The Barcelona circuit is traditionally a good indicator of performance, with high track temperatures affecting tyre degradation. Pirelli have brought the soft and hard tyre compounds this weekend, and with the risk of rain on Sunday, tyre management and strategy would play an important role. Red Bull dominated last year’s Spanish Grand Prix, with Mark Webber taking pole position and Sebastian Vettel winning the race, but it hasn’t been so easy for them this year so far.

If there was one thing to be learnt from final practice, it was that there could be up to a second’s difference in lap time between the two tyre compounds, and many teams may need to sacrifice a set of the option tyres just to get into Q2. The upgrades to Ferrari’s F2012 seemed to be benefiting Fernando Alonso, as he posted the fastest time in FP1, however the same improvement couldn’t be shared by his team-mate. Felipe Massa struggled with the rear of the car and was more than half a second off Alonso’s pace throughout Friday’s practice sessions. Michael Schumacher was handed a reprimand after blocking Lewis Hamilton on a fast lap. There was a good showing from Williams and Sauber, and after a double podium in Bahrain, Lotus were feeling confident, despite a loss of fuel pressure halting Romain Grosjean’s running in FP3. If the first 20% of the season had been anything to go by, today’s qualifying would be very close and far from predictable.

Q1:

• There was no great rush to get out on track, with Paul Di Resta the first to emerge from his garage five minutes into the session. It soon became evident that there was a significant tail wind, as his Force India ran wide onto the kerb at Turn 9.
• Grosjean set the first timed lap, a fairly steady 1:25.025; Alonso improved on this by 7 tenths, then Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton took off another tenth each.
• Di Resta and Perez suffered under the tail wind once again, showing a distinct wiggle through Turn 3, and Jenson Button could only manage a time 6 tenths slower than that of his McLaren team-mate, while complaining of understeer.
• The two Red Bull cars were still in their garages, suggesting they were only going out for one run each.
• Hamilton set an impressive 1:23.989 on the prime tyres, and Pastor Maldonado managed at 1:23.380 on the options.
• The Red Bulls completed their first run both on the options, and Alonso was forced to change to the faster tyre to ensure he made it through the first session.
• The lap times continued to tumble, with Webber setting 1:23.592, Kimi Raikkonen 1:23.406, Alonso 1:23.276 and Grosjean 1:23.248. At this point, Felipe Massa could only manage the 10th fastest time, while Hamilton set an impressive 1:22.583.
• Bruno Senna ran wide and suffered a big spin at Turn 11 on his last lap, after simply pushing too hard. This left him unable to continue running and out of Q1.
• Q1 eliminated: Senna, Petrov, Kovalainen, Pic, Glock, De la Rosa, Karthikeyan.

Q2:

• Again, the track was quiet at the start of the session, with Kobayashi the first driver out, on the option tyres, followed by Perez, Di Resta and Hulkenberg. Kobayashi’s first timed lap was a 1:24.031.
• Button and Hamilton improved with a 1:23.319 and 1:22.465 respectively, although Button was complaining of problems with the rear of the car. Hamilton was obviously confident his time was fast enough, and got out of the car.
• The ongoing Ferrari struggle continued, with Massa 0.9 seconds off the pace of his team-mate and his next lap only just good enough for P10.
• The two Lotus cars were showing good pace, with Grosjean setting a 1:22.667 and Raikkonen a 1:22.586.
• Di Resta knocked Vettel out of the top 10 momentarily, but he was soon back up into 5th place, while Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg still languished in the drop zone. A 1:22.105 from Pastor Maldonado provisionally knocked Button and Webber out of Q3.
• Webber remained in his garage, and didn’t have time for another run; a costly error which left him only in P12. The field were very close, however, with only a tenth separating 5th and 12th.
• Massa continued his disappointing streak of never having qualified in the top 10, and could only manage 17th. Kobayashi set the 9th fastest time, but stopped out on track at the end of the session, ending his running and restricting him to P10.
• Q2 eliminated: Button, Webber, Di Resta, Hulkenberg, Vergne, Ricciardo, Massa.

Q3:

• Vettel was keen to get out on track, waiting at the end of the pitlane a minute before the green light. He appeared to be running quite slowly, possibly to save tyres but start above anyone who chose not to set a lap time.
• Hamilton set a 1:22.560, but with 4 minutes to go there wasn’t a great deal of on-track action.
• With two minutes to go, Maldonado took to the track. The Williams had been looking good over the weekend so far, and the Venezuelan set an impressive lap time of 1:22.2, good enough for a surprising provisional pole ahead of Alonso, Grosjean, Raikkonen and Perez. Alonso’s Ferrari was looking impressive, given its supposed “fundamental flaws”.
• But it wasn’t over yet: Hamilton was out on a flyer and took McLaren’s 150th pole position with an impressive 1:21.707. However, he stopped out on track due to an unknown problem; this was to be investigated by the stewards, as the regulations state that after qualifying the car must get back to the garage under its own power, otherwise a penalty may be applied.
• The drama continued after the session was over, as the stewards deliberated. Hamilton’s car was found to have had enough fuel for the compulsory FIA sample, but not enough to have made it back to the pits, and therefore he was excluded from qualifying and forced to start from the back of the grid. Some said it was an unusually harsh penalty given that the issue was with the team not the individual driver, and many comments were made about so-called favouritism by the FIA, but in the end, the rules are the rules. If you break them, you’ll get penalised.
• Narain Karthikeyan was slower than the 107% time but still allowed to race.
• So Maldonado was to start on pole, a pleasant surprise for Frank Williams’s 70th birthday and proving that this season is anything but dull!
• Grid: Maldonado, Alonso, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Perez, Rosberg, Vettel, Schumacher, Kobayashi, Button, Webber, Di Resta, Hulkenberg, Vergne, Ricciardo, Massa, Senna, Petrov, Kovalainen, Pic, Glock, De la Rosa, Karthikeyan, Hamilton [penalty]

I know that we all have our own views, and I didn’t want to get caught up in any debate because, to be honest, I don’t know the full facts. I was never sure what was the truth, and what was just media hype or rumours. I’m here to talk about racing, so that’s what I did, and I hope that didn’t offend anyone.

:) xx

The famous “Vettel-finger” returned after qualifying, as the defending World Champion took his 31st pole position and first of the season. His team-mate Mark Webber lined up 3rd, with Lewis Hamilton splitting the two Red Bulls. Michael Schumacher was a surprise exit from Q1, a rear wing problem preventing him from setting another lap time, and he was then hit with a 5-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, meaning he’d be starting in a lowly 22nd place. Kimi Raikkonen couldn’t make it out of Q2, while Romain Grosjean reached the top 10 in the sister Lotus. An impressive showing from both Daniel Ricciardo and Heikki Kovalainen saw them start 6th and 16th respectively, while Ferrari still seemed a shadow of their former glory. They’d made no light of the fact that getting into Q3 would be difficult, so Fernando Alonso’s 9th place seemed fairly respectable, although Felipe Massa could only manage 14th. Paul Di Resta did a great job to get his Force India into Q3, although FOM appeared to disregard the team entirely.

Previous Bahrain Grands Prix have been somewhat processional, with minimal opportunities for overtaking, so it would be interesting to see what kind of a role DRS would play this year. It was also the first time the Pirelli tyres had been tested in the hot and dusty desert conditions, so tyre management and the right strategy would be vital, especially in the heavy braking zones. McLaren appeared to be at an advantage over Red Bull, having two new sets of the more durable medium tyres, rather than just one. Surprisingly there were reports of a few drops of rain before the race, and the track temperature was an unusually cold 32*, 10* colder than in qualifying. But on a fast evolving track like the Sakhir circuit, as the lights went out nothing was certain…

As the 24 cars lined up on the grid, Bruno Senna managed to overshoot his starting box. Vettel made a clean start to stay out in front with great starts from the Ferraris moving them up to 5th and 9th. It wasn’t quite such a good start for Jenson Button, who dropped back to 6th, Nico Rosberg, and Daniel Ricciardo, who lost 10 places on the first lap. Contact at Turn 10 brought out a yellow flag, and left Kovalainen with a left rear puncture. He headed straight for the pits- an unfortunate start after a great qualifying performance. Michael Schumacher and Pastor Maldonado managed to cancel out their grid penalties by each making up 6 places, and Romain Grosjean passed Webber for 3rd place after a great first lap.

A gritty move from Massa saw him snatch 7th place from Raikkonen through Turns 1 and 2, but only briefly, as the Finn soon retook the place. Grosjean continued his charge; his next target was 2nd placed Hamilton, who he passed with ease. It appeared the McLarens were struggling; the other Lotus soon made light work of the other McLaren for 6th, and Button reported oversteer and problems with the rear tyres already. After 5 laps, Vettel had already pulled out an impressive 4.5 second lead. Ricciardo was the first to pit on lap 8, requiring a new nose after some contact. Button, Massa and Rosberg soon followed, with the latter choosing to stay on the option tyres instead of changing to the primes. Raikkonen was running well, passing the second Ferrari into Turn 1 to take 5th place. Hamilton, Webber and Alonso were next to pit for the medium tyres, and a problem with the McLaren’s left rear left Hamilton frustratedly stationary for almost 10 seconds, eventually rejoining behind Alonso and immediately under attack from Rosberg and Massa.

