Lewis' turn in Canada...

Incredibly, in Canada, we saw a seventh different winner, in the shape of Lewis Hamilton. Everybody will begin to believe that they could witness twenty different winners by the close of the season. Hamilton’s win was easily the classiest win so far. McLaren must be credited with having fantastic vision, in a season where the unpredictability of the Pirelli tyres has caught everybody out.   

In the closing stages of the Grand Prix, McLaren were monitoring Hamilton's pace, watching closely for the signs that his tyres were reaching the cliff, before falling in to relative uselessness, and for the moment when Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, in second and third positions respectively, would start reeling him in. With twenty laps remaining, McLaren called Lewis in to the pits, for a stop that many saw as too late; people had assumed that all of the front runners would simply press on to the end and hope for the best. It turned out to be an inspired decision, as Lewis' pace, with the fresh tyres, was almost four seconds a lap faster than both Alonso and Sebastian.

Hamilton caught up very quickly and retook, Vettel in second place and then Alonso who had moved in to first. Red Bull showed similarly good vision, recognising what Ferrari failed to see. They pitted Vettel, dropping him back down the order. However, with the fresher tyres, Sebastian was able to make some of those places back and he eventually finished fourth; signifcantly, ahead of Alonso. Ferrari had to helplessly watch Alonso fall in to the clutches of Grosjean, Perez and finally Vettel, and then come under pressure from Nico Rosberg. Mercifully for Ferrari, Alonso did manage to finish fifth and still grab some precious points.

Once again, controversy surrounds DRS and Pirelli tyres. A seventh different winner, in seven races, whilst making for an unbelievably exciting season for the neutral fan, supports the argument that the unpredictable nature of the Pirelli tyre and the relative ease of passing provided by DRS, is rendering any difference between teams, regarding quality and pace, redundant. It could be argued that, it doesn't matter if you have produced a slow racecar, as long as you get luck with the tyres and get close enough at the DRS activation zone.

I disagree with all of the above paragraph. Despite the fact that the results this season have been slightly erratic, I think that the Canadian Grand Prix has shown strong evidence to support the argument that the performance of the Pirelli tyre can be predicted. It takes work and it takes risks and gambles, but it can be done. As for DRS, I hold to what I have said before. When passing, DRS is never a sure thing. A driver has to be close enough when they enter the DRS zone, which, as Canada showed, isn't always the case. Drivers were finding it difficult to get in to the right position on the exit of the final hairpin and defending drivers were discovering ways of making this difficult.

I think that, in Valencia, we are going to witness some unconventional pit stop decisions, with more teams taking risks and trying to catch out their opponents. It should make for some very exciting racing, because it will result in cars with very different levels of tyre degredation at different periods of the race to each other.

Lastly, I have to apologise for the delay in this blog post. For the last couple of weeks, my time as been solely taken up by preparations for my wedding. Now that I am a married man, it’s back to the blogging. I can’t wait for the European Grand Prix in Valencia... and to discuss an eighth different winner?

Webber throws Snake Eyes again, in Monaco!

After the Spanish Grand Prix, pundits, fans and the like, speculated about the possibility of a sixth different winner in Monaco and it happened. Mark Webber took the win from pole position, with a performance that was deserving of the victory. In the closing stages of a gruelling race, Pirelli tyres losing grip and allowing the cars to slide nearer and nearer to the imposing barriers with every lap, Mark Webber’s nerves must have been on the ragged edge. To add to this, he had a train of world champions and seasoned race winners breathing down his neck. He kept his cool and he took his win, claiming his seat amongst the other race winners this season.

It’s still extremely difficult to pinpoint any specific battle this season, which is exciting for the neutral fan but frustrating for the teams and drivers. The only thing that is clear is that there are at least five top teams that are fighting for dominance. Surprisingly, considering their relatively weak start to the season, Red Bull Racing have had the most success, with both their drivers winning races and the team leading the Constructor’s Championship. Following close pursuit are Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Lotus. With Maldonado taking a victory, even Williams have joined the fight.

Controversy surrounded the tyres again this weekend. The decision of when to make pit stops and the tyre choice in those stops, played a very large part, with threats of rain throwing the decision making process in to further disarray. Although many of the drivers are voicing their frustrations and aversion to the Pirelli tyres this season, it is clear that the tyres are making for some very exciting racing and despite criticism of DRS are KERS, neither make for sure fire overtaking opportunities and both add a huge amount of excitement to the grands prix.

In such an extraordinarily exciting season, who can even attempt to predict the outcome of the next race? Not I.

5 races!! 5 different winners!! from 5 different teams!!

