Season Finale and Review

Bloggers, Reporters and Journalists didn’t need much encouragement to use puns such as “close shave” or “smooth run” during the seaon-finale in Brazil despite the event being the anti-climax it was destined to be after the WDC and WCC were decided several races ago. 

Vettel started on pole after breaking Nigel Mansell’s record of most poles in a season on the penultimate session of the season. Though many were quick to point out that he was still trailing Mansell’s record in terms of % poles per races. Hamilton qualified 4^th and was beside his team-mate on the grid.

Brazil GP (photo via @F1PaddockPass)

Button lost ground at the start of the race on Sunday, and was soon overtaken by Alonso. He then struggled to keep up with the Ferrari. Vettel was told he had a gearbox problem and had to “short-shift” for the rest of the race. He continued to drive as normal, pulling out a gap on other drivers until he slowed down enough for his team-mate Webber to overtake him. 

Conspiracy theorists then inferred that his gearbox problem was “manufactured” to hand his team-mate the win. Several other drivers suffered gear-box problems; Hamilton had to retire mid way through the race, after a  season he will be in a hurry to forget. 

Hungarian GP: Qualifying

Friday practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix track was in cooler-than-normal temperatures. So perhaps that explained why Friday's practice sessions (FP1 & FP2) had been dominated by Hamilton - whose McLaren favours cooler temperatures. However by the Qualifying session on Saturday, it was warmer albeit windy.

First Qualifying session Q1 saw Buemi, Kovalainen, Trulli, Glock, Liuzzi, Ricciardo, D'Ambrosio drop out. Unfortunately, Buemi carries over a 5-place grid penalty from the German Grand Prix and so will start the race in 23th place.

In Q2, McLaren's Hamilton set a time 0.843seconds off the super-softs' time of Ferrari's Alonso, on the harder compound tyres. Positions 11th - 17th were filled by Di Resta, Petrov, Kobayashi, Heidfeld, Barrichello, Alguersuari, Maldonado - leaving Alonso, Button, Webber, Vettel, Massa, Hamilton, Rosberg, Schumacher, Sutil and Perez to fight for the Top 10 positions.

Perez makes it into Q3

By Q3, track temperature dropped slightly and Lewis went out to set a lap on his first set of super-soft tyres. Hamilton was on provisional pole position after the first runs but Vettel set a time of 1min19:815 and 'found' 0.163seconds to qualify ahead of Hamilton. 

Top 10 are Vettel, Hamilton, Button, Massa, Alonso, Webber, Rosberg, Sutil, Schumacher, Perez (who didn't set a lap in Q3).

German GP: Race Summary

Rain was expected on Sunday as the cars lined up at the start of the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. However it was dry as the red lights went out, and what a start it was.

German GP paddock before race. Photo by @VoxVocis

Hamilton had a fantastic start and quickly made his way ahead of the field. Webber appeared to have his hands full defending first place from Hamilton and preventing his team-mate from overtaking him: he prioritised keeping the other Red Bull car behind him. At one point, Vettel was in a Ferrari sandwich however Ferrari's Alonso managed to stay in front and they settled into this order: HAM, WEB, ALO, VET, ROS, MAS by the end of the first lap.

Alonso, Hamilton and Webber traded first place several times, but the McLaren driver was ahead for most of the race.Great pit-stops, bold non-DRS overtaking moves and a perfectly-timed strategy call to change to prime tyres, meant that Hamilton finished the race ahead of Alonso and Webber. His second win this season and his 16th career win.

2nd Win for Hamilton

German GP: Qualifying

After drab and rainy practice sessions on Friday, Qualifying on Saturday was practically dry. Drivers who dropped out after Q1 were the usual suspects of: Kovalainen, Chandhok (who takes Trulli's place this weekend), Glock, D'Ambrosio, Liuzzi, Ricciardo. Kobayashi was the surprise exit in Q1 as he was edged out by other drivers on soft tyres. HRT driver, Liuzzi incurs a 5-place grid penalty for changing his gear box and so, starts behind rookie team-mate Ricciardo.

Second Qualifying session was dominated by Hamilton who finished with a time of 1min30.998. And these 7 drivers didn't progress to Q3: Heidfeld, Di Resta, Maldonado, Barichello, Perez, Buemi, Alguersuari

The last shoot-out saw an epic effort from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, swapping second place with Alonso early in the session. Red Bull's Mark Webber eventually took pole with 1min30.079, and Hamilton pushed Vettel into 3rd with a 1min30.134 lap time. The rest of the top ten were Alonso, Massa, Rosberg, Button, Sutil, Petrov and Schumacher.

Top 3 Drivers after Qualifying for German Grand Prix

Rain is expected tomorrow so Nurburgring's swansong is set to be an exciting one.

Amendment: Buemi's qualifying time was later disallowed due to fuel irregularities, and will start at the back of the track. Story courtesy of Autosport.com 

British GP: Race Summary

Tyre choice was a difficult decision to make at the start of the British Grand Prix at the revamped Silverstone track. Rain was pelting the track with 45minutes to race start but it was finally decided that Intermediates were the best tyres to be on. 