Vettel pitted from the lead on lap 12, after having increased his lead to 7 seconds, while an incident involving what appeared to be Rosberg forcing Hamilton off-track as he overtook was due to be investigated by the stewards after the race. Raikkonen also came in for his first stop, leaving Paul Di Resta leading briefly, before Vettel’s fresher tyres made retaking P1 easy. Button on the fresh primes passed Alonso for 7th, leaving him exposed to Hamilton’s attack, and Raikkonen closed in on Webber, eventually passing him into Turn 11 on lap 13. Hamilton passed Alonso for P8 into Turn 4 on the next lap, while Di Resta and Kobayashi, the last men to pit, made their first stops. Raikkonen set a new fastest lap on lap 15,  almost 7 tenths quicker than Vettel; a lap later he was the first driver under 1:39, having found a whopping 1.3 seconds extra on the option tyres. Schumacher was told he needed to pass Di Resta quickly to make his 3-stop strategy work, while Rosberg was caught in between the two Ferraris, which was bound to have cost him valuable time.

So far, DRS had looked to be effective here so far, and despite a slow start to the season, Lotus were definitely running well. Raikkonen was within a second of his team-mate (who was on the slower tyre) on lap 21, and it was debated whether team orders would come into play. Di Resta reported that Maldonado was “weaving all over the place” but soon dismissed the Venezuelan, along with Sergio Pérez, into Turn 4. Next up the road for the Force India driver was 9th placed Massa, who despite Ferrari’s fundamental flaws, had driven extremely well so far. Button and Rosberg pitted for more prime tyres, along with Massa, who swapped back to the options. The Ferrari pit crew were once again on the ball, with a very slick 3.2 second stop for the Brazilian. Raikkonen finally made the move on his team-mate into Turn 1 on lap 24, and Webber, Hamilton and Alonso made their second stops. The woeful afternoon continued for Hamilton, as an identical cross-threading problem with the left rear wheelnut left him in the pits for over 12 seconds. Raikkonen pitted a lap later, while Alonso and Rosberg fought over 9th place, and once again the Mercedes driver forced another driver off-track while defending. Another incident for the stewards to review after the race. Alonso definitely didn’t sound happy on the radio.

Maldonado suffered a left-rear puncture which forced him into a spin, so he headed for the pits on lap 26, along with Vettel, who changed to the option tyres for his 3rd stint. Williams cleared a space in the garage which made it clear that Maldonado’s race was over. Kobayashi peeled off into the pits on lap 32, and was almost followed by Alonso, who seemed to be trying to get a slipstream and at the last second drifted back onto the racing line. Very unusual. By lap 33, Raikkonen had closed the gap to only a second from the leader, and it looked like Vettel might not have the afternoon all his own way. Hamilton was also rapidly catching the two Ferraris, while Charles Pic was forced to retire due to an unknown engine problem. As Button passed Di Resta to take P5, the next 3 laps were a tense battle to see whether the World Champion could hang on and defend himself from Raikkonen’s DRS. The graphics suggested Vettel was having a KERS problem, but even so the Finn just couldn’t seem to find a way past, and Grosjean was closing in fast. No driver has ever won at Bahrain from outside the top 4.

The third round of pitstops began on lap 37 with Rosberg staying on the primes, and others following suit over the next 2 laps. Schumacher and Pérez got up close and personal on the pit exit, but it was the 7-time champion who came out on top. The stewards were being kept busy yet again, with a possible unsafe release for Alonso being investigated after the race. Vettel and Raikkonen made their final stops together on lap 40, and the German maintained his lead. He set a new fastest lap of 1:36.379 and began to pull away again. The time stuck behind Grosjean had possibly cost Raikkonen a race win. Massa managed to pass Kobayashi to make it into the points, and Schumacher soon did the same. Kobayashi was forced to yield to his team-mate who was on a different strategy. Di Resta seemed to be making the 2-stop strategy work well up in P5, it was just a matter of time to see if his tyres would make it to the end of the race.

With 10 laps to go the fight was still on; Raikkonen was told to keep pushing as it was expected the Red Bull would suffer worse tyre degradation, and the Finn gained half a second over lap 48. It was a race to see what would run out first- the laps or Vettel’s tyres. Rosberg passed Di Resta for P5, his car sounding very unhealthy due to a broken exhaust, while Hamilton was catching 8th placed Alonso and Kobayashi was forced to make a 3rd stop. Button was forced to pit again on lap 54 due to- you’ve guessed it- a left-rear puncture, and he dropped back to 13th, before having to retire with a very sick-sounding engine. Williams suffered another disappointment as Bruno Senna retired on the penultimate lap.

So it was the defending champion who took his 28th race win, only just ahead of Raikkonen and Grosjean, who both drove fantastically to give the Lotus name its first double podium since 1979. Webber held his own in 4th place yet again; impressively, Alonso managed to keep Hamilton behind, and would have passed Di Resta had the lap been a few metres longer. Hamilton could only manage a disappointing 8th after a tough weekend for McLaren, with Massa finally getting off the mark after a great drive in 9th, and Schumacher rounding off the points despite starting 22nd. Sauber and Williams were the big losers today; the former failing to score points, and the latter suffering a double DNF after a double points finish last week. Vettel was forced to stop on track due to lack of fuel and had to run up the pit lane to parc fermé, and he wasn’t the only one! The 2012 season hasn’t failed to impress so far, with 4 different winners in 4 races, and after a Mercedes-engined top 3 last week, this week was the turn of Renault engines to finish in the top 4. 7th and 9th was a respectable finish for the struggling Ferraris, while Daniel Ricciardo’s race didn’t turn out exactly as he’d hoped, finishing only 15th after starting 6th.

Driver of the Day: Kimi Raikkonen/Romain Grosjean. Kimi’s showing he’s definitely still got it, while Romain just can’t stop smiling!

Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull now head the championships, and an in-season test at Mugello awaits, before the first European race at Barcelona in 3 weeks time.

EDIT: no further action was taken on any of the incidents investigated. Pretty ridiculous, if you ask me; I thought Rosberg was driving quite dangerously…

This weekend’s race was controversially allowed to go ahead, despite the current unrest in Bahrain and the high risk of political protesters targeting the race. But evidently the constant human rights violation and loss of life wasn’t enough to convince those at F1′s governing body that racing here was not a good idea at all, and they insisted it would be completely safe. Even after a Force India team car was involved in a petrol bomb attack on Thursday (luckily noone was hurt) and a similar incident involving the Sauber team. Just goes to show that in a sport like F1, money talks. Money stained with the blood of innocent civilians.

But enough about the politics; we all know about the troubles in Bahrain and we have our own views on the situation. I’m here to talk about racing, so that is what I shall do. The Bahrain Grand Prix has been on the calendar since 2004 (apart from last year when it was cancelled) and since then only four different drivers have won the race. Traditionally, the circuit has suited Ferrari, with Felipe Massa winning in 2007 and 2008, and Fernando Alonso winning in 2010, as well as his 2005 and 2006 victories for Renault. High track temperatures make tyre degradation a vital factor, and it would be interesting to see how the Pirellis would perform on their first outing to the hot, dusty desert.

Despite the unpredictability of the first few races, a pecking order appears to now have been established, and you could say it was “business as usual” in Friday’s practice sessions. Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in FP1, and last week’s winner Rosberg was fastest in FP2. Red Bull seemed to be back on the pace, and Sebastian Vettel appeared to be closing the gap to his team-mate; both drivers were yet again running slightly different exhausts, but this week both were of the “new” specification. Ferrari still struggled, their fastest time on Friday only good enough for 8th, and it looked as though their planned radical update for the European races couldn’t come soon enough. But the main talking point yesterday was that there were only 22 cars running; Force India had elected to miss the second practice session so they could travel home in daylight. As usual Bernie practically laughed it off, saying how he’d have happily travelled back with them. Somehow I’m not sure that would have helped…

Ahead of this morning’s final practice it was revealed that Pastor Maldonado had required a gearbox change, and consequently would take a 5-place grid penalty after qualifying. Rosberg’s Mercedes was on top form yet again,  ahead of the two Red Bulls, with championship leader Hamilton 4th fastest and Jenson Button 6th, but on a circuit with conditions favouring the McLaren, it was likely that they hadn’t yet shown their true pace. There was a split strategy in their garage too, as both drivers were running slightly different front wing configurations and brake setups. Vettel had a problem with overheating at the end of the session, unsurprising in the heat of Bahrain, but it was soon fixed and the defending champion could get back out on track. After a stunning front-row lockout in China, all eyes were on Mercedes to see if they could make it two consecutive pole positions, while McLaren hoped to spoil Ross Brawn’s party and Ferrari hoped simply to make it into Q3.

