Sebastian Vettel won his 2nd race of the race with an ease that for most part of the season he was on his own. Even better this victory was that his championship rivals from last season Hamilton and Alonso could only finish 6th and 7th. Though it was a good race for Vettel, his teammate Webber had a mixed race but eventually managed to finish 4th fighting it out hard for that place. Not a dream start to the season for Webber but he will take it. Red Bull looks strong and if they could solve their KERS issue they can run away with the championship this season.
Jenson Button finished 2nd and though he never looked like challenging Vettel this was a good result for the British driver as the season is 19 races long and this finish is good for him in-terms of his standing in his team itself and also with regard to the driver’s championship. Button did similarly last season and was in contention for the title till the penultimate race of the season. Also he seems more suited to the Pirelli tires than his teammate Hamilton.
Ferrari came into this weekend not expecting to challenge Red Bulls for a win but there were ready to challenge for podium places and Alonso during various stages of the race was set for that but due to various races it never materialized and he could only finish 6th while teammate Massa improved to finish 5th. Not a great finish but finishing ahead of Alonso and a much improved show by him should restore some faith him in by the team.
Renault had Vitaly Petrov on podium during the last time and this time they had Nick Heidfeld who had a stunning race to finish 3rd. Renault’s decision to replace Kubica with Heidfeld has been vindicated and Heidfeld was the driver of the race and was actually 2nd during the early stages of the race after an amazing start. Petrov also had a good race till he crashed out but he has shown that he can race and if he continues his progress, then Renault can mix with the likes of McLaren and Ferrari.
Sauber once again showed that they have a very good car and though both Kobayashi and Pérez were disqualified in Melbourne for technical infringements but here in Sepang, Kobayashi once again drove a very exciting race and he fought hard with everyone and finished 8th. It is only a matter of time till one of the big teams will sign this Japanese driver. Perez did not have a great race but he has the potential and as the season progresses he should do well.
Mercedes after a horrible Australian GP looked set for an improvement at Sepang but they did open their account for this season with Michael Schumacher coming in 9th. Schumacher did show some of his old magic and if only he had the car he could be mixing with the guys at the top of the grid. Teammate Rosberg had a poor race and whatever reputation he gained during the last season will be gone quickly if he drives a few more races like he did today. Mercedes needs to up its game or else it will find itself battling the likes of Sauber and Force India rather than Renault, Ferrari and McLaren.
After seeing the way Paul di Resta drove today, we all should be wondering what was he doing in DTM for so long but he atleast managed to get a break this season and yet again finished 10th and got into point scoring position for Force India. Though the team’s car is lacking in pace compared to Sauber and even Toro Rosso, di Resta drove brilliantly and he is on course to become the rookie of the year if he continues to drive the same way. Teammate Sutil also had a good race and he managed to finish 11th importantly ahead of Rosberg and the Toro Rosso drivers.
Williams is having a catastrophic season and the way Rubens Barrichello, the most experienced driver on the grid is driving, they would wonder if they made a huge mistake in letting go Nico Hülkenberg. Williams ever since BMW left them have been on a downhill and the team also has made some mistakes when it came to drivers and engine suppliers and yet again this season instead of signing up with Renault they went with Cosworth. Pastor Maldonado despite brining in the money in the 2 races he has raced has shown that he does not belong on the grid.
Toro Rosso had a poor race as they do have a car which can challenge Sauber and which is better than Force India but both their drivers failed to score points. This resembles last season as the team had a decent start and they just tapered off during the middle part of the season. It is a very important season for both Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari if their F1 careers have to continue.
Among the others who make up the numbers on the grid, Team Lotus despite their promising show during the testing has not really progressed beyond the tail-end of the grid while Virgin and HRT racing is just one bike joke. The teams are neither competitive nor doing something to improve it. Virgin despite backed by Sir Richard Branson should quit F1 as the CFD alone concept is not working and Branson should learn how to run an F1 team from other billionaires out there which is throw some money on the team. HRT’s shoestring budget set-up looks like it will not last the whole season. The team has decent drivers but the car is not even good enough to race in GP2. FIA should step in and throw the team out.
The next race will be in China next week and none of the teams will have time for any updates and given how RBR and Vettel have dominated so far, things should not change too much in China. Maybe a clever mix of strategy and some gutsy driving could have the likes of Hamilton and maybe even Heidfeld challenging Vettel.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
2011 Australian GP Review: Vettel dominates while rest watches
Sebastian Vettel, the reigning world champion had no problems winning the 2011 Australian GP a race which he dominated from pole and he won without even a challenge. Vettel and Red Bull once again looked dominant and if the likes of McLaren and Ferrari have any decent shot at the title, then they drastically need to cut the distance or else Red Bull will have the titles by mid-season.
Lewis Hamilton despite nursing home his McLaren should be a very happy man with his 2nd place finish and just 2 weeks back McLaren was lagging behind not only RBR but also the likes of Ferrari, Sauber, Renault and even Toro Rosso but the team has done extremely well to change things and now look set to challenge RBR as the season progresses. One thing the team has to be careful about is Hamilton’s over aggressive driving style may have issues with the new Pirelli tires.
Vitaly Petrov has his best result in his F1 career by finishing in 3rd. It was not only his 1st podium finish but it was the return of the Lotus name on to the podium after more than 2 decades. Though for all technical and legal purpose the car is officially still called as Renault, the Lotus Cars sponsored Renault team which was expected to be the surprise package of this season did not disappoint at all with Petrov having a very solid race. He is definitely my driver of the race. Teammate Heidfeld had a horrible debut for Renault and he will hope that he can get back his groove during the Malaysian GP or else if he continues in his current form, he maybe replaces very soon.
Ferrari which was expected to challenge Red Bull Racing would be disappointed but it was not a very poor start. Alonso was scrappy through the race and ever since been pushed out of the 1st corner of the race, he just could not fight it out for a podium finish. The car looks ok and with more updates it can challenge RBR. Teammate Massa had a very mixed race and if he continues in that same vein he may yet again be relegated to being Alonso’s #2. He definitely needs to up his game for the next race while Button the man with whom Massa fought most part during the race was a bit unlucky. The tires should suit his driving style and with some clever strategy he could do better than Hamilton but if he needs to pose challenge for the title he needs to be more aggressive.
Sauber was the team of the race till both their cars were disqualified due to technical violations. Though the team has appealed, Sauber has started the season well and at current form looks better than fellow mid-field teams like Williams, Force India and Toro Rosso. Sergio Perez had an amazing debut and showed that Peter Sauber does have a knack for finding talent while teammate Kamui Kobayashi yet again showed his worth by battling it out with everyone. Kobayashi has all the ingredients to become Japan’s 1st F1 champion provided he gets a very good drive.
Toro Rosso which looked strong during the pre-season testing had a solid car and will be looking at beating fellow mid-field teams like Sauber, Williams and Force India. Sébastien Buemi, the once highly touted rookie is under pressure to perform and he did well to finish 8th while teammate Jaime Alguersuari needs to up his game a bit as the highly promising rookie Daniel Ricciardo is waiting for a drive and he will put immense pressure on the incumbent drivers.
