F1

[fog]

Well quali seemed to confirm that what we saw in the first race wasn't a fluke.  The McLaren looks nicely balanced, the Mercs and Lotus have certainly closed the gap and Red Bull are relatively off the pace.

It was quite telling that RBR admitted they couldn't challenge for pole so instead opted for a different tyre strategy for Vettel.  So in theory he can go longer before making his first pitstop, although the success of that will depend a lot on how much of a gap the leaders can open up with Vettel on slower tyres and possibly in traffic. 

[TheKhakinator]

Probably not loving the red flag, eh, fog?

Perez is looking damn good today! Big Sauber fan.

Edit: What's up with Button's tyres? Poor guy. Narain ruined his race a bit.

If Perez finishes in the top 5 I'm gonna be real happy.

[fog]

Probably not loving the red flag, eh, fog?

Well in monsoon conditions I'll allow it

If Perez finishes in the top 5 I'm gonna be real happy.

You must be happy then.  He's been linked with taking Massa's seat at Ferrari this week so he must have been under a little extra pressure today and he still drove superbly.  He made that one error near the end, but if Sauber had pitted him when they should have then he would have been ahead of Alonso already.

Overall an enjoyable race.  The conditions leveling out some of the performance differences and Alonso showing how great he is again.  A great drive from Senna too and I like what I've seen of Verne so far.

It's been noticeable how much slower the Mercs are in race compared to quali where they can use their "enhanced" DRS anywhere.


BTW Sky's new F1 channel are doing a great job with F1, but they are also covering other race series so yesterday I watched the opening round of GP2 and right now we have live coverage of the first Indy car race of the season.  And this new Indy car design will take some getting used to. 

While Sky rightly get stick for some things, their coverage of sports is generally fantastic.

[TheKhakinator]

Probably not loving the red flag, eh, fog?

Well in monsoon conditions I'll allow it

If Perez finishes in the top 5 I'm gonna be real happy.

You must be happy then.  He's been linked with taking Massa's seat at Ferrari this week so he must have been under a little extra pressure today and he still drove superbly.  He made that one error near the end, but if Sauber had pitted him when they should have then he would have been ahead of Alonso already.

Overall an enjoyable race.  The conditions leveling out some of the performance differences and Alonso showing how great he is again.  A great drive from Senna too and I like what I've seen of Verne so far.

It's been noticeable how much slower the Mercs are in race compared to quali where they can use their "enhanced" DRS anywhere.

Verne's outdoing Ricciardo big time I reckon. Also was so happy to see Senna finally pass someone without binning it in the wall for both of them. Really pissed me off when he took 5 people out at the start last year. Want to see more from Kimi. Race win from him would be good, but not as good as for...

Perez. I was thinking once I noticed he was in the Ferrari Driver Academy that surely he'd be Massa's replacement next year (Massa's finished IMO. Poor chap.) except will Ferrari be quick next year? That said I guess they're not doing bad this year but I suspect intermittent performance from them, just like last year.

Know what you mean. Mercs qualify up high, but then drop out completely in the race. Really hating the DRS-in-qualy rule just for them; it makes the race car different from the qualy car in their case.

That said, I'm kind of liking DRS as a whole... for two reasons.
1. It allows a fast car to pass much slower cars easier. (Get HRT off the track, they caused way too much trouble for someone, I can't remember who)
2. I find that it's not so much fun when it allows an easy pass, but I find it helps close the gap such that two closely matched cars can stay close together because the DRS makes up for all the time lost due to wake-induced understeer for the following car. So many passes happened on Sunday and a huge number on many a corner not near the DRS.

BTW Sky's new F1 channel are doing a great job with F1, but they are also covering other race series so yesterday I watched the opening round of GP2 and right now we have live coverage of the first Indy car race of the season.  And this new Indy car design will take some getting used to. 

While Sky rightly get stick for some things, their coverage of sports is generally fantastic.

Missing DC something fierce, him and Brundle were very fun. Back to adequate commentary (albeit the other guy talks way more then Brundle, but he's boring IMO. Ted's still good as ever) instead of compelling banter, but what can you do.

My favourite part of all, though?

2 races in, Vettel's nowhere.

[fog]

Perez. I was thinking once I noticed he was in the Ferrari Driver Academy that surely he'd be Massa's replacement next year (Massa's finished IMO. Poor chap.) except will Ferrari be quick next year? That said I guess they're not doing bad this year but I suspect intermittent performance from them, just like last year.

I still think the Ferrari is a total dog of a car.  Brundle explained why it performed better in the rain and add to that Alonso being arguably the best driver in F1. 

