Please, visit the site tomorrow (Tuesday) for full race report :).
Tuesday: Thank you for your compasion. The race report is now available at Girls Like F1 Too main site. Click here.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Announcement + Link
Please, visit the site tomorrow (Tuesday) for full race report :).
Tuesday: Thank you for your compasion. The race report is now available at Girls Like F1 Too main site. Click here.
Monday, May 9, 2011
F1 - Wacky Races Style
Last year, after a few unlucky for Ferrari GPs Fernando Alonso called racing in F1 wacky. Wacky you say, huh? The association could (or rather had to) be only one: the unforgettable cartoon Wacky Races!
Who doesn’t remember Dick Dastardly desperately trying to win a race at all costs? One of the greatest villains of my childhood never managed to get to the finish line first, though he was punching below the belt and taking pains to be faster than the rest just once in his life. And what a colourful rest it was! A bunch of individuals – one creepier and slier than the other. Dick Dastardly may have been the biggest villain of the cartoon, but let’s be honest – none of the racers were saint and each of them had some mischievous dealings of their own targeted at beating the rest.
A Freudian psychologist would probably say that my early childhood experiences with Dick (!) influenced the way I perceive F1 as an adult (yeah… he would definitely add some sexual background as well and father figure), so no wonder I notice traces of Wacky Races behind every corner of modern F1. And that’s where the idea of F1 Wacky Races Style came from. The rules are simple: if F1 was indeed wacky as Fernando says – who would play which part? Here are my suggestions:
Caution: this text is not going to be unbiased. It doesn’t mean that I decided to have a go at this or another driver or team, nothing of that sort! As the cartoon Wacky Races was totally crazy, I decided to do it just the same and base the text on most stereotypical and biased comments one can find circulating in the Internet.
So… ready, steady and… WE ARE RACING!
Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine are… Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa
Despite it all, he is still the centre of attention and everybody looks at him. Just like children want to know what Dick Dastardly is up to now, even if they say they want him to lose again. As Martin Brundle once said: we know, love and despise [him] all at the same time.Felipe takes the part of Muttley – an unintentional partner in crime. They might be a tandem, but no matter how many mean orders Muttley follows, in the end of the day, it is Dick Dastardly (aka Fernando Alonso) who is perceived to be the responsible one. Muttley can only giggle the way he likes it best ;-).
The Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile are… Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber
Slag Brothers used to hit their car (or even better) themselves in order to go faster. You could feel brotherly love in the air! So is the case of Red Bull with Sebastian and Mark pushing each other to the limits, sometimes off the track and the wonderful family-like atmosphere in the camp (as Mark Webber described it: perhaps the best in the paddock).
When it comes to speech – Slag Brothers used a totally incomprehensible language only they could get. With whole due respect – Mark’s Aussie accent doesn’t make it easier for foreigners and Sebastian Vettel doesn’t stay far behind, creating words only he can understand.
The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe are… HRT and Virgin
Twosome was awesome. You could never know what would jump out of the little tower they had on their car. So is the case of last year’s newbies: HRT and Virgin. They are doing their best just like all other competitors in our race and you have to respect them for their efforts, but at the same time, you can never tell which part and when stops working or simply falls out of the car, just like the bats used to fly out from the Creepy Coupe.
Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car is… Adrian Newey
Does it really need any justification? Professor Pat could make a stone fly (which is actually quite a good comparison if we keep in mind that Newey's drivers are Slag Brothers in their stony car). He didn’t win every time, because nobody can do that, but he was still the greatest brain and the biggest magician of the cartoon. Just like Adrian Newey who everybody would love to hire and who, as Stefano Domenicali said it, makes a difference and gives Red Bull (flexi) wings.
Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer is… Michael Schumacher
Flying Red Max took his name from the Red Baron. And who is the F1 Red Baron? He might be silver now, but deep in the hearts and minds of the fans (and maybe even his own) he’ll always be red. Not fighting fair and square, pushing his opponents into the grass, crashing into them and parking his car in the middle of the track to stop the most dangerous enemy. And despite it all he still flies above the rest with records difficult to beat.
Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat is… Nico Rosberg
Yes, he cut his hair. Yes, he grew a beard. Yes, he changed his image. But he still is the prettiest (prettiest and not most handsome!) of them all. I’m sorry Nico, but it will take more than a few months to get rid of the Britney label. I've almost forgotten – he even got one vote in a poll amongst drivers for the most beautiful woman in F1.
