F1-Blog

The Spanish GP turned out to be a bit of an interesting beast. Yes the racing was not amazing (as it rarely is at the Circuit de Catalunya), but from a technical and strategy standpoint it was a very interesting mix.

The first European GP of the year is always where strange things turn up, not only in the car designs, but in the changes to where the teams perceived performance.

This year is no different, going into the race everyone was saying that the Ferrari’s with their new nose design would run off and hide all weekend, this was shock number one, they didn’t, in fact the other teams where a lot closer than we thought they would be.

The Renault’s were the next shock, looking pacey all weekend, then Fernando getting second spot on the grid. Everyone dismissed this, saying Fernando was doing a glory run on low fuel for his fans, it turned out he was not as light as people thought, pitting only two laps ahead of the Ferrari’s.

Then we have McLaren, everyone thought they were going to be playing catch up all weekend, but after working out fuel differences it seems that they were not far off the Ferrari qualifying pace, if at all, and it seems they just misjudged the amount of fuel the other teams would run in Q3 as they went the longest of the front running teams in the first stint. The cars did not look as planted as the Ferrari’s, but then Lewis like his car setup to be loose, so not really a big issue.

Almost all teams however brought changes to their cars, Honda being the most visible with the dumbo wings nose design, reminiscent to what we got a glimpse of last year.

So with the off track stuff dealt with, let’s get onto the race.

It started well for the Ferrari’s, with Massa getting the jump on Alonso’s Renault, and went into the first corner in second spot. It was also a good start for Lewis Hamilton, jumping ahead of Robert Kubicca up the inside into turn one, giving him fourth spot behind the Renault and two Ferrari’s.

Everyone seemed to squeeze through turn one unscathed, but the carnage did not hold up for long, Adrian Sutil caused a short stint for the safety car when he tried an adventurous undertake at turn four touching David Coulthard’s car and spinning out, Sebastian Vettel was the unlucky driver to collect Sutil, destroying both drivers chances.

After the race resumed it seemed to be a rather status quo affair, with nobody seeming to be able to get better than 2 seconds behind the car in front. This is a problem at this track, as the high levels of downforce required completely hinder close quarters running.

There were a few scraps up and down the field, with Nelson Piquet having an off in his Renault, putting him back to 18th spot. He then went and added insult to injury, when trying to overtake Sebastien Bourdais with a run up the inside of the French driver he managed to take both cars out of the race. It seems Bourdais just did not see him coming, and the result was two more cars retiring. The earlier off from Piquet also took Anthony Davidson out of the race, as the gravel that was brought back onto the track managed to get through the Super Aguri’s radiator protection, and cause a leak that ended the Brit’s race.

The front runner Pitstops started on lap 16, when Fernando brought his Renault in for it’s first stop, later than a lot of people had predicted, it seems he was not running quite as light as some expected, as Felipe Massa only lasted another three laps, then we had Kimi coming in on lap 22, with Lewis on Lap 23, showing that the McLaren should have been further up the grid if it had run a more aggressive strategy in Q3.

While all the stop were happening, Heikki was leading the race, and before he could make his stop for fuel, he suffered a massive accident at turn nine, when his front left wheel failed on entry to the 140mph corner. The wheel failure allowed the tyre to instantly deflate, and Heikki had no chance to slow the car down before skipping through the gravel and hitting the tyre barrier. The worrying thing was that the McLaren had managed to go underneath the tyre wall, the modern ‘conveyor belt’ design is supposed to stop the cars going underneath.

The marshals did a fine job pulling Heikki’s car out, and getting him to the medical centre quickly. But the damage to the car was very telling, with the car picked up to be carted off, you could actually see the floor underneath the drivers cell from above. Heikki is ok though, some bruising and concussion, but nothing broken.

However, as this all happened during most of the midfield teams scheduled pit stop sessions, there was carnage, with Nick Heidfeld having to pit whilst the pit lane was closed, giving him a 10 second drive through penalty when the safety car session was over. Rubens Barichelo also had another pit lane incident, he seemed to catch the nose of the Honda when he left his pit garage, and had to tour a complete lap with the nose wing stuck under the floor of the nose, damaging many of the aero parts in that section of the car. This forced the Honda out of the race, as it was deemed too damaged to continue by the team.

