A straightforward Race in Canada, 2013

I have to admit, it wasn’t the most exciting race of the year. In all honesty, even with all this tyre controversy that keeps popping up, it’s not been as exciting overall as some previous years. Even Sebastian Vettel’s title winning season in 2011 was more exciting at times than what I’m seeing. It’s a shame, as after the mixed conditions of practise and qualifying, I was expecting a bit more this time around. Although, he can now add Montreal to his collection of wins for the first time.

Vettel Strikes Back

As I mentioned before, this was a performance befitting Vettel’s 2011 season. He controlled the race perfectly from the outset. There was only a couple of laps he wasn’t in front and that is impressive, considering the complaints Red bull have been lobbying all season so far about tyres. To add to the dominance, Mark Webber, Vettel’s teammate took the fastest lap with a damaged front wing.

It has to be said, Vettel would have had it if he hadn’t been told to calm down. We know that the German likes his stats and at the end he was going purple but was told over the radio to let it go. This time, he listened to the team.

Back to ‘Real Racing’

So, there were much fewer complaints overall about the tyres this race. There were fewer pit stops and much less in the way of close racing. We still had some, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso’s battle being one example, but there was a lot more procession to this race than others so far – with the exception of Monaco. Is this the type of racing we want every time? For me, I’d like a bit more mixing up of the field and more battles but the drivers were flat out racing this time and that’s good for them too.

Force India Continue Good Form

My stand out team of the season so far has to be Force India. They have done a great job so far, achieving some good results – even on top of some poor decisions and qualifying results. I was surprised at the decision to bring back Adrian Sutil but he has done remarkably well – where was this Sutil last time? – And Paul Di Resta is going from strength to strength. I wouldn’t put it past a top team to pick this driver very soon. At 26 years old, he still has plenty more to show and I can see a world champion in him (Honest, I’m not biased about him being a Scot…much!).

At the same time, Toro Rosso are also doing well! Hopefully in another year or two, these teams will close the gap even further to the big four and be competing for the race wins!

The Mercedes Hearing

We have a date for this hearing – 20^th June. We can hope to have a result before the following weekend for the British grand Prix but I’m not sure we will. Since this is the first hearing with this body, they will want to get everything right first time and that takes time. It would be nice to get a verdict and put this behind us as soon as possible, regardless of where you stand on the situation.

Sombre News

I think it’s really important to mention this. A crash or accident at any time is worrying, and in a sport where there are so many dangers, you always hope that drivers and support staff are alright. Safety has come a long way over the last 20 or so years but this weekend we had an accident that few people could have predicted.

A marshal was run over by a crane lifting Gutierrez’s car. Reports have said that the man stopped to pick up his radio and the crane driver couldn’t see him and ran him over. Support staff did their best and quickly transported the man to hospital where he later died. It’s a tragic accident and it takes a lot of the shine off the whole weekend.

Drivers and teams have paid tributes to the man and I would hope anyone reading this does the same for the man’s friends and family. Without marshal’s at every event, most sporting events couldn’t take place and it is a dangerous job at the best of times that many people seem to forget about. Rest in Peace.

Summary

I haven’t mentioned Ferrari or Mercedes much today. They didn’t stand out much to me, other than Hamilton and Alonso’s battle for second. Ferrari really need to sort their qualifying pace out if they want to challenge Vettel for the championship, and Mercedes still need to work on rear tyre usage. It seems their tyre test didn’t help much.

Jean Eric Vergne had a fantastic qualifying and race result and force India’s Di Rest managed over 55 laps on one set of tyres, with competitive lap times for most of that stint which is very impressive. These two have been my stand out drivers of the race – and probably the season so far.

Onwards, to Silverstone!

