The Fast Lane – Vettel helps Red Bull seal the deal in a lacklustre Korean GP

Only a week after Sebastien Vettel wrapped up the 2011 Formula One World Championship, the circus reconvened in Korea. The quick turnaround no doubt took it’s toll on the teams, but they were all still hungry with a constructors championship and second in the drivers standings all up for grabs – race on!

It was almost like seeing the Korean track for the first time this weekend. A year ago the entire weekend was clouded out by a phenomenal amount of rain, many didn’t make the chequered flag. But despite a slight hiccup in practice, the weather remained dry for today’s race… I almost wish it hadn’t.

Don’t get me wrong, there was some good racing through the field today – but the Grand Prix just seemed to me to be very lacking. The rather dull colour of the Korean tracks walls probably didn’t help, but I just felt that such a promising race just didn’t deliver.

It was an exciting race in prospect with Lewis Hamilton (albeit very downhearted) becoming the first non- Red Bull driver to claim pole position this year – what an incredible statistic. This however didn’t last long. Many have previously criticised Vettel as being a fast driver, but not a racer. I think this no longer applies as Vettel dispatched of Hamilton quickly and clinically before the end of the first lap. There’s no doubt it was a blitzing move from Vettel, but I can’t help thinking there was a groan around the world as we realised that once again this race was to be dominated by one man until the finish.

Hamilton was able to stay with the Red Bull for the majority of the race, but it was clear that the McLaren driver was really having to push to stay in contention whilst Vettel had plenty in reserve up front. This was obvious from the fact that Vettel always stayed just over a second in front, denying Hamilton that crucial DRS activation. Clever and frustrating driving from the champ.

Instead of battling for the lead, Hamilton soon had to switch to a defensive strategy to keep second place. Mark Webber had been closing on Lewis for the entire race and after the second pitstop came his chance. This was without doubt the highlight of the race. Both Webber and Hamilton raced wheel to wheel round the entire lap, each diving in front of each other only to lose it on the next corner. They showed how it can and should be done, each giving the other plenty of room without compromising their own race.

In the end it was Lewis who came out the better and remained in second. Some will argue that Lewis was saved by the DRS which he used to breeze straight back past Webber in the first instance, but lets not forget that Webber was able to use DRS on every lap after and still coundn’t re-pass Hamilton. Perhaps we have found Red Bull’s only weakness (just a little too late!).

Behind the Hamilton/Webber battle was Jenson Button who really failed to come alive today. After a shocking start, Button found himself battling with Rosberg as he rejoined the race after his first pit stop. Button came down the pit lane behind Rosberg but overtook the German by crossing the white line at the pit exit. This struck me as very strange as normally drivers are not allowed to cross this line and receive a penalty for it, yet here in Korea it seemed to go unnoticed as everyone tried it.

Once again, I think the FIA need to sort their rules out and decide what you can and can’t do as I believe Rosberg was only following the line he thought you were supposed to take out of the pits. Mind you, the pit exit itself is a complete shambles, allowing for less run off than a motorway entrance and nearly causing a collision between Michael Schumacher and Feranando Alonso in the middle of the race.

Of course, Michael didn’t have to wait long before he actually did have a collision. Soon after the nearly-incident with Alonso, Schumacher was whacked into from the side by Vitaly Petrov who had completely missed his braking zone. This was due to him racing to the limit with Alonso (who also missed his braking zone, but to a lesser effect) and clearly not spotting Schumacher in front. Another unfortunate exit for the German, but I was most worried Michael was ill as he told Lee McKenzie that other incidents between himself and Petrov were his own fault. Schumacher, admit a mistake – what?!

Fernando Alonso did not fall out of the race, but he may as well have done. The Spaniard had a horribly average Sunday stuck behind his teammate Felipe Massa. I think it was clear that Alonso could have been quicker, but Massa defended well and kept him behind – clearly both have been told they can race now. When Alonso did get some clear air, he did start to cruise up to Button but curiously said over the radio that he had ‘given up’. A very strange attitude from a racing driver and was most likely sour grapes from being stuck behind Massa. But I’m afraid the only thing I have to say to Alonso is, it’s a race – if you want to pass Massa, overtake him. Don’t expect to be given it!