The race continued through all the teams second stops, with only retirements to be interested in. Fernando’s Renault lump let go on him in a big way, forcing him to retire from his home GP.

The Toyota lump in Nico Rosberg’s Williams also let go on the pit straight, forcing him to retire as well.

David Coulthard was again the target of another driver, Timo Glock tried a manoeuvre on the Brit, and was far too fast, clipping the rear wheel of the Red Bull, this caused a deflation of the tyre and forced both cars to pit for repairs. A stewards investigation deemed it a racing incident, but it ruined the race for both drivers.

All the retirements and accidents did mean that drivers who have not yet scored managed to get of the mark this race. Most notably Honda’s Jenson Button who finished sixth.

The race was all but over at the start though, as the track is notoriously difficult to overtake at, and with Kimi winning it made it eight in a row for pole starters winning. Hopefully the new aero and slicks next year will negate this a bit.

It was not quite the race that McLaren and Lewis were hoping for after their domination in Australia. It was however an interesting race, as it showed that the season is not going to be the two horse race that we have had in recent seasons.

Ferrari shone all weekend, and where pretty much unbeatable, Felipe was looking fast, as was Kimi, and the Ferrari with it’s minor changes to improve cooling looked strong.

The race started under a little cloud, the McLaren team had been penalised five grid spots for both of their cars, this was because Lewis and Heikki had impeded Heidfeld and Alonso’s fast laps at the end of the Q3 session.

This put the two lower fueled McLarens into eight and ninth place, in and around heavier fueld cars. This did however show us that both the McLaren and Lewis are quick away from the line, the Brit lined up ninth on the grid, and finished the first set of corners in fifth, Mark Webber did well getting the Red Bull into fourth as well.

This left the two Ferrari’s of Felipe and Kimi running out front, and pulling away from the chasing pack. Timo Glock was again unlucky, with Nick Heidfeld bumping him into retirement, but some might say it was only fair, as Glock’s team mate Jarno Trulli had bumped Heidfeld at the first corner when he understeered into the German.

Lewis was having issues with his tyre selection, it was perhaps the wrong choice to use the option tyre, especially after the heavy rains in the night caused the track to loose some of it’s rubbering in. He started to come back at Webber as his tyres wore away, and the car regained some grip levels. Lewis sat behind the Red Bull for a few laps, then got lucky when the Red Bull pitted, this released Lewis who set some good times. Webber’s stop was not without issues, his rear safety light was loose, and had to be snapped off during his stop, he then suffered an air pump issue that caused problems during the race.

Hamilton had his second unfortunate turn of the day (after being penalised), he pitted on lap 20, but the wheel bolt and aero guard on the front right wheel was stuck with what looked like a lot of brake dust, and Lewis’s pit stop took 20 seconds, and Lewis was again fighting his way back up past Webber again, after going through the graining issues on another set of soft tyres, he managed to re-catch the Ausie, but again could not pass him on the track.

While everyone else was fighting their battles down the track, Felipe and Kimi were out front in their own duel, Kimi kept catching upto his Brazilian team mate, but the turbulent air would not allow him to put a move on to get to the front.

Massa pitted on lap 18, this released an amazingly fast Kimi from behind him, he put in a superb lap on his pit entry lap, when the two drivers had finished their first round of stops, Kimi had taken the lead. Felipe tried to stay with Kimi, but it all came to naught when Felipe lost the back end of the Ferrari and beaching the car in the gravel. This adds more fuel to the fire that Felipe is struggling to get to grips with the loss of the electronic driver aids.

It was good news for the teams following, Robert Kubica had been running third, in a race all of his own, and was promoted to second spot. Another driver with a battle on his hands was Jarno Trulli. The Toyota driver was running a great race, but coming under pressure from  Heikki Kovalainen in the McLaren. Heikki got ahead of the Toyota, but it was a good showing from the team, as most of the time they were running laps equal to the McLaren cars.

Lewis Hamilton came under attack from Nick Heidfeld late on in the race, with Nick setting the fastest lap of the race on the last lap, something BMW cannot be too happy about.

Webber’s Red Bull hung on and took seventh spot, with the Renault of Fernando managing the last point with eight.

