Indian Grand Prix: A Champion is crowned!

The almighty young German has done it and becomes the youngest Formula One driver to win four World Championships and, perhaps even more impressively, back to back. He did it in style, his race engineers selecting an unconventional and, for all appearances, very risky strategy. At the end of only two laps, Seb was in to change his tyres from the quick-to-degrade soft tyre, to the far longer lasting hard tyre. It put him back in seventeenth place, with a large proportion of the field to pass. He managed it and ended up first, with only his teammate to challenge him. That challenge immediately evaporated, when Mark Webber's Red Bull was damaged to the extent that he was forced to stop.

Vettel made his championship win all the more special by adding a touch of the historic and emotional showmanship that we all love in Formula One. He has been fined €25,000 for his exuberant antics on the start/finish straight, but let us be grateful that we spectate on Formula One at a time when drivers are willing to incur some discipline for the sake of creating iconic footage and memories. Sebastian doing donuts, waving to the crowd and bowing down to his superior machine, will resonate for years to come.

Now, let me try and resolve some of the debate regarding whether Sebastian Vettel is one of the greats. I've heard people, TV pundits and the like, discussing whether greatness comes with merit and achievement or moments and instances of supreme performance. Also, whether the car does the winning, or the driver. When considering these questions, the same two names pop up, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. Senna, despite achieving relatively few accolades, did things that were unconventional, memorable and at times downright scary. He was the man who, before pit lane speed limits were introduced, shot through the pits at racing speed, at Donington Raceway, to gain a handful of places. On another occasion, during qualifying for the French Grand Prix, he threw his racecar in to the wall on the start/finish straight, just so that he could exit the corner and cross the line a split second faster than everyone else. Alternatively, Michael Schumacher has achieved what almost everybody would agree is greatness, by winning seven world titles, five of which were consecutive.

The point is, do we have to pick one definition? Why can we not place them all under the same umbrella of 'Great'? As for the question of the car or the driver, it has always been the same throughout the history of Formula One. Some doubt Vettel's quality, claiming that he is in the fastest car. Interestingly, Schumacher was in a vastly superior racecar when he dominated for five years. That was clear, because his teammates, Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine, were both ahead of the rest of the field, albeit still in Michael's shadow. In contrast, Sebastian Vettel's teammate, Mark Webber, regularly finishes outside of the top three, so its fair to say that he isn't getting anywhere near the superiority out of the car that Seb is. In my view Sebastian Vettel is one of the best there has ever been and it will only be a matter of time until that is the common consensus.

The Indian Grand Prix was chaotic, mainly as a result of the very poor soft tyre, which scattered the strategies all over the place. It meant that, by around lap ten, the only people that could have predicted the outcome were the strategists. There were some good fights in the final few laps, although none involved the four time world champion. He was well out in front and cruising to victory. The remaining races are sure to feature even more nail biting action. But the top prize has been claimed and has gone to a worthy winner.

Chinese Grand Prix: a tyreing day in Shanghai

Pirelli tyres played a massive part once again, but excitement is what F1 is all about and Pirelli bring that. If the tyres were predictable, then the teams would all choose the same tyres, at the same time, and we would be left with a relative procession, complete with scheduled pit stops. Approaching the closing stages of the race it became apparent that Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button, each had to make one more stop, to use the soft tyre. Soon after that realisation it became apparent that on fresh tyres their pace would be greatly increased. What transpired was a a nail biting finish, in which Button passed Massa and then found that he had to defend against the Brazilian, whilst Vettel proceeded to hunt Lewis Hamilton down and unbelievably made up around thirteen seconds in two laps. He actually finished just two hundredths of a second behind the Brit, with Lewis only just holding on to the well deserved third podium place.

Sebastian managed to salvage fourth place from the difficult ninth that he qualified in. Webber was less fortunate in his attempt at salvaging something from his torrid qualifying result. As a consequence of running out of fuel in the qualies, Mark was forced to start from the pit lane. He began on the soft tyre, which gave him the opportunity to pit after the first lap and go on to the harder tyre for the remainder of the race. However, he ruined the race for himself when he took a wild dive up the inside of Vergne, where there was a limited passing opportunity, and damaged his front wing forcing him to pit again. His luck worsened fatally when, in his pit stop, his right rear tyre was not attached properly and the Aussie had to retire from the race.