Around 10 seconds ahead of the rest, Sebastien Vettel (remember him!) came through to win the race on lap 55 – sealing the constructors championship for Red Bull – and was just as excited as he has been all season. But I’m afraid I wasn’t. Perhaps we’ve been treated by such an exciting F1 of late that I forgot how bad the sport once was (and this was nowhere near as bad as the mid-2000’s) but I did just find todays race dull. Maybe it’s the track, maybe it’s the drivers attitudes, maybe it’s just me – but I’m hoping for a much more exciting race when we head to India in two weeks time.

And as a quick note, I’m afraid there will be no Fast Lane post from me for the Indian Grand Prix (well at least not on Sunday) as I’ll be otherwise engaged during the race. Never fear though, ‘The Fast Lane’ and hopefully a more upbeat writer will return for the 13th November for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix!

The Fast Lane – Vettel loses the battle, but wins the war in Suzuka

After a dominant season, Sebastien Vettel came to to Japan needing only one point to secure the 2011 Formula One World Championship. But he was determined that he was not playing the percentages game and instead wanted the glory of another race victory. That became obvious when he stormed to pole position despite the Red Bull’s being consistently slower than the McLaren’s throughout practice.

So this morning we were a situation we’re all very familiar with, Vettel on pole ready to win another race easily from the front. But things didn’t exactly go to plan.

A poor getaway saw Vettel on the backfoot from the start with second place man Jenson Button (the only one who could still take the title from Seb) drawing alongside the Red Bull. Vettel did the only thing he could and squeezed Button’s McLaren to the edge of the track.

This is an incident I’m sure will be debated long into tonight. Button was clearly still angry after the race, confronting Vettel before the podium. The move was very aggressive and Vettel did take every inch of room he could, but in my opinion was just within his rights at a race start. By the time Vettel had moved fully over, Button had lost momentum and had only his front wheels alongside the German. Button moved onto the grass, but I think there was still just enough room on track. Button’s move was a precaution and ultimately cost him second place, but I do think he could have just stayed on track. Vettel was extremely aggressive, but just stayed within the rules of the FIA. It was right that no penalty was issued.

This move allowed Vettel to open up and early lead, with his competitors all rearranging themselves behind. Massa let the fast Alonso through (for about the twentieth time!) and Hamilton moved out of the way of Button after a puncture. With the faster cars now chasing him, Vettel was forced to pit due to tyre degredation on lap 9.

The race entered a stage of status quo at this point, Button was getting slightly closer to Vettel and Alonso continued to push. The gaps were coming down, but with still plenty of time between each car there was no real on track action to be had up front.

Things changed again on laps 19 and 20 when a combination of an average pit stop and outlap for Vettel and a supreme one for Button reversed the positions in the pits. Button took the lead of the race – now things got interesting. Vettel was on the backfoot again, if Button won and he failed to score due to an accident, the championship would remain open for another week.

Rather than stay out of trouble and protect his point, Vettel decided that he was still going for glory and harried Button for several laps. I do think it is great to see a racer so dedicated that they still put this effort in, even when it’s not necessary. Vettel helped to give us a very exciting battle – even if most of the world were willing him to make a mistake!

Further back, two more drivers were getting into trouble. Hamilton and Massa seem to like getting so close they touch this season and the same thing happened again today. Massa few down the outside of Hamilton coming into the final chicane. Lewis – not noticing the Ferrari – took his usual line and the two collided, all be it in a rather minor way. It’s tough to place blame here, Lewis clearly didn’t see Felipe and drove straight into him, but despite racing, perhaps Felipe should have known it was never going to work around the outiside. I personally would say Hamilton again was sadly more in the wrong the Stewards decided not to give a penalty today to the most penalised driver of the season!

This incident caused a small amount of debris and the safety car was deployed. After a four lap period, Jenson backed the pack up (to the extreme) and restarted the race. He was able to absorb some more pressure from Vettel who was now suffering with his tryes again and dropped back from the Brit.

Vettel pitted again, but must have been surprised a few laps later when Fernando Alonso emerged out of the pit lane in front of him. Unseen by most, Alonso had been on quite a charge and has mustered enough time to leapfrog the reigning world champion.

This battle would continue until near the end of the race. Vettel pressured Alonso for several laps, but was asked by the team to stop racing and  back off for the final five. This of course was the only sensible thing to do, win the championship rather than risk it with Alonso.

But Fernando wasn’t quite finished yet as he was able to close to just under a second behind race leader Button. Jenson however stamped his authority on the race by setting some new fastest laps to keep the Ferrari at bay.

