Serene Seb storms to victory in Sakhir

Well, with Sebastian Vettel’s second victory of the season in Sakhir, we now know that there will be no repeat of 2012, with eight different race winners in the first eight races of the season. In Bahrain, at least, though, we did have a carbon copy of the 2012 top three, with Vettel being joined on the podium by Lotus pair Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. While Vettel was untroubled at the front of the pack, the battles raged behind him.

It was a tumultuous, topsy-turvey race; different cars and drivers looked quick at various stages of the race, with McLaren looking extremely strong at certain points, while Mercedes looked to be struggling at times. At the end of the race, though, the only team that maximised the result for both of their drivers was Lotus, with a double podium. Unusually for me, I’m going to take a look at the race, team by team, for the top seven at least.

Vettel, leading Rosberg and Alonso early in the Bahrain GP

Let’s start with Red Bull Racing. As we know, Vettel took a thoroughly deserved and fairly straightforward victory. He battled with Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso at the start of the race and initially dropped back from his second place starting slot as Alonso opportunistically sneaked around the outside of the reigning world drivers’ champion at turn one. Vettel was back past the Spaniard later on the lap, though, and although it took him a two more laps to find a way past Rosberg’s Mercedes, once he did so on lap three he never looked back, winning the race by just under 10 seconds, looking perfectly in control throughout.

Mark Webber on the other hand had another torrid race. Eventually, the Australian finished where he started, in seventh place, but aside from a spell in second place after the first round of pit stops he never really looked in contention. Webber, of course, was hampered by a three place grid penalty carried over from Shanghai and his collision with Jean-Eric Vergne, but he never looked like he had the pace to compete at the very front of the race. Nevertheless, he battled hard throughout, eventually losing out towards the end of the race as he lost two positions on the final lap. Things could have been even worse for Webber, though, had the stewards decided that his coming together with Nico Rosberg on lap 38 was worth more than just the reprimand that he received after the race.

Paul di Resta drove an excellent race in Sakhir

Force India had an excellent result with a fourth place finish for Paul di Resta. The Scot looked fast throughout the race and can consider himself unfortunate not to be able to take his first formula 1 podium. He led the race at times, and did an excellent job on a two stop strategy, but was overtaken five laps from the end by a charging Romain Grosjean. In contrast, though, his team-mate Adrian Sutil had a poor result. The German had started the race alongside his team-mate in sixth place, but contact with the Ferrari of Felipe Massa on the first lap of the race meant an early pit-stop for Sutil, from which he never recovered, eventually finishing the race down in 13^th position – hugely disappointing considering the race that had clearly been in the car in Bahrain.

Next up, I’m going to have a look at the race for Mercedes. A dominant pole for Nico Rosberg on Saturday, their second pole in two races after Lewis Hamilton’s in China, promised much for the race. Rosberg’s previous pole position, in China in 2012, saw him take victory for Mercedes. Sadly for the German, though, there was no repeat in Bahrain in 2013. As many feared, tyre wear was a problem for Mercedes and Rosberg dropped further and further backwards as the race went on. He eventually had to stop four times due to excessive tyre wear, one of just a handful of drivers that needed to do so, eventually finishing in ninth place.

Hamilton improved throughout the race in Bahrain

Ninth place was where his team-mate Hamilton had started the race after receiving an unfortunate five place grid penalty after a tyre delamination at the end of third practice on Saturday forced the team to change his gearbox. Hamilton’s pace was poor through much of the race, and it looked unlikely that he would score points at times. He fell back at the start and spent much of the race on the periphery of the top 10. In the second part of the race, on the hard tyre, the Englishman came alive, though. As his team-mate fell further back Hamilton pulled himself further forward, passing both McLaren’s and Webber’s Red Bull to take fifth. As he explained after the race “My race didn’t start well at all. I was looking after the tyres but I really struggled on the first two stints and was falling back. But as the temperatures dropped, the car picked up and then I had the grip that I needed to push and close the gap”. A good result for the 2008 world drivers’ champion, who moved into third place in the world drivers’ championship.

Hamilton’s old team, McLaren, looked transformed through much of the race. Both 2009 world drivers’ champion Jenson Button and Sergio Perez were solidly in the top 10 throughout the race, despite their modest 10^th and 12^th place starting positions. It looked, at times, like a complete turnaround in fortunes between McLaren and Mercedes, but it didn’t really last, at least for Button. The Englishman was the second man to have to make four pit stops due to excessive tyre wear – amazingly for a driver that’s usually so kind to his rubber. Like Webber, he eventually finished the race exactly where he started, in 10^th place.

The reason for Button’s excessive tyre wear was probably the battle that raged between him and his Mexican team-mate throughout much of the race. The two drivers came together at the first corner and again later in the race as they pushed to, and sometimes beyond, the limit. Perez, after a disappointing first three races for McLaren had been told to ‘toughen up’ by team boss Martin Whitmarsh earlier in the week, and he did just that. The 23-year-old drove like a man possessed, with Button complaining about his team-mate’s driving over the team radio. The Mexican eventually came out on top, though taking sixth place.

A broken DRS destroyed Alonso’s race

But what about, Ferrari? It had been a race which had promised much for the Italian team; both cars started the race on the second row of the grid, with Alonso ahead of Massa. Indeed, the Spaniard had looked tremendously fast all weekend and was many people’s pick to win the race, myself included. Disaster struck for Alonso on lap eight as he was forced to pit because his DRS had jammed open. His team managed to force it closed, but Alonso was back in the pits just a lap later as his DRS jammed open yet again. Again, the Ferrari pit crew forced it closed, but the Spaniard would be without DRS for the rest of the race. Considering the loss of a crucial overtaking aid, and the time that he lost in the pits, Alonso worked wonders to finish in eighth position.

Things went from bad to worse for Ferrari, though. Like his team-mate, Felipe Massa was forced to make two unscheduled visits to the pits during the race. Unlike Alonso, though, it was tyres rather than DRS that were the problem for the Brazilian. Massa suffered not one, but two right rear tyre delaminations. The first came on lap 18 and the second on lap 37, destroying his race. Massa eventually finished in a lowly 15^th position, behind the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.

As I’ve already mentioned, Lotus, in stark contrast to Ferrari, had a brilliant race. Both cars had qualified comparatively poorly with eighth place on the grid for Kimi Raikkonen and 11^th for Romain Grosjean. In the race, though, the Enstone based team came alive, making a two stop strategy work for Raikkonen and a three stop strategy work equally well for his French team-mate. Raikkonen admitted after the race that Lotus “did not have the speed to beat Red Bull this weekend” and given that the team did as well as they could have with a double podium.

The man with the biggest smile on his face was Sebastian Vettel, though. There was none of the controversy of his win in Malaysia this time and he extended his championship lead to 10 points over Raikkonen. As I mentioned, Hamilton has moved into third – albeit a huge 17 points behind Raikkonen – with Ferrari’s Alonso a further three points back in fourth place. Next up it’s the start of the European races in Barcelona. It’ll be a crucial point for all of the teams as big upgrade packages will be bolted on to all of the cars. Will any of those upgrades mix up the current pecking order? We’ll find out in three weeks time…

Awesome Alonso surges to victory in Shanghai

The 2013 Chinese grand prix certainly kept us entertained.  With differing tyre and pit stop strategies, cars coming through the field and a variety of different teams and drivers in the mix, the result was far from certain throughout most of the race.  When 56 laps had been completed and the chequered flag had been waved, five world drivers’ champions, driving for five different teams occupied the top five positions in the race.  We saw a second consecutive podium for pole sitter and Mercedes new boy Lewis Hamilton, while Kimi Raikkonen also took his second podium of the season with second place in Shanghai, behind winner Fernando Alonso, another driver taking his second podium in the first three races of the season.

