The Finishing Straight - India (by HappyDude88)

IT WAS a brand new adventure for Formula One last weekend, as we entered a new country.  India hosted an event for the first time, but sadly produced a lacklustre debut race as far as on-track action goes.  The winner was Sebastian Vettel, but I’ve already done a special blog on the talents of this incredible German.  So, this week’s edition of ‘The Finishing Straight,’ will focus on the efforts of the midfield teams in India and how their performances have shaped up in comparison to the past and the future.

     Before I do that though, I need to digest and give my viewpoint on the latest clash between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa.  The incident between the pair on Sunday was the sixth clash they have had over a race weekend this season.  On this occasion, the race stewards decided to blame Massa and give him a drive-through penalty for causing a collision.  Most of the contact this season has been triggered by mistakes or rash attempts at passing from a rather crestfallen Hamilton.  However, this time, I had to agree with the stewards and that Felipe was in the wrong here.  Lewis was down the inside line and had no more space to avoid the accident.  He was even backing out of a legitimate manoeuvre before the corner, realising that he wasn’t going to get the space that he rightfully should have been allowed.  From one of the televised replays, Massa was seen to be looking across to see where his enemy was on at least three occasions, possibly more, before deciding to turn in.  That for me is not on.  Although he was to blame, I do think a drive-through penalty was harsh, because it wasn’t like he got away scot-free.  He picked up superficial damage and ultimately, the Brazilian’s race ended when he decided to stupidly have another go at cutting the Indian plastering kerbs which had wrecked his suspension in qualifying.  The stewards have been far too insistent this year on dishing out penalties.  Whatever happened to the traditional ‘racing incident?’  In fact, out of the Hamilton/Massa altercations this year, only one out of the six deserved its sanction (Hamilton’s terrible attempt at passing into the Loews hairpin in Monaco.)  I feel sympathy for Massa on getting the penalty, but little else on another poor weekend for the Ferrari no.2.

      Okay, time to analyse some of the midfield performers and let’s start with the positives.  The form of Jaime Alguesuari in the second half of the season has been a revelation and a joy to see.  He had another superb weekend in India and has taken the Toro Rosso team forward.  He is outqualifying and outperforming Sebastian Buemi now on a regular basis.  The Toro Rosso looks like a missile in a straight-line at the moment and the radical improvements they brought to Japan have prompted a massive step forward.  I think they have been a real find this season and both drivers have impressed me this campaign. 

       The main Formula One rookies continue to shine as the season reaches its conclusion.  For the second time this season, Sergio Perez failed to pay attention to yellow flags in practice; picking up a three place grid penalty for not slowing down whilst marshals recovered Pastor Maldonado’s blown-up Williams on Friday.  Perez might need to check up the rules and regulations again over the winter, but the Mexican’s consistency continues to shine through.  The Sauber team have slipped down the pecking order in the second half of the season, as they have been simply out developed by the likes of Toro Rosso and Force India.  Yet Perez has kept the Swiss team right in the scrap for sixth place in the constructor’s championship.  I would even go as far to say that he is now Sauber No.1.

      Paul di Resta had a tough time in India, as for the first time since Nurburgring; he lagged behind Adrian Sutil all weekend.  However, the Scot’s weekend was made up with the news that he will be staying at Force India for 2012 and rightly so.  He has finished in the points on six occasions this campaign, outqualified his team-mate more often than not and firmly deserves to stay on.  The second seat remains a close battle between two Germans.  Sutil will hope to stay on if possible, but he has had five seasons with the team and might have to look elsewhere for options.  A seat at Williams is likely to be open, so he has some tough decisions to make.  It might be taken out of his hands if the Grove based team opt for Kimi Raikkonen to make a sensational return and if his current employers will put Nico Hulkenberg in the second car.  Hulkenberg has been a frustrated figure all season on the pitwall and told the BBC over the weekend that he won’t stay at the team if he isn’t racing for them next season.  Vijay Mallya has got a tough decision to make in the coming weeks.

