With three races down – is the new points system working if Felipe Massa is leading?

With three races completed, Bahrain, Australia and Malaysia there have been three winners so far, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Sebastien Vettel but it’s Felipe Massa who leads the Championship. It may be by only 2 points but it seems strange that a points system that was designed to give winning races more emphasis is being led by a driver who hasn’t won yet.
The table itself is very close with 9pts covering the first 7 drivers:

1. Felipe Massa
Ferrari
39

2. Fernando Alonso
Ferrari
37

3. Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull Racing
37

4. Jenson Button
McLaren
35

5. Nico Rosberg
Mercedes GP
35

6. Lewis Hamilton
McLaren
31

7. Robert Kubica
Renault
30

Though I doubt this will hold all season it does mean that you can hold onto the people who are winning even if you don’t manage it yourself. I’m sure that Felipe Massa will be wanting to win and justify that position at the top but with all the different people who seem to be in with [...]

Two weeks, two tyre choices and two very different results for Jenson Button

In Australia Jenson Button made a very brave tyre call that effectively won him the race, he made it work but it gave him the opportunity to win. A week later and he sat on the grid with the softer option tyres whilst everyone around him was on the harder compound – and finished the race in 8th place 2 behind Lewis Hamilton who’d started behind him on the harder tyres.
Jenson’s race didn’t get off to a flying start as he found himself behind the Ferrari’s, a stop on lap 8 put him on the harder tyres and on a clear part of the track which he used to his advantage to put in some fast times which were out of sync with his rivals and in the process he jumped most of them, but, he’s now two thirds of the way into the race on the hard tyres which [...]

Williams, Force India and Sauber

Before the season started the general opinion was that Williams, Force India and Sauber would be contesting those places that the big teams didn’t occupy. With four major teams and ten scoring places that leaves two slot and so it has played out with Vitantonio Liuzzi and Rubens Barrichello scoring points at both the opening races.
The drivers that have scored the points may raise a few eye brows as Adrian Sutil seems to be the driver that most consider number one at Force India and there was the expectation from some that Nico Hulkenberg would show up Rubens Barrichello this year. It seems that F1 experience may count for something when you’re running on the margin of the points and have to take advantage of what’s on offer.
Sauber are still lacking any points and given their pace in the pre-season testing this seems to be somewhat of a shock, it [...]

Looking ahead to Malaysia – what’s in store at the next race?

The Malaysian Grand Prix has had a few shows in the past and has been a Ferrari stronghold at times but it’s the torrential rain that it’s famous for. Last year was the worst rain in recent history though for race day and the race had to be abandoned after just 36 laps with the win eventually going to Jenson Button though he only got half points.
The race retains it’s late afternoon start time so we’ll be hoping that the rain we had last year doesn’t make a reappearance on Sunday. The forecast doesn’t look that great though with Sunday having the least chance of rain at only 80%. If it does rain all weekend then the track is likely to be very green and the tyres will have a hard time, though if it rains in the race this won’t be an issue.
McLaren are trying to manage expectations ahead [...]