Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest if not the greatest driver ever in motorsport history. He is a former 7 times World Champion and holds every possible record possible. But a lot of things have changed in the sport since the time he left in 2006 to what it is now. Three years may not be long enough span in other sports but in F1 lots of things have changed. Apart from the rules and regulations, 4 teams namely Honda, Toyota, MF1 & Super Aguri do not exist anymore while BMW has left Sauber while Renault is not in control of its own team.
Kimi Räikkönen, the man who was hastily pulled in as a replacement for Schumacher managed to have a stellar season during his debut for Ferrari and erased the image of Schumacher for a while after a stunning victory at the Brazilian GP to snatch the titles from the McLaren duo of Alonso and Hamilton. This was to lead another golden era for the team but then Kimi started to fade and he became very erratic. Kimi had way too many ups & downs that his teammate Massa who was expected to be the 2nd driver rose up for the challenge and fought hard for the Championship during the 2008 season and ended up losing it by a point to Hamilton despite winning more races through the season.
2009 is a year which Ferrari should forget as they had their worst ever showing since the Schumacher era but Massa’s accident nearly made Schumacher to make his comeback for the Ferrari team but then his neck was not yet healed and instead longtime test driver Luca Badoer was Massa’s replacement while after just 2 races he himself was replaced by fellow Italian Giancarlo Fisichella who’s long dream of racing for the Scuderia was fulfilled. Brawn and Jenson Button managed to win both the titles and for a while there was talk of both Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld both linked with both McLaren and Brawn. But with the exit of manufacturers like BMW and Toyota, the driver market was turned upside down and the signing of Alonso, the man who beat Schumacher to 2 World Championships with Ferrari ended in the exit of Kimi.
The most shocking turn of events began when Mercedes decided to pull out from the McLaren team and decided to take over the Brawn team. Though Jenson Button was expected to stay, he ended up moving to McLaren to prove that he did not win the title only because of his car while Nico Rosberg after months of speculation joined the newly reformed Mercedes GP team. Though Nick Heidfeld was expected to partner Rosberg in an all German team, the team lacked the star value which rivals McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull had and both their drivers were yet to win a race. Ross Brawn has send an SOS to long term friend Schumacher and the unthinkable happened. The Red Baron quit Ferrari to join rivals Mercedes and made one of the most dramatic comeback in sports by racing for the Silver Arrow team.
Schumacher is 41 years old and made his F1 debut when Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari was just one year old. Though he is very fit, he has not been racing or even testing during the last 3 seasons and him making a comeback and finishing in points at the Bahrain GP itself is an awesome achievement which only he could have done it. Last season Rubens Barrichello who was Button’s teammate had one podium finish after the 1st 3 races while Button won 2 races and managed a 3rd in the other race. Though Barrichello was quick and was racing in F1 without a break, he was totally outpaced and outclassed by Button during the 1st half of the season.
This season Rosberg who was always been a good driver but never had the car to win races even now does not have a car which can win races. Mercedes is improving but no way is it close to Red Bull, Ferrari or the McLaren cars. It is a decent car which can challenge the other 3 teams but it is not like Rosberg is winning with the current car while Schumacher is failing to finish races. It is still early days and if Mercedes does have a car which can challenge for wins, Schumacher will be in the hunt. It may take some time but Schumacher will win more races before he retires permanently.
The talk of Schumacher’s comeback as a failure is very premature and childish as also Schumacher’s 9 points compared to Rosberg’s 35 points is also because of the new points system. It is early days and it is a long season, once Mercedes is up to pace, Schumacher will be back. Ruling out a legend like that is just plain stupid and however good you are, if the car is not fast enough you just cannot produce results. A good example of this was Alonso during the last season when the Renault was just not performing. Schumacher is more motivated than ever and by the end of the season if Mercedes do have a car which can be quick, expect some wheel to wheel racing between Schumacher & the young guns like Hamilton and Vettel.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
2010 Malaysian GP Review: Vettel wins with Red Bull 1-2
Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull showed that why they were the most feared team before the season started as finally the Red Bull managed to hold up and Vettel drove the perfect race to finish a one-two for the team with Mark Webber coming in 2nd. Though rains main qualifying unpredictable with the likes of Ferrari and McLaren missing Q1, the rains stayed away from the race and though Vettel was not bothered much by anyone, there were awesome fights across all the other positions on track.
Lewis Hamilton drove one of his best races and though was at times a bit too aggressive, it was great to see him finish 6th after starting from the 20th. Though towards the end he struggled to overtake Adrian Sutil, but it was a great site to see Force India keeping ahead of McLaren. Teammate Jenson Button managed to come in 8th but was luckily to keep out Alonso who had gear problems which eventually not only caused him problems in overtaking Button but with a lap to go the engine blew up causing him to lose 2 vital points as now he is tied 2nd in the championship with Vettel while teammate Massa leads the table for Ferrari with a 2 point lead.
