Hungary Dries Out for Jenson

Photo courtesy of Team Lotus

The changeable weather in Hungary made for another race where it was impossible to guess the result from the start. After the bad news for British TV coverage it was just what was needed to get the focus back on the racing.

After Friday practice it seemed that Red Bull was playing catch up to McLaren and Ferrari. That was reinforced by Vettel's side of the garage pulling an all nighter to get his suspension set up back to how it was in Germany. Surely it had to be a sign that things weren't going their way. Of course in Free Practice 3 as the temperatures rose, all those hopes were dispelled. Vettel fastest in the session by 0.3 seconds. Would this be another Red Bull domination? We were about to find out.

Qualifying

As the Q1 session started it was Vettel and Webber that set the early pace. A short time later Button crossed the line to put himself into second place and Hamilton followed behind to take the top spot. 13 minutes remained on the clock and the top teams stayed in the pits. Ferrari were the next to attack for the top spot and Alonso put himself 4th with Massa 5th. As the rest of the field fought for their places the top of grid went quiet again. Webber had another try but could only get 5th, Alonso also ran again and put himself in the top spot with 5 minutes remaining.
Q2 came next and again Vettel was out early but not setting a terribly impressive time. Hamilton was also out early and put himself into 2nd place. Interestingly he was running on the harder of the two tyres for this weekend which makes that a pretty impressive lap time. Webber was next to post the fastest time but that didn't last long as Button went even faster. Alonso was next to make his way to the top and with that it seemed that the top 6 were satisfied and saw no need to run again. Hamilton had saved himself a set of soft tyres which could become very helpful on race day. Paul di Resta put in a time to claim 10th place just as the flag dropped but with several cars on a flying lap it didn't look very safe. Sure enough Scumacher, Kobayashi and Petrov all acheived a faster time and dropped him out of the final session.

Now it was time for the Q3 session and the final challenge for pole. Alonso was the first man out of the pit followed by Hamilton, both of them obviously eager to get started. Alonso's time was comfortably beaten by Hamilton going 0.4 seconds faster. Button took third and Massa 4th. Vettel was next to cross the line and he nearly took the top spot, missing out by 0.07 seconds. Webber however could only manage 6th. Mercedes didn't send either of their drivers out for an early run opting to gamble on just one flying lap.

As the drivers started their second attack Webber was being told that his KERS had 'come to life' and he would be able to use it for this run. Alonso was the first to cross the line but his time was not good enough to change his position. Vettel started his lap with an average first sector but pulled it together by the end to take pole. Hamilton failed to improve while Button jumped to 3rd place. Massa also put in a great lap to put himself in 4th and out-qualify his team mate for the first time this year. The final grid was Vettel on pole, Hamilton 2nd with Button, Massa, Alonso and Webber making up the top 6.

Race

There was rain early on Sunday morning and although there had been a chance for the track to dry, there was more light rain before the start. It was ending as the grid formed up but the track was wet enough for everyone to start on intermediate tyres. The weather reports seemed to indicate that there wouldn't be any rain for a while after the start though so the track would dry quickly.

Photo courtesy of Force India

As the lights went out the first three all got a decent start and stayed in formation to the first corner. The track was clearly more slippery than they had expected though and it was easy to see all the cars struggling to find grip on the way out of the turns. The Ferraris lost out at this stage to the Mercedes with both drivers losing places. Hamilton seemed to have the better of Vettel as well, the English driver trying hard to find a way past in the early stages. At almost every corner the cars were twitching and sliding, which really allowed the drivers to show some skill as they kept it on the black stuff.

Hamilton finally made it alongside Vettel on lap 4 but couldn't complete the move having run out of grip. Alonso touched the white line on turn 2 and had to run wide to avoid spinning. That lost him a place that he had just won from Rosberg. Next time round Hamilton was again pushing Vettel who tried to brake late into turn 2 to defend but misjudged it and also had to run wide. Lewis was through into the lead and started to open a gap straight away. Vettel's mistake had allowed Button to close in and now the German had to defend from him as well.

Alonso ran wide at the same place allowing his team mate, Massa through but he retook the position on the way down the main straight. By lap 8 the order at the front was Hamilton, Vettel, Button, Rosberg, Alonso and Massa with Webber catching up. Massa spun on the treacherous turn 2 paint and rolled backwards into the barrier, he damaged his rear wing but was able to continue. Meanwhile at the front, Hamilton had increased his lead to 5.5 seconds with Button 1.7 seconds behind Vettel.

Webber was the first to head for the pits on lap 10 for soft slicks. He struggled to make it out of the pit but by the second sector it was clear that there was enough of a dry line to make them work. Massa was next in as lap 11 started followed by Button and next lap Hamilton. Lewis came out in front of Schumacher but he quickly took the position as Hamilton slipped around on the wet part of the track. Webber proved the timing of his change was right by setting the fastest lap of the race. Hamilton got up to speed but couldn't find a way past Schumacher until the German dropped into the pit at the end of the lap.

It was now Button's turn to overtake Vettel and set off after Hamilton. Webber found a way past Alonso on lap 14 in the gap between turns 1 and 2 but soon after he ran wide off the track. Alonso wasn't close enough to get his place back though. Hamilton and Button were pulling away from Vettel and opening up their lead, things were looking good for the British team.

Things were also looking pretty good for Paul di Resta who, by this stage of the race, was up to 7th place and was closing in on Rosberg in 6th. Massa was trying hard to overtake Schumacher but wasn't finding it easy. By lap 24 Hamilton was being told to look for damp patches to cool his tyres. Not the sort of message that you expect to hear when using dry tyres. The wear was obviously a lot higher than expected, at least for Lewis, Button meanwhile was setting a new fastest lap.

Nick Heidfeld pitted and due to a problem was stationary for longer than planned. As he got moving again there was a cloud of smoke from the sidepod of his car which quickly turned to flames as he exited the pit. He pulled over to the grass and jumped out as the side of the car burned more fiercely. Marshalls ran out with fire extinguishers and started to put out the fire. There was a small explosion and a piece of debris must have hit one of the marshalls and he limped back off the circuit.

Surprisingly no safety car was called but that didn't stop several cars driving into the pit. It was probably only 4 or 5 laps early for a stop anyway so it must have seemed like a good idea. Over the next two laps most of the top drivers pitted and by lap 28 only Vettel had not. He was paying the price now as everyone else was going much faster on fresh rubber. He finally stopped one lap later and by the time he returned to the track Webber was close behind.

The order on lap 30 was Hamilton, Button, Vettel, Webber, Alonso and Kobayashi. Alonso was now on the move and by lap 34 close enough to Webber to use his DRS. Webber's defensive driving kept him behind though. Alonso was making his third visit to the pits by lap 37 while Hamilton was being told he would need to make his tyres last another 9 laps. That didn't seem likely to happen, Vettel was already complaining about his rears going away and Alonso was setting times 3 seconds a lap faster than Lewis.

Photo courtesy of Force India

Lap 40 and Webber was in the pit, this time for a hard tyre to make it to the end of the race. Hamilton stopped a lap later for soft tyres and Button the next lap for hard. Would Lewis be able to find enough speed to make up for the extra stop he would surely have to do? And would the hard tyres actually last to the end? Alonso made the most of his fresher, soft tyres and found a way past Vettel on lap 42.

A few laps later and Button was told he can make it to the end as long as he is careful with his front left tyre. A sudden rain shower at the back of the circuit livened things up. Hamilton was first to encounter the wet track and spun in the chicane. He ended up facing the wrong way in the middle of the track and spun his car but Di Resta was coming out of the chicane and had to take avoiding action. Button also passed him for the lead as he got back up to racing speed.

Alonso was pitting at this time (lap 48) and put hard tyres on his car, obviously hoping not to stop again. The drivers were being told that the rain would not last, but if it did they would need some inters very soon. By lap 49 the order was Button, Hamilton, Vettel, Webber, Alonso and Rosberg. Hamilton was closing in on Button again as the wet track cooled the harder tyres faster than the soft. The two swapped places a few times, obviously having a great time racing each other. The track was still wet in the back section, but would anyone stop for intermediate tyres?

Webber was the first to make that call and on lap 52 he went in. On lap 53 it was Hamilton who was in front and he too dived into the pits for the inters. Next time round Button still didn't bother to stop and Webber agreed with him by coming back in for a set of hard tyres, deciding it just wasn't wet enough. Hamilton also saw his mistake, but to rub salt in his wounds, he also received a drive through penalty for the dangerous move recovering from his spin. On stop for tyres and another for the penalty.

