Cinderella Story

With the first weekend of Formula One racing wrapped up, I still find myself needing to question ‘did it really happen.’

This weekend has been surreal. I honestly don’t remember such a game changing moment as we witnessed. Pre-season testing has been more or less spot on, something that doesn’t always carry forward into the season.

Brawn’s one-two is nothing short of a fairytale. The whole story is sort of thing that you expect from a Hollywood blockbuster, not Formula One. It just isn’t supposed to happen, barring an intervention from Mother Nature.

Fortune as well as skill was on their side. I was surprised how long it took for the safety car to be pulled out after Nakajima found the wall. That being said, Jenson Button drove superbly; with only a slight hiccup in the pits his only blotch on his copybook. Barrichello had an eventful day but still came home second. Even watching, you can sense that feel good buzz that is around the team right now.

On the podium, we saw real emotion between the two. Not the fake stuff we often see between team-mates up there. Both were genuinely happy for each other. And why not! Up to a few weeks ago, both were written off. Button criticised for not exploring other options, Barrichello considered ‘past it’. Now they are the toast of Formula One.

It was great to see that the paddock is happy for them. I can’t remember a time where we say cars applauded down pitlane as they headed up to their parking slots. It was a wonderful gesture from the teams in a day and age where people are more likely to snipe at each other rather than pat them on the back.

As for the pre-season championship contenders, Ferrari looked strong at times. At the time of writing, we are still waiting to find out what happened to Massa. Somehow, I’m not surprised to see Raikkonen fight the wall. His race drew too many similarities to those he raced last year - quick when he wants to be, but also quick to find the wall.

Lewis Hamilton is another who deserves a pat on the back. In an inferior car and assisted by retirements, he drove the sort of race that a world champion should. He picked up valuable points that will aid his fight to retain the title down the line.

Alonso was steady if unimpressive. Kubica was the only one of the five who looked an actual threat, until he stuck it up the inside of Vettel and the two of them took each out. That isn’t the way to win championships.

As for KERS, I definitely find myself on the fence about it. To me, the way it was explained and how it affects the weight would concern me that it would alienate certain types of drivers – for example Mark Webber and Robert Kubica, because of their stature.

That been said, in the race, you could see where those using KERS could use it to their advantage. It’s definitely something to watch over the coming races. Much the same can be said about the new aero-packages.

Qualifying was brilliant. I haven’t enjoyed a quail session like that in years. It was fantastic with the field so close that not even the perceived front runners could play it safe. If the gaps stay like that for the rest of the year, it will definitely make Saturday watching mandatory!

Malaysia is next weekend, at the wonderful starting time of 9am GMT. Got to love the lie in!

F109 Countdown: BMW

BMW:
2008 Results
Best Finish: 1st (Robert Kubica at the Canadian Grand Prix)
Points Scored: 135
Championship Position: 3rd
2009 Drivers: Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld

Of all the teams, I feel that BMW are the ones who have no excuses regarding their 2009 performance. The team very publically dropped development on last year’s car after they achieved all their goals, much to the annoyance of Kubica. By all accounts. This is the year that BMW prove that they have what it takes to regularly contest with the likes of Ferrari and McLaren.

They were first out of the traps to run their new challenger and at the forefront of the KERS technology race. When many teams were hoping for the KERS system to be delayed, it was BMW that forged ahead with the desire to use the system. I can’t blame them. They got the jump on everyone so why would they want to lose that development because nobody else was on the ball.

In Robert Kubica, they have a driver who is more than capable of winning world titles. I think whether that will be with BMW, we will learn this year. Like I said, there are no excuses for them this year. Given how vocal Kubica was towards the end of last year, he will expect to maintain the challenge over the course of the season.

Let us not forget, the Pole was still in contention for the title until the final rounds of the championship. No wonder he was left scratching his head as BMW basically gave up on his chance for the title. He is many people’s pick for the title. I would rate him in my top three. I do wonder whether, at this early stage in the career, he is just at that level to take it.

Nick Heidfeld came in for, what I would definitely label as unfair criticism last year. The German finished only fifteen points behind his much heralded team-mate. Yet alls we kept hearing was about how bad he was in comparison and that he might be on the chopping block. Compared to the other team-mates of championship contending drivers, he was the closest.