And so Jenson Button came through to take his third victory of the season, but all eyes were on a very emotional Sebastien Vettel who has driven a Schumacher-esque season to win his second world title. If we’re honest, we’ve known this for a very long time, but that makes it none the less incredible – a class act right from the Australian GP.

Interestingly, for all the anoraks out there, we had quite an interesting top six with all five of the grids world champions in it (That’s right, Schumacher was best of the rest today!) and of course, Mark Webber in 4th…

So the drivers championship is over, but not the season. I predict a very close and hard fought fight for second place – Button, Alonso and Hamilton really have very little to choose between them and whose to say that Webber and Massa won’t mix things up as well. And now Vettel has nothing to lose, he could be even more daring and racier than ever before… oh great!

The Fast Lane – Supreme Singapore Vettel, But No Championship Yet!

It was with an air of anticipation that the Formula One World moved to Singapore for the fourth time racing in the night. Through a series of complicated and convoluted calculations, Sebastien Vettel has the chance to win the world championship today, six races before the end.

And Vettel started as he meant to go on. Pole position in Saturday’s qualifying was followed by a storming start to the Grand Prix, leaving everyone (especially his team-mate) standing. For Mark Webber it was the same old story. Another poor launch saw both Button and the fast-starting Alonso make their way through. It also caused an early charge from Lewis Hamilton to be blocked. As he became stuck behind the Australian, Hamilton lost momentum and ended up in a disappointing eighth place after the first lap.

With Vettel commanding the field with a lead over 5 seconds after just two laps, all eyes were on Lewis Hamilton who was really fired up for this weekend. After easily dispatching Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, the Brit lined-up Felipe Massa in his cross-hares. There’s no doubt the McLaren was working well – Hamilton eased up on the Ferrari driver and drew up side-by-side in the DRS zone.

But this was where the charge was to halt. Around the tight turn seven, Hamilton turned too close to Massa and the pair collided – Hamilton losing his front wing and Massa stuck with a punctured tyre. This later resulted in Hamilton being given a drive-through penalty and dropping the Brit to 19th place.

I feel I have to state this every race and it is a shame. Lewis Hamilton is a fantastic racer, he is probably the most entertaining one out there, but he seems to make reckless, needless mistakes which can ruin a race. It’s telling that this incident was a near carbon-copy of the crash that knocked Hamilton out last year. There’s always a risk in opportunistic racing, but Hamilton always seems to be on the wrong end of it.

It doesn’t help that a few times this season, it’s been against Felipe Massa that these incidents have occurred and it seems the Singapore heat did get to Felipe a little who ‘congratulated’ Lewis for his drive after the race… But of course Lewis bounces back and did so today with a dedicated comeback drive.

Back to the race. There’s no doubt that Singapore, despite the stunning sights of the cars under the lights, can be a little bit of a procession. Luckily the 2011 regulations did help to ease this. It was enjoyable to see several moves up and down the field. Mark Webber was certainly on form finding an crafty way past Fernando Alonso not once, but twice!

But despite the increased action in comparison to previous years, it was still a welcome sight to see the safety car bunch things up on lap 29. What wasn’t nice to see was Michael Schumacher’s rather scary crash that cause the race suspension. The German mis-timed a move up the inside of Sergio Perez and ended up flying into a barrier, literally!

The safety car helped keep some action coming up to the end of the race (things had got a bit stale before hand), but I do think it’s a shame that Jenson Button wasn’t able to have a go at the leader Vettel at the restsart. Four backmarkers stood between him and the race leader. Personally I see no reason why, in a safety car period, lapped cars shouldn’t be able to pass around the track and unlap themselves. This way we get a clearer and potentially more exciting restart without Jarno Trulli getting in everyone’s way  –  isn’t this what Bernie ‘DRS’ Ecclestone wants? Sort it out… please!

The second part of the race saw most positions remain status-quo. Hamilton was the main mover after working his way up to fifth position, twice! The tyre degredation clearly affected the teams heavily here with all top-runners pitting three times. However, some mid team drivers gambled and only pitted twice helping the likes of di Resta, Rosberg and Sutil into 6th, 7th and 8th (another solid performance from rookie di Resta)

The closing laps of the race gave us one final push from Jenson Button. The Brit had sat in second place for  the whole race protecting his tyres, but now it was time to throw caution to the wind and go after Vettel. It was a valiant drive from Button, the gap was clearly tumbling and with backmarkers, Vettel was forced to push a little to ensure his lead.

But in the end it was little more than an annoyance for Vettel who finished yet another supreme drive from start to finish. This man is unbelievably dominant and thoroughly deserves this World Championship, regardless of how annoying that finger is.