As expected this season should be a close one, but Mercedes GP who was title contenders before the season started finally managed to get to the podium with Rosberg taking a well deserved 3rd place. Not only he proved that he is faster than Schumacher but he showed that he has it in him to fight with the best. Schumacher once again had a disappointing race but this time he retired due to technical issues but he did show glimpse of old form during the qualifying and by the 2nd half of the season he should be back to normal.
Renault after a very good Australian GP which saw Kubica finish 2nd, once again had a good race for Kubica as he managed 4th place. This was a crucial finish for the team as now in the Constructors championship, it is well ahead of the rest and fast catching up with Mercedes. Vitaly Petrov proved that he has all the talent in the world but going wheel to wheel with Hamilton and even successfully keeping him at bay for a while till Hamilton pulled an illegal move to overtake the Russian. It is only a matter of time with some luck Petrov should be scoring points.
Force India proved that early season form is no flash in the pan with Sutil finishing 5th and the team managed to finish ahead of well funded teams like McLaren and Ferrari. Force India have started the season well and if they improve further they have a good chance of getting one of their drivers on podium but now keeping up with the Renault team should be a challenge for the team.
William’s Nico Hulkenberg scored his maiden F1 points by finishing 10th and though he was lucky at times, he managed to perform in an underpowered Williams which is fast losing out to Renault and Force India, while Toro Rosso was faster than the Williams during the Malaysian GP. Toro Rosso also opened its account for the season with teenage driver Jaime Alguersuari scoring maiden points after a miserable last season. Alguersuari is very young and with experience he could become a very godo driver in the future.
Sauber had a horrible weekend once again with reliability issues hurting them badly. Pedro de la Rosa failed to start the race while Kamui Kobayashi who was looking good early on retired after 8 laps only. Though Sauber is a quick car if they manage to sort out the reliability issues, they can score a few points.
HRT which had a very bad start to Bahrain looked better than both Lotus and Virgin Racing as the Spanish team had both drivers finishing the race. The team has improved a lot and both Lotus and Virgin had to seriously look at this team as they could emerge as the front runner among the new teams this season.
It is early days but it is good to see 3 different winners already this season and as many as 5 drivers separated by less than 5 points. It is good see Kubica and Renault in the mix as well and though it may be an impossible task for the team but Kubica is ahead of Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher as off now and just one point behind Lewis Hamilton. Still early days but the F1 season after a boring start at Bahrain has really kicked off and it should only get better as the we head to China in 2 weeks.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
2010 Malaysian GP Preview: Vettel will win if he finishes while rain could play a part
After a boring start to the season at Bahrain, it was a slug fest at the Australian GP and Jenson Button would definitely feel vindicated after a stunning win on a wet track due to a great gamble and Vettel’s reliability issues. Though had Vettel had not had that failure he would have won the race but nevertheless Button showed that he is not purely dependent on very good cars to win the race and he can also drive for victories. His teammate had a weekend to forget and though he did manage 6th place but he still was critical of McLaren’s strategy and have to forget what happened in Melbourne last week and regain composure to challenge for the win in Malaysia.
It is early in the season but it is high time Red Bull solves all reliability issues as Vettel can’t be the fastest man on track but still struggling to finish races and he has been vocal about the possibility of moving to Ferrari in the future and if Red Bull wants to keep him post 2011, he needs to win the title this season while teammate Webber though tried too hard in his home grand prix, he needs to up the game and perform like Vettel’s equal rather than a # 2 driver and if Webber continues in this form, Red Bull may just put Kimi in its cars as he is already racing for them in the WRC.
Ferrari leads both the titles as of now and do have the most all-round car on the grid but with team orders a thing of the past but if Massa and Alonso continue to eat points of each other then it may be a case where they will win the constructor’s title easily while may yet lose out on the driver’s championship. Though the relationship between Massa and Alonso has been cordial it is still early oart of the season and once it gets heats up, there can many potential clashes between the duo both on and off track.
Mercedes as Brawn managed to totally decimate the opposition but now with Schumacher, a 7 time World Champion and Rosberg, one of the brightest young talent on the grid, the team is struggling and they need to up their performance quickly as if they do fail so they may be faster than the rest of the grid but will lag behind Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull. They may have a lonely season and Schumacher may just quit once again if he is not motivated enough.