Lap 57 and after Lewis' multiple stops the order was now Button, Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Webber and Hamilton. Lewis was right behind Webber though and as the Aussie used his DRS to try and make a pass on Massa, Hamilton was trying hard to follow him through. Alonso got himself into a spin later on and Hamilton did eventually make it past Massa whose tyres were fast wearing out. He stopped for fresh on lap 59.

Webber and Hamilton caught up with a train of backmarkers on lap 63 and started to try and find a way through. Hamilton, ever the opportunist, took a chance and got three wide as Webber was overtaking a lapped car to pass him in turn 12. Webber tried to fight back but couldn't get any drive and lost out down the main straight. Despite trying hard Webber was unable to catch Hamilton as the laps ran down.

The race finished with no more moves at the front. Button took an impressive win followed by Vettel and Alonso. Hamilton took 4th with Webber just behind and Massa in 6th. Paul di Resta took an impressive 7th place to bring home some good points for the Force India team.

Button once again showed his driving style suits changeable conditions by taking a win on the same track he got his first victory. What a great way to celebrate his 200th grand prix, he is bound to earn himself more cake for that one. Hamilton's eagerness to get on with the job cost him dearly in this race. A little patience may have saved him a penalty and could even have stopped him going in for the unnecessary intermediate tyres. Without those he could well have been challenging for the lead or at least a podium. Di Resta did a great job considering his qualifying performance and its good to see him overcome his recent troubles and get points for a team that really deserve them.

A great race with lots of action. The relative performance of the top teams was very close. Despite all the talk of taking a step forward for the next race, you can't help but hope that they all stay where they are now. It would be much more fun if they stay this competitive. Now comes the summer break and a long wait for the next race. Lets hope its as good as the last few!

Dramatic Finish at Silverstone

Good old British weather and confusion over blown diffusers helped to make an exciting race for the Silverstone Grand Prix. The regulation change on fuel flow while off the throttle was being discussed right up until the start of the qualifying session. Concessions due to reliability issues were the main discussion point and nobody really seemed sure what the final result would be or indeed what the final effect on car set-up would be. The final meeting was over literally 5 minutes before the session began.

Qualifying

Photo Courtesy of Force India

As Q1 began there were reports of rain starting at Copse which pushed everyone out of the pit nice and early. Alonso set the early pace but was quickly overshadowed by Vettel. The Spaniard then ran wide and was forced to drive around the outside of the gravel trap to get back on the track. The track was clearly drying rather than getting wetter and so the times quickly started to fall. Lots of drivers took a go at the top, including Pastor Maldonaldo, but it was Mark Webber who was in P1 as the rain started again with 6 minutes remaining.

The shower was over by the start of Q2 so again everyone was keen to make the most of the time available. It seemed to be only Copse that was wet while the rest of the track was very dry, so many of the cars decided to go back into the pits and wait for some improvement. There weresome runs after 5 minutes or so which saw Adrian Sutil at the top of the time sheet then another patch of quiet while everyone prepared for the last attempt. With 4 minutes left those attempts began again. After the dust cleared it was Felipe Massa on top with Webber and Alonso behind. Paul di Resta made it into P9 and through to the final session.

Another early start to Q3 again. The uncertain weather pushed the drivers out early which is always good for the excitement. Unfortunately it seemed that McLaren didn't have any performance in this session. Was it a consequence of the last minute discussions on blown diffusers? Paul di Resta made a great effort to put himself into 6th with 5 minutes to go. The rest of the drivers kept trying, but ran out of steam before the end. The final grid ended with Webber on pole, Vettel second and Alonso in third. Di Resta held on to his 6th place just behind Button, but Lewis couldn't manage anything better than 10th. A dissapointing end to the session for McLaren but a great result for di Resta.

Race

Photo Courtesy of Team Lotus

As the drivers prepared for the race, the track was half wet and half dry. So much so that there were spins on the way to the grid. This meant that everybody decided to start on the intermediate tyres. As the lights went out it was Vettel who got the best start and took Webber on the way into turn 1. Button and Hamilton also got good starts with Button taking Massa and Hamilton firing himself into seventh by the time the first lap was settling down. He carried on and by lap 2 was overtaking Button.

Vettel and Webber were (as usual) making themselves a gap over the rest of the field at this point. Lewis meanwhile was out braking himself and running wide at Brooklands. Thanks to Jenson not actually having any pace at all, Hamilton managed to maintain his position and set off once again. The DRS was left off by race control until lap 6 due to the wet conditions.

Lap 9 and Alonso was gaining back some lost ground on Mark Webber. Schumacher tried to take advantage of DRS to get past Kobayashi but misjudged it badly and took his front wing off and spun the Japanese driver. He was given a penalty for that, at this track it was a 10 second stop due to the pit lane configuration making a drive through faster than completing a lap. Lewis was now gaining time Massa who was sliding about through Becketts, but not enough for Hamilton to make the pass.

Lewis continued hounding Massa as, on lap 12, Button pitted to change to dry tyres. It was clear that the intermediate tyres were running out of grip and the track was drying out fast. That was proved as Schumacher, who had changed to dry tyres with his front wing change, set the fastest lap of the race. This triggered pit stops for everyone else and Hamilton won out against Massa in the changes.

It was Jenson's turn to be fast now, and he set a new fastest lap and caught up to Felipe Massa. He couldn't do anything about it in the wet part of the track though. Lewis was now right behind Alonso. Jenson finally got into Massa's slipstream but was forced to the outside of the turn. He kept his foot in though and braved it out to get him on the way through Club. Lewis used his DRS to get close to Alonso and then got a good run onto the old pit straight where he put his car in the wet part of the track and out braked the spaniard into turn 9.

Kobayashi came into the pits a short while later and after a hesitation on release had to take avoiding action from another car. He ran into the Force India wheel gun hoses and pulled a couple of them down earning himself a penalty for an unsafe release. Meanwhile Alonso had caught back up to the back of Hamilton as his tyres were wearing, forcing the British driver to go on the defensive. Alonso got past using his DRS and Hamilton pitted on lap 25 as Alonso set another fastest lap.

Paul di Resta's luck ran out as he pitted to find the wrong set of tyres waiting for him and causing him a massive delay. Webber, Button and Massa all pitted on lap 27 while Alonso kept on increasing the pace. Vettel and Alonso headed for the pits on the next lap but the Red Bull team got a stuck wheel and Alonso got out in front. Hamilton made it through before Vettel could get out of the pit and Webber was right behind him.

The top 6 were only 11 seconds apart on lap 29 but it was clear that Alonso was going faster than the chasing Hamilton. By lap 33 Vettel was right behind Lewis. Webber was chasing him hard as well but he made an error and ran wide, bouncing across the kerbs and losing some time. Vettel mounted an attack on Hamilton but his defensive driving kept the German behind. He had to wait for his next pit stop on lap 37 before he got the chance to get past Hamilton. Button pulled into the pit for his final stop but in the rush an engineer reaching for a new gun was mistaken for the all clear signal. Jenson made it halfway back to the track with the wheel wobbling furiously before he pulled over to the side of the track.

Hamilton was being told on the radio that he needed to save fuel. This probably wasn't good news as Webber was catching him fast. It took a few laps to get there, but by lap 46, Webber managed to use his DRS to get past and into third. Alonso was now 17 seconds ahead of Vettel and safe, Webber was faster than his team mate though and set off to catch him. Massa suddenly seemed to come alive as well and despite being quite a way behind Hamilton, was closing down the gap by well over a second a lap.

Even Patrick Stewart Couldn't 'Make it so' for Di Resta.

Mark Webber caught up to Vettel on lap 51 and despite a good try he couldn't make it past his team mate. A radio message was sent telling Webber to hold the gap but it didn't look like he was taking much notice. On the last lap Massa had caught Hamilton and tried to outbrake him on the outside, Lewis held on and hit the Ferrari in the side. Massa was in front on the way into the last turn but couldn't get the power down and ran wide trying to save a slide. Hamilton kept his head and just managed to get in front on the way over the line. It finished up with Alonso first, Vettel second and Webber in third. Hamilton took fourth from Massa with Perez taking sixth.

It later came out the Webber had been told several times over the closing laps not to overtake Vettel but had decided to ignore the orders and carry on. Fair play to the Aussie but he can't be making himself popular in the team with moves like that. It can't be forgotten that team orders are allowed this year, Red Bull were perfectly justified in asking him not to overtake. Of course its Webber who has the wheel in his hand and thank goodness he's not the kind of guy to settle for just any old position.