Q1:

• Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg were first out on track, however FOM seemed to think we’d rather see drivers sitting in their garages. Didn’t think much of this to begin with, after all, they have some odd ideas about what constitutes worthy viewing. Nicole Scherzinger, for example…Di Resta set the first timed lap, a fairly unimpressive 1:43.620, and his team-mate then reduced that to 1:35.970. Still nothing spectacular, considering the fastest Q1 lap in 2009 (the last time this circuit configuration was run) was Vettel’s 1:32.6.
• Jean-Eric Vergne was the first to fall victim to the slippery sandy kerbs, losing grip and running wide, while Massa and Hamilton both suffered big lockups.
• Fernando Alonso came out on a new set of the soft tyres, an unusual decision considering the faster drivers normally run Q1 on the slower tyre, with reduced engine modes and without using their full KERS boost. Also, it seemed as though the medium compound tyre would be preferable in the race due to its longer life.
• Rosberg and Webber both succumbed to the desert dust and took a trip into the runoff areas, and Kimi Raikkonen hauled his Lotus rather heftily over a kerb, while Pirelli were reporting a difference in lap times between the tyre compounds of between 0.8 and 1 second, a larger gap than they’d anticipated.
• With 2 minutes to go, Vergne and Bruno Senna joined the “usual suspects” in the drop zone, while Heikki Kovalainen impressively clung to 17th place. Massa set the second fastest time, a 1:34.372, but having used a set of option tyres.
• Daniel Ricciardo briefly headed the timesheets, before Sergio Perez went one (tenth) better, with a 1:33.814.
• As the chequered flag dropped, it was Michael Schumacher who looked to be in trouble; hovering in 16th place and in his garage, with no time left to get back on track. It seemed as though he’d chosen to only do one run in order to save tyres, but this proved to be a bad call, as a fantastic lap from Kovalainen was enough to secure 17th  and knock the 7-time World Champion out of qualifying. Definitely the surprise of the session so far. The Caterham had somehow found a whopping 1.4 seconds from the option tyres, something Schumacher and the team definitely hadn’t prepared for.
• On the way into the pits, Vergne missed or ignored the red light directing him to the weighbridge; he later received a reprimand. Schumacher was found to have been suffering a technical issue with his rear wing, preventing him from running another hot lap.
• Q1 eliminated: Schumacher, Vergne, Petrov, Pic, De La Rosa, Glock, Karthikeyan. All cars were within the 107% time.

Q2:

• Massa was one of the first drivers on track, Ferrari in damage limitation mode and hoping to reach the top 10. Hulkenberg set the first timed lap, a 1:35.325, but you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking the team didn’t exist at all, as yet again the FOM cameras seemed to be ignoring them entirely. By this point, the conspiracy nut in me had awoken and begun to wonder if this was something to do with their having missed FP2.
• Lap times began to tumble, and Hamilton set the benchmark at 1:33.209. Kovalainen remained in his garage for the majority of the session, suggesting he’d only be putting in one lap. A wise choice, as despite an impressive effort to get into Q2, he was highly unlikely to be challenging for the top 10, so saving tyres seemed a better approach.
• Maldonado didn’t look like he was going anywhere in a hurry; turned out a KERS issue meant he wouldn’t set a time and would have to settle for P17, starting 22nd tomorrow because of the penalty.
• Massa’s flying lap could only manage 9th fastest, and it was a tense waiting game to see if this would be enough as the chequered flag came out. Alonso had been forced back out for another lap as he was lying in 10th, with other cars still on track. Luckily his second run was good enough for 4th, but at the expense of another set of soft tyres.
• A fantastic 7th place lap time from Daniel Ricciardo knocked Massa out of the top 10, and Romain Grosjean sealed the fate of his Lotus team-mate with 3rd place. Bruno Senna had struggled with oversteer and could only manage 15th. Di Resta apparently had a great run and was 5th fastest. Shame nobody saw it.
• No driver has ever taken pole in Bahrain after having been fastest in Q2, so I’m sure Lewis Hamilton was looking to be the first to break that ominous trend.
• Q2 eliminated: Raikkonen, Kobayashi, Hulkenberg, Massa, Senna, Kovalainen, Maldonado.

Q3:

• The top 10 shootout was this weekend made up of drivers from 8 different teams, and as the track temperature continued to drop, noone seemed particularly keen to get out on track. McLaren and Red Bull were the first to send their drivers out, to take advantage of the clear air, on used option tyres for one run. A new set would possibly make an appearance toward the end of the session if needed.
• It seemed that other drivers could well only set a sector time, or not set any at all, for the sake of saving tyres. Grid positions are important at this circuit; with a high chance of front wing damage going into the first corner, it’s possible that further back could prove better. And only 3 of the 7 previous Bahrain Grands Prix have been won from pole.
• Webber set the first timed lap at 1:32.785, after a big lockup into Turn 10. Button and Hamilton responded with 1:32.711 and 1:32.671 respectively, giving Hamilton provisional pole. Vettel could only manage 1:32.973, but stayed out for another lap.
• Alonso headed out to record a sector time, as Webber prepared for his final make-or-break lap on new option tyres, and Di Resta played it safe by leaving his garage on the prime tyres, however he didn’t record a time and came straight back in. You still wouldn’t have known that from the TV coverage, and by now it definitely looked as though FOM were purposefully avoiding Force India.
• Button had timed his lap well so he’d be the last man over the line and able to stay out for another lap. Rosberg was absolutely flying through the first sector and lighting the timesheets purple, but a mistake in the middle sector meant he could only manage 4th. Daniel Ricciardo managed an impressive 6th place, a long way ahead of his team-mate down in 19th.
• As the flag dropped it was the two McLarens versus the two Red Bulls out on track; Webber improved to a 1:32.637, Hamilton bettered that by a tenth, and Button couldn’t improve his time. But it was Sebastian Vettel who did what he does best, his brilliant lap time of 1:32.422 enough to put the RB8 on pole, for his 31st pole position and first this season. It definitely looked like it could be the start of a return to Red Bull’s fabulous form of 2011.
• Grid: Vettel,Hamilton, Webber, Button, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Grosjean, Pérez, Alonso, Di Resta, Raikkonen, Kobayashi, Hulkenberg, Massa, Senna, Kovalainen, Schumacher, Vergne, Petrov, Pic, De La Rosa, Maldonado*, Glock, Karthikeyan. [*Maldonado takes a 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change]

After qualifying, Bernie Ecclestone was asked about the “Invisible Force India” incident, to which he replied something along the lines of “…noone cares who comes 9th or 11th. They want to see who wins”. Well Bernie, it just so happens that two World Champions will be starting 9th and 11th tomorrow, and by your logic we should probably just ignore half of the grid eh? As well as ignoring everything that’s been happening in Bahrain recently.

I think he’s finally lost it.

So I’ve already churned out a million words about what actually happened in the race, now it’s time to tell you what I thought of it. (in another million words, it would seem!) This is all waffle off the top of my head and noone’s gonna read it but I enjoy writing it, so hey :) I’m somewhat stealing Rosie’s yay/nay format here, but please forgive me. (It means you’re doing something right!)

Thumbs up:

• Fernando Alonso. I know he’s not exactly the most popular guy, but he didn’t put a foot wrong that race, started 3rd and drove fantastically to win. Hopefully we’re seeing the start of a good comeback for Ferrari.
• The “new” Silverstone. I wasn’t really that familiar with the old track, but I like the new layout. Sure, there’s a bit of an issue with the height of the pit lane, meaning the fans can’t see all of it, but there are some new grandstands on the way which should solve that problem. I’m going to do my best to be there next year.
• Racing. After Valencia it was such a relief to see some proper racing, a hell of a lot of good overtakes and some unpredictability. I love the thrill of the podium order not being decided till the last lap, and anyone who says F1’s getting boring was definitely proved wrong yesterday.
• A race without Vettel leading the whole way! Don’t get me wrong, I like him and he’s a fantastic driver, but he’s had it pretty easy most of this season. It was a welcome change to see him fighting to pass a McLaren, which in  my opinion had better straight-line speed than the Red Bull. Have we found the golden boy’s flaw? Even so, he still did a great job, he’s extended his lead in the Championship and finished every race this season in the top 2.
• Weather. The good old British summer reared its ugly head again. This provided a very interesting weekend and led to a lot of unpredictability right up until the start of the race, with the teams not being able to get in many dry laps over the weekend, and hardly any heavy-fuel running due to the rain in practice. I loved the debate over tyre choice before the race; the strategic stuff really excites me, and it was great to watch the conditions changing throughout the race, how the track evolved and how it affected the racing.
• Lewis Hamilton. (Am I feeling ok?!) As much as I don’t like him, in the grand scheme of things, starting 10th and finishing 4th is pretty good. Also, I enjoyed how he managed to make a joke out of going to the stewards!
• Sergio Perez and Jaime Alguersuari. P7 and P10, more points and an uneventful (in a good way) race for them both. Good job.
• Daniel Ricciardo. Finished his first race in a quite frankly terrible car, shame he didn’t beat his teammate, but he’s overcome the first hurdle. He’s such a nice guy and he’s genuinely grateful for getting the chance to race. Onwards and upwards for him.
• BBC pre-race coverage. It’s getting more and more ridiculous, but it always makes me laugh.