The world of Formula One has gone loopy it seems. The Spanish Grand Prix played witness to yet another grand prix winner and this time it was Pastor Maldonado. He ran a spectacular race, promoting himself from second place on the grid to first and then holding it for the remainder of the race. Like the Niko Rosberg victory, everybody but Fernando Alonso fans were behind the Venezuelan as he charged his Williams race car home. At one point it seemed that Fernando Alonso might breeze past Maldonado, but Pastor put up a valiant fight and, with about ten laps to go, he started pulling out the gap again and sealed the victory.

Again, much of the racing was extraordinary. DRS was at no point a sure thing when it came to overtaking and in many cases the combination of slip streaming, DRS and KERS resulted in wheel to wheel racing and a lot more passing and re-passing. There were more mistakes in the pit stops, again from McLaren, which, if any presumptions can be made at this very early stage in such an unusual season, may well be hindering their season and preventing them from asserting themselves as the dominant team.

Its strange not being able to discuss the way the season is unfolding, because it just isn't. It's wide open and completely unpredictable, so its really not possible to draw any conclusions. However, it would be fun to see Kimi Raikonnen, in a Lotus, win the next grand prix making it six different winners, in six different races, from six different constructors.

The only thing that overshadowed the weekend, but fortunately didn't result in any fatalities, was the fire in the Williams garage. In hindsight it is important to point out that the situation was handled magnificently, by professionals from a number of different teams, and this has meant that Maldonado's win can still be the main focus of the weekend.

Roll on race six... and a sixth different winner?! 

4 races, 4 winners...

It's about time the reigning World Champions actually entered the title fight this season and Sebastien Vettel made the controversial Bahrain Grand Prix the race to do it in. Not only that but, unbelievably, it launched him in to the top spot in the Driver's Championship. Despite Red Bull's apparent lack of performance this season (so far), they really slipped under the radar in terms of the title fight. The one great result in Bahrain, has catapulted them to the top and, if anyone was unaware of the drama we have seen so far, they may have been forgiven for thinking that Red Bull had taken up where they left off last season.

The big question on everybody's lips was 'should the Bahrain Grand Prix have actually taken place?' and, to be honest, I don't think it should. I love to watch the racing, but sometimes life and safety has to take precedence. However, the race went ahead and it was another massive spectacle. So far, the driver's who have taken the lead at the beginning of the race have tended to dominate until the chequered flag, however Vettel didn't find it so easy. There was an edge-of-the-seat moment when Kimi Raikonnen came within a hair's breadth of taking the lead. It turned out to be his only chance, but it's fair to say that Vettel had to deal with people breathing down his neck for the whole race.

The pit lane appeared to be the action hot spot in Bahrain. There were unsafe releases and faulty equipment aplenty. Lewis Hamilton's race was all but ruined when his pit crew had a problem changing his left rear wheel. Ferrari had further problems, showing that Alonso's win was a quite unusual and slightly fluky occurrence. We now know that there have been some quite major improvements for Ferrari and it will exciting to see what those do for them next weekend.

Only four races gone and four different winners and, even more amazing, from four different teams. It's almost impossible to judge which teams and drivers will break away in the fight for the Championship. Maybe we'll see a different driver winning next weekend, perhaps from another different team!

Awesome spectacle in China...

Mercedes dominated F1 news in the run up to the Chinese Grand Prix, regarding a dispute over (what a couple of the other teams considered) an unfair advantage. The Mercedes team had a feature on their car that enhanced the impact of the DRS system. However, before the start of the
weekend the F1 adjudicators deemed the feature legal and Mercedes went ahead as normal. The ultimate irony was that Nico Rosberg, in a Mercedes, won the race and in a domineering fashion. Despite the complaints it’s fair to point out that, numerous times in Formula One, teams have introduced items and features on to their race cars that have found their way around the rules and regulations (or in some cases transcended the rules and regulations; the six wheeled
Tyrell) and it is precisely this that defines Formula One as the ultimate motorsport series that it is.

Firstly, a massive congratulations must go out to Nico Rosberg. Despite it being a slightly processional race for him, nobody this weekend deserved it more. As for the rest of the race, it was anything but processional, proving once again that this season is going to be mightily
special. Red Bull appeared to struggle in the opening stages, with Sebastien Vettel playing the Lewis Hamilton card and whining, unhelpfully, about the car having no pace in a straight line. Okay, it looked slower than usual but him and Mark would never have finished in the top five in a car with no pace.

The McLarens achieved another couple of podium finishes, which will help them no end in the Championship. Whilst Ferrari struggled, showing the performance levels of the Australia Grand Prix, as opposed to the performance levels that they showed in Malaysia, with Alonso's win. The
racing was fantastic and had me almost falling out of the chair in excitement, as drivers switched places on the straights, the entries to corners AND the exits. At one point Kobayashi tried to drive his teammate, Perez, off the track and Mark Webber showed that Red Bull truly does give you wings, by almost taking off. Considering his past experiences in the Red Bull car, he must
really enjoy flying!

