2016 Chinese GP Executive Summary

Tuned in for and F1 race and a touring car race broke out?

By any standard the 2016 Chinese GP was one of the most exciting races in a long time.  Crashes, passes, blowouts, bits falling off cars...the works

The race started with the promise of excitement when Lewis Hamilton had to take a five spot penalty for a changed gearbox but it got even wilder after qualifying one the world champion was relegated to last place by an engine issue and Daniel Ricciardo put the Red Bull on the front row next to Rosberg and ahead of the Ferraris.

Pass the popcorn!

Another less than perfect Mercedes start,  Rosberg  hampered by his choice of the Soft Pirelli vs everyone else's Super Soft. and then the first corner fracas between Raikkonen, Vettel and Kyat.



Vettel was pretty upset but

A:  he would have done the same thing and has done the same thing in the past.
B:  you don't win that argument,  if there's a hole a racer will go through it and he know it.
And finally,
C: perhaps he should have been more upset at Kimi.   Look at the replays, Raikkonen sees Rosberg begin to understeer and dives for an inside line in front of Seb.    But then he loses grip and locks up, probably because he saw he was a bit too greedy and was going to hit the Mercedes.   That leaves a gap Vettel goes for.    But Vettel is also pushing wide enough to leave room for the Red Bull and it's obviously superior grip to give it a go.  As Vettel turns right, Kimi also cuts back in front of him.  at that point it was three into one and someone was going to lose.   Vettel saying Kvyat was never going to make the corner makes little sense I'm afraid since he actually did, without touching anyone.

Anyway, great drama and great drives from both him and Kimi.   If I were in charge I would have a talk with the aero guys,  that Ferrari seemed to be able to follow cars just fine even without a substantial portion of its front wing gone.

But for the third straight race we are left to wonder how Ferrari would do if they had a "normal" race.

Is the Mercedes weak in dirty air?

Rosberg certainly never had that problem this week end but Lewis struggled.   Yes, I know Mercedes claimed major damage to aero parts due to that first lap contact but the Ferrari's were losing bits left and right and did quite well in close quarters.   Lewis in the first part of the race set some fastest laps so the aero damage could not have been as devastating as he would have you believe.
Food for thought anyway.

Red Bulls are back

Mighty impressive performance by the "Ce n'est pas une Renault" powered Red Bulls.  How would the race have played out without that second lap puncture for Ricciardo?

Williams?  Bonus points for Felipe Massa's dad cheering when his son kept Lewis behind. Another very unimpressive race for Bottas.  Ferrari picked the right Finn.

There was a mirage of performance from McLaren but in the end, just that.

Verstappen,  you got to love the guy,  he completely humiliated both Hulkenberg and Bottas with identical moves in the same corner.    The guy is such a great racer.   Sainz is quick but he lacks the killer instant to make those low percentage passes and clear traffic.   It took him over two laps to pass Bottas after Max went through.

Rosberg now has a 26 point lead over Hamilton,  he can afford to DNF and would still be in the lead. Long season for sure but it must give Hamilton pause  and the Hamfosi a reason to invoke conspiracy theories?

2016 Bahrain GP Executive Summary

With so many cars hitting each other and losing pieces left and right, the start of the 2016 Bahrain GP was  very entertaining.  Shame Vettel's Ferrari blew up on the warm up lap,  there was a decent chance two Ferraris could have ganged up to spoil the usual Mercedes party even more.

Interesting how Rosberg has been owning Hamilton for the last five races,  couple more and some people will begin to  get upset at Lewis.  More so if he continues to blow starts.

Now,  the first corner contact with Bottas.   Honestly this tendency of the FIA wanting to punish every single interaction is getting tiresome, not to mention,  contradictory:   on the one side they want more spectacle while on the other they try to squash any little incident.

Shameful they gave Bottas a penalty for what was clearly a racing incident in the first corner of the race.  

Look at the replay from Bottas'  camera.  you can clearly see Hamilton left room and even makes a slight move to the left before turning into the apex.
That was a hole,  not much of one but enough for the Williams driver to try it.  I'm not sure I buy Nicky Lauda's theory that Lewis never saw him coming: if he didn't, he probably should have.