Sergeant Blast and Private Meekley in the Army Surplus Special are… Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov
The extra-military unit: Pirate Nick and Vyborg Rocket that is Vitaly Petrov. Nick may take the role of the Sergant being the more experienced one. Petrov is learning fast, but it’s still Nick who is less meek – waving hands when his team mate crashes into him and… crashing into his teammate if he stands in the way. The military Vyborg Rocket still needs some instruction on how to take corners from time to time and will sometimes give the position back if he thinks that he has taken it unlawfully, but he’s stronger and stronger with every race. Sergeant’s and Private’s tank was aided by a cannon giving them extra boost. Petrov’s indestructible The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb is… Bernie Ecclestone and whole F1
The gangster-like little man followed by a group of subordinates doing their best for his benefit. One would never tell how much power this inconspicuous man has!
Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug are… Adrian Sutil and Jarno Trulli
Adrian cruises around the circuit carelessly crashing here and there, just like Luke. And whenever he opens his eyes wider, he will see Jarno Trulli biting his teeth – but not with fear (like Blubber Bear used to do it) but with anger. Yes, these boys have some common adventures. Spain, Brazil, Abu Dhabi… it was Sutil’s, Trulli’s fault. Oh dear...
Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific is… Jenson Button
Mr. Perfection. Perfect gentleman on and outside of the track. Carrying bags for the ladies, driving the car in a famous silky smooth style. Dashing young gentleman with impeccable hair, clothes and even more perfect girlfriend. She’s his only flaw – just ask the female fans.
Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzzwagon are… Lewis Hamilton
Buzzwagon guys used to cut through the field, not really caring for any obstacle. And Lewis is doing just the same. What are the chances for the win? Zero… he’ll give it a go! How far is the guy in front? 40 seconds 5 laps from the end… he’ll catch him (or at least crash trying)! There’s a gap over there, a really small one – he’ll try to squeeze in there. No obstacle is scary for Lewis. Pity that not everything can be cut in half and left behind just like this.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Turkish GP 2011
And when you just think it can’t get any more exciting and hectic, we get Turkish GP! Concerning sole victory, we were back to Australian/Malaysian GPs style with Sebastian Vettel cruising from the start to the finish line with no particular problem (the only one was to lap fighting Sutil and Perez on the penultimate lap), but what a rush it was behind his back!
I wanted to bring myself some more tea at one point of the race and was literally begging the drivers to stop the madness on the track and come back to the 2010 processions for a second, but all for nothing – I left the TV for 2 minutes and it took me another 10 after I came back to get what had actually happened as the order had already changed drastically. For those of you who are acquainted with the classic writing of Jane Austen, as Pride and Prejudice Mrs Bennet would put it: You have no compassion on my poor nerves!
Sebastian Vettel and his team did a great job if we consider the fact that the German crashed in the early stages of FP1 on Friday and therefore, missed whole FP2. Lack of practice and data didn’t stop the reigning world champion from snatching pole on Saturday and transferring it into yet another 25 points today afternoon.
Vettel maintained his position at the start, unlike his teammate who wasn’t fast enough of the line and was overtaken by starting from P3 Nico Rosberg. Lewis Hamilton, starting from the second row, saw an opportunity, but his effort to follow Rosberg and overtake Webber on the outside did not pay off as he went wide and lost his P4 to Fernando Alonso (who seems to have P5 subscription this year as he keeps on starting from this position) and even Jenson Button, who was P6 on the grid. Behind, Petrov lost place to Michael Schumacher, but decided not to yield so easily. An overtaking move by the Russian performed not much later, ended up with a small collision between the Renault driver and the 7-time world champion. It compromised the German’s race as he was forced to duck to the pit lane straight away. It was one of those races, when one has to ask a question whether Schumacher’s decision to come back from his retirement was right. Despite efforts, the Mercedes’ driver finished the race outside of points and was overtaken by nearly anybody who happened to be around, including his former teammates – Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello.