Results

1 – S. Vettel (Red Bull)

2 – F. Alonso (Ferrari)

3 – L. Hamilton (Mercedes)

4 – M. Webber (Red Bull)

5 – N. Rosberg (Mercedes)

6 – J. E. Vergne (Toro Rosso)

7 – P. Di Resta (Force India)

8 – F. Massa (Ferrari)

9 – K. Raikkonen (Lotus)

10 – A. Sutil (Force India)

11 – S. Perez (McLaren)

12 – J. Benson (McLaren)

13 – R. Grosjean (Lotus)

14 – V. Bottas (Williams)

15 – D. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)

16 – P. Maldonado (Williams)

17 – J. Bianchi (Marussia)

18 – C. Pic (Caterham)

19 – M. Chilton (Marussia)

20 – E. Gutierrez (Sauber)

21 – N. Hulkenberg (Sauber)

22 – G. van der Garde (Caterham)

Time for a Party in Monaco, 2013

It wasn’t the most exciting race this year by a longshot, and even be Monte Carlo’s standards, it wasn’t amazing. It’s always a bit different due to the nature of the track and while there were a lot of cars bunched up, it was very slow. Once again, overshadowing the whole weekend was the issue of tyres and testing.

Rosberg’s Time to Shine

The worry coming into this race was the Mercedes would qualify on pole, which they did, but fall back during the race with excessive tyre wear. The tyre test is another factor to consider a bit later but with it being so hard to overtake, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton had to be feeling reasonably confident. In the end, Rosberg controlled the race perfectly, even pulling away from the Red Bulls who did not seem to be on the pace this round. We didn’t see much of Rosberg as a result, there were too many things happening elsewhere but it was a great drive to win in Monaco. This will be a massive boost to the team.

Hamilton could have easily had second this time, and a one-two for the team would have been great. A mistake with the timing of his pit stop during the safety car period dropped him behind the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. He openly admitted after the race it was his fault.

The Overtakes

It is almost impossible to overtake on track at Monaco, and any opportunities are not always taken because the smallest mistake will lead to the barriers and the end of the race – not just for the ones involved in the overtake. This year, we saw some daring moves, most notably from Sergio Perez and Adrian Sutil. Sutil made some great moves at the hairpin, passing Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso without incident. It was daring and you have to say that since his return this year, the Force India driver has been on great form.

Perez made his moves just after the tunnel, and while bold and daring, I’m not sure they were great moves. Each time, he forced the other driver off of the track to avoid a collision, and with Fernando and Button, it’s what they did. They wanted to finish the race but it wasn’t a great way to do it. Unfortunately, not all drivers are like that, and Kimi Raikkonen basically said no. The move was late this time, but Kimi left no space but there were nowhere to go. Perez retired later in the race and Kimi dropped way back, managing to finish 10^th.

Tyre Testing

After the last race in Barcelona, there was a three day tyre test with Mercedes. It’s been called a secret test and teams have been protesting (most notably Red Bull and Ferrari) but what does this mean?

The track was booked openly by Pirelli, and Mercedes asked to take part. Reports say that other teams were spoken to but that’s all we know. Current cars and current drivers on UNKNOWN compounds. While the team will have an idea of what was going on and with who, they were not told what each compound was for so it wasn’t going to be a massive benefit. On top of that, 1,000Km over three days between the two cars so not a massive amount of testing really, and yes, they may come across a compound next year or even later this year they’ve raced on but they can’t set a car up precisely for that compound, and next year the cars change anyway. Like I said, there will always be something the teams can take but in the time between races, how much could have been put to use? It will be interesting what the FIA does about this.

Summary

There were some great drives in Monaco, controlling themselves perfectly to get the best result. Well done to Rosberg and hopefully this will be an upturn in performance for his team which will help put up a bigger fight for the championship. Button drove a solid race and McLaren do seem to be turning it around, whereas Alonso just didn’t seem to have an answer for anything this weekend. That will be worrying given the Ferrari team’s form this year so far. On another note, big crashes from Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado this time out as well. Both seem to be okay but hopefully they will be back to their old racing selves next time as they are great drives and it’s never nice to see problems like that.

Results

1 – N. Rosberg (Mercedes)

2 – S. Vettel (Red Bull)

3 – M. Webber (Red bull)

4 – L. Hamilton (Mercedes)

 

5 – A. Sutil (Force India)

6 – J. Button (McLaren)

7 – F. Alonso (Ferrari)

8 – J. E. Vergne (Toro Rosso)

9 – P. Di Resta (Force India)

10 – K. Raikkonen (Lotus)

11 – N. Hulkenberg (Sauber)

12 – V. Bottas (Williams)

13 – E. Gutierrez (Sauber)

14 – M. Chilton (Marussia)

15 – G. van der Garde (Caterham)

16 – S. Perez (McLaren) – DNF

17 – R. Grosjean (Lotus) – DNF

18 – D. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) – DNF

19 – J. Bianchi (Marussia) – DNF

20 – P. Maldonado (Williams) – DNF

21 – F. Massa (Ferarri) – DNF

22 – C. Pic (Caterham) – DNF

Star Trek: Into Darkness

If you haven’t seen this film yet, then where have you been?! I’ll split this into two parts, one with no spoilers and one that goes a bit deeper into the film but will have some spoilers with it. I’ll try to keep them to a minimum but no promises.