Kubica’s stunning performance may have given Renault all the inspiration in the world and though they may not achieve the same in Malaysia, but still it was a very important result for the team which went through various changes towards the end of last season and a strong Renault team is always good for the sport. Vitaly Petrov has not had the perfect debut season but he needs to start performing soon or else though he is a talented driver, the pay-driver stigma will hurt him badly in the future.
Williams and Force India ware well ahead of Sauber and Toro Rosso but now with the emergence of Renault, it has turned into a 3 way race to see is who will finish as the 5th best team in the grid and though Force India compared to the last few seasons had had one of its best starts ever and at times seems even quicker than Williams but if Williams continues to aim to remain as a premier team, they need to do something real quick as they have not won a race since 2004 and great teams usually do not go on such a long losing streak.
Sauber have to overcome their reliability issues and though they de la Rosa did manage to finish the race, the team was not expected to do a Brawn but was considered a dark horse but now struggling to keep up Toro Rosso and the way things are shaping up, the Italian team may just upstage their rivals and may quickly want to catch up with Force India, fellow back markers during the previous seasons.
Lotus must relish racing here as this is their home grand prix and though scoring any points will be an amazing thing for the team especially at sepang but so far they have proved that there are the best of the new teams and if they continue to improve they realistically have a chance to catch up with the likes of Sauber and STR before the season ends.
Virgin may not finish races as off now due to a very small fuel tank while Hispanic Racing after a disastrous start at Bahrain have got their feet on ground and it is only a matter of time before they start challenging Virgin and Lotus but their only problem could be is that Lotus and Virgin have drivers with F1 experience while HRT has 2 rookie drivers.
Last year’s Malaysian GP was a deluge and though rain is expected this year, it should not be that bad and if it does rains, it will be amazing to see wet track specialists like Schumacher, Vettel and Button battling each other. F1 season has really begun and Malaysia will once again provide a total entertaining race.
Malaysian GP Top 10 Predictions
1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Felipe Massa
4. Jenson Button
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Nico Rosberg
7. Michael Schumacher
8. Mark Webber
9. Adrian Sutil
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi
It is early in the season but it is high time Red Bull solves all reliability issues as Vettel can’t be the fastest man on track but still struggling to finish races and he has been vocal about the possibility of moving to Ferrari in the future and if Red Bull wants to keep him post 2011, he needs to win the title this season while teammate Webber though tried too hard in his home grand prix, he needs to up the game and perform like Vettel’s equal rather than a # 2 driver and if Webber continues in this form, Red Bull may just put Kimi in its cars as he is already racing for them in the WRC.
Ferrari leads both the titles as of now and do have the most all-round car on the grid but with team orders a thing of the past but if Massa and Alonso continue to eat points of each other then it may be a case where they will win the constructor’s title easily while may yet lose out on the driver’s championship. Though the relationship between Massa and Alonso has been cordial it is still early oart of the season and once it gets heats up, there can many potential clashes between the duo both on and off track.
Mercedes as Brawn managed to totally decimate the opposition but now with Schumacher, a 7 time World Champion and Rosberg, one of the brightest young talent on the grid, the team is struggling and they need to up their performance quickly as if they do fail so they may be faster than the rest of the grid but will lag behind Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull. They may have a lonely season and Schumacher may just quit once again if he is not motivated enough.
Kubica’s stunning performance may have given Renault all the inspiration in the world and though they may not achieve the same in Malaysia, but still it was a very important result for the team which went through various changes towards the end of last season and a strong Renault team is always good for the sport. Vitaly Petrov has not had the perfect debut season but he needs to start performing soon or else though he is a talented driver, the pay-driver stigma will hurt him badly in the future.
Williams and Force India ware well ahead of Sauber and Toro Rosso but now with the emergence of Renault, it has turned into a 3 way race to see is who will finish as the 5th best team in the grid and though Force India compared to the last few seasons had had one of its best starts ever and at times seems even quicker than Williams but if Williams continues to aim to remain as a premier team, they need to do something real quick as they have not won a race since 2004 and great teams usually do not go on such a long losing streak.
Sauber have to overcome their reliability issues and though they de la Rosa did manage to finish the race, the team was not expected to do a Brawn but was considered a dark horse but now struggling to keep up Toro Rosso and the way things are shaping up, the Italian team may just upstage their rivals and may quickly want to catch up with Force India, fellow back markers during the previous seasons.
Lotus must relish racing here as this is their home grand prix and though scoring any points will be an amazing thing for the team especially at sepang but so far they have proved that there are the best of the new teams and if they continue to improve they realistically have a chance to catch up with the likes of Sauber and STR before the season ends.