Racing incident, 100%.

With typical FIA consistency, there was no investigation of the Sainz-Perez incident a lap later.

Raikkonen had an even worse start than Hamilton but Kimi's first lap was great and he had a solid rest of the race.  Despite that there will alway be those who think he should retire ...with Alonso.



One of the most amazing moments in F1 history don't you think?

But I digress.    Rookies were the stars in Bahrain,  Stoffel Vandoome and Pascal Vehrlein did well but it was Haas who defied expectations yet again.

The cool thing is Haas, led by the Ferrari trained strategist Ruth Buscombe, used a different and aggressive strategy with three stints on the super soft tires they were able to save by not making Q3 in qualifying.

That's right, going slower in qualifying is an advantage,  the mark of a brilliant format!.  But well done Haas for making the most of this mess.
:
The only person unhappy about the American's' great start to the season seems to be Bernie Ecclestone:

"That car is basically a Ferrari. It will perform because it’s a Ferrari. It’s a Ferrari second team,”

Not that's he's wrong,  the Haas is a Ferrari designed Dallara and there is a lot of Ferrari personnel at the American team but Ecclestone should thank his lucky stars someone found a way into the sport without totally sucking, like HRT or Marussia or Virgin did.    When regulations change in 2017 or whenever, Hass will need to design their own car and that will be their true test but for now, let them be Ferrari's b- team.  What's good for the bull has got to be good for the horse and the fans too.

Questions coming out of this race?

Did Ferrari gamble too much on their new engine setup?    Four failures in two races does not bode well.

What's the story with Lewis?  Lack of motivation or lack of concentration?  Or maybe there is no story, it's just one of those streaks.

Will F1 get it together and fix qualifying?  Unlikely simply because it looks like going back to the previous format would mean the powers that be had been strong-armed by the public and admit they made a mistake.   Of course the FIA and Bernie are never wrong so there will be no going back.

Qualifying will be either some reworked version of this new format or, if you believe reports, a returned to one of the worst ideas from the past: aggregate time.
Most of you will remember that in 2005, aggregate time was scrapped halfway though the season in favor of the three session knock out system which. lasted for 10 years with minor tweaks.

Ah F1...

Pos	Driver	Car	Gap
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1h33m34.696s
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	10.282s
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	30.148s
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/TAG Heuer	1m02.494s
5	Romain Grosjean	Haas/Ferrari	1m18.299s
6	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso/Ferrari	1m20.929s
7	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull/TAG Heuer	1 Lap
8	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1 Lap
9	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1 Lap
10	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren/Honda	1 Lap
11	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1 Lap
12	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1 Lap
13	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor/Mercedes	1 Lap
14	Felipe Nasr	Sauber/Ferrari	1 Lap
15	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1 Lap
16	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1 Lap
17	Rio Haryanto	Manor/Mercedes	1 Lap
-	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso/Ferrari	Collision
-	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas/Ferrari	Brakes
-	Jenson Button	McLaren/Honda	Power Unit
-	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Not started
-	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Not started

2016 Australian GP Executive Summary

(photo: Ferrari)

After the disaster Formula One served up for qualifying on Saturday, many expected the 2016 Australian GP in Melbourne to be more of the same dreaded, predictable procession the series has anesthetized us into.

But, while the podium was uncomfortably familiar,  the race itself was quite interesting, with several points boding well for the rest of the season.

The most obvious change are more varied race strategies now possible with the extra Pirelli compound available to the teams.  The top drivers all started on the softest compound but as the race unfolded, there were at least three distinct strategies at play.   A big improvement on what could be done with just two compounds.

With both Mercedes on the front row, not many would have bet on two red cars leading after one lap.   Vettel made an astounding start and when Nico gave Lewis some of his own medicine at turn one, ol' Kimi was brilliant sneaking through.  Great stuff.

Vettel was making like his old Red Bull self, building a lead in clear air on the delicate super soft tires.