Soon after the start Mark Webber retook his second place when he passed Rosberg with the use of DRS. Fernando Alonso followed his footsteps two laps later. The now leading trio (Vettel, Webber, Alonso) turned out to be the podium finishers, but they still had their share of fight to perform, before they could drink the champagne.* Behind them, Hamilton regained one lost position passing Button, but, as his tyres were nearly gone, he lost it before he could even think Gotcha! not even mentioning catching Rosberg (now in P4). Massa, who started from P10 and (having not set a time in Q3) was free to choose any tyres he wanted for the start was making good progress and he soon joined the McLaren drivers’ battle. He managed to get past Lewis Hamilton and the two drivers went both straight into the pit lane on lap 9. With McLaren crew being faster and a bit unsafe release from the Ferrari team, the Brazilian’s efforts to get in front of Hamilton came to nothing as the Brit rejoined the track in front. As expected, the tyres didn’t last long and it took only around 10 laps before we saw the first dose of pit stops. Jenson Button, whose crew chose to pit 3 times instead of the preferred 4-stop strategy, delayed his first pit stop and was now in the lead.
On lap 12, Vitaly Petrov decided to attack his teammate and nearly repeated what the Red Bull drivers did in Istanbul last year as he was close to crash with Nick Heidfeld. Enraged Heidfeld, pushed out of the track, found time and energy to show his Russian friend some friendly fist gestures. Meanwhile, at the front, Hamilton managed to overtake Rosberg, who now found himself between the 2008 world champion and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. The Brazilian was doing his best to get in front of the Mercedes, but couldn’t as Rosberg (now right behind Hamilton) was also able to use his moveable rear wing.
Laps 20–24 saw an entertaining battle between Rosberg-Massa-Button trio. Massa finally overtook Rosberg only to lose the position a few seconds later. However, he didn’t give up and made another, this time effective, attempt. Button didn’t waste time and swallowed the German too. Soon he was in front of Massa as well. On lap 30 Fernando Alonso finally caught Webber and passed him on turn 12 with a little help of DRS.
By the third turn of pit stops it was clear that Vettel would win with Alonso and Webber fighting for the remaining two podium places. Massa, who looked as if he could have settled for a 5–7 place was delayed in his pit stop, losing some valuable seconds, which cost him points finish at the end. Lewis Hamilton was another driver who was unlucky in the pits. The McLaren team decided to split their strategies: Lewis Hamilton, who was forced to pit as early as lap 9, switched to 4-stop strategy, which proved to be a better choice. Jenson Button, known for his silky smooth style, was supposed to look after his tyres better and gain time pitting 3 times only. The British team copied Ferrari’s strategy from China with one stop less than the competitors and just like in the case of Scuderia 3 weeks ago – they lost it there. Jenson Button became a sitting duck in the closing stages of the race, trying to finish the race anywhere he could and was passed by, amongst others, Nico Rosberg. The most significant sign of a bad strategy choice was the fact that Button was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton, who not only had one stop more, but it also was a faulty stop which cost the 2008 world champion some time.
With Button’s worn tyres, Hamilton’s and Massa’s longer pit stops, Brazilian’s excursion outside of the track and Vettel out of reach, Webber and Alonso were left to fight for the second place between themselves. Webber stopped for the last time one lap earlier (lap 45) and was still in P3 when Alonso rejoined the track 12 laps from the chequered flag. Having the advantage of DRS, the Aussie didn’t have to wait long and the podium was established 6 laps from the end with Webber passing Alonso for P2.
Worth noticing is the performance of Kamui Kobayashi. The Japanese didn’t set a time in the qualifying session, but was nevertheless allowed to start in the race. From the back of the grid, the Sauber’s driver made it to P10 and snatched 1 point for his team, being even P5 at the beginning of the race when many drivers opted to pit early and he was left out longer on his hard slicks. Timo Glock didn’t start in the race at all as he got stuck in his garage with gear box problems. Williams had yet another miserable race with neither of the drivers scoring points. Rubens Barrichello finished 15th and Pastor Maldonado was so eager to get to the points that he earned a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Mercedes seem to have made some progress with Nico Rosberg delivering a great result (P3) on Saturday. Ferrari, who is another team in need of a significant step forward, was still almost a second away from pole in qualifying but the gap to McLaren was already smaller (Alonso split the two British drivers on the grid) . Their race pace looked very promising too: Fernando Alonso could go as fast as the Red Bulls throughout all the race, and Felipe Massa, if not for a bad pit stop, could have finished the race in a much better position than he started it.