Force India despite not having a car which can score points were lucky to score points due to Sauber’s disqualification as Sutil and di Resta were classified 9th and 10th. Sutil was very consistent through the race while rookie teammate di Resta was very impressive. He did not get overawed during the race and showed that he does deserve his place on the grid. A good season in which if he could be Sutil could result even in a Mercedes drive in the future. But the team has to work hard if they have to catch up Sauber and STR.
Mercedes had a race to forget with both cars retiring. Schumacher got tangled in the 1st corner with Alguersuari and he just did not recover from it. The car was damaged and Schumacher had a forgettable race. Teammate Rosberg was a having a decent race till Barrichello decided to punt him which resulted him having issues and he had to retire. Barrichello despite being the most experienced driver on the grid once again proved that why he never won a world championship at Ferrari and Brawn GP. While teammate Pastor Maldonado another rookie making his debut retired after having transmission issues. Williams should have taken a cue from Sauber and should have partnered Nico Hülkenberg with Maldonado as Barrichello just do not bring in much to the table while Maldonado is needed for bring in the money for the team. They need to up their game or else they may even have Team Lotus catching up with them.
Team Lotus despite early promise once again looked the best of the 3 teams which made its debut last season but not as good as the other teams. The team had reliability issues during the pre-season testing and once again in Melbourne Heikki Kovalainen had to retire due to water leak while Jarno Trulli managed to finish 13th. The team has pace and if they could managed to solve their reliability issues they can catch up with Force India which looks the weakest among the mid-field teams.
There was not to expect much from the entirely CFD designed Virgin cars but Jérôme d'Ambrosio finished 14th and was the last person classified while Timo Glock was too far behind to have been classified. The team is still half a second behind Team Lotus and they have lot of work to be done before they can catch up with the Lotus team. HRT landed up in Australia with a car which was yet to hit the road and as expected the team failed to even qualify for the race with the 107% rule implied. Having teams like HRT is making F1 looking like a joke.
With no chance of having a Bahrain GP this year, there will be 19 races and Vettel if he manages to continue his current form, he should easily retain his title while McLaren and Ferrari need to up their game or else Renault may just surprise and even beat them. It is a good start to the season and it can only get better.
Lewis Hamilton despite nursing home his McLaren should be a very happy man with his 2nd place finish and just 2 weeks back McLaren was lagging behind not only RBR but also the likes of Ferrari, Sauber, Renault and even Toro Rosso but the team has done extremely well to change things and now look set to challenge RBR as the season progresses. One thing the team has to be careful about is Hamilton’s over aggressive driving style may have issues with the new Pirelli tires.
Vitaly Petrov has his best result in his F1 career by finishing in 3rd. It was not only his 1st podium finish but it was the return of the Lotus name on to the podium after more than 2 decades. Though for all technical and legal purpose the car is officially still called as Renault, the Lotus Cars sponsored Renault team which was expected to be the surprise package of this season did not disappoint at all with Petrov having a very solid race. He is definitely my driver of the race. Teammate Heidfeld had a horrible debut for Renault and he will hope that he can get back his groove during the Malaysian GP or else if he continues in his current form, he maybe replaces very soon.
Ferrari which was expected to challenge Red Bull Racing would be disappointed but it was not a very poor start. Alonso was scrappy through the race and ever since been pushed out of the 1st corner of the race, he just could not fight it out for a podium finish. The car looks ok and with more updates it can challenge RBR. Teammate Massa had a very mixed race and if he continues in that same vein he may yet again be relegated to being Alonso’s #2. He definitely needs to up his game for the next race while Button the man with whom Massa fought most part during the race was a bit unlucky. The tires should suit his driving style and with some clever strategy he could do better than Hamilton but if he needs to pose challenge for the title he needs to be more aggressive.
Sauber was the team of the race till both their cars were disqualified due to technical violations. Though the team has appealed, Sauber has started the season well and at current form looks better than fellow mid-field teams like Williams, Force India and Toro Rosso. Sergio Perez had an amazing debut and showed that Peter Sauber does have a knack for finding talent while teammate Kamui Kobayashi yet again showed his worth by battling it out with everyone. Kobayashi has all the ingredients to become Japan’s 1st F1 champion provided he gets a very good drive.
Toro Rosso which looked strong during the pre-season testing had a solid car and will be looking at beating fellow mid-field teams like Sauber, Williams and Force India. Sébastien Buemi, the once highly touted rookie is under pressure to perform and he did well to finish 8th while teammate Jaime Alguersuari needs to up his game a bit as the highly promising rookie Daniel Ricciardo is waiting for a drive and he will put immense pressure on the incumbent drivers.
Force India despite not having a car which can score points were lucky to score points due to Sauber’s disqualification as Sutil and di Resta were classified 9th and 10th. Sutil was very consistent through the race while rookie teammate di Resta was very impressive. He did not get overawed during the race and showed that he does deserve his place on the grid. A good season in which if he could be Sutil could result even in a Mercedes drive in the future. But the team has to work hard if they have to catch up Sauber and STR.
Mercedes had a race to forget with both cars retiring. Schumacher got tangled in the 1st corner with Alguersuari and he just did not recover from it. The car was damaged and Schumacher had a forgettable race. Teammate Rosberg was a having a decent race till Barrichello decided to punt him which resulted him having issues and he had to retire. Barrichello despite being the most experienced driver on the grid once again proved that why he never won a world championship at Ferrari and Brawn GP. While teammate Pastor Maldonado another rookie making his debut retired after having transmission issues. Williams should have taken a cue from Sauber and should have partnered Nico Hülkenberg with Maldonado as Barrichello just do not bring in much to the table while Maldonado is needed for bring in the money for the team. They need to up their game or else they may even have Team Lotus catching up with them.
Team Lotus despite early promise once again looked the best of the 3 teams which made its debut last season but not as good as the other teams. The team had reliability issues during the pre-season testing and once again in Melbourne Heikki Kovalainen had to retire due to water leak while Jarno Trulli managed to finish 13th. The team has pace and if they could managed to solve their reliability issues they can catch up with Force India which looks the weakest among the mid-field teams.
There was not to expect much from the entirely CFD designed Virgin cars but Jérôme d'Ambrosio finished 14th and was the last person classified while Timo Glock was too far behind to have been classified. The team is still half a second behind Team Lotus and they have lot of work to be done before they can catch up with the Lotus team. HRT landed up in Australia with a car which was yet to hit the road and as expected the team failed to even qualify for the race with the 107% rule implied. Having teams like HRT is making F1 looking like a joke.