 

Highlights

Hamilton who started in 10th position, made up several places by the end of the first lap of the race, including overtaking his team-mate early in the race. Schumacher served a Stop-Go penalty for a collision with Kobayashi. There was a tasty DOUBLE overtake by McLaren drivers on both Ferrari drivers within a few minutes of each other. Vettel lost first place after bad pit stop by his engineers and Alonso pounced on 1st place and never let it go.

Alonso eventually won the British Grand Prix. Hamilton hung onto 4th place right up to the last corner, despite having been told to conserve fuel and being challenged by Massa (the gap between them was 0.024seconds!). Webber was told to 'maintain position' in final lap when he was closing up to his team-mate Vettel. What an exciting race!!!

Not a happy (Australian) bunny

Alguersuari continue his good form and scores another point this race. F1 rookie Ricciardo also finishes his first Formula 1 race and improves on his starting position (albeit by virtue of 5 drivers developing problems and not finishing). Perez did well to finish in 7th place from a qualifying position of 12th.

The other Ozzie's happy to bring his HRT car home in one piece

Errors

McLaren's botched pit stop for Button meant the lollilop was lifted before his right front tyre was fitted (McLaren was later fined for this error). Both Team Lotus cars developed problems and didn't finish the race. Kobayashi's Sauber overheated and was forced to retire. The final DNF at the British Grand Prix was Sebastian Buemi whose tyre was punctured after clipping Paul Di Resta's front wing.

Top 10: Alonso, Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, Massa, Rosberg, Perez, Heidfeld, Schumacher, Alguersuari.

Podium Photo by @atmoorehead

Spanish GP: Qualifying Summary

Red Bull continue their Qualifying success but Vettel loses his 100% record, as team-mate Webber topped the timesheets in Q3 on Saturday.

McLaren drivers were 3rd and 4th until they were split by Fernando Alonso (who had qualified 5th in each race so far this season). 

2010 Russian Rookie Petrov qualified 6th for Lotus-Renault (though his team-mate Nick Heidfeld will start from the pitlane after a fire prevented him from participating the Qualifying session on Saturday. Nico Rosberg out-qualifies his F1 veteran team-mate Michael Schumacher again in 7th position, and Schumacher finished in 10th - hampered by KERS problems.

Massa starts in 8th position and will have a Williams close to him on the grid. This is the first time a Williams car has made it to Q3 and it's the first flash of brilliance from rookie Pastor Maldonado. 

Qualifying Order: WEB, VET, HAM, ALO, BUT, PET, ROS, MAS, MAL, SCH.

Welcome back, Formula 1

133 days have passed since we packed up in Abu Dhabi on 14th November 2010. In case you have been stuck in a cave somewhere, here are 133 things that have happened in F1 during the 'unusually and unbearably long' off-season period, which thankfully ends on 27th March 2011 in Australia. Enjoy!

Cars

1. McLaren launches MP4-26 in Berlin on 4th February 2011

2. Ferrari’s F150* makes it debut in Italy

3. Renault F1 (Fernando Alonso and Flavio Briatore’s old team) is now called Lotus-Renault and the new car is R31

4. Team Lotus retains its name (for now, pending the High Court hearing to decide whether or not both Lotus entries – Fernandes’ Team Lotus and Lotus Renault GP, formerly Renault F1 – should be permitted to use these names), and their car is T128

5. Virgin racing has new co-sponsor and is now called MarussiaVirgin Racing, 2011 car is the MVR-02

6. Force India’s team-name remains the same, but the new F1 car is called VJM04


7. Williams' new offering is the FW33


8. RB7 is the Red Bull 2011 car


9. Hispania Racing have returned in 2011 with the F111


10. Sauber finally get rid of 'BMW' and their car is called the C30


11. Mercedes GP's "MGP W02" easily wins the trophy for the longest F1 car name


12. Toro-Rosso return in 2011 with the STR6


Rule Changes


13. Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) makes a re-appearance this season


14. Adjustable rear-wings are now allowed

2010 F1 Champion decided in Brazil?

This weekend's race in Brazil could determine the 2010 winner. How? According to BBC's Andrew Benson, Fernando Alonso is in a very strong position and could win the 2010 WDC title this weekend if:

• If he wins in Brazil, Webber must finish fourth or higher to keep the championship alive. Everyone else would be out of contention, regardless of where they finish.
• If Alonso is second, Webber must be higher than eighth to stay in it, Hamilton higher than fourth and Vettel must win.
• If Alonso is third, Webber must score points, Hamilton must be in the top four and Vettel in the top three.
• If Alonso finishes lower than third, the championship will stay open to the last race because Webber, at least, will still be able to win regardless of where he finishes.

Let's hope the teams in contention have their best strategists on the computers working out a way to keep Alonso from the front row of the grid.