     However, one driver who won’t have a decision to make on his future is Rubens Barrichello.  Sadly, the Brazilian’s career is whimpering towards a dreary conclusion, a real shame for a popular guy who has finished second in the driver’s championship on three separate occasions.  His 2011 campaign reached a new low, when he hit the back of team-mate Maldonado on the first lap in India and limped back with damage.  He finished behind Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus.  With Williams looking serious at Raikkonen and considering Sutil as an option, Rubens’s days in the sport look numbered.  At least he will be able to finish on home soil in Brazil in a month’s time.  Another driver who isn’t delivering at the moment is Kamur Kobayashi.  The Japanese driver has been outpaced by rookie team-mate Perez throughout the second half of the season and has only scored two points since the crazy Canadian Grand Prix back in June.  His Indian experience only lasted a lap, collecting damage in the incident with Barrichello and Virgin’s Timo Glock.  In fact, Kobayashi looks like he walked under an avalanche and out the other side came a twin who is half the driver he was in the opening stages of the season.  It was the same in 2010, when Sauber had a dismal car at the start of the campaign; Kamur struggled but radically improved when the car made strides forward.  I hope he can and will turn the corner in future.

       Final word goes to India, who did provide a wonderful spectacle.  The racing may have been disappointing, but the welcome F1 got was absolutely brilliant and the track is one of the best ever designed by Hermann Tilke.  After the disasters of Abu Dhabi and Valencia in the past, it is about time he got one which all the drivers seemed to like.  Hopefully the racing will be a bit more spectacular in India in 2012.

The Finishing Straight - Monaco (by HappyDude88)

THE Monaco Grand Prix provided plenty of talking points, recriminations and celebration.  This is my view of an action-packed weekend;

     Lewis Hamilton’s weekend in Monaco was an absolute disaster.  It ended with a ‘joke’ about his racial colour which was distasteful and disgraceful.  Having said last week in the Spanish blog that I had been impressed with Hamilton’s discipline throughout the season so far, Monaco was totally the opposite.  In qualifying, he had been flying.  He was fastest in Q1 and Q2 and had a golden chance of snatching pole position from the king of Saturday qualifying, Sebastian Vettel.  McLaren made a grave mistake by gambling on just the one run for Hamilton, and when the red flag came out for Sergio Perez’s big accident, their strategy had backfired.  Before this, Hamilton claimed he had been held up by Felipe Massa as he came out of the pits, which certainly seemed a bit far-fetched.  To compound matters, Lewis cut the chicane at the Swimming Pool and had his one qualifying time deleted.  He started out of position in ninth and then frankly drove like an amateur who had failed their driving test miserably on Sunday.  Granted, he pulled off a spectacular pass on Michael Schumacher early on, but his run-ins with Massa and Pastor Maldonado were daft.  

CLUMSY: Hamilton and Massa got into a banging match

     The lunge on Massa into the Loews hairpin, where it is impossible to overtake was clumsy to say the least.  The pair interlocked wheels and continued their race into the Monaco tunnel.  Hamilton forced his way through, which pushed the Ferrari onto the dirty marbles and left Felipe clattering into the barriers.  This bought out the Safety Car.  Lewis got a deserved drive-through penalty for causing the collision, and had the cheek to blame Massa on his team radio; “I went up the inside and he turned in on me.  That was on purpose!”  Well Lewis, if that was on purpose, then I shall eat my summer hat!!  If he wants lessons on purposely turning into corners, then ask Michael Schumacher, he’s a proven expert!

      His run-in with Maldonado was just as bad, and it cost the rookie his first championship points.  After the red flag interlude, for which Lewis should have been disqualified for driving around with a rear wing about to collapse for at least two laps, he dived up the inside and rammed into the Williams at Ste. Devote.  His claim was that Maldonado turned in early, but the replays will indicate that when Lewis made contact, he even used the pitlane exit, not the track!  Stick to the road and you might have a point. . .  He got a time penalty after the race, which did nothing to his finishing position, so it was pointless and it isn’t going to get back Maldonado’s points place.  Afterwards, he called the race stewards a “freckin joke,” blamed Massa and Maldonado, slagged his team off for a diabolical pitstop, then said this; “I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m black.  That’s what Ali G says!”  Martin Whitmarsh ordered his driver back to the race stewards to apologise and Hamilton was ensured that the matter would be resolved there and then.  On Tuesday, it was clear that Lewis had regretted his words and he apologised to his fans, Massa and Maldonado via his Twitter page; “To Massa and Maldonado, with the greatest respect, I apologise if I offended you.  Both of you are fantastic drivers who I regard highly.”

      For me, the incident should now be drawn underneath the line and we must move on.  However, Lewis Hamilton is a lucky lad to not face any further action from the FIA for his derogatory comments.  Whether it was a joke or not, it doesn’t matter, his comments have no place in today’s society and he is experienced enough now to know better.  I hope in Canada, I can talk more positively about Lewis Hamilton rather than all the negatives of this race.