With no chance of having a Bahrain GP this year, there will be 19 races and Vettel if he manages to continue his current form, he should easily retain his title while McLaren and Ferrari need to up their game or else Renault may just surprise and even beat them. It is a good start to the season and it can only get better.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
2011 Season Preview: All things Possible!
2010 turned out to be the most exciting season ever and till the last race, 4 drivers were in contention for the Driver’s Championship but Sebastian Vettel not also won his 1st title but also became the youngest ever champion. Though it was a very tough season were Vettel was trailing his teammate Webber and Ferrari’s Alonso for most part of the season but in the end his toughness and determination led to him conquer the F1 world with his maiden title. Vettel also became the 2nd German to win the title while compatriot Schumacher who made a stunning comeback had one his worst ever season.
Even before the season started, there was a very serious accident to Robert Kubica who will be out for more than a year after his rallying escapades ended in disaster. It not only put him out but also has created a problem for his team Renault who has since replaced him with his former BMW teammate Nick Heidfeld who has had a rebirth of sort after failing to land a seat for 2011. The 1st race of the season will be the Australian GP this was because of the unrest in Bahrain which led to the cancellation of the Bahrain GP. We still do not know if we are going to have the Bahrain GP otherwise we will have only 19 races for the season with the Indian GP making its debut.
All teams which raced during the 2010 season will be starting this year too but there have been some minor name changes while the driver market did see some major moments from the mid-field teams. The highly talented rookie Nico Hülkenberg was dropped by the Williams team but he has managed to join Force India as it’s reserve driver while the racing career of veteran Pedro de la Rosa seems to have ended after Sauber dropped him mid-way last season and replaced him with Heidfeld but they have signed up talented Mexican Sergio Pérez who was also the GP2 runner-up. GP2 winner Pastor Maldonado was signed by Williams and though they do claim that he is not a pay driver, but Maldonado is heavily backed by the Venezuelan government.
2011 will also see the return of former Jordan driver Narain Karthikeyan who will join HRT while his fellow countryman Karun Chandhok failed to secure a seat for the coming season. Other drivers who exited after last season includes Christian Klien, Sakon Yamamoto, Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi. This season will also see the debut of the highly rated reigning DTM champion Paul di Resta who actually was Vettel’s teammate during the 2006 Formula Three Euroseries season and actually managed to win the title by winning Vettel.
As always there was the technical changes which comes in with the new season but 2 of the biggest change from last year was that KERS makes a comeback while Pirelli returns to F1 after 20 years and with the exit of Bridgestone, Pirelli would be the new sole tire supplier.
There are the predictions on how each team would perform:
Red Bull – The reigning world champions, RBR impressed everyone last season by winning both the championships but unlike their rivals they backed both the drivers and in the end despite the catastrophic Turkish GP, it turned out to be a good plan for the team with Vettel winning. Despite having the best car on the grid the team did not race to its potential and at one stage Ferrari had a chance to upstage them but for a glaring strategic error, they could have stolen the title. This season so far RBR seems to have the best car and with Vettel winning the title he will go into 2011 stronger while Webber would once again try to win the title in what could be his last season in the sport.
Ferrari – The Alonso led Ferrari nearly won the driver’s championship but Massa’s form last season prevented them from challenging for the Constructor’s championship. Though the team seem to have a solid car for the coming season, they need more from Massa if they are going for both the championships. This season is highly crucial for Massa as if he fails once again he may be out of a seat for 2012 or could just become another designated #2 driver for the team. Alonso showed great maturity last season and if he continues to show that he will be a very serious treat for Vettel’s championship.
McLaren- Having 2 world champions as teammates never do work but for McLaren they somehow managed to pull it off. Hamilton was in contention till the last race but he may a lot of errors which resulted him failing to win the championship while Button who everyone expected to be outclassed by Hamilton proved that he was a worthy champion and despite not fighting out for retaining his championship he did manage to gain respect from everyone. 2011 will be a tough year for the team as if we are to go by testing, McLaren just do not have a good enough car which will fight for the championship.
Mercedes – The fabled silver arrow team was revived last season after Mercedes purchased the Brawn GP team and even convinced Schumacher to make a comeback but it was a season they would want to forget. Schumacher failed to even get on to the podiums while his younger teammate got some credibility by outclassing the veteran consistently through the year. This was the same team which did produce some real bad cars during its previous incarnation as Honda so do not expect a miracle for this season but a few more podium places can be expected from this outfit.
Renault – The team was in the news for all the wrong reasons and despite being called Renault the team has nothing to do with the carmaker apart from some technical partnership and engine supply. The Lotus Cars sponsored Renault out did seem to have a car which can challenge for the title but Kubica’s accident has through the team into disorder but in Nick Heidfeld they do have more than a capable replacement and this could be the season Heidfeld could straighten the record. They may well emerge as the 3rd best team provided Vitaly Petrov drives every race like the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP.
Williams – They have entered the stock market and they claim they do have enough funding but dropping Nico Hülkenberg for Pastor Maldonado showed that all is not well for the team. Despite winning the GP2 title Maldonado would not have got the Williams seat without funding and also the 2010 GP season was not the best and it was Maldonado’s 4th season in the series. Rubens Barrichello will be with the team and this could be his last hurrah as the Brazilian if he fails to impress may just have to quit the sport after spending 2 decades in it.
Force India – The team which was the surprise package of last season till the end atleast have 2 very good drivers in Sutil and Di Resta while their reserve Hülkenberg could one day be a future world champion. The team lost some key technical personals and there are talks of financial problems but if they do manage to get their act together they have a chance to do better than last year. Make or break season for Sutil while if Di Resta do manage to impress bigger things can happen for the Scottish driver for 2012.
Sauber – The team has the mercurial Kamui Kobayashi who with a decent car will be the most entertaining driver on the grid. Kobayashi has proved that he can go wheel to wheel with anyone on the grid and he will not get intimated by any names. If they have a good enough cars he could consistently get to the podium. While his teammate Sergio Pérez may be a bit too early for the sport but he is backed by Carlos Slim the richest man in the world and his money would help the team in beating rivals like Williams and Force India.
Toro Rosso – The sister team Red Bull won the championships while STR after having a decent start just managed to finish ahead of all the new teams only. So far this season after testing STR may have the surprise package and even if they do manage to finish ahead of Williams, Sauber and Force India, it would be a great achievement for the team. In Buemi and Alguersuari they have one of the youngest driver line-up in the grid and with highly rated Australian Daniel Ricciardo as reserve both the drivers are under immense pressure to perform.
Team Lotus – The team which along with Renault was in the news for all the wrong reasons have made some huge progress during the off season with a new engine deal with Renault and also a technical partnership with Red Bull Technologies the team would be hunting for its 1st points and also will try to challenge the likes of STR and Force India. They have retained Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen which has showed that the team wants continuity and they could by the end of the season could challenge some of the mid-field teams.
Hispanic Racing – The only team during the 2010 season which failed to manage a single update from the start of the season had as many as 4 drivers racing for them and at one stage anyone with cash was offered the seat. The 2011 car will not be any better but they have signed a technical partnership with Williams and in Liuzzi the have a very decent driver. Narain Karthikeyan will bring in the money for the team and he completing races would be huge for the team.