But despite all the hype, the championship is still not Vettel’s yet. That’s right, Sebastien Vettel has got only five races left to make… one point! That means that Jenson Button has to win every single other race this year with Vettel failing to score a single point… hmmm

As David Coulthard said ‘It’ll take some doing…’

The Fast Lane – A comedy of tyre errors helps Button to the win

We come to the Hungaroring, notoriously one of the dullest Grand Prix’s of the year. As far as overtaking is concerned, Murray Walker always described it as Monaco but without the scenery. With Vettel restoring his pole position on Saturday, it was looking like another possible procession. But the McLaren’s, along with a bit of help from the weather, had different ideas.

From the start we saw Vettel under pressure, a sight which has become so rare in this 2011 season. Hamilton was all over the back of the Red Bull driver and often alongside – great wheel-to-wheel racing.

But the most noticeable thing off the start was how difficult the track conditions were. The track was slightly damp due to some earlier rain, but I was surprised to see everyone struggling on the intermediate tyres and really fighting the cars not to slide off. The Ferrari’s seemed to have the worst problems, a wide first corner had allowed both Mercedes drivers through. Despite getting past both Rosberg and Schumacher in subsequent laps, Alonso found himself back behind Rosberg soon after when he slid off the circuit entirely. It seems we’ve learnt another thing about those Pirelli’s today, they don’t get up to temperature in the rain very well at all!

This (along with pressure from Hamilton) eventually led to Vettel sliding wide and losing the lead to the Brit. From this point, Vettel did not look very strong at all, it was hard to see this as the same man who has been bullet-proof in the first half of the championship. He continued to slide back from Hamilton into the clutches of Button who also overtook the German just before the first pit-stops.

By the first stops, the track had dried out causing everyone to switch to the dry super-soft tyres. Webber and Button were first and looked pretty cautious on their outlaps, but this soon turned in their favour when they got up to speed, helping Webber to jump Alonso. The tyres would continue to play a big part throughout this race.

Hamilton continued to lead out front, but when he stopped for the third time, he made a fatal error which likely cost him the race. Lewis opted to stay on the super-soft dry tyres. It seemed the sensible decision, they had proven faster over the weekend and seemed the safe choice. Alonso also made this call, but the other front runners opted for the soft prime tyre, which had seemed slower in practice, but could go a much longer distance.

It didn’t take long to see which tyre was best. The track was clearly coming into the territory of the prime tyre (due to the lower temperatures) as Sebastien Vettel caught and passed Fernando Alonso (who had managed to jump him in an earlier stop). He then proceeded to pull away from Alonso at an astonishing rate, proving the speed of the primes at this stage of the race.

Realising the mistake, Hamilton pushed hard for fast laps, he needed to make a gap to pit again. But there was another curveball to come. The rain started coming

down, not very intense, but enough. Hamilton hit a curb and spun his McLaren. In a bid to keep the lead, he quickly spun around – not noticing oncoming cars and forced Paul Di Resta to drive off the track to avoid him. This later earned Lewis a drive-throgh penalty, destroying his race – and I’m sorry to say it was the right decision, it was a dangerous move (although not as dangerous as the Heidfeld incident which I’ll come onto later).

This allowed Button through, but also produced some of the most thrilling racing seen all season as the two team-mates diced for the lead, swapping position every few corners. The racing was ferocious but fair and kudos has to go to both of the McLaren boys for making such a great spectacle. The lead was important to both as with rain coming down, they needed to make the decision about tyres. And this is where Lewis got it wrong again, opting for intermediates. Both he and Webber made this choice and felt the consequences. The rain was not heavy enough and it seemed the prime was still the tyre to be on. Both switched to this a few laps later.

All of this allowed Button to stay comfortably out in front. Both he and Vettel already had the prime tyres and had managed to live through the short shower. With

Vettel still looking like a weaker force (and more than happy in second), this was Button’s race to lose. His team-mate Hamilton, now down in fifth and almost a minute behind the lead, still had some fight in him and took Webber for fourth position with six laps to go.

But no-one could stop Button now and he drove magnificently to his 11th career win on his 200th Grand Prix start!

Further down the field there was a mixed day for all. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa must be disappointed with sixth after fighting higher up early on and setting several fastest laps, but then both Ferrari’s under performed their cars today with errors galore (I think Alonso was off the track more than anyone else).

