British Grand Prix: full blown mayhem!

The British Grand Prix was explosive, but unfortunately not in the right way. At one point during the race I couldn't help thinking, it really should have been abandoned, as Pirelli tyres failed left right and centre, resulting in at least two drivers almost having very big crashes. Massa had a big spin when his tyre delaminated and exploded on one of the fastest corners of the circuit. During the first of two safety car periods, pundits, officials and teams were trying to work out exactly what was going on, through a combination of speculation, investigation and simple guess work. Could it have been a failure of the Pirelli tyres themselves? A particular corner on the circuit? Or simply the geometry of the track? As the race progressed it looked like things had been resolved, however a blowout for Sergio Perez, in the final few laps, proved otherwise. Should the race have been abandoned after the first three blowouts? I think so.

The beginning of the race saw Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, displaying some unusually good race pace. Rosberg lost second to Vettel, in to the first corner, but then both Mercedes cars kept up the pace very well. Webber had another characteristically bad start and dropped all the way from fourth down to fourteenth, whilst Massa engineered the opposite for himself, powering from thirteenth all the way up to fifth. Things were going well for him, up until the tyre failure that really scuppered his race.

It was Hamilton who experienced the curse of the tyres first, much to the disappointment of his adoring followers. To make matters worse, the blowout occurred right at the end of the lap and after the pit lane entrance, meaning he was forced to drive an entire lap on three wheels. It was a credit to Lewis that he was able to work his way all the way up to fourth place by the chequered flag.

The end of the race was extremely exciting. Rosberg put in a sterling effort to take the win and its nice to see Mercedes managing to convert a perfect qualifying result in to another win. Webber caused a lot of excitement by discovering some blistering pace and storming past car after car, to take second place. He almost managed to snatch the win from under Nico's nose, but in all fairness Rosberg didn't deserve for that to happen.

The biggest story of the race, for me, was the British fans displaying their lack of sportsmanship, at the apparent 'home of Formula One'. It was shameful to hear a huge roar go up as Sebastian Vettel suffered an engine failure on the home straight. I think what made it worse was the fact that, it wasn't the case that Vettel's cruel luck allowed a Brit, Hamilton or Button, to come through for the lead. It was the bitter jealousy and soreness that resulted in a crowd of baying patriotic Brits, jeering and mocking (and later booing) the brilliant young German driver. I think its time we moved on and put the boring and poorly managed 'home of Formula One' behind us, to enjoy some racing in a far more welcoming venue.

The Race Result:

1.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:32:59.456
2.	Mark Webber	Red Bull	+0.765
3.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+7.124
4.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+7.756
5.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus	+11.257
6.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+14.573
7.	Adrian Sutil	Force India	+16.335
8.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	+16.543
9.	Paul di Resta	Force India	+17.943
10.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sauber	+19.709
11.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	+21.135
12.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	+25.094
13.	Jenson Button	McLaren	+25.969
14.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber	+26.285
15.	Charles Pic	Caterham	+31.613
16.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia	+36.097
17.	Max Chilton	Marussia	+1:07.660
18.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham	+1:07.759
Did not finish
19.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	+1 Lap
20.	Sergio Perez	McLaren	+6 Laps
21.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	+11 Laps
22.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	+17 Laps

  

Surprise in Oz!

The Australian Grand Prix didn't provide much excitement and didn't really get the blood flowing. There was literally no contact between any of the cars, and the only incident was Pastor Maldonado spinning off in to the gravel on the first corner. There were a few retirements, however they were all due to technical issues and created little to no drama. It wasn't a boring race though and certainly threw up a few surprises.

One thing that wasn't a surprise however, was Mark Webber's terrible start, just like many of the races in 2012. He will have to do a lot to convince us that he hasn't started this season the way he means to go on. Driving exactly the same car as Vettel, he struggled for pace and appeared to be unable to undo the damage he did by being so sluggish off the line. Vettel didn't fair too well either. Despite starting from pole position and keeping the lead through the first few laps, he was unable to replicate the dominance from the front that we have grown so accustomed to in Formula One.

The Pirelli tyres, which it had been said were more durable and less prone to 'falling off the cliff' as last year, appeared to be a lot worse. They were lasting five or six laps before drivers were falling victim to their rivals without being able to put up much of a fight at all. Hamilton made a great effort at resisting a pass from Alonso in one of these situations, locking up both of his front tyres and holding the position. Frustratingly, the defense was never going to stick because Alonso popped his Ferrari on to Lewis' inside for the next corner and shot past easily. As the race went on, it grew more frustrating and more disappointing.

The surprises came in the shape of the Lotus cars and the Force India cars, whose pace was beyond what any of us expected. Sutil had a very competitive race and was in the front running pack for most the race, something that the race officials often failed to realise as misplaced blue flags waved time and time again, when Sutil was racing a Lotus or a McLaren. Raikonnen ran a sublime race and was a very worthy winner. It's nice to see the outspoken but lovable finn back at the top and arguably where he belongs. It wasn't a predictable result but it was a predictable path that led to it, in respect of tyre degradation and other teams' consistent pace through the grand prix. It has to get more exciting in Malaysia!

A two bull race??

Firstly, I need to apologise for the late blog, sometimes full time work on top of other commitments gets in the way of me writing my blog, but hopefully this won't happen too often.

The Indian Grand Prix, unfortunately, was probably the most boring race of the season. I say unfortunately, because the season has been packed with excitement and, more specifically, unpredictability. The Indian Grand Prix was a relative procession, with the Red Bulls packing out the front row of the grid in qualifying and Sebastien Vettel doing a proper job to take the win. The only glitch for Red Bull was Mark Webber dropping a position to Vettel's nearest rival, Alonso.

Alonso just keeps on emphasising his great ability, by achieving performances well beyond the competency of his Ferrari. He did it last year in a Ferrari that, on paper, was no match for the Red Bull cars or the McLarens. This year he is doing the same, in a car that is perhaps the fourth or fifth fastest in the field.

The DRS zone wasn't especially effective and passing was very limited. And that is pretty much all I can say about a decidedly dull event. It was an unusually predictable race and left fans wanting more. It's also fair to say that Red Bull Racing are on the verge of wrapping up the Constructors Championship, so a season with so much potential, could end up being a massive anti-climax. 

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?