So from this we can gather the following.

• The Ferrari trouble at Australia seemed a little bit of a fluke, however the team have still only had one car finish in two races, so the Manufacturers title could be difficult unless they start finishing both cars in decent positions.
• BMW have certainly taken a big step towards the front of the grid, and will no doubt win a race in the not too distant future.
• Toyota have made a colossal improvement, just being able to run with the McLarens is a huge leap, lets hope for Trulli and Glock’s stake that the team can keep up the development on the car.
• The Red Bulls may be fragile, but are quick when they want to be, it’s not unlike Adrian Newey to try pair down the car and parts on it to their absolute tolerance, and I think that’s why we have seen big braking on the car when involved in accidents.
• The Renault really is not quick, and if Fernando really did bring the team 6 tenths of a second, then the Renault was a real dog of a car.
• The Honda is definitely a step in the right direction, lets hope Ross Brawn can now inject a little more pace.

With a couple of weeks until the next race, the teams have a chance to put any issues that these first two races have pointed out right, but with limited time they will have to prioritise any things they need to do.

Results

Without doubt the Ferrari’s where the cars to beat this time out, however Massa managed to throw his car off the road and into the gravel to end his race. Kimi however kept his head, and finished the race on the top step of the podium.

Lewis had an on/off race, at points showing great pace, but his luck was not good, as he had issues when the tyres were graining, and had a right front wheel stick at his first stop, which culminated in his wheel deflector on that wheel not being fitted properly for the whole of his second stint. He managed to finish in fifth in the end.

It was a good battle in the final stages of the race between Hamilton and Jarno Trulli who finished a deserved fourth in the Toyota, showing that the Japanese team have real pace in the car.

Heikki raced a mature race, moving up the field and finishing third. Kubbica raced well too, to take the second spot, however there was not much footage of him through the race as he was on his own.

Heidfeld dropped off the back of Hamilton after the second pit stops, but this was because Hamilton was setting personal best times trying to overtake Trulli.

The other interesting battle at the end of the race was for seventh and eighth, and was arguably a battle of the Renault’s. Alonso’s factory Renaul was battling against Webber in the customer Renault powered Red Bull. Webber managed to hold the two times world champion off until the end of the race.

Full race report later.

So a quick rundown

1. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
2. Robert Kubica - BMW Sauber
3. Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren
4. Jarno Trulli - Toyota
5. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren
6. Nick Heidfeld - BMW Sauber
7. Mark Webber - Red Bull Racing
8. Fernando Alonso - Renault

The Ferrari’s looked good in qualifying. Both of the Scarlet cars are on the front of the grid, with Massa taking the pole spot.

The McLaren’s looked slower all qualifying session, so it seems that they may have put a little more fuel in the cars, and went for the second row, which they got. Heikki managing to take third spot, with Hamilton looking out of sorts and struggling to keep Trulli’s Toyota behind him.

Trulli is surely the shock of the session though, setting the fastest time in Q1, and then the ‘best of the rest’ for fifth spot in the final Q3 session.

The two BMW’s follow Trulli in sixth and seventh for Kubica and Heidfeld, Webber managing to take eighth, Alonso ninth and the second Toyota of Timo Glock on the tenth spot.

It was quite a dangerous session though, with Alonso and Heidfeld both trying to set times at the end of the session, with all the other cars touring very slowly in fuel saving mode back to the pit’s. There will certainly have to be some sort of ruling stopping the cars going so slowly when they have finished their own final fast lap.

So it seems that the Ferrari’s are the fastest boys around the Sepang circuit, at least over one lap, and we know that the team usually have good race pace. So can McLaren or perhaps even Trulli take the fight to them tomorrow in the race?

There has been a lot of talk recently that BMW Sauber have been sand bagging during testing, and as of yet we have not seen the actual test times for the car. People have said that when they have been testing with the other teams that they ran high fuel runs, whereas the other teams were running on mixed/low fuel runs alongside.

Sand Bagging (or not showing your hand) is common place in F1 testing, and the top teams (McLaren / Ferrari) have got it down to an artform. If you look at the testing times, and equate them to the Australia times for the last 5 years or so you will see that none of the top teams actually showed their true pace in winter.

