Ferrari take an extra helping of luck at Monza!

It's becoming quite a common occurrence. A driver from one of the front rows of the grid, takes to lead in the first couple of corners, and goes on to run an uneventful race. In Monza it was Lewis Hamilton's turn, and although the race never appears to be difficult for the front runner, I think credit has to be attributed to them for steely concentration and the ability to regulate their pace, with no other cars to gauge it by. It was Hamilton's first Italian Grand Prix win, so that was an achievement in itself and it also promotes him to second in the hunt for the Championship.

However, the real story for me is that of Ferrari's abundance of luck at their home Grand Prix and Red Bull's awful bad luck. It all started with Alonso's incident involving Sebastien Vettel, in which Alonso made a ridiculously rash move around the outside and ended up running over the grass. Pathetically, Sebastien was penalised with a drive-through penalty, for keeping his own racing line, which naturally forces the car out to the outside of that corner, as a result of something called centrifugal force and momentum. Alonso was not past Vettel as Vettel moved out and, all that aside, it was exactly the same circumstance last year, only with the roles reversed. Last year Alonso was not penalised for squeezing Sebastien out and Sebastien made the pass stick, even on the grass (see video).

Ferrari's and specifically Alonso's race went from good to better, as they were able to implement team orders, giving Alonso the third place podium finish. For Red Bull, things went from bad to worse. After serving his drive-through penalty, Vettel was informed that he had an issue with his car, which could result in him stopping quickly. The inevitable happened and Sebastien lost all drive, parking his car on the exit to the pit lane. Mark had problems also, spinning off the track with a couple of laps to go and destroying his tyres beyond the point at which he would be able to achieve anything significant by the end. All in all, it was a torrid race for Red Bull Racing and things appear to be coming apart at the seams for the World Champions.

An interesting thing to note is the increase in the number of incidents and comings together, in the second half of the season. It seems clear that, whilst the first half of the season was a chaotic series of results, many of the top drivers considered that things would settle down and a loss of points here or there wouldn't make much difference. As we approach the three quarter point of the season, the chaos remains but with the drivers and teams are beginning to realise that they need to be the difference if they are to get the result they want in the Championship. In conclusion, expect more incidents as the season approaches its climax, and expect Race Officials' decisions to overtake Pirelli tyres as the subject of controversy.

Five week break and back in to the foray...

The Belgian Grand Prix started with a big smash, a common occurrance at the hugely exciting Spa Francorchamps circuit. Controversy surrounded the blame game, regarding the crash at the first corner, which saw two of the main title fighters prematurely taken out of the running. I think that after all had been said and done, and all angles had been looked at, the accident should have been put down to a racing incident. However, that wasn't the view of the officials, who have now penalised Grosjean, far too harshly in my opinion, by banning him from the next race. The resultant pile up was massive, but the original contact was fairly innocuous and was arguably a complete accident. I can't help thinking that drivers like Lewis Hamilton, who feel that they deserve to be at the front of the field, are often reluctant to ease off and concede position and in this instance it led to two cars making significant contact.

The main thing was that nobody was injured and, once again, Formula One safety regulations kept all the drivers out of harm's way. As somebody who knows a few F1 drivers personally, my heart is always in my throat when an incident like this occurs and I find myself praying, as the cars spin through the air and bounce over each other, that they don't flip over or catch a driver's head as they leap over a nose cone. Safety prevailed and we have to be thankful for that and, I have to admit, it's difficult to deny the excitement of an incident of this nature.

As to the victory, Jenson Button ran a fantastic race; faultless and composed. Sebastien Vettel also ran a splendid race, to take second place, coming from all the way down in ninth and driving a Red Bull car that looked completely unbalanced in the opening stages. In fact, both Mark Webber and Vettel looked unfeasibly good in the corners, whilst being incomprehensibly slow in a straight line. Webber seemed unable to pass the Williams of Bruno Senna, even with DRS, despite catching up at a scary rate in the winding parts of the circuit. Michael Schumacher was up to his old tricks again. He has a knack of taking his racing right up to the edge of the rule boundaries, whilst being well over the line of sportsmanship. In a situation where I felt Michael should have eased off and allowed Sebastien Vettel to pass him at the bus stop chicane, since Michael himself was pitting, he instead managed to get himself the wrong side of Vettel and nearly caused an accident. Sebastien was forced to drive almost straight through Schuey's Mercedes.

Interestingly, tyre wear didn't play as much of a part this weekend as at other Grands Prix. Perhaps during the five week break the teams used their opportunity to research and look in to the existing telemetry regarding the tyres, to try to improve their approach to dealing with the issues. Some of the drivers were able to preserve their tyres and utilise a one stop strategy, without finding themselves falling back in to the clutches of drivers on fresher rubber. Is this a sign that teams are truly coming to terms with the difficult Pirellis, or was it just the circuit and we can expect to see things becoming chaotic and unpredictable again in the remaining races?

Alonso's early exit meant he was unable to protect his World Championship lead. Fortunately for him, it still remains, however Vettel was able to eat in to that lead in Belgium and Button made steps towards keeping in touch with the fight at the top.

I think I speak for everyone when I say "welcome back to our Sundays, Formula One!"

More like Boring, than Hungaroring!

So, Hungaroring has delivered the first boring race of the season and it was a truly processional affair. Credit shouldn't be taken away from Lewis Hamilton, who ran a clean race from the front, to take the victory. However, its interesting to point out that, as in other grands prix, the man who has taken the lead at an early stage has gone on to win the race. The difference in this race was that the action was lacking further down the field as well.