Lewis Hamilton's last ditch attempt to keep his place was a great demonstration of why he is always in the news. It was surprising hearing the talk before the race how many people talked up his chances despite there being two other Brits on the grid in front of him. (Scotland still counts as long as they're doing well right?) Hamilton's sheer passion and drive to do well really puts some people off. But for others, its the whole reason he's popular. I'm can see why he turns people off, but he has to have that kind of self belief and passion to get himself into his position, never mind get the results he does. He doesn't take any prisoners and when it pays off, like today, its a heroic move. But when it doesn't, well we all saw what happened after Monaco.

The blown diffuser confusion was the oddest news of the weekend though. It had seemed as though everything was decided well before the event began, but F1 is a complicated business and things are never quite that straightforward. Most of the complaints seemed to be arguing that reliability would be hurt by the regulations, followed by a fair bit of, 'well if they can do that, we should be able to do this.' Some of it may well even be true, but it certainly doesn't look well organised from here. There were assurances from various people that its all sorted out now, but is it? I guess we'll find out very soon. It does seem that McLaren lost out, Ferrari gained and Red Bull probably stayed where they were. Again we'll find out if there is a way to even the score very soon.

Bring on the next race!

Valencia, the Low Point of an Exciting Season

The European Grand Prix at Valencia was definitely more exciting than the last three times it has been run. But sadly in a year of stunning races, this was definitely the most dull. Can anything save this race from being a bit rubbish or is it just a lost case? And how can anyone persuade Bernie to get rid of it? It showed promise early on though...

Qualifying

Photo Courtesy of Team Lotus

It was very hot for the start of qualifying and continued to get hotter throughout the session, combined with the slippery track here there was a chance of some errors creeping in. Predictably, Vettel set the early pace but Jenson found a little more speed shortly after as the track improved. Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull were all very close as the session continued and then Nico Rosberg jumped up to fourth as the last runs began to show that Mercedes are still involved as well. The shuffling started to push Webber and Massa down towards the drop zone but they both saved themselves at the last with Massa taking fastest lap by 0.6 seconds.

In Q2 most of the drivers had their fast laps done nice and early which was lucky for them. Pastor Maldonaldo broke down in the middle of the track and bought out the red flags for a few minutes as a crane had to rescue him. The fast guys didn't bother to go out again after that. Paul di Resta was trying hard at the end but his lap was too scruffy to be quick and he lost out on a place in Q3. His team mate, Adrian Sutil, did make it in though, which made for a good result for Force India.

With 5 minutes of Q3 remaining  the top six was Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Webber, Button and Massa. The top 4 all decided to do another run at the end, Webber set off first and Vettel was the last. By the end of his flying lap though, Vettel hadn't improved and jumped into the pits to save his tyres. Webber managed to get a faster time but only good enough for second. Button somehow ended up in 6th place as the cars all came home and another slightly disappointing qualifying session ended.

Race

The cars lined up on the grid on an even hotter day than Saturday which was making the teams nervous about how long the tyres might last.

Photo Courtesy of Force India

As the lights went out both Ferraris got good starts with Massa getting the best of all. Hamilton bogged down a little and both of the red cars were past him by the first corner. Alonso made the best of the second turn though by running around the outside and putting himself into third on the way out of the corner. Massa tried to continue his run off the grid but had to back out of it and settle into 4th. In the confusion Button ended up knocked down to 7th as Rosberg squeezed past into 6th behind Hamilton.

By lap 2 Sebastien Vettel had opened up a 1.3 second gap on Webber and didn't look as though he would have any trouble keeping it. As the DRS became active it was Button who was in the best position to take advantage to it. Sadly it didn't seem to be working to well for him, he was getting closer to Rosberg with the flap activated but not close enough to get past. Rosberg started to get a bit ragged as the pressure built, but it was on the way into turn 2 where Jenson finally just forgot to brake for a few metres and dived through on the inside.

Fernando Alonso was closing on Mark Webber up to lap 6 but didn't seem to be making enough headway to get through. In trying to hard he ran very wide on turn 20, right across the astroturf section and giving Webber a little more breathing space. Vettel was widening the gap as Fernando started again on catching Webber.

Lap 10 saw Massa overshoot turn 17 but Hamilton wasn't close enough to take advantage. The pit stops began on lap 12 with Heidfeld and Kobayashi being the first to blink. Hamilton was in the next lap and it was clear that nobody would be able to make the tyres last much longer as Vettel was starting to get some oversteer moments. Webber was the first of the Red Bulls to stop followed by Vettel on lap 15 with Alonso right behind him and Massa the lap after.

Michael Schumacher came out of the pits and tried to take the inside of turn 2 as Petrov was coming past. Vitaly thought the corner was his and turned in, loosening the front wing of the Mercedes. It proceeded to get more broken and despite managing to get past a Force India it ended up trapped under the side of the car by the tie he made it back to the pit. After an investigation by the stewards no action was taken.

The top three drivers were still less than 4 seconds apart by this stage. Webber found himself stuck behind some traffic at this stage which let Alonso get a little closer and the Spanish crowd were starting to get up on their feet every time he went by. He finally found a space and out-braked the Australian on the way into turn 12 and started to open out a gap.

By lap 22 Button was being told on the radio that the cars in front would start "degging" soon, indicating that their tyres would be degrading fast. A couple of laps later and Hamilton was informed that he was on the same pace as the cars behind. Normally this would get Lewis asking what about the cars in front, but not this time. The McLaren cars didn't seem to be showing the same pace they have had in the last few races, and it seemed as though this might be as far up the field as they could make it.

Later on during lap 27, with a fresh set of tyres, Lewis still found enough to put in fastest lap of the race up to that point. His engineer was on the radio asking him, "please manage your pace," or in other words, "don't wear your tyres out too quickly!" Webber made his second stop on lap 29 with Alonso coming in one lap later but he came back onto the track behind Webber.

By lap 30 Lewis was getting warnings from the pit again, this time his rear tyre temperatures were too high. To which he replied, "I can't go any slower." That's the sort of attitude we like to see! As Button pitted for his second time, Webber was catching Massa fast and dived past him as the Brazillian dealt with some traffic on the way into the pits.

Button was on the radio on lap 33, being told that his KERS was not working. This prompted the McLaren engineers to go and get their rubber gloves out. Hamilton was again not doing the right thing and on lap 40 he got another message from the team to up his pace. The reply this time, "I'm going as fast as I can go!"

Now the track started to make its mark on the race properly as no real progress was made by anyone for a long time. There were some good scraps in the midfield, but compared to the races so far this year it was quiet and almost processional. Despite the top three still being within 12 seconds on lap 50 nothing really seemed to be heating up and the top 6 finished as they had been for more than 10 laps.

Vettel seemed to be particularly pleased with this victory for no reason that anyone could fathom out. It just looked like another of his pole to flag victories, despite his romantic claims that its him against the car and the track. Sadly for us it seems to be the track that is the problem. As Tiff Needell tweeted afterwards, "Even Pirelli's best efforts and the wing flappy thing can't turn a truly boring circuit into a racing track."

The final result ended as Vettel from Alonso with Mark Webber taking the final podium position. Hamilton stayed in fourth with Massa, Button and Heidfeld behind that. Jaime Alguersuari got himself a good eighth place to boost his season, despite this being one of only three Formula 1 races ever where everyone who started also finished. And one of those was the infamous Indianapolis race where only 6 cars started.

Valencia is just a track which doesn't seem to inspire any racing and its hard to say why. It's a great location, not as narrow as a street circuit but still with walls that should make mistakes count. Long straights, tight twisty sections. Everything it should need is there, but just put together in a way that makes it dull.

Still, next time out is the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and that is a track that often produces a good race. It can be helped out by the Great British weather of course, but this year there are also major changes to the circuit. Specially designed to create mistakes and introduce more passing. With the added bonus of the Pirelli tyres and DRS this should help make it the sort of race that has been keeping us interested for the first part of the season. Come on the Brits!

Full Result

Championship Standings

Canadian Grand Prix is a Four Hour Epic

This year's Canadian Grand Prix was in every way an epic race. Stopped, restarted, rain, sun, safety cars and accidents, this race had it all. And even a fairy tale ending.

