F109 Countdown: McLaren

McLaren:
2008 Results
Best Finish: 1st (Lewis Hamilton x5,Heikki Kovalainen x1)
Points Scored: 151
Championship Position: 2nd
2009 Drivers: Lewis Hamilton & Heikki Kovalainen

Last, but not least, we finish up the F109 Countdown with McLaren, just seven days until the start of the new season.

If we are to believe what we have seen in pre-season testing, McLaren are going to struggle mightily at the start of the season. Do I believe that will be the case? No. I’m firmly of the belief that they are sandbagging. Now, maybe they won’t have the ultimate pace, but I find it hard to believe they won’t be in the thick of things.

It has been usual to see them hovering near the bottom for most of the pre-season. For a team like McLaren, which strives for excellence, it is out of character. But not impossible.

In the past, I’ve catalogued how McLaren have failed to produce winning cars consecutively. Last year was actually a change in the norm when they produced a championship contending car. So maybe there struggles are real, and that they will be in trouble.

I still have a hard time believing it. As I mentioned in previous articles, they have known well in advance how things were going to play out. For a team the size of McLaren, I can’t imagine they would take their eyes off the ball that much.

If they are, it will be intriguing to watch how their drivers react. Especially Hamilton. Not since Schumacher have we seen a driver with such raw talent on the grid. But, sceptics will point out that he walked into a winning ride, so how he deals with what is paraded as an ‘uncompetitive car’ will be a true showing of his talent.

If it is a poor car at first, I still expect him in the hunt. Personally, I think great drivers are defined by what they can do when they are not in the best car. I read how Senna did it; I watched when Schumacher did it. Even Alonso pulled some stunning results in a dodgy Renault. This could be a real chance for Hamilton to really cement his legacy and prove to any doubters regarding his skill.

As for Heikki, I would definitely class him as a driver who needs to perform this year. There was too many up’s and down’s from the Finn last year. While the early stages of the season could be put down to bad luck, some of his latter season runs, where he was needed to back up Hamilton, were poor.

Now with a year within the team, there will be no excuses for him. He has to put it out there and show he can match Hamilton. He has to contend for victories. Any less will be a failure.

Alonso The Shining Star

The cards fell in place for Fernando Alonso, who, starting 15th on the grid, benefitted from his team-mates accident to record his first win of the season. Alonso becomes the seventh different winner this year.

As for the championship battle, Ferrari more or less sent McLaren both titles wrapped up with a ‘please give a loving home to’ tag on them. Shocking, completely shocking is all that is can be said about Ferrari. We can assume we have seen the last of the automated system, with the lollipop back in operation evident at Raikkonen’s last stop. Of course, while ITV Sport were keen the slam Ferrari for it, they didn’t attack the Red Bull mishap that could easily have ended up in similar circumstances.

As for Raikkonen, I do hope Ferrari have some get-out clause. Crashing that late in the race is a joke for a world champion to do. Four non-scoring races for the Finn is completely unacceptable at this level. Even Heikki Kovalainen, who is looking more second-rate with each passing race, has provided more points for his team than the current champion.

Ferrari should’ve easily walked Singapore. Lewis Hamilton was nothing but ordinary, showing none of the racers quality that ITV vault on about. As per usual, I found myself cursing at the television as Allen lauded his ‘magnificent’ move on Coulthard – even though everyone had been doing pretty much the same thing throughout the race. The so-called ‘racer’ who never settles did a great job at settling for third. Don’t get me wrong, it is a smart game he is playing, but, don’t go telling the world your are the bees knees if you aren’t going to back that up.

After qualifying, Alonso was cursing his bad luck. How things can change in the space of a few minutes. The decision to go on aggressive strategy paid off, putting him in pole position for the victory. Alonso then showed why he is one of the best drivers in the sport still, commanding the race from the front.

Nico Rosberg finished in a career best second, despite a stop and go for pitting under a closed pitlane. Aided by a Force India chicane in the form of Fisichella, Rosberg pulled some blinding laps out, allowing him to take his penalty and come out in front of the Coulthard/Hamilton scrap.

Three races left. All Hamilton has to do is follow Massa home at each of the races to secure the championship. That is of course, if Ferrari don’t feel the urge to give McLaren more free points.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Fernando Alonso. A fuel pressure problem left him 15th on the grid. At a street circuit, the going norm would say there is probably no point in showing up for the race. An aggressive strategy didn’t work out until his team-mate found the wall. Once out front, he was unstoppable.

A Dream Day

A master class performance from Sebastian Vettel resulted in his first F1 win, the youngest in history. It was also Toro Rosso’s, formerly the Minardi team, first win.

It has been a long time since I have seen such a performance, and after the Spa debacle, it was exactly what F1 needed. The past few races, the German has shown us glimpses of his potential. Today, in mixed conditions, he was in a different class to the competition.

Kovalainen was a depressing second. I’m sure questions would be asked as to why he had zero answer for Vettel in an inferior car. Robert Kubica, who was nowhere all day, benefitted from his long run to pit at the ideal time for the tire switch-over. Others were not so lucky, having to come in a second time.

The Ferraris were as what I expected. Fast in spurts, but overall unimpressive in the wet weather conditions. Massa made the best of a difficult situation and should be happy with scoring above Hamilton. Raikkonen was shockingly poor for the first part of the race, before finding pace towards the back end.
Lewis Hamilton was no-where for the first part of the race, continuing his qualifying form. Suddenly, he came alive and was the Lewis Hamilton we know. He played himself to make the most out of a bad situation until the lack of rain meant he had to some back into the pits.

His driving was far from inspiring though. While he could defend running Glock off the road due to the spray, I struggle to see a defence of him nearly running Webber off the road can be conjured. I can remember back to Canada many years ago, where a similar incident happened between Schumacher and Frentzen. Schumacher had a stop-go penalty for that. And Lewis fans think they get hard done by? That wasn’t all from in his unsportsmanlike conduct. He left zero room with cutting in front of people after overtaking people. His move on Alonso a prime example of this.