Despite the Pirelli tyres providing for lots of action and (questioned by some as artificial) DRS enabling drivers to overtake more than ever before, one remains unchanged: pole position on Saturday is the best way to secure the victory on Sunday.
After 4 GPs Sebastian Vettel is still untouchable in the WDC lead with 93 points, followed by Lewis Hamilton (59), Mark Webber (55), Jenson Button (46) and Fernando Alonso (41). Like Vettel, his team is reigning in the WCC having gathered as much as 148 points with McLaren on 105 and Ferrari further behind on 65.
Full results here.
* I've just learnt that (due to age limit) Vettel was not allowed to drink champagne leaving more for Webber and Alonso. He really is the youngest world champion in history!
* I've just learnt that (due to age limit) Vettel was not allowed to drink champagne leaving more for Webber and Alonso. He really is the youngest world champion in history!
Friday, April 29, 2011
I Don't Get It - A Confession Of An Orphaned Fan
When I started writing race reports here a few weeks back, I solemnly promised Sam not to ever be biased. However, I did not promise not to be personal. And here comes the moment to be personal. I have no intention to be smart, revealing or innovative. My only purpose is to share some feelings which strike me every year at the beginning of May.
As April was drawing to an end, I thought I would sit down and write a few simple sentences about Ayrton Senna. But where to start? Not even for a moment did I consider writing about his achievements and life. This belongs to encyclopaedia and biographers and I am neither. What occurred to me then was that the most important thing about Senna is not necessarily connected directly with his achievements. It doesn’t mean that his achievements aren’t important, but rather that his true greatness was concealed in his character and attitude and not in simple number of pole positions or wins. So the answer to the question about Senna’s phenomenon does not lie in his results as such (which you can list dully like a menu in a restaurant) but rather in his imperceptible spirit (which enabled him to achieve so much). So I thought I’ll simply catch this spirit.
I couldn’t watch Senna in his prime as I was too young then and could hardly know what F1 was. Lack of proper coverage here in Poland surely didn’t help either. As Rafał, a Polish F1 fan, wrote about the late 80s: What kind of following was it…? Access to Eurosport and RTL only, with practically no knowledge of foreign languages. Any pictures of Senna or articles were only available in German Sport Bild or sometimes in Auto International magazine. I had no access to other sources.
Having no personal memories of Senna, I started looking again through old videos of his races, listening to his interviews, searching for others’ opinions about him and simply reviewing his life. I knew that Wikipedia would not give me a true answer to the Senna phenomenon question, but I still naively believed that I can catch his spirit, so I decided to turn to his fans for help.
I asked José, a long time F1 fan from Spain, to write a few words about Senna for me as he was watching the sport in Senna’s times. He picked one of the most controversial moments, namely 1990 Japanese GP and wrote:
I clearly remember the discussion the day before, after qualifying. Senna was the pole man, but he wanted to swap the sides of the grid, as it was well known that in that track the pole was off the racing line. FIA (JM Balestre) denied the drivers’ proposal, and it was ruled that the starting positions on the grid were to be the original ones.
I remember Senna saying “I will not let Prost overtake me into the first corner. I am the pole man and I will take the first corner first, that’s it.”
So I thought “ok, he’s barking, he will not be able to cause an accident, he will try it before the first corner and if he can’t, then he will try to overtake during the race.”
But Ayrton had said that he will not yield, and he meant it. He went into the first corner and crashed into Prost’s car, causing both of them to be out of the race and therefore winning the WDC. Since that day, I started to watch F1 from a different point of view. It was so shocking. Ayrton was ready to do anything if he thought he was doing right.
Paweł from Poland mentioned Senna’s intense rivalry with Alain Prost and Linda from Australia said: he raced dangerously, did not care much for rules, racing was his passion.
Words like shocking, controversial, ruthless but also best, phenomenal, spiritual were coming back all the time in most of the opinions and quotes, buzzing in my head. And, ironically, the more I read and heard about Senna, the more lost I felt. On a theoretical level, I perfectly understand that Senna’s greatness overshadows his controversial nature or, in better words, that controversy was an indispensable part of his greatness (after all I’ve always believed that nice guys do not become multiple champions and every great needs to be ruthless to some extent). So when asked about Senna in general, people will repeat after Niki Lauda: He was the best driver who ever lived. But when asked about specific moments they will turn to the most controversial ones (alongside the 1991 Brazilian GP win with a broken gearbox or his 1993 wet Donington Park drive).