It was a race packed with incident, with a number of drivers making contact with each other. Sutil had a bump with his team mate, Di Resta, on the first lap, which almost ended both their races. A few laps later Sutil then became involved in an incident that was completely out of his control, when Gutierrez came careening down to the final hairpin. Gutierrez took off his own front right wheel and, in the process, caused terminal damage to the rear wing and rear suspension of Sutil's car. Some have called it Karma, I think that's a little harsh.

The race win went to Alonso, who was clearly over the moon about the result. It's rare to see such a reaction from the Spaniard, but with Ferrari's preseason pace being below par, the whole team will be relieved to find that they are still one of the strong title contenders. Kimi Raikonnen had another solid performance in his competitive Lotus, finishing in second. Mercedes looked strong as well, despite Hamilton being unable to hold his lead against the Ferrari's, in the opening laps, and Rosberg having to retire mid race. Their pace looked good and it will be interesting to watch them peg back the front runners in future races. The big success story for me was Ricciardo, in the Toro Rosso, who carried his qualifying performance in to the race to achieve his best finish in Formula One, so far. He finished in a respectable seventh position after qualifying seventh. It seems that it might be shaping up to be the season of the underdog.

Malaysian GP Race: Bittersweet victory

After all of the action of the Malaysian Grand Prix, controversy won the day again, with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber ending in an uncomfortable conflict. Numerous altercations have occurred between the two Red Bull drivers, but this one will be remembered as one of the more palatable, since both understood what had happened and appeared instantly prepared to work towards remedying the situation.

Returning to the start of the Grand Prix, the big incident through the first couple of corners involved last year's major title contender, Fernando Alonso, who found himself struggling to hold on to second place with a damaged front wing. As he drove through turn two he got a little too close to the rear end of Vettel's Red Bull and made contact. It was hanging on and throwing up sparks for a full lap, during which Mark Webber swapped positions with the Ferrari driver time and time again. It seemed inevitable that Fernando would pit at the end of the lap, to have the nose replaced, but he drove on and at the end of the start/finish straight the wing came away and lodged under the front of the car, leaving Alonso a spectator, as the car hurtled in to the gravel. Fortunately, the car slowed down before making contact with the barrier, but I would argue that it was a dangerous decision by Ferrari, when regulation states that if there is damage that can cause an accident then the car must be pitted.

With Alonso out of the running it became a straight battle between Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, which would continue to the end of the Grand Prix. Lotus didn't figure too heavily in the front fight and neither did McLaren, Jenson Button suffering in one of his pitstops, with a wheel that wasn't properly attached to his car. Pit stops were a big feature of this race, with Force India having a nightmare, culminating in Di Resta and Sutil having to retire. Toro Rosso and Caterham had an incident, when Vergne was released straight in to Charles Pic, causing damage to both cars. A similar incident occurred between Raikonnen and Hulkenberg, with the drivers avoiding contact, however it was a feud which continued for many laps after. Need I say much about Lewis Hamilton, driving through his old team's pit box...

As the Malaysian Grand Prix approached its conclusion. The Red Bull drivers found themselves in first and second, whilst the Mercedes drivers were in third and fourth. There was quite a distance between the two teams but not much distance between team mates and it was this circumstance that led to the controversy. Understandably, the teams radioed instructions to their respective drivers that they wanted them to hold position, protect their tyres and (in Hamilton's case) preserve fuel. Rosberg, who felt that he was faster, communicated his frustrations to the team, but obeyed the orders. Vettel took matters in to his own hands and decided to fight Mark Webber, his team mate and the worthy winner, who had turned his engine down (under team orders) to ensure he made it to the end of the grand prix. What ensued was a risky and heated battle, resulting in Vettel snatching the lead and driving to an undeserved victory.

The post race formalities were awkward and uncomfortable, with Vettel admitting his wrong doing and stating that he wished he hadn't won, Webber regretfully pointing out that the team needed to be strong and work together, and Lewis Hamilton explaining how it wasn't the usual good feeling on the podium. This race was exciting, but we are all becoming accustomed to watching respectful and fair racing, and for that reason the final result left a very bitter taste. Fortunately it seems that the drivers are fully aware of that fact and we can expect this sort of thing not to happen again for a very long time.

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?

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.