Alonso and Massa pass Hamilton on lap five

It was Alonso, who always looked in control of the race, though.  The Spaniard got a brilliant start, leapfrogging Raikkonen’s Lotus to tuck in behind Hamilton who led the early laps.  Despite briefly managing to pull out a one second gap over Alonso, Hamilton was unable to break free of the pursuing pack and was passed by both Ferrari’s at the start of lap five, with Felipe Massa following his team-mate through with the aid of DRS down the pit straight.  While that, and a brief spell in the lead when Alonso pitted, was probably the high point of the race for Massa, who eventually finished sixth, Alonso never looked back.

The double world drivers’ champion wasn’t far ahead of Hamilton after the first round of pit stops for the leading cars, but he was never truly under threat from the Englishman, who we heard comment on the Ferrari’s speed on his pit radio.   Alonso had clearly brushed off his early retirement from the Malaysian grand prix three weeks ago and drove the perfect race in China.  It seemed almost effortless for him as he cruised through the field as different strategies played out.  In the final part of the race we saw Alonso putting in fastest laps of the race.  Such was his advantage that his team told him not to push on lap 47 of the race.  His response was immediate “I’m not pushing” as he posted a lap time of 1:39.506 – the fastest lap of the race at that stage.

Alonso takes the chequered flag

Alonso eventually finished the race a full 10 seconds ahead of Raikkonen’s Lotus.  Things might have been closer between the top two had the race gone according to plan for the Finn, though.  Two incidents spoiled the 2007 world drivers’ champion’s chances of victory, however.  Firstly, the Lotus started poorly from the front row of the grid.  Raikkonen was passed off the line by both of the fast starting Ferrari’s which meant that instead of being able to challenge the Mercedes of Hamilton for the lead into turn one, he had to defend from the cars behind him.

Although his poor getaway was certainly not helpful, it was not massively damaging to the Finn’s chances of victory as he was able to keep pace with Hamilton’s Mercedes and the two Ferrari’s in the opening laps, and was just behind Hamilton when they both made their first stops.  Indeed, Raikkonen and Hamilton were close to each other throughout most of the race, with the Finn stopping earlier than the Englishman in the final round of pit stops which enabled him to jump his Lotus ahead of the Mercedes.   Raikkonen’s chances of being able to pass Hamilton earlier and, perhaps, challenge Alonso for victory were damaged by an incident on lap 16 of the race, though.

The damage on Raikkonen’s Lotus is clearly visible after his clash with Perez

As Raikkonen was coming through the field on fresh tyres, attacking cars that had started on the prime tyre and not yet stopped, he came up behind the McLaren of Sergio Perez.  The Mexican had been moving around to defend his position from other cars and as Raikkonen got a run on him and attempted to move alongside the McLaren he was pushed onto the grass, lost control and hit the back of Perez’s car as he rejoined the track.  The Lotus’s front wing was damaged and although team radio suggested that it would be changed at the next pit stop, Raikkonen continued with his damaged wing for the remaining 40 laps of the race.

Although Raikkonen’s car was suffering from increased understeer because of the damage, the team clearly decided that it was better to manage the car in that condition, rather than lose time by changing the nose.  It’s hard to say how much quicker Raikkonen might have been able to go with a new nose, or how much track position he would have lost had the team made the change.  Whatever the case, the Finn would have lost time either way.

Lewis Hamilton on his way to a second consecutive third place finish for Mercedes

It was hugely impressive that despite the damage, Raikkonen was able to get the better of Hamilton.  Mercedes have certainly made huge steps forward since last season, but despite Hamilton’s obvious speed in qualifying it’s clear that Mercedes do not quite have a race winning package yet; a fact that team principal Ross Brawn acknowledged on the slow down lap when he said to Hamilton “We’re not quite there yet, but we’re not so far away. Let’s keep working hard” over the team radio.  Indeed, Hamilton had to work hard to hang on to third as Sebastian Vettel charged up behind him on fresh option tyres in the last few laps of the race.  Just three tenths of a second separated the Mercedes and the Red Bull as they crossed the line.

Despite a fifth place finish for Jenson Button, it’s clear that, despite the upgrades that the team brought to China, McLaren aren’t really much further forward.  They made the most of their tyre and pit stop strategy to lead the race at one stage, but it’s telling that the 2009 world drivers’ champion still finished the race over 20 seconds behind Vettel, who started one place behind him on the grid and deployed an identical strategy.

Still, the Englishman can be fairly happy with his race, certainly happier than Mark Webber whose bad luck continued in China.  After the Red Bull team order debacle in Malaysia, Webber only qualified 14^th at Shanghai after his car was under-fuelled in the second part of qualifying.  This error was compounded when there was insufficient fuel to provide the requisite one litre sample, which meant that the Australian was disqualified from qualifying.

Webber’s bad luck continues as the
wheel comes off his Red Bull

Webber and Red Bull chose to start from the pit lane, but his bad luck continued in the race.  First he came together with the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne on lap 16 – an incident for which the stewards gave him a three pace grid penalty for the next race – which damaged his front wing.  Unlike Raikkonen, whose front wing damaged occurred at the same stage of the race, Red Bull decided to pit Webber for a fresh nose.  Just a lap later Webber was reporting a problem with the car and as he cruised slowly back to the pits his right rear wheel came off on lap 18 putting him out of the race.

As a result, Webber falls down the fledging world drivers’ championship table, swapping places with race winner Fernando Alonso who moves from sixth in the standings to third ahead of Lewis Hamilton who maintains fourth place in the championship.  Sebastian Vettel still leads, although his lead of second placed Kimi Raikkonen is now only three points, a third of his previous advantage.

We’ve only got one week to wait until the next race in Bahrain.  Who knows how the Pirelli tyres will work in the desert and who will hold the advantage at the Bahrain International Circuit?  I can’t help but feel, though, that, three races into the season, Pirelli haven’t got their tyres quite right.  There’s a fine line between producing tyres that make racing exciting and tyres that produce an artificial spectacle.  The races are certainly exciting, but the drivers aren’t able to push flat-out anymore and the majority of the overtaking is purely a result of different tyre strategies.  Formula 1 has become all about tyre management rather than pushing to the limit.  Are the 2013 tyres a step too far?  I think so, but maybe after the result in China, Fernando Alonso will disagree…

Team tactics cause consternation in Sepang

If you hadn’t watched the Malaysian grand prix and just taken a quick look at the results, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was probably a pretty dull race.  A win from pole from Sebastian Vettel with his team-mate Mark Webber following him home; what could be more straightforward?  In reality, though, things weren’t quite that simple, of course.  All the post race talk was about team orders between not just the two Red Bulls, but also the two Mercedes cars, with Lewis Hamilton taking the final step on the podium, ahead of his team-mate Nico Rosberg.

It was the contrast between the two teams that proved most interesting.  Both Red Bull and Mercedes had ordered their drivers to hold station after the final pit stops.  Had that happened, Webber would have won the race from Vettel.  As you all know, though, Vettel chose to ignore orders and go for the win, while Rosberg obeyed instructions from the pit wall not to attempt to pass Hamilton (after the two had swapped positions a few times in the back to back DRS zones).  It made for a slightly uncomfortable podium and it raised the ugly spectre of team orders in Formula 1 yet again.

In the past team orders have been outlawed, but that rule proved to be completely unworkable.  Team orders, team tactics, orders from the pit wall – call them what you like, but they’re now very much part of Formula 1 again.  They will always cause disagreements between fans, teams and drivers, depending on who benefits, but, in my view, they’re a necessary evil.  The real problem comes when drivers choose to ignore such orders.  It can lead to mistrust and can be corrosive to team cohesion, much more so than when one driver is left frustrated at not being allowed to race his team-mate.

