F1 2011 review - Sebastian's perfect season

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hamilton's crash in Belgium summed up a messy championship

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

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

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

Three wins for Button, including an emotional success in Japan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

F1 2011 - The half-term report

IT IS the halfway point in F1 2011, so it’s time for me to assess how some of the drivers have done in the first ten races;

Sebastian Vettel (1^st in the world championship, 216 points – BEST FINISH: 1^st on six occasions

This season, there can be no doubt that Sebastian Vettel tops the class.  Six victories, seven pole positions and over 70 per cent of laps led so far have shown that he has destroyed the opposition on a regular basis so far.  His win in Turkey, considering he missed all of Friday, due to a practice crash showed how awesome he is at the front of the field.  Sunday’s performance at the Nurburgring was below par, but everyone has a bad weekend during any Grand Prix season.  Sebastian probably needs to still shake off the tag of struggling to race in the pack, but great strategy, sensational one lap ability and a reliable car means it will take a miracle for him to be denied a second championship.

GRADE: A+ (An almost flawless campaign so far, he deserves to be where he is)

Lewis Hamilton (3^rd in the world championship, 134 points – BEST FINISH: 1^st in China, Germany)

Lewis Hamilton has had an inconsistent season so far and for his talents, some of his results have been very disappointing.  Considering where McLaren looked in winter testing, third at halfway point is not bad, but Lewis wants more and at times, has overdriven the car.  Run-ins with Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado in Monaco; team-mate Jenson Button in Canada, it has either been silly mistakes or masterful drives in 2011 and nothing in-between.  His comments about the race stewards in Monaco didn’t go down very well either and his relationship with McLaren might be permanently damaged after ‘that’ meeting with Christian Horner in Canada.  Nevertheless, the victories in China and Germany showed us why we love Lewis; for his natural aggression and the ability to outperform the machinery he has at his disposal. 

GRADE: A- (Calm it down Lewis, you have shown what you are capable of)

Mark Webber (2^nd in the world championship, 139 points – BEST FINISH: 2^nd in Turkey)

Mark Webber is under pressure this season, especially as he is now definitely playing second fiddle in the Red Bull camp.  At times, he has shown his hard-charging determination and his fightback from 18^th on the grid to a podium finish in China is testimony to that.  He has consistently finished on the podium of late, but no wins in nearly a year tells its own story.  Sometimes, he can just disappear into thin air, as the races in Australia and Spain would highlight.  Considering he is in the best equipment, Mark should have won races by now, so although there is consistency, the extra edge is missing at the moment.  He knows he has it, but the question is, can he deliver it before the season’s end.

GRADE: B+ (Gradual improvements during the year – but needs to start winning soon)

 

Felipe Massa (6^th in the world championship, 62 points – BEST FINISH: 5^th in Malaysia)

Felipe Massa had a lacklustre start to the season, with a terrible opening weekend in Melbourne.  He only just made Q3 and finished an entire minute behind team-mate Fernando Alonso.  His performance in Turkey was erratic too, especially on a circuit where he has ruled before and the Spanish Grand Prix weekend was an unmitigated disaster.  However, he is a reliable foil for Fernando and on occasion, such as China and Canada, can outperform his ace team-mate.  The results haven’t quite been upto scratch, and that will need work in the second half of the season, especially as Fernando will need his help if he stands any remote chance of a shock comeback.

GRADE: B- (Shown flashes of the old Felipe, but not enough to prove he can win races again)

Vitaly Petrov (9^th in the world championship, 32 points – BEST FINISH: 3^rd in Australia)

The season couldn’t have started any better for Vitaly, as he secured a popular podium finish in the Australian Grand Prix.  Since then, he has struggled to deliver high-profile results, but that is down to the Renault’s lack of development rather than the driver failing to live upto standards.  Fifth in Canada and eighth in Turkey were days when Petrov made the most of a day when others struggled.  Valencia and Silverstone aside, he has threatened points on every weekend and with a better car and more support from a higher scoring team-mate, would achieve far more than his points tally suggests.