Another under performing team was Mercedes. The fantastic start for Schumacher and Rosberg was the only highlight as both cars slipped down the field, Rosberg finishing 9th and Schumacher retiring with a gearbox failure.

The less said about Renault the better. The only notable part of their Grand Prix was when Heidfeld’s car exploded on the pit exit. I was not comfortable with the handling of this. In tricky conditions for the drivers, the car was left in a prominent position, smoke billowing everywhere at a point where the drivers sharply accelerate. Things got scary when the stricken Renault was towed back into the pit-lane as Vettel exited. After a slide, the German missed the marshals by centimetres. I think when the Stewards criticised Hamilton for his move, they should seriously look at the danger of this incident – a safety car was needed.

Final thoughts go to Paul Di Resta who drove fantastically (if a bit under the radar) to secure seventh position – the best of the rest(a!). Paul is really starting to show a lot of promise with his speed in a Force India, surely a star of the future.

And that was the Hungarian Grand Prix… really? But it was interesting!

I Know! We’ve gone three races since Vettel last won, yet due to the victories being shared by Alonso, Hamilton and Button, he has still extended his lead today.

But do you know what? I don’t care. So long as the on track racing remains exciting (which it certainly is) I will continue to  enjoy watching it… well for this year at least…

 

 

The Fast Lane – Hamilton heroic and not a Vettel in sight!

It’s not been a good season for Lewis Hamilton. Nine races in and the former champion had only win to his name after a season marred with controversy, anger and disappointment on his part. But things turned around for Lewis this weekend, on the chilly Nurburgring track (where no-one expected anything from McLaren, the Brit blitzed the track and left all others standing.

It started well for Lewis on Saturday. An astounding qualifying lap put him sec on on the grid behind Mark Webber and crucially ahead of everyone’s rival, Sebastien Vettel. The race pace of the McLaren proved even more impressive as Hamilton stormed past a slow starting Webber at the first corner and continued to lap at remarkable speed. Others got faster laps at various points in the race, but Lewis remained the most consistently fast and I think that’s the key factor in how race win today.

But of course it’s never as simple as that in F1 (well not anymore anyway!) as we were treated to a fantastically entertaining battle around one of the worlds most famous circuits. Throughout the race, the top three drivers were consistently close, spending a period of around 10 laps within 2 seconds of each other in the middle section of the race. And it wasn’t just a close procession, there was overtaking – lots of it.

Near the start of the Grand Prix, we saw Hamilton have a slight wobble causing him to be overtaken by an opportunist Webber. But this lasted mere seconds as Hamilton powered down the pit-straight and outbreaked the Australian to retake the lead. It shows how racy Hamilton was today that he was not prepared to give an inch to anyone. He showed this again later when coming out of the pits alongside Webber. Hamilton calmly and cunningly moved his McLaren out to the right and forced Webber onto a wet patch of track, keeping his lead competently. Later on, he gave Webber a masterclass on how to overtake on the outside by punishing Alonso as he exited the pits, giving him track position and potentially the move that won him the race.

Hamilton has been criticised a lot this season (in my opinion fairly) for his clumsy moves – racing headlong onto a situation without thought of how it was to end. But today we saw the racer we used to love return. He took every opportunity in an aggressive manner, but never reckless and it pid off for him.

Both of the Ferrari’s were also feeling very racy today. Alonso took the opportunity to be the first man this season to pass Vettel at full racing speed (without the German making a mistake) and made it stick. Massa also showed great form, passing several competitors and ending his race battling with Sebastien Vettel in a thrilling fight for fourth on track.

And that brings me to Mr. Vettel. There’s no doubt about it, he had an off weekend. We saw him off the track a couple of times after mistakes and his raw pace was never really there today. Who knows what the reason for this was – is he becoming complacent with his massive points lead, was it the pressure of his home GP? It was most likely neither of these factors, he just had a slightly poor weekend. From post-race interviews, he seems unhappy – suggesting Red Bull need to improve, but I think he’ll look back at this weekend and laugh. After all he still has a 77 point lead!

On track action was of course only half of the race today, with strategy playing a big part. It was interesting to see what the UK commentators refer to as ‘the undercut’ failed this weekend. The Pirelli’s were lasting longer, no doubt due to the cooler track and it meant that staying out longer was the smart thing to do on the options. This left Mark Webber all at sea when both Hamilton and Alonso passed him easily in the second stops.