      Away from Hamilton’s horror weekend, the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix was the worst for serious accidents in a single weekend since the 2001 Australian Grand Prix.  In Melbourne a decade ago, Michael Schumacher walked away from rolling his Ferrari in practice, Luciano Burti suffered a suspension failure in his Jaguar during qualifying, which ripped his car into bits and pieces and finally, there was the tragic collision between Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve in the race that led to the fatality of 52-year old trackside marshal Graham Beveridge.  In Monaco, it was the drivers who were more at risk.  

     First, Nico Rosberg crashed during Saturday morning practice, when his Mercedes got unsettled under braking for the Nouvelle chicane.  Rosberg only narrowly missed the tyre barriers head-on by millimetres.  After this scary incident, race director Charlie Whiting insisted that the speed humps in the chicane be removed for qualifying.  It was this action, plus the strength of today’s Grand Prix cars that saved Sergio Perez’s life in qualifying.  

WRECKAGE: Only minor injuries for Sergio Perez after this shunt

      The Mexican rookie had done a brilliant job to reach the final part of qualifying, when he got off-line in the tunnel.  On the notorious bumps, his Sauber went the same way as Rosberg, but the side impact with the wall did its job, even though it was terrifying.  The lack of flailing movement from Perez inside the cockpit just added to the distress for his father and the Sauber team inside the pit garage.  It was a crash that bought echoes about Karl Wendlinger’s shocking shunt at the same place in 1994.  The Austrian went into a deep coma when he crashed his Sauber car in almost the same way as Perez did just a fortnight after the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger.  Perez was ruled out of the race by concussion and a thigh injury, but he was released from the Princess Grace Hospital on Monday morning, following two nights in hospital for observational purposes.  He should be fit and raring to go for the next event in Canada next weekend. 

      24 hours later, and another driver was admitted to hospital in a far less significant impact, which could have been tragic.  Vitaly Petrov was released from the same clinic a day earlier than Perez, with minor concussion and bruising after a brush with the barriers which again worried many seasoned observers.  His crash came on lap 69, during a traffic jam, which nearly saw the three race leaders, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button end up being caught up in the melee.  The incident began at Tabac, when Maldonado passed Adrian Sutil and the Force India driver grazed the wall, puncturing a tyre.  As Sutil limped around, Hamilton braked to avoid him and was whacked from behind by Jaime Alguesuari.  With the Toro Rosso using the McLaren as a launch pad, Petrov’s Renault was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Remarkably, Sebastian Buemi, Rosberg and the three leaders got through the wreckage undamaged.  Again, although he had removed his steering wheel, there was a lack of movement from Petrov inside the cockpit, with the Russian complaining of pain in his ankles.  Thankfully, there were no broken bones, but it was the last thing Formula One needed after Perez’s brush with life 24 hours earlier.  In fact, the sport has had three lucky escapes this weekend and it is time to make some radical safety improvements to the Monaco circuit.  The harsh will say that racing cars have just simply outgrown the streets.  Well, without Monaco on the calendar, there’d be no point of a F1 world championship.  Just some urgent track resurfacing and barrier movements should be needed to improve the safety levels around the Principality.  However, this weekend was definitely a wake-up call.

      One driver who must be feeling the pressure now is Jaime Alguesuari.  Whilst Sebastian Buemi collected another point for Toro Rosso, Alguesuari is on seriously borrowed time, especially with the highly-rated Daniel Ricciardo sitting in the wings of the Toro Rosso garage.  Alguesuari struggled all weekend and was knocked out in Q1.  Even worse, he was comprehensively outpaced by the two Lotus cars and spent the first half of the race behind Jarno Trulli.  His race-ending incident, against Hamilton’s McLaren, considering he was a lap down in the melee won’t have impressed anyone.  Franz Tost is known for sacking drivers in mid-season.  Both Scott Speed and Sebastian Bourdais have felt that in the past, and more performances like this and Alguesuari will join them in the ‘Unemployed’ category.  As much as I don’t like to see these things happen to racing drivers, Jaime needs to raise his game and quickly if he doesn’t want to get the boot.  One man who has received the boot is Nick Wirth.  Wirth was the technical director of the Virgin Racing team and another shambles in Monaco has led to his departure.  For the second year running, Timo Glock suffered a scary suspension failure, where he looked to be driving on three wheels.  The Virgin’s are the best part of five seconds slower than the frontrunners and are nowhere near the midfield in Formula One.  In fact, Hispania seem closer to them, than they do to Lotus.  Excuses run very thin in this business and Wirth has paid the price for the 2011 chassis, which is simply, a dreadful racing car.  Handling a Skoda might be a better job and I know from Glock’s body language, that his frustration is plain to see.  Having said that, rookie Jerome D’Ambrosio finished again and the Belgian is doing a creditable job, considering the resources he has at his disposal, which is certainly very limited.