The championship is down to a single point. Given how bad Ferrari are in the wet versus how good Lewis should be, I’d be happy if I was Ferrari. It could have been a whole lot worse. It is on to new ground in two weeks with the first night race at Singapore.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Sebastian Vettel. A supreme drive that we haven’t seen in years. While James Allen was too busy trying to bring false comparisons between Hamilton and the great weather specialists, he should have been saving them for this man.

He Who Dares...

Sebastian Vettel continued his recent great form, collecting his first career pole in a soaked Monza. It was a day of high suspense and surprise as some of the major players failed to show the kahona’s needed to deal with the weather.

Vettel was quick throughout the day in the changing conditions, driving with the maturity and consistency one would expect from a championship contender. Kovalainen will start beside him tomorrow, the only driver of the top teams to really strut his stuff.

Webber and Bourdais completed a fantastic day for Red Bull as a whole, locking the second row. Like Vettel, Bourdais has been supreme these last few raced. One wonders if it will be enough to convince Toro Rosso to keep him on.

Championship contender Felipe Massa will start sixth. None of his challengers will start in the top ten. Kubica will start eleventh after Massa bumped him. Raikkonen celebrated his new contract with 14th, Hamilton surprisingly in 15th.

Hamilton is perhaps the biggest surprised. Over the past two seasons, he has shown supreme skills in the wet. But yet another cock-up on the strategic front put him on the back foot. The decision to send him out on inters at the start cost him time. Despite the switch to the ‘extreme’ wets, Hamilton lacked the balls and the confidence expected of him. Cars around him were finding more pace than him, including Massa who snuck into the top ten at the time. His performance is baffling.

Starting 15th isn’t the end of the world for him, nor is it for Raikkonen. Both have fast cars underneath them and the Monza straights will provide ample opportunity to overtake. They need to be careful about the first corner, which always causes issue. I’m sure everyone will be hypersensitive to avoid the usual tip across the first chicane as well.

The weather is supposed to be dry, but we will just have to wait and see how it all plays out. The topsy-turvy grid might make for an interesting race for the first time in a while!

Massa Wins Under A Cloud

Felipe Massa got his championship challenge back on track with a dominant victory at Valencia. Of course, it wouldn’t be Formula One without controversy and we got that too with Massa’s final pit stop.

I can just imagine that the Ferrari hater/McLaren fan boys are already feverishly typing away at how Ferrari are getting preferential treatment, lead by James Allen’s ignorant commentary no doubt. At least Brundle took the objective view and is waiting for all the facts to become apparent.

Was it dangerous? Well it looked dodgy. But, as said in an interview with the Ferrari press officer, this isn’t the first time this year that such a close call has happened. Yet none of them were even shown up as been investigated. Of course, Allen tried to gloss that over – but then again, this is the same guy who tried to justify Hamilton failing to see a red light at Canada so, as you can see, there is only so much you can take from a commentator who is bankrupt of any credibility. (By the way, anyone watching the ITV preview show notice that they edited out Allen’s gasp of ‘NO’ that he shouted when Massa crossed the line to take pole. Funny stuff that.)

Will they take the win away? I think if he is penalised, it will be a grid penalty at Belgium. It’s been a while, at least in my recollection, since there has been a time penalty. But we will have to wait and see. If there was to be a time penalty, they had enough time in the race to enforce. Either way, nobody will be happy. Like I said, I can already hear the rants now.

Going back to the race, Massa was supreme. For the sake of the championship, we have two great drivers fighting for it. Kimi’s dwindling hopes took a hit with an engine blow, but to be fair the world champion was nowhere today. He looks ever more like a driver just waiting it out for his retirement. Unfortunately for Ferrari, which is still a year away. If he doesn’t buck up and start earning his wage, serious conversations need to happen with Ferrari.

His race pace was sluggish for the most part, except near the end of a stint. His race went from bad to worse when he dragged his fuel rig with him on the second stop, injuring his fuel man. More questions of the Ferrari computer system, according to our resident clown James Allen. Again, Martin had to play the save in saying that there was no green light on the system. What would we do without you Martin?!

Lewis Hamilton finished second, doing the best the car allowed him. Had to laugh hard at the petty excuses Allen made about McLaren going conservative even before half-way. The chap just looks for excuses – this been the same guy who only a few races ago buffed his chest and shouted aloud that McLaren had overtaken Ferrari. Hey, guess what? Yet another James Allen mess up to report! On the podium, when Hamilton took his trophy, whistles rang out amongst the crowd. Obviously Spanish fans don't forget last year. Of course, Allen tried to play it off as cheers. Seriously, anyone could tell they were negative cheers. Once more, Brundle brought some sense to the situation. I wonder if he gets paid extra for such saves?

Kubica drove a solid race to finish third, again proving his talent above the car. BMW have the focus switched and for him to outdrive Raikkonen and Kovalainen goes further to show the Pole’s raw talent. Trulli and Vettel backed up impressive qualifying performances with fifth and sixth. A one-stopping Glock picked up a couple of points with seventh and eight went to Rosberg. A good day for the second tier teams.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Felipe Massa. A close one between Massa and Vettel. I give it to Massa, given that for the second time this year, he has shown the mental capacity to come back from some pretty depressing results. The wind is in his sails and for his sake, hopefully the full support of Ferrari.

Playing Catch-Up

Apologises for the lack of updates here as of late. Even writers have vacations from time to time! So, to get back up to speed with all that has happened in the past few weeks.
• Heikki Kovalainen is confirmed at McLaren for 2009. I suppose it helps when you willingly let your team-mate by to go on to win a race is a big plus at the talks table! While Heikki has had some bad luck this year, chucking him out after a single season would be harsh; especially that he’s proved he is happy to be Hamilton’s underling.

• Heikki wins his first race! Luck played a part with Massa’s engine going up, but let’s not forget the Finn had to get himself into second in the first place. He’s had some terrible luck this year that eventually, it was going to balance out.

• Rosberg says he is staying with Williams. Not like there is much better options out there. In 2010, it will be crunch time to for Rosberg if he is to make good on his talent.

