F1 2011 - Turkey, Spain & Monaco: The Bull's European Adventures

So, after three races where I've been away, I can now sit and write about them. Albeit briefly, but hey, better than nothing...

Let's start in Turkey. Vettel on pole, Vettel on podium. That's the story of this season so far. Red Bull had a dominating weekend, with Mark Webber finishing second too. But driver of the day? Got to be Kamui Kobayashi - again. Having started on the grid in 24th due to issues in qualifying, he managed to make his way through the laps and up the leaderboard, to finish 10th and gain another point. Cracking drive.

Next was Spain, in particular Catalunya - helps distinguish between Spain and the European GP in Valencia! Again, Red Bull dominate - Webber on pole, Vettel wins the race. But this time around, we finally saw the raw pace McLaren had been digging for for the previous four races. A Hamilton-Button two-three, with Hamilton being pipped at the line by 0.6 of a second, gains points, and also, starts making other teams worry about their pace. Quite incredible.

Finally, this afternoon we saw Monaco - the crown jewels of Formula One. And it was a brilliant race. After Sergio Perez's horrific crash during qualifying, we started with 23 cars on the grid, and finished with 18. We had everything throughout the race - tyre degradation led to great driving, overtaking was seen strewn throughout the race, we had kamikaze driving, drive-through penalties, poor pit-stops, and Red Bull losing it. Then, just as we were set for one of the greatest finishes of all-time in F1, with a 0.7 second gap between Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, Petrov and Alguersuari decided to plough their cars into the barriers, leading to not only another safety car, but a red flag.

What was believed to be the end of the race never occurred, but a restart was ordered, with all cars taken back to the grid. Had no red flag been waved, we'd have been looking at dead tyres, the possibility of further accidents, leading to an extraordinary finish. However, the one-two-three remained the same, leading to a bit of an anti-climax.

So that's five out of six for Sebastian Vettel, and four fastest laps over the last four races for Mark Webber. Red Bull look to be the dominant force, but they've got to start looking over their shoulders at the pace of McLaren. In two weeks we'll be in Canada - now that's where we'll see what happens.

Taken from General Musings of an Idiot: http://www.gmoai.com

F1 2011 - China: Surprise After Surprise. But Still Dull.

The third race of the season came just a week after the second, and the short trip from Malaysia to China was made by the 12 teams. And what a race weekend we had.

Practice went as normal, with the pace being set by Red Bull, and in particular, as ever, Sebastian Vettel. The qualifying went pretty much the same way.

Other than the small matter of Mark Webber starting in 18th. Yeah I know - I didn't realise either. But big shock to the world of F1, and a massive balls-up on Red Bulls' behalf bearing in mind they sent him out on the harder type. KERS failed again, so something needs to sort that out to stop the other teams gaining on them.

But the race was where it was at. Vettel got a very shabby start, allowing Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, both the McLarens, to get ahead and stay there. It was a very bizarre turn of events, but it happened, and it took a while for Red Bull to react.

We ahd some other incidents during the race too - notably Jenson Button throwing his lead away in the pit lane, having stopped in the wrong bloody garage. How do you do that?! Different team, different faces, different colours - you practice it in the off-season, and then do that! Remarkable.

Both Mercedes had great drives - Nico Rosberg finished in 5th, which, in his words, was 'horrible', and Michael Schumacher finishing in 8th. Schumi finally seems to be getting back to his best, after a season back in the racing seat. Totally aggressive driving today, lots of pace, and his experience shone through.

Again, both Saubers impressed - Kobayashi gained 10th place and a point, and Sergio Perez, although finishing in 16th, showed how ruthless he can be, with two rather large shunts in three laps in the middle. He gained a drive-through for it, deservedly, but still showed raw potential in his driving.

However, the race did fall flat after a good 30 or so laps, and everything settled down. The battle was between Hamilton and Vettel, which Lewis duly won, but bar that, not too much more took place.

Driver of the day though? Sorry, but it's Mark Webber again. To go from 18th to 17th in 15 laps, and to have picked it up and finish 3rd after 56 laps is quite incredible. He showed how capable he is at the very top of his sport, and proved all those who believe it's 'all about Vettel at Red Bull this season' wrong.

But big shout from Hamilton though. A perfect race, some are calling it. He got the perfect pit stops and tyre choices, he made the perfect overtakes, and used his KERS and DRS to an absolute tee. It was a very special thing to watch.

Ferrari need to work on pace though, and they've now got three weeks to work on that, before Turkey. Likewise with Williams. So much was expected from the two of them this season, and so far, they've not got a lot to show from it. Unlike Force India, however, who have hit expectations, and gone beyond them too. Paul Di Resta looks a very special driver...