TOP: Another classy weekend for Sebastian Vettel

      Finally, it is time to crown my Driver of the Weekend.  Despite good efforts from Pastor Maldonado and Jenson Button, it goes to the runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel.  Vettel has never gone great around Monaco in the past, despite a fifth and a second place before.  His form over the weekend was once again immaculate.  His driving ability can’t be questioned and he did a wonderful job holding off Alonso and Button on far quicker tyres.  He turned Red Bull’s disastrous pitstops into a race-winning performance.  Of course, he received some well-judged fortune, through the late race suspension, which allowed everyone to change their tyres for the last five laps, but I think Alonso and Button would have struggled to get past anyway.  The champagne is on ice and Sebastian Vettel is walking away with the 2011 world championship.  Canada’s next; another weak Vettel circuit?  Well, considering his form in Barcelona and Monte Carlo, let’s make him the race favourite again then!

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!

The Finishing Straight - Australia (by HappyDude88)

THE first grand prix of the season is over and it is time to reflect on the opening weekend of the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship in Albert Park.  Watch out everyone, because this is my personal take on the events in ‘The Finishing Straight!’

     To start off, the new rules and regulations need more time to bed in before anyone can judge them officially.  We learnt a lot today about the new formula, but it won’t be before we get to Europe when we can say whether the items that are meant to shake-up the order do so.  On first reflection, the Pirelli tyres are going to do the job required.  Well done to Pirelli for producing a tyre that not only wears down, but keeps the spectators interested all the way till the end of the race.  Once again, the race strategy effect, taken away by the refuelling ban at the end of the 2009 season is going to play a significant part.  Today, it seemed like Mark Webber and the Ferrari drivers were the ones struggling to keep their tyres in decent condition, hence their three stop strategies.  Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel seemed to have little trouble, which led to two tyre stops.  I think the nature and characteristics of the tracks will play a more pivotal role on the Pirelli tyres in relation to driver style.  As for the new DRS system, it made an unspectacular and unpromising start.  However, Melbourne is never the easiest track to overtake and the new moveable rear wing device did at least give drivers the chance to close up on one another.  Button was the beneficiary of this, passing both Kamur Kobayashi and Felipe Massa with the DRS control.  I think the DRS will work on more free-flowing circuits better, such as Shanghai, Silverstone and Brazil.  I think the FIA will tinker with the device and maybe, allowing the drivers the chance to use the device two opportunities in a single lap will help.  That decision now lies in Jean Todt’s hands.

ACTION: Massa and Button were engrossed in an early battle

     To the key moments of the race, and the best action was the early scrap between Jenson Button and Felipe Massa for fifth position.  Button made a poor start and was swamped by Vitaly Petrov and a fast-starting Massa.  It was clear that the Brit was much faster than the Ferrari, but couldn’t find a way past.  Massa was defending as if his life depended on it, and on Lap 11, Jenson had enough.  He tried to overtake the Brazilian through the fast Turn 11 chicane.  Massa gave him no space, and consequently, Button cut the chicane to gain an advantage.  McLaren alerted race control about what to do, but got no response.  Eventually, the race stewards handed Button a drive-through penalty and it was the correct decision, no matter what Jenson thinks about Ferrari pitting Massa deliberately to avoid him having to allow Felipe back through.  The replay is crystal clear and you would have thought that Button and McLaren, with the experience they have, would have done the sensible option and given the place straight back.  Alonso got penalised for a similar incident at Silverstone last year, which wasn’t as clear-cut, so there can be little symphonies with Button’s plight.  Ultimately, his actions cost him a podium position.

     The other contentious incident was the kamikaze move by Rubens Barrichello that took Nico Rosberg out of the race.  Barrichello was clearly quicker than the Mercedes driver, but came from a hopelessly long way back; expecting Nico was going to see him coming.  Rosberg had every right to turn in and would have been surprised to see the Brazilian whack his sidepod.  Rosberg’s reaction of leaving his helmet on the way back to the pits suggested his fury.  Barrichello spun and got a drive-through penalty, but a grid penalty for Malaysia might have been a bit more appropriate, because his race was screwed here anywhere and he had no chance of getting any points.  For Barrichello to claim Rosberg braked early is a barbaric comment!  More looked like you braked far too late Rubens!