It was surprising to see Alonso get away with a clear example of dangerous driving. He ran wide and off the track, and then threw his car back on to the track almost straight in to the path of a speeding Perez. Nothing was really said about this, at the time or later on, which was a
big surprise.

Another race, another winner and, after only three grands prix, the excitement is tangible. Can Mercedes continue their assault on McLaren? Can McLaren assert some kind of real dominance? And can Red Bull actually enter the battle? Bring on Bahrain!

Malaysian Grand Prix

Now that I’ve caught my breath, I have to decide which bits to write about. There was just too much excitement and incident for a short blog; might have to make this a long ‘un!

Well it’s now safe to say that the season isn’t going to be a one horse race. We’re still only two grands prix in, but the title fight appears to be wide open. As the lights dropped, Lewis Hamilton managed to hold on to first place, with Button holding second and all the action
occurring behind them further down the order.

In true Malaysian Grand Prix style the rain set in almost immediately and, by the time the cars were embarking on the second lap, it was almost impossible to see them on the TV. Also in true
Malaysian GP style, the race was red flagged within a few laps and we all had a long wait before it restarted.

However, it was on the second lap (before the safety car and the red flag) that Perez and Sauber made their inspired decision to pit and change the tyres to ‘full wets’. It meant that the other cars were losing a lot of time, whilst Perez was making a lot. This resulting in him leading the race at one point and eventually finishing second.

It was a bit of a shock to see Jenson Button make an uncharacteristic mistake on lap fifteen; a mistake that saw him drop down to the back of the pack. He needed a front wing change after
hitting Narain Karthikeyan in a wild move. Button later apologised, but his race was beyond repair and he finished outside the point scoring positions… as did Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel made a slightly more characteristic mistake to end his own race. He shook his fist at Karthikeyan, who it’s fair to say was having a pretty eventful day, but it was entirely Sebastian’s fault and he could blame no one but himself. The top drivers consistently believe it is their right to have the track to themselves and, in this instance, that belief backfired. Sebastian gave Karthikeyan little to no room and clipped his right rear tyre on Narain’s wing endplate.

As the race progressed towards its conclusion, rumours of rain and talk of extra pit stops circulated. Lewis Hamilton didn’t seem to be able to get close to the fight between Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso, so they were left to duke it out. Perez was staggeringly faster than Alonso and he rapidly caught up with him, both before and after his final pit stop.

Everybody, excluding Alonso fans and Ferrari fans, watched with bated breath as Perez came within touching distance of Fernando. He was scuppered when he was, first told to hold his position (a call that was both reasonable and slightly suspicious), and then caught out by a moist white line that saw him run very wide and crucially lose all the ground he had made up between himself and the first placed Ferrari driver.

The race finished that way and I think almost everyone was a Perez fan by the chequered flag. However, questions and accusations started flying even before the cars had started slowing for their in lap. The first thought to cross many people’s minds was the one regarding the politics of Ferrari and Sauber, and whether Ferrari had the power to influence the outcome of the race.

Ferrari provides Sauber with engines and as a result Sauber could be seen to play second fiddle to the Italian team. Then the idea manifests itself as to whether Perez’s mistake was indeed a mistake or just made to look like one. Something tells me this discussion will continue to play out well in to next week. Personally I would rather not be sceptical about this one. I believe that for Sergio Perez (a young driver, running in second position, in the second race of only his second
season, with a car easily quick enough to take the victory) holding back and settling for second would be the last thought on his mind.

All in all, a fantastic race! It’s hard to see how it can get better than this. One thing is for certain, if it continues in this fashion, then I’m not going to run out of things to write in this blog.

McLaren start as they mean to go on...

McLaren have emphasised the fact that their win in Australia was a sign of things to come, after filling out the front row of the grid again this weekend. Hamilton repeated his performance of Melbourne qualifying with a blistering lap early in the final session of qualifying, whilst Button was hot on his heels to secure second.

It's great to see Schumacher back up at the front and hopefully this weekend he can make it stick and mix it with the two Brits when the lights go out. Red Bull Racing have found themselves down the order again with Webber fourth and Vettel sixth, split only by the Lotus of Kimi Raikonnen. Red Bull will be striving to show that, (like in Australia) despite the car not having the pace in qualifying, it has considerably more pace in the race. Only time will tell.

It's interesting to note that the qualifying lap times were extremely close with less than half a second separating the top eight drivers. Alonso was almost a second off the eighth place Mercedes of Rosberg, showing the a worrying gulf between the top four teams and the rest of the field. However, four teams closely matched at the front sounds good to me, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow's race delivering on expectations.