At this very early stage in the season, it's still very difficult to tell who will take the titles. But McLaren are getting better and better, whereas Red Bull's reliance on Vettel is being to wain a little. Likewise, Ferrari need to up their game, before Force India, Mercedes, Renault and Sauber suck them up and take them on.

So, until Turkey...

Big thanks to the lovely BBC Sport team for the photos you see that make this page come alive!

Taken from General Musings of an Idiot: http://www.gmoai.com

F1 2011 - China: Surprise After Surprise. But Still Dull.

The third race of the season came just a week after the second, and the short trip from Malaysia to China was made by the 12 teams. And what a race weekend we had.

Practice went as normal, with the pace being set by Red Bull, and in particular, as ever, Sebastian Vettel. The qualifying went pretty much the same way.

Other than the small matter of Mark Webber starting in 18th. Yeah I know - I didn't realise either. But big shock to the world of F1, and a massive balls-up on Red Bulls' behalf bearing in mind they sent him out on the harder type. KERS failed again, so something needs to sort that out to stop the other teams gaining on them.

But the race was where it was at. Vettel got a very shabby start, allowing Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, both the McLarens, to get ahead and stay there. It was a very bizarre turn of events, but it happened, and it took a while for Red Bull to react.

We ahd some other incidents during the race too - notably Jenson Button throwing his lead away in the pit lane, having stopped in the wrong bloody garage. How do you do that?! Different team, different faces, different colours - you practice it in the off-season, and then do that! Remarkable.

Both Mercedes had great drives - Nico Rosberg finished in 5th, which, in his words, was 'horrible', and Michael Schumacher finishing in 9th. Schumi finally seems to be getting back to his best, after a season back in the racing seat. Totally aggressive driving today, lots of pace, and his experience shone through.

Again, both Saubers impressed - Kobayashi gained 10th place and a point, and Sergio Perez, although finishing in 16th, showed how ruthless he can be, with two rather large shunts in three laps in the middle. He gained a drive-through for it, deservedly, but still showed raw potential in his driving.

However, the race did fall flat after a good 30 or so laps, and everything settled down. The battle was between Hamilton and Vettel, which Lewis duly won, but bar that, not too much more took place.

Driver of the day though? Sorry, but it's Mark Webber again. To go from 18th to 17th in 15 laps, and to have picked it up and finish 3rd after 56 laps is quite incredible. He showed how capable he is at the very top of his sport, and proved all those who believe it's 'all about Vettel at Red Bull this season' wrong.

But big shout from Hamilton though. A perfect race, some are calling it. He got the perfect pit stops and tyre choices, he made the perfect overtakes, and used his KERS and DRS to an absolute tee. It was a very special thing to watch.

Ferrari need to work on pace though, and they've now got three weeks to work on that, before Turkey. Likewise with Williams. So much was expected from the two of them this season, and so far, they've not got a lot to show from it. Unlike Force India, however, who have hit expectations, and gone beyond them too. Paul Di Resta looks a very special driver...

At this very early stage in the season, it's still very difficult to tell who will take the titles. But McLaren are getting better and better, whereas Red Bull's reliance on Vettel is being to wain a little. Likewise, Ferrari need to up their game, before Force India, Mercedes, Renault and Sauber suck them up and take them on.

So, until Turkey...

Big thanks to the lovely BBC Sport team for the photos you see that make this page come alive!

Taken from General Musings of an Idiot: http://www.gmoai.com

F1 2011: The Perfect Day In Malaysia?

In the next part of my little reviews on the Formula 1 season in 2011, we're off to Malaysia. What a dull intro.

Anyway, the race was won by an absolute mile by Sebastian Vettel, who seemed to have it wrapped up after 20-odd laps. That fella would still manage to win just walking round. It seems no-one is willing to push him yet.

But it's not that the cars aren't. Oh no. After what I've called the Webber Wobble - Mark Webber's car had mechanical failures before the race even began, leaving him with no KERS system - the majority of cars managed to keep to his pace. Showing quite how big a difference KERS has to the Red Bull performance.

But Webber definitely deserved driver of the day. He pitted on four occasions, but still pulled through and finished in fourth place, and posted the fastest lap of any car. That's without the ability to press a button and add an extra 30km/h to his speed. Remarkable.

Kamui Kobayashi again seemed to take it all in his stride, and the car just glided round. His overtaking today was superb, and he finished in seventh, after Lewis Hamilton's penalty.

Yes, Lewis Hamilton's penalty. Was it worthy of a 20-second post-race pen? Probably not, but he did definitely block Alonso off. But what else was he gonna do - let him through? The FIA seem to have lost it a bit when they say they want to encourage competition, yet ban it too. Besides, Alonso's penalty for ploughing into Hamilton was farcical too - and I hate Ferrari with a passion. Surely having to pit again and change his front wing was penalty enough?

