Christmas Greetings from the Blog

Greetings Internet,

I has been almost a year since this corner of the internet was brought into being - a couple of weeks before the season kicked off back in March and now as the year draws to a close I can say that it has been a fairly successful opening year. The blog has received viewers from all across the world with readers in the U.S. across Europe and with a nicely surprising following in Singapore.I has been an honour to have all of you here on this journey throughout the season across the 19 races covered in 2011 and looking forward to the same again in 2012 and hopefully the audience will grow even more over the coming year.

Ideally I would liked to sent off the pre-Christmas season with a final competitive trip out in an alternative blogmobile - something specially painted up for the event. The plan was to run in the final round of the online Megane Eurocup season in this new special blogmobile to finish off the year. Alas this was not to be - technical difficulties prevented the simulator from contacting the server and thus kept the blogmobile off the grid. But looking at the timesheets for the race I would have finished 7th barring contact and ending up in the barrier - which considering the track ( a mountainous street track in Argentina used for the FIA GT1 series) was a distinct possibility.

The proposed Megane Blogmobile

Consequently this post is going to be a little truncated as the online competition element of the blog has been put on hold for now until the simulator can pick up the server list, and the grid that did make the event only half of the entry list were online, so perhaps it was a more generic problem. 

But now there is no race report or highlights video - although those were just ideas at the time - so all that's left to is to extend plentiful Christmas wishes from me here - a little south of the normal Blog HQ not that it's any warmer. There is of course the matter of this being an internationally viewed series of contributions to the world so I do hope you enjoy the winter season and whatever holiday you subscribe to. This isn't the end of the blog for the year oh no - I shall be here with this computer hoping to get some online competition sorted in the meantime. So until then farewell for now and a Merry Christmas to you all.

Winter Updates 2

Greetings Internet,

Well here I am again for another update from the blog HQ - although it should be pointed out that the actual HQ has been displaced, cast aside from its original place. It seems that some strange roughly conical artificial plant has sprouted where blog HQ used to be positioned - so in essence I have been replaced by a Christmas tree. So now from a metre or so further south - even further away from that rather fat bloke who is supposed to be the provider of objects in mythical boxes coated in an impenetrable force field, bound with enough sellotape to take down a cruise ship. Not that the blog will really be doing Christmas there really isn't the budget to do so really, I may manage a mince pie but that might be pushing it.

But that isn't the reason why I sit here in the darkness - blog budget doesn't really stretch to lighting either, nor heating but I have enough fat to negate that problem - I am here to present the second in the series of off-season updates. While the rest of the country goes out partying (the blog doesn't really have too many friends either, but there are many reasons for that) I shall remain on vigilant duty here with this computer and press buttons in my world of solitary confinement. Isn't this end of the year supposed to be all joyous and all, well that is all rather a myth and all but on with the show.

Bad News First

Jason Richards (FVR2010) at Sandown in rFactor

It has been a year for dark events in the world of motor racing in the second half of the season, with the loss of Moto GP rider Marco Simoncelli and Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon in accidents within a week of each other. That list was sadly added to today when it was confirmed that Jason Richards - a predominant name within the Australian V8 Supercar series which was featured in a post leading up to the Bathurst 1000. Jason had to pull out of the end of the 2010 season when diagnosed with cancer of the adrenal gland - during his battle with the illness still continued testing for the Brad Jones Racing team pictured above. Just over one year on from the initial hospitalisation last year Richards passed away on the 15th of December 2011.

Also the report looking into the accident at the Las Vegas motor speedway has been completed - I don't have the report but the findings have been released and are displayed on the BBC F1 site. The invesitigation has ruled that the incident was a combination of events that formed the 'perfect storm' at the finale of the Indycar series. The development of the accident occurred as the cars were bunched close early in the race, and contact between two cars ahead initiated a chain reaction - Wheldon had no space to avoid the crash as the event had the encompassed more cars. The nature of open wheel racing and the design of the cars meant that subsequent cars were  thrown into the air, in total four cars got airborne in the accident and three of them rolled over. The report showed that Dan managed to shave 60mph off the car speed before impacting the cars in front and gaining lift. The inquest also determined that it was one of the fence poles that support the catch fencing that was ultimately responsible, a freak accident event akin to an access hatch in Melbourne that allowed a wheel from Villeneuve's crash to strike a marshal. It is from these reports that we can understand how these events occur and what can be done to prevent them in the future.

Only two seats remain

The drivers market looking into the 2012 season is rapidly running out of space as two more teams have confirmed their line-ups for the incoming season on the other side of this christmas event thing leaving only two more open now. A situation made all the worse by an increased amount of refugees, drivers finding that their contracts are no longer going to be carried forward now looking for somewhere to do some racing in the coming year. One of these remaining places lies at HRT, in the machine alongside the returning Pedro De La Rosa who probably can't be entitled One Stop-Perez 2.0 this year as both of them will be on the grid at the same time. The second seat remains under dispute at Williams as no-one has been announced to partner Maldonado in 2012, this is the highest profile opening on the grid and it will likely be attracting a large amount of attention. Also there are a fair amount of drivers out of a drive at the moment including both the competitors from the team formerly known as Renault Squadron who were booted out in the last update.

Following recent announcements the list of drivers on the waiting list gained three new additions as both Force India and Torro Rosso confirm who will be sitting in their cars next year, which will see some new names to compete for bonus points. First up Torro Rosso as their drivers were announced first earlier on in the week and it turns out the team have gone for a complete re-shuffle getting rid of the current drivers and then bringing in some fresh faces. It seems like an interesting decision considering how well the drivers were performing towards the end of the season when the developments actually took effect on the team's performance. There could be a case for Sebastien Buemi who has been a little mediocre over his three years with the team, but Alguersuari had some very strong performances this year taking bonus points wins after scoring points from a Q1 relegation start. So who have been in to replace the outgoing squad - well Torro Rosso have plucked them out from the top of the development program, harvesting both Jean Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo. Daniel was put on placement at HRT for some of 2011 and STR have decided to take him back this year hence the opening at the Spanish outfit. Vernge on the other hand has been taken straight from World Series By Renault skipping the stage of GP2 after doing a couple of practice sessions with the team and the young driver session in Abu Dhabi.

Then there was the decision the world has been waiting for - or at least this small corner of the world anyway and that was the one surrounding the driver situation at Force India which has now been cleared up. Three drivers were playing for the two seats which were held by Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil in the season past - both of which did a strong job racking up the bonus points. The situation was made more complex by the presence of the strong reserve driver Nico Hulkenburg who was sent packing from Williams after scoring pole in Brazil for the team. So in the latest team to confirm who is going to end up out on the waiting list alongside both Renault and Torro Rosso employees from 2011, and the loser turned out to be Adrian Sutil. Meaning that Hulkenburg and Di Resta will be piloting the presumably green and orange machines in 2012, and Sutil will be ending in the queue for that spot at Williams.

So with regards to the last two places who is likely to gain the remaining places, well the space at Williams will be the most contested place on the grid, a seat which Rubens Barrichello will be clinging on to for all he is worth in an effort to start his 20th season. But with the likes of Bruno Senna, Adrian Sutil and Alguersuari and many others looking to get a drive, considering their original seats seem to have been all taken up. Then back in HRT there lies effectively the bogey seat of 2012, at the bottom of the grid but racing at the back is better then not racing at all. Given that it is a Spanish team there may be a chance for Jaime to secure a position alongside fellow countryman De La Rosa. But that's just from the list of drivers who have recently been deposed not taking into account any drivers that may be upgraded from GP2. So who truly knows who will end up in those two remaining seats considering there are so many available pilots - but when more information does surface the blog shall return to present it you all. Until then this is farewell for now.

Winter Updates 1

Greetings Internet,

Well the season has been wrapped up for a considerable amount of time - and now that I've seen the final two races from Australia's V8 Supercar series I am now officially out of motor-racing which is rather sad, but for the first time I am running three simultaneous sets of rehearsals which is a nice distraction. A little note on the V8 Supercars finale - that is how you bring a season to a conclusion a million miles more entertaining then that race we had in Brazil. It was two hours of brilliance - thoroughly looking forward to their new season as well as the obvious wait for F1 to set up once more in Australia (supported by the V8s which is a fantastic combination). But you may be asking, why am I here, after all the cars are all tucked away in their top secret research labs, unfortunately none of them will be controlled by Aperture Science - but that would make the sport very different indeed. The FIA might have something against cars controlled by a malevolent AI program obsessed with deadly neurotoxins and falsified promises about cake.