GRADE: B+ (A pleasant surprise so far – totally written off those critics he had last term)

Fernando Alonso (4^th in the world championship, 130 points – BEST FINISH: 1^st in Britain)

Personally, I think Fernando is driving the best he has ever done in his career.  Time and again, he has dragged even more than what the Ferrari is capable of.  Not once has he shown his general frustrations this season, even after being lapped in Barcelona having led the first 20 laps of his home event.  His success at Silverstone was fully deserved and second place finishes in Monaco and at the Nurburgring show the fire is still well and truly burning brightly.  Alonso will win another title, especially now he is tied down long-term to Ferrari, but Vettel’s sheer pace means that the wait will have to go on a bit longer.

GRADE: A (With better machinery, he would have given Vettel a run all season)

Nick Heidfeld (8^th in the world championship, 34 points – BEST FINISH: 3^rd in Malaysia)

Things didn’t start well for Robert Kubica’s replacement, as major KERS problems left him down in 13^th in Australia.  It looked much better after a brilliant Malaysia weekend, which saw Nick in the top six, run second in the first stint and end up on the podium.  However, he has failed to deliver on that promise.  He has shown a real lack of pace in qualifying and it has really hurt race efforts.  Despite being a consistent point’s finisher, he hasn’t set the world alight.  With Kubica recovering well, plus the likes of Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean pushing hard, Nick might as well begin looking around for other motorsport employment next season.

GRADE: C+ (A lacklustre campaign from Mr. Reliable, must do better!)

Rubens Barrichello (16^th in the world championship, 4 points – BEST FINISH: 9^th in Monaco)

He has started over 300 races, but perhaps the time has come for Rubens Barrichello to hang up his helmet and make a gracious exit from the sport he still truly loves.  The 2011 Williams is not a good car and his frustrations at times this season have shown, especially as the car has been unreliable too.  It might not be his decision either, especially if Williams continue to require money from drivers for the seats.  Pastor Maldonado has embarrassed him in qualifying too frequently and although he bought home valuable points in Monaco and Canada, the spark seems to have gone. 

GRADE: D (Going out with a whimper, don’t make the same mistake as many others Rubens!)

Michael Schumacher (10^th in the world championship, 32 points – BEST FINISH: 4^th in Canada)

After a shambolic season opener in Melbourne, Michael has shown flashes of the man we love best.  His drive in Canada reminded us of the glory days and he was desperately unlucky not to get a rostrum.  Like the Williams, he has been severely limited by his machinery this season, but the scrapes he has had with Jaime Alguesuari in Melbourne, Vitaly Petrov in Turkey and Kamur Kobayashi at Silverstone suggest that his judgement is not the same as it was.  He needs more days like Montreal if he doesn’t want to get the label of the ‘worst comeback’ ever!

GRADE: C- (Willing to improve the car, must start beating Rosberg on a regular basis)

Kamur Kobayashi (11^th in the world championship, 27 points – BEST FINISH: 5^th in Monaco)

Kamur Kobayashi is the hottest and greatest racing driver to have ever come out of Japan.  His thrilling attitude towards overtaking has meant that there is never a dull moment when he is around.  Sauber have given him a much better chassis this season and Kamur is starting to produce a string of strong, consistent results.  His enthusiasm for the sport can’t be questioned, especially considering the tough times his country has faced following the devastating tsunami only weeks before the season’s beginning.  Only his qualifying needs to be worked on, but a shrewd team leader he is turning out to be.

GRADE: B- (Great season so far, with few errors of judgement)

Paul di Resta (17^th in the world championship, 2 points – BEST FINISH: 10^th in Australia)

The ability to beat your team-mate on a regular basis makes you a hot property and that certainly is what Paul di Resta is.  He has left Adrian Sutil trailing in his wake at Force India this season and only Valencia and Nurburgring was he significantly outpaced by the German.  However, Paul needs to cut down on the clumsy manoeuvres he is making in races.  He missed out on point’s opportunities in Monaco and Canada by attempting almost impossible overtakes.  With Mercedes chasing after his services long-term, Paul has earnt his right to stay in F1 for the long-term.