Some of this pace discrepancy is down to the work done between the last test, and the first race where new aero parts are honed and changed due to the data that has been collected during test. But sometimes it’s down to the mindgames that the teams attempt on each other.

So that leads us to ask, Who has been sand bagging, and by how much?

Lets look at the team that’s kicked off this debate, BMW Sauber. Are they sand bagging? Well yes, they are, but how much is yet to be seen. I very much doubt that they have the race pace of either the McLaren or the Ferrari, having said that, they may well be quick in qualification trim on light fuel.

McLaren have been well known to sand bag during testing, so expect them to be quicker than the off season has them, they also did not suffer too badly on breakdowns during the testing, so expect them to be quick, especially during launch from the start and pits. I would expect them to have the upper hand (at least in the season openers) over Ferrari during qualification as they understand their car more than Ferrari who have come back to a slightly shorter wheelbase.

Ferrari have moved their 2007 design over to their 2008 one quite well, the car has certainly been quick, however the shortening of the wheelbase from last years title winning car may bring them some issues during setup for the race as they cannot rely on their data from last year. Expect that issue to be overcome quickly though as they have talented drivers and engineers on their books. I do however expect them to have the race pace over McLaren for the first few races at least.

Toyota are an interesting one, it’s a team that in theory should be the one the others are chasing. They have shown very good pace during low fuel runs at the testing sessions, but have certainly been middle of the pack when the car is loaded up. This may just be down to the team trying to understand the new aero package, or it could be an inherent issue with the aero where it does not handle well with fuel on board, then again they could have been sand bagging during test. I expect it’s a mixture of all the above, so expect Toyota to show in the point on a regular basis now. They have obviously been sharing information with Williams on more than just the engine, now I’m not saying that Williams have helped with the Aero, but I’m sure that some of the underpinnings of the two cars are very similar.

Williams, in there dominating years they used to be the masters of sand bagging, and I’m sure the brains at Williams have still got that skill. The car has shown good pace in testing, and always run top 8 times at the tracks so expect them to take a step up this year and constantly challenge in the good points places. Time will tell if they are starting to come back to form.

Renault I don’t think have sorted all the issues they had with the car last year, and even if Fernando can bring them 0.6 of a second it’s not enough to get back to the front. That said I think they have turned the corner and will still be thereabouts at times. They are also good at keeping their cards covered, so expect the pace to be up a little from what has been shown in testing.

Red Bull are a strange one, the new Adrian Newey car is certainly the first one that can have his name stamped through it, but it’s been a hot and cold test for them. They have had issues though, a couple of car failures, a spell with Coulthard injured, then a spell with them towards the top of the timesheets. If Adrian was focused during the creation of the car, and the drivers can deliver then I think they could do quite well this year. But it’s all down to if the car can hold together or not, a lot of Adrians designs have suffered from reliability issues when they are first used, so hopefully they are sorted.

So looking forward to the weekend, and sticking my neck out, what will the result be? I think that Kimi will take the top step, with Lewis and Massa taking the next two, but I also expect the McLarens to start from the front of the grid.

Whatever happens, it’s going to be great to get back to real racing, bring on Sunday!

Well, ok it was a good race, for a number of reasons, however it was for the most part quite dull.

Kimi took an easy win, with his team mate Filipe coming in second.

The Ferrari’s were completely dominant throughout the race, with the McLaren’s just not capable of keeping pace.

The revised circuit showed that they have not damaged it, and only the pit lane entrance is disliked by the drivers.

Among the notable happenings in the race were Kubica having a great drive for 9th spot after having an engine change relegate him to starting 14th.

There was a little rucas at turn one between the two McLaren drivers, it looked quite a hard move from Alonso at first, but after seeing replays it was a fair move. What was most impressive was that both of the drivers kept there foot in until the last moment going up the hill at Eu Rouge, where Hamilton on the outside backed off and let his team mate through.

Webber got a run on the Renault of Kovalainen, and managed to overtake him into Les Combes.

The cars all pitted for their first stops at around the same point, with Lewis running the furthest, the middle stint of the race was pretty feature free, and status quo was maintained.