Well I digress a little, but the purpose of this post is to pretty much sum up of the updates and developments that have fallen into place since that black and white chequered flag fell all those weeks ago now - I say realising that it is now December. As the blog HQ doesn't contain a chocolate advent calender all the days tend to blend into each other with the lack of sugar and all, however there is a picture of the internet friendly lolcats informing me of the month. Ah sidetracked once again but here is the round up of the developments starting with the driver line up down and the team formerly known as Renault Squadron

F1 Total 2011, in rFactor at Homebush the V8 supercar finale circuit

Three into two won't go

Renault Squadron were in the difficult position of having Petrov, Senna and Grosjean in contention for the two seats available at the team - theories of how this would play out were bandied across the internet weighing up the merits of each. Petrov with his proven experience with the team and the car, Senna with his impressive stand-in job after the Squadron disposed of their Squadron Leader mid season. Then there is Grosjean looking for a second go in the car after his 2009 debut replacing sacked Piquet Jr. moved back into the picture with a strong championship win in the GP2 series. Initially there was a fourth element in the form of Robert Kubica who would have been an obvious selection given his speed and skill, but alas he hasn't healed from the injuries sustained in a rally crash pre-season

Well the decision became very complex as one of the available seats filled up, and who have Renault Squadron pulled from the ether, a reserved seat for Kubica perhaps with a planned late comeback in mind. That theory was then disbanded when Robert was dropped from Renault Squadron's services, opening the door for a mystery guest. It turned out that the mystery guest was former finish F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen - which is a spectacular announcement. Bringing the monosyllabic racer back is brilliant, just so he can spend rain delays eating ice cream and preferring toilet breaks over Schumacher's first retirement ceremony.

So one seat to go in the Renault Squadron, and the original three drivers were now only in contention for a single racing position. A couple of weeks after the Raikkonen decision the final seat has now been assigned so did they go with the experience of Wing-commander Petrov or the turn of speed offered in the prospect of Bruno Senna. As it turns out the answer is none of these options and it fell to the final option in the original line-up, matching Raikkonen with Frenchman Romain Grosjean. There is a possibility that financial incentives were involved with the French company Total. Where does this leave Petrov and Senna, well out of a job really but time will tell if they end up someplace else.

Still undecided

There are still some places on the grid next year that have yet to be decided, Force India for example are in a very similar problem with their driver line-up. With three drivers of fairly equal talent in contention for the two spaces, at least in this case there is - at the moment - no sense of an outside guest star swooping in to claim one of the spaces. Unless someone would like to give Montoya a call, that would make things very interesting indeed. Alas it does look like to be left to three current drivers on staff to decide who gets the race seats. Hulkenberg, Sutil and Di Resta all have very valid claims on a drive next year, each with proven ability and skill - Nico even managed to claim pole for Williams in Brazil 2010 before being dumped on a financial basis for Pastor Maldonado.

So where else are there openings on the grid - well one place is left open at Williams alongside Maldonado who is booked for another year of erratic performances, it's amazing what government backed funding can do for you. Rubens would like to retain his place in the team ready for a 20th season, but no contract has been signed, now with more unsigned drivers from the exodus from Renault Squadron now.

One of the bigger problems lie with the seats at Torro Rosso, where the entire output from the Red Bull driver development program are going to want to end up currently adding Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne to the list. Add that to Buemi and Alguersuari who drove the car in the past season, and the decision on who makes the final cut becomes very difficult. Weighing up the idea of throwing in some people into the cars against keeping the experience of the current drivers who have been performing well in the second half of the season.

Elsewhere there is a final space at HRT to run alongside One-Stop Perez 2.0 also known as Pedro De La Rosa possibly the team were looking for someone to help develop their car off the final row of the grid. Apart from this final spot everything else seems locked out, with the division one teams holding station, despite rumours that Massa's position could be under threat if Kubica becomes fit later on in the year. Further back Sauber and the team formerly known as Lotus will be retaining their line-ups for another season which is probably a good move for both of them. A little further back the team formerly known as Virgin have continued their pattern of giving Timo Glock a new friend at the start of each year and this time the German is to be partnered with Charles Pic, a Frenchman and graduate of the World Series By Renault.

Change Afoot


In addition to the reshuffling of drivers and FOTA slowly becoming a ghost town there have been some alterations to the regulations for the 2012 season, many things have been updated such as testing allocations and the way in which tyres are to be used across the weekend but here are few key developments.

• Maximum 4hr cap on races: The likes of this seasons Canadian GP are now to be regulated to a maximum of 4 hrs, the amount of racing is already capped at two hours which we always come very close to in Singapore. Now the introduction of red flag stoppages for mayhem or water whichever happens first. 
• Stricter controls in overtaking: So what does this mean then, well previously drivers were allowed to make one move to defend their position, restricted to avoid cars being thrown into the air and having massive accidents. Which is always a problem when open wheeled cars are involved. Drivers were then allowed to retake the racing line on the entrance to a corner, well this element has now been removed. Making passing even more of a form of over-choreographed dance then actual racing,  effectively neutering the racing even more. Taking away the element of innovation and inventiveness if drivers are being forced to drive in certain specific ways with each other. Health and safety is probably involved in this process and a major thumbs down on this count.
• Moving Lapped cars under the safety car: It is about time this regulation was brought in, all too often restarts have been compromised by having slower cars stuck in amongst the leading cars as the SLS pulls into the lane. It breaks up any interesting battles and can compromise the outcome of a race. Well finally this will actually be sorted out, any cars trapped off the lead lap in the middle of the pack will be allowed to unlap themselves and join the back of the queue. Yes this will make the safety car periods longer to sort the order out but the benefits should win through

So there you have it a partial round up of how things are progressing as we descend further into the winter with. Should more things develop in the mad world of F1 motor-racing there will be further updates, until then farewell for now.

Championship Winner Unveiling Ceremony

Greetings Internet,

Hello there again, the season may be over but this little corner of the internet hasn't gone into shut-down mode. Especially considering there is a small matter of the championship winners to be officially announced - out there in the real world there would also be a trophy presentation and a rather large party, frequented by all sorts of posh famous folk. In this little corner of the internet things do work a little differently, there will be no party, sadly, and a rather disappointing shortage of glamorous women - the world of amateur internet reporting clearly isn't that alluring. Although I am assured there are more reasons for the situation in that element of life, this probably is one of them. Anyway in lieu of any trophies or parties or posh nibbles (I've even ran out of prawn crackers) it is time to unveil the winners from the first ever bonus points championship and the other titles on offer.

So the unveiling ceremony doesn't have the same effect in written format without an sparkly attired assistant and  all sorts of special effects, but I'd decided to try and unleash some suspense into the mix - although the final standings have been published. Also the winners have been tweeted via the blog's twitter account, they haven't acknowledged their awards or stated how pleased they are about it either, so the element of surprise is a little compromised really.

Using F1Total2011 in rFactor at Montreal

On with the show then and we'll do things in reverse order as to save the main event to last, and things will kick off with the penalties championship because that series it just based on season data rather then any points allocations...

The 2011 Official Blog Penalties championship

And the winner is: Lewis Hamilton


Taking the penalties championship with a grand total of 6 penalties including three drive through penalties (two of which were for hitting Massa), two post race time penalties and one 3 place grid drop from India. Hamilton fought off a late championship charge from Pastor Maldonado who violated all sorts of blue flag rules in Abu Dhabi to finish the season on 5 penalties. The championship highlighted the impact of lack of experience in F1, with 4 of the top 5 finishers being 2011 rookies, including an impressive effort for a late entry from Bruno Senna.

So Hamilton's grumpiest season may not have worked out in terms of real points or championship positions, and it did result in a lot of contact mainly with a Red car driven by a Brazilian. There was a hint of positivity to a year of anger, damage and a rather interesting speech in Monaco, in the end that tirade has resulted in a veritable bounty of penalties. All of which have earned Lewis the 2011 penalties championship award, I would send him a trophy but I can't afford one and he might get a little mad if I sent out to him anyway.


The 2011 Official Dubious Dealings Championship 


Moving swiftly on now, well I wouldn't say swiftly as I did need to break for some tea, taking care of priorities and all, but nevertheless time to progress onto the next item of business. This award is effectively the second booby prize of the season - which is devoid of any actual boobies, I already mentioned there was no glamorous assistant and there not surprisingly not applicants for the position. Even if such things were present at this not so fancy ceremony I wouldn't be sending them out as prizes. But I digress once more which is a sort of a pattern for the the blog over the year, this championship is designed to recognise the things that have annoyed the blog over the season and turned into a table of digression. Covering the moments and actions that the FIA decided not to penalise, simply because of the excuse it isn't within their power or something, but this championship was declared a draw after qualifying in Brazil.

And the winners are: Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher 


Hamilton was in charge of this championship, mostly for ranting about things in the early stage of the season, and the rather constant affliction of blaming everyone else for his errors, which spread to the team earning Whitmarsh a penalty point after the crash in Spa. His advantage started to get eroded by Schumacher when he started to stop playing in the final part of qualifying which earns an automatic penalty point, and then the two ended up tying at the end of Brazil. So a second title for Hamilton both of them in the booby prize category and the first time Schumacher has won anything for quite a while, shame it's for being the joint biggest prat of the season. Both sneaking one point ahead of Eurosport and their massacred attempt at GP2 coverage.