If the BMW is as good as it should be, I wouldn’t be surprised if the veteran finally takes a deserved victory. He is a driver who has earned his due over the years and not simply walked into a championship winning car as others around him have. If he can improve on his qualifying form, I foresee a great year for ‘Quick Nick’.

Contender to the Throne?

BMW showed off their 2009 challenger – a car which has a weighty expectation to carry.

The car is missing the now familiar Credit Suisse sponsor on the engine cover. The long-time Sauber sponsor has left its role as sponsor, given the much used ‘restructuring’ reasoning.

Towards the end of last year, Robert Kubica voiced his concerns on a number of occasions about the team giving up on the 2008 campaign. Given the amount of time spend on the development bed; there shouldn’t be any excuse for a lack of competitively from the Anglo-German team.

Of course, we have all heard this before. Remember Renault over the last few years? Early development didn’t see them return to form.

Despite championing the controversial KERS system, even BMW have stated they are unsure if they will run with it for the start of the year. A number of teams have taking pot shots at BMW for pushing for KERS to implemented in 2009. Of course, what did anyone expect?! Having spent so much time (and money), they were hardly going to roll over and say ‘sure, let’s delay it!’

The KERS system, which involves the transfer of kinetic energy that can be used as a power boost, has courted controversy since its early development. Everything from high development costs to mechanics getting shocked has happened over the last year with the system.

A standard system is in the pipelines for 2010, making many teams question the waste of money in developing a system to be used for one year only. Despite this, everyone is still following the developmental pied piper – unwilling to let one team get any sort of advantage, even if it costs a shed load of money.

Pictures of the 2009 BMW-Sauber challenger can be found here at Autosports website.

Lightning Strikes Twice!

I thought about sleep, especially after staying up for the Nascar race. I tried, missing most of the pre-race show, which usually isn't a loss, but Martin had control of the show today and from what I saw, it was actually more balanced! Maybe Martin is practising for the Beeb next year. But sleep wasn’t coming so I decided to continue the epic night of motorsport, even if I’m going to feel it later on today. The first few laps at least made it worth tuning in live.

Lightning never strikes twice, they say? Fernando Alonso will raise a point against that. He drove through the Ferrari – McLaren melee at turn one and hooked up behind Kubica. The Spaniard was short-fuelled and was dutifully asked to pound in the lap times to make up the gap. ITV spend all their time making up words for Hamilton and saying how he is doing stuff comparable with Schumacher, Senna et al. What Alonso did, what was asked of him – was exactly what the greats did.

Robert Kubica held off Raikkonen for the second step on the podium. The result leaves him just twelve points off Hamilton. Should a freaky set of results occur in the last two races, the Pole could still be in with an outside shot of the title. It was a day for the underdogs, with Piquet coming home fourth, Trulli in fifth. The Toro Rosso’s coming home in sixth and seventh, with Bourdais out-racing his much vaulted team-mate on this occasion. For Piquet and Bourdais, the results are important towards saving their drives.

It was a disastrous race for Massa and Hamilton. Both were reckless, silly and lacking the composure that the media continue to spew that both have in unequal measure. Schumacher must be kicking himself for not sticking around a few extra years because the way these young pups are driving, it would have been an easy two championships.

On a week where Robert Kubica highlighted his and other drivers opinions to Hamilton’s dangerous driving (which of course was fobbed off by the aforementioned and Ron Dennis), he gets a penalty for such driving. It was only a matter of time before he got penalised for his reckless acts on the track.

Funny how the same people who bitched and moaned about Schumacher’s driving style are the same people now defending Hamilton. Oh lads, get your noses out of Hamilton’s arse, clear off the brown stuff and start calling the race with impartiality!

As for Massa’s penalty, well, for sim-racing, we always say the racing track is the white lines, plus the kerbs. But in real racing, that’s different. I don’t agree with the excess that the ITV chaps were lambasting Massa for it, but he did nerf him off, so a penalty was deserved.

For the first time, I used the Formula1.com telemetry, which is great to have with the amount of breaks ITV insist on forcing on us. Not to mention, when ITV go all quiet on peoples lap times, at least I can keep track. For example, we never heard anything about Hamilton’s horrid middle run which composed of 1m21’s, 1m22’s. That sort of stuff is HELPFUL to us, the viewer!