Vettel passing team-mate Webber on lap 46

Let’s start by looking at the Red Bull situation.  After the final pit stops Webber emerged just ahead of Vettel on lap 44 of the race.  The two drivers – rightly in my view – battled it out for a few corners during which Webber was able to maintain the upper hand over his team-mate.  That should have been the end of it.  Both drivers were ordered to turn down their engine settings and save tyres in the final part of the race, with no more racing between the team-mates.  Webber did as instructed, but Vettel decided to ignore his team and take advantage by squeezing past Webber on the start-finish straight on lap 46.

The German went on to win the race, with his clearly unhappy Australian team-mate being forced to settle for second place in a race that he will feel rightly aggrieved not to have won.  Vettel fans will be delighted that their driver won the race, of course, but they should bear in mind that their driver did so unfairly.  We’ll never really know whether Vettel was actually quicker than Webber on the day because the Australian had clearly obeyed the orders from the pit wall to take it easy in the final stint.  It was only when Webber eased back, as he expected his German team-mate to have done, that Vettel passed his team-mate.

Vettel acknowledged after the race that he’d made a “big mistake”, going on to say that “We should have stayed in the positions we were in…I messed up in that situation.  I took the lead from Mark, which I can see now he is upset about, but I want to be honest and stick to truth, and apologise.  I took quite a lot of risk to pass him and I should have behaved better.  It doesn’t help his feelings right now. Apologies to Mark…”.

We all know that the will to win is an essential component of a championship winning Formula 1 driver, and Vettel certainly showed that he has that in spades in Malaysia.  But he also showed a complete lack of respect for his team-mate.  Yes, Vettel apologised after the race and acknowledged that Webber should have won the race, but that will be scant consolation for the Australian.  A clearly aggrieved Webber said on the podium “After the last stop the team told me the race was over and we turned the engine down to go to the end…the team made a decision which we always say before the start of the race is how it’s probably going to be: we look after the tyres and get the cars to the end.  In the end Seb made his own decisions today and will have protection as usual, and that’s the way it goes”.

As disappointed, upset and annoyed Webber clearly was after the race, I suspect that he will become even more so when he watches the race back, while listening to his team-mate’s radio transmissions.  We heard Vettel say to his engineer on lap 27 of the race “Mark is too slow, get him out of the way”.  Vettel clearly doesn’t like following his team-mate and obviously felt he was the quicker driver, but the manner of his comment, even when reading it back on paper, without the benefit of hearing the German’s tone of voice, was quite dismissive of his team-mate.  It certainly showed a complete lack of respect, and I think that Webber will be quite hurt by it.  When you add this to Vettel’s decision to ignore team orders and his slightly hollow post-race apologies, I think that there is some quite considerable work for Red Bull team management – Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko – to do to ensure that this does not prove to be extremely corrosive to the team.

Hamilton leading Rosberg in Sepang

We saw the other side of the coin at Mercedes.  Hamilton was told to go into extreme fuel saving in the final stint of the race, which allowed Rosberg to close up behind him.  Rosberg was clearly the faster Mercedes at that stage of the race and pleaded with team principal Ross Brawn on the radio to be allowed to pass his new team-mate.  The decision from Brawn was, though, that the cars should hold station and that Rosberg should drop back.  This is clearly something that had been agreed, as it is in most teams, before the race – team-mates should not race each other after the final pit stop.

Rosberg was clearly unhappy with the situation and a lengthy debate ensued on team-radio, but in the end he obeyed orders and held position.  After the race Hamilton looked slightly embarrassed with his podium and acknowledged that his team-mate should have finished ahead of him, saying on the podium “If I’m honest I feel Nico should be standing here”.  In turn, Rosberg commented after the race “It’s a team effort and I respected the team’s opinion”.  Commenting further, the German said “For the team to want us to bring it home third and fourth is fully understandable and I know if it had been the other way around they would’ve done the same thing.  There will be times to fight between team-mates in the future”.

There is clearly respect between the two Mercedes drivers, and while both aren’t entirely happy with the situation they understand it and accept it.  They each know that the team will treat them fairly and equally in the future.  The same clearly cannot be said of the Red Bull drivers.

Amid all the post-race debates, it’s easy to forget that Fernando Alonso crashed out of the race on only the second lap, after losing his front wing following a brush with Vettel on the first lap.  That DNF may well prove costly at the end of the season.  Disappointed also will be Kimi Raikkonen, who could only finish in seventh for Lotus – one place behind his team-mate, Romain Grosjean – after his win in Australia.

It’s looking like consistency will be a key factor in this year’s championship, as it was last year, as unpredictable tyres and changing conditions make for exciting racing.  At least we’ve got time to pause for breath now – there’s a three-week break before we see the cars return to the track in China.  It’ll certainly be interesting to observe the body language at Red Bull…

Midfield McLaren toil in Melbourne as Kimi charges to victory

With testing done and dusted, it was time to find out what the real pecking order was at the first race of the season in Melbourne.  The Australian weather made us wait, though, as the nitty-gritty elements of qualifying were postponed until Sunday.  When the second and third parts of qualifying were eventually run it was Red Bull Racing that came out on top with a front row lock out.  Their speed looked ominous for the other teams, but as it turned out the Milton Keynes based team could not reproduce it in the race as Lotus and Ferrari proved to have the strongest race pace.

Mercedes also showed that they have taken some huge steps forward with this year’s car, particularly in qualifying in the hands of Lewis Hamilton, and in wet conditions in the hands of his team-mate Nico Rosberg.  Things appear to have gone disastrously wrong for McLaren, though, who find themselves far from where they had hoped to be; solidly in the midfield rather than challenging at the sharp end of the field.  It certainly looks like the testing indications proved to be accurate for these five teams.

Kimi Raikkonen on his way to victory down under

It was Lotus, at least in the hands of 2007 world drivers’ champion Kimi Raikkonen, who came out on top, though.  It was perhaps surprising that the Finn cruised to what was, in the end, a comfortable victory, given that he had only managed to qualify his Lotus in seventh place, behind the Red Bulls, Ferraris and Mercedes cars.  Raikkonen, though, drove faultlessly in the race.  He made ground early on and by lap two he had moved into fourth place after passing Hamilton’s Mercedes, which struggled early on.

Raikkonen’s speed early in the race put him in a great position, behind the leading trio of Red Bull’s triple world driver’s champion Sebastian Vettel and the Ferrari’s of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.  However, Raikkonen’s speed alone wasn’t enough to win him the race.  When that speed is combined with a car that’s easy on tyres, and some clever strategy, you have a winning formula.

That’s exactly the formula that Lotus seemed to have developed.  The team got their strategy absolutely right, making a two stop strategy work where their immediate competitors stopped three times.  The key factor that allowed the Enstone based team to succeed with a two stop strategy where others, notably Mercedes, failed, was tyre wear.  The Lotus E21 seems to have inherited its predecessor’s trait of not being too tough on its tyres.  While that’s an advantage in itself, it might be especially important in 2013 as this year’s Pirelli tyres deliberately degrade more quickly than their 2012 equivalents.  We’ll have to see if this is something that Lotus are able to repeat as the season progresses.

Lewis Hamilton declared himself “really happy”
with his fifth pace in Australia

As for the other teams, I think that Ferrari will be the most satisfied.  They managed to get both cars into the top four, with second place for Alonso and fourth for Massa.  They had qualified well, too, and while they’re certainly not the quickest car they have a much stronger base to build on than they had in 2012.  Red Bull Racing will be disappointed that they could not convert what appeared to be a significant qualifying advantage into similar dominance in the race.  Vettel streaked away from pole and quickly established a gap to the cars behind, but this was not something that he was able to maintain.  Mark Webber’s started contrasted with that of his team-mate as he fell back alarmingly and never properly recovered, eventually finishing sixth compared to the bottom step of the podium for Vettel.  As I mentioned, Mercedes looked strong in qualifying, but they weren’t able to replicate their speed in race conditions.  Hamilton can be fairly satisfied with fifth place on his debut for the Brackley based team, who would have been disappointed to see Rosberg retire with mechanical trouble on lap 27.

