Germany and the Ferrari farce

The German GP was a good one apart from a single corner that has overshadowed the whole weekend. Qualifying showed that the Ferraris are back on form and that it’s a six car race each time out. Hopefully that also means that the championship will stay tight at the front as Red Bull seem insistent on throwing away all the advantages that they get. McLaren also need Ferrari to take these points away from Red Bull at a point in the season when their challenge has faded a little. With the top few in title so close and all in competitive cars it should be a great run in.

The race itself was won (more on that later) in the first corner, Vettel was too concerned with Alonso that Massa drove clean past them both and with that distraction Alonso took second place too. The Ferraris also had the form of the other teams and so were able to stay out in front through the various strategies and finish with a 1-2. Vettel salvaged third in a rather uninspiring drive to draw level to Mark Webber on points in the championship, just to make that relationship more interesting.

The McLarens finished in 4th and 5th with Button dragging his way back up after being held up on the first corner and losing out heavily, he used his customary gentleness with the tyres to drag himself further than anyone else and leapfrog Mark Webber. Hamilton’s first lap moves put him into his fourth spot that never really looked in danger though they will be concerned that they couldn’t make an impression on the top three.

It seems that the main story of the weekend is the fact that Ferrari issued team orders to Massa to let Alonso pass for a win. Now firstly let me say that team orders are historically part of the sport and so though I don’t agree with them I do understand their basis. But, they are not in the rule book now, they were banned, they were outlawed, why can’t Ferrari see that the rules also apply to them? The order took away what was Massa’s best drive of the year by far, it took away his chance to win a year after his horrific accident, it took away the chance for the spectator to see Alonso trying to overtake Massa. It was disgracefully executed too, if they really want to do it, do it behind a smoke screen, Massa can lose the car in corner and give Alonso a run, he have an ‘issue’ at his stop. It just shows that Massa’s heart wasn’t in it and that he wanted the world to know what was going on. Come on Ferrari buckle up and make Alonso earn all that money.

Alonso himself was a disgrace, at least Massa said that he didn’t need to talk about it, Alonso actually lied in the press conference destroying all the hard work he has done to rebuild his reputation after the year at McLaren.

Let’s see what next weekend brings and whether F1 can put this behind it quickly enough.

Popularity: 3%

New Silverstone a hit as Mark Webber storms back to winning ways

Silverstone is always a special race and with a new layout for 2010 is was always going to be a good race. Qualifying showed that the Red Bulls were the cars to beat as they locked out the front row despite all the controversy around the front wing that was put on Vettels car. The McLarens were slower comparatively than they have been recently but the Ferrari seemed quicker with Alonso taking third spot on the grid.

The race itself was good, Webber took the lead at the start and Hamilton touched Vettels tyre (or should that be Vettel touched Hamilton’s front wing?) the result was a puncture for Vettel and the end of his chances. Webber then dominated the race, not really giving anyone else a look in. Hamilton stayed in second being the fastest of the rest while Alonso who should have been challenging Hamilton for that position added to his unlucky streak and was hurt incredibly by stewards decisions and the safety car.

The safety car had been brought out because of de la Rosa rear wing breaking up and leaving debris on the track, amazingly he went back out for another lap with a broken wing, I can’t believe that they didn’t get penalised for that. The safety car gave Vettel the chance to get some points and gave Hamilton another chance at Webber but it wasn’t to be as the Australian simply drove away at the front.

Jenson Button again played the long game on tyres, coupled with a stunning out lap he finished fourth, not bad for 14th on the grid – but he really needs to stop making things hard. The tyres didn’t really play that much of a part in the race as they were both about the same speed and didn’t wear that badly.

The new teams didn’t make any more of an impression on the track as they fight to get up to speed, they really need to get going if we’re not going to have a class B race too.

Overall it was a good weekend, and well done to Webber who showed Red Bull how effective a number two driver can be.

Popularity: 4%

So Vettel is back to the top and Alonso was livid

The European race was nothing that spectacular really, dry, an accident – more on that later, a safety car and some racing. The end result wasn’t really that interesting given the form of the teams so far this season. What was apparent was how frustrated Alonso is getting inside that Ferrari and that a Lotus and Red Bull have very different braking points. Oh and that 5sec penalties actually exist.

The race itself wasn’t actually that great once the first few corners were done. Each of the cars was just slightly faster than the ones behind and it was spreading out, except that it for Mark Webber who had managed to find himself in ninth at one point. A few laps down the road Red Bull brought him in for his stop so that he could run in clear air and make up some time of the cars around him. That however put him behind Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus. What on earth was going through both their heads given the context of the 2010 season I don’t know but it was soon Webber going through the air. It is an amazing statement for F1 safety that both of them were able to get out of the cars and put their points across to the media. Kovalainen stated on the radio that he was defending, defending what exactly? The Red Bull is easily much much faster than the Lotus. Don’t get me wrong here I think that drivers should be able to defend their position and had it been a Sauber or a Torro Rosso I wouldn’t be saying that but the new teams are just too slow to be given the same status. Having said that what Mark Webber was doing 3 inches of the back of the Lotus he alone knows. Just as Vettel won the race, at least Red Bull have something to celebrate.

Someone else who won’t be happy is Alonso, he was showing that Ferrari have improved their car drastically but was unable to prove it in the results because of what happened behind the safety car. Hamilton was past before the safety car picked them up, which meant that Hamilton came out of the whole thing in second and Alonso in ninth even though he was running about a second down on Hamilton beforehand. The quote of the weekend has to be (I may not have the exact phrasing);

Alonso: What was his position before the penalty and what is it after..

Engineer: He was in second and he’s still in second

Alonso also hoped to gain from a bunch of the cars in front of him having gone too fast during the safety car period but that was also cut short as they were handed 5s penalties, where they came from I don’t know.

Anyway a race with little action, some technical infringements and a lot of politics…

Popularity: 12%

Next year heralds more tech changes

So 2011 won’t only include a new tyre supplier, it will have new technical regulations because of the F-duct. McLaren’s innovation of the F-duct seems to have caught a lot of the other teams on the back foot and has given them a huge advantage in terms of development time this year and from the results it looks like they’ve put it to good use. This new device although banned for next year is surely behind the new regulation that the drivers will be able to adjust the top flap of the rear wing.

With a similar effect to the F-duct a movable rear wing will effectively be a boost button on long straights and will enable the cars to run with more down-force at places like Canada and Silverstone. It will come down to who can design the best system but I’m not sure that I like the whole idea. It means that the drivers have another thing to think about, it means that the cars can effectively have a low and high down-force setup completely bypassing the trade-offs of the two. It is also another thing that can go wrong with the cars.Despite the fact that the regulation is intended to increase overtaking it seems that they will just spend the race trading places and give the following driver a huge advantage.

The money to be spent on developing it would be much better spent on the new teams and getting them upto speed if it were really all about the show.Though the reintroduction of the 107% rule will have the new teams concerned at they may end up simply contesting a 15min qualifying session if they can’t get up to speed next year. I wonder how this affects cars that get eliminated before they can set a fast lap…

Along with all of that we should see the return of KERS, which coupled with the new wing regulations might make for a confusing mix. Next year could make things a lot more random, of course the cars need to be on the same piece of tarmac for any of that to matter and that it the team’s job, to build cars that will compete with each other.

Popularity: 4%