This would be the point where I would ask the sound tech at the back of the auditorium for a grand and spectacular drum roll, but I don't have either a tech or a drum roll... or even any fancy text. However that rather underwhelming introduction does mean the main event is upon us - I know there is a shortage of titles to hand out.

The Official Overall Blog Bonus Points Championship 

Ah here it is the ultimate championship of the year, the alternative to that thing the FIA run every season, which Vettel made a mockery off by completely dominating. That sort of thing doesn't happen here, things are very different indeed. In a season of 19 races a total of 62 competitors scored points in 2011, far more then the little championship that the drivers seem to care so much about, and we entered the finale with a five way battle for the lead. But there can only be one winner of the 2011 bonus points championship, well actually there can be several, but one overall winner...

The overall championship winner is: Jenson Button


Claimed for some truly brilliant performances, Canada was a perfect example of why Jenson has claimed the title this season, demonstrating a true speciality for coping with changeable weather conditions and giving his supposedly faster team-mate a good kicking. Button sneaked the championship by one point from the ruler of the questionable overtaking zones - Mark Webber, famed for moves in Eau Rouge and that waste of tarmac that is Singapore's turn ten.

But things are not over, there are many other sub-categories of the season that can be awarded after all with 62 competitors I may as well dish out some more awards to pad this little text based ceremony out. The first of these is the constructors bonus point champion...

Constructors Sub-championship winner is: McLaren and Red Bull Racing


Tied in 16th place overall with 16 points each the top two teams in that other championship thing are co-champions in the more important bonus points championship. McLaren gained points across their season for their rate of improvement starting with a relatively poor car in the opening races of the season to end with a car that could challenge the pace of their co-champions. The Red Bull team, well their points are self explanatory really, they have been utterly dominant with the fastest car all year.

Next up is something to recognise the non-sporting related entities, the objects, people and pets that the FIA don't want to give points to for some reason

Non-racing entities sub-championship winner is: Rain


Ah yes a victory for the weather that brought so much intrigue to the races it intervened on - although it did get one penalty point for going a little too far in Canada. It was the rain that converted Silverstone into a track of two halves and turned the Hungarian GP into something well worth watching (helping Hamilton to his penalties title in the process of that one). The rain could have managed to climb higher in the table than joint 20th with Maldonado and HRT if it decided to show up in Brazil and not confuse the radar system.

And finally the last award on today's schedule is the nations cup award for the highest placed country in the table, and this award is a fairly obvious victory considering most of the nations only scored one point and only two were able to break free from the bottom joint 48th place. With a margin of two points over second place Hungary...

The Nations Cup Sub-Championship winner is: Canada


Well there you go, a complete round up of the points championships for 2011, as for next year the tables are wiped clean for a fresh start, and there may be some modifications to the scoring system to incorporate 'feats' for a special bonus points score. But that all needs ironing out before anything gets put into practice. This also isn't the end of the blog activity for the year I have some more posts planned soon so until then farewell for now...

The Grand Finale review

Greetings Internet,

Well here we are, the chequered flag has fallen on the Brazilian GP and bringing to a close the mammoth adventure that has been formula one 2011, all the laps have been run and all the races decided. Championship positions finally settled as the last set of points were handed out this evening, so all that lies in front of us is the dark sprawling abyss of winter and even then at the other end lies the even darker prospect of 2012 on sky television. Where only a gloomy future lies in that prospect future this little corner of the internet is going to have difficulty dealing with next year, lets just hope that the BBC highlights package is going to be any good because that's all I'll have for 50% of the season.

But time to push that all aside it's better to focus on the the event that just took place, where once again the weather folk have become rather obsessed with the idea of rain, even the BBC were forecasting the conditions to be wet. Even drawing pictures of thunderstorms on the website, and things couldn't have been further from the truth, as the temperatures and the blue skies reigned... not rained. Once again proving that the high-tech weather radar system was indeed a lie, just as it was proven in Germany and again this weekend in qualifying. So a race was conducted in completely dry conditions and for a season finale it was a little underwhelming there were a couple of redeeming moments but overall not ideally how 2011 should have been brought to the conclusion.

Before we bid a final farewell to the season, lets take took a look back at the final 71 laps of what has been a revolutionary season with the new technologies, if not a little one sided on behalf of that German Bloke who keeps winning most of the time. Here is the review of the grand finale.

The Race

Webber vs Gravity - credit to F1 Fanatic.co.uk for the image

Well once more the VCR was called into action, and this time I'd finally got round to finally installing the new shiny donated VCR into the upper variation of the blog HQ normally where free practice sessions and additional series are viewed. The tape was played and the screen was illuminated with the bone dry Sao Paulo in complete contradiction to what the reports predicted, what the teams expected and every other person on the planet was expecting. Yes despite the blue skies and significance absence of any significant cloud cover concerns of rain were rife up and down the pit-lane, and sideways too but there was no-one in that direction who cared.

Then the time for the formation lap rolled round and the skies got even clearer, rain became more of a myth, as the cars lined up on the final grid under the baking very rain free Brazilian sunshine, ready for the final time of the season. What would the final start have to offer, some mayhem perhaps, wings sailing through the air, someone ending up upside down maybe.. Well no, it was perhaps one of the most orderly starts of the season everyone got away cleanly (except Rubens who lost position to most of the cars behind him) Alonso managed to pass Hamilton but apart from that nothing happened. I'm all for equality and fairness but sometimes it makes things a little dull, the cars ran two wide for a while but it was all very civilised and sensible. No wheel banging or pushing each other into the wall, and a significant amount respect being shown - now hang one, niceties and cooperation between drivers... what has happened to the field. Even Massa and Hamilton were being well behaved.

For the opening 10 laps even more of this unusual civility took place, and a lack of anything going on clearly didn't sit too well with Michael Schumacher who decided it was time for action and first on the list for the German's attack plan was Force India's Paul Di Resta. Now that's not too bad because Michael hasn't had a record of hitting Force India cars this year preferring Saubers and Wing Commander Petrov as things to make contact with. However after dealing with the Scot the next car in line was Bruno Senna, normally nothing Bruno had to be worried about - just a normal challenge for position. But of course he happened to be driving a Renault Squadron car, and there is history of Schumacher hitting those usually in the hands of Petrov. Yes you can see where this is going, Schumacher went down the outside of turn one, both cars managed to drift into each other banging wheels before turn in. But things didn't end there - both cars then proceeded to enter the corner in the same place so more contact was made and Michael ended up with a puncture, Senna only had a chipped front wing.

Now for such an innocuous incident that just happened to result in a puncture for a certain accident prone former world champion - was sent to the stewards office for an investigation - and a penalty was given to Bruno Senna. I looked at the screen for a moment considering why... and came to the conclusion it was the most literal translation of the regulations imaginable, where one car made contact with another one and hampered their race through damage. Rather overlooking the context of the event, I'm guessing the stewards were looking for penalty points to make a charge at the title in that division, well they've earned one more with that effort I must say.

A little further up the grid, Alonso was also on the move in a bonus points battle with leader Jenson Button, as the McLaren was losing time on the softer tyres which didn't suit the balance of the car. Fernando used the DRS to catch right up to the back of the target vehicle, Button was slow on the exit of turn five allowing the Ferrari to get a run on the McLaren. Alonso was forced to look to the outside of turn 6, not a corner you should be able to pass on the outside of, not even a corner you'd think of even considering making a pass to the outside of. Yet the man in the red car did think it could be done, deciding he no longer gave up and went for the pass. Through some magical power pulled it off in one of the stronger moves of the entire session, something Alonso needed after being on the receiving end of the other great passes of the season.

Proceedings were then struck not by rain as everyone had betted their life savings, and their pet hamsters on, but by some more bright sunshine and some of that emptiness where nothing happened, and who would be the one to break the silence. This time that responsibility was taken in by the Virgin pit crew, in a sort of final race prank, a bit of a laugh - 'hey Timo you thought we put the rear wheel on... but guess what... we haven't'  while Glock exited the pit-lane only to be overtaken by his own rear wheel which fortunately didn't clear the pit wall and enter the track. Elsewhere, Vettel - the bloke who happened to be in the lead, as normal - had gearbox issues, and Pastor Maldonado somehow managed to insert his Williams into the barrier on the exit of turn 6.

Those little gearbox gremlins seemed to be spreading like bacteria through a primary school, starting with Vettel, but then the infection spread to Bruno Senna's Renault Squadron machine, but did it stop there - oh no the bacteria were not done yet meandering into Lewis Hamilton's gearbox. Back in the Red Bull, the messages from the gearbox doctors back on the pit-wall confirmed that the condition was declining and he had to concede the lead to Mark Webber in the sister car built with immunity to the infection. At this point in the race the infection of gearboxes was the only thing going on, and by lap 47, it claimed it's first victim striking down Hamilton's transmission in it's prime and culling the McLaren from the field. Oddly enough all the other gearbox issues stabilised and the infection was then contained.