SPRAYING: Hamilton's second place was a surprise to McLaren

     McLaren touched down in Albert Park in a load of trouble.  The car was not very quick, had only done an 18 lap stint, which left reliability seriously questionable and frankly, the team looked in an appalling mess.  They leave with heads held high and a chance of fighting for some competitive results.  Lewis Hamilton was terrific and looked buzzing and happy all weekend.  He put everything into the race and second place was a fair reflection of his commitment to the cause all weekend.  Button had an adventurous day by his standards, but points are better than nothing.

DISQUALIFIED: Both Saubers were thrown out after the race

     Another team that were meant to come away very satisfied were Sauber, until their double disqualification for a technical infringement.  Sergio Perez put in a phenomenal performance on his debut and thoroughly deserved his seventh place.  Kamur Kobayashi had an unexciting day by his high standards, but also picked up points.  The Sauber team have a generally fast car and could be a serious threat in the midfield.  The disqualification sounds a bit confusing and harsh.  They might as well appeal, but I can’t see them getting the points back, which feels a bit wrong for Perez and Kobayashi.  After all, they didn’t design the car, they only drove it!  A loss of constructors points sounds like a fairer outcome.

     Mercedes GP and Williams will leave the weekend with heads very well down.  Williams had a quick car in testing, but flattered to deceive badly in Melbourne.  Apart from smashing into Rosberg in the race, Rubens Barrichello spun off in qualifying with an uncharacteristic mistake and also went off on the first lap.  To make matters worse, the car looks totally unreliable, as neither car finished.  They aren’t in as much trouble as Mercedes GP are, whose pace in the final pre-season test in Barcelona looks like a storm in a teacup.  Michael Schumacher was still smiling all weekend, and was unfortunate to be hit by Jaime Alguesuari on the first lap, whilst Rosberg was the innocent party in the Barrichello crash.  However, the car lacks ultimate speed, both on one lap and more especially, in a long stint.  Even if he had survived the shunt with Rubens, I don’t think Rosberg would have finished in the points anyway.  Mercedes have a lot of work to do to turnaround a situation that looks even worse than 2010.

     Speaking about worse than 2010, the three new teams still look a country mile off the pace.  Team Lotus was a major letdown, especially in qualifying; still two seconds off the midfield!  Jarno Trulli did finish and Heikki Kovalainen was keeping up with the likes of Barrichello and Alguesuari before his retirement, but they simply haven’t delivered on what they should be capable of.  Virgin Racing also got a car to a finish in the form of Jerome D’Ambrosio, but look distant backmarkers and more like road traffic blocks.  However, in comparison to Hispania Racing, they look world class.

     Hispania Racing arrived without turning a wheel in testing and did no running in practice.  To shakedown a car in qualifying for the first race of the season is absolutely ridiculous!  Both cars failed to make the 107% cut-off and some will have to question what on earth Vitantonio Liuzzi is doing in that team!  Surely he would have been better off in a third driver role with a midfield team.  Hispania is a waste of time, a waste of money and a waste of petrol.  Quite frankly, The Simpsons could do better if they were a racing car team and not a hit cartoon family!

     Once again, Mark Webber had a disappointing weekend on home soil.  It wasn’t quite as bad as his mere of a performance in 2010, but the gap between him and Vettel in both qualifying and the race was absolutely staggering.  More remarkably, he could only equal his best ever Albert Park result, which was 5^th in a Minardi way back in 2002.  His expression after the race spoke volumes in abundance.  We have seen him fightback before in crushing fashion on numerous occasions, so it’s dangerous to write him off at your peril.  However, Vettel already has the upper hand in Red Bull from the word go this season.  Vettel was untouchable all weekend and has sent a warning to his rivals.  He looked very relaxed, calm and polished.  Considering Red Bull decided not to run KERS for the weekend, and they still had a clear advantage shows the confidence in their team.  McLaren, Ferrari and the rest will be hoping that Red Bull’s concerns over KERS reliability continue for a while to come, because once they make it work, surely they will be even quicker.

     Final word of this first blog on the ‘Finishing Straight’ has to go to the star of the weekend, which for me was Vitaly Petrov.  Petrov earnt his best ever qualifying performance and then matched it up with his first visit to the F1 podium.  The Russian is very popular within the paddock and seems to have grown massively in maturity over the winter.  When Renault signed him up on a two-year deal before Christmas, I was amazed.  Petrov really struggled in his debut season, made a load of mistakes and was especially lucky to keep his drive.  However, he showed flashes of speed last season around the glaring errors and with Robert Kubica going to be missing for a long while, looks like the real deal this season.  I sincerely hope Petrov keeps his new found form up for a long time to come.