Thumbs down:

• Running off on the parade lap. I’m talking to you, Perez! Granted it was hilarious to watch but it’s pretty stupid really.
• Mid-season rule changes. Save it for next season, guys. First the engine mapping, now this. Changing the rules in the middle of the season with a view to stopping one team dominating doesn’t seem right at all. The whole blown diffuser ban has been more trouble than it’s worth, especially with all the double standards and different rules for different teams. And now it’s been decided that they’re going to go back to the previous regulations for the next race. Seriously?! Spare us the farce.
• McLaren. Complicated one, this. Obviously they were looking for a good weekend at their home race, and it’s been a bit of an up-and-down one. Firstly I was led to believe that the blown diffuser ban would benefit the Mercedes-engined teams most, and hurt the Renault-engined teams, but it seemed as though Martin Whitmarsh thought McLaren were suffering because of it. It seemed as though this was the case in qualifying, as their pace was definitely somewhat slower than that of the Red Bull and Ferrari. It almost seemed as though they were managing to turn things around during the race, with both drivers making up places and driving well, but eventually it was two stupid mistakes that compromised their race. Hamilton was forced to go into fuel-saving mode, suggesting he’d either driven too aggressively early in the race, or not been fuelled to the end of the race. This cost him 3rd place, and nearly cost him 4th, and if the issue was with his fuel load, it seems easily avoidable. Button’s race was ended thanks to an early release from a pit stop, before the right front tyre (although he said left front on the radio!) was on correctly. There’s no excuse, really. I can’t help but think, that after two disappointing weekends in a row, McLaren are losing their touch, and maybe they’re no longer Red Bull’s closest rivals?
• Inconsistent stewards’ decisions. In my opinion, both the contact between Schumacher and Kobayashi, and Hamilton and Massa (as much as I hate to admit it, because obviously I first thought Hamilton was out of line and Massa deserved to make the overtake) were just racing incidents, yet the former was penalised and the latter wasn’t. If I can be cynical for a moment, perhaps it has something to do with the fact it was the British Grand Prix, and Nigel Mansell was the drivers’ steward. Hmm. Not that I’m insinuating anything untoward is going on, but if you’re going to give out penalties, at least give them out fairly.
• Pit crews. We’re always told about the amount of practice pit stops the teams do during the week, to make sure everything is in order and as quick as possible. But you wouldn’t have known it this week! Button was released before the right front was on correctly, which ended his race; Vettel had a slow stop due to the left rear not going on properly, which cost him the lead; Massa had a not-too-slick stop, Kobayashi was released unsafely, and Di Resta lost a lot of time when his team weren’t expecting him and had Sutil’s tyres out instead of his. Seriously. Sort it out. We shouldn’t be seeing this many mistakes.
• Team orders. I don’t even know where to start. I can understand that Red Bull didn’t want to risk Webber and Vettel running each other off during an overtake, but racing is what the fans want to see, it was a hell of an exciting battle to watch, and surely the team should trust them to race each other cleanly and not cause a collision? I do feel sorry for Webber in all of this, as he said last year “not too bad for a number 2 driver”, I’m sure he feels that even more now. He’d had a brilliant race and was all over the back of Vettel, so I think they should’ve been allowed to race. Because the radio transmissions are delayed, I didn’t realise he’d got the call 4 laps before the end; I only heard it on the last lap, so I initially thought it was pointless because there wasn’t enough race left to make the pass. But kudos to him for ignoring the first few calls, it was a great bit of racing to watch. I don’t want to see a repeat of “Fernando is faster than you”, hopefully Red Bull will realise that and we won’t see anything like that in the future. Ironically, the radio transmission was played just after the commentators had said “there are no team orders at Red Bull.”…
• BBC commentators’ reactions. If you tuned in after the race, you wouldn’t have known Alonso had won. I appreciate that there’s a certain amount of British bias, but surely the race winner deserves a certain amount of praise? I feel like a broken record saying this though; there’s been the same problem for as long as I can remember, and I can’t see it changing any time soon. With all due respect, Hamilton did have quite a good race, but the amount of time the BBC spend talking about him is quite often disproportionate and excessive.
• British “fans”. I heard a lot of the fans at Silverstone were booing Vettel. Seriously guys, that’s not on. Go there and enjoy the atmosphere and the experience of the racing. Don’t be pathetic, closed-minded idiots. Respect the drivers, even if your favourite doesn’t win.

Once again, it was the Mercedes engines on top in qualifying, but this time the factory team just pipped the McLaren team, with Nico Rosberg taking his first ever pole after an astonishing lap time that no-one could match. He started alongside his team-mate Michael Schumacher, as Lewis Hamilton qualified second fastest but took a 5-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. Sauber were still showing impressive speed after an amazing 2nd place finish at the last race, qualifying 3rd and 8th, but for the other two front-running teams it wasn’t so happy. A split-setup decision from Red Bull cost Sebastian Vettel dearly; his pre-season specification exhaust system could only take him to P11, while his team-mate, on a newer setup, started 6th. And Ferrari’s woes continued; even with their supposed “visible updates” they only managed a lowly P9 for Fernando Alonso and P12 for Felipe Massa, far from the team’s former greatness.

DRS is expected to play a big part in overtaking at this circuit, with the activation zone leading into the long back straight, and it was likely that we’d see a lot of passes. 3 stops was the strategy of choice today, as the Pirelli tyres are sensitive to even the smallest changes in track temperature, and this could have a big impact on degradation, although some drivers would opt for 2 stops. The top 10 all started on the faster soft compound, expected to last 10 to 15 laps. Jean-Eric Vergne was forced to start from the pit lane after having to make changes to his Toro Rosso under parc fermé regulations.

As the lights went out in Shanghai, Rosberg made a good clean start and immediately asserted his authority on the rest of the grid. Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton each made up two places, to 3rd and 5th respectively, while Vettel struggled and dropped back to 14th. After a great start from 14th place, Bruno Senna got a little too excited and locked up, making minor contact with Massa’s Ferrari and damaging his front wing. Luckily it was only minor and he could continue racing. Sauber were proving their pace in Malaysia wasn’t just a fluke, as Sergio Perez was gaining time on Hamilton in front of him, although the McLarens were forced to nurse their tyres on the cold track. An interesting radio message from Senna’s engineer told him to “get through Massa”. Surely going round him would be a better idea?!

After 5 laps, Vettel was still frustrated in 14th place, and it was looking like it’d be a long afternoon for him. Massa was also feeling the pressure, as Romain Grosjean’s Lotus was all over the back of him for 10th place. Meanwhile, Rosberg had pulled out a healthy 2 second lead, safely out of the clutches of his team-mate’s DRS. Mark Webber was the first driver to pit, on lap 7, taking on a new set of the harder prime tyres, and it would be interesting to see which strategy would play out best. Although down in 20th after his stop, Webber began lighting the timesheets purple left, right and centre, suggesting the supposedly slower tyre would in fact be preferable. By this point, Rosberg had extended his lead to 4.1 seconds, and there was already a close battle for the places behind, with the top 6 separated by only 6 seconds. There were some definite team tactics going on at Mercedes, with Schumacher intentionally backing the pack up to allow his team-mate to pull away.

Kobayashi and Vettel pitted on lap 10 for medium tyres, and Nico Hulkenberg required a new front wing. Hamilton got up close and personal with Kimi Raikkonen as they exited their pit garages; Hamilton opted for another set of options. Raikkonen made a fantastic move on Webber, some great aggressive driving, but just couldn’t make it stick. More drivers took to the pit lane on lap 12, Button following the same strategy as his team-mate and putting on a second set of options. The two Mercedes drivers were still running well on the options, suggesting that the team had finally solved their tyre wear issues. But the fairytale wouldn’t last long; Schumacher was forced to retire after a fault with the pit release light system meant he was released before the right rear tyre had been properly attached. A frustrating end to what could have been a fantastic race for the 7-time champion. Rosberg no longer had anyone to help him out, but it seemed like he was doing fine on his own.