• Force India looking to retain drivers. For a team that is anything but consistent, it would be a good move. I don’t think either driver is stellar, but for a growing team, stability is good. Again, not like there is much better options out there.

• Calls for refuelling ban. I’m on the fence with this one. Differing fuel strategy is often the only way some teams can be somewhat competitive – or for a team with a poor car to play themselves back into contention. Banning them could lead to another avenue of strategy thrown out the window.

• Observers calling for Heidfeld change. Mainly Stuck, a former grand prix driver. Why the hate on Quick Nick. So he hasn’t been as stand-out as Robert Kubica. Only EIGHT points separate them in the championship. The German is taking allot of heat despite hauling himself back onto the rear wing of his young team-mate.

• Across the pond, Nascar had its first ever wet race in the Nationwide series. The race in Montreal started dry, but after a few laps the rain fell. The decision was made to put wet weather tires and wipers on for a historic moment. Despite a lack of experience, the drivers acquitted themselves well and produced a great race, until poor visibility called an end to it before full distance.

• Pundits claimed Kyle Busch was in a slump. I think any driver would love a slump that meant you only got a top-15. How did Wild Thing respond? Running away with Watkins Glen after a strategic mistake saw Junior taking out of contention. This is the second time this season that he has answered critics like this. Think some people would learn by now eh?

From here on out, updates should be back to some regularity! Stay tuned for Nascar from Michigan and F1 from Valencia next weekend!

All In His Stride

Lewis Hamilton had to do things the hard way at Hockenheim, but the end result was the same as Silverstone with victory for the Brit.

Crowd numbers seemed to be poor at the circuit, with plenty of empty seats and a general lack atmosphere since the departure of Schumacher. The first half the race matched that, in a dour affair that saw Hamilton run away with it. All that changed when what looked like a suspension failure sent Glock into the wall at the front stage.

Cue the safety car and a dash for an US-racing style pit race, one that Hamilton wasn’t a part of. While it worked out at the end, it was a dangerous call. They claimed they knew he had the pace to open up a gap (which he didn’t) but I’m sure the tire situation played on their mind.

McLaren were helped by the lethargic nature of the Ferraris. Offered an opportunity to seize victory, Felipe Massa pretty much pulled over and said ‘please sir, can I have some more” as Hamilton got by with ease. The Brazilian couldn’t even make a run at Piquet in a Renault. Whatever about the McLaren, not been able to pass a Renault is pretty pathetic. Raikkonen came out of the day with sixth place, but like his team-mate, was never at the races.

Piquet Junior benefitted massively from the safety car. On a one stop strategy he attained track position. Once there, he showed all the merits of the driver we expected him to be this year. Now can he build on it? Another to benefit was Heidfeld. From twelfth on the grid, he used the clean air to his advantage and opened up a sufficient margin to slot into fourth after his final stop. People continue to bash the German, but often overlook he entered Germany only twelve points off the lead.

In fifth was Kovalainen who had a quiet day, letting Hamilton by with ease when he came up behind him. (Must remember this, the next time fanboys scream about Ferrari using team order tactics to set their cars loose.) Kubica finished seventh, beaten by his team-mate for the second successive race and Vettel, who was strong all weekend to a hard-earned eight.

Ferrari needs to pull the finger out if they want to contend this championship. The last two races the team have been shockingly poor. With Hungry up next, a track that will suit the McLaren, Hamilton will have a great opportunity to make it a hat-trick.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Nelson Piquet Junior. He’s faced allot of criticism this year but if finally starting to turn it around. Points in France were a welcome boost and scoring his first podium will do his confidence no end of good. He’s driving to keep that seat and results like this help to cement his future. The job isn’t done though. He needs to continue to keep that car near the points from here on out.

Masterclass And Mishap

Hamilton provided another masterful drive whilst his rivals spent time dancing in the puddles.

Take nothing away from Lewis, it was fantastic drive. There was a bit of luck involved with the Ferrari strategy, but in the second half of the race, his pace was relentless. He is quickly developing the knack of been a rain-master on track. The result takes him tied top of the tables with both Ferrari drivers.

Behind him, the Ferrari strategy was nothing short of abysmal. With Raikkonen catching Lewis hand over fist, all they had to do was match him to stay in contention. I don’t know what their weather report said, but it was obviously was dodgy. The decision not to take tires ruined the Finn’s race, backed up with the decision not to bring him in when he was losing time hand over fist.
Massa was the driver of old. Every time we saw him he was going around in circles. It was a pathetic weekend for Ferrari. Not since the Schumacher era have they made a good strategic call. A head should roll for this, because the last two years the choice of race strategy has been as plain as dried bread. Not good enough.

Heidfeld got one up on team-mate Kubica. Quick Nick got his qualifying right and produced his traditional strong race. He kept his head whilst the rest around him lost theirs to pick up his second podium of the year. Rubens Barrichello benefitted from the Ross Brawn book of tactical genius to come home third. It could have been so much more if the fuel rig worked. On the extreme wets, Barrichello was light years ahead of anyone else.

Raikkonen made the best of a bad day with fourth. Kovalainen will be disappointed with fifth, on a day where to be fair, he was all over the place. Alonso provided a gutsy drive to come home in sixth, followed by Trulli and Nakajima.

Driver of the Day: Lewis Hamilton. Rubens get’s an honourable mention but it was Lewis who drove fantastic today. After the Ferrari’s decided to screw themselves over, he could have taken it easy. Instead he pushed on and despite an off track excursion, obliterated the field.

Massa Leads Home Dominant One-Two

The Brazilian didn’t have it all his own way however. Team-mate Raikkonen looked odds on for a second victory in a row at the French circuit before a loose exhaust hampered him. Despite a blackened and charred side-pod, the world champion still brought his car home in second for eight valuable points. It is Raikkonen’s first point’s finish since Turkey.