After the switch to soft tyres on the last stint, Lewis tried to make up time on his team mate, but just could not manage it, with the car eventualy loosing grip at Pouhon corner and the young Brit loosing 3 seconds in the chase.

Nick Heidfeld drove another good race to get the fifth spot, keeping his head down, and out of trouble all race. Another good race from Rosberg in the Williams, coming home in sixth, with Webber keeping the Red Bull running to get seventh spot. Kovalainen only stopped once in the race, and because of this managed to get the last points spot.

A worthy mention must go out to the Spyker team, especially Adrian Sutil, who managed to run up in 12th spot for a good amount of time, on race pace in the much improved B Spec car.

Results

1.  RAIKKONEN    Ferrari       1h20m39.066s
2.  MASSA        Ferrari +4.7s
3.  ALONSO       McLaren +14.3s
4.  HAMILTON     McLaren +23.6s
5.  HEIDFELD BMW +51.9s
6. ROSBERG  Williams +1m16.9s
7.  WEBBER Red Bull +1m20.6s
8.  KOVALAINEN   Renault +1m25.1s
9.  KUBICA       BMW +1m25.7s
10. SCHUMACHER   Toyota +1m28.6s
11. TRULLI Toyota +1m43.7s
12. LIUZZI       Toro Rosso +1 lap
13. BARRICHELLO  Honda +1 lap
14. SUTIL Spyker +1 lap
15. SATO         Super Aguri +1 lap
16. DAVIDSON     Super Aguri   +1 lap
17. YAMAMOTO     Spyker +1 lap
R.  BUTTON       Honda +8 laps
R.  WURZ         Williams +10 laps
R.  COULTHARD    Red Bull +15 laps
R.  VETTEL       Toro Rosso +36 laps
R.  FISICHELLA   Renault +43 laps

Fastest lap: MASSA  1m48.036s (lap 34)

Michael Schumacher struggled on the Bridgestone tyres in qualifying in a rain soaked session.

The Michelin tyres again proved that they are the better option for when it's even damp, let alone wet.

Fernando Alonso showed again that the differing conditions do not throw him, and perhaps more importantly, Renault showed that they where back on the pace, Dominating all of the sessions so far in China.

The front of the grid has the two Renault's followed by the two Honda's of Barichello and Button who are running different liveries for the Chinese event.

The other supprise was Kimi being outdone by his team mate Pedro de la Rossa, who was  definetly the quicker of the McLaren cars in the session.

The outcome of the GP will, I believe be down to the weather in the race tomorow. If it is dry then the Michelin teams may not have the advantage they did today, but if it is wet or damp, then Michael will struggle to keep up with the Renault's.

Michael Schumacher's 90th race victory came on the same day as he announced his retirement from the sport.

The race started in controversy, when it was announced that Fernando Alonso was to take a 5 place demotion (to 10th) for holding up Filipe Massa during qualifying. However it seems Renault, and most of the paddock believe this to be rubbish. Renault may appeal the decision at a later date.

The start happened under clear skies, with no sign of the rain predicted at the beginning of the week.

 Kimi got a good start from Pole position, and managed to hold off all attacks into and through the first chicane. Heidfeld actually managed to get ahead of Michael into the first corner, however Michael braved the outside and clawed the place back, this allowed Heidfeld's BMW-Sauber team mate Robert Kubica to overtake him, to take third position.

After lap one the order was Raikkonen from Schumacher, Kubica, Massa, Button, Alonso, Heidfeld, De la Rosa, Fisichella and Barrichelo in tenth.

Lap 9 saw Nico Rosberg in the Williams retire. This was not however due to the engine failing as expected (as the engine this weekend was experimental), it was the transmission, and Nico could not engage any gears. This was probably due to damage caused by the forces applied to it when cutting the kerbs at the Monza track, as they can be very hard.

Kimi and Michael had managed to pull away from the chasing pack, and where 7 seconds ahead of Kubica in third, when the first of the pit stops happened. Lap 14 saw the McLaren of Pedro de la Rossa pit for fuel and tyres.

Kimi followed his team mate on the very next lap, allowing Michael to use the lighter Ferrari to put in a fast lap. Michael did this and pitted on lap 17, and came out ahead of the McLaren car of Kimi.