At this point, Massa had yet to stop, as he had started on the prime tyres, and as Rosberg pitted from the lead, the Brazilian moved up to 2nd, behind Pérez. It wasn’t to last long though, and Rosberg on the fresher tyres soon passed Massa to retake the lead. Vettel had managed to make up 3 places to 11th, but was still far from where he expected to be. Schumacher was under investigation by the stewards for an alleged unsafe release, and the team were later fined €5000. Hamilton made his second stop for primes on lap 23, and came out behind Massa. After last year’s events I suspect everyone was hoping they wouldn’t come together again. Luckily they kept it clean, and Massa did a great job of defending his 11th position, although he was eventually passed, albeit cautiously, by the McLaren 3 laps later.

Alonso pitted for options on lap 28, and appeared to be running very well. The DRS definitely seemed to be doing is job at this race, with a lot of changes of position happening in the midfield, and the prime tyres definitely seeming like the best option at the halfway point in the race. Massa was yet again the unfortunate victim of a team order in favour of his team-mate, this time told to let him through as he was on a different strategy. Team orders are legal in F1 this year though, and with neither driver challenging for a win or podium, it was probably in the team’s best interests. Turn 6 proved to be a good overtaking spot, as Alonso made the move on Paul Di Resta. Vergne was an unlikely candidate for a fastest lap, but set an impressive 1:41.205.

As the lap times kept tumbling and the track rubbered in, it was becoming evident which strategies had been more successful. Despite a very good opening stint, Massa’s tyres appeared to have reached the end of their life, and despite running in 5th he was rapidly being caught by Raikkonen, Kobayashi, Vettel and Grosjean. Hamilton and Alonso pitted together on lap 39, and despite the Ferrari pitstop being half a second quicker, Hamilton emerged first. Button suffered a pitstop problem the following lap; the left rear was slow to go on, leaving him only 5th, between Vettel and Grosjean. Webber managed almost a repeat of the infamous “flying Petrov” incident of Malaysia last year, running wide, hitting the kerb and launching the front wheels into the air. But the drama was only just beginning…

Ferrari’s pace seemed a lot better this week, as Alonso was rapidly catching Hamilton, and Massa was defending fantastically from Raikkonen, reaching 2nd place before having to make his second stop on lap 42 and slipping back to 14th. Kobayashi set the new fastest lap, 1:39.960. There was an epic battle forming for 2nd place, with Raikkonen, Vettel, Button, Grosjean and Webber all in the mix, and Hamilton just two seconds down the road. Pastor Maldonado attempted a risky move on Grosjean and the pair made contact, and Perez made a fantastic and aggressive overtake on the Williams.

Meanwhile, Rosberg was told to take it easy on his left front tyre, but with a 24 second lead, this wasn’t to be a problem, and the team could have easily called him in for another stop if need be. All the action was happening behind him though, with Vettel up to 3rd place having started 11th, Webber having to defend frantically from Hamilton, and a mistake from Raikkonen that saw him run wide and lose 2 places to Vettel and Button. This group were too busy fighting over 2nd place to notice that Senna and Grosjean had tagged on to the back of their pack, soon passing Raikkonen too as the Finn struggled with his tyres. As if it couldn’t get any worse, he was then passed by Maldonado and Alonso, and had dropped from P2 to P10 in less than one lap. It was looking like a disastrous end to what could have been a strong podium finish for Lotus. And still it got worse, as Raikkonen lost two more places, dropping him down right into the clutches of 13th placed Massa. The two Sauber drivers weren’t exactly having the best time of it either; the ageing tyres caused lots of massive lockups which cost them valuable time.

A brilliant pass from Button on Vettel, then mirrored by his McLaren team-mate, relegated the German to 4th place, and his tiresome afternoon was made worse by a pass from his own team-mate, who appears to have been a cut above the double World Champion so far this season.

So Nico Rosberg took the chequered flag after 56 fantastic laps; his maiden victory the first for the works Mercedes team since 1955, and silencing the critics who reckoned their stunning qualifying pace couldn’t translate into a race situation. After over 100 races without a win, the German was more than deserving of the first place trophy. Button and Hamilton rounded off the podium, both gaining places from their grid positions and making it a 1-2-3 for Mercedes engines. The two Red Bull drivers can’t have been happy with 4th and 5th, but showed definite improvement since the last race. Grosjean couldn’t wipe the smile off his face after finishing 6th; after 2 DNFs it was better than he could have hoped. Senna and Maldonado celebrated Frank Williams’s 70th birthday with two strong points finishes in 7th and 8th. Alonso gained only two points after his impressive victory in Malaysia, but given the troubles the team are having, he was thankful at least for 9th place. Kobayashi rounded off the points positions, but it was a little disappointing, considering he’d started 3rd, and his team-mate could only manage 11th. There was more heartache for Felipe Massa and his fans; despite a strong defensive drive and some brilliant tyre management, the car’s fundamental lack of pace left him down in 13th and yet to score a point this year. An unfortunate tyre call from Lotus dropped Raikkonen down to 14th, but there was no doubt he’d driven brilliantly, and is making his comeback count.

It was such a shame that Schumacher’s pit crew made such a tragic error, costing him his race; it would have been wonderful to see the 7-time World Champion back on the podium, and judging by Rosberg’s pace in the sister car, he could have been challenging for his 2nd Grand Prix victory. And speaking of German World Champions, Vettel didn’t seem too pleased after the race, heard on his radio to be blaming the team and calling the car’s lack of straight-line speed “ridiculous”. But with the genius of Adrian Newey at the helm, I’m sure Red Bull will do all they can to improve.

Driver of the Day: Nico Rosberg. Do I need to explain?

Lewis Hamilton takes up position at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, but it’s still all to play for as we head to Bahrain next weekend.

Lewis Hamilton is the only driver to have won more than one Chinese Grand Prix since its introduction to the race calendar in 2004; last year’s race was voted one of the most thrilling of the season, with Hamilton taking the victory, and Mark Webber fighting his way spectacularly from 18th on the grid to claim 3rd place. The Shanghai circuit features a Tilke-esque long high-speed straight and high downforce, challenging drivers with huge speed changes required to hit each apex perfectly. Pirelli have allocated the medium (prime) and soft (option) tyres for this weekend, with expected differences in lap time of between 0.6 and 0.8 seconds.

Friday’s first free practice session began on a wet track, and the drivers began on the intermediate tyres before conditions dried out. McLaren dominated both Friday sessions, with Hamilton posting the fastest time in FP1 and second fastest in FP2, and Mercedes showed good pace, with Michael Schumacher topping the timesheets in FP2. Red Bull seemed to be showing an improvement in form, with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber 3rd and 4th fastest in FP2. Interestingly, the team had chosen a split strategy, with Webber running the most recent exhaust system, and Vettel reverting to the pre-season specification. Despite some “visible updates” to their car, Ferrari were still struggling, and neither driver could manage higher than P10. Timo Glock suffered a mysterious incident where his nose cone became detached, causing him to hit the wall.

This morning’s final practice saw Hamilton and teammate Jenson Button leading, followed by the two Mercedes drivers, who were undoubtedly hoping they could translate their fantastic qualifying pace to a race situation. An issue with Fernando Alonso’s suspension required a torsion bar adjustment and saw him confined to his garage for a long while, as Ferrari’s pull-rod suspension system has to be adjusted from underneath the car. Hamilton faced a 5-place grid penalty for a new gearbox. Away from the track, the Lotus team had filed an official protest against Mercedes’ controversial “super-duper DRS” F-duct device, but the FIA rejected it, deeming the system to still be legal. And that’s not the only story surrounding Lotus this week; it appears the elaborate “Lotusgate” naming debacle is still underway, with Group Lotus reportedly changing the terms of their sponsorship, meaning, in simple terms, Lotus will still race under the name Lotus, despite no longer being sponsored by Lotus. Got that?

The two Mercedes-powered teams were the favourites to fight for pole position today, with Red Bull hoping to improve, and at the other end of the scale, Ferrari knew they’d probably be fighting to make it into Q3. It’s incredibly sad to see how a once so dominant and prestigious team has fallen. And so, it was time for qualifying in China…

Q1:

• Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Paul Di Resta and Heikki Kovalainen were the first drivers out on track, with Di Resta setting the first timed lap, a 1:38.190. Massa then posted a 1:37.964, and the times continued to tumble, with Hamilton the first to break the 1:37 barrier. Webber was 3 tenths faster than his team-mate, and Massa was a full 6 tenths slower than the sister Ferrari of Alonso.
• The front-runners all went out on the prime tyres, expecting to make it through this session without having to sacrifice a set of options.
• Only 2 tenths separated the top 6, and Massa was forced to switch to the option tyres to ensure he’d reach Q2, and improved by 1.4 seconds on his previous lap time. His 1:36.556 was hardly spectacular though, compared to the likes of Red Bull and McLaren, who were less than half a second slower on the slower tyres.
• A message from Race Control popped up, informing us of an investigation into an alleged “impeding” incident between cars 18 and 20, however, amusingly, they’d forgotten to change the drivers’ names from those of the previous Porsche race.
• Grosjean, Perez and Alonso then followed on the softer tyres, with Perez setting the fastest time of the session, 1:36.198. Toro Rosso failed to impress, with Daniel Ricciardo hovering above the drop zone, and Jean-Eric Vergne looking like he’d be knocked out.
• Vettel was languishing in a rather unexpected 15th place, but it was enough to get him through, and obviously the team thought it’d be best to save tyres. The top 7 drivers in this session had used up a set of the faster tyres.
• Q1 eliminated: Vergne, Kovalainen, Petrov, Glock, Pic, De la Rosa, Karthikeyan. All cars were within the 107% time.