At the end of the day, the result suits McLaren to the ground. They come out of it smelling of roses despite the dodgy driving. James Allen's dodgy maths aside (claiming that even if Lewis had a seven point lead, he would still win by finishing behind a Ferrari one-two - a Ferrari one two would be four point gain per race), Hamilton enters the final two races with a six point gap and can wrap up the title in China if he outscores Massa by more than four points. On the flip side, a Ferrari one-two in the final pair of races would see Massa the champion.

Personally, I’m getting sick of his paranoia over penalties. A driver sneezes and the ITV guys are calling for heads or there is an incident to be investigated. It is getting pretty sickening at this stage. Maybe for 2009, we should have everyone drive in bubble cars.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Fernando Alonso. Like any great driver, he meticulously drilled in the laps to make his strategy worked. That is why Alonso is a double world champion and the best racer in the sport at the moment.

Salut Gilles; BMW Retain Pair

The Canadian Grand Prix has been scrubbed off the provisional 2009 calendar, released today. Once again, Formula One fans bear the scars of losing yet another track etched in history and provided great races

This isn’t the first time that we have lost a classic circuit. First Spa, then Hockenheim was butchered, followed by the loss of Suzuka. Earlier this year we found out that Silverstone was been axed in favour of Donington. Thankfully, Spa was rescued, although one must wonder for how long. And for what?! Don’t get me wrong, some of the new circuits are great, but they lack soul. Circuits like Valencia and Singapore – didn’t exactly offer a great racing spectacle.

The whole thing reminds me of the overused movie plot – after being given a home and a place to grow saw them flourish and became successful. Soon enough, they got too big for their boots, happy to cut off ties with those who had helped them in the early days as they make the grab for the almighty dollar. Well, if it can be called that.

Unlike the movies though, I doubt we will receive the happy ever after ending, where they learn of their mistakes and remember their roots.

In other F1 news, BMW announced that they will retain their current driver lineup. Despite constant criticism of Heidfeld, people show their ignorance with not looking over the stats that count the most – points gained. Quick Nick sits eight points behind his headline grabbing team-mate. Raikkonen is 20 points behind Massa. Kovalainen 33 behind his team-mate.

Not a bad job by Heidfeld at all. The decision does narrow down the list of possibilities for Alonso. Although, with rumours persisting that Raikkonen’s ’10 drive with Ferrari isn’t all that secure despite the new contract.

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!

Make Up Your Minds!

I’m getting tired of having to wait hours after a race to find out what the result is. What is the point in having a podium ceremony after a race if things are subject to change later on that day.
While Hamilton stood atop of the podium to celebrate a gifted victory, the stewards were looking into the incident between himself and then-leader Raikkonen. He was later handed a 25-second penalty, demoting him to third. The claws will be out by McLaren fans, and in my opinion, this time they are right.

Yes, he cut the chicane, but at that stage there was no quarter been giving by either driver. I can see why the stewards probably flagged it. While he dropped back between Raikkonen, he stayed up his gearbox and one could say that he technically had an advantage of momentum from it. But not enough to warrant it I feel. It wasn’t as if he was a second or so back from Raikkonen when he made the move. So I believe the stewards got it wrong.

It was a chaotic race, one I think Ferrari gifted to Lewis on a silver platter in the end. They had the pace, but having a car that struggles in the wet-dry conditions gave the McLaren ace the opportunity to pounce – and with a driver like Lewis, you only need one chance.

Raikkonen crashing out settles a problem for Ferrari. Up until five to go, the Ferrari brass would be wondering how they were going to pick a driver. Kimi smashing the wall solves that nicely. Heidfeld and Alonso, taking late gambles to switch to the inters dived past cars left and right on the last lap. For Heidfeld, the drive was vital with his place under pressure.

The late rain took a shine off a fantastic afternoon for Toro Rosso. Bourdais, another man driving for his career, was a solid top-five man all day. In the last lap mayhem he slipped to seventh, but has aided his chances of staying next year. Vettel, running long on the first stint played himself into contention made it a double points day for the junior squad. Kubica, who had an extremely quiet day, came home sixth. The Pole didn’t look anywhere near what he was capable of on the day.