With the little transmission virus taken care it was time to get back to some motor-racing, and this this was handled by points leader Jenson Button, deciding it was time for some payback on that Spaniard who passed him round the outside of turn six several laps ago. This particular manoeuvre was a little more straight forward , Alonso defended into turn one but that compromised his exit into the DRS zone and duly Jenson opened the wing and drove straight past the Ferrari and up onto the podium next up was the highly contagious Sebastien Vettel and his infected gearbox.

As the front of the field was all sorted out now it was time to take a look at the other people who were taking part today in the grand finale - and racing a little under the radar was Adrian Sutil doing a rather impressive job. Taking on the factory Mercedes car of Nico Rosberg and winning - but it wasn't the easiest of passes and did take a couple of efforts: Round one - Sutil was able to get round the outside of Nico on the front straight but Rosberg wasn't having any of that and surprised Adrian a little by diving to the apex and demanding the place right back. Now onto Round two - and the the procedure started off in the same way with the Force India on the outside of the front straight, this time Adrian made a rather aggressive little swerve at Nico as to say 'this time I'm 'aving you', well he might have done if he was from Southern England. Odd imagined accents aside Nico couldn't stop the suddenly cockney Sutil from claiming the sixth position.

With the laps running down HRT's Liuzzi pulled the car off the road at turn one - vanishing down the escape road where the former oval used to continue, no idea what killed the car, but I have a sneaky suspicion there was a gearbox eating bacteria involved. Speaking of gearbox troubles Jenson sensed a vulnerability in the limping Red Bull in front and set about closing the gap, shades of Canada were resonating yet the gap this time was too large and the track was not affected by rain, who would have predicted a dry race. If the weather forecasting people had then the race would have probably been held under enough water they would have to move the pit lane into the sunken city of Atlantis.

Out in the lead of the race Webber was left uncontested setting fastest laps to secure the victory as Vettel fell away from the lead, but that German Bloke was still able to finish a championship winning season on the podium. Rounding off that podium was the ever present Jenson Button seemingly with less of a moustache this weekend even when movember hadn't concluded, beating Fernando to the 3rd position. The second Ferrari of Felipe Massa rounded off division one in 5th, but scores bonus points for performing doughnuts on the cool-down lap, the FIA may frown on it but here it is encouraged. 6th place was forcefully claimed
by Adrian Sutil from Nico Rosberg earlier on and held it to the line, the second Force India concluded the season in 8th position and securing 6th place in the constructors for the team. Behind then finished Kamui Kobayashi, another strong result from the Sauber driver, and the points positions were rounded off by Wing Commander Petrov for Renault Squadron.

Then it was all over, the racing, the spectacle and the season - ready for the final deals to be struck to decide who will end up in which car next season - what little of it will be on the TV of course.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners


Well here at the final points allocation of the year, and here I am staring at the screen and thinking that was a rather mediocre race and it is in those races where finding enough people to give points to becomes so much harder, especially considering the ramifications than this list of points could have on who gets the title tomorrow evening. So despite those challenges here are the last points scorers of the day.

10pts - Adrian Sutil - takes the final win for a very strong performance, hunting down and taking the factory Mercedes with the determination of a driver fighting for a drive at the team next year.
8pts - Mark Webber - for the overall win, the guy needed one, but also for the height he managed on the podium jump
6pts - Fernando Alonso - for a brilliant pass on Button in the early stages, that shouldn't have been possible
5pts - Jenson Button - another strong race, catching and repaying the favour on Alonso (less spectacularly so less points) being the only driver to think about competing with Red Bull this weekend
4pts - Felipe Massa - for the doughnut - that's worth points in my book, albeit nearly introducing the Ferrari to the pit wall
3pts - Kamui Kobayashi - from a poor qualifying to score points and securing Sauber's position in the table
2pts - Wing Commander Petrov - after being on a drought of points recently for Renault Squadron
1pt - Ted Kravitz - for seeming to have acquiring some helium while mentioning the gearbox issues from the pit lane in the highest pitched voice of the season.

The Also Official Penalties Championship


There was one drive through penalty handed to Bruno Senna for being in proximity to Michael Schumacher and the resulting racing incident. But there was also in investigation into the lost wheel incident for Timo Glock, which made no sense here was a case where the driver was last and out of the race so a race penalty would be pointless, neither would a grid drop for the next race, on the basis that there is no next race this year. So what evil punishment does the FIA have in store for the German who knows...

The Still Official Dubious Dealings Championship


Well the an obvious penalty point will be handed to the stewards for their decision to penalise Bruno for the contact with Schumacher which was another racing incident where a penalty was thrown on account of a puncture. I reckon if that incident happened in the old spec cars with narrower front wings no puncture would have happened and hence no penalty. Another penalty point goes this time to the weather radar system for whining on about rain, there was no rain, not even the hint of rain - it was wetter in the Attacama desert than it was in Interlagos today

Looking to 2012


Normally at this point I'd look on to the next race of the season, but only the gloomy darkness of winter remains in front of us and it's all consuming silence - there is this thing called Christmas in the middle but the blog doesn't really have any friends - even the cat disrespects the sanctity that is blog HQ. It is impossible to tell precisely what will happen in Australia, I still find it surreal to think that this is the end of the inaugural blog season. That this little corner of the internet that started off as a thought mid last season transforming with an opening post in March and now a whole season under the belt.

Hopefully next year will see an improvement in the blog, maybe a new snazzier name, a few more pages added to the content and a new blogmobile - hoping for a 2012 Indycar chassis if any modding teams can produce one before march. Additionally some more publicity would be nice, the reception already in this opening season has been impressive with readers across the globe and strong reviews from the people I've spoken to. But the only way is up and onwards, and this is not farewell from the from the blog for the year, there will be more posts and contributions before the year runs out. Then attention will focus on the build up to the new season.

I bid you all a more of a temporary farewell for now, and hope you, the people of the internet have enjoyed my little contributions to the world of Formula One as much as I have enjoyed sitting on my sofa or the outside broadcast sofa watching the it.

Brazil, the Grand Finale - pre-race

Greetings Internet,

We are rapidly running out of sessions this year, only the ultimate grand finale remains, 71 laps around a possibly wet Sao Paulo race track with the grand dream of leaving Brazil in the possession of the Bonus Points Championship Title. There will be no trophy because I can't exactly afford one and then to post it out to the winning driver, maybe in years to come if this little corner of the internet gains more popularity it might extend to a physical prize for the champion. But for now there won't be, so lets refocus on the matter in hand and the final qualifying session of Formula One 2011.

Rain was threatened throughout the session but it turns out that it didn't happen it didn't even threaten, the weather machine lied, tricking more cars onto the circuit which is always a nice thing so lets threaten them with some more 'rain' again sometime. However tomorrow the threat is a little more likely, but rain or not the result of the session went the same way it has so many times this year, straight to the wiggling finger of that German Bloke in that blue car. A car that the German decided needed a stroke after the session... everything we know about the Germans is true one can assume.

So how did Mr Vettel end up on the top of the time sheets for the 15th time, and how did the rest of the competitors fair while the deceptive radar screens threatened to unleash the precipitation that never came.

Qualifying 

credit to F1 Fanatic.co.uk for the image

Returning to the blog HQ, well once more a little to the right as the cat once more had taken over blog HQ, after some interesting interpretations of the laws of perspective in my role as interim set design co-manager a little further up there hill. It was time to catch up on the qualifying session, this time not relying on the realm of the BBC iPlayer, which to it's credit did have the program uploaded by the time I returned 30 minutes after it had finished. As this was the final weekend of the season plenty of theories started flying around over who is going to end up where, when it all cycles round next year in Melbourne, with specific confusing around the situation regarding Force India and Renault Squadron who both have more drivers than available positions within the team.

All the rumours faded away when the, qualifying session was about to commence, and the cars scampered along to the bottom of the pit lane as the radar screens started flickering with the prospect of some rain which has affected the last two Brazilian GP qualifying sessions. Resulting in a Hulkenburg pole last time, only to be fired for not being rich enough for Williams, nice to see teams trying to have the best drivers in the cars these days...

It was Lotus who were the first to the bottom of the pit lane, probably the only thing they are going to win this year, and consequently went on to top the timing and scoring - but it was only a temporary position. Due to the threat of mythical rain, the division one cars were out on track early so the lead was soon taken by that German Bloke and the rest of the division. Things were much closer towards the relegation zone where Williams, Sauber and Torro Rosso were all wrestling each other to stay in contention. It was Maldonado who first held the relegation slot, he passed it to Buemi, and then he passed it to the local hero Rubens Barrichello. Rubens then passed the relegation baton back to Buemi, the passing the parcel continued right up until the chequered flag. When the music stopped relegation fell back into the lap of the driver which it all started - Pastor Maldonado, who joined the new teams in sitting out the rest of the session.