Surprising everyone, Ferrari chose to keep him on  super softs for the second stint and Seb was able to stay ahead of a charging Rosberg who had stopped for softs a lap earlier and had a brilliant out lap.

After Alonso and Gutierrez's brutal crash and subsequent red flag,  the crucial question of the race:  did Ferrari make a mistake starting Vettel on the super-softs for effectively a third stint?    

On the face of it  yes, but I'm not sure that at that point Ferrari were not doomed to be passed by the Germans anyway.

(photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas)

Mercedes were amazing on the medium tires,  it was the same last year and it looks like that hasn't changed.  Ferrari had saved a set of super softs in qualifying (that's why they did not run at the end) and they rolled the dice.   Had they used mediums, Rosberg and Hamilton would have caught Vettel for sure.  With the risky strategy, Vettel had a good chance to get second but the slow pit stop was crucial.

So if it was another Mercedes 1-2,  it was not a cakewalk for the Silver Arrows, it's not a given Rosberg would have caught the red German without the stoppage.

Does it mean Ferrari has caught up?    I would be very careful, Melbourne is atypical and temperatures were not very high.  Very tough to make any intelligent predictions other than Ferrari's clutch works very well!

Alonso had a brain fart moment,  possibly in the excitement at the prospect of actually passing someone with his McHonda.      One of the scariest accidents ever and he walks away,  out of the car in seconds.   Amazing.   I hope Nando, played lotto and went to light a candle somewhere after that.

There was a lot of excitement about Haas scoring points  the first time out.  They caught a lucky break with the red flag but I don't think there was a single person out there who resents it in any way, great for the team, great for Grosjean and great for the sport.

Also a hat tip to Renault who did not score points but brought both cars home first time out.  Bodes well.

Finally Verstappen.   His fights with Sainz are going to be very entertaining.  Without a doubt Max is the better racer of the two (proof? I took forever for Sainz to find his way past Palmer while Verstappen dispatched the renault driver in three corners)   But the Spaniard, to his credit did not give up or give in, frustrating the hell out of his teammate.   I predict a racing dad on racing dad brawl before the end of the season!

2015 Hungarian GP Executive Summary

Watching the race again after a couple of days, a few things become apparent:


1. Mercedes does not know how to win from behind.

Occupational hazard for those with such a dominant car,   faced with something not going to plan, Mercedes has, if not panicked, at least not shown the type of strategic flexibility that, say a Ross Brawn brought to Ferrari in their dominating period.


2.  You can't win by defending.

You had the feeling that Nico Rosberg was battling some sort of issue with his W06 all week end but he spent the whole race worrying about his teammate Hamilton rather than winning the race.  Again, perhaps to point one he and the team just could not believe they were not winning.   He and the team played it safe not going onto the softer option tires for the final stint.   It would have been a risky call but he was certainly not making any impression on Vettel or Raikkonen  on equal tires.  Rosberg was the real loser in Hungary.

3. The right tire makes a big difference.

One of the keys to Vettel's victory was that he was able to run the softer option tires longer than the Mercedes.   This year's Ferrari wants soft tires while the Mercedes likes harder tires.   Perhaps there is something to the proposal of having each team choose their compound next year.

4. Clean air makes a big difference.

Vettel pulled out a crazy lead in the first two laps, it almost looked like his days at Red Bull.    The Hungaroring puts a premium on handling over power yes, but let's not forget that extra power allows teams to crank on more downforce.    Did Mercedes set up their cars to lead from the front, privileging top speed over handling?  Again, force of habit?
Also, all these years of committees and studies and F1 still has not figured out how to minimize the wake effect to the point that cars need to be 2 seconds clear?  Seriously?

5. The importance of being Hammy

Hamilton's race had tinges of early Grosjean with a touch of Maldonado.   His move on Bottas after his first pit stop was at the limit of nasty.    Not a fan of driving your opponent off the track like that, I'm sure that move compounded the lated hip check of Ricciardo which resulted in the penalty.
Since the race, I've read a number articles excusing Hamilton as having had a bad day.   Yes it was a bad day and to his credit he did admit so (partly anyway).
In the last couple of weeks Lewis said how he does not need to test, how he only likes showing up for the race, how he was not worried about the start  yada yada.    Every driver has got to psych himself up their own way:  Hamilton likes to go to fashion shows and concerts on his time off,  fine.  