Marussia Virgin Racing – The only team which does not do testing by using wind tunnels but rather use CFD alone well last season they were just about challenging fellow newcomers HRT and this season to the team would be stuck behind the pack. Timo Glock by being part of this team would have sealed his F1 future while Jérôme d'Ambrosio will join him to just make up for numbers.
2011 Constructor Championship Predictions:
1. Red Bull Renault
2. Ferrari
3. Renault
4. Mercedes
5. McLaren Mercedes
6. Sauber Ferrari
7. Toro Rosso Ferrari
8. Williams Cosworth
9. Force India Mercedes
10. Team Lotus Renault
2011 Driver’s Championship Predictions:
1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Mark Webber
4. Felipe Massa
5. Nick Heidfeld
6. Michael Schumacher
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Nico Rosberg
9. Kamui Kobayashi
10. Jenson Button
Even before the season started, there was a very serious accident to Robert Kubica who will be out for more than a year after his rallying escapades ended in disaster. It not only put him out but also has created a problem for his team Renault who has since replaced him with his former BMW teammate Nick Heidfeld who has had a rebirth of sort after failing to land a seat for 2011. The 1st race of the season will be the Australian GP this was because of the unrest in Bahrain which led to the cancellation of the Bahrain GP. We still do not know if we are going to have the Bahrain GP otherwise we will have only 19 races for the season with the Indian GP making its debut.
All teams which raced during the 2010 season will be starting this year too but there have been some minor name changes while the driver market did see some major moments from the mid-field teams. The highly talented rookie Nico Hülkenberg was dropped by the Williams team but he has managed to join Force India as it’s reserve driver while the racing career of veteran Pedro de la Rosa seems to have ended after Sauber dropped him mid-way last season and replaced him with Heidfeld but they have signed up talented Mexican Sergio Pérez who was also the GP2 runner-up. GP2 winner Pastor Maldonado was signed by Williams and though they do claim that he is not a pay driver, but Maldonado is heavily backed by the Venezuelan government.
2011 will also see the return of former Jordan driver Narain Karthikeyan who will join HRT while his fellow countryman Karun Chandhok failed to secure a seat for the coming season. Other drivers who exited after last season includes Christian Klien, Sakon Yamamoto, Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi. This season will also see the debut of the highly rated reigning DTM champion Paul di Resta who actually was Vettel’s teammate during the 2006 Formula Three Euroseries season and actually managed to win the title by winning Vettel.
As always there was the technical changes which comes in with the new season but 2 of the biggest change from last year was that KERS makes a comeback while Pirelli returns to F1 after 20 years and with the exit of Bridgestone, Pirelli would be the new sole tire supplier.
There are the predictions on how each team would perform:
Red Bull – The reigning world champions, RBR impressed everyone last season by winning both the championships but unlike their rivals they backed both the drivers and in the end despite the catastrophic Turkish GP, it turned out to be a good plan for the team with Vettel winning. Despite having the best car on the grid the team did not race to its potential and at one stage Ferrari had a chance to upstage them but for a glaring strategic error, they could have stolen the title. This season so far RBR seems to have the best car and with Vettel winning the title he will go into 2011 stronger while Webber would once again try to win the title in what could be his last season in the sport.
Ferrari – The Alonso led Ferrari nearly won the driver’s championship but Massa’s form last season prevented them from challenging for the Constructor’s championship. Though the team seem to have a solid car for the coming season, they need more from Massa if they are going for both the championships. This season is highly crucial for Massa as if he fails once again he may be out of a seat for 2012 or could just become another designated #2 driver for the team. Alonso showed great maturity last season and if he continues to show that he will be a very serious treat for Vettel’s championship.
McLaren- Having 2 world champions as teammates never do work but for McLaren they somehow managed to pull it off. Hamilton was in contention till the last race but he may a lot of errors which resulted him failing to win the championship while Button who everyone expected to be outclassed by Hamilton proved that he was a worthy champion and despite not fighting out for retaining his championship he did manage to gain respect from everyone. 2011 will be a tough year for the team as if we are to go by testing, McLaren just do not have a good enough car which will fight for the championship.
Mercedes – The fabled silver arrow team was revived last season after Mercedes purchased the Brawn GP team and even convinced Schumacher to make a comeback but it was a season they would want to forget. Schumacher failed to even get on to the podiums while his younger teammate got some credibility by outclassing the veteran consistently through the year. This was the same team which did produce some real bad cars during its previous incarnation as Honda so do not expect a miracle for this season but a few more podium places can be expected from this outfit.
Renault – The team was in the news for all the wrong reasons and despite being called Renault the team has nothing to do with the carmaker apart from some technical partnership and engine supply. The Lotus Cars sponsored Renault out did seem to have a car which can challenge for the title but Kubica’s accident has through the team into disorder but in Nick Heidfeld they do have more than a capable replacement and this could be the season Heidfeld could straighten the record. They may well emerge as the 3rd best team provided Vitaly Petrov drives every race like the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP.
Williams – They have entered the stock market and they claim they do have enough funding but dropping Nico Hülkenberg for Pastor Maldonado showed that all is not well for the team. Despite winning the GP2 title Maldonado would not have got the Williams seat without funding and also the 2010 GP season was not the best and it was Maldonado’s 4th season in the series. Rubens Barrichello will be with the team and this could be his last hurrah as the Brazilian if he fails to impress may just have to quit the sport after spending 2 decades in it.
Force India – The team which was the surprise package of last season till the end atleast have 2 very good drivers in Sutil and Di Resta while their reserve Hülkenberg could one day be a future world champion. The team lost some key technical personals and there are talks of financial problems but if they do manage to get their act together they have a chance to do better than last year. Make or break season for Sutil while if Di Resta do manage to impress bigger things can happen for the Scottish driver for 2012.
Sauber – The team has the mercurial Kamui Kobayashi who with a decent car will be the most entertaining driver on the grid. Kobayashi has proved that he can go wheel to wheel with anyone on the grid and he will not get intimated by any names. If they have a good enough cars he could consistently get to the podium. While his teammate Sergio Pérez may be a bit too early for the sport but he is backed by Carlos Slim the richest man in the world and his money would help the team in beating rivals like Williams and Force India.
Toro Rosso – The sister team Red Bull won the championships while STR after having a decent start just managed to finish ahead of all the new teams only. So far this season after testing STR may have the surprise package and even if they do manage to finish ahead of Williams, Sauber and Force India, it would be a great achievement for the team. In Buemi and Alguersuari they have one of the youngest driver line-up in the grid and with highly rated Australian Daniel Ricciardo as reserve both the drivers are under immense pressure to perform.
Team Lotus – The team which along with Renault was in the news for all the wrong reasons have made some huge progress during the off season with a new engine deal with Renault and also a technical partnership with Red Bull Technologies the team would be hunting for its 1st points and also will try to challenge the likes of STR and Force India. They have retained Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen which has showed that the team wants continuity and they could by the end of the season could challenge some of the mid-field teams.