Behind saw a great jostle for position with unfamiliar names up the front due to BMW and McLaren woes. Jarno Trulli survived a late scare to bring his Toyota home in third. After seemingly losing ground after the first Barcelona test, the Japanese team have turned the car around at the recent test. Both cars made the top-ten in qualifying and Trulli received his just reward for a solid race. Heikki Kovalviaen, who had to deal with a five place penalty for blocking in qualifying chased the Italian home. It took nearly half a race for Heikki to come alive, but his finish ends a recent run of poor results for the Finn.

Montreal winner Robert Kubica and and Nick Heidfeld looked in a different class than two weeks ago. The BMW struggled around the Magny Cours circuit. It took a massive effort from the Pole to keep the BMW competitive and will be happy with his fifth position.
After him came the gaggle of cars lead by Mark Webber. After a poor Canadian grand prix, Webber returned to his points scoring ways. I’ll be writing more about Mark Webber’s season later in the week. Nelson Piquet scored his first points of the year with seventh. The icing on the cake was nailing team leader Alonso as he ran wide at the Adelaide hairpin in the closing laps. Despite a great qualifying effort, Alonso looked hampered by having to run heavy later in the race.

And of course, there is Hamilton. The Brit endured a scrappy race that saw him struggle at times behind other cars. His race was compounded by straight-lining it over the kerbs to maintain a pass over Vettel in the first few laps. Common sense would dictate that he should just let Vettel by. Around McLaren as of late, common sense seems to be lacking. Even if they thought it was marginal, they should’ve told him to let off and nail him again.
It was easy to see from the vantage point that he couldn’t maintain the manoeuvre without going through the chicane. ITV’s commentary team made enough noise yesterday about Raikkonen going four wheels off the track on his qualifying effort that he would have to do it again. Of course, when Hamilton does it, it’s suspect. The white boundaries of the track are there for a reason!

I had to laugh at the post-Montreal talk from McLaren. All that was coming out was how great the car was; how they were going to mastermind a great strategy to get him into play and so forth. Yet, come Friday practice the line ‘This is a Ferrari circuit came to play.’ Why bother toot your horn before you get to the track?
Hamilton looked scrappy throughout the weekend. His race was no different. He again found his nose into the rear of a car, this time his team-mate. No damage was sustained in his incident. He followed this up later on with banging wheels through turn three with Alonso. Hamilton needs to stop focusing on the negative media attention he’s getting. (Which is a given with the British press – just ask the English football team.) Next race is his home race, enough motivation to get his championship challenge back on track.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Jarno Trulli. It could have easily gone to Massa for keeping his nose clean or Raikkonen for managing the car as he did. But, Ferrari was so dominant that nobody had an answer for them. Given Toyota’s recent woes on and off the track, it was the perfect tonic.

Kubica Takes Historic Victory

BMW’s promise of a race victory in 2008 was fulfilled at Montreal as Kubica won. The Pole took advantage of Hamilton’s pit-lane cock-up to lead home a BMW one-two.

For all the complaints about how the track was breaking it up, we had a fantastic day of racing. The day was aided by Hamilton’s mishap. Had he ran a clean race he would’ve won by a long shot. Instead he lost his championship lead by his own doing.

Brundle called it a ‘bizarre red light’. I call it a complete and utter cock-up by the Brit and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is reprimanded for his action. It’s very simple – red light means STOP! It’s one of the most basic forms of driving, let alone driving. Nobody can turn around and say it couldn’t be expected, especially after the double black flag of Massa and Montoya a couple of years ago.

I have my own view on it. Hamilton lost two places because of a bad pit-stop. Red mist descended and he was just pissed off that he had lost the ground given his vastly superior car. In that moment, he forgot about the red light and by the time he had remembered, his McLaren was into the back of Ferrari. Hold your hands up and accept it. How ironic that he laughed off his father’s crash during the week...

It was a very disappointing day for Massa and Kovalainen. This was a perfect chance for both to make head-way but they suffered from botched up strategies from their teams. Why they didn’t go on a one-stop when everyone else did is beyond me.
It was a silly decision by both teams. The right call was to go long with the possibility of further safety cars. Massa recovered best to finish fifth, going equal with Hamilton in the championship. Plenty of props to the Brazilian for some opportunistic passing on the day, especially on Barrichello and Heikki at the hairpin.

The race saw seven different leaders and apart from the BMW’s running line astern, which would be in for the final spots was a lottery. Challengers came in and went as they slipped and slid off the road. David Coulthard overcame recent woes to take a podium alongside the BMW pair. The Toyota’s ran a strong day that saw Glock in fourth and Trulli sixth. Given recent troubles for the team, it was a great result. Barrichello continued his mini-resurgence with a second points finish and Vettel, who overcame a whole host of issues on Saturday, took the final point.

Hopefully the bitching and moaning about the track condition doesn’t hurt the Canadian race. We always get a fantastic and unpredictable race that we don’t want to lose.

PC's Driver of the Day: Robert Kubica. Could it be anyone else? He kept his head down and did what he had to do. He take's his first F1 one, the first for a Pole and a first for BMW as a team. Top it off with the championship lead. What a weekend!

In Another World

That’s exactly where Lewis Hamilton was today. He was untouchable throughout the three qualifying sections and took a dominant pole position.

Judging by the timings, Lewis is making a killing in that last sector. Over the course of qualifying the Ferrari’s, Kubica and Kovalainen could match him in sectors one and two. But Lewis in sector three was something to behold. You can’t see it, but it’s there.

Sector three consists of a hairpin, the long back straight, a chicane and a short sprint to the line. By most tracks, that is nothing of a sector. So for Hamilton to pull off on average three tenths of a second advantage is something to behold. He said beforehand that he could take that chicane better than anyone else.
He proved that today. The gap he has over the rest of the field is something we haven’t seen since the days of Schumacher.

Kubica popped up out of nowhere to join him on the front row. Raikkonen and Alonso take up row two, a great effort from the Spaniard. Be interesting to see how he is on fuel tomorrow. Another star man of the day was Rosberg with fifth , with Massa beside him. Kovalainen ended up a disappointing seventh with Heidfeld eight. Barrichello kept his nose down and snuck in unawares to secure ninth whilst Webber finished out the top ten. The Aussie didn’t run in Q3 due to damage on his in-lap.