Everyone sharing their memories expressed hope that they helped me. They did (and I’m grateful to you all), but, contrary to expectations, not in a straightforward way, but rather inversely. Reading fans’ comments about Senna, I fully and relentlessly understood one inevitable thing – I will never get it. I will never understand the phenomenon of a driver who was great enough to amaze even his biggest rivals’ fans, who evoked huge controversies, but despite it all is remembered mostly for his talent (ruthlessness and controversy come only next) and whose tragic death contributed to an already great legend*. I know that no matter how much I try, I will never fully get it. It doesn’t really depend on my mental capacity or my F1 knowledge, but rather on the simple fact that I wasn’t able to watch Senna race. So I can ask fan after fan for their memories (and I’m sure I will), I can impatiently wait for Senna movie to be shown in theatres so I can watch it, I can rewatch races and all the interviews with Senna or read tonnes of opinions about him... I can read various inspired comments by Senna like the one about feeling as though [he] was driving in a tunnel like a person possessed and being on a different level of consciousness [...] in a kind of unending spiral. Faster and faster, closer and closer to perfection. I have shivers down my spine when I listen to it, I’m thunderstruck with the elusive power of such statement, but it will never be enough.
The problem is – I still know how each race or controversy would end and as a result it all lacks the emotional factor. The small, yet crucial thing that is surprise and unknown (whether positive or negative) will always be missing. Thus, e.g. shocking decision to get the championship at any cost and crash into your rival, will not be so shocking to me – after all I already know Senna did it, I’ve seen Michael Schumacher doing it and though it’s not common any more, I already know that such an idea can dawn upon somebody. I’m sure there are lots of fans from my generation who would simply say that Senna was great – period – and they get it. Yet I’m convinced we (and I mean F1 fans that started watching the sport after 1994) will never fully understand Ayrton’s phenomenon. People watching Senna will always say what a great tragedy an enormous loss his death was. What I feel, is a huge hole down my Formula 1 fan soul, a gap that can never be filled. And I feel like an orphan, who has never met their parents. Just like a child that doesn’t know their father, I can ask hundreds of questions about Ayrton, I can get as many answers as I only wish, but all the theory in the world will never compensate for the lack of empirical experience. I love F1 and I believe we’re blessed to watch an enormously talented crop of drivers lately, but there’s still a part of my heart that remains empty. There dwells the shadow of Senna, who even 17 years after his death is still present in Formula 1, whether in as tangible thing as F1 safety (which, though always important, became an even more key factor after May 1994), in simple memories of fans, in Lewis Hamilton’s yellow helmet or in Ayrton’s nephew, Bruno.
Some time ago, I came across the picture that accompanies this note. I’ve had it on my desktop since. I watched 1991 Brazilian GP once, thought (simply) what a great racer Ayrton was and closed my Internet browser. Then I looked into Senna’s eyes watching me from my monitor, I looked at the sad boy next to him and I realised that this child is F1 – squeezing the too big yellow helmet in his little hands, a helmet that, paraphrasing Senna, hides feelings that cannot be replaced**.
* I’ve always considered Senna to be a kind of equivalent of a medieval knight. The worst thing for a knight would be to die an old man in his bed as each knight was supposed to be killed like a proper hero during a battle. Senna himself once said: If I ever happen to have an accident that eventually costs me my life, I hope it is in one go. I would not like to be in a wheelchair. I would not like to be in a hospital suffering from whatever injury it was. If I’m going to live, I want to live fully, very intensely, because I am an intense person. It would ruin my life if I had to live partially.
And so it was.
** The actual quotation by Senna: You will never know the feeling of a driver when winning a race. The helmet hides feelings that cannot be understood.
Great thanks to (in alphabetical order): José, Linda, Liz, Margo, Paweł, Rafał and Sam.
P.S. It looks simple, but when you compare the length of the text to the amount of emotions it evoked, it was by no means an easy thing to write.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Chinese Grand Prix 2011
Red Bull proved that they still haven’t solved their KERS issues (which was supplemented this week by a broken team radio in Vettel's car as the German's engineer couldn't hear his driver for the majority of the race). Sebastian Vettel was slow off the line and was swallowed by Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. Behind them, Rosberg kept his fourth position, while Fernando Alonso had yet another bad start and lost position to his team mate Felipe Massa, but managed to defend from di Resta’s Force India. The two McLaren drivers were now leading, but were unable to build a gap over Vettel, who managed to pass Hamilton on one of the opening laps.