The reverse was true later in the race, when it turned out the prime tyres (which all the teams believed to be extremely slow) were actually a lot quicker than expected. This gave Hamilton the final advantage he needed when he pitted first for his set of primes and quickly pulled out a lead over Alonso and Webber.

I wonder if Ferrari regret not bringing Massa in earlier for the primes, knowing what we know now. The Brazillian was battling hard with Vettel, but both drivers stayed out until the final lap, opting for a thrilling pit-race between Red Bull and Ferrari – eventually lost by Massa. If Massa had have pitted earlier for the primes, he could have increased his lead enough to stay ahead of Vettel instead of losing a place on the final lap – never a good feeling!

Of course it wasn’t just the top five racing today – further down the field there was a sterling, if quiet, performance from Adrian Sutil who progressed his Force India

into sixth position. Mercedes continued their mediocre season with Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher finishing 7th and 8th respectively.

There was drama early on between Nick Heidfeld and Sebastien Buemi as the Toro Rosso ploughed into the Renault knocking Heidfeld out of hie home race, Buemihas been given a five-place grid drop for the next Grand Prix. And Renault will probably be disappointed with Petrov’s 10th place, which was looking stronger earlier on. The team promised much this year but have failed to deliver.

One person I have yet to mention is Jenson Button who had without doubt the worst weekend. After qualifying low down, he simply went backwards at the start, losing out to Petrov and Schumacher. There was comeback and a glimmer of hope for the Brit later on, but that was quashed as his car was retired with a hydraulic problem – quite unusual considering the reliability of post 2009 F1. After two disappointing races, Jenson will be hoping for an actual race finish in Hungary.

The final twist of the day came after the chequered flag when Alonso’s Ferrari ran out of fuel and stopped on track. In a repeat of the legendary Mansell-Senna lift at Silverstone, Mark Webber offered Alonso a ride back to the pit lane – breaking several FIA regulations, but providing us with one final spectacle for the weekend. Luckily the stewards have seen fit to not hand any penalty to either driver for this incident.

F1 leaves Nurburgring with it’s head held high. It was another stunning weekend with a very worthy winner. In fact, it makes me wonder why the FIA ever demoted Nurburgring from holding the European GP, it beats Valencia hands down and that way we could have it every year! But as it is, we will look forward to our next Nurburgring race in 2013 and head off to The Hungaroring. The same man still leads the standings, but a different man has the pace – do we have a fightback on our hands?

 

F1 2011 Preview – The Drivers

Two weeks later than planned, it’s finally time to get the 2011 Formula 1 season underway this weekend in Australia. All this week, I’ll be posting articles previewing the upcoming season which is already looking like it could be a lot closer than last years. I’ll start with the drivers.

Last year saw a thrilling 5 way battle for the title, it was great to see so many contenders and we can only presume that we’ll have the same tight battle this year. The five involved – Sebastien Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button – are staying at their respective teams and so will likely be in a great position to challenge for the top spot. And of course a shared podium, means a closer battle. It would be fantastic to have another season going straight down to the wire and these five aren’t likely to give anyone else an easy time.

But at the same time, there’s a potential contender from the tope teams who seems to be forgotten. I really hope that this year is the ear that Felipe Massa can get back up to speed and really challenge for some race victories again, hopefully showing his team mate Alonso a few things! Since his accident in 2009, The Brazillian has never really got back to his old self which I think is a great shame. Before the incident there was clearly a champion in there which seems to have been lost in the last year. Felipe’s a great guy and I really hope 2011 could be the season he bounces back instead of staying in Alonso’s shadow. If not, it could be his last real chance.

Someone who’s had his last chance and is on the way back into the sport is Michael Schumacher. Last year was seen by many as a disappointment for the 7 time world champion. He didn’t even make it onto the podium with his best race position being 4th in Spain and Korea. However, Michael has remained upbeat throughout and after some positive testing with the new Mercedes in the past few weeks, it looks like Schumacher could be coming back into contention. I don’t see him winning the championship, but expect some podiums and maybe a race victory. Having the German back in the mix will certainly have interesting knock on effects for those in contention for the title.

And don’t rule out Schumacher’s team mate. Nico Rosberg grew a lot last year and easily outshone his more famous colleague. If the Mercedes is as good as it looks, he could be one to watch in 2011.

There are a few new drivers joining the grid this year. Pastor Maldonado has taken Nico Hulkenberg’s seat at the rejuvinated Williams F1 Team. The Venezuelan is the current GP2 champion winning six races in last years series.