There has been a lot of speculation surrounding this film and who the villain will be. The name John Harrison was dropped to try and send people down a route and while it worked for some, there were a lot of people who had doubts. There was a strong suspicion that the villain of the film would be Khan and viewers are set for a tense journey to find out the truth.

It’s not very often a sequel surpasses the original in such a large manner but Star Trek: Into Darkness does exactly that. It builds on the foundations laid in the first film and allows it to grow into something even more spectacular. There was a lot of talk about the trailers giving too much away of the film but that is not the case, there is a lot more to this film than first shown and that is partly why it is so good.

The Main Features

The story is fantastically well written and there were few faults I could find. The characters come across even better than they did in the first film, as their relationships have grown and the actors have been able to grown into the roles.

Visually, the film looks stunning, much like the first one. Boundaries have been pushed to create parts of the film that can be considered eye candy to science fiction fans but every scene had a purpose, even if it was a reference to the original Star Trek films.

Overall, this is definitely one of the best films of the year, and one of the best sci-fi films in a very long time. One piece of advice, watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to pick up on some jokes and twists made against it!

More Details, Along with a Few Spoilers

This film had me hooked – it really did. The direction I thought it was going to take, with a terrorist based plot on Earth, was implied in the trailer. While there is a good chunk of the film set on Earth, there is plenty of space travelling, and time on other planets, with a story that does have hints of a terrorist story but with a much deeper plot to unravel that will have us questioning not only the heroes but the villains.

We see a ship that crashes into the ocean on Earth and the shape and angle implies we are seeing a disaster occurring to fans of this franchise but there is more happening than we are led to believe which will leave your mouth hanging open.

Tensions are running high throughout this film as Kirk is faced with a situation that he is unfamiliar with, and the real growth of this young captain is going to be laid down for all to see. My only real complaint is how quickly the film ended and the route they took about. It was a clever trick and the reference was brilliant but as soon as it was mentioned, I knew what was going to happen.

Overall

Fans of the original franchise, the new franchise and science fiction films in general will love this film. Film lovers will enjoy the well-made and extremely well-paced film that will not leave you bored. The one spoiler I want to tell you about, the one that was all the talk of the rumours, I can’t talk about. You’ll have to find out for yourself.

A new show of domination in Spain, 2013

The Spanish Grand Prix gave us another view of the dominance of Fernando Alonso. His driving skills showed us why, even in an uncompetitive car last year, he was still in the title fight until the end. This race was almost Sebastian Vettel-esque from some of his races in the last few years.

The Stunning Spaniard

Without the mistakes in 2 out of the five races, Alonso would be leading the championship. If the car keeps developing, he will be leading it soon enough regardless. It was smooth sailing after the bold overtakes on the first lap and from there he was doing just enough to keep himself safe. Vettel has managed to control races like that recently but this shows how much Alonso wants to win this year. There’s no pressure after the season Ferrari had last year and how close they came so unless something drastic happens soon, it could be good season for them. Massa also had a good race to reach a podium finish from ninth. His form is constantly improving and I would love to see a race victory for him this year at least once.

Salvaging the Points

It was damage limitation for both McLaren and Mercedes this weekend. The former still trying to understand why they have lost so much pace with this car and the latter not able to improve the tyre wear during a race. McLaren should be happy with a double points finish, even if it is in the lower half of the top ten. It still seems strange to be saying that about the team who had the quickest car at the end of last year, and both Jenson Button and Sergio Perez were downbeat despite how well their races went.

For Mercedes, a pattern is emerging. It wasn’t as bad this weekend for Nico Rosberg, still finishing in the points but Lewis Hamilton, passed by both a Williams and Button, was also not happy, as was clear in his post-race interview. Monaco might help them, as it is difficult to overtake there and they are very quick in qualifying but I think they’ll still miss out on the pit stops.