Photo Courtesy of Force India

Free Practice 3

Early on Saturday third practice saw Vettel fastest again while Pedro de la Rosa took the back wheel off his borrowed Force India. McLaren again couldn't get close to the Ferrari's and Vettel. Mark Webber however didn't get any running at all as his car was pulled apart to try and repair the KERS. Once again the KERS system costs Red Bull. Apparently their System only puts out 66% of the maximum allowed power. They claim that the lower weight and smaller size allow them to gain back performance in other ways. So far the balance seems to be right but if the KERS doesn't work at all, as seems to be happening so far, they are definitely losing out.

Qualifying

As qualifying started Martin Whitmarsh claimed that McLaren are setting the car up for wet weather due to the weather forecast showing a 60% chance of rain during the race. A lot of cars got out nice and early for qualifying 1. It looked as though there could be a chance of rain at any minute and there was also the chance of an accident stopping the session that forced them out for a banker. The drivers were opting for up to 3 flying laps as well, the soft tyres seemed to get faster as the temperature built up.

The top 6 was established pretty early on in the session with Fernando Alonso setting the fastest time. Paul Di Resta put in a fantastic lap to put himself in 8th place by the end of the session. Pedro De La Rosa provided some entertainment by running a little wide and skimming the wall with both wheels causing a shower of sparks. Somehow he avoided any damage and complete his lap but his speed was nothing to write home about.

Q2 saw some pretty close times, with seven minutes remaining the seven drivers were all within 3 tenths of a second. Kobayashi once again proved himself an absolute hero as he tried to get the best out of his car. The rear end got a little loose in the last chicane. He kept his toe down and drifted it round while looking like he was steering straight at champions wall. He survived it but it was clearly not the fastest way to do it. Paul Di Resta was also trying hard but couldn't do any better than 11th this time out. Massa was on top by the end of the session but only by a very small margin.

Q3 was almost settled by halfway through. Most of the cars went out for a second run but failed to improve except for Alonso who jumped just past Massa to put himself second on the grid. The final grid order was Vettel on pole, Alonso second and Massa third. Hamilton ended up in fourth followed by Webber while Button could only climb up to 7th. It turned out that Mark Webber wasn't able to use the Red Bull KERS at any time during qualifying which shows exactly how much damage it can do to the performance.

Photo Courtesy of Force India

Race

The track was wet as the start of the race approached, but it wasn't actually raining which raised hopes that the race would be able to start normally. Those hopes were to be dashed though, the safety car was at the front of the grid as the cars pulled away. Jaimie Alguesuari seemed to have made a great decision at this point. He had elected to start from the pit lane to allow the team to make some changes to the car and now he didn't  even have to catch up with the end of the field.

The safety car came in on lap 5 and the teams were put into a race situation on full wet Pirelli tyres for the first time. Vettel tried to start early to get a jump on Alonso but the Spaniard was right with him and trying hard to challenge on the start finish straight. As the rest of the cars followed through Hamilton found himself outbraking Mark Webber. It seemed as though he bounced of the kerb a little and knocked the Australian into a 180. The stewards almost immediately sent out a message that they were investigating the incident, no surprises there!

It appeared that Vettel was pulling out a four second lead, but replays showed that he had a short cut across the grass to help him with at least some of that. As Hamilton tried to regain the positions he had lost after his contact with Webber he came up behind Button. On the way out of the last chicane he got a much better run and dived towards the pit wall to try and overtake. Either Jenson hadn't seen or just wasn't expecting Lewis to be that fast as he moved over and the cars hit each other and Lewis hit the pit wall. Hamilton's car looked as though it was losing a wheel but he tried to make it back to the pits. He had to give that up by turn 5 though and parked it on the track, which bought the safety car back out again.

Jenson dived straight into the pits for a check up and a set of intermediate tyres. The car seemed to be ok and he rejoined the race a long way back and the only one on those tyres. A new message arrived from the stewards at this point. The investigation against Lewis for contact with Webber was dropped (yay!) and a new one was started. This time it was for being too fast under the safety car, Jenson got in on this one as well so that Lewis didn't feel left out.

On lap 12 the safety car came back in one more time and Jenson was handed a drive through penalty. Mark Webber was now in 9th place and trying very hard to improve. Once Jenson had completed his drive through he started to show some real pace on the intermediate tyres. Perhaps this had been a strategic master-stroke? Rubens obviously thought it was a good choice as he dived into the pits to try it out himself. Mark Webber didn't seem to be hanging about and pulled himself up to seventh. Fernando Alonso also liked the look of Button's pace, he dove into the pits for a new set of tyres as well.

By lap 19 the rain was starting to fall again as proved by Button aquaplaning towards the hairpin. It suddenly turned into an enormous downpour which bought the safety car out again to avoid any incidents. Alonso and Button both dived into the pit straight away to get back onto full wets. Sebastien Vettel followed them in next time around and thanks to the safety car not picking up the leader straight away managed to get away with only losing a place to Massa. Even that didn't last long as he also pulled in for a tyre change, Vettel gets all the breaks!

The rain was now increasing even more and  the red flag was shown on lap 25. The cars lined up on the grid Vettel in the lead followed by Kobayashi, Massa, Heidfeld, Petrov, Di Resta, Webber, Alonso, De La Rosa, Button and Rosberg. Kamui had not pitted at any point in the race and could now reap the rewards, a free tyre change and second place on the restart. The rain eventually stopped and the street sweepers were out in force to try and clear the track. The race was finally set to restart after a two hour four minute red flag delay.

The safety car led the cars off and after a few laps Kovavleinen was seen going slowly with what appeared to be a slipping clutch. He made his way back to the pits to retire and as it was announced that the safety car would come in on lap 35 D'Ambrosio jumped into the pits to go to inters. That was one  lap too early as it turned out and he got himself a drive through.

On the restart Vettel made his usual break for it and Kobayashi was too busy defending from Massa to worry him at that point. A fair few cars dived straight into the pit for intermediates and even more did the same on the following lap, including Jenson Button. Next time the Ferraris both went into the pit and had to queue for tyres with Alonso losing out. As he left the pit he ended up in front of Button who immediately tried to get up inside coming into turn 4. Alonso wouldn't give it up though and touched Button, spinning himself up onto the kerb and ending his race. Button got a puncture to show for it and made his way slowly back to the pit once again.

The stranded Ferrari meant that the safety car came out for another run, so Vettel stuck it back into the pit for a fresh set of tyres with no positions lost, while Button found himself in 21st and last place. Another investigation announced for the Button/Alonso incident.

By lap 44 Button had worked his way up to 15th place. Kobayashi was starting to struggle and Massa was trying very hard to take his place. By lap 46 DRS was being enabled and it looked like it was becoming time to change to slicks. Webber was well within the DRS activation zone was not able to take enough advantage to make a pass on Schumacher. Lap 49 and Button was up to 12th place. Buemi was sliding all over the place and that allowed Button to take his place, by lap 50 he was up to 10th.

Mark Webber was the first man to dare to go for slicks on lap 51. Kobayashi made a mistake on the way to the hairpin and Massa got alongside him. Neither of them could get any power down on the way out of the corner and Schumacher took full advantage of the situation and passed the pair of them to put himself into 2nd place. Lap 53 and Button pitted again, this time for slicks, with Schumacher and Massa doing the same on the following lap. Massa moved onto the wet part of the track to pass a back marker, lost all traction and knocked the front wing off his Ferrari but survived to continue to the pits.

Hiedfeld hit the back of a slow Kobayashi and broke his front wing supports. On the following straight the wing fell under the car and sent him flying down the escape road. The debris on the track caused the safety car to come out once more on lap 57. The order was now Vettel, Schumacher, Webber and Button with only 19 cars left in the race.

The race restarted on lap 61 with Vettel immediately opening out a lead on the other three. They stayed in order until the DRS was re-enabled. Then the fight began in earnest, Webber was trying incredibly hard but although he got alongside Schumacher, he ran wide on the final chicane. He had to give the place back and managed to do it without losing out to Button. He tried again next time round but this time couldn't keep the car straight on the way out of the chicane and lost his place to Jenson.

Button's DRS was obviously working better than Webber's as he passed Schumacher well before the chicane and started chasing Vettel. The German had a three second lead with only four laps remaining but Button gained back well over a second on the next lap. Webber finally got past Michael on lap 67 and Button was now only 1.3 seconds behind Vettel. Button went on to set the fastest lap of the race and finally get into the DRS zone on the last lap of the race. The pressure was obviously getting to Vettel and he put a wheel into the wet part of the track and half spun allowing Jenson to sweep past into the lead. He recovered to take second place followed by Webber and Schumacher. Massa used his DRS to catch up to Kobayashi and just managed to get a wheel in front on the line.