His main competitor from GP2 has also made the leap to F1. Sergio Perez from Italy will be joining the BMW Sauber F1 Team alongside Kamui Kobayashi who’s bound to give us another year of ridiculous kamikaze racing. He who dares wins!

Narain Karthikeyan will be making his return to the sport – after a 6 year break – with Hispania this year which has an entirely new line-up with Vitantonia Liuzzi joining the team as well.

Another driver making a welcome return is Nick Heidfeld. The German was left without a drive last year, but due to Robert Kubica’s horrific crash in February he’s making a return to the sport with Renault (or should I say Lotus Renault?). And Heidfeld’s progress will be particularly interesting as he has spend more time with the new Pirelli tyres than any other driver.

There’s a couple more new appointments, DTM star Paul Di Resta joins the vastly improving Force India and Jerome d’Ambrosio replace Lucas di Grassi at Virgin Racing. See the full line up of 2011’s grid here.

But the big question is: who is shaping up to be the best in 2011. For me it has to be Alonso again. He was the best driver of 2010 in my opinion (by a sliver) and lost out to Vettel due to bad luck. With Ferrari concentrating heavily on 2011 and some pretty good testing times, I think Fernando goes into this the favourite. But Vettel’s not far behind and those McLaren boys will also be fighting hard for a second title. It looks like more could be in contention than ever and that will hopefully give us a spectacular season.

Come back tomorrow for my take on the Teams of the 2011 F1 season.

An overtake, controversy and a punishment – Schumacher’s back!

People have been complaining for the past few weeks that Michael Schumacher’s return to Formula 1 has been disappointing and that the seven-times world champion has lost his way.

Now although he hasn’t been up to his championship winning standard lately, I’ve completely disagreed with these views. I think he’s put in solid performances, with a car that’s not fully up to scratch and a body that’s not a physically fit as it was.

But today I think we can all agree that Michael Schumacher has indeed returned. I’ve never known a driver to be as wiley as Schumi, nor cause as much controversy with the rules. Today he did both those things.

The last three laps of the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix were held under the safety car. All except the last corner. That’s right, for reason’s known only to Charlie Whiteing, the safety car peeled off at this point and the track was supposedly clear. Schumacher took advantage and sneakily got his car in front of Fernando Alonso, taking the Spaniard’s position.

Now I saw this as a very smart move and saw nothing wrong with it. Michael waited until after the safety car line, from which you SHOULD be able to overtake.

However, it seems in a little known rule, this isn’t allowed of it’s the end of the race, don’t ask me why because I don’t really understand. I also don’t understand why the marshalls were waving green flags at this point if it wasn’t supposed to be clear racing. But apparently it wasn’t and Schumacher was docked 20 seconds, knocking him (in my opinion unfairly) out of the points.

As far as I can tell the fans were the only people robbed today. We see an extremely clever opportunistic move by a driver and as a reward they get docked positions. The rules are poorly written, poorly interpreted and it seems even the on-track marshalls weren’t sure of the situation. And it’s not the first time the FIA have penalised for an overtaking move, I remember a few years ago JP Montoya and later Lewis Hamilton often got penalised for their creative moves. It’s as if they don’t want overtaking in their sport.

It’s a complete disgrace and something I thought the FIA had moved past.

OK, so some people will think I’m over-reacting, but for me this incident sums up everything wrong with F1. There’s too many vague rules, too many poor controversial situations and (I say this as a Ferrari fan) too much Ferrari bias… maybe they should’ve formed that break-away series…

But as I said at the start of this article, we saw a creative move, some stupid controversy and a penalty (that’ll probably be appealed against) at the end of it… yep, Schumi’s back!

… oh and by the way, congrats to mark Webber on an impeccable drive!

F1 2009: The Half-Way Point

OK, so it’s actually just after half-way through the season! But F1 2009 has been like a reset for the series with new regulations causing a massive change to the cars and mid-season testing banned. In the UK there’s also been a new broadcaster for the sport. But how has it been, here’s my view on the season so far!

The Regulations

One of the biggest changes in the sports history. This year the FIA brought in new specifications for the cars to help them follow each other more closely. They also had an ambiguous one about diffusers, meaning that some teams (such as the almighty Brawn GP) had a massive advantage at the start of the season.

It also ensured that the cars looked very different. This I wasn’t sure of at first. I switched on the first practice of the season and thought they were all toy cars. Even now I think they have a strangely ‘cheap’ look about them, something to do with the larger front wing and smaller rear wing. But I have got used to them and at the end of the day looks aren’t everything.