The condition of the track could be a major concern tomorrow. While track break-up is not abnormal, it is during a qualifying session. Trulli and Webber saw the track fall away from them and on some of the on-board shots we saw around the hair-pin, drivers were taking it very tight. All eyes will be on the organisers to see how to sort it. The last thing F1 needs is another track scandal in North America. It might not come to that severity but drivers were taking it extremely easy out there today.

Singing In The Rain

Lewis Hamilton added another win under abnormal conditions today with a stunning drive at Monaco.

The skies opened before the race which led to a lottery on the track. Hamilton touched the barrier causing a puncture early on. Luck would be with the McLaren driver as this moved him to an alternative strategy – one that allowed him to win the race. By running longer, he was better placed to make his last stop at the point where returning to dry tires was optional.
In racing you not only have to be good, but you need luck. Hamilton had both today and came home a deserved winner.

Despite looking good early on, both Ferrari’s enduring a trying day. The pair emulated former Ferrari leader Schumacher with a trip up St. Devote, although neither could take to the streets like the Ferrari legend. Massa’s day was effectively ruined with a decision to fuel him to the flag. His mid-race pace was terrible, coupled with Hamilton’s stunning pace left the Brazilian out of contention. The late decision to change to slicks saw him nipped by Kubica.
Raikkonen was nowhere all day. He was off the pace, broke a wing, a drive through penalty and finally ended up ploughing into the back of Sutil after hitting a rain patch. Force India’s claim to have him suspended is laughable and out of emotion. Shit happens. Nobody called for Hamilton to be banned after he smashed into the back of Alonso, or Coulthard into the back of Schumacher in 98. Collisions happen, it’s part of racing.

I have to feel for Sutil though. An awesome day that should’ve rewarded the German with points. His year has been full of disappointments and his luck doesn’t look like changing. The youngster will have to take a page out of Vettel’s book and rebound after the heartbreak.

Kubica picked up a fine second place, but BMW will no doubt be worried as they haven’t been on the pace as of late. Webber continued his fine run as best of the rest with fourth. Vettel put all his bad luck behind him to come home to a quite fifth. Barrichello scored his first points since 2006 followed by Nakajima and Kovalainen

It was such an action packed race that the points could have been filled by any. Alonso was racy until he ended up collecting Heidfeld. The BMW driver had a torrid day, finishing four laps down. A second safety car, for the crash of Rosberg, brought the field back in. I’m struggling to figure out why Heidfeld or Heikki waited so long behind the safety car. It just delayed things. I wonder if it was a Ferrari back there would James Allen be saying it was team delay tactics. Wouldn’t be the first time. Strange how things like that are mentioned at Melbourne but not here for something that would be so obvious.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Lewis Hamilton. Could it be anyone but? Survived an early scare and once more like Canada and Japan last year showed an air of maturity to drive around all the problems. The Ferrari’s bungled around and he now goes into the track which gave him his first win on top of the standings. Honourable mention to Adrian Sutil who drove superbly until his day ended in tatters.

Three-peat for Massa at Istanbul

Massa well and truly got his title challenge back on track with victory at Turkey.

For a time it looked like Hamilton would challenge the Brazilian for victory but the Brit’s need to use a three stop strategy always left him having to play catch up. According to ITV’s ‘commentator’ James Allen – Hamilton was out doing Senna-esque laps after he stuck it down the inside of Massa.

However Hamilton failed to actually finish the job which the likes of Senna and Schumacher have in the past as he failed to capitalize on his low fuel during his middle stint. It was a spirited drive from Hamilton who had to make the best of a bad situation due to tire issues. I find his issues with the Bridgestone’s extremely strange. Why was he the single one person who had to go on a three stop? According to reports it has something to do with his driving style.

But that fails to answer out of twenty drivers he is the only one and out of eighteen tracks that we visit, this is the only one. It baffles me. If more people had to go that route, it would be more acceptable. I find it easier to believe that the traditionally boring and predictable McLaren actually tried something different and exciting.

Regardless, Hamilton drove well and second place was his reward. It chops two points off Raikkonen’s lead. Funny how the ITV boys consider Hamilton to be Raikkonen’s only championship contender, especially now that Massa leapfrogs their boy for second on the basis of having more wins.

BMW’s had a lacklustre afternoon by recent standards. The Anglo-Swiss outfit struggled from day one but were still comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. Heidfeld again showed his wily race craft by moving from ninth on the grid to eventually finish fifth. Alonso nipped Webber despite running lower on fuel on the first stint while Nico Rosberg turned his season around after snatching eight.

Heikki Kovalainen probably had more of a chance of spoiling the Ferrari party than Hamilton but a puncture put paid to his hopes. He was set for a point but the need for a splash and dash and mandatory tire change out paid to his hopes. Otherwise it was a fantastic weekend for the Finn who only two weeks ago was shoved under the tire wall at Barcelona.

The race was again without first lap incident, with Fisichella failing to make it past the first lap for the third year. Obviously he is not a fan of the Istanbul circuit.
Heading into Monaco we have a real championship on our hands. McLaren appear to be closing the gap in and the next pair of circuits will suit the team. It is a real chance for Hamilton to reel in the Ferrari’s at the front.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Felipe Massa. Say what you want about Hamilton and his sterling drive, but he didn’t get the job done. Allen yet again tried to compare him to the greats – a position Hamilton isn’t at – yet. He would have gotten it if he pulled it off. Massa kept his head and stayed in touch with Hamilton when it counted.

Raikkonen Wins In Spain

Qualifying set the trend for today’s race, with both Ferrari’s jumping to the front and never looked in trouble.

Of course, the race was anything but simple on a day where we say two safety car periods. The first after Sutil made an over ambitious move that saw him collect Coulthard and knock out Vettel. Sutil is a man under pressure with Fisichella resoundingly trumping the highly rated German.