Moving onto Q2, and once more there was a surge of drivers moving to the end of the pit-lane as the rain once more threatened to make things a little more interesting. As Lotus had been ejected it was the turn of Force India to head the train out onto the circuit, where Sutil proved to the faster of the pair taking the early lead from Di Resta. Then just as the cars completed their first hasty laps the weather radar decided that there would be no water falling within the entire qualifying session - thus proving it had lied. 

The top of the time-sheets were soon taken over by the division one cars, Vettel claiming the top spot from Button and Webber. Yet the other end of the top ten was getting rather interesting, only two places in the final shootout remained as the top four teams locked out the rest, and it was the usual suspects challenging for them. Force India and Renault Squadron were the challengers, and Di Resta and Senna were the early holders of the remaining places, before Sutil displaced his team-mate from the qualification places. There was no more change on the names in the shootout but there were some interesting performance runs in the session Rosberg managed to pull the Mercedes into second and Rubens made the Williams find it's way up to 12th destroying the effort Maldonado managed. But the session saw Sauber, Torro Rosso, Rubens, Petrov and Di Resta.

So it came down to the final session of the final qualifying phase of the season - to decide the final pole position of 2011, and this time once the 'threat' of rain had been cleared up and resolved as lies and nothing more. As a result the queue at the bottom of the pit lane was much smaller only consisting of one car - that of Nico Rosberg, the star of Q2 in the Mercedes. Nico was followed shortly by the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton and both cars took an extra lap to build the temperatures in the brakes and tyres just to make sure everything was ready for turn one. Out of the two Lewis was the fastest, by 0.2s on a time that was virtually matched by Alonso and then beaten by Webber and Button. Then came Vettel who unleashed some domination on the field to find a 1:12.2!

Ready for the second runs and the initial runners were joined by Sutil, Massa and Senna who were aiming for a single effort, which Schumacher neglected to bother, so one penalty point for you Michael. It was Vettel who managed to find some more time and further extend the pole margin lapping in 1:11.9, a seemingly impossible benchmark. Next up, Alonso improved but only into third ahead of Button, it was Jenson's turn to retaliate and he did, matching Vettel's time... shame it was his first one however, but enough to move onto the front row. Webber didn't let that stand for much longer, crossing the line seconds after Button and knocking the moustache laden points leader off the front row, to create a Red Bull one two. 

Behind the blue cars, it was a McLaren lockout of the next row with Button heading this team-mate, Fernando had re-found his favourite position of the early season in 5th just ahead of an impressive showing for Rosberg. Row four is headed by the first of the local favourites in the form of Felipe Massa, this time enough places behind Hamilton to avoid more contact, and he shares the row with the Force India of Adrian Sutil fighting for one of the places in next years race team. Then then top ten is rounded off by lead Renault Squadron car of Bruno Senna comfortably beating Petrov this weekend while Schumacher ends up 10th by default as a result of not bothering to play in Q3.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners

In this final weekend with 8 points splitting the top 5, every point matters in deciding the outcome of the championship in this the final race of the season, and here are the penultimate points allocations of the year...

• Bruno Senna - for making the top ten and comfortably beating the more experienced Wing Commander Petrov by a significant margin
• Nico Rosberg - for out-performing the car and finding enough pace to go 2nd in Q2
• Adrian Sutil - for being the highest division 2 car, and being consistently within the top 10 all session
• Rubens Barrichello - for completely pushing the car faster than it should go, it's barely capable of leaving Q1 and Rubens nearly made Q3
• HRT - for showing massive improvement, from not even qualifying in Australia to beating Virgin by the end of the season.

The Still Official Dubious Dealings Championship

Only one penalty point is to be issued from the final qualifying session of the season, and that goes to the only driver that didn't bother taking part in Q3, and that point goes to Michael Schumacher - clearly making a charge towards Hamilton's lead in that championship. I could have issued a penalty point to the radar system for lying but, the threat kept the cars on the track and I'm all for that - in fact I'll add an extra bonus point to the radar for deceiving the teams.

Looking to Tomorrow 

One race remains between us and the bleak emptiness of winter, but before we step into the abyss 71 laps of the Interlagos circuit lie ahead. 71 laps to decided who is going to be the first ever official bonus points champion and of course the other two divisions are to be claimed as well, the competition is going to be fierce and exciting. We are expecting here at blog HQ now that the cat has moved a thrilling end to the season.

So how do we expect things to turn out, well there is a rather significant expectation of rain - though I hope no-one pays attention to the radar after what it showed today. But since the race was moved to this end of the season the recent years have had rain during the weekend at some stage, in 2008 it handed Hamilton the title, in 2009 it drowned qualifying and conditions in 2010 resulted in a pole position for Nico Hulkenburg. So it is due this time around and it would make the finale a lot more exciting. 

If the rain should fall Button is looking good for some bonus points based on his expertise in challenging conditions, also the potential for a crazy race opens the door for one of contenders further off the lead to be in with a stronger shot for the title. Potentially bringing in Alonso and Kobayashi back into the picture. With so much to play for and so many drivers fighting for the title, not that they really know it considering they are focussed on the FIA title that the German Bloke secured weeks ago. 

The prospect for the 2011 Brazilian GP is looking very promising, now the review will be delayed due to rehearsal and the fact that the race is a late start to begin with, so have patience and the grand finale update will be produced and the final points totalled up on Monday.

Round Nineteen - Brazil, the grand finale

Greetings Internet,

Ah well here we are, 18 races now completed spanning 17 countries because Spain got greedy and ended up with Valencia the not-so-street circuit. It all comes down to this, the Grand Finale of F1 2011, the culmination of months of racing from the park of Melbourne to the futuristic Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. I'd like to say it has been an extremely competitive season but we all know that German bloke had taken over the series winning pretty much everything several races ago now. Despite an amount of domination the season hasn't been a processional parade of tedium - as we were exposed to in the days of the other German bloke - small sense of deja vu going on here.

The final race of the year is always a sad occasion, the gateway into the darkened world of winter, when all the cars are hidden away in secretive development facilities while men in white sciencey type coats hover around computer terminals and wind tunnel traces. But now I've started this little corner of the internet it becomes that much more difficult to manage because it will leave a greater cavity in my schedule, stowing the blogmobile into retirement and rolling down the garage shutters. But as it is in theatrical world, the show must go on and here is the grand arena ready for the ultimate showdown, the regular championships may be over but the bonus points championship is wide open. The top five drivers are all in with a shout of winning the championship from Jenson and his moustache in the lead down to Kobayashi in 5th some 8pts behind.

The track

Credit to the FIA for the track diagram

To host our final event this year falls to the Interlagos in Brazil, one of the more 'interesting' venues on the calender with some 'interesting'  locals some of which decided to hold up Jenson at gun point. Had this blog been in operation then there would have been penalty points issued, for such an offence. Despite the often wild inhabitants it is nice to see a less sanitised event, the season is being flooded with overly pristine and scientific circuits where the world on the other side of the catch fencing is shielded away. Things are a little different here, it's raw and invigorating full of vibrancy and colour - nice to send off the season with a farewell party.

The layout, is one of the season's traditional circuits and exhibits a variety of corner styles and speeds, some are a little bit tedious and rather annoying, the 8,9 and 10 section is an example of that. But on the other hand there are some truly redeeming features of the track, and over the years it has rather grown on me, like an obscure mould. In the days of early F1 video games Sao Paulo was one of my least favourite layouts on the calendar, mainly for my penchant for messing up the middle sector. Since then I've grown more attached to it all, with a fantastic final sector climbing the hill up to the start line - fairly easy in the dry but throw in some rain and all hell breaks loose. The 2003 race demonstrated that with most of the field spinning off in turn 3, and the race was brought to a stop with a significant accident for Mark Webber, only to be surpassed by Alonso. Even in putting it in the fence there is competition in the field, and then the race was handed to Fisichella several days later in the Jordan. That sort of event would make for an epic season finale.

The compact nature of the lap often keeps the cars closer than some of the new elongated efforts like Abu Dhabi and Korea. Hopefully this will keep the race interesting we don't want the season to be sent into the winter on the back of a dull processional race, especially if the rain makes an appearance and it hasn't been ruled out. There are overtaking opportunies round the lap - as Jenson demonstrated in 2009 on his way to claiming the title in an era before bonus points, hard to imagine such a time ever existed. Turn one being the primary attack zone, the downhill breaking zone induces mistakes and mistakes lead to opportunity.

It's that time of the weekend again when I roll of the virtual dust sheets and roll out the blogmobile onto the next track in the season, and here in Brazil it was driven out with a hint of sadness as of course this is it's last escapade of the year. Although there may be some special outings later on in the off-season, but for next year I am hoping there will be a released version of the 2012 re-imagining of the Indycar because it looks, different and here at the blog HQ...Ok we are slightly to the right of the blog HQ because the cat has occupied the chair these things are normally written on, but that aside the blog likes to be different and embrace different formula. So without further ado, here is the finale video covering the race in Brazil all six minutes of it this time. Well I had to try for a little bit more effort.