Hispanic Racing – The only team during the 2010 season which failed to manage a single update from the start of the season had as many as 4 drivers racing for them and at one stage anyone with cash was offered the seat. The 2011 car will not be any better but they have signed a technical partnership with Williams and in Liuzzi the have a very decent driver. Narain Karthikeyan will bring in the money for the team and he completing races would be huge for the team.
Marussia Virgin Racing – The only team which does not do testing by using wind tunnels but rather use CFD alone well last season they were just about challenging fellow newcomers HRT and this season to the team would be stuck behind the pack. Timo Glock by being part of this team would have sealed his F1 future while Jérôme d'Ambrosio will join him to just make up for numbers.
2011 Constructor Championship Predictions:
1. Red Bull Renault
2. Ferrari
3. Renault
4. Mercedes
5. McLaren Mercedes
6. Sauber Ferrari
7. Toro Rosso Ferrari
8. Williams Cosworth
9. Force India Mercedes
10. Team Lotus Renault
2011 Driver’s Championship Predictions:
1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Mark Webber
4. Felipe Massa
5. Nick Heidfeld
6. Michael Schumacher
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Nico Rosberg
9. Kamui Kobayashi
10. Jenson Button
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Who will have the Force for 2011?
Force India may have just finished ahead of Sauber and Toro Rosso in the 2010 F1 constructors championship but then Sauber just recovered from the whole BMW exit fiasco while Toro Rosso apart from 2008 season where Vettel gave the team it’s only win in F1 so far and managed to place the team 6th in the table have always been perennial backmarkers and is a training gorund for Red Bull’s junior drivers.
If you look at the 2nd half of the season Sauber was actually better than Force India while Williams managed to sneak past and finish ahead of Force India by just a point. In the end Force India managed only a 7th place finish in the table which was boosted by 3 new teams. A major worry for Force India is that a lot of key staff from the team has left it to join other teams like Sauber and Lotus (or whatever it will be called). Force India should address this situation immediately or else the team may be further behind next season and will find the likes of Toro Rosso and even Lotus ahead of it.
The current set of driver’s for the team Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi did not exactly have a stellar season and both were pretty patchy and inconsistent. Sutil had a strong start to the season but towards the end he really struggled while Liuzzi was never really consistent but he was unlucky at times too. Sutil and Liuzzi have been in F1 long enough and with decent cars never really looked like they are going to set the world on fire.
Sutil all along was looking for a better drive and was linked to both Mercedes and Renault but Schumacher has confirmed that he will race next season while with a Russian GP coming in 2014 and Petrov apart from being a well backed Russian drove the race of his career in Abu Dhabi by managing to be ahead of Alonso and Webber, who were fighting for the title but in the end Petrov made Vettel’s job even easier.
Liuzzi has a contract with Force India for the next year but then the team will be better off by buying him out of his contract as he has lost them more money on the track and in the end they lost the 6th place to the Williams team by just a point.
Force India is a proven team with a decent car and currently has the most attractive seats on the grid for any driver. In Paul di Resta they have a young driver who is quick and backed by Mercedes. Since he is backed by Mercedes the team can actually get some discount on the engines and even ask Mercedes to foot his bill. But more importantly di Resta Formula 3 Euroseries in 2006 and the man who he beat to the title is currently the youngest F1 champion in the world.
Only one man has a similar junior racing pedigree similar to Nico Hülkenberg and that is Lewis Hamilton. The only difference was that Hamilton made his debut in a McLaren while the Hulk had his chance with a struggling cash strapped Williams team. Though the Hulk had a slow start to the season, towards the end he was even better than his teammate Rubens Barrichello who happens to be the most experienced driver on the grid. Despite having an inferior car the Hulk managed to get a pole position during the Brazilian Grand Prix and that definitely is not a fluke.
It is a shame to see that a team like Williams with its rich heritage dropping a exciting rookie for a pay driver but then the team has a history of treating drivers poorly and that along with various other decisions have now made the team a midfield team.
Apart from these 2 promising driver’s Force India also have the option of hiring Nick Heidfeld, who apart from being a very solid car developer, has also raced with some esteemed names as teammates and have managed to beat them. The list includes Kimi Räikkönen, Felippe Massa and Robert Kubica . Given the exit of technical staff from the team, Heidfeld will be a very safe bet for the team.
Apart from these driver’s there is always Karun Chandhok and with an Indian GP coming next year, it would be an amazing PR exercise for the team to have an Indian driver but then Vijay Mallya would not want the driver to overshadow the team but Karun did do a decent job with HRT and he would not be any worse than its current set of drivers.
If Vijay Mallya is very serious about Force India, he should have race di Resta, the Hulk or Heidfeld rather go back to Sutil or Luizzi. It would be exciting to see di Resta and Hulk go against the other drivers as both these guys would be driving for places in the top teams for the future.
If you look at the 2nd half of the season Sauber was actually better than Force India while Williams managed to sneak past and finish ahead of Force India by just a point. In the end Force India managed only a 7th place finish in the table which was boosted by 3 new teams. A major worry for Force India is that a lot of key staff from the team has left it to join other teams like Sauber and Lotus (or whatever it will be called). Force India should address this situation immediately or else the team may be further behind next season and will find the likes of Toro Rosso and even Lotus ahead of it.
The current set of driver’s for the team Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi did not exactly have a stellar season and both were pretty patchy and inconsistent. Sutil had a strong start to the season but towards the end he really struggled while Liuzzi was never really consistent but he was unlucky at times too. Sutil and Liuzzi have been in F1 long enough and with decent cars never really looked like they are going to set the world on fire.
Sutil all along was looking for a better drive and was linked to both Mercedes and Renault but Schumacher has confirmed that he will race next season while with a Russian GP coming in 2014 and Petrov apart from being a well backed Russian drove the race of his career in Abu Dhabi by managing to be ahead of Alonso and Webber, who were fighting for the title but in the end Petrov made Vettel’s job even easier.
Liuzzi has a contract with Force India for the next year but then the team will be better off by buying him out of his contract as he has lost them more money on the track and in the end they lost the 6th place to the Williams team by just a point.
Force India is a proven team with a decent car and currently has the most attractive seats on the grid for any driver. In Paul di Resta they have a young driver who is quick and backed by Mercedes. Since he is backed by Mercedes the team can actually get some discount on the engines and even ask Mercedes to foot his bill. But more importantly di Resta Formula 3 Euroseries in 2006 and the man who he beat to the title is currently the youngest F1 champion in the world.
Only one man has a similar junior racing pedigree similar to Nico Hülkenberg and that is Lewis Hamilton. The only difference was that Hamilton made his debut in a McLaren while the Hulk had his chance with a struggling cash strapped Williams team. Though the Hulk had a slow start to the season, towards the end he was even better than his teammate Rubens Barrichello who happens to be the most experienced driver on the grid. Despite having an inferior car the Hulk managed to get a pole position during the Brazilian Grand Prix and that definitely is not a fluke.
It is a shame to see that a team like Williams with its rich heritage dropping a exciting rookie for a pay driver but then the team has a history of treating drivers poorly and that along with various other decisions have now made the team a midfield team.