It was a day of penalties, with Glock picking up his own 25 second penalty for passing under yellow. That moves Webber into the points. Kovalainen, who had a torrid start, compounded his day by smashing into Webber and earning a drive-through, retired on the last lap.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Sébastien Bourdais. With his drive on the line, the Frenchman looked like he actually belonged in Formula One today. His drive was assured and mature, he was unlucky to drop to seventh in the end. A much needed boost to his career hopes.

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.

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.

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.

Iceman Cools Spanish Hearts

Kimi picked up his first pole position of the year with Alonso plopping his car into second. The Spaniard is obviously on a lighter fuel load but it will be interesting to see just how light he is come tomorrow.

McLaren endured a poor last section. I think they could have run light in an attempt to jump the BMW’s. If they have then they are in serious problems considering how things turned out. The third row is not what they expected. Kubica kept up his great form as of late with a second row start alongside Massa.

Major surprises of the day came from Rosberg and Vettel being beaten by their lesser experienced team-mates. Both will be looking for a good race day to save face. Barrichello, on his record equalling 256^th Grand Prix start, depending on whose statistics you read, almost made the top ten. That Honda looks horrid with the ‘Dumbo Ears’ on it. They must look like a crosshair reticule in the cockpit.

Tomorrow’s race day will be one to watch. Can the McLaren’s recover anything? How will Kubica go in relation to the two McLarens? What can Alonso do? What is Ferrari’s race pace going to be like? So many questions that will be answered tomorrow at lunch time. It’s going to be worth watching for sure!

On another note - How long did it take ITV to use the Spygate excuse for McLaren and Hamilton’s poor showing? Just four races. For any of you who saw the ITV pre-show you would’ve seen it. Why am I mentioning this? Well just to prove a point really. I stated a while back this excuse would be brought up when McLaren season took a turn and there we have it. Credit to McLaren for not actually saying it when they could have though.

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.

Crisis? What Crisis?

That’s all we heard coming out of Melbourne. Ferrari is in trouble and that McLaren are superior. The McLaren’s had more speed and there was more to come.

Then came Malaysia and we saw why you can never judge a season by its opening race. The Ferrari’s for lack of a better word spanked the McLaren’s where it counted. Blocking penalties or not the McLaren’s didn’t have an answer for the Italian team. Now we are getting the oh so familiar ‘judge us later on in the season’ quotes.

Like I said, you can’t judge a season from its opening race. The frenzy about the dismal weekend for Ferrari was nothing more than an attempt to generate interest. Any seasoned Formula One fan knew different.
Raikkonen was at his imperious best yesterday, bided his time until the pit-stop before lacing in the quick laps to jump Massa before comfortably driving home. Massa’s start to the season has got to be of concern and really does put question marks over his. Two driver errors have cost him points and bring back memories of the pre-Ferrari Massa – the one who spent more time sideways than pointing the right direction. Ferrari would do well to give former mentor Schumacher a call and take the young Brazilian aside for a few tips on driving sans traction control. He’ll need to turn it around fast to justify Ferrari’s faith in resigning him at the end of last year with a number of drivers eyeing a Ferrari seat in the future.

The McLaren’s just lacked a proper balance from qualifying onwards. Any inboard shots showed the pair of them struggles to get a decent rhythm going. Neither was helped by the penalties but that been said, both cars were good enough to get the jump at the start. Doesn’t matter if you’re a Ferrari, McLaren or a Force India – if you are stuck behind someone it’s pretty darn hard to overtake. Once bottled up it was obvious it would be damage limitation. Although when free they still weren’t particular mind-blowing.

Kubica did a fine job to finish second. The Pole kept his head down and out of trouble. Unlike Melbourne where he tailed off after the first stop, Kubica gave a constant performance and fully deserved second. Trulli was another who had a fine day. It’s been some time since we have seen such a run from him.
It was a bad day for all of the Australian GP heroes. Heidfeld spent much of the day in the second half of the top ten before popping up with the fastest lap of the race while the Williams team suffered a weekend to forget, failing to string together a consistent performance.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Jarno Trulli. This was a close call, especially given the sterling jobs done by Raikkonen and Kubica. Trulli nicks it given his tendency to fall asleep during races. At Sepang Jarno coupled his typical qualifying pace with a solid race which gives up that Toyota may be turning the corner – for real this time.

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.