Jenson Button drove brilliantly in his McLaren though to finish second - he had a great race. As did Nick Heidfeld - after being thrown in at the deep end joining Renault at such short notice after Robert Kubica's horrific injury, he has turned everything around and brought his car home quite comfortably in 3rd.

Another whose drive was brilliant was Vitaly Petrov - again, another Renault. His race was wrecked when he decided to try and take off in his car, however. The steering column dislodged, and goodbye decent finish in the race. Proof that the curbs work though.

It was so nearly the perfect race though - we had loads of overtaking, genius driving, rain that changed the race over and over again, constant changing positions, and some 'decent' crashes'. All it needed was some further battles down the field, and we're battling like we did last season all over again.

Our next race is next week, in Shanghai, for the Chinese Grand Prix. And if that's anything like today, we're in for another great battle.

All my lovely photos are this week taken from the Sky Sports website!

Taken from General Musings of an Idiot: http://www.gmoai.com

F1 2011: Five Red Lights, Two Red Eyes

This weekend, as it does every year in Britain, signalled the start of summer. The clocks went one hour forward, meaning an hour more sunshine - and an hour less sleep for me. So when my alarm started beeping at 6:55 this morning, I was a bit pissed off, to be fair. So I went back to bed.

And when I did eventually surface at gone quarter past 12 (it was a bit of a heavy night Saturday...), I realised I had missed the first race of the 2011 Formula 1 Season, in Australia. Thankfully, not Bahrain, the most dull, boring race of the season, as it was 'postponed'. Nor was it Japan, as had been stuck in my head for the last week.

And in the first of what will apparently be 19 posts over the 2011 season (I've been told I promised this at the end of last season. I do not remember this. I hope Prince Kazoo in Nigeria is not scamming me.), I'm gonna be lobbing my thoughts on today's race onto a page.

So having watched the race through very red eyes, I was able to watch it in HD. I've been waiting for this for about 4 years, and it lived up to expectations. Cannot wait for Abu Dhabi now, to see it in all its hi-def glory.

Now the general consensus is that today's winner, Sebastian Vettel, won by a clear mile in a very dull, boring race. I'm gonna go against this. I reckon he was very lucky and had a lot going for him in today's race, and not only that, but it was a great way to start the season too.

We've had so many changes in the off-season too. We've had the big Lotus vs. Renault argument, which is now in the High Court to decide who can be called 'Lotus'. Hmmmmm, tricky one...

And there's been 10 driver changes, with plenty more to take place at the end of this season too. There are new tyre suppliers, in Pirelli, and something called DRS - Drag Reduction System - where the rear wing moves to decrease drag and increase speed by 12 km/h. Very clever, when you see it working with graphics all over the screen telling you exactly what it's doing.

Today the DRS system didn't seem to be given a lot of opportunity to get going, because of the lack of area for it to be used. One final corner, and on the long straight didn't seem to give it the 'ooomph' needed to get the thing going. But team it with the revolutionary KERS system, and we could have some quick, quick cars on our hands. But until then, sort it aaaaarrrt, Bernie.

Red Bull won't run away with it like the 2010 season, like many are predicting. There are too many competitors this time around. McLaren have built a car that is matching the speed, if not quicker, than the Red Bull, and Ferrari will pick up the pace over the next few races. Not only that, but Sauber, Mercedes and Force India all look to be a force to be reckoned with.

One question I was asked this morning on Twitter was 'Who are your favourite driver and team?' So, in response to that, it has to be Kamui Kobayashi, and obviously, the Sauber team. Kobayashi is kamikaze, to say the least. When he filled in at Williams, you could tell he wanted to get out there, and enjoy himself. He'd take the smallest of gaps, exploit it, and somehow manage to pull it off every single time. He's entertaining, more than anything, and he's bloody good too.

Sauber just seem to be the small team, with a small budget, who get the most out of their car. They have a knack of picking some absolutely beautiful strategies, and making them work. And with Sergio Perez, it looks like they've made one of the best signings of the season.

Oh, and if you fancy getting in touch on the ol' Twitter, I'm @Adam9309. I've even done the hard work for you. Go on, click. I'm sure you'll think of something to ask.

So what are we in for over the next 8 months? Crashes, fall-outs, team orders, quick lap times, big upgrades, and shocks all round. All in all, another frigging good season.

All my rather gorgeous pics aren't mine. I wasn't there, funnily enough. But anyway, thankyou to the lovely Guardian Sport team for these beauties.

Taken from General Musings of an Idiot: http://www.gmoai.com