Apart from these 2 promising driver’s Force India also have the option of hiring Nick Heidfeld, who apart from being a very solid car developer, has also raced with some esteemed names as teammates and have managed to beat them. The list includes Kimi Räikkönen, Felippe Massa and Robert Kubica . Given the exit of technical staff from the team, Heidfeld will be a very safe bet for the team.
Apart from these driver’s there is always Karun Chandhok and with an Indian GP coming next year, it would be an amazing PR exercise for the team to have an Indian driver but then Vijay Mallya would not want the driver to overshadow the team but Karun did do a decent job with HRT and he would not be any worse than its current set of drivers.
If Vijay Mallya is very serious about Force India, he should have race di Resta, the Hulk or Heidfeld rather go back to Sutil or Luizzi. It would be exciting to see di Resta and Hulk go against the other drivers as both these guys would be driving for places in the top teams for the future.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Over the Curbs Awards – 2010
We all actually though that 2007 was one of the greatest seasons in F1 ever and wondered if anything else could beat it but then come this year 5 drivers were battling for the World Championship. It was one of the best F1 grids in ages and to see the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button fighting for the title was surreal. Even the legendary Michael Schumacher who made a dramatic comeback for newly revived Mercedes GP team after Daimler took over last year’s winners Brawn GP ensured that the grid had 4 World Champions starting the races.
Though Schumacher did not set the world on fire but then he was coming back after 3 years and Mercedes just did not have the car that could challenge for podium places on a regular basis leave alone winning. But his teammate the young German Nico Rosberg proved that he has enough talent in him and with a right car could be a title contender. Also Renault which ended 2009 in a disaster made a good comeback with Robert Kubica putting in some stellar performances and with an equal in teammate Renault could have even challenged the Mercedes GP team.
The season saw 3 rookie teams making its debut and the Malaysian outfit brought back the Lotus name which is now in all sorts of controversy. The season also saw quite a bit of rookie drivers but the most impressive rookies were Kamui Kobayshi and Nico Hulkenberg, though Kobayshi did make his debut last year, this year was his 1st full season in F1 which would make him a rookie. Also F1 saw Russia’s 1st driver in Vitaly Petrov who had a roller coaster of a season but in the end had a great final race in which he actually played a part in Vettel easily winning the title.
Let’s go to the awards and see who has done what:
Driver of the Season – Sebastian Vettel
Team of the Season – Red Bull Racing
The Next Big Thing - Kamui Kobayashi
Most Improved Driver – Mark Webber
Most Improved Team – Renault
Race of the Season – Japanese Grand Prix
Best Grand Prix – Italian Grand Prix
Worst Grand Prix – Brazilian Grand Prix
Rookie of the season – Kamui Kobayshi
Most disappointing driver of the Season – Michael Schumacher/Felipe Massa
Most disappointing team of the Season – Williams
Lucky to be in F1 (for the season) - Sakon Yamamoto
Veteran of the Season – Nick Heidfeld
Comeback of the Season – Robert Kubica
Most entertaining driver of the season – Kamui Kobayshi
Most boring driver of the season - Jenson Button
JV of the Season - Rubens Barrichello
(For the driver who talks utter nonsense like how JV used to do it in his racing days)
Whiner of the season - Rubens Barrichello
Most missed Driver – Kimi Räikkönen
Least missed Driver - Luca Badoer
Though Schumacher did not set the world on fire but then he was coming back after 3 years and Mercedes just did not have the car that could challenge for podium places on a regular basis leave alone winning. But his teammate the young German Nico Rosberg proved that he has enough talent in him and with a right car could be a title contender. Also Renault which ended 2009 in a disaster made a good comeback with Robert Kubica putting in some stellar performances and with an equal in teammate Renault could have even challenged the Mercedes GP team.
The season saw 3 rookie teams making its debut and the Malaysian outfit brought back the Lotus name which is now in all sorts of controversy. The season also saw quite a bit of rookie drivers but the most impressive rookies were Kamui Kobayshi and Nico Hulkenberg, though Kobayshi did make his debut last year, this year was his 1st full season in F1 which would make him a rookie. Also F1 saw Russia’s 1st driver in Vitaly Petrov who had a roller coaster of a season but in the end had a great final race in which he actually played a part in Vettel easily winning the title.
Let’s go to the awards and see who has done what:
Driver of the Season – Sebastian Vettel
Team of the Season – Red Bull Racing
The Next Big Thing - Kamui Kobayashi
Most Improved Driver – Mark Webber
Most Improved Team – Renault
Race of the Season – Japanese Grand Prix
Best Grand Prix – Italian Grand Prix
Worst Grand Prix – Brazilian Grand Prix
Rookie of the season – Kamui Kobayshi
Most disappointing driver of the Season – Michael Schumacher/Felipe Massa
Most disappointing team of the Season – Williams
Lucky to be in F1 (for the season) - Sakon Yamamoto
Veteran of the Season – Nick Heidfeld
Comeback of the Season – Robert Kubica
Most entertaining driver of the season – Kamui Kobayshi
Most boring driver of the season - Jenson Button
JV of the Season - Rubens Barrichello
(For the driver who talks utter nonsense like how JV used to do it in his racing days)
Whiner of the season - Rubens Barrichello
Most missed Driver – Kimi Räikkönen
Least missed Driver - Luca Badoer
Friday, October 8, 2010
The crazy driver market that never was
The 2010 driver market was thrown completely out of control after Alonso joined Ferrari, Button quitting Brawn GP and Michael Schumacher making a dramatic comeback joining the revived Mercedes GP team.
This year things were heating up as there were talks of Kimi Raikkonen making a return to the sport he quit at the end of last season, Webber retiring and Kubica joining Ferrari. Till last week, there were speculations regarding seats in various teams like Force India, Sauber, Williams, Toro Rosso and Lotus. But now the only 2 vacant seats of any interest are of that of Williams and Renault. Force India and Toro Rosso have just confirmed their existing line-up while Lotus who apart from signing a technical deal with Red Bull will also get Renault engines to leap frog it toward the mid-pack will also most likely retain its current line-up.
While there is still talk of Schumacher retiring, all signs points to the fact that it is not sure if he will be with Mercedes for 2012 but for the next season he will be with the team alongside Rosberg. Nick Heidfeld will once again be jobless unless he can pull something dramatic out of the last four races of the year with Sauber as the team has retained Kamui Kobayashi and have signed young Mexican Sergio Pérez who apart from having the backing of Telmex has also been signed by Ferrari for its young driver program joining the likes of Jules Bianchi and Mirko Bortolotti.
Though both Renault and Williams are yet to retain their rookies Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hülkenberg, Petrov despite being totally outmatched by Kubica and also not showing the consistency which is expected from him could retain his seat as Russia is a big market for Renault and Petrov has some major backers with him. Williams will lose 4 sponsors at the end of the year and with the current GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado backed by the Venezuelan government, he may replace the Hulk at the Williams for the coming season.
