantage and finally, outbraked his chief rival into the Melbourne Loop.  He had gone from 5^th to 1^st by the end of the first lap, definitely the greatest lap in Grand Prix history.  Senna won the race from Hill by nearly a full lap.

For 1994, Senna got his dream move to the almost unbeatable Williams Renault squad.  With Prost having retired, and Mansell conquering the IndyCars scene in America, this was Senna’s chance to add to his forty-one victories.  Sadly, the partnership that promised so much never came to fruition.  Senna didn’t like the handling of the FW16, and had a miserable first two races.  He spun off and stalled his engine in Brazil, chasing down Schumacher’s Benetton, then was tipped off by an over-ambitious Mika Hakkinen into the first corner of the Pacific Grand Prix.  Arriving at Imola, Senna had no points, Schumacher twenty.  Autosport magazine claimed he was a man under pressure.  He didn’t show it though, focused on his goal to bring Williams back to the top, after an unconvincing start.  He blitzed the entire field in San Marino, setting the quickest times in every single session.  However, accidents to his countryman Rubens Barrichello and the death of Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger in qualifying deeply affected Senna.  Deep down, he didn’t have the passion to race.  Some say he was not on the best of terms with his family, due to his burdening relationship with Adriane Galisteu.  Others suggest he believed that Schumacher and Benetton were cheating their way to success, by using the now banned electronic aids.  Either way, he put those issues aside, dropped his crash helmet and went out to race.  A startline accident put the race under caution behind the Safety Car.  On the restart, Senna charged away, determined to pull away from the pest that was Schumacher.  On Lap 7, he entered the flat-out Tamburello bend when his Williams refused to turn into the corner.  The rest they say is history….

Ayrton Senna may have not endeared himself to everyone.  However, his skill behind the wheel of a racing car cannot be questioned, nor could his charitable work he put in for many local Brazilian and worldwide charities.  His speed, desire and commitment to win were immense, even if some of his tactics had to be questioned.  A devote Christian, Senna believed that God would save him on the racetrack.  His death brought shock to the whole world – and the funeral that followed brought Brazil to a complete standstill.  Chillingly, he had predicted that the new regulations for the 1994 season would bring serious accidents, possibly even bring the horrible fatality that he feared could happen.  On May 1^st 1994, the world lost a famous icon, and although Williams found replacement drivers easy to come by, Formula 1 will never see the likes of him.

Ayrton Senna is a legend who leaves an endearing legacy to many, and is a sporting legend that will never be forgotten.

21st March 1960 - 1st May 1994

2010 European 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.  The halfway stage of F1 2010 has now been reached, with an unusually dramatic race around the tedious streets of Valencia, home of the European Grand Prix.  So, this is the round-up of Round 9, as Red Bull really does give you wings!

APOLOGISES FOR ANYONE WHO WAS WAITING FOR THE CONCLUSIONS FOR CANADA, I WAS TOO BUSY TO PUBLISH A PIECE ON THAT WEEKEND. 

Miraculous Outcome At 190mph – How Mark Webber Cheated Death?

It is Lap nine of the European Grand Prix and Mark Webber is languishing in 18^th position, after a shocking start and an early pitstop, which was delayed by a sticky wheel nut.  He is approaching the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen, who is minding his own business, circulating five seconds off the pace.  Cue one of Formula One’s miraculous outcomes.  Webber slipstreams Kovalainen, who breaks for the corner, 80 metres before the Aussie intended him to do so, largely because of the incapability of the Lotus, rather than the Finn’s nervousness.  In an instant, the Red Bull was launched into the air, missed a DHL advertising hoarding by millimetres, barrel rolled once and then careered off the road at almost unabated speed into the tyre barriers.  Despite initial concerns about his legs, Webber was shaken, but suffered no serious injuries and is ready to go for Silverstone next week.  It was a racing incident that can happen at the heat of battle, though some are questioning why Kovalainen was even defending a position he was never going to hold onto for long.  There is no doubt that Mark Webber cheated death last Sunday.

Sebastian Vettel – Championship Aspirations Back On Track

It has been a rocky road for Sebastian Vettel in recent weeks, following the crash with his team-mate Webber in Turkey, then an uncharacteristically quiet weekend in Canada.  He was under pressure to deliver in Europe and he managed to answer all the critics, with a measured and dominant performance.  He beat Webber in qualifying for the first time since China, and on Sunday, despite constant pressure from Lewis Hamilton, was untroubled from start-to-finish.  This was an almost perfect weekend, which puts his championship aspirations firmly back on track. 

Fernando Alonso – Sour Grapes!

Sunday was a very frustrating day for Fernando Alonso, and that is becoming a very familiar tone in 2010.  After starting fourth on the grid, Alonso was a strong third in the early exchanges and hassling Hamilton, who was nursing damage from a first lap skirmish with Vettel.  The Safety Car changed it completely and Fernando was forced to do a full lap behind the pace car, before pitting, whereas Hamilton did a lap at racing speed before entering the pits.  He was furious at Lewis’s driving, though he must be questioned about his own performance.  He basically allowed Kamur Kobayashi to overtake him in the closing stages, which confirmed Alonso had an off-day and his mind was not on the job in hand.  He will need a win very soon to stay firmly in the title battle.

Mercedes GP – Moving Backwards, Not Forwards!