Q2:

• There were reports from the pitlane that it had begun to rain, but only a few spots that soon stopped and didn’t affect the running.
• Alonso, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Kobayashi and Perez were the first to take to the track, on options. Kobayashi set the first lap time at 1:35.962; his teammate could only manage 1:36.471 as he was running a used set of tyres.
• Another impeding incident, this time between Pedro De la Rosa and Bruno Senna, was investigated by the stewards.
• Mercedes managed a 1-2 on their first run, with Nico Rosberg leading. It wasn’t looking so good for Red Bull, however, only managing P6 and P8 after their first hot lap., and they, along with the two McLarens, opted, unusually, for a second run.
• Jenson Button was struggling for pace, and had to use up a second new set of soft tyres, leaving only one new set
• for the race.
• The Ferraris chose their moment wisely and headed out while all the other drivers were in the pits. Alonso took P6 with a 1:35.982, while Massa’s 1:36.255 could only manage 10th, and he hovered ominously above the drop zone as the chequered flag dropped.
• There were still some drivers out on track, and competitive times from the two Saubers dropped Massa down into 12th and out of Q2. His teammate, however, had impressively hauled the difficult Ferrari into the top 10.
• Webber set the fastest time, 1:35.700, and less than 3 tenths separated the top 10.
• The big surprise in this session came when the reigning World Champion could only manage 11th place, and was told over the radio, quite simply that he “wasn’t fast enough”. Evidently there had been a great difference between Red Bull’s two different exhaust layouts, working in the Australian’s favour.
• Q2 eliminated: Vettel, Massa, Maldonado, Senna, Di Resta, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo.

Q3:

• Kimi Raikkonen was first out, as the track temperature began to drop. He posted a 1:35.898, which was quickly obliterated by a fantastic 1.35:121 from Rosberg. Schumacher and Hamilton were also on track, their 1:36.6s slotting them in between the Mercedes and the Lotus.
• Rosberg’s time seemed untouchable at this point, as Webber and Perez headed out. The other 4 drivers appeared to be opting for only one timed lap each.
• Webber went a tenth faster than Rosberg in the first sector, but a slow second sector meant he had to settle for a provisional P5 with a 1:36.290.
• As Hamilton set off for his second run, Rosberg was seen out of the car and removing his helmet. A dangerous move, perhaps, but he seemed supremely confident, and at half a second clear of  2nd placed Hamilton, he looked to be safely on pole.
• A 1:36.622 from Alonso secured P9 for the Ferrari, while Grosjean abandoned his lap, and Kobayashi took P4 with an impressive 1:35.724.
• Jenson Button couldn’t get higher than 5th, and as the last of the drivers crossed the line, Nico Rosberg celebrated his first ever pole position, and the first pole for the Mercedes factory team in over 50 years. Hamilton’s grid penalty relegates him to 7th, leaving a Mercedes front row lock-out and the makings of a potentially very exciting race.
• So once again the Mercedes engines were on top, and the Mercedes team proved their amazing speed over one lap, while Red Bull struggled. But can the Silver Arrows make it stick in the race tomorrow? My Driver of the Day is Nico Rosberg: a phenomenal qualifying lap and a well-deserved first pole. As the driver who has the most race starts without a win, he’ll definitely be hoping that when the lights go out, everything will go right.
• Grid: Rosberg, Schumacher, Kobayashi, Raikkonen, Button, Webber, Hamilton, Perez, Alonso, Grosjean. [*Hamilton carries a 5-place penalty for a new gearbox.]

UPDATE: De la Rosa and Maldonado were each given a reprimand for the impeding incidents.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, you’ll know that Felipe’s now in the final year of his contract with Ferrari, and to put it lightly he’s under pressure. After a disappointing 2011 spent wrestling with the sub-par F150 and which resulted in only 6th place in the championship, this is the year that Felipe really needs to prove himself.  And I for one really hope he can. I want him to prove that he’s still the same driver who achieved 7 podium finishes in his first season for Ferrari, and who heartbreakingly lost the World Championship by a single point in 2008. He needs to start showing the results again if he wants to keep his Ferrari seat for another year.

But even though a prediction based on two races is likely to be far from accurate (after all, Felipe started the 2008 season with two DNFs), at the moment it isn’t looking good. Ferrari made no light of the fact that the F2012 was off the pace and needed a lot of work, but even so, Felipe has failed to score a point so far this season and is visibly struggling with the car. Compare that to his team-mate’s performance and the picture is even more bleak; Fernando is currently leading the championship after finishing 5th in Australia and scoring a fantastic win in changeable conditions in Malaysia. Ferrari have  some major upgrades planned for the first European race, and we can only hope this will improve their car and make it more competitive, but can this lack of performance all be blamed on the car?

It’s fair to say Ferrari haven’t made things easy for Felipe recently; as a driver who thrives on confidence and consistency, having to battle with uncompetitive cars over the past two seasons has been far from ideal. Add into that the clear “number one driver” status they have given to Fernando since his arrival in 2010 and you can see why Felipe’s hardly in a happy place right now. In fact, you start to wonder if he was ever happy at Ferrari. He spent his first year playing second fiddle to Mr Schumacher himself, and after Kimi Raikkonen’s 2007 championship win, the Finn became favourite, if only temporarily. But despite all this, and despite the inevitable difficulties of coming back after a near-fatal accident in Hungary in 2009, Felipe has fought on, and even if the results haven’t come as often as they once did, he’s shown the grit and determination that’s essential to succeed in Formula 1. But for a prestigious team like Ferrari, chances are these will count for nothing if the driver can’t put the points on the board…

Recent F1 departeur Rubens Barrichello has advised his good friend to “enjoy racing, remember why he races and he’ll soon return to his previous form” but has warned that his fellow Brazilian still has “a tough hurdle to overcome”. And indeed, there’s no way around that. In fact, the difficult start to this season, coupled with last year’s struggles, have prompted a lot of fans to call for his replacement as early as mid-season. Off the back of his impressive 2nd place finish in Malaysia, Sergio Pérez is currently favourite to replace Felipe, but would the Sauber driver be a welcome addition to Ferrari, would a lineup change help the Scuderia back to its former glory, and where would that leave Felipe, who has started over 100 Grands Prix with the team?

The young Mexican was promising in his rookie season, and a podium finish definitely showed his potential, but would the lure of so many years of F1 history and prestige be enough to tempt him away from his successful Ferrari-engined Sauber and into a visibly struggling car? I think that no matter how drastic the situation may be, terminating Felipe’s contract before the end of the season would be a horrifically unjust way to treat the driver who has served the team so well for the past six seasons. And anyway, I doubt this would actually happen; Ferrari are aware that their car needs improvements, and hopefully they’d bear this in mind when thinking about the future.

But what if this were to be Felipe’s last season with Ferrari? Where would he head next? It’s common knowledge that Mark Webber’s on a rolling one-year contract with Red Bull as he nears the end of his F1 career, but if the Australian wasn’t offered an extension, would Christian Horner be willing to take on a driver like Felipe to partner Sebastian Vettel? Personally I don’t think so, and I don’t think another year as a number 2 driver would suit Felipe either. So sad as it is to say it, it looks as though he will have to look towards the midfield teams to gain a drive for 2013. A likely scenario would be a straight swap with Sergio Pérez, who after all is in the Ferrari Young Driver Academy, which would see Felipe return to the team that he began his F1 career with back in 2002. Will this be good for him? Well, we can’t tell just yet, but what we know for certain is that Felipe needs a team who will treat him well and let him race for himself, instead of always having to exist in the shadow of another driver, as the “Fernando is faster than you” incident at Hockenheim in 2010 only proved further.

While I can’t say for certain what will happen next year, and we’re only two races into this season so things may well change, I can only hope that if his time at Ferrari is up, Felipe will find a drive somewhere else. He’s only 30, his F1 days are far from over, and there’s a talent in him that would be wasted if he was forced to retire. Many fans will argue that Ferrari haven’t been good to him, and he’d be better off somewhere else;  I can agree to a certain extent, but on a more selfish note, I’ve been there since the start, since he partnered Michael Schumacher back in 2006, and so to me, he’s only ever been a Ferrari driver. But I’ve supported him through the good days and the bad: I cried for him in Brazil in 2008; I worried myself sick for him in Hungary in 2009, and I’ve celebrated every success he’s achieved with the utmost pride and respect. So however and wherever he chooses to continue his career, I’ll be there for him all the way.

