My Motorsport Blog

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. 

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.

“APPALLING” is what Eddie Jordan said about Ferrari and McLaren’s decision to sit in the pits and wait for better weather and track conditions. I say they received their just deserve by Jenson starting 17th, Alonso 19th and Hamilton and Massa in 20th and 21st respectively. This will ensure that fans see some very interesting and exiting opening laps, and, I hope they can stay out of trouble in the first few corners or we will have  a major change to the Championship point standings by the end of Sunday. Hopefully all the teams will take note of the risk they run by not getting a “Banker lap time”  as Eddie Jordan described it.

In the past teams have been on the receiving end of similar set backs in qualifying due to accidents or mechanical failures. If predictions that have been made in the past come true the fight for the drivers World Championship position will be a serious contest between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. I am not a great supporter of Webber but he has been phenomenal on the track. If Mark could only realise that he needs to stay calm and not take silly risks he will be breathing down Sebastian Vettels neck all the time. I would love to put my money on Sebastian Vettel but the Red Bull just does not have the reliability at the moment. The Red Bull cars have the best opportunity to get serious points before the rest of the field catch up or their opportunities will fade away. Ross Brawn and Mercedes GP will be contesting pole and the podium positions soon and time is running out for Ferrari and Red Bull.  

If we have a wet race tomorrow as predicted Ferrari and McLaren will rue the descision to stay in the pits when they could have been putting in qualifying times in the first outing. Nico Hulkenberg, Robert Kubica and Kamui Kobayashi will not be intimidated by the world champions in this formula and will ensure that each point will be hard fought for. I am thus sure that we will see Red Bull in a podium position but will we have Adrian Sutil making things difficult for the front runners?

The “Chiefs” have owned up and said Lewis was not to blame and for posterity I would say lets get this over and done with and race for a new season.

McLaren now really need to get its act together because the British fans will not allow this to continue! Guys the stewards are listening on the radio channels so be careful of the “Big Smokey Bear” Lewis also needs to drop his “better than thou” attitude and realise that he has a race and the championship to win. Can they pull this off? Eat humble pie, get this over and done with and win races.

The media says in the final analysis;

“Hamilton and McLaren team manager Dave Ryan explicitly denied that any instruction was given to let Trulli past.

The recording of the radio transmissions reveals that Hamilton was told to cede the place back to Trulli and quickly responded to the instruction – although McLaren continued to seek clarification of the situation from FIA race director Charlie Whiting and Hamilton asked whether he would be able to repass the Toyota.

A second audio recording confirms that Hamilton told journalists immediately after the race – before the stewards’ meeting – that he had been told to let Trulli through.”

Right, it went wrong!! Really wrong!!! Now since this happens to be the first race of the year, let’s be reasonable and start racing.  If there is one thing I have learnt in motorsport it is that there will never be full agreement to any dispute.

The circuit is 5.543Km or 3.444 miles in length, 10 right hand corners and 5 left. The lap record is held by Juan Pablo Montoya with a time lap time of 1:34,223. The Ferrari’s had a one-two position on the grid in 2008 and Kimi Räikkönen won the race with Robert Kubica and Heikki Kovalainen second and third respectively.

The circuit is of course Sepang, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and at this stage we could be in for a storm……NO!!!! I actually do mean a storm. The weather forecasts for Saturday and Sunday show thunder showers so this link will help you monitor the situation. However, we have a new team and they do not seem interested in the weather or taking prisoners and want to win. I am referring to Brawn GP and they could repeat their Australian performance in Sepang if the car handles well in the wet.

I do not really want to speculate about this because the cars are completely different from last year but we know that Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams have an advantage with their respective aero-packages. I am however tempted to say that Brawn GP will feature in the top 5 this weekend. Looking at the results of 2008 in which Räikkönen won, followed by Robert Kubica, Kovalainen, Trulli, Hamilton, Heidfeld, Webber and Alonso. To these I would gladly add the names of Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa as potential front runners.

Nick Heidfeld still holds the fastest lap at this circuit but he will have to make sure he qualifies well. It would have been great to see Sebastian Vettel in this pack but with the penalty he received in Australia it will be a hard day’s work in the “office” for the young man. Looking at this picture of Nick and Robert I do wonder what it is with F1 drivers and the “fluff” on their faces? We really need Wilkinson to add some sponsorship to this formula.

Looking at comments made by team and driver previews on the official F1 site it would appear that they have not looked at the weather forecast and this includes Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone director of motorsport tyre development because they are all concerned about the heat in Sepang. Granted Hirohide did mention the later start time and rain.

I believe the decision to start later at these circuits were wrong as the changes in track temperature and the setting sun were commented on in Australia by several drivers. It does make the race more exiting though.