While everyone expected Toro Rosso to confirm the line-up, the decision of Force India’s is highly surprising as Liuzzi has totally underperformed this season compared to his teammate Sutil. Sutil was linked to the Sauber seat but now his best bet on a better seat is Renault which fellow Germans Heidfeld and Glock are also clamoring for along with Petrov. While Williams could have a vacancy, it would not be a great difference for Sutil from his current seat in Force India. Maybe a good 2011 could earn him a seat with Mercedes for 2012.
Paul di Resta is one of the most unlucky drivers as he is such a talented driver that he still struggles to find a F1 seat. Despite being backed by Mercedes, everyone expected him to driver for Force India for the next season but with them retaining their current drivers, di Resta could become a test driver for Mercedes or just leave the sport all together and focus on sports car racing.
Another driver who has done a decent job is Karun Chandhok who already has lost his HRT seat and with Force India not too keen on him, his best bet will be Lotus but that too now sounds very remote and most likely he will miss the inaugural Indian GP.
Renault has the most coveted seat as of now but all things could turn if Webber wins the 2010 F1 World Championship and just decides to retire. Anything can happen in the driver’s market as we have seen in the last few years.
But my money is on Petrov retaining his seat while Maldonado could edge out Hulk from the Williams team, but then F1 is a crazy world and it’s safer to confirm the line-up at the start of 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix.
This year things were heating up as there were talks of Kimi Raikkonen making a return to the sport he quit at the end of last season, Webber retiring and Kubica joining Ferrari. Till last week, there were speculations regarding seats in various teams like Force India, Sauber, Williams, Toro Rosso and Lotus. But now the only 2 vacant seats of any interest are of that of Williams and Renault. Force India and Toro Rosso have just confirmed their existing line-up while Lotus who apart from signing a technical deal with Red Bull will also get Renault engines to leap frog it toward the mid-pack will also most likely retain its current line-up.
While there is still talk of Schumacher retiring, all signs points to the fact that it is not sure if he will be with Mercedes for 2012 but for the next season he will be with the team alongside Rosberg. Nick Heidfeld will once again be jobless unless he can pull something dramatic out of the last four races of the year with Sauber as the team has retained Kamui Kobayashi and have signed young Mexican Sergio Pérez who apart from having the backing of Telmex has also been signed by Ferrari for its young driver program joining the likes of Jules Bianchi and Mirko Bortolotti.
Though both Renault and Williams are yet to retain their rookies Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hülkenberg, Petrov despite being totally outmatched by Kubica and also not showing the consistency which is expected from him could retain his seat as Russia is a big market for Renault and Petrov has some major backers with him. Williams will lose 4 sponsors at the end of the year and with the current GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado backed by the Venezuelan government, he may replace the Hulk at the Williams for the coming season.
While everyone expected Toro Rosso to confirm the line-up, the decision of Force India’s is highly surprising as Liuzzi has totally underperformed this season compared to his teammate Sutil. Sutil was linked to the Sauber seat but now his best bet on a better seat is Renault which fellow Germans Heidfeld and Glock are also clamoring for along with Petrov. While Williams could have a vacancy, it would not be a great difference for Sutil from his current seat in Force India. Maybe a good 2011 could earn him a seat with Mercedes for 2012.
Paul di Resta is one of the most unlucky drivers as he is such a talented driver that he still struggles to find a F1 seat. Despite being backed by Mercedes, everyone expected him to driver for Force India for the next season but with them retaining their current drivers, di Resta could become a test driver for Mercedes or just leave the sport all together and focus on sports car racing.
Another driver who has done a decent job is Karun Chandhok who already has lost his HRT seat and with Force India not too keen on him, his best bet will be Lotus but that too now sounds very remote and most likely he will miss the inaugural Indian GP.
Renault has the most coveted seat as of now but all things could turn if Webber wins the 2010 F1 World Championship and just decides to retire. Anything can happen in the driver’s market as we have seen in the last few years.
But my money is on Petrov retaining his seat while Maldonado could edge out Hulk from the Williams team, but then F1 is a crazy world and it’s safer to confirm the line-up at the start of 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
2010 Hungarian GP: Webber uses “Team Strategy” to win while Vettel robbed of victory!
F1 and hypocrisy goes hand in hand as while just a week back Ferrari was criticized by every single British writer and non-Ferrari fan for issuing team orders but Christian Horner the Red Bull team principle who said there is no place for team orders used team strategy instead to gift Webber the race while teammate Vettel who acted for the team ended up getting a penalty and was robbed of a race win. Red Bull does not have number one & two but then by favouring Webber, Vettel not only lost the race but also lost out on the chance of leading the championship race but now due to Red Bull’s strategy for Webber, Vettel is only 3rd in the championship behind Webber and Hamilton. Though there have always been talks of how Vettel has been the chosen one for the Red Bull team not many know about Webber and Horner’s co-ownership of MW Arden. Red Bull’s management decision has not been the best and incidents like these are going to cause the championships for the team.
Ferrari proved that they are the best among the rest as Alonso took home a very strong 2nd place finish and in the end managed to hold off a red hot Vettel. This very result sort of vindicated their decision to let Alonso finish ahead of Massa. With both Webber and Vettel taking of points off each other for every other race and if Ferrari and Alonso continue to maintain their strong form, Alonso may end by winning his 3rd world championship by the end of the season. Massa may not have been as fast as Alonso but he is back in form and he did a good job for the team by finishing 4th at the same place where one year back nearly ended his F1 career. Massa by consistently finishing ahead of McLaren’s would help Ferrari claw its way back in the constructor’s title race and may even have an outside chance of winning it.
Vitaly Petrov was the man who is under immense pressure as Renault is actually looking at other drivers who can be quick and score consistently for the team did no harm to his credentials for the next season as he managed his best ever performance by coming in 5th. We should all remember that Petrov is a rookie and so far has done pretty well. Despite Kubica outclassing him all season, Petrov has been the better driver this weekend and showed that he deserves his Renault seat. Kubica would be disappointed as once again he had a car which was faster than even McLaren but then pit-lane mayhem caused him pull out onto Sutil which caused them their races. Renault is looking good and has a realistic chance of catching up with Mercedes before the season ends.
Nico Hulkenberg may not have won the battle of rookies with Petrov today but then he had a very solid race and finished well ahead of his experienced teammate Barrichello who was racing his 299th grand prix today. Not bad for a rookie and Hulkenberg did show that he has all credentials of being a very good racing driver. It is still early to see him as a future world champion but he can always improve and provided he does get a solid racing car he can go on and win the title a few times. Barrichello also proved a point against his former teammate Michael Schumacher by snatching the last points available but then Schumacher’s driving style and the way he tried to push Barrichello towards the pit wall was questionable and for a 7 time world champion doing this to just defend one point is just not needed. FIA should reprimand Schumacher for this incident.
Sauber once again had a good weekend with both its drivers scoring point while Pedro de la Rosa came in 7th and scored his first points of the season but Kamui Kobayashi despite a very bad start where he did not make it out of Q1 and also had a 5 place penalty managed a very good drive once again and aided by the pit-lane mayhem ended up finishing 9th. Sauber if they continue to perform the same way can realistically look at catching up with both Force India and Williams who are not too far away.