Forza Felipe.

Muito obrigado.

The two McLarens locked out the front row for the second week running, while Michael Schumacher qualified an impressive 3rd. Red Bull had shown some better pace throughout the practice sessions but it was only good enough for 4th and 5th, and Ferrari lined up a disappointing 8th and 12th. But if last week’s race was anything to go by, the pecking order was far from decided, and at a circuit that’s about as different from Albert Park as it’s possible to be, anything could happen.

Strategy-wise, 2 stops is regarded as the quickest at Sepang, although that is reliant on the driver being able to get the new tyres working quickly enough, so in reality 3 stops was looking most likely, due to the high track temperatures and heavy tyre degradation. Interestingly, Sebastian Vettel had elected to start from P5 on the harder prime tyre, in the hope that the longer-lasting compound would allow him to jump the drivers ahead at the first round of pit stops. But with the heavens opening 5 minutes before the race start, a switch to the intermediate tyres meant we’d never get to see how his strategy played out. The man in the box, Charlie Whiting, had a tough decision to make, but after watching the weather for a few minutes conditions were declared wet, prompting a change to the intermediate tyres for the majority of the field, but dry enough for a normal start. The 2 HRTs decided to go straight for the full wet tyres, which was an unusual choice given that the track was drying out.

As the cars geared up for their formation lap, only 23 cars made it off the line; Pedro De La Rosa was stuck in his grid slot and forced to start from the pit lane. Cruelly ironic that he’d had the same problem here in 2010, and therefore hadn’t started a racing lap at Sepang for 10 years. And so, with half the track wet and the other half dry, as the lights went out it was clear that tyre strategy would be the vital factor…

Lewis Hamilton defended his lead from his team-mate into the first corner, and managed to stay in front, although the two McLarens did get very close. Romain Grosjean started well and moved up to 3rd, while Webber had to claw back P3 from the young Frenchman and Schumacher. The 7-time World Champion took a knock from Grosjean at Turn 4 which forced him into a spin; he was able to carry on, albeit a long way down the order. The rain appeared to be increasing, but the second half of the lap was definitely drier.

Sergio Perez was the first driver to pit for full wet tyres at the end of the first lap, followed by Bruno Senna, after contact with his Williams team-mate resulted in a spin. Fernando Alonso had found his way up into P5, while good starts from Kovalainen and Kobayashi moved them up to 15th and 9th respectively. There was very heavy rain in the pit lane, and it looked like time to switch to the full wets. Technically, staying out on the inters would be faster, albeit very risky.

The first retirement of the race came on lap 4; Grosjean beached his Lotus in the gravel and was unable to continue. Extremely bad luck from the promising young driver, who has achieved two impressive grid positions so far this season, but hasn’t managed to convert them into a points finish. Alonso was closing in on Vettel by lap 5, when full wets became the order of the day for most of the field and they streamed into the pits. Hamilton chose to stay out but was complaining of aquaplaning; he pitted a lap later. Jean-Eric Vergne was the only driver left on intermediate tyres by lap 7,when the safety car was deployed. The monitors initially showed a red flag, but this was later cancelled and blamed on a power cut caused by lightning. Jenson Button reported that the final sector was “like a lake”; the rain was forecast to continue for another 30 minutes, and unsurprisingly the race was red flagged on lap 9.

As the drivers lined up back on the grid, HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan was in 10th place. Obviously no points unless he managed to finish there, but probably the highest place a HRT has ever reached in a race, and evidently the decision to start on the full wet tyres paid off. The race was suspended for around 45 minutes, and the teams had brought along state-of-the-art gazebos to shelter the cars from the rain. A quick shot of a bird out on track harked back to the amusement of last year’s Canadian Grand Prix; maximum race time has been reduced to 4 hours this year so it’s unlikely anything like that will happen again.

A safety car restart required all the drivers to put on the full wet tyres, and the radar suggested the track would begin to dry out quickly, so the strategists were hard at work to determine the crossover time and when to change to inters. Five laps under the safety car allowed Hamilton to bunch up the pack, and after the restart proper the rain was definitely clearing up. It seemed like the switch to inters would happen not long after the restart, and sure enough, a lot of drivers headed straight for the pits. De La Rosa’s bad luck continued, as the stewards investigated an incident involving his team personnel remaining on the grid less than 3 minutes before the restart, and he was consequently given a drive through penalty.

Alonso passed Webber for P3; the Australian was then passed by his team-mate, but managed to take the place back. Vettel ran wide between Turns 7 and 8, and appeared to be struggling. Hamilton pitted from the lead on lap 14, but he overshot his pit box, causing a rear jack issue, and then was held up by Felipe Massa, resulting in a very slow stop which allowed Alonso past. Button made contact with Narain Karthikeyan, and front wing damage forced him to pit, after letting his team-mate through. Unusually the HRT was fighting for track position and not a backmarker, so not obliged to yield to the faster McLaren. Some clumsy driving from Button though, and a slow stop just made things worse. He rejoined the race at the back of the field, but given what happened in Canada last year, I wasn’t ready to write him off just yet.

At this point I noticed what could only be described as a small river across the track in a braking zone. Bit of bad design there I think. But with the track rapidly drying out, and no more rain expected, the next strategic decision would be judging when to switch to slicks. Alonso passed Perez to take the lead, and it seemed like the Ferrari was performing a lot better in these conditions. Button set the fastest lap from P20, and I was definitely wondering if we’d see a repeat of Canada.

Daniel Ricciardo pulled off a good move on Bruno Senna for P14, and Kimi Raikkonen was starting to catch Vettel in 5th.  Alonso’s lead over Perez was 4.3 seconds; the Mexican was pulling away from 3rd placed Hamilton and closing in on Alonso, while at the other end of the field Button was frustrated at being held up by Pastor Maldonado, and complaining of a lack of grip. Rosberg’s tyres had definitely reached the end of their life, as he was passed by both Vettel and Raikkonen on lap 24, and under pressure from 7th placed Webber.

Button stopped for a new set of inters on the next lap, and a mistake by Massa after being told to chase the struggling Rosberg saw him instead lose 2 places to Paul di Resta and Jean-Eric Vergne. Massa’s race wasn’t  working out how he’d hoped, and his disappointment will undoubtedly have been made worse by watching his team-mate leading the race and setting fastest laps. Webber made the move on Rosberg for 6th, while Massa pitted for more inters.

It’s a little disappointing to see Mercedes struggling so much in the race, especially when they show such good pace in practice and qualifying. Their innovative rear wing system is evidently helping them out, just not where it matters. But we’re only two races into the season so there’s plenty of time for upgrades and development. And I guess the opposite can be said about Ferrari. They’ve been slagged off no end this season so far, and their car can barely make it through to Q3, but my god it’s got some pace in the rain! It’ll be interesting to see how the next few races pan out for them.

Back to the race: Button was the fastest man on track, but it wasn’t worth a lot when he was stuck down in P19. The track was definitely starting to dry out by lap 32 and it looked like it wouldn’t be long before the dash to the pits for slicks. Button and Ricciardo both passed Massa, bumping the Brazilian down to 18th place, and Perez was closing in on Alonso. This wasn’t over yet…

Ricciardo was the first to pit for slicks on lap 38, opting for the faster but less durable medium tyre, followed by Massa a lap later, who suffered with a sticky right rear and lost yet more time. Button was told over the radio to try and go to the end of the race on his current set of tyres, but then pitted a lap later for options. Alonso was the next to pit, leaving Perez  in the lead  before he switched to the prime tyre on lap 41. Hamilton had another bad stop and lost time as the mechanics tried to remove the tape from the front brake ducts. The Red Bulls had definitely found some pace on the slicks and they were flying, with Webber catching 3rd placed Hamilton, and lapping 1.5 seconds faster than his team-mate. There was still some rain in the vicinity, but it didn’t look like it would make its way to the circuit before the end of the race.

By lap 47 the gap between Alonso and Perez was down to 2.3 seconds, and the Mexican was driving a phenomenal race. Kobayashi pitted from P16 and was later seen to have retired due to a brake problem. Vettel made a clumsy mistake when lapping Karthikeyan, and clipped his front wing, resulting in a left rear puncture and an unscheduled pitstop, which destroyed his hopes of a podium or even a points finish. Perez had made it into the DRS zone by lap 50 and was all over the back of Alonso. Nail biting stuff. He received a radio call telling him to be careful, and not to sacrifice his 18 points trying to get 25, but shortly after caught a kerb and ran wide at Turn 14, giving Alonso some much-needed breathing space. I’ve heard various comments about how that radio call was a conspiracy of some sort, or a “team order” from Ferrari, which just seems preposterous. The way I see it, Sauber were just doing damage control to make sure Perez got to the end of the race and they retained what was their best race result for a number of years.