Virgin may not finish races as off now due to a very small fuel tank while Hispanic Racing after a disastrous start at Bahrain have got their feet on ground and it is only a matter of time before they start challenging Virgin and Lotus but their only problem could be is that Lotus and Virgin have drivers with F1 experience while HRT has 2 rookie drivers.
Last year’s Malaysian GP was a deluge and though rain is expected this year, it should not be that bad and if it does rains, it will be amazing to see wet track specialists like Schumacher, Vettel and Button battling each other. F1 season has really begun and Malaysia will once again provide a total entertaining race.
Malaysian GP Top 10 Predictions
1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Felipe Massa
4. Jenson Button
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Nico Rosberg
7. Michael Schumacher
8. Mark Webber
9. Adrian Sutil
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi
Sunday, March 28, 2010
2010 Australian GP Review: Jenson Button does the impossible and wins a thrilling race
Jenson Button winning races during the 1st half of the 2009 season was such a common sight that when he signed for McLaren for this season, no one believed that he could win a race soo early this season and though Button was a bit lucky that Vettel was fastest man on track had to crash out due to technical issues but it was still a very impressive performance from the British driver who had to prove a point that he won last year’s title not only because of the car alone but also show that he is Hamilton’s equal if not he can be better too.
Kubica was the surprise package of the race and it was nice to see both him and Renault back in the podium. Though Renault were expected to challenge the big 4 towards the 2nd half of the season, this early podium is good for the team and it will surely make them break rank with rest of the teams in the mid field as most teams there as of now are more or less have the same package.
Ferrari leads the championship and it was good to see Massa once again hit the podium while teammate Alonso after a first corner incident started at the tail end of the grid and fought really hard to finish 4th. Though Alonso leads the driver’s championship but in reality there is not much between the 2 Ferrari drivers and the likes of Button, Hamilton and Vettel challenging him is very high.
Red Bull should be very disappointed with this result as for the 2nd race in a row Vettel had the fastest car on the gird but thanks to the car once again he failed to win and this time did not even score points. If this continues it may become like last season where Vettel will be left with too less time to actually challenge for the title while teammate Webber just tried too hard in front of his home fans and though he managed to score 2 points by coming in 9th, it was a race where Webber had he kept his cool could have managed a podium finish.
Nico Rosberg finishing ahead of a 41 year old Schumacher is not the reason for which he signed up for Mercedes and though Mercedes is slightly behind the pace of Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren as of now, they should catch up very soon or else have the likes of Renault hustling them. Today was a day that proved that though Rosberg was a decent driver but he is still not world championship material yet as though his car was not as good as the others, he did have some favourable grid position at various time during the race and him finishing 5th is just not good enough.
Force India at the start of the season wanted to become the best mid-field team and so far they have shown that they can do it but with the emergence of Renault they need to work harder while Williams though maybe slightly off so far but expect the grove based team to increase its performance as the season progresses. It was good for Liuzzi to score points as though he is a very talented driver, Sutil was always thought of as the leader of the team and now he is under immense pressure to perform.
Another disappointing race for both Sauber and Toro Rosso, while Sauber continues to have reliability issues but if they don’t start performing there is a real danger in the team winding down before the season gets over while Toro Rosso is way better than the new teams but still is somewhat behind the likes of Williams, Renault and Force India while based on the issues Sauber is having now, Toro Rosso is well ahead of them.
No miracles were expected from the new teams and though it was disappointing to see Virgin ask for the FIA permission to redesign their fuel tank as it was too small and this ofcourse does not go too well for the people who back CFD while Lotus and Hispanic Racing managed to get one car finish the race for them. It was a good drive from Heikki Kovalainen in whatever equipment he had as he was pretty impressive through the race and more drivers from him could see him back among the big boys while Karun Chandhok managed to finish his 1st race in his short F1 career which is pretty good for the rookie.
It was a very exciting Australian grand prix and the wet tracks at the start of the race too played its part while with Button winning the race and also Kubica coming in 2nd has thrown the season wide open and though it is still early days, one thing is certain, Ferrari will be strong through the season while Vettel maybe the next great driver but then unless Red Bull can deliver a car which can go through the race distance, he may well join Ferrari sooner than expected.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
2010 Australian GP Preview: Prancing Horses sprinting while Bulls pray for rain!
The most anticipated F1 season ever started at Bahrain two weeks back but it turned out to be a very boring encounter with virtually qualifying, the first corner and a faulty Renault engine deciding the outcome of the race rather than some real wheel to wheel action which was badly missing. Though there may not be drastic changes at Albert Park but with some predictions of rain, it may throw a surprise result with Schumacher and Vettel arguably two of the best wet track drivers fighting it out but all depends on the success of the rain dance crew organized by the Red Bull team.