Red Bull and Tyres

One good thing about this post being a week late is that I’ve been able to keep track of the on-going Pirelli tyre situation. Red Bull are still not happy but as has been pointed out, it wasn’t long ago they won a race from four pit stops. How quickly they change their minds about how efficient the tyres are and how good they are for the sport.

Pirelli have announced they want to change the tyres as early as the Canadian grand prix next month but no matter what decision they make, someone won’t be happy. Where is the line between changes that should be made and those that shouldn’t. Safety is the most important thing, and we have seen some worrying incidents with the tyres but I don’t agree that last year’s tyres should be used or even much harder tyres. If it’s the bonds that are the problem; then strengthen the bonds, they’re not amateurs and will probably have a way of doing so.

I’m not solely convinced that four stops during a race is too many. I enjoy the multiple pit stops and working out who’s where. It can be a little confusing but how many people focus on EVERY car on the track at once. Generally you’ll follow the drivers you want to win, or do well, and those around them, while on the lookout for others who do well or do not. More than four stops would definitely be a problem, but four isn’t too bad. If everyone does three stops it will become processional again and that won’t be so fun, the fact we are getting a mix means there is always something going on and I enjoy that.

Summary

While not the most exciting race so far this year, there wasn’t anything inherently bad about it. It’s quite possible we would be saying it was dull if it was Vettel who rushed to victory but having Alonso show his worth is refreshing. He’s a force to be reckoned with this season once again, and as for the tyres, we’ll have to wait and see.

Results

1 – F. Alonso (Ferrari)

2 – K. Raikkonen (Lotus)

3 – F. Massa (Ferrari)

4 – S. Vettel (Red Bull)

5 – M. Webber (Red Bull)

6 – N. Rosberg (Mercedes)

7 – P. Di Resta (Force India)

8 – J. Button (McLaren)

9 – S. Perez (McLaren)

10 – D. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)

11 – E. Gutierrez (Sauber)

12 – L. Hamilton (Mercedes)

13 – A. Sutil (Force India)

14 – P. Maldonado (Williams)

15 – N. Hulkenberg (Sauber)

16 – V. Bottas (Williams)

17 – C. Pic (Caterham)

18 – J. Bianchi (Marussia)

19 – M. Chilton (Maurssia)

20 – J. E. Vergne (Toro Rosso) - DNF

21 – G. van der Garde (Caterham) - DNF

22 – R. Grosjean (Lotus) - DNF

Is this the End of Iron Man?

That will be the question on everyone’s lips after watching Iron Man 3, and that’s not even a spoiler! The end of the Iron Man trilogy had a lot to live up to as Phase 1 of Marvel’s Avengers plan did fantastically well, and with this film kick-starting Phase 2, there was a lot of hype. Undoubtedly, there will be a lot of rumours and speculation surrounding this film and where it will take us in the end, but for now, just accept that this is a damned good film in all the right ways.

A Much Darker Atmosphere

The previous films had ‘dark’ moments in them, usually where Tony Stark was under threat and faced a decision or situation that was designed to test him and show the hero elements to his personality. This was balanced with a lot of humour to prevent that dark nature from taking over and making the films aimed at older audiences rather than the much wider audience intended.

In Iron Man 3, this dark nature is given free reign and following on from the events in Avengers Assemble, our hero is having trouble recovering and returning to his old self, if that’s even what he wants. The events in that film has opened his eyes to what he can really become but there are things stopping him and a good part of the film is dealing with Tony Stark’s demons rather than the problems faced by Iron Man.

There’s still plenty of humour throughout the film. In my opinion, there is less obvious humour and much grittier, dark humour that will have you laughing on the inside more than on the surface. I like this a lot more, as it suits my preferences but it isn’t for everyone. This is worth keeping in mind when watching the film, the atmosphere is completely different to the previous films but it has to be to really tell the story and let Tony develop.

Pushing the Boundaries of His World

In each film, we have seen Tony create a host of gadgets and pieces of tech to help him survive and show off his flamboyant style, and this doesn’t change in Iron Man 3. From assembling the very first version of the Iron Man suit, to new power cores and mobile versions he can access in any area, the next big breakthrough would be watched closely. The trailers gave us an idea before seeing the film of what kind of things we could expect. A new mobile version of the suit followed by a whole new group of suits hit the screen in this film and in all honesty, because of the trailer, I wasn’t as surprised or impressed this time around.