Maldonado’s Williams was pouring smoke on the penultimate lap, and he was told to retire the car due to an engine failure. Extremely unlucky for him as he was running in 10th. He’s so often been branded a pay driver, but is definitely starting to prove his worth this year. Just a shame he’s been hindered by mechanical issues. Vettel was given some very confusing mixed messages on the final lap, first told “box this lap, we need to retire the car”, then “stay out” and then “emergency, stop the car”. He’d overheated his brakes due to damage from the puncture, although it was mentioned earlier that his radio wasn’t working, so I’m not sure if he actually received or responded to those messages. Retiring the car did have an advantage for the team, as it meant they could change the gearbox without penalty, but I’m still unsure as to whether Vettel actually made it to the chequered flag.

So Alonso took what can only be described as a stunning victory in the changeable conditions, bringing some new-found optimism to the Ferrari team, although a dark cloud still hangs over the head of his team-mate, with rumours he won’t even make it to the end of the season as a Ferrari driver. Perez scored his first ever F1 podium, and Hamilton once again failed to convert pole into a win. Webber finished 4th, Raikkonen 5th. Bruno Senna managed a very impressive 6th after that early incident left him at the back of the pack, and Di Resta, Vergne, Hulkenberg and Schumacher rounded off the points positions. Schumacher was extremely unlucky; his race was ruined by a spin on the first lap, and without incident he had the pace to be challenging for the win, in my opinion. In the end, Button couldn’t manage another Montreal-esque comeback and finished 14th, although it was a clumsy error from him that cost him his podium position. Vettel’s usually calm demenour came unfurled after the race and he lashed out at Karthikeyan for the incident that cost him his 5th place. A stewards’ investigation returned a penalty for the HRT driver, which seemed a little harsh, but isn’t likely to make a huge difference to the result. Vettel was understandably angry, but we’ve all seen what can happen if you get a reputation for always placing blame. Mr Hamilton…

Drivers of the Day: Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez. Perez got a well-deserved podium, which was almost a win, after a great rookie season last year, and showed he’s definitely one to watch in the future. Alonso’s performance today was world-class; given the endless problems Ferrari had had pre-season and in qualifying, to bring the car home in first place was a fantastic surprise for the Prancing Horse and the Tifosi. Alonso currently leads the championship from Hamilton and Button, but it’s anybody’s guess this early in the season, as we head to China in 3 weeks to see who can master Shanghai!

It was business as usual (well, compared to what we learnt from last week) in the free practice sessions, with McLaren and Mercedes fighting for the fastest times, and Michael Schumacher topping the timesheets in Friday’s second session. Ferrari still appeared to be struggling, and the new chassis shipped out from Maranello for Felipe Massa didn’t seem to have made an impact as the Brazilian still finished disappointingly far down the order. Saturday morning’s practice session started damp, with a few drivers choosing to run on the intermediate tyres in case of a wet race, but the track soon dried out. During a busy session, with all 24 drivers out on track at one point, it was Nico Rosberg who finished fastest. He showed very promising pace in practice and qualifying last week, but couldn’t quite make it stick in the race. As the driver in the unenviable position of having started the most races without a win, he’ll surely be hoping that this year’s car, with its clever but controversial “F-duct rear wing” can take him to the elusive top step of the podium. Lewis Hamilton had an unfortunate incident, running off into the gravel, and the resulting damage to the car meant he could only complete 8 laps and posted the 9th fastest time.

The Ferraris could only manage 13th and 18th, which just served as more evidence that their car is fundamentally flawed, and added more speculation over Massa’s future with the team. Red Bull, however, appeared to have taken a step forward since Melbourne, if practice times were anything to go by: Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished 2nd and 3rd respectively, and only 4 tenths off Rosberg’s time, leaving us to wonder what they’d been hiding last weekend. At the other end of the field, HRT had got their DRS working and were hoping for a more competitive result, inside the 107% time. Force India had showed good pace pre-season, and had been pegged as possible podium contenders, but seemed disappointingly uncompetitive in FP3, only finishing 14th and 17th fastest. So McLaren were looking like the team to beat, but nothing was certain as we headed into qualifying.

Q1:

• The radar showed that no rain was expected in this session, but even so, noone seemed in any hurry to leave the pits. Paul Di Resta, Timo Glock and Charles Pic were the first out on track to take advantage of the clean air, and Di Resta posted the first timed lap, 1:38.904.
• The majority of the drivers headed out on the harder prime tyre first, hoping to get through Q1 without having to break a new set of options.
• Hamilton had a bit of a moment (which Sky seemed to overlook and I only saw on BBC) where he ran wide and his steering dropped. No major consequences though.
• Massa spent an ominously long time languishing in the drop zone, and a switch to medium tyres only pushed him up to P11 on a 1:38.381. Good enough to get through, but still a disappointing time and almost a second off the top runners.
• Bruno Senna showed his frustration at being held up by a backmarker, but when will drivers learn that waving their arms around makes no difference…?
• At this point, with the track temperature in the mid-40s, the harder compound was looking preferable for the race start.
• Schumacher, Button and Rosberg propped up the top of the timesheets for a fair while, until a surprise lap from Webber on the slower prime tyre took him to P1 with a 1:37.172.
• The session finished with the Red Bull fastest, and an unusually slow Toro Rosso leaving Jean-Eric Vergne eliminated, along with the usual suspects of Caterham, Marussia and HRT, the latter managing to qualify inside the 107% time.
• Q1 eliminated: Vergne, Petrov, Glock, Pic, De la Rosa, Karthikeyan, Kovalainen*
  [* Kovalainen takes a 5 place grid penalty for overtaking under the safety car in Australia]

Q2:

• Again there was no hurry to get out on track, and Sergio Pérez’s Sauber was the first to venture out on the softer tyre, shortly followed by team-mate Kamui Kobayashi. The Mexican set the first timed lap, 1:39.043.
• It was discovered that Vergne’s problems in Q1 were due to flat-spotting one of the tyres.
• Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time early on with a 1:36.715, while an impromptu detour through the grass at Turn 11 for Pastor Maldonado brought out the yellow flags. The Venezuelan nursed his Williams back to the pits, where it was evident that his bumpy ride hadn’t done it any favours.
• The Ferraris were still struggling; Massa could only manage P9, even on the faster tyres, and that pushed team-mate Fernando Alonso down into 11th, forcing him to stay out. Massa was hovering on the edge of the drop zone, but the team decided to bring him in with around 2 minutes to go.
• Alonso improved to P6, while a P8 lap from Pérez pushed Massa out of the session. Disappointing from Ferrari, still. Although Massa was only 4 tenths behind Alonso, showing how tightly packed the midfield was at this point.
• Schumacher was caught in the drop zone as the chequered flag dropped, but still had time for another lap, which brought him up to P4, just behind the sister Mercedes.
• The session finished with Raikkonen fastest, McLaren and Mercedes showing good pace, and the Red Bulls doing just enough to get through in 7th and 9th.
• Q2 eliminated: Maldonado, Massa, Senna, Di Resta, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Kobayashi

Q3:

• Raikkonen was first out on track, followed by the 2 McLarens. The radar was reporting a head wind into Turn 9 and a tail wind into Turn 15. The Lotus set the first timed lap of 1:36.837, still almost 2 seconds slower than Vettel’s 2011 pole lap of 1:34.870. What a difference a blown diffuser makes…
• His lap was far from perfect however, and the two McLarens soon improved on that benchmark, with Hamilton 4 tenths ahead of Button and comfortably fastest.
• It appeared that Ferrari had given up challenging for the top 4, and sent Alonso out on one run, which could only manage P9. The two Mercedes and Pérez were also only out for one hot lap.
• Webber had had the edge over Vettel all weekend, it seemed, taking a provisional P3 but then being pushed down to 4th, while the German took P6. There was an interesting strategy call from the World Champion, however; he chose to start on the prime tyres, in the hope that the extra durability would outweigh the deficit in lap times and allow him to challenge for the podium. Rosberg flat-spotted his right front on his only hot lap and could only manage P8.
• Schumacher posted a fantastic 1:36.391 to take P2, but Button was the last man over the line and sneaked in another lap, snatching the position by 23 hundredths and another McLaren 1-2.
• So McLaren showed that their pace in Melbourne was genuine, while Red Bull hoped their strategic decisions would put them in the mix. My Driver of the Day has to be Michael Schumacher; qualifying in the top 3 for the first time since his comeback and showing that he’s definitely still got it!
• Grid: Hamilton, Button, Schumacher, Webber, Vettel, Grosjean, Rosberg, Alonso, Perez, Raikkonen*
  [*Raikkonen takes a 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change before FP3]
• So with rain and storms forecast for tomorrow’s race, it’ll be interesting to see who’ll come out on top in sweltering Sepang!