GRADE: C+ (Shows great potential, but needs to stay out of trouble more often) 

Jarno Trulli (19^th in the world championship, 0 points – BEST FINISH: 13^th in Australia and Monaco)

Jarno Trulli was dropped from the Team Lotus squad for last weekend’s race and is not hard to see why.  The Italian has been smashed by his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen and continues to complain about the lack of power steering available to his disposal.  Lotus has a new system for him this weekend, so there can now be no excuses.

GRADE: E (Time to move over for the younger generation)

Sebastian Buemi (15^th in the world championship, 8 points – BEST FINISH: 8^th in Australia)

Until Nurburgring, Sebastian Buemi had put in a very good showing in all the races this season.  The Toro Rosso has struggled again this season, but is more firmly in the midfield and four point’s finishes show that Buemi is no slouch in the car.  He has had the measure of Jaime Alguesuari for most of the season and can surely look forward to another season at Toro Rosso next year.

GRADE: C+ (Significant improvements on last year’s horror show)

Adrian Sutil (12^th in the world championship, 18 points – BEST FINISH: 6^th in Germany)

Having been outpaced for large periods this season by Paul di Resta, Adrian has to make massive improvements in the second half of the season.  He threw away points in Canada with some clumsy mistakes and when he has finished races, the team’s strategy has often cost him points.  Nevertheless, he did well to bag some useful points in both Monaco and last Sunday in Germany and although his stock has dropped, the quality on his day is still there.  Considering criminal charges for a nightclub incident in China hang over him, Adrian is doing well to get on with the job in hand.

GRADE: C- (More needed, especially on a Saturday afternoon)

Jenson Button (5^th in the world championship, 109 points – BEST FINISH: 1^st in Canada)

Bad luck has got in the way of Jenson Button in the last few races and that’s a shame, because he has a very good season so far.  Surprisingly, he hasn’t quite managed to get the best out of the new Pirelli tyres, but he won in such brilliant fashion in Canada against all the odds.  He should have won Monaco too and a flying second place in Malaysia proves just why Button is world champion quality.  Saturday’s have been a struggle though and it has just given him far too much to do on too many occasions.

GRADE: B+ (Outstanding on Sundays, too average on Saturdays)

Sergio Perez (14^th in the world championship, 8 points – BEST FINISH: 7^th in Britain)

Although his first campaign will sadly be remembered for the horrific qualifying crash in Monaco, Sergio Perez has proven that Mexico has Got Talent!  Perez’s ability to keep his Pirelli tyres durable has seriously impressed me.  He lost a stunning seventh place in Melbourne to a technical infringement, but has made up for it with strong points results in Spain and at Silverstone.  Sergio is the rookie of the year so far.

GRADE: B- (Able to handle the pressure of Grand Prix racing extremely well)

Vitantonio Liuzzi (20^th in the world championship, 0 points – BEST FINISH: 13^th in Canada)

Tonio has got on with it this season, considering he has a pig of a car to drive.  He has more than matched the Virgin cars this term and although his best years have gone, it’s good to see him outperforming his equipment.  It’s such a shame it took too long to deliver.

GRADE: C (A good effort in rubbish machinery)

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!

2011 Monaco Grand Prix - Vettel lucks in at the Principality

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2011 Turkish Grand Prix - Another Sunday stroll for Vettel

SALUTE: The Red Bull mechanics cheer Vettel home to a crushing win

ISTANBUL Park saw another epic race in the 2011 Formula one season.  However, whilst the Turkish Grand Prix saw plenty of action down the field, it was another Sunday afternoon stroll for Sebastian Vettel.  The world champion led all but one lap to register his third win from four races in 2011.  Team-mate Mark Webber secured Red Bull’s first 1-2 of the season, winning a long-race dice with Fernando Alonso.  The Spaniard returned to form this weekend to record Ferrari’s first podium of the season.

