My Motorsport Blog

I am so glad that Ferrari is back on the podium, even the team orders for Massa to allow Alonso through into the lead does not negate the results. Would I rather see the two Ferrari’s battle it out? yes! absolutly but I would also not like to see them do what Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber did in Turkey. Sorry I go with Ferrari’s decision, they are back in front without racing one another but finished this race in tact and with 1st and 2nd place drivers and constructors points. This is prime!

I would not  like to see this for the rest of the year but the end result must be that the Team wins and if Eddie Jordan, whom I agree with most of the time admits to it, he would have done the same and he did. Come on!!!! they use to change drivers and cars in 1957 to win constructors championships and drivers championship.. I suppose Murray Walker and others may differ but this is about the win for the team first and foremost.

Alonso was faster and it was clear Massa held Alonso up and Sebastian Vettel was getting closer. This is a known strategy by drivers to back one up into a another’s competitors grasp and then steam away and win. We have a Constructors Championship in F1 and drivers championship comes second to the constructors championship. In this event Ferrari did the right thing and not get the cars to race one another but score points for the team and Massa admitted to this.

I think the racing is entering a new dimension with another challenger and should add to the spectator value in the future. I would like to take a bet and say that we will see an increase in viewers next weekend. By the way!!!!! Who looks at World Touring Car Championship!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk about team orders come on! this is just another little podium Eddie Jordan wants to stand on.

Drop the rule of team orders and we might have better racing…………NOT!!!! Keep it as is but I would be willing to assist Ferrari to clear / cloud on how it is done.

You have to love David Coulthard for saying that we all know it is there and will never change and it is only the media that blow it to beyond what it is a Championship and the constructor builds the car not the driver.

Both Sebastian Vettel and Michael are confident about the Hockenheim event and Michael admit that they have a “package” that do not perform as well as the Red Bull or even McLaren. He said he will fight for the 8th World Championship title in 2011 and Ross Brawn can deliver the goods as we have seen in the past. I wonder if the Schumacher critics will eat humble pie next year for saying he is too old for the game. Other German drivers that would like to perform well would be Adrian Sutil, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg and Timo Glock.

I believe the fight for 2010 Drivers Championship will be between the four top runners with little to choose between Hamilton, Buttons, Webber and Vettel. I still say Sebastian Vettel will win the Championship in 2010. This will depend on Mark Webber getting his head out of you know where and drive for the Red Bull team not Mark Webber.

Harsh as this might be but I do believe Mark will be the one to stop Sebastian from reaching his goal at all cost even by undermining Sebastian on the track. As I have said before and I will stand by it, Mark does drive well and does earn the points he has at the moment but he should take lessons from the McLaren team and leave some leeway and space for Sebastian to race in. I believe he has cost Red Bull, Sebastian and himself points because of un-sportsman like behaviour.

Silverstone must be living proof that F1 cars can pass one another and it would have been a great race if the stewards and Nigel Mansell did not put their grubby paws in the pot and penalise Alonso for not giving a place back to Robert Kubica in a car that fell out of the race in any case and Robert Kubica even said on the team radio that he had car problems. The reality was that Alonso could have chased the leaders down and the Ferrari’s potential was proven by getting the fastest lap of the race at  1:30.874 which makes him the record holder for this circuit if I am not mistaken. Well I hope Hockenheim delivers as good a performance as we saw in Silverstone.

Comments of F1 being boring could be true but thanks to Mark Webber and Heiki Kovalainen we saw some excellent aerobatics. Now that I know both drivers are OK after the crash I will score that incident 8 out of 10.

Some F1 fans say Mark Webber is dangerous on track and should be cautioned and I wonder why? Mark Webber may be arrogant and opinionated but in my books he belongs to a club of very capable drivers. Both Mark and Heiki carry the same amount of blame but this must be seen as a racing incident involving a super fast Red Bull and a yet to be developed and slow Lotus.

Of the 24 cars that started 5 cars were lapped, one retired, and of course two crashed out in a spectacular fashion. I think the new teams must be given more testing time to improve performance and I am sure Virgin, Lotus, Hispania and both Sauber and Williams may benefit at this stage. In fact the regulations should provide extra testing time for the last 6 cars that finish a race. I must add that the problem for the 5 lapped cars might have something to do with their Cosworth engines. Then again Rubens Barrichello were showing great form in a similar powered car and achieved a 4th place in the race and 25 seconds behind the winner.

Some decent wheel bashing from Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton also brightened the day but then Lewis contributed to making the race less interesting by slowing down and causing all kinds of havoc when the safety car came out. The question would be “Did Hamilton slow down intentionally in Valencia?” I suppose it all depends on which fan club you support. Yes it spoilt a potentially exiting race but it might just have been a honest miscalculation.

We really need more wheel to wheel racing and very soon or I will start going to “karting” meetings. 

So what is known about this track in Canada? It’s fast!!!  And most drivers agree on that. A concern would be that this track has broken up before and I wonder if it will happen again? The weather forecast is “Kinda” gloomy with mist, cloud and rain being predicted for the weekend which means Mercedes Benz might find tyre temperatures a problem. We know the Brawn cars like hot and warm weather to ensure good grip.

 Red Bull has some concerns as well and Ferrari still lacks speed which is surprising. The “Bling” team of Button and Hamilton will be fast but will we see that Renault of Kubica showing its nose after today’s second practise round. What about our man Kobayashi in the Sauber could he be a dark horse in the running to make or spoil some one’s day?

Well I looked at some ultra slow footage and you can see Mark Webber moving closer to Vettel once Vettel appears next to Mark. A gap of about 6 inches shows quite clearly on Vettel’s left front tyre to the white line on the race track, Sebastian then has to move closer to the edge of the track as Mark pushes closer and ends up right on the white line. At this stage Sebastian’s right rear wheel hit Marks front left and that is what makes the incident appear to be Sebastian’s fault. Sorry Mark, you Martin and David were wrong in your assessments. Eddie Irvine also sees this as for what it was and that is that Mark did not give Sebastian enough space.

At least that made the racing a little more exciting when Jenson and Lewis started racing one another on lap 48 but pity they were told to back off. We are continually commenting that F1 is getting boring and when we have passes attempted everybody freaks out about an accident. I say bring it on and let the boy’s race.

Also notable will be the progress Michael is making after his long absence from F1, suddenly Rosberg are having issues and the age old comments about Michael getting preference treatment start again. Martin Brundle stated the correct facts in that the benefits of the longer chassis benefit both drivers equally; maybe Rosberg does not adjust to changes as easily as Michael does. I am a “Shumi” man and proud of it.

I also happen to be a Ferrari supporter and at the moment quite concerned about the progress or lack of progress they are showing on the racetrack. At this stage Renault appears to have made good progress and Robert Kubica is really showing good form.