When Ross Brawn shook his head, after realising that Mercedes GP had cocked up once again on strategy, and ruined Michael Schumacher’s afternoon in the process, it summed up the German’s team and their diabolical weekend.  A new upgrade took the team backwards, not forwards.  Two races ago, they were ahead of Ferrari, but now, they have been overtaken by Renault and are coming under pressure from Force India on a regular basis.  Schumacher was nearly eliminated in Q1, and hobbled by brake issues, could only manage 15^th on the grid.  Birthday boy Nico Rosberg only did marginally better, starting 12^th.  He earned one point in the stewards’ room, when Pedro de la Rosa was penalised five seconds for going too fast under Safety Car regulations, but it was a miserable weekend to forget.  Knowing Ross, it won’t be long before he abandons development on 2010 and switches focus to 2011.

Felipe Massa – Must Improve His Form

Though Alonso had an off-day, Felipe Massa is having too many of these in 2010.  He produced another lacklustre display in Valencia, on a track where he dominated in 2008, his only previous visit here.  A clumsy spin on Friday lost him critical track time, so to qualify only 0.1 behind Alonso in 5^th showed slow signs of progress on Saturday.  Sunday was a different story however.  He may have been unlucky in having to queue behind Alonso under the Safety Car, which relegated him to 17^th.  However, he got stuck behind Vitantonio Liuzzi and didn’t even look like he wanted to pass him.  It was another dismal showing and that strong opening 2^nd place in Bahrain, must seem like an age ago.  Many in the paddock are wondering why he just got a two-year deal at Maranello for consistently dismal showings.  Perhaps his Hungary crash last year has psychologically damaged him more than he wants us to know about.

Lotus, Virgin & Hispania – Another Tough Day at the Office for Them

Another race, another tough day for the three new teams or as BBC pundit David Coulthard refers them to as: Class B!  Having made slow steps towards the midfield in Montreal, Lotus dropped off again in Valencia, though they were a full second clear of the other new teams.  We know what happened to Kovalainen, with the Webber crash and Jarno Trulli had a gear selection problem early on, and trundled around to the chequered flag.  At least both Virgins finished again, showing the reliability is gradually improving.  Timo Glock has an unnecessary clash with Bruno Senna, on a weekend where Lucas di Grassi hung him out to shame.  The most impressive of the new boys so far, is Karun Chandok.  The Indian is a nice guy, and keeps plucking away at the back, consistently finishing the races, which is a positive sign for his future career.  However, their chances of scoring points in 2010 look further away than ever.

Kamur Kobayashi – Finally Showing Signs Of Promise

It has been a tough season for Kamur Kobayashi, as he has had to deal with an uncompetitive Sauber, plus he hasn’t helped his cause with several careless first lap incidents.  Despite a poor qualifying, which saw knocked out in Q1 for the second successive race, he took full advantage of the Safety Car, to not pit and stay out on the track, in third place for 53 laps.  The Japanese made full use of the prime tyre, rarely looked under threat from Jenson Button’s McLaren and then, when he had to pit to use the softer option, drove past Fernando Alonso as if he was an amateur, then outfoxed Sebastian Buemi on the final corner for 7^th place.  Nice driving from Kamur, if he strings more consistency together rather than shunts, he may well turn out to be Japan’s best-ever Grand Prix driver.

Williams – A Radical Improvement

Williams made a big step forward in Valencia, which is a real positive sign for the rest of this season.  Although Sam Michael has recently confirmed that focus is moving towards 2011, this development step worked, with more in the pipeline for Silverstone.  Last year’s winner, Rubens Barrichello qualified 9^th and finished an outstanding 4^th.  Nico Hulkenberg produced his strongest weekend of his rookie season so far, winding up 8^th on the grid and looked set for a point, but for a tyre failure with six laps to go.  His disappointment was clear to see, but this was a radical improvement for a team that has underachieved badly in recent seasons.

Pirelli Wins the Tyre Battle – Can It Match Bridgestone?

Last Wednesday, the FIA announced that Pirelli had won the contract to supply tyres to all Grand Prix teams from the 2011 season onwards.  Although Michelin are keen on a tyre war, it looks like we set for another period of monopoly from one tyre manufacturer.  Pirelli was last in the sport in 1991, recording a lucky victory for Benetton’s Nelson Piquet in the Canadian Grand Prix.  Whether it can match Bridgestone will be interesting to see at the start of next season.  Bridgestone have been fantastic for sport, having entered in 1997 and will be profoundly missed by everyone in the paddock, when the Japanese manufacturer quits at the end of this season.

New Rules Agreed For 2011 – Back To The Old Days Of Grand Prix Racing?

New regulations for 2011 see the return of the 107% regulation, which means the new teams, must buck up their ideas, or face exclusion from the race.  The last time this was in place was back in 2002, when Alex Yoong failed to make the cut for Minardi, on three separate occasions that season.  KERS will make its expected return to the grid next season, with Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault all set to offer systems to teams.  Though it isn’t compulsory, it is believed most teams will use the system that failed so spectacularly in 2009.  Also being brought in is a new Safety Car rule, which forbids any overtaking on the final lap of races, after the Alonso/Schumacher incident in Monaco this year.  Plus, the introduction of a near rear-wing aerodynamic flap device, which will allow the driver behind to operate and eliminate drag.  Theoretically, it should make overtaking easier, but after the events of last Sunday and what happened to Mark Webber, I think that regulation may be tweaked before the cars line up next season.  It seems like that for 2011, we are heading back towards the old days of Grand Prix Racing.