The second came after a massive shunt for Kovalainen. The McLaren according to reports got a loose stone inside the rim which caused the tire to deflate sending the Finn flying into the barriers. Thankfully Heikki is okay and should make the Turkish race. Accidents like this and those of Hamilton and Kubica last year give a testament to today’s Formula One cars.

The safety cars made for a close finish, something i believe wouldn’t have been the case. Hamilton got the jump on Kubica but I wouldn’t be surprised if Ferrari had the extra gear if needed. The McLaren driver could push the car to the limit with his engine on its second race – the Ferrari pair conserved their engines with Turkey in mind. The British star drove a great race behind the Ferraris and his car looked allot better than over the entire weekend. I was surprised to see them last as long as they did on fuel.

Kubica was fantastic today and stayed close to Hamilton all day long. The ultimate race pace of the BMW was impressive today and only goes to show that the opportunity for victory is just around the corner. Jenson Button brought home Honda’s first points of the year in sixth after jumping ahead of Trulli and Nakajima at the pits.

When I read that Briatore saw Renault as being near the BMW’s I thought it was ambitious. Today proved that wasn’t entirely the case. Alonso may have been running lighter but he wasn’t as light as people gave credit for. Renault have jumped ahead of the midfield pack while Toyota and Williams have fallen back. Red Bull have come out winners in that midfield battle with Webber coming up to yet another solid points finish for the team.

One thing that badly needs to change is that safety car rule. It’s already cost Barrichello points in Melbourne and today it cost Heidfeld badly. I know the idea is to stop people piling into the pits when the safety car comes out but I don’t see what is wrong with that? We haven’t had an accident in pit-lane when we have a mad dash to the pits. To be honest, I would fancy a US-style pit race. Now that it has cost a championship runner I would expect to see this sorted sooner rather than later.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Kimi Raikkonen. The world champion was on the pace all weekend. He did the hard work yesterday with pole and never looked like he would relinquish top spot today. The momentum is with him in the team going into one of Massa’s strongest circuits.

Massa Back In The Hunt

Felipe Massa got his championship back on track with a dominant win at Sakhir, leading home his team-mate for a Ferrari one-two.

The Brazilian needed to produce a performance and he duly delivered. What makes his performance this week all the more impressive was that he carried more fuel than Raikkonen. Once the Ferrari’s hit the front it became apparent it would be one a Ferrari one-two but credit to the BMW’s who kept them honest to the flag.

Most of the talking points will come from the opening few laps. Hamilton bottled it at the start with his McLaren getting off the line late, leaving him mid-pack. A lap later he proceeded to run into the back of his former team-mate Alonso, much to the disgust of the ITV commentary team. Immediately the calls came that it was on purpose, that Alonso had taken revenge on his former team-mate.

Oh come on!
If someone sneezed near Hamilton they would blame them for getting a cold. Back in 1998 when a similar incident occurred between Coulthard and Schumacher, there was never a bad word said about Coulthard. But when Alonso does it, things are different. Did they ever think that he is was pissed off after a bad start and his famous patience they prattle on about go out the window?
After his car showed signs of damage as the car proved a handful on track. For some strange reason he was pointing fingers at people he was overtaking for position. Why I don’t know. He was racing for position and had no given right for these cars, albeit slower, having to let him by.

Regardless of his issues, the McLaren's didn’t have an answer for the BMW’s, let alone the Ferrari’s. Kubica’s pole was on merit and not because of a significantly lower fuel load. Heidfeld used his experience to jump up to fifth by the end of the first lap before taking Kovalainen for fourth. It’s the second year in a row that Heidfeld can add a sweet pass on a McLaren to his scrap book. BMW are quickly becoming a legitimate threat to the top teams and the points that the German-Swiss outfit take off the top two could ultimately decide the championship. I don’t know if they will contend, I think they still need to make a few more steps before that. Much will depend on how BMW keep the development on the car throughout the year. A first win is looking more and more realistic for them.

The McLaren of Kovalainen finished fifth and never really looked like he could hang with the top four. Best of the rest fell to Jarno Trulli who again produced a good race performance. Why haven’t we seen this kind of consistency from Jarno earlier in his career? Right now he’s earning a contract extension with Toyota. Webber, another hero from Malaysia continued his fine run of form, beating Rosberg and showing up Coulthard who like the rest of the Brits had a torrid day. The final point went to Rosberg who will no doubt be disappointed after showing a good turn of pace throughout the weekend to be left with a single point.
Timo Glock got his Toyota to the flag for the first time finishing ninth after early battles with Alonso rounding out the top ten; The Spaniard struggled after his altercation with Hamilton with damage to his rear wing. Fisichella had a great day in the Force India finishing 12th. Had to laugh as Martin called him the ‘Star in a reasonable priced car’, a phrased coined from BBC’s Top Gear. Maybe Martin is letting us know more of his 2009 plans there.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Felipe Massa. The Brazilian had to deliver a performance here to get not only his championship back on track but to mend his flagging reputation. Dominant all weekend there never looked a driver that could match him. Honourable mention to the BMW pair who kept both Ferrari’s on their toes and now leads the constructor’s championship.

Pole Kubica

Robert Kubica earned his and BMW’s first pole as a constructor at the Sakhir circuit, just edging the Ferrari of Massa.

Now we just have to wait till tomorrow to see if the pole is on merit of because of low fuel. It’s so hard to judge the pace of the BMW now given how close they are to the top two teams now. A year or two ago it would be a definite thing that he was running low on fuel in comparison. As it stands we just have to wait.

Massa appeared to have it in the bag but lost time on his final lap. I’m sure the Brazilian will be hoping that will be his only mistake of the weekend. He has been electric so far in terms of pace, although had an incident with the yellow flags during session one. Well, it would be a minor incident if it wasn’t for the ITV Sport witch-hunt against him. You know it makes more sense why people think Ferrari are cheats with such anti-Ferrari bias that these guys puke out of their mouths. They hammered on about it for ages in an attempt to cover up for the McLaren’s otherwise poor showing up that point.