Five Contenders: A Win at all Costs

Mathematically, eight drivers remain in the fight for this year's World Drivers Championship but most F1-realists would narrow the list to five main contenders: Webber, Hamilton, Alonso, Button and Vettel. Each of these drivers have strong motivations to strive for a win this year even though 3 of them are recent World Champions. Button won in 2009, Hamilton in 2008, Alonso is a two-time champion (2005 and 2006), and holds the title of being the youngest double champion.

This article examines the motivations of these 5 drivers to secure a win this year, and why this year's title will be just as nail-biting as Lewis' win in 2008. The drivers' current standings before the Singapore GP are in ().


Webber (1st): The oldest driver in contention for this year's Championship at 34 years old, has been the most consistent and has only had 1 retirement so far this season.
Coming back after a serious leg injury, he has risen above the 'perceived' favouritism in his team towards his team-mate to maximise the performance of his RedBull car, and has held onto the lead of the Championship table several times this year. He is ready for his first WDC since his debut in the sport 8 years ago; to be the first Australian winner since Alan Jones 30 years ago, and to proclaim himself as the ACTUAL Number 1 driver in his team.
Potential Record: Third ever Australian WDC, and first Australian winner in 30 years







Hamilton (2nd): Current youngest World Driver Championship (WDC) winner at 23years 300 days, beat Alonso's record of 24years 58 days in 2008. The following year was a year to forget, he just didn't have the car to deliver after the high of 2008.

He is back with a vengenance in 2010. The McLaren car is not the fastest on the track but it has proven to be quite reliable, which has been to Hamilton's advantage. He has been as aggressive as always and he now has a competitive, yet cooperative team-mate in Button to motivate him. Two retirements so far this season, but he admits Monza's could have been avoided.

With both McLaren drivers' contracts ending in 2012 and the team principal already scouting other teams, he needs another WDC win to convince McLaren to extend his contract: not just for his history with the team but because he deserves it.
Potential Record: Third Briton with 'just' 2 WDC titles




Alonso (3rd): is the highest earner in the paddock, reportedly earning 30million euros. Ferrari has entrusted him to revive their dominance in the sport and although the middle of the season was lacklustre, Alonso has remained within touching distance of the RedBull and McLaren drivers all season.

On a personal note, he will be looking for his 3rd title after a near-win in 2007 and several team changes since his last win with Renault.
Potential Record: Youngest three-time WDC winner









Button (4th): First WDC win in 2009 with the superb Brawn car. His move to McLaren has been smooth sailing by all accounts and he is demonstrating that having a different driving style to your team-mate is not necessarily detrimental to your success. He has made terrific tyre choices and set-up decisions, and has shown maturity in this driving and personal life. But some would argue that his passion and determination to win again is muted.

However, a win this year would make him the first Briton to win consecutive WDC. Surely, the prospect of that is worth getting fired up for.
Potential Record: First Briton to win the Championship in consective years.









Vettel (5th): On the other side to the paddock from Mark Webber is the man dubbed "Baby Schumi". Having demonstrated tremendous wet racing skills and being the youngest ever winner of a Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel has won plaudits from everyone in the paddock. However within THIS season, he has made several catastrophic racing errors which have called his skills into question; Turkey and Belgium being the most memorable.

This year is his last hope if he wants to claim Hamilton's record of being the youngest F1 Champion. Vettel will be 23 years 131 days in Abu Dhabi on 12th November which would beat Hamilton's record by 169 days.
Potential Record: Youngest F1 WDC winner









The three other drivers still mathematically in contention are Massa (6th), Kubica (7th) and Rosberg (8th). With the exception of Massa, the other two are undoubtedly outperforming their team-mates in their respective teams; but Nico Rosberg has a bigger challenge on his hands; to demonstrate his skills without being intimidate by his 'legendary' team-mate (the 7-time F1 World Champion, Michael Schumacher) and gain recognition as a talented driver in his own right.

Massa has been the 'unofficial' Number 2 driver for a few years. Although he came close to winning the WDC in 2008, he has a mighty task ahead of him if he wants to win his first title this year, as Ferrari favours his team-mate and are not averse to some overt car-shuffling on the track.

Images from:
http://jalopnik.com/5371095/official-fernando-alonso-signs-three+year-contract-with-scuderia-ferrari
http://www.topnews.in/
http://www.hitresimler.com/img-mark-webber-resimleri-3044.htm

In or Out? Mathematically speaking....

With six races left in the F1 2010 calendar, most teams have already started focusing their design efforts on next year's car as they are mathematically out of the running for the Championship - short of a bizarre deduction of points from the current Championship leaders (the 3 new teams never had a shot, to be honest!).

So those that still have a chance are the top 10 scorers in the table. Although most F1 fans and pundits are concentrating on the top 5 drivers (Hamilton, Webber, Vettel, Button and Alonso) seperated by 41 points, given that their teams are still developing THIS year's car and cannot afford to become complacent with the title race.