     So, that’s it folks for round one.  I’ll be back after the Malaysian Grand Prix for more damming verdicts, more judgemental calls and more drivers being praised.  

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.

Tom Walkinshaw loses cancer battle

OWNER of the rugby union side Gloucester Rugby and ex-F1 team Principal Tom Walkinshaw passed away on Sunday night.  He was 64, losing his brave battle with long cancer.

Born in Scotland in 1946, Tom was a keen racing enthusiast from an early age and began racing in 1968 in Formula Ford.  He won the production class in the British Touring Car Championship in 1974 and raced as high as Formula 2.  However, it was his success as a team owner that made Tom Walkinshaw a famous name in the motor racing industry.

He established TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) in 1976, and began a very fruitful partnership with Jaguar in sportscars.  Before this, he won the European Touring Car Championship title in 1984 in a Jaguar and came third two years later alongside Win Percy in the legendary Australian touring car battle, the Bathurst 1000.

In 1988, Tom retired from driving and decided to concentrate on management, and it bought immediate results.  Their motorsport portfolio increased very rapidly, and it was Jaguar where the main success came.  

They won the World Sportscar title in 1987, winning eight of the ten races.  A year later, the Jaguars stormed Le Mans.  Johnny Dumfries, Andy Wallace and Jan Lammers took the honours and Walkinshaw was also responsible for poaching technical director Ross Brawn from Arrows, and making him into a legendary force in sportscars.  Sauber Mercedes dominated the 1989 event, with a 1-2 finish, but the Jags returned to the winners’ rostrum in Le Mans in 1990.  With Sauber not returning, the Jaguar team overcame a stiff challenge from Porsche to take a historic 1-2 finish.  Lammers, Wallace and Franz Konrad were second, behind John Nielsen, Price Cobb and Martin Brundle.  It was Brundle’s greatest career achievement and the BBC commentator remembers Tom’s passion for Le Mans; “He was a mentor to me; an entrepreneurial racer and a great tactician.”

FIERY: Verstappen's 94 fire spelt the end at Benetton for Tom

At the British Grand Prix in 1991, news brokethrough of TWR’s 35% buyout in the Benetton Formula One team.  Walkinshaw would join Flavio Briatore in owning the team and took the talented Brawn with him to Benetton.  It was Walkinshaw’s insistence of the talents of Michael Schumacher, who’d raced for Sauber Mercedes in sportscars against Tom’s Jaguar squad that gave Briatore the belief to poach Schumi from under Jordan’s noses at Monza in 1991.  In 1994, he played an instrumental part in Schumacher’s first world championship title.  However, he was seen as the controversial villain in the team and parted company with Benetton at the end of the season.  Walkinshaw was seen to challenge the black flag against Schumacher at the British Grand Prix.  A race later, and a fuel filler was removed at the German Grand Prix, which led to a catastrophic refuelling fire for Dutchman Jos Verstappen.  Although a junior member of the team was officially blamed, it is widely claimed that Walkinshaw gave permission for the filler to be removed, hence on an FIA deal, ending his career with the newly-crowned top team in Grand Prix racing.

Tom wound up at the Benetton-owned Ligier team for 1995, and then a falling out with Briatore led to a deal for him to take sole control of the team fall through.  Consequently, he bought out Jackie Oliver’s Footwork team in 1996 and renamed it Arrows.  His persistence saw Yamaha engines come onboard, Bridgestone tyres to make their debut a year earlier than planned and encouraged world champion Damon Hill to join the ambitious programme.  The programme was a disaster.  The car was massively uncompetitive and although Hill came so close to winning the Hungarian Grand Prix, until a throttle problem on the last lap cost him the race to Jacques Villeneuve, Hill and Walkinshaw parted company at the end of the season, and not on the best of terms.  Damon, who now owns the BRDC valued Walkinshaw’s ambition; “He was a very big-hearted guy who put everything he had into motor racing in all of its forms.”

FADING: Tom with Briatore and Bernie in his final F1 season

Afterwards, it was largely downhill in Formula One for Tom Walkinshaw, although there were a few highlights.  On the track, there was a double point’s finish in Monaco in 1998 and Verstappen ran as high as second in the 2001 Austrian and Malaysian Grand Prix’s.  Off-track, he secured a massive sponsorship deal with the mobile phone giant Orange for 2000, but it wasn’t enough for the failing Arrows team.  The Arrows team went bust at the end of the 2002 season, after failing to pay Jaguar its fee for Cosworth engines.  The team’s last appearance in F1 came at Hockenheim in 2002.  Although his TWR team helped Rickard Rydell and Volvo to a British Touring Car Championship title in 1998 and he continued to run a touring car team in Australia, his major involvement in motorsport was finished.