Ah how far things have come since the first impromptu video in Malaysia, when syncing my MP3 player I came across the original sound file that was planned for a voice over for these things. Well consider yourselves fortunate that it didn't make the final cut and was replaced by text instead because it was awful, why do recording devices make me sound horrible camp... but it is nice to see that things have improved since Sepang.

KERs and DRS


After two races where the FIA have installed a double DRS system, things return to normal with a single zone, to be positioned on the back straight between turns three and four. A second zone was considered for the main straight leading into the Senna S, but it was determined that passing in this area didn't need any assistance and adding DRS would make it too easy and turn the final race into a series of almost choreographed overtaking.

What is going to be interesting however is in the sessions where DRS is completely unrestricted because the final climb up the hill is probably do-able with the wing open. We've seen corners like blanchimont and 130R completed with DRS active, normally only on the Red Bull cars however, so there is a chance drivers may want to attempt turns 14 and 15 with the system activated. However in Brazil the track isn't as smooth and the section crests and falls which will affect the balance of the cars, additionally the 800m track altitude is also going to reduce downforce levels as the air is thinner.

As for KERs well, the track is more compact than many of the others on the schedule so KERs could play a part in getting off the slower corners better and possible lining up for an opportunistic manoeuvres. But the main overtaking zones are linked to longer straights and of course the KERs system offers diminishing returns at a higher speed. The system will play a greater part in the lap time aspect where being without the system often leads to a several tenth deficit compared to cars with KERs functioning correctly.

What to expect


It's the final race of an exciting year so I'm hoping for a little bit of everything, some rain, some mayhem and madness with a little bit of controversy thrown in to the mix. Maybe an HRT 1-2, ok well that's asking a little too much. Everything is still left to play for in the all important bonus points championship, eight points dividing the top five and one race to decide it all.

But on the track we can expect Red Bull to be strong once more, with tyres that don't deflate at the sight of a second corner - and that German bloke would like to complete another championship winning year on the top step of the podium, naturally of course the rest of the grid will want to be in the same position come Sunday evening. McLaren will likely be very strong too, with Button looking to claim the bonus points title in the process.

Down in the mid-field everything still is to play for as the 5th place in the constructors championship is not secured, Renault Squadron enter their final weekend as Renault Squadron in the coveted position. Force India have already announced they will already need a crazy race and a very strong finish to claim the position from the French soon to be Lotus team. A little further back Sauber have a lot to gain this weekend as they are the only team with both their drivers in the hunt for that bonus points title - with One-stop Perez heading the charge as Jenson's nearest rival along with Webber's Red Bull.

At the very bottom of the grid there is a little less on offer, the teams seem to have settled into a natural order  in the same way that different sized lego bricks always fall to the bottom and stay there. Lotus - soon to be Caterham - have been the dominant force in the final division, even breaking in Q2 on occasions when the established teams slipped up. Virgin - soon to be Marussia - have slowly merged into HRT territory where an actual battle for the final row may break out. These three teams are battling for 10th place in the constructors but as points are not going to be a factor to separate them, it comes down to highest race position, and it means that who ever benefits from a crazy finale can steal the 10th spot.

With only 71 laps separating us from the empty void of the off season, we can always hope that those 71 iterations of the Sao Paulo track will be the most spectacular of the season, and given how good Canada was it is going to take some beating. Being an evening start time in the UK is a spectacular time to round off an impressive season and give it a race to remember. The track encourages excitement from the carnage or 2003 to the last corner championship decider in 2008 and the common ingredient of rain may pay another visit this year.

It may be sad to see the curtain fall on another season but there is still a race this weekend and lets sit back - hopefully in blog HQ if the cat moves -  ready for the grand finale of F1 2011 where the inaugural official bonus points champion will be crowned.

Round Eighteen: Abu Dhabi Review

Greetings Internet,

Once again things are a little on the delayed side as a result of rehearsals, normally that's not too bad - its a predicament that I've faced before - but today the good folks down at the BBC must be taking a day off deciding not to bother taking care to update the iPlayer with the race. However they decided to add the post-race form to the internet instead because that's intelligent - posting the results analysis without adding the event itself, a decision so illogical it'd send Spock into a coma.

But instead I was forced to settle for BBC3's effort at highlights - which obviously had more holes in it than Swiss cheese. As minimalistic as it was, where cars would spontaneously disappear from the running order and there is no explanation as to where they when while others would magically reappear towards the back and then still end up finishing in the points at the end - I'm guessing this is what trying to watch a race with no idea how it works is like. It's as if there was some fog coating the broadcast and some pertinent details were absorbed by the mist and lost forever.

This is far from the ideal scenario but it's the only one I've got right now so here it the attempt at race coverage working off some dodgy highlights...

Credit to F1Fanatic for the image

The Race - sort of


I've no idea what the pre-race preamble cited as their outlook for the race considering that degree of information wasn't part of the highlights package - then again not too much was contained in the show at all. Things kicked off without covering the formation lap either - but that is forgiveable considering nothing really happens there - and headed straight for the start of the event.

It was an even start for the top three - Vettel left unchallenged into T1 while Fernando went to the outside of Mark Webber, some payback for all the times the Australian defeated the Ferrari. The Mercedes team were once more in formation - running very close to each other off the line. But things got a little weird, the German Bloke, the one who does all the winning was sliding sideways off the track and onto one of the few pieces of grass in the facility. With the front left cocked in the air during the slide it was clear the right rear had vented it's air and spat the car at the scenery. He didn't hit anything or anyone but the decompostion of the tyre damaged the suspension and put him out of the race for the first time since Korea, which as also from the lead.

Back with the cars that still had all four tyres with air in them and it was Alonso once more was on the attack this time driving past Jenson Button and his moustache on the back straight - and Mercedes were still trying to take each other out of the race running millimetres apart in the breaking zone and swapping positions. It was Rosberg who finally put the conflict to bed by throwing his silver arrow down the inside of turn 11, leaving no room for Schumacher to fight back.

Division one hadn't quite finished battling as Button and Webber swapped places in the first of the DRS zones but given the proximity of the second zone it was easy for Jenson to regain the place in the next zone and take third place back. Also somewhere along the line Perez had damaged his front wing and Kobayashi had jumped up from 17th to 12th already. So a mixed start for the Sauber team.

As if by magic it was lap 13 and Jenson was complaining that something was 'still a problem' it could have been his moustache but apparently it was the KERs system which was behaving intermittently. Also as if by magic both Saubers were now back with the HRTs with Kamui passing both of them at the same time down the middle of the main straight. To try and match that feat One-stop Perez also went three wide with the Spanish team in the beginning into the marina section. With Button now vulnerable to attack Webber had another go into turn 11 but that compromised his run through the subsequent chicane allowing The Stache back in front.

Then it was time for the pit-stop sequence and all was going to plan - except for life in the Red Bull camp as their day was getting worse, a really slow pit-stop was costing Webber time and track position to Felipe Massa. Out at the front of the field Hamilton and Alonso were long gone and a world of their own and were never to be seen of again even if this wasn't the truncated highlight edition of the event. Oh and it appears that both Jerome D'Ambrosio and Sebastien Buemi had both retired for what reason who knows the TV thought that wasn't important enough to recognise either. But some research showed they were both mechanical issues.

More magic was afoot and it turns out we were now on lap 30 some things may have happened in the interim but I don't know what they were and were probably not worth bothering with anyhow. But things were changing as Webber following his poor pit stop had caught Felipe Massa back again, and after the Brazilian ran a little wide in the turn 7 hairpin he was a sitting duck in the first of the DRS zones. His victory was short-lived however as Massa regained the position in the second zone allowing Jenson to pull away

Somewhere off the camera Maldonado was being a bit of a prat apparently - already receiving one drive through penalty for blocking under blue flags he was under investigation for doing it again, as we see footage of Barichello re-passing Hamilton after being lapped only to be waved at rather angrily by the leader. A penalty was also handed to Bruno Senna also for ignoring the blue flags - I personally blame the fact that everything seems to be blue in Abu-Dhabi, the tarmac and the monolithic hotel all bedecked in the blue.

It was time for more pit-stops and it was assumed these would be the final round, as this was lap 36, but Webber came in and put on another set of the soft compound meaning he needed to come in again to use up the harder tyres as per the regulations. All the other division one runners opted for the logical option of the harder tyres with the aim of running to the end. The one thing you notice about the highlights show is that cars outside the top division get rather less coverage, but there we saw One-stop Perez passing Wing Commander Petrov to move into the points and knocking the Russian out of them.

Fernando elected to stay out for longer than Hamilton in an attempt to erase the gap between them - a final effort for the lead but his challenge was crushed when he caught an HRT in the entrance to the pit-lane and that was followed by an average stop - sealing the top two places in the race. The other Ferrari was on course to capitalise on Webber's unusual strategy but managed to execute a half spin on the exit of the first corner losing  significant amount of time.

