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.

And it's 'GO! GO! GO!'

The 2012 season kicked off in style, beginning with Qualifying. Formula One enthusiasts and fans were immediately assured that the Red Bull Racing dominance is over. It was a little disconcerting to see the hint of a McLaren dominance, but in the same breath it was extremely refreshing to see a Lotus and a Mercedes near the front of the grid aswell.

It seems that the more conventional nose on the McLaren car didn't create a problem for Jenson or Lewis, what with them impressively locking out the entire front row and then Jenson racing away to a storming victory, whilst Lewis traded places with vettel but still managed to claim the third podium place.

The best thing about the Grand Prix was the action all the way down the field and that action couldn't have been appreciated without Sky Sport's great coverage. There didn't appear to be any prejudice in regards to which drivers or teams were focused on during the race. The Sky Sports F1 director even went so far as disregarding Jenson Button's final lap, in favour of showing the exciting fights that were going on throughout the field, right up until the very end.

The continuous coverage and absence of adverts was the same as the BBC's coverage last season but time will tell if the further advantages will be a regular feature of footage on Sky, however so far I am well impressed with Sky's commitment. As for the racing, well after this weekend it promises to be exciting and unpredictable.

Should women be in Formula One?

The announcement that Marussia have employed the female race driver Maria De Villota has sparked the old argument taken up by many F1 fans the world over; why aren't there any female drivers in Formula One?

It's true that in recent years there have been no female drivers gracing the Formula One scene and the sports history there have been fewer than a handful. However, rather than look at this with the presumption that women are actively prevented from driving in Formula One, let's look at this from a simple statistical and factual point of view.

It is a statistical fact that vastly fewer women than men are interested in Formula One and so stands to reason that even less women actually attempt to achieve this goal. Add to this the not so obvious statistical fact that, in any one race season, there are no more than 24 human beings that are good enough to drive the massively challenging, powerful and agile cars. Speaking from personal experience, thousands of people would love to have the skill and stamina to be an F1 driver. Finally, F1 drivers need to be of a certain physical stature and even for some of them (the tall ones like Mark Webber and Justin Wilson) their physique is borderline when it comes to fitting in to a Formula One car; women have a very different body structure entirely. True, the teams could design the cars to fit but, with Formula One the way it is, what team is going to go to the expense?

With all this in mind; skill and ability, body shape and athleticism, and ultimately (arguably most importantly) the actual interest in being involved, then surely it's understandable that female drivers in F1 just doesn't happen. However, theres no prejudiced reason why not and I would love to see Marie De Villota get a first seat drive!

Oi Big Nose!!!

Nobody can fail to notice that this season's F1 cars have quite an unusual and, as many have opined, ugly addition to their nose cones. All of the cars, apart from the Mclaren, have a strange 'step' on the nose cone near the front suspension. The reason for this step is that, at the point where the 'step' appears, the nose must be at a particular height and aerodynamicists have found that having the front half of the nose lower is more beneficial to the movement of air over the front of the car.

At the time of the cars being unveiled there were two very interesting developments. The first one was that the Red Bull Racing car, designed by the genius and often unconventional Adrian Newey, appeared to have a hole in the 'step'. It is currently unclear as to what the hole in the nose cone is for but it is relatively logical to assume that it is there for a purpose and since the car is designed by Newey then it will likely perform that function more than adequately.

The Second development was the shock revelation that the Mclaren does not feature the 'stepped' nose cone at all. I have a theory about this and it is based on previous evidence that Ron Dennis and McLaren are more concerned with aesthetics than they are with actual performance (the McLaren factory was lavishly and expensively designed and built a few years back, the pit crew have to look sharp and trendy, just last season the drivers wore different race overalls designed by fans for each race, etc...). I predict that the McLaren will under perform this season, simply because the designers were encouraged to make the car LOOK good over making the car perform well.

Only time will tell, but my prediction is that Red Bull Racing's unorthodox hole in the nose will make them extremely fast, whilst McLaren's stubborness to forfeit performance over looks will set them back to the middle of the field. As for the other teams, its going to be exciting finding out which ones have made big steps and which have moved backwards. Are the new 'stepped' noses ugly? Its fair to say that there have been numerous innovations, over the years, that have looked a little unusual and out of place, but in time they become familiar and we all forget that we were shocked by them. The same will apply to the new noses, I'm sure.

For fans, what is the significance of pre-season testing?

Of course, nobody can question how important pre-season testing is to a Formula One team. It is completely essential that engineers and designers are able to test the complex and groundbreaking machines that they have spent the last four months meticulously designing and building. They need to be assured that when they put that car on the track for the first race of the season it isn't going to vibrate to pieces through the first corner or one of the wings isn't going to change shape at high speed and lose the car crucial seconds.

Similarly, the drivers want to be sure they are comfortable behind the wheel before they set out on to the track in that all important first qualifying session of the season. Sebastien Vettel doesn't want to be getting in to the car, on Saturday morning of the 17th of March in Melbourne, and find that he can't reach the pedals. So, pre-season testing is unquestionably extremely important to the teams, which brings me back to my original question.

Undoubtedly, as fans, we are all extremely excited as we approach the beginning of the new season and any news about F1 is lapped up as we anticipate the first race. But why can't the media be more honest about what pre-season testing means to us, instead of feeding us meaningless conclusions about how specific teams are looking quick for the new season having posted the fastest time, or how a team we expect to do well is looking slow. The pre-season testing is not a qualifying session, in which the drivers and teams are striving for the fastest time. It is the only chance to try out big things (new parts, different fuel levels, tyre and wing combinations, etc. etc....)

For this reason, it is unfair on fans, that the media draw these meaningless conclusions from incomprehensible circumstances. That's not to say that pre-season testing isn't an exciting chance to see the new cars out on track, in action. To take a look at the new design modifications and regulation aero parts, but lets not kid ourselves that when the pre-season testing is finished we will all know who the big contenders are. The fact is that only the teams know that and they aren't going to let on. So we should watch the pre-season testing for what it is and the media should report it as such.