At the same time as the Arrows team was disappearing out of F1, Walkinshaw started to turn his attentions towards rugby union.  He was the chairman of Premiership rugby from 1998-2002 and pumped plenty of money into his role as Gloucester chairman.  Although he turned the club into a leading force, he was unable to turn that money into success on a domestic or European scale.

Tom Walkinshaw (14 August 1946 - 12 December 2010)

Some will say he had a ruthless and dark side to his business, but Tom Walkinshaw was a mild, generous and kind man, who didn’t quite achieve the success he craved, especially in motorsports ultimate pinnacle.  However, he was a massive presence and a real hard-worker and he will be missed, both in the rugby and motor racing circles.

RIP Tom

2010 Hungarian 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.  It has taken two weeks for me to digest the events of what happened in Budapest, due to my summer holiday.  However, it was another dramatic race which ended up with a new championship leader and a former champion receiving more criticism for his driving standards.  So, this is a round-up of Round twelve, the final event before the Grand Prix circus headed for its extended summer break.

Red Bull Racing – A Stunning Pace

When Red Bull Racing turned up and set their first competitive tracks on the Hungaroring, the rest might as well have gone home, because they had no hope of winning.  This circuit suited all of the Red Bull’s features on the car, especially downforce levels.  This should have been a nailed on one-two for Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.  However, Vettel being caught asleep on the Safety Car restart once again showed the Milton Keynes team lack of ability to turn dominant performances into maximum points hauls.  Vettel’s record of one win from his seven pole positions is a dismal statistic.  It is giving Webber his best shot at the world championship, and a stunning mid-race stint on tyres that were starting to fade won him the race.  Webber is on a crest of a wave again, Vettel has to once again stamp his authority on the team if he is going to become champion this year.

Michael Schumacher – Another Dangerous Move

Michael Schumacher’s performances in 2010 have been a constant theme in these conclusion blogs, simply because he can’t stay out of the headlines.  This time, it was for a crazy and mad lunge on his former Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello that the Brazilian called ‘the worst manoeuvre on him in his F1 career.’  Once more, Schumacher missed Q3 and was struggling in 10^th place in the race.  Barrichello had run as high as 5^th, but a late pitstop dropped him out of the points.  However, on more favourable tyres, he homed in on Schuey at some three seconds a lap.  With four laps remaining, he got a run on the German out of the final corner, and went to the inside.  Michael’s response was brutal, shoving his former friend almost into the pitwall.  The Williams was millimetres away from a nasty connection, but Rubens just about squeezed through.  Afterwards, condemnation followed for Schumacher’s driving standards and the stewards agreed, slapping a 10-place grid penalty on him for the next race at Spa in a fortnight’s time.  Maybe it is time for this ageing world champion to call it a day before he tarnishes his reputation even more.

Dangers in the Pitlane Are Well-Documented

Maybe it has been coming for a while, especially when you think of the side-by side racing between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel in China and Hamilton vs. Fernando Alonso in Montreal.  The scramble for the pits in Budapest led to a near-miss for everyone involved in the pits, highlighting the well-documented dangers involved.  Mercedes failed to tighten up the right-rear wheel on Nico Rosberg’s car, leaving it to detach as he left the pit box.  It narrowly missed Pedro de la Rosa and the Sauber mechanics, bounced up and hit a crew member from the Williams team, who luckily escaped with bruising.  Rosberg parked his car on the exit of the pits, probably unsure to the carnage he had just caused.  During the chaos, the Renault lollipop man lost his focus, due to the errant wheel and released Robert Kubica into the path of Adrian Sutil.  The result was a collision between Kubica and Sutil, which would eventually end both of their afternoons.  Renault and Mercedes were fined $50,000 for their lack of safety and dangerous pitlane manoeuvres.   

McLaren’s Worrying Lack of Pace

This was by far the least competitive weekend for the McLaren team in the 2010 season, and with the summer break underway, it can’t have come at the worst possible time.  To be over two seconds slower than Red Bull in qualifying must ring the alarm bells at Woking headquarters.  Lewis Hamilton dragged his uncompetitive machinery around to 5^th on the grid, and then used the Safety Car to jump Felipe Massa in the pits.  The damage limitation was working well, until a transmission failure on Lap 24 left him stranded on the exit of Turn 3.  Jenson Button failed to get into Q3, and was squeezed out by Pedro de la Rosa and Michael Schumacher at the start, relegating the world champion to a very frustrating 15^th.  He pitted just before the Safety Car came out, which allowed him to jump a few places, and wind up 8^th.  However, he was lapped by Webber six laps from the finish, which highlighted the drop off in pace for McLaren.  They need an upturn in pace and fortune very soon, otherwise their championship dreams will become a distant memory.