It is a fine line to work, but once you watch the film, you can put two and two together and you know who things will end in some shape or form. This disappointment was quickly put to rest when you consider the circumstances of the whole film. This isn’t just about Iron Man as a hero, but Tony Stark as a hero and where the two personalities begin and end. In that light, we don’t see too much of the innovation and there is a great spectacle to behold once those suits arrive on the scene.

The End Result

I’m unsure as to where this film rates out of the three. It is better than Iron Man 2 but is it better than the first one? After watching it once, I would say it wasn’t as good, but still a brilliant film. The more I think about it, the less sure I am about that. It’s hard to beat the first of a trilogy in most cases, and it could be that I like the style of this film better rather than the film as a whole.

Shane Black’s influence is brutally clear in this film and his work speaks for itself. There have been influences of him in the previous films but this film seems a lot more complete in that regard. There is also an influence of Joss Whedon after the incredible job of Avengers Assemble and the way the whole franchise is fitting together shows the strength of the characters and the universe it is set in.

I have a feeling that the more I watch this film, the more I will like it and in time, it may well become my favourite Iron Man film. It will always be close between the first and the third but there is a lot more confidence in this one than the last, just in the way to script comes across and how well the actors have settled into these roles now. If you haven’t seen it, then I’d recommend it. It’s a fantastic film and one of the best I’ve seen for a long time.

More Tension in Bahrain, 2013

Amid all of the politics, Bahrain has had some amazingly exciting races – and some not so exciting ones too – but with higher temperatures and the threat of even worse tyre degradation than we saw in China last week, it was always going to be interesting to see what happened on track. If China was exciting, then this weekend’s race could take us to a whole new level. After the chequered flag, most will agree that it did.

 

Grosjean and Perez Strike Back

 

I made comments last week that both Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez have done very little to show us they’re on the grid this year. Grosjean has had some solid performances but hides away in the background and while there are no incidents involving him so far, at least we knew who he was and what he was doing. Perez has had a poor start to his McLaren career – not helped at all by the underperforming car he has to work with, but he had podiums last year and pushed Fernando Alonso for a victory! Where has the spark gone?

 

Well, this time we saw both drivers out in force and they stole the show for different reasons. Compared to last year, Grosjean has matured a lot, and there were a couple of overtaking opportunities that he would have gone for last year, hoping it would work out. Now, he’ll let them go and bide his time. He learns very quickly and if he can keep the pace and skill he showed today, he could come right back into the championship hunt. It was fantastic to see him on the podium again. Perez really needed to show everyone why he had that drive over other racers and today he did.  It was a bit anxious at times, especially with his teammate, Jenson Button, but both came away unscathed and in the end, he finished above the more experienced driver. This is what we need to see more of, but with a bit more of a level head at times, showing a bit more respect and not bashing wheels.

 

Misery for Ferrari

 

Ferrari will be hoping karma comes around to be on their side soon, and they will not want to remember this weekend’s race given the pace they had been showing throughout the weekend and the result from China last week. A rear wing failure caused Alonso’s DRS to be permanently open from early on. It was knocked in place only for it to become stuck again straight away, resulting in a second pit stop that took him to the back of the grid. The class of Alonso’s driving saw him recover to eighth and there are not many drivers who could pull that off. Felipe Massa had even more problems will two tyre failures, effectively ruining his afternoon by how spaced out they were. Why they only happened to him this time and not anyone else is something we may never know. It could be bad luck, shrapnel, his racing line or how he handles the car itself. The team salvaged some points but are already looking forward.

 

The Good and the Bad for Force India

 

Adrian Sutil didn’t have much luck again in the race as an incident saw him pit early on. For Paul Di Resta, it was a different story as he finished fourth to match his best finish to date. For so much of the race it looked like there was a podium coming for the Brit but the Lotus cars were just that bit quicker in the end but for where the team are, it was a brilliant result. The strategy that has worked for them so far in the season maybe let them down today but it is easy to look back and criticise. They made a call and have leapfrogged McLaren in the Constructor’s Championship as a result. That has to be considered a successful weekend after all is said and done.