Aside from Sauber, who suffered a fuel system problem on Nico Hulkenberg’s car, meaning that the German couldn’t even start the race, the team that must be the most disappointed is McLaren.  The Woking based team had the fastest car at the end of last season, having won the last two races of 2012.  They looked like they would be well set to challenge at the front of the field in 2013 as we headed into the winter break.  However, things appear to have gone very wrong for the British team.  They found themselves struggling during testing, but put a brave face on things leading up to the Australian grand prix.  Sadly for them, though, they have found that testing has proved to be an accurate indicator of their place in the formula 1 pecking order.  So what exactly has gone wrong?

Button and Perez will be disappointed with the car
they launched at the end of January

All of the other teams have produced evolutionary 2013 cars; choosing to build on the base of their cars from last season.  McLaren have, though, rolled the dice and gone in another direction.  While their 2013 car, the MP4-28, looks physically quite similar to its forerunner the MP4-27, under the skin the cars are very different.  McLaren have gone for revolution rather than evolution on the basis that a new design concept would leave them more room for development throughout the season.  At least at this stage, that looks to be a very costly mistake.

There is certainly plenty of room for development of the MP4-28, but that’s because it is a slow car.  Team principal Martin Whitmarsh told Sky Sports on Friday that the car is “lacking grip” and has a “poor ride”, going on to say that “There’s a lot of head scratching at the moment”.  Jenson Button agreed, saying “We have quite a few weaknesses with the car. Ride is a lot worse than what we expected and Martin’s already pointed that out. We’ve been working with that today to try and improve the car around the ride, but we haven’t really found a direction yet. That’s something we’ll be working on and hopefully we can find a good direction because the ride is so important with a Formula One car. If the car’s moving around a lot then the downforce isn’t necessarily working in the correct manner, so we’ve got to get the ride sorted”.

In my view, McLaren’s decision to opt for a completely new car design concept is an illogical one.  Let’s not forget that 2014 will see new technical regulations which will mean complete car redesigns for all of the teams.  Why then would McLaren gamble with a new design concept that will only be of use to them for one year, especially given that their 2012 car was so strong?  Indeed, the new car is so poor, that there is already talk of the team reverting to the MP4-27.  That’s still premature, but it is worrying to see that the British team have got things so wrong at this stage.

Jenson Button on his way to a disappointing
ninth place at Albert Park

It also appears that they are still afflicted by the operational errors that blighted the team for so long in 2012.  This time mistakes in qualifying meant that Sergio Perez didn’t even get a chance to have a real go at making Q3, while the team’s decision to run three timed laps on the super soft tyres for Jenson Button meant that the Englishman’s tyres were already heavily grained before he even started the race.  He was forced to pit on lap four of the race, the earliest stop for any of the teams.

While there is ample cause for concern at McLaren, Lotus will be delighted with their start to the season.  Raikkonen was hugely consistent on his way to third place in the 2012 world driver’s championship, but he didn’t win a race until the 18^th round of the season in Abu Dhabi.  He has hit his stride far earlier this term and that certainly bodes well for his chances of a championship challenge in 2013.  I suspect that the Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes drivers will all consider themselves in with a good chance, too, though.  It should be another exciting season.  Roll on Malaysia.

Vettel crowned champion amid chaos in Brazil

When all was said and done at the end of the race in Brazil it was Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel who was crowned the youngest triple world drivers’ champion in Formula 1 history after a chaotic and action packed race. Vettel wasn’t the only winner in Interlagos, though. It’s easy to forget that it was Jenson Button who won the race, but that was almost immaterial as Ferrari beat McLaren to second in the world constructors’ championship, with Caterham finishing ahead of Marussia in the constructors’ championship battle between the ‘new’ teams.

Sebatian Vettel, Red Bull RB8
Bahrain, 22 April 2012
By Ryan Bayona, via Wikimedia Commons

Let’s start with Vettel and Fernando Alonso and the battle for the glory of becoming the youngest triple world champion in the history of the sport. After qualifying on Saturday, Vettel was in the better position of the two going into the race. On top of this 13 point championship lead, he had out-qualified the Ferrari driver yet again. It certainly wasn’t a classic qualifying performance from Vettel, but he would have been quietly satisfied that he was fourth on the grid, compared to just seventh (following a 10 place grid penalty for Pastor Maldonado) for his Spanish rival.

Vettel’s starting advantage didn’t even last a lap, though. As we’ve seen so often this season, Alonso got off the line brilliantly and was ahead of Vettel once the cars emerged from turn one. Things went from bad to worse for Vettel, as he fell back into the midfield and then collided with Bruno Senna at the end of the back straight. The Williams was out of the race and it looked for all the world that Vettel would be too, as he rolled backwards while the rest of the field streamed past him.

Vettel was able to continue, though, despite some damage to the rear of the Red Bull. On lap two Alonso was third, while Vettel was 22^nd, with lots of work to do to save his championship. The German proved himself up to the task. Despite a clearly damaged car he was soon carving his way through the field and into the points. By lap 9, Vettel was up to seventh while Alonso had slipped out of the podium positions to fourth. Amazingly, Vettel was back in control of the championship.

Despite the chaos of changeable weather and two safety car periods, Vettel remained in control of his own destiny throughout the rest of the race. Despite the damage to his car, he was able to lap consistently and competitively, and despite some nervousness his Renault alternator didn’t fail him at Interlagos. That’s not to say that Alonso was giving up, though. By the end of the race the 2005 and 2006 world drivers’ champion had negotiated his way into second place, albeit aided by his team-mate Felipe Massa, who eased off the throttle down the back straight to let Alonso through on lap 62.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F2012
Sepang, Malaysia, 24 March 2012
By Morio, via Wikimedia Commons

Alonso’s cause was also aided by the lap 54 collision between then leader Lewis Hamilton and second placed driver Nico Hulkenberg. The Force India driver had driven brilliantly to lead the race, before almost spinning on lap 49 to let McLaren’s Hamilton, in his last race with the Woking based team, through into the lead. Hamilton led Hulkenberg for five laps before the Force India driver attempted to repass the Englishman as the McLaren was held up by traffic. The pass went badly wrong as Hulkenberg spun into Hamilton at turn one. Hulkenberg was able to continue, but received a drive-through penalty for the incident, but Hamilton was out of the race. A sad end to an illustrious career at McLaren for Hamilton and a real shame for Sauber-bound Hulkenberg who was in a position to be able to challenge for a first Formula 1 victory. The young German did, though, go on to finish a creditable fifth.

Although Alonso benefitted, it was never enough to put him in position to take his third world drivers’ championship. It was, though, enough to hand Ferrari second in the world constructors’ championship. With Hamilton leading and Button in third place, there was a very real chance that McLaren would overhaul their Italian rivals in the constructors’ championship. With Hamilton shunted out of the race Button went on to win, but with Alonso and Massa joining him on the podium Ferrari managed to outscore McLaren by eight points in Brazil and claim hand on to second in the constructors’ championship. An amazing achievement considering that the Ferrari F2012 has been far from the best car, while the McLaren MP4-27 has probably been the fastest. Reliability and operational issues have cost McLaren dearly in 2012.

Vitaly Petrov, Caterham CT01
Australia, 16 March 2012
By parepinvr4, via Wikimedia Commons

While Ferrari proved able to hang on to their constructors’ championship position, the same could not be said of Marussia. The Anglo-Russian team were in pole position to claim 10^th in the world constructors championship ahead of Caterham thanks to Timo Glock’s 12^th place finish in Singapore, but the chaotic final race of the season threw a spanner in the works for them and handed a lifeline to Caterham. Amid the increasingly adverse weather conditions, Caterham’s Vitaly Petrov – likely to be out of a Formula 1 drive next season – passed Marussia’s Charles Pic – ironically on his way to Caterham in 2013 – for 12^th place on lap 67. This would have been enough to give Caterham tenth in the constructors’ championship, but things got even better for them as Force India’s Paul di Resta crashed out on the penultimate lap, triggering the safety car and moving Petrov up to 11^th.