Much further towards the back, Daniel Ricciardo in the HRT pulled his car off the road with an unknown mechanical failure - and the a trackside camera suffered a very known failure at the hands of One-Stop Perez. Sergio if you are going to vandalise track property, don't hit something that is watching you do it.. However

But the laps had all run out - Webber had pitted for his obligatory harder tyres dropping him back to forth and the German bloke was sitting on the pit wall this time as Hamilton crossed the line as proof that being single makes you faster - doesn't explain why my top speed is slower then continental drift however, suppose there are going to be exceptions. Alonso and Button completed the podium with Webber and Massa behind. Mercedes finished in the formation they started the race in with Rosberg ahead of Schumacher. Also in formation were Force India getting both cars into the points with Sutil the leader of the pair. In the final points position was Kobayashi - who knows how he got there ahead of team-mate One-stop Perez is a complete mystery.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners


Ah now how to assign points to a race I didn't see too much of due to the editing system of the BBC - although it was a whole lot better than anything Eurosport have done to the GP2 races earlier in the season, those things were barely recognisable after they'd got their hands on them. But as challenging as it will be here are the points from the Abu Dhabi GP.

10pts - Kamui Kobayashi - for a strong drive into the points from a long way back, but mainly for passing two cars through the middle
8pts -  Fernando Alonso - for passing Webber on the outside and for keeping close to Hamilton in an off pace Ferrari
6pts -  One-Stop Perez - for also passing both HRT's at once but to the inside
5pts - Barrichello - for un-lapping himself against Hamilton mad but hilarious
4pts - Mercedes - for allowing their drivers to give each other hell on the opening lap
3pts - Force India - for being the best team from division two closing in on 5th constructors place
2pts - Yas Marina - for being the coolest looking facility on the calendar
1pt - Maldonado - for almost being the first car to hit the wall in the pit tunnel - one day it will get someone

The Also Official Penalties Championship


This weekend penalties seemed to all dished out for ignoring blue flags one drive-through a piece for Maldonado and for Bruno Senna for ignoring them. But Maldonado was investigated for a second infringement of the blue flag kind and I don't know the result of that investigation yet.

The Still Official Dubious Dealings Championship


Well there is definitely one point going to the iPlayer who at this point still haven't uploaded the actual race yet which would have made this blog review take place several days from now so that's why the highlights show was brought into play. Not a bad job but cramming a race into 40 minutes was going to be flawed. There are other places I'd like to dish out penalty points but in the interest of maintaining the integrity of the championship standings I'll have to pass on those.

Looking ahead to Brazil


And so here it is, the final round of the race of an exciting season, yes the points have been all sorted out for the top two in the drivers standings and the top four places in the constructors championship but that doesn't mean the year can't end on a high. We trade in the space age world of Abu-Dhabi for the traditional and culturally rich city of Sao Paolo in Brazil and the Interlagos circuit. A race that has been affected by rain on the last few occasions, rain that decided the championship in the final corner in 2008 - those accolades may not be on the table next time out but the rain might be.

However what hasn't been decided is the much more important bonus points championship and with only ten points remaining there are many contenders for the title. Any one of the top four could leave Brazil with the title of the 2011 inaugural Bonus Points Champion. In the other two championships it looks like Hamilton has those in the bag - not that they are anything to be proud of by any stretch. Unfortunately there are no trophies I can send out to the official title winners but rest assured the winner will be acknowledged in some way when I figure out how that is going to work out.

It is a little sad sitting here knowing there is only one race left this year before we are plunged into the winter off season. When all the deals will be made and drivers hired and fired - where we will find out whether the Brazilian GP will be local driver Ruben's Barrichello's final race after a massive career. It also marks the time when this little corner of the internet has nothing to talk about - but I will find something to do and keep going. However for now, until Brazil this is farewell for now.

Abu Dhabi: Pre-race

Greetings Internet,

I told you things would be behind schedule today, but here I've been able to catch the qualifying session from the Yas Marina after a painting set throughout the afternoon - it's amazing what you can do with some geometry and perspective rather than some actual artsyness -  not as if that is a word. But set design aside there was a rather close and competitive session this afternoon (or this evening thanks to the iPlayer) as the sunlight went down and the artificial lights came out when the track was plunged into the night.

Despite there actually being a multi-car battle for pole at the end of the day it was that German Bloke who will be starting from the top grid position for a record breaking amount of times this season. Jenson found some pace obviously granted by his new charitable moustache which must have some aerodynamic impact, and then added to that by admitting in the press conference he had a 'loose rear'... make of that what you will. It was a session that is being considered more important than some of the others of the season as the teams and drivers are expecting poor amounts of overtaking and an overall processional event despite a dual DRS implementation in force this weekend.

But that's all in the pipeline for tomorrow - which will also be a delayed post due to rehearsals which are naturally the priority right now - so lets take a look at what played out today, or a few moments ago using the wonders of modern technology.

Qualifying 

credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the image

Q1 kicked off with an unusual amount of cars queuing at the end of the pit lane- all poised to plunge down into the underground exit road. It was Renault Squadron who are no longer to be entitled Renault Squadron next year - re-branding themselves as Lotus. Of course this means the people who are Lotus at the moment - the green ones - can no longer have that title, and will become Caterham F1 instead, at the moment it seems both teams will retain similar liveries just making changes to handle the new branding. The other team being re-named when the season rolls round next year is Virgin Racing - who will no longer be Virgin and transform into Marrussia Racing to reflect the sponsors share in the team and to but an end to the jokes. The're just no fun any more, then again I'd probably have more success finding a Marussia whatever one is compared to... well you get the idea.

Naturally it was the Renault of Senna who claimed the fastest time - on the account of being the first one to complete a lap, before being defeated by the Torro Rosso's and then the Force India team. It wasn't much longer before the division one drivers took to the track to take control of the leaderboard. Webber was the first of that division to secure the top spot only to be usurped by Hamilton in quick succession, Lewis' hold on the Q1 pole was also short lived when the German bloke took it away. Several position changes later and it was Hamilton back out front Webber and Button.

This being Q1 of course the zone of intrigue was further back where Schumacher and Massa were slipping towards relegation as cars around them shifted to the softer compound. The key keeping them away from ejection from the session was Rubens Barrichello, still stuck in the garage with an oil pressure problem - in the car not in Rubens himself - as the minutes turned to seconds and then session drew to a close the Williams was not able to take to the track and Michael was able to move onto Q2.

At the opening of the second session once again it was Bruno Senna for the now temporarily entitled Renault Squadron followed by Kobayashi and the Torro Rosso cars. This time the division one cars were immediately behind and took full control of the top of the timesheets - with Lewis once more the driver at the head of the field - despite whining about being single this weekend, when he should just get used to it - that's how life works. But then again I'm a bitter fat bloke on the other side of a computer screen so by default solitude is a permanent state of events.

My minor rant was truncated by a loose bollard (not something you want to happen too often - might explain  my solitary state perhaps) it had been uprooted from the 12/13 chicane - only to be knocked further off course by Massa. The Ferrari driver managed to jump over the actual bollard but clipped the base in his efforts to cut yet more corners - look how well that worked in India Felipe hmm. To clear away the corner marker a red flag had to be thrown to clear the track - right in the middle of Vettel's fastest lap and Force India's opening run.

One minor delay later and things were back underway and Massa clearly realised there was some time to be gained from the missing bollard to cut the corner even more, sending the car into the air as he jumped the curb. Compared with most Q2 sessions this one was rather stagnant - with the exception of the Force India cars setting their first times and propelling themselves into the top ten - no-one seemed to change position. Schumacher went out for another run anticipating the likes of One-stop Perez or one of the Renault Squadron cars to make a run for Q1. However none of them were able to set a better time, so for the second session in succession Michael sneaked through in the last available position in 10th.

With only ten cars remaining it was time to set up for the final run of the day, or more appropriately, night - as the sun had receded below the horizon and illumination was completely in the hands of the trackside lighting system. Once more there was a queue formed at the end of the pit lane - but this time Senna wasn't here to park at the front of it - so instead that honour fell to Jenson and his moustache which is close to gaining sentience and competing for it's own points. And it was the Button-stache combo that took the provisional pole, only to be beaten once more by Hamilton who wasn't weighed down by such facial hair - not that I'm one to talk sporting an evil panto beard at the moment, but the less said about that the better.

Ferrari were off the pace and settled in behind McLaren and Red Bull, while Rosberg opted only to completed some sector times on the harder tyre, before returning to the pit lane - the others remained in the garage with the threat of penalty points hovering above them if they didn't make an effort.

In the final run of the session, the list of cars taking to the track did improve as both Mercedes were joining the foray along with Adrian Sutil. Jenson and the Moustache headed the field out for the second run followed by Alonso, Hamilton and Massa, ready for the final face-off. And it was Button who set an impressive time to claim the provisional pole position from his team-mate, while Fernando failed to make any impression as he crossed the line to claim 5th. Alas Jenson didn't retain the lead for too long before his team-mate found 9 thousandths of a second more to take the top spot and giving McLaren a temporary one-two.