 

Racing and More on Overtaking

 

Another issue within a team cropped up today – this time with McLaren. Perez and Button were really going at it and I found myself holding my breath so goodness knows how the team were feeling at the time. It brings another question to light – where is the line between aggression and recklessness? Some of the moves between the two drivers were aggressive but Perez ended up touching his front wing to Buttons rear wheel, and a short time later, Button practically ran Perez off the track. That could have been game over for either car right there in just those two incidents. It shows that McLaren do give their drivers freedom to race but when your championship battle is under threat so early, is that crossing the line? Does there need to be a sturdier hand watching over those incidents when you are in their position? I’m not the person to answer that one, but I do feel that this is leading on from incidents we have seen in the season so far.

 

There was a lot of overtaking today and not all of it was from the DRS system. There were a few good points that allowed overtaking even without it and we saw Alonso making use of these points during his race. Are the younger drivers relying too much on DRS that when they can’t use it they are getting reckless?  If that is the case, the sport could suffer a lot more in the future when no driver can overtake without it and incidents are occurring more frequently. I hope that’s not the case but it is worth keeping an eye on as we go through the remainder of the season.

 

Summary

 

There was some hypnotic racing today and some of it was so close that I can imagine a lot of eyes were glued to the screen. Emotions were running high and hopefully these battles will continue throughout the season. Vettel was back in his favourite position, out in front with no one to challenge him and this was all about damage limitation for Ferrari and they will spend the next three weeks thinking about how they can get themselves back up to the top of the championship.

 

Results

1 – S. Vettel (Red Bull)

2 – K. Raikkonen (Lotus)

3 – R. Grosjean (Lotus)

4 – P. Di Resta (Force India)

5 – L. Hamilton (Mercedes)

6 – S. Perez (McLaren)

7 – M. Webber (Red Bull)

8 – F. Alonso (Ferrari)

9 – N. Rosberg (Mercedes)

10 – J. Button (McLaren)

11 – P. Maldonado (Williams)

12 – N. Hulkenberg (Sauber)

13 – A. Sutil (Force India)

14 – V. Bottas (Williams)

15 – F. Massa (Ferrari)

16 – D. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)

17 – C. Pic (Caterham)

18 – E. Gutierrez (Sauber)

19 – J. Bianchi (Marussia)

20 – M. Chilton (Marussia)

21 – G. van der Garde (Caterham)

22 – J. E. Vergne (Toro Rosso) – Did Not Finish

Looking Forward in China, 2013

Following on from the drama in Malaysia with team orders, a lot of the focus for this race would be on the repercussions of how Red Bull and Mercedes have been handling their drivers. The relationship between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber at Red Bull seems to have deteriorated even more and it’s hard to see how they will continue to race together beyond the end of the season. The situation at Mercedes, on the surface at least, looks at better.

More Drama at Red Bull

Webber had a disaster of a weekend – definitely not what he would have wanted after what happened in China. A problem with his fuel levels in qualifying pushed him to the back of the grid and the events in the race that seemed to add up until his wheel fell off and caused him to retire. On the other hand, Vettel had a strong race, opting for a different strategy to make up for the lack of pace compared to the podium finishers and saw him come home in fourth. This sparked a wave of conspiracy theories against Red bull that Webber was being targeted because of his comments about the team orders incident. It seems never ending for a moment and still detracting from some of the great racing we have been seeing in the season so far.

The Strong Finishes

There have been some good results in this race, and throughout the season I haven’t covered. Jules Bianchi of the Marussia team has done a great job, leading the way of the back runners in positions and pace so far. I was unsure that bringing Adrian Sutil back to Force India was the best move instead of picking someone new but the team have done well with him so far and it’s hard to imagine Bianchi not getting a drive at a bigger team next year from his performances. Daniel Ricciardo had a fantastic race for Toro Rosso, qualifying and finishing in seventh place. The team has had a bit of a mixed season so far with retirements and lower finishes but Ricciardo has really improved recently and if Webber does leave Red Bull at the end of the year, he stands a chance of being in contention for that drive if he continues as he has been doing.

Mixed McLaren Results

While McLaren’s upgrades helped a little, it did not give them as much performance as they hoped but Jenson Button had a strong race, finishing in fifth. That result is about as good as they could have hoped for this time out, adopting a similar strategy to Vettel but with one stop less to accommodate their lack of pace. It is a good result and if they can keep improving quickly, we’ll hopefully see them winning races later in the year. Sergio Perez really hasn’t been showing the skills that got him the drive so far. He hasn’t matched up to what we have seen him do in the past and it’s starting to be easy to forget he is even there. If he doesn’t step up soon, his own drive could be under threat.

Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes

Three different race winners out of three different races, and three different constructors on the podium this time around. Kimi Raikkonnen’s pace in the lotus came out of nowhere in qualifying and it is clear to see why he is a world champion. He knows how to deliver when he needs to and unfortunately, much like at McLaren, his teammate Romain Grosjean is doing nothing much at the moment. He is keeping out of incidents but there is no pace and no good drives right now to impress us. That has to be worrying for Lotus. Mercedes have had a great start to the season and Lewis Hamilton claiming his first pole position for the team is a fantastic achievement. There is still work to be done to catch up to the other teams in terms of race pace but I never thought they’d be this strong and it is clear that Hamilton’s decision to move there was a good one (so far). I was always sceptical of the reason behind why he moved but I’m glad to see it working out for him and the Lewis Hamilton of old has returned and is delivering some great racing. He’s a brilliant driver to watch and is definitely still hungry for more, which is great.

Fernando Alonso had a fantastic race, and he needed that after not finishing last time around. It seemed that he was in control from the moment he had that great start and it was inevitable he would pass Hamilton early on. There were no glitches or problems for Ferrari this time and it was another show of world class driving from the two-time world champion. Felipe Massa had a good, if a bit quiet, race. It was a good finish but almost a big disappointing given his form recently; I was hoping to see him up there pushing for the lead with Alonso. Hopefully in Bahrain we’ll get to see that.

Overtaking and Tyres in the Modern F1

There’s been a lot of talk, sparked by how quickly the soft tyres lasted in the race this time, about the nature of F1 and if this is destroying the sport. I honestly don’t understand this. The rules change to help with costs, to keep teams thinking and producing innovations that can be passed down and overall, challenge the drivers in e3very way possible. It’s not all about driving as fast as you can at all times, but also about how you drive; adapting to the track, the weather, the tyres and even the car. Some do this better than others and those are the ones that win often. Alonso is a great example of this. I’m not the oldest F1 fan around but refuelling in pit stops caused cars to run varying strategies at different fuel loads to accommodate the car and track in order to win. The tyres do a similar job and in time, the teams will figure them out, meaning they need to be changed a bit more. It helps keep things interesting.

The DRS helps overtaking in a sport where overtaking is very difficult. It helps the drivers as much as it helps us, unless you want a field of about eight drivers who can actually overtake on their own. It even makes overtaking a bit safe because the pass can be completed without hitting each other in most cases. That’s got to be a good thing, surely? It’s only my opinion but if it keeps the racing interesting and dynamic, then I’ll give anything a shot. In the end, this is how it is right now, and it will change again in the future. Enjoy the racing that is available to us instead of picking holes in it. Managing tyres and cars has always been a factor since I can remember it and to help with sustainability and reliability, it will be for a long time to come.

Summary

This was actually the best of the three races this year. The high tyre degradation gave us split strategies with some exciting racing through the start and the end of the race. The crossover in the middle was also exciting. There was a lot more strategy than wheel to wheel racing for the most part but still plenty to enjoy. Bahrain is the next race and should also be interesting on the tyres, so we should get another exciting race next time around!

Results

1 – F. Alonso (Ferrari)

2 – K. Raikkonen (Lotus)

3 – L. Hamilton (Mercedes)

4 – S. Vettel (Red Bull)

5 – J. Button (McLaren)

6 – F. Massa (Ferarri)

7 – D. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)

8 – P. Di Resta (Force India)

9 – R. Grosjean (Lotus)

10 – N. Hulkenberg (Sauber)

11 – S. Perez (McLaren)

12 – J. E. Vergne (Toro Rosso)

13 – V. Bottas (Williams)

14 – P. Maldonado (Williams)

15 – J. Bianchi (Maurssia)

16 – C. Pic (Caterham)

17 – M. Chilton (Marussia)

18 – G. van der Garde (Caterham)

19 – N. Rosberg (Mercedes) – Did Not Finish

20 – M. Webber (Red Bull) – Did Not Finish

21 – A. Sutil (Force India) – Did Not Finish

22 – E. Gutierrez (Sauber) – Did Not Finish