While Petrov couldn’t quite take that elusive first point for Caterham, one driver that did manage to score points was the retiring Michael Schumacher. The German seven time world drivers’ champion crossed the line in seventh place for Mercedes, scoring six points and ending a barren run of results for the Blackley based team in the process. While such a result would have been a huge disappointment for Schumacher in the first part of his Formula 1 career, it must have brought a smile of satisfaction to his face in the last of his 308 race in the premier class.

The man with the biggest smile on his face at the end of the race was Sebastian Vettel, though. He survived some post-race controversy when TV replays appeared to show him passing under yellow flags and although there was no sixth race victory of the season for the 25-year-old German, I’m sure that he was more than happy with sixth position instead, and with it a third world drivers’ championship.

It’s certainly been a thrilling 2012 season, and a long way from the 2011 cakewalk for Vettel. 2013 has a lot to live up to. Let’s hope it lives up to the challenge.

Stellar Lewis stars in the States

So, after all the hype the big question mark on Sunday was whether Formula 1’s return to the United States after a five-year absence would live up to the huge expectations. A brand new track in the Circuit of the Americas, the penultimate race of the season, the final two championship contenders separated by just 10 points, championship leader Sebastian Vettel’s 100^th race, some pre-race controversy – it certainly had all the ingredients, but who could have predicted that the race in Austin, Texas would deliver quite so spectacularly?

After 56 action packed laps it was McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton who came out on top, crossing the line less than a second ahead of pole sitter Vettel, with Fernando Alonso well over half a minute behind the top two. It was the first time that arguably the best three drivers in Formula 1 had ever been on the podium together and it was a result that has kept the world drivers’ championship alive going into the final race. After qualifying, though, it was a result that few would have predicted.

Sebatian Vettel, Red Bull RB8
Bahrain, 22 April 2012
By Ryan Bayona, via Wikimedia Commons

Having dominated free practice on Friday and Saturday it was no surprise to see Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel take pole position. Although it wouldn’t have been a huge surprise for Vettel to see McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton take the other front row grid slot, the fact that he was only a tenth faster than the Englishman might have been a cause for some concern ahead of the race. Indeed, when you take the time to look back at the times in the three free practice sessions, you can see Hamilton making inroads on the German in every session.

Vettel was fast out of the box in Texas, finishing FP1 a huge 1.4 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Hamilton. Although Hamilton was only fourth in FP2, the gap to Vettel was reduced to one second, with the gap in FP3 shrinking further to just a quarter of a second. Given that Hamilton was out of the championship running, Vettel wouldn’t have been too concerned, though, especially as Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso – the only man who can prevent the Red Bull driver from taking a third consecutive world drivers’ championship – couldn’t manage the same progression as Hamilton over Friday and Saturday, having started the weekend 2.2 seconds behind his rival in FP1 and finishing qualifying still 1.7 seconds in arrears.

Indeed, the ninth place qualifying position for Alonso looked disastrous, especially given that he had been out-qualified, for only the second time this season, by his Brazilian team-mate Felipe Massa, who qualified in seventh position. Matters were made even worse for Alonso when Lotus were forced to change the gearbox on Romain Grosjean’s car. The Frenchman had qualified an excellent fourth, but dropped to ninth after the five place grid penalty for the gearbox change. Ordinarily this would have been a good thing from Alonso’s perspective seeing as it promoted him to eighth on the grid, but not so at the Circuit of the Americas.

The Texas track is brand new and the unusually smooth surface, coupled with a conservative tyre selection by Pirelli meant that off-line, i.e. on the even-numbered grid positions, the track was very dirty and not at all rubbered in. Indeed, so dirty was the inside of the grid that Red Bull predicted ahead of the race that drivers starting on that side could lose several positions off the line. What could Alonso do, though? He just had to make the best of a bad situation on Sunday, surely.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F2012
Sepang, Malaysia, 24 March 2012
By Morio, via Wikimedia Commons

If the Spaniard had been driving for any other team, that would certainly have been the situation, but he’s driving for Ferrari. Rumours were circulating on social networking sites ahead of the race that Ferrari were going to change Felipe Massa’s gearbox, meaning that the Brazilian would receive a five place grid penalty and promote his team-mate to seventh on the grid, crucially onto the racing line and the clean side of the track. Rumour became fact ahead of the race, in what turned out to be a stroke of genius by Ferrari which might just win their driver the championship at the end of the season. Alonso got a brilliant start on race day and was fourth going into turn one, a position that set him up perfectly to take yet another podium finish – his 12^th of the season – aided by Mark Webber’s 18^th lap retirement with yet another Renault alternator failure.

It was the most that Alonso could have hoped for given Vettel dominance in Austin, but things got even better for the Ferrari driver 14 laps from the end when Lewis Hamilton, who had driven brilliantly and refused to let Vettel break free at the front, cruised past the German using DRS to take the lead, which he never relinquished. Hamilton had to start from the dirty side of the grid and was expecting to lose positions at the start of the race, but in the end lost only one to Mark Webber who started third. This proved to be a temporary setback for the Stevenage born driver, though. He soon re-passed the Australian and set off in pursuit of Vettel, but although he managed to get within range of the world drivers’ championship leader in the opening stint, he fell back again by the time he stopped for fresh tyres on lap 20.

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-27
Albert Park, Australia, 16 March 2012
By parepinvr4, via Wikimedia Commons

Hamilton drove brilliantly in the second stint, but couldn’t quite get close enough to Vettel’s Red Bull to try to overtake. He got his only chance on lap 42, though. Vettel caught Narain Kathikeyan’s HRT at the wrong moment and was unable to pass the slower car easily, allowing Hamilton to close in and storm ahead of the Red Bull down the back straight. The move brought jubilation on the McLaren pit-wall and must have brought a smile to the face of a certain Spaniard driving a red car, too.

It meant that, unbelievably, and despite looking off the pace all weekend, Alonso finished the race just one place behind his championship rival. The championship deficit going into Brazil next week is just 13 points – within reach for Alonso, especially if the weather provides a helping hand at Interlagos. As the Spaniard said after the race, “This weekend it is like a victory for us. Losing just three points was something no one thought yesterday night or Friday night after practice”.

Even though the result means that Red Bull Racing won the world constructors’ championship for the third season in a row, it was very much Lewis Hamilton’s day. A fourth win of the season for the McLaren driver means that he moves into fourth in the world drivers’ championship and is now guaranteed to finish ahead of his team-mate in his final season with the Woking-based team.

Even though Hamilton crossed the line first and Red Bull won the constructors’ championship, the real winners in Austin were the fans. The track delivered probably the best race of the season, with overtaking and great racing throughout. Let’s hope that Interlagos is similarly enthralling…

Iceman Kimi stays cool to Finn-ish first in Abu Dhabi

Well, it was certainly a dramatic and incident packed Abu Dhabi grand prix. When all was said and done after 55 laps of racing it was Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen who came out on top to take his first win since his return to Formula 1 at the start of this season, becoming the eighth different winner in an exciting and unpredictable season. Against all the odds, the podium positions were filled by the top three in the world drivers’ championship, albeit in reverse order. Few would have predicted that outcome at the outset, so how did the race unfold?

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-27
Albert Park, Australia, 16 March 2012
By parepinvr4, via Wikimedia Commons

I’m making a bit of a habit of starting my race analyses with a look back at Lewis Hamilton’s race, but I feel that I need to do so again. Things looked to be unfolding as we might have expected at the start of the race. Hamilton got a great start from pole position and looked well set to repeat his dominant performance of qualifying. Other than a mistake on the opening laps, which allowed Kimi Raikkonen – who had made a brilliant start to leap from fourth on the grid into second place – to close right up on him, Hamilton drove faultlessly.