Vettel is different,  he is not often photographed in his underwear but on the same afternoon  he carried Jules Bianchi's casket into the church, Sebastian flew to Maranello to test new procedures and solutions on the simulator.   In Hungary, he stayed late into the evening with his mechanics working on his car.

Different strokes for different folks.

6. For a track everyone has shit on for years, the Hungaroring rocks.

Two years in a row, a track with a reputation for epic snoozers has produced classics.   Perhaps it's the relentlessness of the layout, perhaps it's the because it's a track where you can really see the drivers work and understand what they are doing.
A good example is watching how drivers attack turn 2,  you can really see how a modern F1 driver brakes right into the apex.  The first lap is a good example, look at where Rosberg locks up and think about how you brake.  

Great Stuff.

2015 British GP Executive Summary

To paraphrase Michael Corleone:  "...Just when they said it was dead..."

It's become trendy to slam the series but even the most die hard hater was to admit F1 put on a good show at Silverstone.

Call us crazy, but there is something to this idea of holding races where people care:   350,000 people, according to the organizers,  passed through in the three days  easily topping Le Mans this year by almost a third,  amazing considering Le Mans is such a special unique event.

Kudos to the BRDC and the British fans.    In return they got one of the best races in a while, one that had all the ingredient you'd want:  Underdogs, Uncertainty, The Local Hero triumphant in the end.

2015 Bahrain Executive Summary

(via Yas Marina Circuit Twitter)

The gorgeous choreography helped what in the end was short of a truly exciting race.   What perfect metaphor for today's F1, a gorgeously lit, expensive, impossible to get to oasis in the middle of the desert.

But hey, sparks!

2015 Chinese GP Executive Summary

Lewis Hamilton Chines GP 2015 (Mercedes AMG Petronas)

As expected, Mercedes was back on the top steps of the podium in China after that stinging defeat at the hands of Ferrari and tire wear in the Malaysian heat.   The only surprise perhaps that it was able to do so using the softer, option, tire.

Third place for Vettel just ahead of Raikkonen.   Three races in and Ferrari has already scored half the points it had for the whole of the 2014 season.   Fair to say they under promised and over delivered so far.  Arrivabene will have to carefully manage expectations but it's clear that,  for the first time in years, the Scuderia is not on the back foot.
One feels for Fernando but you must wonder if there was something toxic in the mix  or if it is simply the case of all the pieces finally falling into place.    From the outside we will never learn the whole truth but perhaps Raikkonen's pace against Vettel this year is a key.

Hamilton's victory was a result of qualifying. He made sure at the start to cut in front of Rosberg because he knew clean air was the key to making the tires last.     When Rosberg pushed him, Lewis backed him up into Vettel, compromising both their performances to an extent.
Strategically, a good move.   Had Nico done it you can be sure he would have been lambasted for playing dirty.    On the other hand Hamilton would probably just have passed him on track so, while it's a shame F1 still has not figured out how to make aero regulations that allow cars to follow each other closely, Rosberg's post race bitching will just enhance his sanitary napkin wearing reputation this year.   Don't hate the player, hate the game Nico.

If you wonder why Mercedes did not split strategies and have Rosberg go long on primes in the middle stint, well maybe there's a reason Hamilton has been delaying signing his contract and talking so much about Ferrari lately.   Now the pattern is now pretty much set, more so if Ferrari continues to pressure.   It must be incredibly frustrating for Rosberg.

Star of the race: Verstappen.   Anyone complaining about young kids with "little experience" coming into F1 forget Raikkonen,  world champion or Vettel, four time champion, both had "little experience".    Proof is in the pudding and it's clear Max will be in a top team in two years or less.

