Bahrain Qualifying: The Force of India!

Lewis Hamilton began the day with a five place grid penalty, after having to replace his gearbox as a result of a rear suspension failure. Lewis joined a number of drivers who found themselves looking at grid place penalties, which was destined to make Bahrain qualifying extremely confusing and quite frustrating.

The weekend in Bahrain was overshadowed, once again, by controversy. Bahrain and the Bahrain Grand Prix continue to be plagued by unrest, as citizens clash with the authorities and protests are held against the hosting of the event. Its a difficult situation in The Kingdom and opinions vary across the board. Rather innapropriately the FIA and FOM seem to be of the opinion that racing cars are as important as people's freedom and so the running of the Bahrain Grand Prix is always in the balance. The race organisers regularly make the wrong decision to go ahead with the race, amid the riots and protests, instead of shelving the stage until the problems in the area have been resolved.

In the first session of qualifying it was very much a two horse race, between Ferrari and Red Bull. Force India were once again in the mix and as the season progresses, their impressive form is becoming less and less of a surprise. There were very few surprises by the end of of Q1, but one or two surprises crept in during the second session. One of those surprises came in the shape of McLaren's difficulties, which were compounded by Jenson Button's apparent elation at only just making it in to the Q3 shootout. Perez in the second McLaren car wasn't so lucky as Jenson and qualified in twelfth, outside of the top ten. Force India continued to show good pace and both drivers made it in to the top ten shootout. Dare I say that Force India might be closer to contending the title than McLaren.

Many of the drivers left it till the final moments of Q3 to put in their fast laps. A few of them bailed out of their fast laps right at the end and it was Nico Rosberg who blew everyone away, showing that Mercedes definitely have the pace to challenge the Ferraris and the Red Bulls. Force India didn't quite live up to the expectations of hopeful neutrals, only achieving seventh and eighth. Unfortunately, this is where the confusion ensues, as the plethora of grid penalties means that the lineup will actually be very different to what we saw at the end of the session. For me, the most important thing is being able to gauge the pace of the teams. Force India look strong again, Mercedes look very strong and Ferrari and Red Bull are predictably competitive.

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.

China Qualifying: Tedious in Shanghai

The most exciting thing to occur in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix involved the Red Bulls, as the two feuding team mates both failed to make it through to the top ten shoot out. It's a massive shock for fans, rival fans and the teams alike. We might only be two races in to the season, but it has become apparent that Red Bull Racing may once again be the dominant force this year and at the very least will be clear title contenders. For Red Bull, this qualifying outcome is likely to be a major blow, and the team will be left hoping that the race is as unpredictable as others and that they can draw out a reasonable result. It's fair to say that the next 24 hours will be a salvage operation for the chaps with wings.

The success story of the Chinese qualies has to be Lewis Hamilton's Stirling effort to take the pole position. It was quite a performance for a driver who entered preseason testing, humbly claiming that he and the team didn't expect to achieve very much at all this season. Surprisingly, the Mercedes cars were fast all the way through qualifying and topped the timing sheets in all three of the sessions. It'll be interesting to see if Mercedes can keep up the challenge that they seem to be posing to the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari.

One shock result, further down the order, came in the shape of Toro Rosso's Ricciardo, who first of all popped his sister Red Bull car in to the top ten shoot out and then proceeded to out qualify an impressed Jenson Button, who was quoted as saying over his team radio 'Ricciardo?! Wow!' It was a great effort by the Toro Rosso driver who showed that he can mix it with the big boys. We might see him challenging for the win in the race. We've seen that kind of thing from the likes of Force India already and neutral fans will agree that it's nice to see these unlikely heroes throwing a spanner in the works.

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.

Malaysian GP Qualifying: Everybody loves the sunshine

The qualifying in Malaysia started in predictably sunny and dry conditions, allowing the teams to set up the cars in a more optimum way to what they had to for qualifying in Australia. However, it wouldn't prove to be that way throughout the session.

Q1 was dry and, despite this, still managed to throw up a couple of surprises. Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel both left it very late to secure their places in the second session of qualifying. They looked to be massively off the pace, whilst once again the Force India cars were looking extremely competitive, as were the Lotus cars. Sutil is really relishing the new found pace and performance in his Force India and is likely to be a cause for concern to the front runners again on Sunday. It'll only be a matter of time before Sutil is considered one of them, instead of just in amongst them...

The Red Bull drivers made it through to Q2, Sebastian Vettel by the skin of his teeth, and as Q2 got underway it became clear that something was worrying all of the teams. It was revealed that the reason all of the cars were out on track at the same time, and desperately trying to get a decent lap in, was that rain was on its way. It was inevitable that it would catch somebody out and that somebody was Paul Di Resta, who found himself pirouetting through the KLIA Curve. He didn't fair any better after that and ended up qualifying fifteenth. He and the team will have to work on an interesting strategy for the race.

Sebastian Vettel cut it close again, in Q2, and was lucky not to be a victim of the same fate as Di Resta. He was just outside the elimination zone and joined the other ten cars as they went out for the final session of qualifying, on intermediate tyres. As the cars completed lap after lap, the times got quicker and quicker on a drying track. Unbelievably, and probably to all of his rivals' dismay, Vettel managed to bag pole position. The two Ferrari's are hot on his heels again and it will just be a case of whether Seb can keep them behind him this time.

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!

Rain, rain, go away!

The qualifying in Australia eventually got underway, after a long wait for the weather to abate and the track to dry. A feeling of deja vu was difficult to shake, as a brief run for the cars on Saturday morning (GMT) was interrupted yet again by moaning drivers and over-fearful race officials, who deemed the circuit too dangerous to drive on. I can't believe I'm discussing the wet conditions again, but I remember when Formula One cars raced in all conditions. I would suggest that either drivers, teams and officials are overreacting these days, or the cars are simply not capable of driving in the wet anymore. However, if the latter is the case, then wet tyres should be scrapped and the series should be a dry-conditions-only formula.

When the qualifying was finally restarted, at midnight (GMT), Q2 was run on a drying as opposed to a dry track. Everybody played it safe and sensible, running on the intermediate tyre, except that is for McLaren. Ludicrously, McLaren opted to experiment on slick tyres, in the closing few minutes of the session and predictably (at least to the vast majority of us) shot themselves in the foot. The team left Perez no time to put in a sensible lap, to get him in to the final top ten shoot out, leaving him in a starting position of fifteenth. They only just managed to get Button through to the final session, but clearly a few people at McLaren are suffering with jet lag.

The big story of the qualifying session this morning was the storming laps by the two Red Bull drivers. Their start to the season is in massive contrast to last season, but one thing seems ominously conclusive, Red Bull Racing are still top of the league and, if this start is an indication of what the rest of the season will deliver, then they may be on for another dominant championship bid. Let's all hope that the other teams can peg them back in the race...