Jaime Alguersuari was the first driver to enter the pit lane as early as lap 9 and he was also the first (and only one) to retire as his wheel fell off soon after he rejoined the track. Nico Rosberg finished his first stint earlier than other front runners and he was leading the race after the first dose of pit stops. The Mercedes team tried to copy this strategy pitting him earlier once again, but it didn’t work and Rosberg was unable to keep his lead. On the closing laps of the race, he struggled with his tyres and as his engineer told him that the fuel was critical, Mark Webber and Jenson Button got through.
Lap 14 saw two leaders – Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel pitting and the viewers could only expect a duel between the pit crews. Button was however too hasty and he entered the first pit box he saw on his way. It turned out to be Red Bull’s and as Button drove past the astonished mechanics to get to his own crew, it was clear that Sebastian Vettel would leave the pit lane first.
Ferrari pitted Massa earlier than Alonso. The Brazilian rejoined having clear track in front of him and was able to chase the leaders, taking P1 for some time. He was once again in a good shape, matching Vettel’s pace at some point and finishing the race before his team mate. Alonso came back from his first pit stop behind Michael Schumacher. The Ferrari driver was fiercely trying to get past his former nemesis and the TV replays even showed him using his moveable rear wing outside the overtaking zone, but it was left with no further sanctions*. Being stuck behind the Mercedes driver probably compromised the Spaniard’s race as he lost some valuable seconds, yet it provided the viewers with a magnificent fight between the two world champions with Alonso finally pulling a cheeky move on the inside of turn 14.
By lap 40, the leading drivers were Vettel, Massa and Rosberg. Hamilton, who managed to get past his team mate without particular problems a few laps earlier was catching up and as Rosberg had problems with fuel, the Briton took P3. One lap later he was already in P2. Hamilton was now chasing Vettel, who was on a 2-stop strategy and was struggling with tyres. Being told to look after his tyres, the 2008 world champion preferred to rather look after his first victory this year and managed to secure it just a few laps from the chequered flag after a nice fight with the reigning champion.
Most front runners opted for three pit stops. Ferrari decided to change their tyres only twice. At first, it seemed to be the right choice, but in the last stages of the race both drivers were struggling and were unable to defend their positions from much faster 3-stoppers. Felipe Massa was overtaken by Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber, while Fernando Alonso had to give his place to Webber and was forced to fight with attacking Schumacher until the finish line. Thus, what was expected to be a better race for the Italian team, turned out to be another disappointment with their drivers finishing in distant 6th and 7th place. Renault also didn’t meet the expectations of their fans. After two podium finishes in Australia and Malaysia, both drivers struggled and were unable to keep pace with the front runners. Petrov this time didn’t try to fight Fernando Alonso and let the Spaniard through without much troubles. Heidfeld couldn’t defend his position either and was overtaken at one point by Schumacher and Alonso simultaneously. The Renault drivers tried to fight each other later on and it almost ended up with a collision. Petrov finished the race in 9th and Heidfeld in 12th position.
I hope you enjoyed the race as much as I did!
Cheers,
Ewa
* Alonso using his DRS ouside the overtaking zone has caused much uproar. BBC's crew explained that the driver was not penalised as he gained no advantage and was actually harmed by the situation. It turns out that Alonso's DRS was activated by a mysterious error, which is now investigated by the FIA officials.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Malaysia Grand Prix: 2011
Malaysia has always been known for its unpredictable weather and though this weekend the probability of a rain was high yet again, nothing of that sort happened. The drivers were informed a few times that a rain was about to come “soon” but all we saw was a few drops here and there. It doesn’t still change the fact that the race was fascinating with tyre degradation making up for the lack of the rain.
Sebastian Vettel might have won second Grand Prix in a row, leading undisturbed from the start to the finish line, yet the race was everything but a dull procession with the order changing constantly behind the German’s back, great (sometimes tragic) fights and bold overtaking moves.