Even when the race was interrupted by a safety car on lap eight, following a truly horrendous crash between Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg and HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan (underlining the case for some sort of cockpit protection in F1), Hamilton looked to be in complete control of the race. Following the end of the safety car period, he quickly re-established a lead of around three seconds to Raikkonen and it would have been a brave person who would have bet against him taking his fourth win of the season at that stage.

As it was, though, just five laps after the safety car returned to the pits on lap 15, Hamilton ground to a halt. McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh revealed after the race that it was a fuel pump issue that put the Englishman out of the race, and did little to help the team’s pursuit of Ferrari and Red Bull Racing in the world constructors’ championship.

Jenson Button’s fourth place will have been of scant consolation to the team who actually managed to lose ground to both of the teams ahead of them in the constructors’ championship. Sebastian Vettel passed Button for third in the closing stage of the race to take 15 points for Red Bull and Ferrari scored 24 points with second place for Alonso and seventh for his team-mate Felipe Massa. Button’s haul of 12 points for McLaren was simply not good enough.

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull RB8
Sepang, Malaysia, 23 March 2012
By Morio, via Wikimedia Commons

Vettel, though, unlucky to have to start from the pit-lane after a fuel infringement on Saturday resulted in his exclusion from qualifying, had a complete turnaround in fortune in the race. Despite being involved in a few incidents in the race, notably damaging his front wing twice – once after hitting Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, then nearly hitting Torro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo under the first safety car period – Vettel benefitted massively from the misfortune of others in the race to finish in third place.

Hamilton’s retirement, was just the first such stroke of luck for Vettel. The German also benefitted from a spin by Felipe Massa while the Brazilian was racing Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber, and the incident that caused the second safety car period. That incident, for which Sauber’s Sergio Perez received a 10 second stop and go penalty, not only removed the Mexican from serious contention, but also took Romain Grosjean and Mark Webber out of the race completely. More importantly for Vettel, though, it closed the field up again, and allowed him to make full use of his fresher tyres to make further inroads at the restart, eventually passing Jenson Button for the final podium position, nine laps after the safety car returned to the pits.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F2012
Bahrain, 22 April 2012
By Ryan Bayona, via Wikimedia Commons

The German somehow managed to limit the damage to his championship lead to finish just one place behind the man who is now mathematically his only rival for the world drivers’ championship: Fernando Alonso. The Ferrari driver managed to work miracles again in his Ferrari, moving neatly into fourth place on the opening lap from his sixth place starting position, and moving steadily forward in the race, to close to just 0.8 seconds behind winner Raikkonen as the pair crossed the line.

As a result, the Spaniard now sits 10 points behind Vettel in the championship with two races left to run. While Alonso was keen to present the reduced deficit to the Red Bull driver in a positive light after the race, you can’t help but feel that the championship is heading Vettel’s way. It would surely take a huge turnaround in fortunes, and competitiveness, for Alonso to take a third drivers championship in 2012.

Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus E20
Sepang, Malaysia, 23 March 2012
By Morio, via Wikimedia Commons

One man who is now out of the championship running is Kimi Raikkonen. Despite delivering the win that had eluded him on his return to the sport at the start of the 2012 season, the Finn now finds himself 57 points behind championship leader Vettel, with only 50 points left on the table. Nevertheless, Raikkonen’s return to Formula 1 is now a triumphant one. The Lotus driver drove a brilliantly controlled race to make the most of Lewis Hamilton’s misfortune and take victory. Raikkonen started brilliantly, leapfrogging both Pastor Maldonado and Mark Webber off the line, and somehow managed to keep his head during the safety car periods, stay out of trouble during the race, and resist the intense pressure from Fernando Alonso in the closing laps.

Not only that, but the Finn managed not to let his irritation with his own team affect him too badly, while also providing further examples of the personality that makes him such a unique character. Twice we heard team radio from Raikkonen during the race where he dismissed the instructions of his engineers. The first, on lap 24, came as his team advised him that he was five seconds ahead of the pursuing Alonso, to which the Finn replied “Leave me alone I know what I’m doing!”. The second, under the second safety car period, came as his engineer advised him to go through tyre warming procedures to get ready for the restart – Raikkonen abruptly cut him off saying “Yes, yes, yes, yes. I’m doing all of that. You don’t have to remind me every single time”.

Despite the fact that Raikkonen crossed the line first, though, I can’t help but feel that the real winner in Abu Dhabi was Sebastian Vettel. His championship lead might be slightly diminished, but he has the fastest car and, seemingly, lady luck on his side.

Faultless Fernando stays in touch, despite Seb’s Delhi delight

Given his pole position starting slot, it was certainly no surprise to see Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel take another dominant victory in India – his fourth in a row , continuing a run started at the end of September at the Singapore grand prix. What was perhaps more of a surprise, though, was that Fernando Alonso somehow hauled his Ferrari into second place, despite starting on only the third row of the grid, behind not just both Red Bulls, but also both McLarens.

Before looking at the top two, let’s pause briefly to look at McLaren’s race. Yet again, the team found themselves comprehensively outpaced by Red Bull Racing in Saturday qualifying, with the only surprise being that the eventual deficit to pole was only around a quarter of a second for Lewis Hamilton, who started ahead of his team-mate, Jenson Button, in third place on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-27
Sepang, Malaysia, 23 March 2012
By Morio, via Wikimedia Commons

While the race pace, particularly for Hamilton, was actually pretty good given that the Stevenage born driver finished just under 14 seconds behind race winner Vettel, McLaren, and their drivers, got things wrong at the start of the race. Hamilton and Button were busy squabbling among themselves at the start, as Hamilton’s poor getaway off the line allowed Button to breeze past him. As the two British drivers jockeyed for position they let Alonso take advantage to pass first Hamilton, pushing him down to fifth on the first lap, but a few laps later Button, who seemed to struggle for pace in the first stint in particular. Indeed, Hamilton soon re-passed his team-mate, too, just a lap after Alonso had cruised past using DRS.

Given that Hamilton crossed the line just 0.7 of a second behind third placed Mark Webber, who was struggling in the closing stage of the race with a KERS issue in his Red Bull, this first lap bickering probably cost the Englishman a podium finish, and possibly more with Alonso only a few seconds ahead at the end of the race. Hamilton, though, thought after the race that victory was beyond his reach, saying “”Even if I’d had a better start than I did, the guys in front were still maybe a bit too fast, particularly in the first stint”. As it was, the highlight of the race for McLaren was probably in the pits rather than on the track as they might have hoped. Hamilton pitted not only for fresh tyres, but also a new steering wheel, on lap 33. Hamilton explained the reasons for this after the race, “During that first stint I started having a downshift problem – I was having to change down with my right hand instead of my left, so the team elected to change the steering wheel at the pitstop”. The entire pit stop took just 3.3 seconds, or 3.1 by McLaren’s timing – an amazing achievement by both team and driver.

Sebatian Vettel, Red Bull RB8
Bahrain, 22 April 2012
By Ryan Bayona, via Wikimedia Commons

Sadly for McLaren and Hamilton, their speed in the pits didn’t quite translate into speed on the track, with Vettel in almost complete control from start to finish. Indeed, the German led every lap of the race, having now led 200 consecutive race laps, to take an imperious race win. The only slight worry for Vettel were the sparks coming from the underside of his Red Bull with just seven laps remaining. In the end, though, there was no cause for concern as Vettel who dismissed the incident, saying “I saw some sparks at the end from the car, but we saw a lot of cars throwing sparks this weekend, and we joined them”. His team was similarly unconcerned and the German took his 26^th race win putting him seventh on the all time list of Formula 1 race winners one ahead of double world champion Jim Clark, and one behind triple world champion Sir Jackie Stewart.