This allowed the F1 new boy to take the lead of the race. Robert Kubica has only driven in three F1 races so far. However the BMW-Sauber has been fast all weekend at Monza, and Kubica lead the grand prix for 6 laps before pitting.

Lap 19 saw Filipe Massa and Fernando Alonso both pit for fuel and tyres.

Button pitted the very next lap as did Heidfeld a lap later. Heidfeld miraculously cam out ahead of Alonso who had just passed Button in the pits.

This was however a misnomer, as the very next lap he was penalised for speeding in the pits, and ordered to do a drive through penalty. This relegated him to 11th.

Kubica pitted on lap 22 from the lead of the grand prix. This gave the lead to Michael, with Kimi in second and for the time being Fisichella in third.

Fisichella pitted on lap 26, for his one and only stop. This allowed Kubica to take up the third position spot behind Kimi.

Heidfeld decided it was time to recover some of the points lost during his drive through, and cam on strong. On lap 34, he passed Fisichella for seventh position.

Michael was in the race lead, with Kimi still back in second place, Kubica was still holding third with Massa and Alonso behind him.

Raikkonen was again the first of the front runners to dive in for his second stop. Kimi pitted on lap 38, with Michael pitting one lap later on lap 39, Heidfeld then followed the next lap, with Kubica, Alonso and button all coming in together on lap 41.

When the pit stop flurry had ended, Alonso was the winner, coming out in third place. Kubica and Massa where following close behind.

Lap 44 finished the weekend for Alonso, when his engine gave up spectacularly, spilling smoke and oil all over the entry to the first chicane. This caused Massa to lock up his brakes into the corner forcing him to pit for tyres the next lap and letting Kubica off.

Kimi is loosing sight of Michael, obviously giving up any chance of catching and passing the German.

At the checkered flag, Michael finished 7.5 seconds ahead of Kimi, with Kubica, Fisichella, Button, Barrichelo, Trulli, Heidfeld, Massa and Webber finishing the top 10.

The race will be remembered for Michaels announcement, however the real news at this race is not Michael retireing, it is Kubica's sterling effort. At the age of 21 and in only his third race he has become the first Polish driver to score F1 points.

This bodes well for many of the other young drivers coming up through the ranks, BMW-Sauber have shown that taking a risk on a young up and coming driver can work in your favour.

The other thing this race may be remembered for, is the controversy over the Alonso/Renault demotion. A lot of people are raising Ferrari conspiracy theories.

Results

1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:14:51.975
2 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes +8.0 secs
3 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW +26.4 secs
4 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault +32.0 secs
5 Jenson Button Honda +32.6 secs
6 Rubens Barrichello Honda +42.4 secs
7 Jarno Trulli Toyota +44.6 secs
8 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW +45.3 secs
9 Felipe Massa Ferrari +45.9 secs
10 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth +72.6 secs
11 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari +1 Lap
12 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari +1 Lap
13 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth +1 Lap
14 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth +1 Lap
15 Ralf Schumacher Toyota +1 Lap
16 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda +2 Laps
17 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota +2 Laps
Ret Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota Brakes
Ret Fernando Alonso Renault Engine
Ret Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes Engine
Ret Sakon Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda Hydraulics
Ret Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth Driveshaft

Fastest Lap: Kimi Räikkönen 1:22.559

Massa is still hopeful of a drive in the race seat of Scuddera Ferrari. This however looks like it will hinge on the decision of Michael Schumacher, as it's almost set that Kimi will join the team.

If Michael decides to stay in his current seat alongside Kimi, then it seems that Massa's only chance of a seat in the Scarlet car is if he reprises his role as tester.

That may actually turn out to be a good decision, as he will almost certainly get upgraded to the driver role when Michael decides to call it a day.

Massa's contract is due for renewal at the end of the year, and there seems to be very little options available to him if he want's a competitive race seat.

However do the team internally think that Michael will make way for the new boys? Kimi and Massa racing at Ferrari would make a good combination, and the fact that Massa has certainly got better over the season would show it to be a good decision at the Italian team.

Ferrari is due to unveil it's 2007 driver lineup at it's home Grand Prix at Monza next month, so we will know for sure then.