    Having smashed his car against a barrier on Friday morning in the wet and missing the dry second session in the afternoon, you would have thought that Vettel might have ended on his backfoot.  Not so, as he dominated qualifying, then blitzed the field again today.  Most of the opposition must begin to feel that the Vettel/Red Bull combination looks almost invincible at the moment.  Any hope of him being challenged hard went at the start.  Whilst he shot into the lead, Webber was slow away from the dirty side of the grid and lost position to Nico Rosberg.  By the time he passed Rosberg, on lap 4, Sebastian was already seven seconds clear and away.  Although Webber and Alonso pegged the gap for most of the remainder of the afternoon, Vettel won as he pleased and even made an extra pitstop when he didn’t need to in the last ten laps – which showed the comfortable position he was in. 

DICE: Button and Hamilton entertained the crowd early on

     The other prime challenger was expected to be Lewis Hamilton.  However, an optimistic lunge around the outside of Webber at turn four on the first circuit cost Lewis and dropped him to sixth.  Unlike China three weeks ago, McLaren had no fresh tyres available for the race, hurting the chances of both Hamilton and team-mate Jenson Button.  Despite this, they thrilled the sparse crowd with an entertaining dice in the opening laps, which bought back reminders to last year’s event, when they fought for the lead.  McLaren spilt their strategies today, but with little joy.  Despite nursing his tyres, Button couldn’t make his three-stop plan work and was overhauled by a four-stopping Hamilton later in the event.  With two awful pitstops, including a 23 second stop for Lewis, due to a faulty wheel nut, fourth and sixth was some consolation from an average McLaren weekend.

     With Rosberg unable to keep up his formidable practice and qualifying pace, it was left to Alonso to take the attack to the Red Bull’s.  With Vettel away and gone, Fernando set his sights on Webber.  He used his DRS system (which was far too easy to pass today) to drive clean past the Australian at half-distance into turn twelve.  With a fresher set of tyres saved from qualifying, Webber returned the compliment with six laps to go at the same corner, in the best dice of the race.  He held on, but Alonso has given Ferrari some encouragement after a difficult start to the season.

CLOUT: Petrov's pass on Schumacher started a tough day

    Rosberg seemed satisfied with fifth place at the chequered flag, as the Mercedes developed a hunger for blistering any set of rear tyres put on the car.  He charged past an ailing Button with four laps remaining to score another positive result.  For team-mate Michael Schumacher, it was another forgettable day.  A clumsy attempt to keep Vitaly Petrov back early on left the seven-time world champion with a damaged front wing, and he ultimately finished out of the points in 12^th.  Felipe Massa, a former master of Istanbul also wound up out of the points, after two diabolical pitstops, spoiling his race, which included some bullish overtaking moves, particularly on Schumacher in the closing laps.  The Renault drivers touched early on, as Petrov’s aggressive driving saw the Russian nearly drive Nick Heidfeld into the pits and each blamed the other for the near-miss.  Heidfeld went onto have the last laugh, finishing seventh, one place ahead of Petrov.  Sebastian Buemi drove well in his Toro Rosso to wind up ninth and Kamur Kobayashi produced another electric performance to come through from the back of the field and clinch the final point, ahead of Massa and Schumacher.  Scotland’s Paul di Resta was out of luck this time round, and was one of only two retirements, with technical problems.

    Although the field are duelling it out behind very closely, 2011 is already looking like a one-man show.  Who can stop Sebastian Vettel?  On this evidence, the chasing pack need to find something fast, starting in Barcelona in two weeks time or it will be too late this season.

The Finishing Straight - Malaysia (by HappyDude88)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ROLLING: Mercedes seems to be going backwards, not forwards

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

CLASSY: Vettel was Mr. Cool in Malaysia

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