Kimi has a #@!*ing good race!

Well, what a contrast to India. In fact, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix literally blew the Indian Grand Prix out of the desert. The race at the Yas Marina circuit was arguably the most exciting race of the season and so full of incident its difficult to know where to start. It's probably best to kick off with the fact that, in the week running up to the Grand Prix weekend itself, Yas Marina played host to the eighth F1 in Schools World Final, which saw 33 teams, from schools around the world competing for the increasingly sought after title of F1 in Schools World Champion. It was a fantastic support act for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the race itself continued to deliver excitement.

Kimi Raikonnen profitted from Lewis Hamilton's poor luck, but it can't be denied that Kimi was utterly brilliant and showed us all why he is a former World Champion. He didn't falter, even as Alonso started to breathe down his neck, and went on to make it the first time Lotus have had a driver on the top step of the podium in over one hundred and eighty races. As a result of Raikonnen's win, he finds himself still in the hunt for, at least, second place in the Championship. During and after the race, in true Raikonnen style, he found a few choice words and phrases to emphasise his feelings. Over the team radio, Kimi's race engineer calmly informed Kimi that Alonso was "five seconds behind", adding "I will keep you updated on his distance and his pace", to which Kimi replied "Leave me alone. I know what I'm doing!"

Mark Webber had a torrid day, which all kicked off with yet another poor start. All of Red Bull Racing's hopes were sensibly pinned on Webber, as the beginning of the race approached, and it was clear that Mark was the only Red Bull driver who could plausibly achieve a decent result in Abu Dhabi. The poor start saw Webber tumbling down the order and provided an indication of things to come. As the race progressed Mark's attitude became uncharacteristically wild. He first attempted an overtake around the outside of Pastor Maldonado, unfairly slamming the door on the Venezuelan and leaving Maldonado with nowhere to go but into the side of the Red Bull. Miraculously, both cars were completely unharmed and, after Webber had righted himself, they continued the race.

Only a few laps later, after it had been declared that, unbelievably, Webber would incur no penalty for the move on Maldonado, he had another coming together, this time with Massa. The contact between the two of them in the first part of the chicane was quite inocuous, but after crossing the corner Mark Webber rashly threw his car back on to the circuit, directly in to the path of Filipe, causing him to spin in an effort to avoid contact. Even more unbelievably, Mark got away with this incident as well.

Webber eventually came to grief when he joined the scuffle between Paul Di Resta, Sergio Perez and (surprise, surprise) Romane Grosjean. The shuffling of positions was complicated but it ended in Grosjean sat in a broken Lotus, Webber rolling off the circuit in a three-wheeled Red Bull and Perez facing a stop-and-go penalty for causing the incident. The race officials must have drawn straws to decide who had to pick the bones out of that mess and attribute blame.

There was a big heart-in-the-mouth moment, when Narain Karthikeyan had an engine failure, causing him to experience a sudden loss of power, which drammatically resulted in Rosberg launching his Mercedes over the top of the HRT and in to a distant barrier. Both drivers were out of their cars quickly and Nico seemed to fully understand that there was nothing Karthikeyan could have done about the incident.

The real story of the race was Sebastien Vettel's phenomenal recovery, not only from having to start in the pitlane, but having to pitstop under a safety car to replace his front wing, which put him plumb last again, 14 laps in to the race. It was from there, and even with a second pitstop, that Vettel managed to climb all the way up, past his teammate and in to fourth place, just before the second safety car. The icing on the cake came when he made a fabulous passing move on Jenson Button, to steal the third and final podium place. I firmly believe that this race could well go down in history as Sebastien Vettel's greatest ever.

Let's all take a breather and prepare ourselves for Austin, Texas, in two weeks time.

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. 

Red Bull do it gangnam style!!

The opening lap of the Korean Grand Prix was more reminiscent of a Karting or GP2 race, with the front runners dicing for position and some of them even finding themselves four abreast as they stormed down to the second corner. The Red Bulls appeared to have the race sewn up from the very start, irrespective of the fact that Webber, was denied the lead, from pole, by his young German teammate. Possibly, for the first time all year, a team is standing out above the rest and, with Adrian Newey as chief designer, it's not surprising that Red Bull Racing are that team. And, as a matter of fact, there was quite a distinctive change in appearance of the Red Bull's nose cone and one must assume that Newey has been contantly updating other more obscure elements of his racecar.