Vettel had a clear start and took the lead with no apparent problems. Meanwhile, behind him both Renaults started very well with Nick Heidfeld jumping a few places and taking P2 on the opening lap. Massa overtook Alonso again at the start (the Brazilian was now P5) with the Spaniard dropping to P7 and finding himself behind his old friend Petrov in the third race. Webber had a disastrous start which saw him back to 10th, Nico Rosberg also dropped (from P9 to P13), but Michael Schumacher evened out Mercedes results at the start by making up a few positions. Button was one of a few drivers who managed to keep his place and stayed as he started – P4.
The situation seemed to be calming down after a few laps, but not for long. Petrov soon made a mistake, allowing Alonso through and so we saw a familiar sight of a combo composed of Button and the two Ferraris fighting for a position (although this time, compared to Australia, the order was different with Massa behind Button).
The tyres, as expected, didn’t last long and so we saw first part of pit stops as soon as lap 10. It has been yet again (after Australia) confirmed that the tyre degradation (though bigger than in case of Bridgestones) is not too big and it perfectly spices things up. Thanks to many pit stops, the situation on the track was changing constantly and one could never be sure what the final outcome would be. The only thing that was certain was that Vettel would most probably win his second race as he drove easily at the front, but the rest of the podium remained a mystery till the very end.
By lap 30 the leading three drivers were Vettel, Hamilton and Button. Hamilton was now first to pit from the McLaren duo and as a result he lost his place to Button, when the latter one pitted soon afterwards. However, catching Button was not the main task for Hamilton at this stage as he had to defend his position from Webber. Luckily for the Englishman, both Red Bull drivers were unable to use their KERS system. Apparently, the team is still not confident with it, despite their previous assurances that everything was fine.
Webber changed his tyres to the hard compound on lap 32 and it seemed that he might try to keep them till the end of the race which would definitely help him make up for some positions lost at the start. However, he was forced to pit for the fourth time on lap 42 which sent him back again.
Most of the drivers opted for the third (and last) pit stop around lap 40 and it seemed that the situation has calmed down yet again. Vettel was still leading, followed by Button, Hamilton and Alonso. The Spaniard was much faster than Hamilton, but as his DRS wasn’t working properly, he was forced to try a conventional overtaking move in a corner on his former team mate. After an exciting and fierce battle, Alonso hit Hamilton’s rear left wheel damaging his front wing. He was now forced to pit for the fourth time in order to get a new nose. This sent him back to P7 behind Massa and Webber.
At this stage of the race, Vettel was cruising to the finish line with Button comfortable in P2. Hamilton, on the other hand, seemed to be struggling with his tyres and so he lost his P3 when he was overtaken by Heidfeld with a small help of DRS. The McLaren driver soon went off the track and so we saw him back to the pit lane. He came back behind Alonso. In the closing stages of the race, Webber managed to pass Massa and finished the race just behind the podium (Vettel, Button and Heidfeld), in fourth.
There was one more scary moment, when Vitaly Petrov left the track two laps from the finish line. He hit the curb and jumped as if he was driving in WRC. When he touched down, his steering wheel literally fell off and he drove through the grassy side of the track unable to control his car until it came to a total halt somewhere in the banners.
After the race, the stewards found Alonso and Hamilton guilty of breaking the rules and they were both handed a 20 second drop penalty: Hamilton was penalized for changing direction more than once when defending his position, while Alonso was found guilty of causing a collision with the Briton. As a consequence, Hamilton lost his 7th place to Kamui Kobayashi, while the Spaniard managed to keep his 6th position.
I found the unfortunate in consequences fight between Alonso and Hamilton, the pinnacle of all the fights (maybe because of the history of those two), but the race was full of other exciting overtaking maneuvers. In the middle of the pack, Schumacher was fighting with Kobayashi, who once again proved to be an entertaining driver as they kept on passing and re passing each other. Massa also seemed to be in a pretty good shape, overtaking Webber and then fighting fiercely with the Aussie, only to be overtaken not long before the finish line.
Vettel is now leading the WDC with 50 points, 24 points ahead of Jenson Button. With 72 points, his team Red Bull is also enjoying a comfortable margin in the WCC over second McLaren (48 pts.) and third Ferrari (36 pts.).