Vitaly Petrov Underlines His Potential

The Hungary weekend could well turn into the making of Vitaly Petrov as a Grand Prix driver.  Petrov has been overshadowed by Robert Kubica all season, but he destroyed him in Budapest, qualifying an outstanding 7^th, easily his best in 2010.  Petrov then made a lighting start and catapulted upto 5^th.  Though he gave up quite feebly to Lewis Hamilton on the second tour, Petrov was a comfortable 6^th for the rest of the afternoon, and regained 5^th when Hamilton retired.  This was a brilliant weekend from the Russian and he has probably given Eric Bouillier some headaches now over who will be Kubica’s team-mate for 2011 and beyond.

Robert Kubica – A Poor Weekend

Whilst Petrov had his best performance of the season, Robert Kubica turned in his weakest drive of the season.  On a track similar to Monaco, Kubica was expected to be a major threat to the McLaren’s and Ferrari’s, but it simply never came together.  To be outqualified by Petrov was a major surprise, as this was the first time the Pole has experience that feeling since Japan 2009.  Stuck behind Rosberg in the early exchanges, Kubica would have struggled to beat the likes of Button and de la Rosa in the race, but for the unfortunate collision with Adrian Sutil in the pits, which was through no fault of his own.  Robert has never had a prolific record at the Hungaroring, and that continued in 2010.  I bet he wished it never existed. 

Continued Improvement for Sauber

On Switzerland’s national day, Sauber continued their rapid rate of improvement, with their first double points finish of 2010.  Pedro de la Rosa is a Budapest specialist, and starred in qualifying on his way to 9^th on the grid.  Despite a poor start, de la Rosa lapped strongly all afternoon and will be satisfied with his 7^th place result, ironically the first points he has scored since his comeback this season.  Team-mate Kamur Kobayashi blamed traffic for his shock elimination in Q1, and this was followed by a five-place grid penalty for missing a weight check during practice.  From 23^rd on the grid, Kobayashi’s Sunday afternoon looked like it could be a very frustrating outcome.  However, he had a stunning first lap, gaining eight places and kept Jenson Button honest all afternoon.  Ninth at the end was almost unnoticed by many, but it is Kobayashi’s 4^th points finish in the last six races.  He is Japan’s best F1 driver they have ever produced and if the improvement continues from the team, Sauber could threaten to be best of the rest by the season’s end.  The horrors of the early flyaway races now seem to be a century ago. 

Nico Hulkenberg Fulfils His Potential

Nico Hulkenberg has had a tough baptism of fire this season, largely down to a uncompetitive car that Williams have given him this season.  However, he has matched Rubens Barrichello as the season has worn on and now, he is getting the equipment to produce the business.  Hulkenberg outqualified Barrichello in Hungary and despite trailing him early on, made his strategy work against the veteran and wound up an impressive sixth, easily his best performance of the season.  Finally, his potential looks like it is being fulfilled.

Positives for the New Teams

Jarno Trulli led them home, three laps down, but the Hungarian Grand Prix turned into a very positive weekend for all the new teams.  This was the first time in 2010 that all six cars from Lotus, Virgin and Hispania all finished, so all should be satisfied.  Sakon Yamamoto beat Lucas di Grassi, whilst Timo Glock outqualified both Lotus cars for the first time since Shanghai, and finished less than ten seconds behind Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen in the race.  For once, there were encouraging stories to tell for all the new teams, rather than face sorrow tales of misfortune.

Force India – Feeling the Pressure

As Renault stay ahead of the midfield group, and rapid improvements come from both of the Sauber and Williams teams, it is Force India who are falling backwards.  Regular top ten qualifiers earlier in the season, the team are facing the pressure of being out developed by teams who have better resources and bigger budgets.  Vitantonio Liuzzi touched Michael Schumacher on the first corner, broke part of his front wing and then dispensed those contents in the middle of the track on Lap 13, which bought the Safety Car out and turned the race on its head.  He finished a miserable 13^th, and the pressure will increase on Liuzzi to hang onto his drive.  Adrian Sutil was very unlucky to be caught up in the Kubica pitlane incident, but there is no doubt that the team have dropped back.  Spa and Monza will be interesting to see, as these sorts of circuits should suit their car with downforce levels.