Ferrari had the perfect start with Alonso and Massa coming 1-2 with Alonso making a perfect Ferrari debut by winning his first race for the team while Massa showed no signs of rustiness made a very good comeback after a horrific accident last season. Though Massa might have been ok to let Alonso go to the finish line without a challenge at Bahrain but at Albert Park if he is not far behind he would not hesitate to fight with Alonso to challenge for a win.
The Red Bulls may have the best car on the grid but their Renault engine has once again let them down and if the engine is not consistent expect another season of near miss for the team as Vettel has a very good chance of becoming the youngest world champion this season while teammate Webber can be the most unexpected winner of the championship since Keke Rosberg.
McLaren and Hamilton will be thanking their lucky stars for a podium finish but if they need to score podium again they need to up their game to challenge Ferrari and Red Bull while they also need to keep a close eye on the Mercedes team as they are expected to perform well this weekend and already both Rosberg and Schumacher finished ahead of the reigning champion Button at Bahrain.
Force India has high hopes for this season and the way the car performed so far this season has given all indication that they do have a realistic chance of finishing 5th ahead of their immediate rivals like Williams, Renault and Sauber. They have already scored points and if they manage to outpace a top 4 team don’t be too surprised while Williams did have a decent start but they need to something extra special to match the top 4 teams as finishing ahead of the mid pack is not a great achievement for Williams who used to be a top team in the 80’s and the 90’s.
Renault may be the dark horse of the season and as the season progress they should be catching up with the bigger teams while Kubica may even get a few podium places towards the 2nd half of the season while Petrov who had a decent debut would want to prove a point that he deserves his place on the grid.
Sauber and Toro Rosso both would have been disappointed with the results in Bahrain and Sauber just cannot have 2 cars retiring for a team which has been racing for the better part of the last 2 decades while Toro Rosso need to up their game to score points. Right now they yet do not have the pace of Renault, Williams and Force India but if updates they can catch up with them very soon.
Among the new comers Lotus impressed the most and though they did finish the race this season could be the one for them where they will go through a whole season without scoring but it should be good for them as they should be more focussed on 2011 rather than this season. Virgin Racing proved that CFD can be a thing to look at for underfunded teams while HRT racing getting away with putting two rookies without any F1 experience in an untested F1 is something where the whole community should be happy as there were no incidents.
Hope it rains in Albert Park and this could turn the race into a very exciting contest which all F1 fans do deserve given the hype this season has had.
Australian GP Top 10 Predictions
1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Mark Webber
4. Felipe Massa
5. Michael Schumacher
6. Nico Rosberg
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Jenson Button
9. Robert Kubica
10. Nico Hulkenberg
Ferrari had the perfect start with Alonso and Massa coming 1-2 with Alonso making a perfect Ferrari debut by winning his first race for the team while Massa showed no signs of rustiness made a very good comeback after a horrific accident last season. Though Massa might have been ok to let Alonso go to the finish line without a challenge at Bahrain but at Albert Park if he is not far behind he would not hesitate to fight with Alonso to challenge for a win.
The Red Bulls may have the best car on the grid but their Renault engine has once again let them down and if the engine is not consistent expect another season of near miss for the team as Vettel has a very good chance of becoming the youngest world champion this season while teammate Webber can be the most unexpected winner of the championship since Keke Rosberg.
McLaren and Hamilton will be thanking their lucky stars for a podium finish but if they need to score podium again they need to up their game to challenge Ferrari and Red Bull while they also need to keep a close eye on the Mercedes team as they are expected to perform well this weekend and already both Rosberg and Schumacher finished ahead of the reigning champion Button at Bahrain.
Force India has high hopes for this season and the way the car performed so far this season has given all indication that they do have a realistic chance of finishing 5th ahead of their immediate rivals like Williams, Renault and Sauber. They have already scored points and if they manage to outpace a top 4 team don’t be too surprised while Williams did have a decent start but they need to something extra special to match the top 4 teams as finishing ahead of the mid pack is not a great achievement for Williams who used to be a top team in the 80’s and the 90’s.
Renault may be the dark horse of the season and as the season progress they should be catching up with the bigger teams while Kubica may even get a few podium places towards the 2nd half of the season while Petrov who had a decent debut would want to prove a point that he deserves his place on the grid.
Sauber and Toro Rosso both would have been disappointed with the results in Bahrain and Sauber just cannot have 2 cars retiring for a team which has been racing for the better part of the last 2 decades while Toro Rosso need to up their game to score points. Right now they yet do not have the pace of Renault, Williams and Force India but if updates they can catch up with them very soon.