The car was out of the way and off the track and the marshal looked nothing more than over enthusiastic. Mike Gascoyne said it best when asked about it. There was nothing in it and little that Massa could do with just three seconds to the line. It’s a nothing case. I’ve seen plenty of people not put the brakes on already this year when going past yellow flag. But hey, a penalty would put the ITV Golden boy in good stead which is all they care about. Have to remind myself that this is the ‘ITV Lewis Hamilton Kiss-Ass Show’ featuring a Grand Prix.

Similar to Malaysia, Hamilton didn’t look particularly comfortable but still snagged himself third spot. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is running lighter than the Ferraris. They are reported to be burning up their rears allot quicker than those around them, meaning short as possible stints would be the flavour of the day. The opposite could be said about Raikkonen who is beside him in fourth. The champion has shown a tendency to run longer than Massa on fuel runs and by no means will be counted out.

Kovalainen lines up fifth alongside. Heidfeld's lacked the pace of his team-mate which would indicate a discrepancy in their strategies while Button will start ninth, too much fanfare by the ITV ass-kissers with Alonso rounding up the top 10.

McLaren's Penalised

Both McLaren's were docked five spots for impeding Alonso and Heidfeld. It's hardly surprising that some action was taken. I'm a bit surprised that any penalty was given for blocking Heidfeld given that according to the commentary he posted his best first sector. That been said, up to then Heidfeld's pace had been poor so even when blocked it would've cost them. Personally I don't think they purposely tried to hold the pair up. It just happened.

As I said I'm not surprised. Brundle commented that people were likely to get hauled up for going at a snails pace back to the pits. The FIA now have to get their fingers out and put and end to this before Bahrain.

Now I await the FIA punishing McLaren only conspiracy theories.

Let's Go Racing!

A 3.30am start, a race filled with thrills and spills and a number of curse-filled rants at the ineptitude of the commentary of James Allen. It only means one thing, Formula One is back!

I hate Melbourne starts. The time was supposedly changed to suit people getting up but I didn’t feel it all. The start been mired in the middle of the night calls on fans to make a difficult decision – whether to stay up or to catch a couple of hours and wake up for it. I chose the latter and paid for it later on in the evening with falling asleep trying to watch NASCAR.

Was it worth the hardship? Definitely. We were treated to a race that had everything with the exception of a rain shower. The race drew many parallels to Montreal last year. Hamilton avoids all the mayhem and produces a mature assured display that saw him pick up the win. The McLaren driver controlled the race and rarely found himself under pressure. Heidfeld again drove a steady race whilst all the talk was about his front-row winning team-mate Kubica to collect second, followed by a stellar drive from Rosberg. Behind that we got treated to crashes, passes and blow-ups.
Ferrari once more find themselves on the back foot and with the exception of Raikkonen’s win last year, they have not been impressive at the Albert Park circuit over the past few years. There is no point having a fast car if it won’t last the race distance. With only a week between Melbourne and Sepang there is little opportunity to rectify the problem. However Raikkonen did pick up a point following the disqualification of Barrichello and if last year is anything to go by, every point counts. Massa’s performance will be of more concern. We saw the Felipe of old out on track leading to suggestions that the loss of traction control will affect him most.

Toro Rosso looks like a team capable of springing a surprise or two. While Bourdais was quiet, he showed the maturity of a champion to keep himself out of trouble and was on the way to 4^th when his car broke down. The abnormal amount of retirements meant he picked up two points allowing the Frenchman some reward for his drive. We can only speculate what Vettel could’ve of done had he not been eliminated in the first corner scuffle.

Renault was a massive disappointment in qualifying. Piquet’s debut was the stuff of horrors, drawing some parallel’s to Kovalainen’s last year. There’s only one way up he will be thinking! Alonso drove a determined race after a poor qualifying and was involved in a great scrap with the man he traded seats with. Would’ve been interesting to see Ron’s face after Alonso re-passed the young Finn after seeing his absolute delight with Heikki getting past the former champion. Haven’t seen Ron that happy in ages!

One must feel for poor Barrichello. The most experienced driver on the grid put a torrid 2007 behind him and showed the sort of race craft that saw him drive a Ferrari. It all went wrong in the end but his performance shows a beleaguered Honda operation that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

It was great to see the embrace between Rosberg and Hamilton heading up to the podium. Usually when we are talking about emotions in Formula One, the positive stuff remains within the team and any emotions showed to another competitor is negative. For a change it’s great to see two of the sports brightest young talents so happy for each other. The result for Rosberg is the accumulation of two years of hard work by the starlet and the first of many. Of course, many can say that when you put the Ferrari’s into the equation he wouldn’t get there, but Rosberg more than had the pace to stick with the BMW’s who themselves were hardly shabby on pace.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Nico Rosberg. The young German drove flawlessly all day keeping the BMW of the vastly experienced Heidfeld honest. With the Williams lacking the financial clout of the works team it only goes to put his performance into perspective. His reward was his first podium.

2008 Season Preview - Part III

Two for the price of one today! Here are parts two and three of the season preview today! Enjoy! Only seven days till the start of the season!

Ferrari

Can the Reds stay on top?
Ferrari is under new management with Jean Todt moving upstairs. Slowly the team is been cycled from the Schumacher days to this new era. Last year Ferrari suffered an abnormal amount of reliability issues, something that during the Schumacher era was rarely seen. Pre-season has seen a number of niggling issues in the same department. With today's near bullet-proof reliability in Formula One they can ill afford to have cars falling off the road. The addition of Schumi to the testing team can only aid them in their quest to have the car sorted for Melbourne. There are no excuses for Ferrari not winning this year, with the exception of the immense talent of Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen – World champion. Well deserved and this year he will be more dangerous. He spent the best part of a year in the shadows, according to most pundits like Alonso and Kubica working on adapting to the new Bridgestone’s. This year, like Ferrari, there are no excuses. I expect a dominant and hungry Raikkonen to hit the track and never look back this year. Looking forward to seeing him dice with Hamilton this year. One word – epic.