Vettel, of course, is a double world champion himself, but after the result in India it’s looking increasingly likely that he might not only equal Stewart’s total of victories come the end of the season, but also his number of championships. Not only that, though, but Vettel remains in prime position to take his third consecutive world drivers’ championship – a feat only achieve by Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s, and more recently seven time world champion Michael Schumacher. Vettel is certainly a driver who takes great pleasure in such statistical achievements, and given his current form it would certainly be hard to bet against him.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F2012
Sepang, Malaysia, 24 March 2012
By Morio, via Wikimedia Commons

One man who will be doing everything possible to upset the odds and take a third world drivers’ championship of his own, though, is Spain’s Fernando Alonso. While Vettel extended his championship lead over Alonso to 13 points with victory in India, my driver of the race award goes to the Spaniard. Starting in fifth position, victory was always going to be an uphill task with a Ferrari F2012 that is clearly not in the same class as the Red Bull RB8, which is really coming into its own toward the end of the season. Nevertheless, Alonso did everything he could to upset the form book and challenge for the win, passing both McLaren’s early on and an ailing Red Bull of Mark Webber with 12 laps to go.

The gap to Vettel was too big to bridge in India, though, with the German following his usual modus operandi and pulling himself clear of his team-mate, and the chasing pack, in the opening few laps of the race. While Alonso was unable to make up the time deficit to Vettel, even by overdriving in the final few laps, it is still quite possible that he may well overcome the points deficit at the end of the season. Certainly, with 75 points still on offer in the final three races of the season, a 13 point lead for Vettel is not enough for him to be comfortable just yet.

Jenson Button, McLaren MP4-27
Sepang, Malaysia, 23rd March 2012
By Morio, via Wikimedia Commons

Vettel can take great comfort, though, that the pack of drivers chasing him for the 2012 world drivers’ championship is now thinning out. With a fifth place finish in India, Jenson Button saw the gap to Vettel in the championship grow to a now insurmountable 99 points. Button’s team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, and Vettel’s team-mate, Mark Webber, are still mathematically in the hunt for the title, but with a points deficit of 75 and 73 points respectively it would take nothing short of a miracle for either of the drivers to take the title. Certainly for Hamilton, three consecutive race wins would be needed, with three no scores for Vettel and a similarly disastrous run of results for Alonso, for him to take the title (on race wins). Webber would need a similarly unlikely run of results for his team-mate and Alonso. That leaves just Kimi Raikkonen, who saw his own deficit to Vettel grow to 67 points after finishing in seventh, behind Felipe Massa, in India. Given that the Finn has yet to win a race this season, it looks more likely that he’ll lose his third place in the championship to Webber or Hamilton than overhaul Alonso and Vettel.

That just leaves the top two. After the result in India, it is clear Ferrari and Alonso need to stop the rot to avoid falling further behind Vettel in the championship. In order to do that, they will certainly need to bring some extra performance to the car in a week’s time in Abu Dhabi, as Alonso acknowledged after the race in India, sayin “I think we need to bring some new parts to Abu Dhabi and hopefully improve a little bit the competitiveness of the car and get closer to Red Bulls on Saturday and hopefully Sunday as well”. The Abu Dhabi track is home to Ferrari World, maybe that’s an omen for Alonso and the Scuderia…

*Ahead of the race in Abu Dhabi, you might like to check out this interesting ‘Race Through Yas Marina Circuit’ created by sponsors Ethiad Airways. Race through Yas Marina Circuit allows you to drive around an animated version of the track, view images from the circuit including the pits, grandstands and previous winners and read about facts about the circuit such as the tech and manpower behind the construction. It also features information about Abu Dhabi’s most popular landmarks, a video of a full lap around the track and stats about key elements that can make the difference between winning and losing at Yas Marina Circuit. Check the preview video below, and explore the full feature at http://www.etihadairways.com/yasmarinacircuit

McLaren’s Korean calamity

After last week’s Japanese grand prix at Suzuka I speculated as to whether the world drivers’ championship was now a two horse race.  After the result of the Korean grand prix, where Sebastian Vettel took both his third straight victory and the championship lead, there can now be no doubt that it will be a straight fight between the German and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who made a welcome return to the podium with yet another third place finish.

Although Alonso lost the world drivers’ championship lead to Vettel, the result in Korea was not all bad news for Ferrari.  With Alonso’s team-mate, Felipe Massa, now returning to the type of form that made him a championship contender in the past, he now looks certain to retain his seat with the Italian team for next season, something that looked highly unlikely given his awful form in the early part of 2012.  Massa’s upturn in form means that Ferrari are no longer completely reliant on Alonso for constructors’ championship points, too.  Indeed, such has been the improvement in Massa’s form – he has finished in the top five positions in four of the last five races – that Ferrari has now leapfrogged McLaren in the constructor’s championship.

Jenson Button, McLaren MP4-27
Sepang, Malaysia, 23rd March 2012
By Morio, via Wikimedia Commons

The Korean grand prix was somewhat of a disaster for McLaren.  Jenson Button, after qualifying down in 11^th position on Saturday, didn’t even last a lap on Sunday.  Button was taken out of the running, along with Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, at turn three by Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi, who was branded an “idiot” by the Englishman over the team radio.  Sadly for McLaren, things didn’t go that much better for Button’s team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, who had been hoping to challenge for victory after qualifying in third place.  Hamilton suffered an awful afternoon in Korea.  He did well to score a single world championship point with a 10th place finish after being forced to stop for fresh rubber three times because of extreme tyre wear, and having to drive for the last few laps with artificial grass attached to his car, undoubtedly costing him aerodynamic efficiency.

It was revealed after the race that Hamilton had suffered a rear anti-roll bar failure towards the end of his first stint at around lap 18 of the 55 lap race.  It was this anti-roll bar failure that dramatically increased the 2008 world drivers’ champions’ tyre wear and made his McLaren extremely tough to drive.  Indeed, considering the nature of the problem, and the length of time that Hamilton was forced to drive with it, it was an outstanding performance from the Englishman.

Even McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, who has been seemingly reluctant to talk too much about Hamilton since, he announced his decision to leave the team for Mercedes at the end of the season, was effusive in his praise of Hamilton’s drive.  Whitmarsh, talking after the race about Hamilton’s anti-roll bar failure, said “The car must have been horrendous to drive, so the fact that he was fighting there with Kimi [Raikkonen] for quite a few laps and then caught the two Toro Rossos at the end, was truly remarkable…He just was tenacious and a fighter, so it was a heroic drive from him…I am immensely proud of him”.

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-27
Sepang, Malaysia, 23 March 2012
By Morio, via Wikimedia Commons

Whitmarsh’s praise will be of scant consolation to Hamilton, though.  The Stevenage-born driver conceded after the race that his battle for the Formula 1 world drivers’ championship was over, saying “I think in terms of winning [the championship], I think that’s it for us”.  He went on to highlight the fact that in the last three races there have now been three failures on his car that have ended his championship dream.  Before his anti-roll bar failure in Korea, Hamilton retired when leading the Singapore grand prix with a gearbox failure, while in Japan he managed a fifth place finish with a poorly handling car that it was later discovered had suffered a rear damper failure, which had not been picked up by his team despite being present during qualifying the day before.

Sebatian Vettel, Red Bull RB8
Bahrain, 22 April 2012
By Ryan Bayona, via Wikimedia Commons

When you add Hamilton’s technical failures to Button’s, and the numerous operational errors that blighted McLaren’s early season performances, it’s not hard to see why neither of the team’s drivers has a chance of taking a second drivers’ world championship in 2012.  Despite starting the season with the fastest car, and ending the European part of the season with three straight victories, McLaren have shot themselves in the foot time and time again.  Hamilton remains the best placed of the McLaren drivers in the championship standings having amassed 153 points, with Button a further 22 points adrift, but he is now a huge 62 points behind new drivers’ championship leader Sebastian Vettel.  With four races remaining and 100 points available it would take a miracle for Hamilton to overhaul both Vettel and second placed Alonso, who sits just four points behind the German.