Among the new comers Lotus impressed the most and though they did finish the race this season could be the one for them where they will go through a whole season without scoring but it should be good for them as they should be more focussed on 2011 rather than this season. Virgin Racing proved that CFD can be a thing to look at for underfunded teams while HRT racing getting away with putting two rookies without any F1 experience in an untested F1 is something where the whole community should be happy as there were no incidents.
Hope it rains in Albert Park and this could turn the race into a very exciting contest which all F1 fans do deserve given the hype this season has had.
Australian GP Top 10 Predictions
1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Mark Webber
4. Felipe Massa
5. Michael Schumacher
6. Nico Rosberg
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Jenson Button
9. Robert Kubica
10. Nico Hulkenberg
Sunday, March 14, 2010
2010 Bahrain GP Review: Normal Service Resumes with Ferrari One-Two
The 2010 season finally started off in what can turn out to be the most unpredictable season ever but though Alonso made his Ferrari debut in grand style by finishing 1st while Massa making a comeback after a very serious injury followed him to the 2nd place in what was a Ferrari one-two after nearly 2 years. The last time was during the now defunct 2008 French GP and though usually a Ferrari one-two means total domination by the team but this season there are 3 other teams which could be challenging it and these includes Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes.
Sebastian Vettel will be the most disappointed man on the grid and though he was set to win the race after a stunning qualifying pace but the RBR turned out to be fragile with Vettel just managing 4th place. His teammate Mark Webber after a first corner error managed to finish only 8th and RBR will be disappointed with these results but RBR has proved that it is really a top team and they will be a major threat throughout the season.
Hamilton and McLaren will be happy with their lucky 3rd position which was largely thanks to Vettel’s mechanical issues while Button managed only a 7th place on his McLaren debut and already Hamilton is proving that he is way ahead of Button. McLaren will be happy to score more points than Mercedes their former owners but they need to have a significant updates in order to match the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull.
Mercedes went into the race saying that they are still slightly off pace and they should be very happy with the way things have turned out for them. Michael Schumacher making his comeback after 3 years showed no sign of rust as he managed a 6th place and crucially finished ahead of the reigning World Champion Button but he still needs to up his pace during qualifying as Rosberg though may have finished ahead of Schumacher it was still not a convincing performance but it is still early days and the fight between these 2 should be interesting.
Force India proved that their days as back markers are over and they could be well be the surprise team among the mid-field teams and could bring back the team to its past heights when it was Jordan Racing. Vitantonio Liuzzi managed a well deserved 9th place while Sutil managed to finish 12th. Williams unless they become a works team once again should be getting used to its status as a mid-field team and though Rubens Barrichello did score the final points for the team, if they managed to finish ahead of Renault, Force India, Sauber and Toro Rosso then they should be very happy with the results and Nico Hulkenberg making his F1 debut did nothing wrong and managed to finish the race 14th.
Renault though did seem to have the pace early on but after Kubica’s spin they lost the plot and they just did nothing significance during the race while they did have a very shoddy pit-stop for Vitaly Petrov which was not the perfect start for Russia’s 1st F1 driver. Sauber said to be the dark horses for the season had to retire both the cars with hydraulics issues while Toro Rosso looked decent and they should only improve as the season goes on.
The historic name Lotus was back in F1 and they proved to the best among the 3 new teams which was making its debut and it was an impressive effort by the team which had just 4 months to build the car and its experienced drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli though were way off the pace still managed to finish the race distance. Virgin cars were plagued by gear box problems with Glock lasting 17 laps while di Grassi managed only 2 laps. Hispanic Racing were the worst of the lot with their car running for the 1st time ended up having one of the worst debuts ever with Bruno Senna managing 18 laps while Karun Chandhok who had no business on being in the grid managing to crash out at the first lap itself.
The Bahrain GP may not have been the most exciting grand prix but it did show signs of a very unpredictable season which is what 2010 is going to be all about. In the end though Ferrari won, there were 3 teams behind it while the middle pack looks unpredictable. The next race is at Melbourne in 2 weeks time and it should once again throw in a lot of surprises.
Sebastian Vettel will be the most disappointed man on the grid and though he was set to win the race after a stunning qualifying pace but the RBR turned out to be fragile with Vettel just managing 4th place. His teammate Mark Webber after a first corner error managed to finish only 8th and RBR will be disappointed with these results but RBR has proved that it is really a top team and they will be a major threat throughout the season.
Hamilton and McLaren will be happy with their lucky 3rd position which was largely thanks to Vettel’s mechanical issues while Button managed only a 7th place on his McLaren debut and already Hamilton is proving that he is way ahead of Button. McLaren will be happy to score more points than Mercedes their former owners but they need to have a significant updates in order to match the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull.