Aftermath

An incredible win by Button who had pretty much everything thrown at him during the race. It must have been incredibly dissapointing for Vettel who only made one small error in the whole event, but it was the most costly one it could have been. After everything else working out so well it was surprising to see such a slip-up from the man who, so far this year, could do no wrong.

Hamilton seemed to be trying too hard again. He was attempting moves that few others would try but that is how he got himself a championship. When they work he is the hero of the day, when they don't, he looks a bit foolish. That seems to be the result too often in the last few races, but if they gave out points for effort he would already have the championship sewn up. I'd rather see that than too much caution any day. Button said after the race that he just didn't realise Hamilton was trying to overtake when they touched. According to the team, no hard feelings. But you do have to wonder a little!

Schumacher finally managed to produce a performance worthy of his previous career. Some are saying that DRS cost him second place, but I'm not so sure. Once he was overtaken DRS didn't seem to give him back second place or even third after all.

Button and Alonso were not given Penalties for their contact, thankfully. In an incident packed race it seemed that far too many were being given out. One that changed the result of the race would have been a step too far for what was essentially a racing incident.

Surely there is no way Valencia can top a race like this, even with DRS and Pirelli tyres? I guess we'll find out in two weeks time!

Latest Result

Championship Standings

Crashing at Canada and No Bahrain

The Canadian Grand Prix started today. Both free practice sessions saw a decent number of drivers trying to find a way to avoid the walls and failing. This race will be the first time that two DRS zones will be used. There will be one activation line as usual but the flap will be used on both of the following straights. This should add an interesting twist, as long as it does not make overtaking far too easy.

Photo Courtesy of Force India

Friday started with an announcement from the organisers of the Bahrain Grand Prix. The statement accepted that this years event would be cancelled which must have resulted in a huge amount of people suddenly feeling much more relaxed. It certainly seemed that if things had continued there would have to be some kind of showdown or standoff to decide the fate of the race. The race organisers seem to have taken the reigns and saved everyone that embarrassment.

In Canada however the race weekend started well. The weather was sunny unlike the previous few days and the cars headed out onto the track to get used to the new tyres. This weekend the race will be run on the soft and super soft tyres but the teams also have a chance to test a new medium compound. The technical problems started early for both McLaren and Red Bull though. Lewis Hamilton's car was being stripped down to try and find the cause of his steering wheel display going blank. Sebastien Vettel was suffering from front brake problems. That isn't going to be fun at the best of times but at one of the heaviest braking circuits on the calendar it must be even worse.

Hamilton had to drive the rest of the session using a beep played into his crash helmet to determine when to shift gears. Vettel's brake problem was solved but the German driver overcooked the final chicane and added his name to the list of victims at Champion's Wall. He bounced across the kerbs and hit the wall taking a big chunk off the Red Bull. The session was red flagged while the wreckage was recovered. Rosberg ended up with the fastest time in Free Practice 1 followed by Alonso and Schumacher.

Free Practice 2 saw Vettel back on track with a fully repaired Red Bull and Hamilton with a working dash. Sergio Perez however had decided that he was not fit enough to compete in the rest of the event and Sauber took the unusual step of borrowing Pedro De La Rosa from McLaren. They spent half the session getting the car modified to fit him in. It was at this time that the track started to take its toll again, Sutil being the first victim as he wiped off a front wheel on the way out of turn 7. He pulled the car off the track only for Kamui Kobayashi to hit the wall hard at turn 4 and bring out the red. Once the track was clear D'Ambrosio tried the same move and also brought the session to a standstill while his wreckage was removed.

Alonso was the fastest driver this time around closely followed by Vettel who was obviously not too bothered by his incident in the morning session. Massa came third ahead of Hamilton and Button with Force India's Paul Di Resta doing a fantastic job to finish up sixth.

With such an interrupted day, relative performance is even harder to gauge than usual. The Red Bull's do not seem to have a very high top speed, their impressive high speed cornering is not much help here. Ferrari on the other hand have been struggling with aerodynamic grip and making the hard tyres work neither of which will affect them nearly as much as usual at this track. McLaren are the unknown quantity having missed out on a decent run in either session. Their engine is strong but so far they just haven't had the chance to show their potential.

Ferrari could really do well at a track which suits their car but you can never rule out Vettel where qualifying is concerned. So predictions are going to be: Vettel for pole. The race could well be a different matter though. I still think McLaren will be strong in the main event so I'm going for Hamilton first, Alonso second and Vettel third thanks to tyres and DRS zones. This is the best chance so far for McLaren and Ferrari to get some points back on Red Bull. Can't wait to find out which way it goes!

Monaco, Glitz, Glamour and Red Flags

An eventful Monaco showed all the excitement that it promised. But it ultimately came down to a slightly disappointing end after a red flag interrupted the last laps of the race.

Qualifying

At Monaco grid position is more important than at any other track during the season and this time out proved no different. The sessions started with lots of traffic and a few drivers getting in each others way. Rosberg produced the most impressive story of qualifying after a huge accident in the third free practice session. He lost the rear of his car exiting the tunnel, speared into the barriers and slid down the track towards the infamous wall at the chicane. Amazingly he missed the wall by an incredibly narrow margin and slid to a stop some way down the following straight with three wheels hanging from their tethers. The Mercedes team worked hard and had the car ready less than six minutes into Q1. Rosberg left the pits and put in hos first flying lap of the day to beat Schumacher and end up middle of the pack at that point.

It was qualifying 3 where the real drama started though. Most of the cars went out for an early run, two attempts seemed to be the order of the day and halfway through the session, Vettel put in a stunning lap to beat everyone by a huge margin. Button put in his fastest lap of the weekend and was still 0.4 secs off the german's time. Sergio Perez at this point came out of the tunnel a little off line, hit the brakes and in a very similar manner to Rosberg swerved into the wall and slid down the track. He wasn't as lucky as Nico though and smashed into the barrier side on. With around two and a half minutes remaining the session was instantly red-flagged while the rescue teams moved to assist. It took several minutes to remove the Mexican from his car safely and get him on his way to the medical centre. It was later revealed that he was suffering from concussion and a bruised leg, a lucky escape after a nasty incident.

As the session restarted Lewis Hamilton had been waiting at the pit exit for just over two minutes and was first on track. Despite a huge effort the track was not producing the same times as before and nobody improved. Hamilton had not set a time yet and becasue he cut the chicane on this last lap the time he set did not count and he started from 10th place.

Race

Photo courtesy of Force India

Lewis Hamilton was allowed to choose his starting tyres after his penalty and surprisingly elected to start the race on the harder tyres. An interesting strategy call but would it work? On the Warm-up lap Button radioed in to his team complaining of heavy steering which must have caused a slight panic in the garage.

The lights went out  and Fernando Alonso tried the flying straight up the inside that worked so well at Barcelona. It didn't quite work out as well here here but he got in front of Webber and Button kept his place in second. The biggest loser was Schumacher who bogged down badly off the line and was taken by several cars. By the time he got moving  Hamilton was in front and Michael responded by hitting him in turn 1. No major damage was caused and both cars continued. The German found a gap to slide up the inside of Hamilton at the hairpin. Rosberg also got a great start and found himself in fifth place by the end of the first lap.

Sebastien Vettel went straight into attack mode and by lap 3 was already 3.5 seconds ahead of Button. Hamilton was all over the back of Schumacher by this stage. Micheal was already complaining of graining but, as predicted the DRS zone didn't seem to be long enough at this track, and so he couldn't get alongside by St. Devote. Up the hill into Casino Square Hamilton was looking from side to side but there was clearly not enough space to allow a pass. Eventually he got a front wheel alongside and simply scared Michael off the apex. Michael, this time didn't turn in on Lewis and both carried on through.

Rubens followed Lewis through a short while later, yet another one back for all those years at Ferrari. The German was the first to stop on lap 13 to get rid of his damaged tyres and change his front wing. Neither Mercedes had a lot of speed and Felipe Massa was trying hard to pass Nico Rosberg but only succeeded by losing a few bits of wing against his tyre.