Well if any team can throw money at a problem it's Ferrari.  Then again they haven't been a dominant force for a decent while now despite their resources so what they really need is right design team.  Not really a surprise Newey was linked with them last week.

That said, I'm kind of liking DRS as a whole... for two reasons.
1. It allows a fast car to pass much slower cars easier. (Get HRT off the track, they caused way too much trouble for someone, I can't remember who)
2. I find that it's not so much fun when it allows an easy pass, but I find it helps close the gap such that two closely matched cars can stay close together because the DRS makes up for all the time lost due to wake-induced understeer for the following car. So many passes happened on Sunday and a huge number on many a corner not near the DRS.

Yeah I totally agree with that.  That second is a really good point.  I'm prepared to suffer a few too easy overtakes under DRS if it makes the racing closer elsewhere on the circuit and it seemed to do that.  (I also wonder how much the new regs and reduced downforce mean the cars can follow closer through corners?)

My favourite part of all, though?

2 races in, Vettel's nowhere.

The best thing is Webber out performing him in both races in the same car.  Major respect to Webber for coming back fighting after last years embarrassment.  And it will be good to see how Vettel reacts after cruising through last season relatively pressure free.

[fog]

I really wish they would sort out the F1 calendar.  Two races in as many weeks at the start of the season and then a 3 week break. Then later in the season there's a month break 

[T_M_C]

At least the British Touring Cars season has started,   

TMC

[TheKhakinator]

Total joke. Bet Bahrain ends up cancelled and we end up with a month until Spain after Shanghai.

[fog]

At least the British Touring Cars season has started,   

Is anyone showing footage of that?  Sky F1 only seem to show international series and I couldn't see it on BBC or Eurosport.

[T_M_C]

Is anyone showing footage of that?  Sky F1 only seem to show international series and I couldn't see it on BBC or Eurosport.

It was on ITV 4 all day last sunday.

Brands Hatch was the opening venue.

ITV 4 shows 3 Touring Car races, Geneta ( spelling ) and Cleo races all on the same track.

It's a top days racing.

Great racing last week.

TMC

[fog]

It was on ITV 4 all day last sunday.

Brands Hatch was the opening venue.

ITV 4 shows 3 Touring Car races, Geneta ( spelling ) and Cleo races all on the same track.

It's a top days racing.

Great racing last week.

Gah.  Sods law that ITV is the one network I never look at.  Thanks.

[fog]

So Hamilton has a 5 place grid penalty before this weekends practice has even started for having to change a gearbox.  That's one rule I can't say I'm a big fan of.  On the bright side, it should make Button favourite for this weekends race and he already has a good record in China.

In other news Lotus finally put in an official complaint about the Mercs DRS activated W-Duct and it was rejected, so that effectively means all the other teams have been given the ok to fit their own system.

[TheKhakinator]

Considering all the hullaballoo about the blown exhausts, I think it's quite annoying to have the W-duct allowed - especially when it creates such an obvious qualy advantage, when Merc are still slow on race day.

Hope Sauber keep up the pace; but Brundle points out they need the development money. Vettel looks like he doesn't handle not having the best car well.

And Ferrari. Oh boy. Massa couldn't get to Q3, and was clearly agitated getting out of the car, it took him 4 tries to get his cap on...

[T_M_C]

Vettle not making it to Q3 was a bit of a shocker.

And Rosberg's first pole.   

Merc front row lockout with hamiltons 5 place grid drop.

Very close times this season makes it quite unpredictable.

TMC

[fog]

Always been a fan of Rosberg so I'm well pleased about his pole.  A considerable gap too considering how close it was otherwise.  Vettel in 11th was only 0.3 sec off 1st in the second session.

The Lotus and Merc improvements were kind of expected from pre-season form, but I never saw Sauber crashing the party.  Two aggressive drivers who seem to make their tyres last longer than most so I'm hoping for another great race from them.

Considering all the hullaballoo about the blown exhausts, I think it's quite annoying to have the W-duct allowed - especially when it creates such an obvious qualy advantage, when Merc are still slow on race day.

TBH I'm can't decide whether this falls under "we should encourage innovation" or "not in the spirit of the rules" like the Red Bull flexi-wing.

Vettle not making it to Q3 was a bit of a shocker.

Before last seasons domination a lot of people were still questioning whether Vettel was a good racer, could overtake etc.  and the longer his poor start continues the more those doubts will be raised again.

The noticeable thing for me is that we are only a couple of races in and Vettel himself seems rattled.  For this quali he went back to an old exhaust layout saying the new one made the car unstable.  He failed to make quali 3 and Webber with the "unstable" exhaust out performed him again.

Red Bulls big problem is they still have the same weakness as last year, but have lost their main advantage.  Still no straight line speed and now no blown diffuser.