Mercedes went into the race saying that they are still slightly off pace and they should be very happy with the way things have turned out for them. Michael Schumacher making his comeback after 3 years showed no sign of rust as he managed a 6th place and crucially finished ahead of the reigning World Champion Button but he still needs to up his pace during qualifying as Rosberg though may have finished ahead of Schumacher it was still not a convincing performance but it is still early days and the fight between these 2 should be interesting.
Force India proved that their days as back markers are over and they could be well be the surprise team among the mid-field teams and could bring back the team to its past heights when it was Jordan Racing. Vitantonio Liuzzi managed a well deserved 9th place while Sutil managed to finish 12th. Williams unless they become a works team once again should be getting used to its status as a mid-field team and though Rubens Barrichello did score the final points for the team, if they managed to finish ahead of Renault, Force India, Sauber and Toro Rosso then they should be very happy with the results and Nico Hulkenberg making his F1 debut did nothing wrong and managed to finish the race 14th.
Renault though did seem to have the pace early on but after Kubica’s spin they lost the plot and they just did nothing significance during the race while they did have a very shoddy pit-stop for Vitaly Petrov which was not the perfect start for Russia’s 1st F1 driver. Sauber said to be the dark horses for the season had to retire both the cars with hydraulics issues while Toro Rosso looked decent and they should only improve as the season goes on.
The historic name Lotus was back in F1 and they proved to the best among the 3 new teams which was making its debut and it was an impressive effort by the team which had just 4 months to build the car and its experienced drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli though were way off the pace still managed to finish the race distance. Virgin cars were plagued by gear box problems with Glock lasting 17 laps while di Grassi managed only 2 laps. Hispanic Racing were the worst of the lot with their car running for the 1st time ended up having one of the worst debuts ever with Bruno Senna managing 18 laps while Karun Chandhok who had no business on being in the grid managing to crash out at the first lap itself.
The Bahrain GP may not have been the most exciting grand prix but it did show signs of a very unpredictable season which is what 2010 is going to be all about. In the end though Ferrari won, there were 3 teams behind it while the middle pack looks unpredictable. The next race is at Melbourne in 2 weeks time and it should once again throw in a lot of surprises.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
2010 Bahrain GP Preview: A Brave New Era Begins
This weekend the 2010 Formula One World Championship begins and for the first time in the history of the sport, there will be four teams going into the season with nearly six drivers favorites to win the driver’s championship. The traditional power teams like Ferrari and McLaren will be joined by Red Bull and the rebirth of the Mercedes Grand Prix team will lead to the most unpredictable season ever.
Mercedes is not the only iconic name which is returning to the sport but the greatest driver of our era and maybe the sport as well is returning but not with Ferrari but Michael Schumacher will make his dramatic comeback with the Silver Arrow Mercedes team where he will team up with Ross Brawn once again and this was the combination which resulted him all of his seven Championships, five with Ferrari and two with Benetton.
Names like Schumacher and Mercedes will overshadow others but then Cosworth is back after a disastrous 2006 season while the Senna names returns to the grid in the form of Bruno Senna, the nephew of the legendary Ayrton Senna a former three-team World Champion who died in a crash during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
Though the Lotus name returns, this outfit has no connection to the Colin Chapman led outfit. The only connection is that the group which owns the current Lotus team also owns Lotus Cars.
Though last season Brawn surprised everyone and won the Championship largely due to a loophole in the regulations and had it not been for the double diffuser, then Red Bull may have won it but this season Brawn which is Mercedes now will face a very stiff challenge from Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren.
Mercedes may not go into the season as hot favorites, and though the team does not expect to win right away and would take time, but if Schumacher comes out of retirement, then he is in for wins only.
Though publicly the team may deny it will take time, Mercedes and Schumacher could be on track for wins right from the first race while teammate Rosberg after polishing his skills in the under-powered and under-funded Williams, he finally can prove his potential and show that he can win races.
Red Bull last season’s runner-up is tipped to have the fastest car and with Vettel & Webber behind the wheel, they the only top team to have the same lineup and Vettel is tipped for greater things while Webber who is 33 now may have him last chance at going for the Championship and he could be the dark horse for this season.
Ferrari after a disastrous 2009 did stop work on their 2009 car and started work on their 2010 car before everyone else and with Alonso joining the team, the Latin era begins for Ferrari with Massa coming back after his injuries, this season if both Alonso and Massa can work as a team, Ferrari will be challenging for the titles this season right from the first race.
McLaren has a British super team with Hamilton and Button but with what happened when Hamilton teamed up with Alonso, things may not be as smooth as it seems as Button will take sometime getting used to the car and crew while by then Hamilton will have a good enough lead over him to relegate Button to the No. 2 driver status. Also the ruling on the wing will play a part at their campaign early on this season.