McLaren had a horrible race with Hamilton the championship leader going into the race retired after having a transmission problem while Button managed a 8th place thanks largely to the pit-lane mayhem. McLaren are well behind both Red Bull and Ferrari during the last 2 races and the team has to once again focus hard to catch up with these teams. Red Bull once again leads the championships while McLaren still have an edge over Ferrari but if Ferrari manages to surge ahead as they have done during the last 2 weeks, McLaren could end up 3rd in the constructor’s championship by the end of the season. Button is looking like the #2 driver for the team as despite his early season form, Hamilton is scoring more points than him and Button needs a solid performance and finish well ahead of Hamilton to prove that he has it in him to beat Hamilton in the same car.
Force India after a stunning start to the season have gone backwards and at one stage being the best of the rest now the team is battling Toro Rosso while both Williams and Sauber have made significant improvement over the last few races. Force India needs to find something real quick as if they do fail so both Williams and Sauber may overtake them at the end of the season. Sutil may have been unlucky this weekend but Tonio continues to blow hot & cold. If he fails to score consistently, there are lot of good drivers on the paddock who will be more than willing to take his seat.
Toro Rosso after being ahead of both Williams and Sauber during the start of the season is now well behind them and now are stuck in a place where they are well ahead of the new teams while they are also well behind the other established teams. Toro Rosso may not score another win in their history but then they need to improve to score points further this season and they may end up with 10 if they continue to go the same way.
Looking at the performances of Lotus, Virgin and HRT one may actually wonder if we do need them on the grid. Despite early promise and potential Lotus have not really achieved anything great and have just about managed to stay ahead of Virgin and HRT. If Virgin continues to use CFD and have a shoestring budget, they would not make any improvement at all and it is sad to see a team like that on the grid just doing nothing. HRT on the other hand is a team which offers F1 drive for the guy who can afford it but then if not for money Christian Klien would be racing for them.
The F1 world takes a 3 week break where practically everything is shut and we have to go to Spa for the Belgium Grand Prix. Last season Ferrari’s Kimi and Force India’s Fisi battled the entire race for the 1st place while this season Kimi is driving for the Red Bull rallying team while Fisi is Ferrari’s 3rd driver sitting in the paddock doing nothing. Come Spa the mood will be different in the Red Bull garage and all hell may break lose.
Ferrari proved that they are the best among the rest as Alonso took home a very strong 2nd place finish and in the end managed to hold off a red hot Vettel. This very result sort of vindicated their decision to let Alonso finish ahead of Massa. With both Webber and Vettel taking of points off each other for every other race and if Ferrari and Alonso continue to maintain their strong form, Alonso may end by winning his 3rd world championship by the end of the season. Massa may not have been as fast as Alonso but he is back in form and he did a good job for the team by finishing 4th at the same place where one year back nearly ended his F1 career. Massa by consistently finishing ahead of McLaren’s would help Ferrari claw its way back in the constructor’s title race and may even have an outside chance of winning it.
Vitaly Petrov was the man who is under immense pressure as Renault is actually looking at other drivers who can be quick and score consistently for the team did no harm to his credentials for the next season as he managed his best ever performance by coming in 5th. We should all remember that Petrov is a rookie and so far has done pretty well. Despite Kubica outclassing him all season, Petrov has been the better driver this weekend and showed that he deserves his Renault seat. Kubica would be disappointed as once again he had a car which was faster than even McLaren but then pit-lane mayhem caused him pull out onto Sutil which caused them their races. Renault is looking good and has a realistic chance of catching up with Mercedes before the season ends.
Nico Hulkenberg may not have won the battle of rookies with Petrov today but then he had a very solid race and finished well ahead of his experienced teammate Barrichello who was racing his 299th grand prix today. Not bad for a rookie and Hulkenberg did show that he has all credentials of being a very good racing driver. It is still early to see him as a future world champion but he can always improve and provided he does get a solid racing car he can go on and win the title a few times. Barrichello also proved a point against his former teammate Michael Schumacher by snatching the last points available but then Schumacher’s driving style and the way he tried to push Barrichello towards the pit wall was questionable and for a 7 time world champion doing this to just defend one point is just not needed. FIA should reprimand Schumacher for this incident.
Sauber once again had a good weekend with both its drivers scoring point while Pedro de la Rosa came in 7th and scored his first points of the season but Kamui Kobayashi despite a very bad start where he did not make it out of Q1 and also had a 5 place penalty managed a very good drive once again and aided by the pit-lane mayhem ended up finishing 9th. Sauber if they continue to perform the same way can realistically look at catching up with both Force India and Williams who are not too far away.
McLaren had a horrible race with Hamilton the championship leader going into the race retired after having a transmission problem while Button managed a 8th place thanks largely to the pit-lane mayhem. McLaren are well behind both Red Bull and Ferrari during the last 2 races and the team has to once again focus hard to catch up with these teams. Red Bull once again leads the championships while McLaren still have an edge over Ferrari but if Ferrari manages to surge ahead as they have done during the last 2 weeks, McLaren could end up 3rd in the constructor’s championship by the end of the season. Button is looking like the #2 driver for the team as despite his early season form, Hamilton is scoring more points than him and Button needs a solid performance and finish well ahead of Hamilton to prove that he has it in him to beat Hamilton in the same car.
Force India after a stunning start to the season have gone backwards and at one stage being the best of the rest now the team is battling Toro Rosso while both Williams and Sauber have made significant improvement over the last few races. Force India needs to find something real quick as if they do fail so both Williams and Sauber may overtake them at the end of the season. Sutil may have been unlucky this weekend but Tonio continues to blow hot & cold. If he fails to score consistently, there are lot of good drivers on the paddock who will be more than willing to take his seat.
Toro Rosso after being ahead of both Williams and Sauber during the start of the season is now well behind them and now are stuck in a place where they are well ahead of the new teams while they are also well behind the other established teams. Toro Rosso may not score another win in their history but then they need to improve to score points further this season and they may end up with 10 if they continue to go the same way.
Looking at the performances of Lotus, Virgin and HRT one may actually wonder if we do need them on the grid. Despite early promise and potential Lotus have not really achieved anything great and have just about managed to stay ahead of Virgin and HRT. If Virgin continues to use CFD and have a shoestring budget, they would not make any improvement at all and it is sad to see a team like that on the grid just doing nothing. HRT on the other hand is a team which offers F1 drive for the guy who can afford it but then if not for money Christian Klien would be racing for them.
The F1 world takes a 3 week break where practically everything is shut and we have to go to Spa for the Belgium Grand Prix. Last season Ferrari’s Kimi and Force India’s Fisi battled the entire race for the 1st place while this season Kimi is driving for the Red Bull rallying team while Fisi is Ferrari’s 3rd driver sitting in the paddock doing nothing. Come Spa the mood will be different in the Red Bull garage and all hell may break lose.
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