Unfortunately, Verstappen verstoppen right in front of the packed grandstands with four laps to go.  It was his second engine related  retirement in three races.

Clown show of the race:  Button. Unless all the drivers made a deal that they would take turns punting Maldonado off the track this year and it was Jenson's turn.

2014 Belgian GP Executive Summary: Dramarama Edition.

Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images/Infiniti RedBull F1

So a few days have passed since the Belgian GP and basically it's been all about that second lap racing incident between Rosberg and Hamilton.

What drama!...

2014 Hungarian GP Executive Summary

(Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) 

Not your typical F1 race because of rain and safety cars but it was very entertaining.

Want to have a go at rating the drivers this time?

2014 German GP Executive Summary

Hamilton Locking up into Raikkonen.

The German GP gave us some pretty exciting racing but why is it that people are not so excited about F1 this year?

Part of it is the Mercedes domination, when Ferrari dominated, when Mclaren dominated or Williams, it was different. I guess Mercedes is not warm and fuzzy in any way, it's hard to cheer for the teutonic giant.
Turns out not even Germans are that excited and the GP at Hockenheim had fairly low spectator turnout. 50 some thousand vs the 200 some thousand who crowded the Austrian GP.

Of course the Austrian GP was subsidized by Red Bull and tickets were uniformly inexpensive, and order of magnitude less expensive than any other race... Hint, hint F1.

Like at the Red Bull Ring though, there is something about Hockenheim which makes for good racing. Both are simple layouts with not too many corners and some slow turns.
Slow turns are a feature of Tilke tracks but simple certainly is not. One could argue Tilke tracks started with good intentions but became too clever for their (and the sport's) own good.

Perhaps F1 has done the same.

Massa flipped

Full marks for having one Mercedes start from the back, At least Hamilton had a good time slicing though the field as you would expect with a car capable of finishing 20 seconds ahead of P2. Lewis was lucky to escape a penalty for barging into Raikkonen and compromising his race somewhat.

His issue with Button was more of a 50/50 thing, Button left a hole so you can't blame Hamilton for going for it. In any case, hats off to Hamilton for putting on a good show.

Ricciardo, Alonso and Bottas were the true stars of the race. Ricciardo was, as even Fernando said, amazing. His move on Button was textbook, I can't believe a world champion fell for that dummy. His fight with Alonso in the end, what we all wish F1 would be but in a fight for at least the podium.

Alonso as usual was able to get more out of, in Niki Lauda's words, "a shit car" than anyone else can. It's very interesting how F1 drivers have come to modify their lines to get the most traction out of their tires in slow corners. Reminiscent of Moto GP riders where try to lift their bikes as soon as possible, the cleverest drivers are avoiding a traditional line to minimize the time spent turning and squaring off the corners as much as possible. Alonso,Vettel, Bottas, all very adept at that trick.


Bottas was able to hold Hamilton at bay for many laps with that way. We will hear much more from the Finn in coming years.

2014 Bahrain GP Executive Summary

Hard to add anything that hasn't been said about the 2014 Bahrain GP.  Superlatives have abounded everywhere and it's been amusing to read publications who up until last week ranted about the awfulness of F1, turn all enthusiastic.

Fair weather friends or not, what a great bit of timing for the sport to have an exciting race and good press in the midst of a nasty, and very boring, struggle for power within the sport.

We would caution to wait a few more races before proclaiming F1 "fixed" and those who disagree "idiots".  Herr Lauda would be fun to have dinner with but he and Mercedes have done plenty of complaining over the past few years and it's as easy to be positive when your cars are up 2 seconds a lap as it is to be bitter an negative when they are down.

Which brings us to Ferrari...

2014 Australian GP

Formula One is supposed to be hard, hard to engineer and hard to drive. By that measure the new rules have succeed: the engineering is hard, only 15 cars crossed the finish line and drivers certainly had their hands full.

However, watching the Australian GP, you did not get the feeling these latest generation cars are hard to drive simply because of more torque and less downforce.  The complications of the drivetrain, the energy harvesting needs and particularly the brake-by-wire system make the cars look random and non-linear. That these cars are somewhat alien to drive may very well explain why rookies did so well this past week end: they are, in a sense, empty vessels for engineers to fill.