Not only have these operational errors and technical failures cost McLaren’s drivers dearly, but they are also costing the team the chance of winning a first constructors’ world championship since 1998.  Despite their early season issues, McLaren went in to the Singapore grand prix second in the constructors’ championship, just 20 points behind Red Bull Racing and in with a real chance of taking their first constructors championship title for 14 years.  However, three races later and the gap to Red Bull is now 83 points.  With 172 points still on offer in the constructors’ championship it might look like McLaren are still in with a chance, but given the relative performance of the two teams that chance must surely be slim, at best.

Felipe Massa, Ferrari F2012,
Malaysia, 24 March 2012
By Morio, via Wikimedia Commons

McLaren have only to look at Ferrari to see where they need to improve.  The Italian team have at no stage of the season looked like they’ve had the fastest car, but their reliability has been bulletproof.  Indeed, the team have not had a single technical retirement in the whole of the 2012 season.  Had Massa’s lack of competitiveness in the early part of the season not hampered the team so badly they would surely have overtaken McLaren in the constructors’ standings long before the Korean grand prix.

As for Red Bull, despite some reliability issues of their own this season they’re now in a dominant position to take a third consecutive constructors’ championship title.  Indeed, after a third race victory in a row for Sebastian Vettel it would be a brave man who would now bet against him achieving a matching run of drivers’ world championship titles, despite his lead over Fernando Alonso being only six points.

It’s looking increasingly like Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel are on a charge.  Can anyone now stop them?  The result of the next race, the Indian grand prix, may well give us the answer.

A two horse race?

The Japanese grand prix certainly wasn’t the most exciting of the 2012 Formula 1 season so far, but we may well look back at the end of the season and pinpoint round 15 as a pivotal one in determining the destination of the world drivers’ championship.  Fernando Alonso’s first corner retirement, coupled with a dominant victory for Sebastian Vettel, has reduced the former’s championship lead from a daunting 29 points over the latter before the Suzuka race, to a mere four points at the chequered flag.  With a further 33 points between Vettel and the driver that’s third in the championship, Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen, the championship battle is looking like it might be a shootout between the top two.  As with just about everything else in Formula 1, though, things aren’t quite that simple.

Sebatian Vettel, Red Bull RB8
Bahrain, 22 April 2012
By Ryan Bayona, via Wikimedia Commons

What is clear, however, is that the all important championship momentum is with Germany’s Sebastian Vettel.  The Red Bull Racing driver, the defending world drivers’ champion after taking back to back championships in 2010 and 2011, now becomes the first driver to take back to back victories in what has been an unpredictable 2012 season.  Vettel has profited in the last two grand prix as two of his chief competitors for the 2012 title have faltered.  First, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire from the lead in Singapore with a gearbox problem handing the German what proved to be an easy win, then Alonso retires in Japan after contact with Raikkonen at turn one.  This a huge shift in momentum when compared to the Italian grand prix, where Hamilton took his third victory of the season, Alonso picked up a podium and Vettel retired with an alternator failure.

Even more important in Japan, though, was the manner of Vettel’s victory; something that will surely have the other runners and riders in the hunt for the 2012 world drivers’ championship seriously worried.  It’s fair to say that Red Bull racing have struggled a little for qualifying pace in 2012, especially when compared with 2011 where Vettel took a string of brilliant pole positions.

There was no sign of their 2012 qualifying issue in Suzuka, though.  Red Bull now have their own double DRS device – a variation of the one used by Mercedes – which boosts straight line speed by channelling air through the rear wing to stall the beam wing when the DRS is activated, which it can be with total freedom in qualifying.  It is perhaps no surprise that with this extra boost in speed, Red Bull Racing locked out the front row in Japan.  However, the dominance of their qualifying performance – with McLaren’s Jenson Button the only driver to get close to the Red Bulls, qualifying two tenths of a second behind second placed Mark Webber – perhaps indicates that Red Bull may have made other changes to the RB8 to unlock extra speed.

Their rivals would certainly have hoped for a different story in the race, but sadly for them Vettel produced a performance reminiscent of many of his 2011 victories.  Had Mark Webber not been knocked out of contention by Romain Grosjean – who was involved in yet another, completely avoidable start-line incident, for which he was rightly penalised – a one, two finish would surely have been on the cards for Red Bull Racing in Japan.

Despite the issues for Webber and Alonso at the start of the race, McLaren were simply not in a position to capitalise.  A set-up error for Hamilton in qualifying saw him qualify down in ninth place and a five place grid penalty for Button saw him start just one place ahead of his team-mate in eighth position.  While both cars were able to move forward in the race, they could only manage fourth and fifth place.

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-27
Malaysia, 23 March 2012
By Morio, via Wikimedia Commons

Although this means, of course, that Hamilton moves closer to Alonso in the championship – and we should bear in mind that the reduction in deficit for Hamilton is exactly the same as it would have been had he won the race and Alonso finished third, as was the case in Italy – McLaren will certainly wonder where their pace has gone.  Hamilton’s set-up error meant that he suffered from understeer in the early part of the race.  However, the problem cured itself mid-way through the race, with Hamilton saying afterwards “I struggled for the first 20 laps, I don’t know if it was before the first stop or after, and through Turn 14 I felt this thud on the rear and all of a sudden the car starting turning fantastically”.

Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber C31
Malaysia, 24 March 2012
By Morio, via Wikiemedia Commons

This might suggest that there was a car problem for Hamilton, which rectified itself, rather than a simple lack of pace for McLaren, but although Button looked more competitive than Hamilton he, too, was unable to mount much of a challenge.  Despite the Frome born driver running third early in the race, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa – who drove brilliantly to take his first podium in nearly two years, finishing second, having started 10^th – leapfrogged ahead of Button and eventual podium debutant Kamui Kobayashi.  Button was pushed down to fourth and although he challenged the Japanese driver for the final podium position towards the end of the race, he was never in a position to attempt a pass, eventually finishing just half a second behind the Sauber driver.

Despite Massa’s stunning return to form, which has increased the speculation that he may now hang on to his Ferrari seat for 2013, Ferrari probably have the most to worry about, though.  Recent car upgrades simply haven’t delivered the expected boost in performance due to an issue with the Italian team’s wind tunnel.  If the first corner in Japan is anything to go by, lady luck may have finally deserted Alonso, too.  With rumours of a further car upgrade for Red Bull Racing in Korea, and the sudden mid-race change in car characteristics for Hamilton suggesting that McLaren still have a fundamentally quick car, the Scuderia, and Alonso, are now very much on the back foot.

In terms of the world drivers’ championship it’s now very much two by two.  The top two, Alonso and Vettel are separated by just four points and are clearly the two drivers with the best chance of the title with just five races remaining.  There’s then a gap of 33 points to third placed driver Kimi Raikkonen – still without a win since returning to Formula 1 with Lotus at the start of the season – who is just five points ahead of Lewis Hamilton.  33 points is a big gap, but as we saw with the 29 point gap between Alonso and Vettel before the race in Japan, such a gap can be quickly eroded with a race victory and a retirement for other drivers.  I’d say that it’s far too early to rule out Raikkonen and Hamilton yet, although if the former is to stand a chance I expect that he will need to start winning races.  The next two drivers in the championship are Mark Webber and Jenson Button, who are separated by just three world championship points, with Webber 18 point behind Lewis Hamilton, but a huge 60 points behind leader Alonso.  Neither Webber nor Button has a realistic chance of the championship.

The key word is momentum, though.  Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel clearly have it and unless – as the Milton Keynes based team’s rivals will hope – their performance in Japan was a circuit specific one-off, it’s looking increasingly like Vettel will emulate his countryman, Michael Schumacher, and take a third consecutive title.  There’s still a quarter of the season to go, though, and plenty could happen which might turn the tide yet again.  What’s clear for now, though, is that the Red Bull is in a great position to hunt down the Prancing Horse.