Williams has a strong lineup with the experienced Barrichello along with the GP2 Champion Hulkenberg and with Cosworth proving to be consistent maybe not be far off behind the top four while Sauber after taking buying back the team from BMW may not pull off a Brawn but could be the surprise package of the season as they have a car which has the best tire management so far.
Renault will be led by the mercurial Kubica who given the right car can go wheel to wheel with anyone while Vitaly Petrov has to prove that he is in more for his talent rather then the money he brings with him. Force India is looking forward to 2010 as the break through season for the team while Toro Rosso building a car for the first time on their own since the Minardi days may provide the biggest surprise of this lot.
Though Lotus and Virgin managed to run the car on the tracks but Hispanic will be running the car for the first time during the race weekend and if the car is slow it may prove to be dangerous for all the other teams who are not far off from each other in terms of speed.
The Bahrain Grand Prix will be the first of many exciting races we will have this season and the return of marquee names will provide more excitement to the season.
Bahrain GP Top 10 Predictions
1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Mark Webber
4. Felipe Massa
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Michael Schumacher
7. Nico Rosberg
8. Jenson Button
9. Kamui Kobayashi
10. Nico Hulkenberg
Mercedes is not the only iconic name which is returning to the sport but the greatest driver of our era and maybe the sport as well is returning but not with Ferrari but Michael Schumacher will make his dramatic comeback with the Silver Arrow Mercedes team where he will team up with Ross Brawn once again and this was the combination which resulted him all of his seven Championships, five with Ferrari and two with Benetton.
Names like Schumacher and Mercedes will overshadow others but then Cosworth is back after a disastrous 2006 season while the Senna names returns to the grid in the form of Bruno Senna, the nephew of the legendary Ayrton Senna a former three-team World Champion who died in a crash during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
Though the Lotus name returns, this outfit has no connection to the Colin Chapman led outfit. The only connection is that the group which owns the current Lotus team also owns Lotus Cars.
Though last season Brawn surprised everyone and won the Championship largely due to a loophole in the regulations and had it not been for the double diffuser, then Red Bull may have won it but this season Brawn which is Mercedes now will face a very stiff challenge from Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren.
Mercedes may not go into the season as hot favorites, and though the team does not expect to win right away and would take time, but if Schumacher comes out of retirement, then he is in for wins only.
Though publicly the team may deny it will take time, Mercedes and Schumacher could be on track for wins right from the first race while teammate Rosberg after polishing his skills in the under-powered and under-funded Williams, he finally can prove his potential and show that he can win races.
Red Bull last season’s runner-up is tipped to have the fastest car and with Vettel & Webber behind the wheel, they the only top team to have the same lineup and Vettel is tipped for greater things while Webber who is 33 now may have him last chance at going for the Championship and he could be the dark horse for this season.
Ferrari after a disastrous 2009 did stop work on their 2009 car and started work on their 2010 car before everyone else and with Alonso joining the team, the Latin era begins for Ferrari with Massa coming back after his injuries, this season if both Alonso and Massa can work as a team, Ferrari will be challenging for the titles this season right from the first race.
McLaren has a British super team with Hamilton and Button but with what happened when Hamilton teamed up with Alonso, things may not be as smooth as it seems as Button will take sometime getting used to the car and crew while by then Hamilton will have a good enough lead over him to relegate Button to the No. 2 driver status. Also the ruling on the wing will play a part at their campaign early on this season.
Williams has a strong lineup with the experienced Barrichello along with the GP2 Champion Hulkenberg and with Cosworth proving to be consistent maybe not be far off behind the top four while Sauber after taking buying back the team from BMW may not pull off a Brawn but could be the surprise package of the season as they have a car which has the best tire management so far.
Renault will be led by the mercurial Kubica who given the right car can go wheel to wheel with anyone while Vitaly Petrov has to prove that he is in more for his talent rather then the money he brings with him. Force India is looking forward to 2010 as the break through season for the team while Toro Rosso building a car for the first time on their own since the Minardi days may provide the biggest surprise of this lot.
Though Lotus and Virgin managed to run the car on the tracks but Hispanic will be running the car for the first time during the race weekend and if the car is slow it may prove to be dangerous for all the other teams who are not far off from each other in terms of speed.
The Bahrain Grand Prix will be the first of many exciting races we will have this season and the return of marquee names will provide more excitement to the season.
Bahrain GP Top 10 Predictions
1. Sebastien Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Mark Webber
4. Felipe Massa
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Michael Schumacher
7. Nico Rosberg
8. Jenson Button
9. Kamui Kobayashi
10. Nico Hulkenberg
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