The "old" guard will certainly sit up and take notice, Alonso, Raikkonen, Button and to some extent Vettel, Hamilton and even Rosberg, will all be keeping and eye on Bottas, Kvyat and Magnussen. The two rookies had spectacular races, Bottas would would certainly have been on the podium had he not kissed the wall hunting Alonso in the open in laps. He came back to score more points than Willams scored in the whole of last season.

Mercedes confirmed expectations with Rosberg, who led flag to flag with ease, but also showed how fragile these cars can be with Hamilton only completing 2 race laps.

Ferrari was a disappointment, Alonso simply did not have the power to pass and Raikkonen looked like he was fighting the rear brakes the whole race. Small consolation having both cars finish.

But the most intriguing part of the race has to be "Flowgate". Ricciardo and Renault got screwed by Red Bull who, in turn, screwed themselves and made F1 look bad.

Boiling down a very technical issue, the FIA homologated fuel flow meters, manufactured in the UK by Gill Sensors, have been very inconsistent in pre-season development and testing, with variations of +/- 5% and more, to the point where there was talk of the season starting with teams running without them. This would clearly have led to chaos.
The FIA, aware of the issue calibrates each sensor and teams are given an "offset" tied to that specific piece. Applied, this calculation should insure the team falls within the legal limits.

Red Bull was not happy with the sensor readings on Ricciardo's car in qualifying and wanted to go back to one used in practice. The FIA agreed and gave Red Bull its matching "offset".
Red Bull could have gone with it but Newey refused to apply the calculation, which would have resulted in a loss of power, insisting his calculation model (via the injectors) was more precise.

Now you can argue Newey is a genius and his method is better all you want but,  but you cannot have each team run their own scales and police themselves. You certainly cannot tell a governing body you know better than them and think you'll get away with it.

 The FIA Stewards added unprecedented emphasis to their decision:

b. The Technical Directive goes on to state: “If at any time WE consider that the sensor has an issue which has not been detected by the system WE will communicate this to the team concerned and switch to a backup system” (emphasis added.)

Red Bull say they will appeal, they are wasting time.  They got away with getting the tires changed to their advantage last season, it's doubtful they will get away with changing another technical regulation to their advantage this year, can they?  Ricciardo. engine will be dynode by the FIA this week, stay tuned.

It is interesting to note that Red Bull had also written software to override Renault's  own on Vettel's car.  Clearly that did not work out so well either.

Both these events speak to a mix of desperation and arrogance, usually not the best tasting cocktail.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1h32m58.710s

DQ 2.Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault        +24.525s
 3.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes          +26.777s
 4.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes          +30.027s
 5.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                   +35.284s
 6.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes         +47.639s
 7.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes      +50.718s
 8.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari                   +57.675s
 9.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault      +1m00.441s
10.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault      +1m03.585s
11.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes    +1m25.916s
12.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari              +1 lap
13.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari              +1 lap
14.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari           +2 laps
15.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari           +8 laps*

* Not classified

Retirements:

     Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault              43 laps
     Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault              29 laps
     Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault           27 laps
     Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault            3 laps
     Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes                    2 laps
     Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault            0 laps
     Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes           0 laps

2013 Japanese GP Executive Summary

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

It could have been quite a different race.  For once it was not just Webber who had a bad start, both Red Bull got caught napping not only by  Grosjean who rocketed past Vettel on his left but Hamilton who had beaten the German off the line and looked set to slice on the inside of Webber.
But it all lasted maybe 200 meters.  Hamilton's right rear made contact with Vettel's front wing and was instantly punctured. Game over for Lewis,  no damage for Vettel.   It might have been a more interesting race with Red Bull having to manage from further down in the field.