Cheers,
Ewa
Monday, March 28, 2011
Australian GP
I guess by now you all know in detail* who did what yesterday, so I decided to just share some random little thoughts:
Podium
- Vettel added an 11th GP win to his cv. Starting from pole, he had a very good start and managed to build a gap straight on. He had no problems whatsoever during the race, so it was a logical win.
That's a huge gap, I was fascinated!
- Hamilton was the only who could keep up - a little - with Vettel's pace. He never was a threat, as the gap between them was big from the start. Even though the floor of his car got damaged severely, he could take the well deserved 2nd place.
- Petrov had a good day, I was very happy to see him on the podium for the first time. Last year he never really got into shape, so it's nice his season started this surprising. It makes aslo me wonder what Kubica could've achieved with the car in Australia - I miss him.
Bits and pieces
- Mercedes had an awful day. Schumacher got hit by Alguesuari on lap 1, dived in the pits, never really got into the race and had to retire during his third pitstop, on lap 22. Rosberg got hit by Barrichello two laps later and had to retire as well. Not a good day...
- Webber had decent start, but never got into the race, finishing 5th. The team is puzzled over the cause of this, so it will interesting to see how this evolves in Malaysia - my birthday GP!
- I didn't realize during the race Heidfeld had been hit by a Torro Rosso on lap 1 - but maybe I wasn't really awake yet at 8 a.m. - until I saw this on his Official Facebook Page. That explaines it all...
- Sauber showed they have a reliable car and talented drivers, Perez impressed on his debut and finished 7th, right before Kobayashi. Well done! But as you all know by now, they were disqualified after the race due to a technical infringement.
Pitstops
- As expected, we saw a lot of pitstop action. I have the impression the BBC couldn't keep up with all the pitstops, I don't think they showed them all - again, maybe I wasn't really awake yet!
- Perez however only did one pitstop and set a decent performance, quite surprising, I wonder what his secret is...
- Did you notice that the technique of the front jack man of Red Bull (Chris Gent) during pitstops is far more elegant than that of Torro Rosso's guy? It makes me lol
Elegant...
...not that elegant...
The Red Bull technique also looks more efficient to me: easier to get out of the way when the front tyres are ok.
Liz.
* Race reports
View From a Grandstand
Well what can I say, I have just attended my first ever Grand Prix, the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne, if you thought it would look like it does on the TV, well not quite, for starters there's the noise from the F1 cars, its almost deafening when your sitting right beside the race track, then the cars zoom past you so fast its impossible to get a decent photograph of them, well it is for an amateur like me, instead of watching all the action from your lounge room or wherever else you may sit and watch, your out in the open come all weathers watching most of the action on the Big Screens dotted around the track and in my case loving every deafening minute of it!
So what is it like when your viewing a Grand Prix from the top of a Grandstand, well in my case I was in the Fangio Grandstand named after the Five times World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio. I had flown into Melbourne from Tasmania, when your in the Grandstand your sitting next to the same people for 3 or 4 days depending on how many days you attend, you get chatting to people you may otherwise of not met, the people next to me had flown in to Melbourne from Western Australia.
The view from the Grandstand however is amazing, I had a seat right on the Start Line, I could see the Pit Stops, in particular Red Bull and McLaren's garages just to the right of me a little but still I could see all the action going on, for a first timer to a Grand Prix this event gave me a great introduction to what it is like to attend a Grand Prix and I would love to go again, I did not sit in my seat all the time I got up and walked around the Paddock to various other parts of the Park to see what it is like to view the track from other parts but at least with a Grandstand Seat you know you have a spot to sit, if you go in as General Admission you take pot luck where you might find a spot.
Overall the organisation of the Australian Grand Prix was fantastic, getting to and from the track was easy, just a bit of a wait getting out of the Park after the Grand Prix has ended, but when you've got one hundred thousand odd people trying to leave all at the same time you just have to wait.
I thoroughly recommend attending a Grand Prix and booking that seat in the Grandstand, especially your first time and come the end of the Race, I had the best view in the house, see this pic below:
Overall the organisation of the Australian Grand Prix was fantastic, getting to and from the track was easy, just a bit of a wait getting out of the Park after the Grand Prix has ended, but when you've got one hundred thousand odd people trying to leave all at the same time you just have to wait.
I thoroughly recommend attending a Grand Prix and booking that seat in the Grandstand, especially your first time and come the end of the Race, I had the best view in the house, see this pic below:
Written by: Linda Hardy
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