Button  dived into the pits on lap 16 and came back out on the track in a massive clear section of track. Vettel pitted a lap later but there was a problem with the tyre warmers which lead to a delay in the car getting going again. The small delay and a radio problem, meant that no-one was ready when Webber arrived seconds later for his stop, causing an even longer wait for him. Ferrari also got into the pits and once everyone was back on track Button was in the lead. Webber was the big loser, he ended up in 14th place. Vettel and Alonso had switched to the harder tyres whereas Button decided to stick with the softs.

Jenson proceeded to pull out a large gap over second place, it was over 10 seconds by lap 23. Lewis now went into the pits but his tyres weren't ready and when he eventually left the pits he was behind Webber but on the soft tyres. Paul di Resta gave himself a drive through penalty by attempting an almost impossible overtake at the hairpin and lost his front wind into the bargain. 10 out of 10 for pluck, minus several hundred for sensibleness!

Lewis was now behind Felipe Massa and chasing very hard. As they approached the hairpin Lewis tried the same move as Di Resta with similar results. He was way too far back and hit his tyre against Massa's sidepod which locked them together for the rest of the corner. As they entered the tunnel Felipe clearly had no grip and Hamilton got alongside as they reached the bend. Massa ran onto the marbles, lost grip and wiped his wheels off on the barrier. The first safety car of the year was called out.

Sebastien Vettel stayed out as the safety car boards came out, so did Jenson, Schumacher promptly broke down just before the pit entrance and lewis got into the pits followed by almost everyone else. Lewis came on the radio claiming that Massa turned in on him on purpose but the stewards had none of it and gave him a drive through penalty.

The safety car came in on lap 38. After clearing the lapped traffic Button quickly started to close in on Vettel as Hamilton took his penalty. Webber was hounding Kobayashi now but couldn't seem to make any further progress. Button came in for his second stop on lap 48 and went on to the harder tyres. On exiting the pits he put in some seriously fast laps and quickly started to catch back up with Alonso and Vettel.

Photo Courtesy of Team Lotus

By lap 52 it became clear that if Sebastien was to stop for tyres he would exit the pits well behind Button and Alonso. If he was to run to the end of the race his tyres would be well past their best and it didn't seem likely that he could hold button behind him with the English driver on far fresher rubber. Fernando Alonso was also on pretty secondhand tyres at this point but they were definitely newer than Vettel's, and this allowed him and Button to close in on the leader.

Jenson came onto the radio asking his team if Vettel was staying out. The reply, "We're not sure, but we are much faster." However with overtaking so difficult at this track would that be enough? It became obvious that staying out and hoping for the best was the plan. As Alonso got onto the tail of Vettel you could see he was much faster around most of the lap but, at the all important DRS zone he just could not get the power on early enough. By lap 62 Button was in the activation zone as well and the race was set for an intense last section.

Alonso was attacking Vettel as hard as he could, whereas Jenson seemed to be waiting for his perfect moment. They caught up with a large train of back markers on lap 70 and started to pass them. Kobayashi was part of it and tried a move on fifth place Sutil which resulted in a wheel to wheel collision. This obviously damaged Sutil's tyre and he ran wide in the swimming pool complex and hit the wall. He tried to make it around the next corner causing the following cars to take avoiding action. In the concertina Alguesuari rode up onto the back of Hamilton's car and straight off into the barrier taking Petrov with him and bringing out the second safety car.

Petrov was not coming straight out of the car and the yellows were changed to red with all the cars coming to a stop on the grid while he was extracted from the car and the wreckage was cleared away. He turned out to be suffering only from minor leg injuries on further inspection. In a little used rule somewhere it is written that the teams are allowed to work on the cars on the grid in this situation. This allowed McLaren to repair Hamilton's damaged wing but also allowed Ferrari and Red Bull to replace their respective driver's worn out tyres. The final result was pretty much sealed at this point and instead of the dramatic finale which had been building up we were treated to a four lap dash to the end between cars with pretty much the same grip as each other.

Hamilton and Webber were the only ones to provide any excitement on the restart. Hamilton knocking Pastor Maldonaldo sideways on turn 1 and Webber finally dispatching Kobayashi on the penultimate lap. The final result saw Vettel take his first Monaco victory followed closely by Alonso and Button. Webber got himself into fourth, with Kobayashi and Hamliton behind him. It seemed unlikely that Lewis would keep his place after the contact with Maldonaldo though.

This was the best Monaco race for many years and in the end, what should have been a dramatic race to the line, was spoiled by a little known regulation. The DRS was kind of helpful but it never really stood much chance on a track this tight anyway, the tyres provided the real show.

Lewis provided even more drama in the post race interviews when he accused pretty much everyone of being out to get him. This seemed odd as during the race it appeared that he was the one hitting everyone else. After the drivers' he also claimed that it seemed the Stewards were after him as well. When asked why he thought that was he made an attempt at a joke which will definitely come back to haunt him. "I don't know," he said, "maybe its because I'm black. That's what Ali G would say." Ali G popularised the phrase in the UK but somehow I don't think that will go down too well with the international members of the press and FIA officials.

Monaco always provides glitz and glamour but this time it also provided good racing. Although it was unfortunately with a bit of danger thrown in. The cars keep getting faster but run-off can never be added to this track. One day the cars will not be able to race here. Thank goodness it wasn't today. Next up is Canada where the DRS system will be used on two straights in a row. Looking forward to it!

Edit: Hamilton was given a 20 second penalty for causing an avoidable accident. The penalty does not affect the final standings.

Full Result

Championship Standings

Dramatic Start to Monaco Grand Prix

The Grand Prix weekend in Monte Carlo got the excitement underway nice and early by providing some news before any of the cars had even turned a wheel. A maintenance truck caught fire in the middle of St. Devote and blazed away nicely before being bought under control. This lead to some damage to the tarmac which required emergency repairs less than 24 hours before the cars were due to take to the track. The pre-Grand Prix excitement didn't stop there however. Jenson Button had to take avoiding action from a fork lift truck whilst on foot in the pits, but avoided getting hit. The FIA settled another mystery as they announced that the DRS would not be used in the tunnel at any point during the weekend. The activation zone for the race will be on the start/finish straight with the detection point immediately after the swimming pool complex.

Photo Courtesy of Team Lotus

The first free practice sessions, as usual, start a day early in Monaco so the drivers took to the track today. Free practice 1 started slowly as the top teams waited for the backmarkers to clean up the track and start putting down some rubber for them to run on. Seemingly from nowhere water started to appear on the start line, running across the track towards the pits. This bought out the red flags for a while as water supply was turned off to allow the cars to complete the session safely.

Mark Webber had a start to forget as he suffered gearbox problems early on and had to sit out most of the session while it was repaired. Towards the end of the session the drivers started going out for faster runs. Except Schumacher who lost grip on the way into turn 1. He tried to save it by heading down the escape road but slid sideways into the tyre wall damaging his car. The session ended with Vettel quickest followed by Alonso and Rosberg. The McLaren's should have been closer but traffic stopped Hamilton at least from showing his full pace.

Free practice 2 later on in the day allowed the drivers to really start attacking the track. There were a few front wings lost, and a few hairy moments for several drivers. Massa was one showing his car control skills as he fought a very loose Ferrari inches away from the barriers. An exciting display, but not fast enough to worry the top spot on the scoreboard. Alonso was the driver who took that place with Hamilton chasing hard just one tenth behind. Rosberg and Button both got faster times than Vettel, with Massa and Schumacher squeezing in front of Webber.

The super-soft tyres seem to be lasting longer than the teams had feared which means there could be as little as two stops per driver in the race. But so far predictions have been a bit unreliable on that front, so we will have to wait and see. Red Bull, for once, don't seem to have the advantage as they have at all the other races this year. Were they running high fuel? Or is it possible that the lower speed here really isn't suiting their car? Whichever way it turns out, this must be giving Ferrari, McLaren and even Mercedes hope that they may not be invincible come sunday. Not to mention the hope that we won't see the wonky finger that gets on Jenson's nerves so much again this weekend.

The Drag Reduction System is the other unknown here. On a track that is famous for being a procession, anything that can be done to shake things up is a good thing. But is the straight long enough? The cars are coming from a very low speed as they open the flap, and the deciding factor for getting a pass done is going to be rear grip rather than top speed. There isn't a lot of space to play with either, so the chances of seeing a safety car are probably at their highest for the whole season. This could be the most exciting Monaco Grand Prix for years or it could be a damp squib in the middle of an awesome season. I can't wait to find out which!

Predictions are much more tricky than usual. I'd love to think that Jenson could do well here as he seems to have a safe smooth style that suits this track. I just don't think he has the raw speed though, so lets go for Alonso on pole, with a mistake in strategy spoiling his Sunday. Hamilton first, Button second and Vettel third. What do you think?