Of course no-one can rule out that German Bloke who was going rather quickly through the first two sectors and rounded off the lap with a reasonable 0.15s advantage over both the McLarens to claim yet another pole position and take another record away from Nigel Mansell. Webber finished fourth ahead of both Ferraris, Mercedes and Force Indias completing the top ten in team formation.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners

As night has now fallen completely in Abu-Dhabi  - although now it must be close to dawn there at the moment, here are the winners from today's session

• Jenson and the Moustache - firstly for the stache but also for doing a rather good job
• Felipe Massa - gets the high jump award for both his jumps at turn 13 and clearing a bollard at the time
• Daniel Ricciado - for being the best non-Lotus driver in division three, not bad considering his seat time
• One-stop Perez - for taking an off pace Sauber almost into the top ten
• Mandy's perspective stairs - they deserve a point from earlier today

The Also Official Penalties Championship 

Only one penalty has been applied from qualifying and this has been handed to Pastor Maldonado in the form of a 10 place grid drop as a result of using an engine beyond the eight allocated for the season.

Looking to Tomorrow 

Who knows what is going to happen tomorrow - and I won't for a few hours after it has finished so that post will be delayed too. But with the top four cars so close on pace in qualifying I can assume the battle for the win will be rather competitive as less than two tenths separate the top thee cars on the grid. Behind them however Ferrari could be in for a lonely race, not on the same pace as the two teams in front of them but with a buffer to Mercedes, who in turn will also be in a world of their own.

There may be a high degree of field-spread as groups of cars break away from each other especially at the two ends of the field. In the middle of the pack however things will be a little different as Renault Squadron, Torro Rosso, and Sauber are all on the same pace in the mid-field, and are all vying for that important 5th place in the constructors standings at the end of the year.

Both the drivers and the teams have stated already that they don't expect too much overtaking to take place during the race, even with two DRS zone in place, blaming the layout of the track and the single file nature of everything after turn 11. Hopefully those fears will not be realised and it will be a great race because against a backdrop of glistening harbour waters and sparkling structures of metal and glass. It would be nice to see a race that is just as good as it's settings. So until I'm able to get the next post online this is farewell for now.

Round Eighteen: Abu Dhabi Preview

Greetings Internet, 

The world of motor-racing rolls onto the next stage in the season, and the amount of races is rapidly running out as the year draws ever closer to its conclusion. This weekend marks the penultimate GP of the year, in the darkness of Abu-Dhabi an environment drawn straight from the annuls of the future, a world of steel and lights - cascading structures in coated in clinical white. It's all very Aperture Science minus the cake which is a lie and an crazed yet hilarious mechanical AI trying to kill you. That said F1 with portal would certainly be a sight to see, nothing like messing with the fabric of the universe to make for some good racing.

But - Aperture Science Hand-held Portal Devices aside - the Yas Marina is a massive spectacle taking the globalisation into a whole new scale. With a hotel spanning the circuit - a la the Grand Hotel in Monaco - but this one comes with something a little extra, a cocoon of colour changing lights coat the structure in a web of intrigue and uniqueness. Filling the skyline with the dynamic illumination as the race sees the transition from the dusky evening into the blackened void of night, coming to a crescendo under the full power of the mechanical lights and a blanket of stars.

The Track

Credit to the FIA for the diagram

One of Tilke's newest inventions along with South Korea and the Indian track we saw last time out - but the scale and the grandeur of this facility is staggering. However having a bunch of pretty buildings extracted from the world of tomorrow, doesn't always mean the ribbon of tarmac around them is any good. In this case the layout is one of mixed opinions - it has some strong attributes and offers the potential for some good racing. With sections designed for overtaking, long straights leading into heavy breaking areas but as a result the flow is compromised, and then hampered further by the track negotiating the Marina section - see Korea that's how it is supposed to be done.

The final section of the lap is a little unimaginative in terms of corner design and arrangement - and if it wasn't for the scenery you'd forget where you were. As the corners are all the same running around the water's edge where all the posh folk park their boats. What is very innovative on the other hand is the pit lane exit, a tunnel underneath the first corner leads the cars back out onto the track, crossing from one side of the circuit to the other. To make things a little more interesting, it is a downhill run with no speed limit into the tunnel - yet no-one in any of the support races I've seen here has managed to bin it into the barriers underneath the track. That's another thing Korea should take note of - infinitely better then their system.

What this track also seems to have in abundance is blue paint - the run-off is a wash with the stuff, except the area underneath the grandstands in turn 8 where red stripes are used. Meeting with the modern convention of putting tarmac space everywhere the concept of grass and gravel a long gone historic concept only present in the traditional relics of motorsport. Agreed the tarmac stops cars rolling over and disintegrating but there needs to be some form of border between the track and the extra space to punish mistakes and stop drivers running wide everywhere. 

But enough of me ranting on about theoretical portal guns and magical space age buildings it is time to unleash this week's video - yes I got to make one this time as I do have a version of the track at my disposal and a rather good one too. Not that it helped my FPS with all those futuristic structures and then the night level textures but that aside here is the blogmobile's most recent outing - and yes I did mess up the title sequence up a little. I thought I'd repaired it but the video went out with the default settings on instead of the traditional template in place. However I did manage to capture one of my fastest laps which is a rarity so without more blabbering on here is Abu Dhabi in video form.

What to expect

Traditionally, in the narrowest sense of the term considering how recently Abu-Dhabi entered the calendar, the track has been dominated by Red Bull - but those were both in years where they were fighting to claim the title and pushing development to the end of the season. This time the titles are all said and done so the door might swing open for the rest of the division one competitors, but Ferrari have been slipping back in recent races so McLaren look like the only ones who can really capitalise on Red Bull easing off the pedal. 

Further back on the grid, Mercedes are taking over where Renault Squadron left off running in team formation behind the top division all by themselves. While the squadron are getting more in touch with the mid-field falling prey to the likes of Torro Rosso and Force India in an intensifying mid-field battle. Struggling to claim 5th place in the constructors championship, to be best of the division two teams and take all the bonuses that come with it. 

Things are less successful at the other end of the mid-pack, Williams will more than likely be competing with Sauber to keep off the back of the division and the shameful relegation position in Q1. The two teams have encountered varying fortunes throughout the season - Sauber falling backwards as development has stalled while Williams have been perpetually towards the back with occasional flashes of speed and competitiveness.

While on the final three rows of the grid Lotus will imaginably be in a world of their own a long way ahead of the other two teams but not close enough to the mid-field in qualifying. Behind them both Virgin Racing and HRT will be as close as they were in India - where HRT managed to be off the final row, before both cars took penalties. So even at the very bottom of the pack there is something to race for as the final teams are challenging to be the leader of division three in 10th place in the constructors.

KERS and DRS

The circuit is perfectly set up to incorporate a dual DRS implementation and that is precisely what is on the cards this weekend taking advantage of the two significant straights the track has to offer. The first of the sections is located on the long back straight links the hairpin at turn 7 with the chicane at turns 8/9 - the only problem with this is that the straight has a rather odd feature. It shifts to the left towards the end where the centre of the track suddenly becomes the outside edge 

As for the second of the two DRS sections - that is positioned after the turn 8/9 chicane and is active through the curved straight on the run down to T11. The radius of the curve at 10 won't be a problem for the activation of the system - no-one will be spinning into the fence backwards, but it may hinder the effectiveness of the system, depending on the degree of the speed advantage it could make it easier to defend against. What will be most interesting is that the two zones are very close to each other so a move made in the first sector can be countered in the second one which can add another dimension to the racing on Sunday

Then there is KERs which here in a circuit with several short runs between corners there could be opportunities for innovative overtaking in the marina section. But the system does offer diminishing returns at higher speeds so is most effective on the exit of the slower corners - which lead onto the DRS powered straights so KERs can be used to bring the car closer into position on the car in front before deploying the DRS system to complete the pass.

Overall Yas Marina is more of a spectacle than a race full of excitement and drama, however this year with the tyre degradation and the KERs/DRS combination things could be rather different indeed, and of course this time Abu-Dhabi isn't the final race of the season as it has been on it's previous running. So the setting will be a little different, knowing there is still something to play for in Brazil for the mid-field teams. 

However this weekend the blogging schedule will be a little askew based on things happening out there in the real world - realising now that pointing at the window really is of no help at all - considering this is just a bunch of text on a screen. But there is a rather important matter of rehearsals and set preparation to be conducted here so viewing of the sessions will be delayed and naturally that will propagate down into the release of the reports. So you are going to have to bear with me on that one.

But whenever you get to see the racing this weekend, here's hoping we can bring this season to a close with a pair of perfect race starting this weekend in the middle east on the Yas Marina Circuit.