I said last year that 2007 was Massa’s chance while Raikkonen settled. For the first part of the year Massa was working as planned. For the most part of the year Massa looked like a genuine title contender before it all became to fall away with too many reliability issues putting him to the back of the grid. Overall, Massa looked more like a proper Ferrari driver than those erratic crazy drives a thing of the past. Will he be anything more than a Ferrari number two now? That’s the question. The Brazilian is good, but now that Raikkonen is settled I don’t see him breaking the Finn’s lead.

McLaren

Will Spygate affect them?
It’s still hard to say. Pre-season testing pace would seem that the financial dent isn’t causing a problem to the team. Perhaps Mercedes dipped into the savings to make up the balance! Of course if results don’t go their way, spygate is a perfect scapegoat should the year go away from them. Talk leading up to the first race has been about Ron Dennis’s future. It will be interesting to see how McLaren are over the long distance runs. The team has struggled in recent years to be able to develop race contending cars two years in a row. Usually if the car is bad they’ll be quick to dismiss the year and work on next year’s car which inevitably is a contender. This year they have two young drivers in charge of the development. Let’s see if McLaren can break that cycle.

How Lewis handles this year could define his career. He’s no longer the rookie, the unknown quantity. While Formula One doesn’t have the football equivalent of ‘second season syndrome’ that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Lewis is a fantastic talent and no doubt he will push the outside troubles out of his mind and just get on with the job. Providing what McLaren offer him he will no doubt run the Ferrari’s for the championship.

This is Kovalainen’s big break. He’s now got to take it. The Finn can ill afford a similar start as he had with Renault. He’ll be expected at minimum to finished fourth which is a step up for him. I can see him doing it though. After such a torrid start he improved throughout the year. All of that was character building and that can only go to serve him well this year. I could see the Finn winning this year. One thing for sure will be to study the team dynamics compared to last year. See how much fireworks are created in this team!

BMW

Can BMW make the next step?
I’ve seen it before. Honda and Toyota are the two teams foremost in my mind that looked to be on the road to making a breakthrough. Both tried to make that last step too fast and ended up following flat on their faces. Look at how far back into the pack they have fallen. BMW are on the cusp but need to be careful on how they approach this next jump. Regular podiums have to be the priority for the German-Swiss outfit along with fighting McLaren and Ferrari on all tracks. As the season progressed the gap between the top two and BMW seemed to grow, something the team needs to address this year. Depending on who you listen to, a race win is possible this year. This year’s car has caused problems in testing, something I was worried about and at the very least they need to be third best come Melbourne.

After years trudging around in the lower end of the grid, Heidfeld finally had the car to show his talents last year. A podium in the crazy Canadian grand prix and a memorable duel with Alonso at Bahrain were the highlights of ‘Quick Nicks’ year as he solidly came home fifth in the tables. He showed highly rated Kubica the way home more often than not and if either BMW driver is to win this year, my money is on Heidfeld. Depending on the Renault he could be in a fight for fourth, even third depending on Massa’s consistency this year.

Now entering his second full season it’s time for Kubica to start delivering the goods. It took the Polish driver half a season to adapt to the tyres, similar to Raikkonen and Alonso. His return after that massive shunt in Canada showed the drivers through grit. Like Heidfeld, he’ll be looking to fight for podiums on a more consistent basis. He has the ability to win, though like I said I would see Heidfeld getting it because of his experience. That been said, Kubica is more than talented to get the job done if the opportunity presents itself.

The Good, the Bad and the Racing

Over the last few days we’ve seen the two faces of McLaren. The good in the signing of Heikki Kovalainen to partner Hamilton. The fact that Heikki was left out in the cold at Renault was eye catching, given how he outpaced Fisichella for the majority of the year. One of the rumours going around is that Heikki was dropped because he was considered too fast for Alonso who is out to avoid a 2007 repeat. He must not remember that Piquet Junior did finish second to Hamilton in GP2 and I doubt he will be keen to lie down given the opportunity.

With the freedom of Kovalainen, he was the obvious choice for the second McLaren seat. I’m sure fans of the Finn were getting a little worried that de la Rosa, with his Spanish connections to many sponsors who joined because of Alonso would get the nod. Nice to see McLaren do the right thing and bring in a top driver who will hopefully push Hamilton and bring the most out of both drivers.

Of course we saw the bad of McLaren over the weekend as well with an admission (finally) over the Stepney-gate issue. A statement claimed that dissemination (in English – transmitting) of Ferrari data went deeper than originally though. They have stopped development on three parts that could be potentially linked back to Ferrari data. It makes the FIA’s decision to wait till February to clear the McLaren 2008 car more prudent now. It’s possible the FIA stewards found something and have given McLaren an opportunity to rectify the problem.

The statement has led to calls for the head of Ron Dennis. Personally, I would be happy if this was the end of someone who whinges anytime his team got beaten. End of the day the buck stops with him. He staked his reputation on his team been clean and playing by the rules and the statement appears to be nothing but an admission of guilt. Will he survive this? Time will tell. Hopefully this will be the beginning of the end of this spy fiasco once and for all so we can go racing clean again.

Race of Champions was on this weekend in Wembley – an event I unfortunately missed due to television issues. That was a shame because I was looking forward to the crème of racing talent going at it, especially to see Schumacher racing again for fun. If the go-kart racing in Brazil was anything to go by it would’ve been a treat. Funny thing I noted was that the Brits were selling up the prospect of Hamilton been there to race Schumacher months back. But come the event there wasn’t a peep and no Hamilton, out because of a sponsorship commitment or something similar. After all the chat about the prospect of him been there one would think they would bother to say ‘oh, he actually isn’t coming – maybe next year.’ Should be able to catch a highlights show of it somewhere.

Speaking of Schumacher, it would appear he has found a part-time hobby as a taxi driver. Running late for a plane the champ took over from the taxi driver and drove to the airport. Bloody hilarious that and decent of him to give a generous tip. The taxi driver will have a story to tell his kids. That been said, how proud of his own driving can he be when he had to give up the seat? This is one of the stories that are a bit surreal. It’s the sort of story you would think ‘I wonder what they a racing driver would do in such a situation’ and it was just great to see Schumi take the bull by the horns.