The DRS zone, once again, provided a source of great excitement. The passing down the second straight was sometimes easy, sometimes difficult, but always unpredictable. At times, even teammates such as the two Williams drivers, plunged in to turn two and almost collided or pushed one another off the circuit. When Lewis Hamilton and Grosjean got intimate down the DRS straight, Hulkenberg made a fantastically opportunistic move around the outside of both drivers at the third corner. The race was packed with these kind of opportunistic and rash moves, but without many casualties. One high profile DNF was jenson Button, taken out by Kamui Kobayashi, in an incident that was totally unavoidable for Button and so a great disappointment to the neutral fan.

Red Bull could be considered the likely World Champions this season and are almost certainly the team to beat, but lets hope Ferrari can bring the fight back to them and make it a closely fought end to a thrilling season.

Kamui does it for Japan!!

Well the story of the day had to be Kamui Kobayashi, who became only the third Japanese driver to ever stand on a Formula One podium. He drove a fantastic race, from third on the grid, to hold third right to the chequered flag. The crowd went crazy, chanting "Kamui! Kamui! Kamui!", as the three podium finishers received their trophies and it felt as though Kobayashi had been the victor as opposed to the young German World Champion.

The Japanese Grand Prix winner, Sebastien Vettel, is really taking the fight to Alonso, chopping Fernando's Championship lead down to only four points. It appears to be coming down to a two horse race, as we approach the conclusion of the season, and with Alonso trying to defend his Championship lead in a slower car and only completing two out of the last four races, it's looking more and more like Vettel might make it three titles in a row.

Grosjean took the controversy headline in Japan. It's an awkward situation when a driver simply appears to be out of his league. Another first lap incident and another one that's been caused solely by Romain Grosjean and, almost the worst thing about it, the incident wasn't malicious. If Romain was causing these collisions with intent, then action could be taken against him and we could all say that he needs to change his attitude. However, it's not an easy task to actually improve your driving skills at the absolute peak of motorsport. It's very difficult to know what to hope for with Grosjean; that he gets banned from the sport? that he gets dropped from the team? but I guess the most favourable outcome would be that he can improve and overcome this period.

The incidents and accidents are ramping up, people making rash moves and irresponsible decisions, as we close in on the final race of this topsy turvy season. With only five races to go, every single point is extremely valuable.

Bring on the carnage!

The prediction I made in my last blog appears to be right, so far, as the Singapore Grand Prix delivered no end of thrills, spills and incidents. There were lost or damaged wings, punctures and wall slams aplenty, at a circuit renowned for its lack of passing opportunities. Also, a rare thing occurred this weekend, when the driver who took to the lead in the opening laps failed to go and take the victory. Its important to point out that it was due to a gearbox failure that Hamilton was forced to drop out, leaving Sebastien Vettel to take the race win, but Vettel was pressuring Lewis and there was a good chance he could have challenged for the victory anyway. The win promotes Vettel to second in the Championship and poses the question, could Sebastien conjure a repeat of the 2010 season, when he came from behind in the Championship to take the title.

There were quite a few instances of rash passing attempts and, especially on the first couple of corners, people leaving the track. Despite this, fortunately the FIA decided not to take action and destroy an otherwise thrilling race. As I pointed out in my last blog, the stakes are getting higher and higher, and as a result drivers are trying to snatch up every point they can. Filipe Massa took a plunge around the outside of Bruno Senna and almost got squeezed in to the barrier, only just making pass stick despite getting a scary tank slapper on. Hulkenberg made an opportunistic move on Kobayashi, after Mark Webber had passed Kamui, and ended up making contact with the Japanese driver. Hulkenberg punctured his tyre and Kobayashi lost part of his front wing, but it was just another display of drivers pushing their luck a little too far in pursuit of as many points as possible.

It was refreshing to see Michael Schumacher eating a little humble pie, after ploughing in to the back of Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso. Neither driver was hurt, but it was obvious that the incident had been entirely Michael's fault and that Vergne hadn't stood a chance of avoiding the collision, so it was nice to see them putting their arms around each other and instantly quashing any suggestion of controversy regarding the coming together.

As a result of the early races in the season, the Championship is extremely close and every result changes the standings quite dramatically. However, disregarding his bad luck in Spa, Alonso appears to be the most consistent driver and is skillfully holding on to his lead.

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!"