But have they actually improved the racing. I remember the first few races if the season had a large amount of overtaking making it seem that the regs were a huge improvement. But as the season has gone on, the overtaking has become less and less. I think the quality of the racing really is still down to the drivers, the new regulations make following easier, but overtaking just as difficult as before.

KERS

Another controversial addition this year has been the ‘Kinetic Energy Recovery System’ allowing drivers to get a boost at certain points in the race. Now, I was a supporter of this idea at the start of the season, but have completely u-turned as the season has gone on. I think the idea can work, but it has to be on every single car. Having the system optional has ruined the whole point. It makes no sense for cars without a boost to be up against ones that have it.

I initially liked the idea as it added an extra element of strategy… when to use the boost, but if the FIA want to keep it (which it looks like they don’t) they’ll have to make it compulsory for all cars.

The Racing

Surely the most important part of the sport. In my opinion this year has seen some of the best racing in the sport for a long time. We started off with a real shock at the start of the season when we discovered that Brawn GP really were as good as they looked. It was a great success story and one which the whole industry needed.

Jenson Button has been a revelation this year, not just because of the success of the Brawn car either. Overtaking at the end of the first lap has become a trademark of the Brit. It’s shown that all Jenson has ever needed has been a decent car because now he is driving and acting like a champion.

But f course it hasn’t all been plain sailing for Brawn as Red Bull have more than caught up with them. BothVettel and Webber have performed very well this year and are real challengers for the title.

And just recently the action’s got even closer with Ferrari and McLaren getting their act together. I do think we’re in for a very entertaining end to the season.

The Controversy

Arguably the second biggest part of the sport! wherever there’s F1 there’s controversy and this years been no different. It all started off after the first race when Lewis Hamilton was disqualified. It was later found out that the McLaren team had been lying about an overtaking move on Trulli. This led to a variety of things happening, the biggest being Ron Dennis’ departure from the team. It was amazing to see how a team so high had fallen so low.

But the far bigger controversy this year has been the threat of a breakaway series. The FIA are changing things again next year including axing refuelling stops and limiting the budget for teams. This angered the majority who said they wouldn’t sign.

Things conspired and got worse and worse until the whole paddock (excluding Force India and Williams) hated Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosely and refused to sign up to F1 2010. It all came to a head at Silverstone when FOTA said they would split F1 into two series. Mosely acted like a complete wally and called all those disagreeing with him loonies and the circus continued!

Only recently has an agreement been made, but it’s on the condition that Mosely leaves, perhaps then this stupid controversy can all end!

Schumacher To Return?

Only a couple of weeks ago at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Felipe had the worst accident seen in the sport for many years. A spring from fellow countryman Rubens Barrichello’s car, hit his head knocking him unconscious and damaging his eye. There was doubt that he’d ever race again. Luckily the Brazillian has done well in hospital and is likely to return, but not for a while.

Therefore, someone else had to fill his boots, leading to a very exciting announcement. Michael Schumacher was to return to F1.

Now, I had planned to wrote loads of exciting stuff about Schumi’s return on this post, but sadly thats not going to happen. On Tuesday it was revealed that Schumacher would not be returning as he was not fit enough. This I feel has been a massive blow to F1 as having Michael back (whatever you may think of him) would really have boosted the speed shows popularity. Oh well, maybe next year Michael!

The Coverage

Here in the UK, we’ve been viewing the F1 a bit differently. For the first time in over 10 years, the BBC are screening the racing again. Personally I was worried as to how well they would do, it has been a while and I was expecting a shaky start. But i think the coverage has been very good this year and an improvement over ITV. Jake Humphrey has proved to be more competent a presenter than Steve Ryder (apart from when he nearly got himself run over). Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard have been surprisingly entertaining. I think this may be down to their more recent connection with the sport.

If anythings a weakpoint, it’s possibly the commentary. Jonathon Legard knows the sport, but doesn’t have the charisma and passion that former commentators in the top role have had. Equally,  Martin Brundle, although a very engaging speaker, is starting to make stupid mistakes which is making the coverage confusing and almost pointless…

But overall I feel the BBC have done a great job, especially interactive (it’s now all on iPlayer, there’s coverage of practice on the red button and highlights are at a much better time on BBC 3).

And as for the sport, I think 2009 has been a very encouraging year. New winners, closer racing and an overall more entertaining season. I just hope it goes all the way down to the wire in Abu Dhabi.