McLaren Nearly Catch Red Bull in Spain

Red Bull's qualifying pace deserted them in the main event in Barcelona as McLaren took the fight almost all the way to the front. The race was the best part of the weekend despite a DRS miscalculation by the FIA, which only proves that the Pirelli P Zero's are the biggest factor in Formula one's rediscovered excitement.

Qualifying

Saturday started badly for Nick Heidfeld after his car caught fire in the third practice session. Heidfeld pulled to the side of the track and got out safely but his car was severely damaged. The team worked as hard as they could but the limited time meant that it couldn't be repaired in time for Q1. Renault claimed that a cracked exhaust was the culprit but there seemed to be a huge amount of fire for that. It may well have been the start, but something a lot more flammable was involved to get the car burning that well.

This meant that there was one less car to beat in Q1 for the remaining drivers which should have taken the pressure off a little. But with a two second difference in performance between soft and hard tyres some of the teams were nervous enough to run the option tyre in the first session. Mercedes and Ferrari both used a set to get into Q2 which cut down on their supply for the race.

In Q2 the usual suspects quickly rose to the top of the time sheets, all of them using the softer tyres. As the end of the session closed in it became clear that Massa's time might not be enough to get to Q3 as he was pushed further and further down the order. The biggest news came from Heikki Kovalainen who put in a last minute lap to beat both Force India cars and take the last place in Q3. It was probably not the best move for the Lotus team from a race strategy point of view, but its great to see them moving up the field regardless.

Q3 was a relatively quiet session. The new tyres are forcing the teams to be very careful about using any when they don't have to. This meant that everyone would only try a maximum of one run, with Scumacher not even managing that. He went out on the hard tyre and came back in before setting a time, which gave him the choice of tyres to start the race on. Red Bull waited just long enough for McLaren to set some times before sending their drivers out. Vettel went first and embarrassed the silver cars by posting a time 0.8 seconds faster than Hamilton could achieve. Webber then went and did the unthinkable by beating his team mate by 0.2 seconds and proving once again that Red Bull are the toppest of the top teams this year. The only other real surprise came from Alonso who, this time out, got rid of his fifth place curse and beat Button to fourth on the gird.

Race

Photo courtesy of Team Lotus

Nick Heidfeld was expected to start on soft tyres due to his lack of running in qualifying, so it was a surprise to seem him line up on the grid on hard tyres. There was speculation that Scumacher would start on hard tyres having saved his softs in qualifying but he stuck with the more standard softs for the first stint.

Off the line Fernando Alonso got a blinder as he brilliantly managed to find a gap and slide past both Red Bulls into the lead of the race in turn 1. In the confusion behind, Mark Webber dropped back behind Sebastien Vettel and Jenson Button lost out even more badly, finding himself in tenth as the smoke cleared. The end of the lap saw Kobayashi in the pit for a new front wing and the race was underway.

The top five cars were very close as the Drag Reduction System activated on lap 3. This showed that the zone was set wrongly as the cars closed in, but didn't get alongside with the rear wing flap open. Button started his fight back regardless, pushing Felipe Massa into a few mistakes early on.

The pit stops started early with some cars coming in on lap 9 and the majority following them in on the next laps. Vettel came in on lap 10 for the first of four stops and ended up behind Button. But not for long, even without the benefit of DRS. Lap 11 saw Alonso and Webber pit in order to stop Vettel gaining too much advantage. As they came out of the pit lane the German dispatched the last of his traffic and ended up directly behind Alonso once more.

By lap 12 almost everyone had completed their first stops, except for Jenson Button and Paul Di Resta who was now up to sixth. It seemed that Button would be trying a three stop strategy despite the lack of success last time it was tried. Lewis Hamilton seemed to have the fastest car at this stage of the race, consistently posting fastesr laps than the people ahead of him.

Jenson finally stopped for new tyres on lap 14 behind some traffic, which stood a good chance of spoiling his race already. Di Resta went longest of anyone though, stopping on Lap 16. Fernando Alonso was still holding his own at the front, with Vettel and Hamilton chasing him hard but not able to make any further progress.

Vettel stopped again on lap 19 putting the hard tyres on this time and cementing the fact that he was on a four stop strategy. As Webber caught the leaders the rest of them started to pit. Alonso failed to stay in front of Vettel after his stop this time around and it seemed that Red Bull would carry on in their usual manner and dominate the rest of the race. But Lewis Hamilton was still putting in fast laps, and even though he stayed out two laps longer than Alonso, he beat him out of the pits and took second place.

By this time Nick Heidfeld had moved onto a set of the brand new soft tyres he had available and started to charge up through the standings. Mark Webber was stuck behind Alonso after a very tight pit lane race and despite having the Drag Reduction System available, couldn't make it past the Spaniard. Despite having massive high speed cornering pace the Red Bull couldn't make enough difference to get past in the slower sections.

Hamilton was gradually closing the gap towards Vettel now. Jenson dropped into the pits again, the three stop strategy still seemed to be working so far. The new tyres also allowed him to start catching up with Alonso and Webber's fight. Webber eventually got close enough to throw himself down the inside and past, only for Alonso to switch back and regain the position at the next corner. Meanwhile Vettel dropped into the pits for yet another set of tyres.

Felipe Massa slowly slid down the order and now his afternoon got worse as he lost the back of his car and stopped sideways just off the track. The engine was still running though and so he continued. Hamilton got a fresh set of tyres to continue his hunt of Vettel. Throughout the afternoon the two Mercedes were fighting each other hard, Michael was making sure to stay in front of his younger team mate this time out.

As the race started heading towards the closin stages, Button's tyres were still surviving, and Heidfeld was climbing further up the score sheet. By lap 48 Webber was in the pits again for a second set of hard tyres, followed by the rest of the front runners. No change in position this time around but it became clear that Vettel was not using the Kers system on the Red Bull. As Hamilton slowly caught up, Vettel's team came on the radio telling him to start using it again.

Kovaleinen came off the track up ended up against the barriers bringing out the yellow flags. Vettel, Hamilton, Button and Alguersuari were put under investigation after the race for failing to slow down in the yellow zone. Hamilton's speed kept the gap to Vettel heading down and down, but the laps were also running out. As Hamilton got into the DRS activation zone it seemed that his car was faster, but the German's defensive driving was faultless. The McLaren looked more settled and much more comfortable holding the racing line than the Red Bull. Despite this Vettel had the better drive out of the last corner and could defend into turn 1.

Felipe Massa was suffering badly by now with what turned out to be gearbox troubles, and dropped out of the race. Jenson was still keeping Webber behind at this time and with the end of the race approaching fast, it was clear the Englishman would take the last place on the podium. Hamilton meanwhile, was getting more ragged behind Vettel and couldn't make up the difference to get past. The race ended with Vettel first and Hamilton only 0.6 seconds behind. Jenson finished third with Webber taking fourth. Alonso ended the race in fifth with Schumacher finally getting a decent result in sixth followed by Rosberg in seventh. Nick Heidfeld finished a great race for him in eighth place.

The steward's investigation after the race ended up with all the drivers involved receiving only a reprimand.

The FIA did get the DRS wrong here. Almost no overtakes came solely from the system but still the race was not another overtake-less bore as usually happens in Spain. From Canada onwards there will be two DRS zones to stop this problem despite the shorter straights. But its the tyres that are really creating the change now. Pirelli have almost single-handedly revitalised Formula 1 into an exciting, dramatic race series. And the only thing that can spoil that is Red Bull walking away with every race. McLaren are closing the gap in the races. But Hispania may fix that for us, if they follow through on their threat to lodge a formal complaint against the teams using blown diffusers in Monaco. The next week should be interesting to say the least. Could we possibly have overtaking at Monaco?!

Full Result

Championship Standings

Road Safety, Fighting and Upgrades

Another week with no race (boo!) so a quick round-up of the most interesting stuff that didn't happen on the track this week.

Decade of Action

Action for Road Safety

Jenson can't-see-my-own-pit Button and Lewis burnouts-in-the-street Hamilton met up with Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday to launch the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety campaign. So far the campaign seems to involve lots of people saying the roads should be safer and not a great deal else. This is obviously a worthy cause but actual action so far seems to be a bit lacking. So here's my bit of action: Wear your seatbelts and drive sensibly everyone!

Adrian Sutil the Fighter?