2013 Bahrain GP Executive Summary

Great racing for all the point paying positions, you can find the race recap HERE

Red China

A perfect race for Fernando Alonso who dominated an interesting Chinese Grand Prix that while dominated by tire considerations and strategy non the less presented some good scraps and confirmation the 2013 Ferrari has plenty of race pace. The only sour note for Ferrari was the less than stellar performance from Massa who got lost during the race and only managed sixth on a day when Ferrari could have made up more ground on Red Bull in the Constructor's Championship.

Red Bull's qualifying gamble and race strategy, starting on hard tires from further back on the griddid not pay off.   Webber who started from pit lane,  tried a bonehead low percentage pass on Vergne's Toro Rosso and had to pit earlier than planned for a new nose.  During his service, Red Bull made yet another error on Webber's car and did not tighten the read right wheel which then came off, right in front of Vettel.
RBR seem to be in a bit of a Multi-21 daze.

Raikkonen also managed to mess up his nose and front wing when he ran into the back of a weaving Perez but did not change it in the pits with Lotus opting to keep track position.  Kimi showed aerodynamics who's boss  as he managed to keep Hamilton at bay for more than half the race.  "yes, yes, frontwingwhatever".  Brilliant and it makes you wonder how good the Lotus might have been with a complete front wing.

Hamilton's Mercedes did not live up to the promise of qualifying but Brawn's team have certainly made progress with that car. Hamilton had some great overtakes and great moments with both Kimi and Button. It's a new Lewis.



Pirelli's brief is to deal wild cards, well, that they did.  4 useful laps on the option tire must be a record of sorts. Not totally convinced about a race where so much is determined by tire performance delta.

However, as long as everyone's given the same lemons...  Let's see who will make the best lemonade in Bahrain in six days time.

results after the break

2013 Malaysian GP Executive Summary

What can you say about a race where the man on the top step of the podium says he should have been second, the guy in third says he should have been fourth, and the guy in second freely admits all the drivers have to drive the whole race slowly to conserve tires, which are made to last just a few laps? Shit show comes to mind.

Possibly the most embarrassing GP I can remember for pretty much everyone involved.

Let's go from the beginning

Ferrari:   The team took the blame after the race but I suspect Alonso made the call.  Dumb idea, maybe understandable from his point of view since he was able to keep Webber at bay with the broken wing but the team could see the state of the car from tv pictures and should have forced him to come in, period.  Certainly he would have scored points.
Massa got totally lost in the opening laps, good comeback in the end but P2 to P5 is not good enough.

Mclaren:  How a team as good as Mclaren could still botch so many pit stops is a puzzle,  too much practice?   Shame for Button who had managed to get himself well up in the points.
On the other hand, it would have been a hilarious if they had actually serviced Lewis' Mercedes.

Mercedes:  Tell me what difference it would have made if they allowed Rosberg to go through?  They would have still brought in both cars.   Huge gamble on fuel calculations on Ham's car did not pay off but I guess there is a clause in the contract somewhere, otherwise it makes no sense.

Red Bull:  We all hate to see managed races, but what Vettel did at Sepang was the ultimate douche move.  You have a deal you stick to it, you don't turn the boost up and pass the guy who had been faster but turned his engine down on order from the team.  Once you do that,  You don't celebrate like Vettel did at the finish line and you certainly don't go to the press claiming you passed "unintentionally"  and you misunderstood orders.   Vettel lost many, many fans today.   (also, he passed Webber by crossing into the pit lane exit and should probably have been penalized for it)

Pirelli/F1:  Seriously,  this is starting to smell bad already and we are only two races in.  You cannot have a formula 1 where drivers are forced to drive 8/10ths like in endurance of old.   If Pirelli has been briefed to engineer tires that would "improve the show"  I can guarantee you this is not the show anyone wants to see.

NBC SPORTS:   With Bob Varsha back doing commentary, it was like deja vu all over again and not in a good way.  Can you really have three "experts" who for more than half the race (the whole race for Matchett, even after he was told)  did not realize you do not have to use both tire compounds if the race starts with cars on rain tires?   Really?    New blood please,

I'm adding bullpen comments from Webber and Vettel as shown by SkySports, after the break.   Will three weeks be enough to smooth this over chez Red Bull?