There was an almost complete lack of passing, due to the fact that there are almost no passing opportunities around the circuit and this was made worse by the fact that the DRS zone was completely redundant. The main problem with the Hungaroring is, and always has been, the abundance of slow corners, which rely too heavily on car aerodynamics. This results in drivers being unable to stay close behind an opponent without losing down force in their turbulent air. This issue directly affected the DRS zone, at the weekend, because the exit of the final corner prevented the drivers from being close enough to utilise the DRS facility down the start/finish straight.

Many fans will argue that they were glad the DRS zone wasn't having an influence on the race. However, I see the Hungarian Grand Prix as a stark reminder of the positive effect that DRS is having on the racing this season and an indication of what the racing would be like without it. To put it bluntly, boring. It was only the Pirelli tyres that showed any hint of injecting some excitement in to the race, when near the end of the grand prix, a couple of the teams made a third pit stop and, on fresh tyres, were over two seconds a lap faster than teams on older tyres. In the end it didn't prove enough for any positions to change, but it created a bit of a stir.

Fingers crossed for a return to the exciting season, from before the Hungaroring, in the remaining grands prix. Hungaroring was a complete let down and as for Placido Domingo interviewing the drivers... well, need I say more?

Alonso takes the reins

Fernando Alonso proved, once again, in Germany, just how good he is. The answer to that is extremely good and, arguably, the best. Some have never doubted that the spaniard was the best, but many are just realising that Alonso is achieving feats well above and beyond the capabilities of his Ferrari. Last year, and now this year as well, Fernando outclassed his team mate, Filipe Massa, proving that he is squeezing so much more out of his prancing horse than the brazilian.

Alonso was faultless all weekend. He took pole position in changeable conditions on Saturday, held the lead after the start, protected his tyres and kept Vettel at a comfortable distance for the whole race. Alonso takes his tally to three race wins and its crystal clear that he is taking the bull by the horns, so to speak.

The real drama came on the penultimate lap of the race when, after storming up behind Jenson Button, Vettel attempted a pass on one of the hairpins. Sebastian took the outside line around the corner and then clearly took to the runoff area, on the exit of the corner, to get traction to pull away past Jenson. I don't think anybody is in any doubt as to whether Vettel was in the wrong by using the runoff area to take Button. However, the punishment was arguably too harsh.

The move certainly wasn't malicious and if there had been more laps and more time then it may have been the case that Sebastian would have been told to yield the position. I think a fair punishment would have been for the positions to have been swapped, Vettel for Button. Therefore, I think that to penalise Vettel with an added 20 secs, which resulted in him being bumped down to 5th, was wrong and put an unfortunate downer on the whole result. Lets hope that in future the FIA make more responsible decisions, regarding trivial incidents like this. 

A dry day at Silverstone?!

Despite the torrential rain in the build up to this weekend's race, surprisingly Sunday at Silverstone was dry. On a positive note, it allowed for a race based more on skill and tactics than luck. Neutrals would argue that the absence of rain took away a lot of the potential excitement but, considering the Qualifying was red flagged halfway through, there was a threat of similar during the Grand Prix.

Mark Webber ran a quiet and composed race and, as a result, crept up on a struggling Alonso. To be fair to Alonso he made a fantastic bid for the victory, from pole position on the grid, and he would have brought his tally up to three, had it not been for a another misjudgement of the tyre wear, partnered with a determined and focussed Webber. Mark has now made it two-all with Fernando and if somebody else doesn't assert themselves, then the season could become a two horse race, or more fittingly, a horse and bull race.

The controversy this weekend lay in the way the FIA and the circuit management dealt with the rain. I find it quite ridiculous that the sport still has wet weather tyres, since the drivers and teams now refuse to drive in the wet. As soon as it gets to a stage when the wet weather tyres are needed, the teams veto the session, or race, and the red flags come out. The drivers complain that when the rain gets heavy its dangerous and cars spin off the track. I think some of today's drivers should watch some old footage of Formula One and they will see that their predecessors had spins all the time, even in the dry.

As spectators and fans of the sport, we see little enough incident as it is. That's not to say that fans want to see massive, lethal crashes, that put the drivers' lives in danger, but it is exciting to see spins and shunts. So let's see these drivers suck it up and get out on the circuit, come rain or shine. I mean their doting fans brave the weather just to watch them and they aren't being paid millions of pounds to do it, but are paying hundreds for the priviledge.

Alonso makes it two!

The European Grand Prix broke all it's own rules regarding excitement. A race that had become notorious for it's tedious and processional nature, delivered a lightning storm of a race. We finally broke the chaos of different winners every race, with Alonso taking an emotional victory to take his tally of wins up to two and launch him twenty points into the lead of the Driver's Championship.

Vettel failed to capitalise on his pole position, for a second time this season. However, its important to point out that it wasn't the German's fault, as his Red Bull car, which showed such promise in the opening stages of the race, gave up the ghost and slowed to a halt, on lap 34 after a safety car period. He probably would have gone on to win the race, but after seeing Alonso's reaction to the win in his home country, it's difficult to grudge him the glory.

Hamilton had a familiar moment of madness on the penultimate lap of the race, reliving some of the memories of last season. His tyres were failing as he went in to the last few laps, evidence of another misjudgement regarding the life of the Pirellis. Cars were catching and passing with ease and as Maldonado attempted to pass Lewis, in his much faster Williams, Lewis countered the move by eradicating any remaining space and ending his own grand prix immediately.

Alonso and Vettel appear to hold the slightly more dominant position, Vettel with the race pace and Alonso with the Championship position and tenacity to win. The season is beginning to take a little shape and maybe the next race will be a little more predictable.

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?