According to some rumours Adrian Sutil was involved in an 'incident' in a Shanghai nightclub after the Chinese Grand Prix which ended with someone getting a bloodied neck. No-one seemed to know any more details than that until Sutil made a statement to the German Bild newspaper. According to Adrian there was an 'unfortunate action' in which he 'hurt another person completely unintentionally'. Well that clears that up then! Now that everything is revealed we are asked to ignore the whole event as it was not really anything to do with F1 anyway.

New British Driver Coming to Formula 1?

Adrian Quaife-Hobbs is testing for Virgin at the weekend. This will mark the young driver's first time in a Formula 1 car and will hopefully be the first of many more opportunities. Adrian has had lots of success in his career so far and is currently running in the GP3 series. During testing he was top of the time sheets but with only one race so far, bad luck has got in the way of good results. Here's hoping for better luck at Barcelona.

Upgrades for Everyone

With the Spanish Grand Prix approaching fast, the teams are all busy working hard on the cars to try and catch up to Red Bull. Who are presumably working hard to keep them as far behind as possible. Mercedes have a new aerodynamics package and some suspension updates to try and cheer up Michael. You never know he might even be able to keep up with Rosberg. As long as they don't give the same updates to him. McLaren are hoping to actually get the upgrades they took to Turkey working this time around. Sauber have a pretty significant amount of new bodywork which they hope will translate into positions and Renault are testing some parts this weekend to be ready for Spain.

Barcelona is a track which doesn't typically give very much overtaking. However this year is far from typical! Nobody is sure how DRS will affect the racing at this track as it wasn't used during winter testing. The Activation and sensing zones have not yet been announced but it seem that the pit straight is the best place to put it. That should provide some pretty impressive, and brave, overtaking as turn 1 is quite a fast corner. The Pirelli tyres should also play their part at this venue, with some long, high speed corners to make sure they wear out nice and quickly. With a bit of luck we might see a race where pole position doesn't win, unlike the last 10 years in a row. Then again, with Vettel around, maybe not.

Magic Paddles and Eddie's Shirt

Saturday practice in Turkey went according to plan for Red Bull. Sebastien Vettel posted the fastest time. This time Mercedes (or at least one of them) were following closely behind with McLaren not able to get as close as they have been.

Qualifying

Phot Courtesy of Team Lotus

Qualifying started badly for Kobayashi. He was first person out on track and suffered an engine failure on his out lap. Despite coasting as far as he could he didn't make it back to the pits and was first man out in Q3.

During Q2 an unusual call over the radio to Michael Schumacher was heard. "Magic paddle Michael. Magic paddle latched". Awesome phrases seem to be coming out of every race this year, and this is certainly one of the best. Instant speculation started as to what it might be, but Ross Brawn and the drivers were being a little secretive about it. Ross only mentioned that it allows them to make several set-up changes in one go. My guess would be fuel system, brake bias and differential settings, but it could be as simple as the DRS paddle which would probably make more sense of the "latched" part.

Q3 saw Red Bull taking an incredibly cool approach. Both drivers waited for the middle of the session before going out. Vettel promptly set the pace by going almost half a second faster than Webber, which sent everyone else off for their final run. Vettel and Webber meanwhile, got out of their cars and wandered off. The confidence on show must be bringing the other teams down, but its not misplaced. No-one else could get anywhere near Vettel. Nico Rosberg upset the normal order by putting himself in third, Hamilton having to be satisfied with fourth. Alonso got a faster time than Button, The Spaniard seems to be making fifth place on the grid his own this year. While Schumacher's magic paddle wasn't quite as special as his team-mate's, he could only manage eighth.

Race


You know its nearly time for the race when Martin Brundle's grid walk starts. He tried to interrupt Vettel, with a superb disregard of manners, while the German was already being interviewed. Jenson tried to get in on the act with the quotes. Martin asked, "How's it looking?" and got the reply, "As good as Eddie's shirt." Quality stuff!

The race started well for Lewis Hamilton, which lasted for about 20 seconds until it turned into a disaster. He made it to the outside of turn 1 trying hard to fight for third and suddenly discovered there was no grip on the outside. This saw him falling backwards as everyone else found the apex he missed. Mark Webber lost out to Nico Rosberg who was being chased hard by Button. Lewis didn't want to stay there though and started fighting hard to get back in front.

Vitaly Petrov attacked Michael Schumacher on the way into turn 11 with a great slide up the inside and got repaid by Michael turning in on his rear wheel and taking his own front wing off. It was an odd mistake from the legendary driver, you have to wonder what he was thinking. That put him into the pit for repairs straight away.

Vettel was already making himself a gap in the early stages of the race while Jenson and Lewis were battling hard again on lap 7 and 8. They had a great battle, trading places very cleanly, several times before Lewis managed to get ahead in the end. Fernando Alonso was in third place hanging on to the back of Webber, as Nico Rosberg started going falling down the field. The Mercedes, despite its qualifying form, looked slow at the start of the main event.

Lewis Hamilton seemed to be losing speed and Massa overtook him just before both cars stopped for new tyres. McLaren won the pit stop race and released Lewis just before Ferrari were ready. The lollipop/traffic light man didn't seem to notice and Massa came out directly alongside Lewis. Somehow the red team didn't get a penalty for that, but you have to think it would have been deserved if they had.

Lewis was warned that he was being put onto plan B as was Nick Heidfeld. Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld had a bit of argy-bargy, both trying to push each other off the track and waving at each other to pass the blame. Meanwhile Kamui Kobayashi had made his way up as far as 13th from dead last by not taking a pit stop. Jenson also left his stop late and got himself in front of Vettel, holding him up for a while until his tyres ran out of grip. Vettel passed him and Button got into the pits for his first stop.

Rubens Barrichello put a nice move on Schumacher, who kept fighting a little too long again. Coulthard, in the commentary box, mentioned that Michael doesn't seem to know when to give up. Brundle replied, "What, on his career?" Its nice to know that I'm not the only one who thinks its time to jack it in for the German. As if to prove the point he was taken shortly after by Kobayashi and Sutil.

By this stage it was becoming clear that Button was working on a three stop strategy. Alonso was keeping pace with the Red Bulls and Nico Rosberg was finally getting his performance back in gear.
Felipe Massa managed to get past him eventually though closely followed by Jensen Button who pulled a smashing move around the outside of turn 14.

The second round of pitstops was underway by now and Jenson forced Felipe to get his underway as he breezed past and forced a mistake from the Brazilian. He locked up heavily and dived straight into the pits after nearly missing turn 12.

Hamilton's next stop was a disaster as his right front wheel just wouldn't go back on. As soon as it did he tried to get away but was stopped again as Massa pulled into his pit. It gave him a huge delay but in the end probably didn't do his race too much damage. Apart from Massa missing turn 8 and having losing a big wedge of time, the race then settled down for a bit. That was probably a bit of a relief because it had been pretty hectic up to that point, and I for one needed a little time to figure out what had happened!

Towards the end the race started warming up a bit as the tyres started to run out of grip for some. Paul Di Resta broke down and parked his car, the Scot having a disappointing end to another good race. Lewis was catching Jenson fast as Button struggled to make his tyres last to the end. Webber passed Alonso who fought back as hard as he could. It wasn't enough to retake the place though and he had to settle for third. Massa caught up with Schumacher and struggled to get in front. Michael held his place through the last corners but then Felipe managed to stitch him up nicely into turn 1. Jenson's strategy was definitely proved to be the wrong one as Nico Rosberg went through again.

The race finished with the Red Bulls in first and second (no prizes for guessing the order,) and Alonso in third. Hamilton missed the podium with Rosberg behind him and Button ended in sixth.

Kamui Kobayashi made a great race of it ending up in 10th place after starting in 24th. McLaren cost themselves some points with a bad strategy call for Button and a pit stop error for Hamilton. Ferrari have found some performance from somewhere, although there don't appear to have been major changes on the car. Mercedes have problems with their performance at the start of the race, but nothing seems to be wrong by the end of the race. The DRS zone was perhaps a little too long for this track, some of the overtakes were too easy. But the race was definitely exciting, which is what has been needed after too many years of dullness.

The European season gets underway properly next time out in Barcelona. Upgrades will be coming thick and fast. Will it be enough for anyone to get near to Red Bull? Will the drag reduction system activation zone be set properly this time? Will Schumacher have had enough yet? All these questions might be answered in two weeks time. And maybe we'll get some more quality quotes as well.

Complete results.

Championship Standings.