Round Eight: Europe Review

Greetings Internet,

Another race has been completed, but this weekend sitting down to write this post things were a little less complex to follow. There were no monsoon downpours and safety car interruptions to add more dimensions to the race outcome - leaving only a straight forward fastest man wins event. Given the level of racing we have seen this year Valencia has been a bit of a let down - but looking back at previous years it was to be expected.

We've come away from the weekend with the status quo being maintained - that little German man still ends up at the front of the pack and no-one in normal conditions can alter it. The dominance of the Red Bull has become rather tiresome and it would be nice to see a better competition for the victories. But saying that Ferrari were closer and the division one teams are grouping together, and outside there things are close - with different cars filtering into the remaining points positions.

Sourced from formula1onlive.com
(Afterall it was the only time we saw the mythical button
so may as well us his only captured image)

The Race

In completely contrasting conditions to last race in Canada the grid was set in the baking heat and no sign of any moisture except for the in the harbour itself and this year no-one had came close to flying into it. Although I haven't seen the second GP2 or either of the GP3 events but if anything major had happened something probably would have come across in the commentary.

And so the lights one by one illuminated upon the starting gantry and began that moment in time when the world freezes. Those short seconds of time which drag on, staring into the red glow waiting for the thousands of horsepower to be unleashed all at once in a crescendo of power, performance and expectation. Then those lights die out and the grid came to life.

The front three made fairly equal starts with Hamilton slightly the worse, Massa made the best start of the first division powering from 5th up to 3rd in the short stretch to turn one. Alonso followed his team-mate past the McLaren into 4th - Felippe looked to the inside of Webber but had to back out of it, Alonso through into an early podium position. Rosberg also made ground sneaking his division two car into the division one field beating Button off the line. The other notable start of the field belonged to Kovalainen who jumped almost two rows but was consumed by those he passed over the following corners.

 The opening laps were very composed and orderly for what is a track surrounded by walls with not too much room for error - and the positions settled down everyone staying in line. There was some movement further back down the field as drivers who made poor starts were trying to recover, Petrov was the main protagonist in this position locked behind both Sauber and Force India cars.

Once the critical first two laps were checked off and in the book, the moment of truth was upon us - the anticipated long dual DRS zones were now activated. We were about to see whether the overtaking potential would be realised and turn the European GP away from it's processional nature. Button was the first one to test the benefits in his ambitions to overtake the Mercedes of Rosberg - but due to the superior traction and decent top speed no DRS was going to move the McLaren in front. However not to be defeated Button was able to get a strong run through turn one and threw the car down the inside of the German in front claiming the position and heading off into anonymity. No-one is quite sure what happened to Button after that but he was no longer to appear on camera - as he spent the rest of the race alone.

During the run up to the first round of pitstops division one of the grid was running in two-by-two order with Red Bull leading Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes. Both Sauber and Force India were also running together on the fringes of the points, additionally the teams at the back of the grid were also in team order. The only team that wasn't running together was oddly enough Renault Squadron where Squadron Leader Heidfeld was several places ahead of Wingman Petrov who was stuck with the Saubers.

Webber was first to take to the pit lane, followed shortly by Hamilton both deciding they were going to get no more out of their tyres. Back on track Squadron Leader Heidfeld regained the position he lost off the grid diving to the inside of Sutil in turn four. Having been demoted down the grid after the stop Hamilton was out of position and was able to demonstrate the first full DRS pass driving straight past Michael Schumacher who hadn't visited the pit lane. Speaking of cars that hadn't entered the pits for a stop there was one notable absentee a certain One-stop Perez hadn't stopped - yet.

The rest of the field were filtering in for new tyres and for the most part were leaving in the same place they entered - with the exception of Massa for who a sticking rear wheel lost ground to Hamilton who recovered one of the places lost earlier. Things were even worse for a certain multiple world champion, Michael Schumacher was not exactly enjoying the level of success of his Canadian GP. Upon leaving the pit lane he proceeded down the pit lane exit and drove into the side of Vitaly Petrov at the apex of turn two. Schumacher's wing was damaged and over the course of the lap repositioned itself near his sidepod. Obviously had to pit for a new nose - and that concludes the total amount of contact for the race.

Alonso had gained time on Webber through this first pit stop phase and had his eyes firmly set on the back of the Red Bull, slowly edging closer over several laps to the point where Fernando had reached that 1s window. Then the DRS was in effect, a few laps later he had narrowed the gap further to the point where he could make a challenge. On lap 21 Webber was no longer able to hold off the Ferrari - and on the run down wo turn 10 - the same straight that saw the Australian soaring into the sky, Alonso drafted past to claim the spot.

There was a period of incactivity - in a race where not a lot happened anyway this phase was even less eventful. The field was holding position and standing their ground - the entire of division one from Vettel down to Rosberg was pretty much set for the rest of the race. Amid this lull in activity there was one change further down the grid - One-stop Perez was falling backwards losing places to Petrov, Di Resta and Kobayashi. His tyres were running out of grip and out of life, they were the same ones he had started the race on after all. Following surrendering to team-mate One-stop Perez pulled into the pits to make his one and only stop, living up to his name in a unique strategy to the rest of the field.

Storming past the halfway point of the race and it was time for the division one entries to make some more stops - this series of tyre changes had only one impact on the order. Reversing Fernando and Mark, dropping the Spaniard behind the Red Bull as the lead cars were heading into the domain of lapped traffic. On a day when there were no cars retiring or driving into solid objects, there was all the lapped cars still circulating and irritating the leaders. Webber was the first to show his annoyance waving his hand around in all manner of gesticulations which I imagine didn't have a pleasant meaning. His victim was Vitantonio Liuzzi who was caught between turns 18, 19 and 20 a place where it is single file running so couldn't reasonable get out of the way.

Driving under the radar was Jaimie Alguersuari who had managed to drive from not making it out of Q1 and into the points the first of the non-division one cars and ahead of Rosberg. The Mercedes being a fundamentally superior car made overtaking the STR entry more of a formality but Alquersuari held his own against the German. However resistance was futile considering Mercedes possess the most effective DRS system of the grid, Nico was able to drive right round the outside of the Torro Rosso in turn 17.

The traffic brought Webber and Alonso up to the back of Massa who hadn't stopped in this sequence. Mark made short work of the slower of the Ferraris round the outside of Turn 17. But then it was Alonso's turn to vent some frustration through the fast final sector coming rather close to a Lotus who was letting Webber and Massa through spotted the second red machine a little late. Fortunately both parties avoided contact and the only repercussion was an angry wave from a frustrated Spaniard.

Once again there was a period of stability where nothing happened, until the final round of pit stops - again there was minimal impact on the division one competitors with the notable exception again of the Webber, Alonso battle for 2nd. The last phase of pitting switched the positions for the final time placing the Ferrari in front but throwing both of them into an epic mid field battle that was brewing outside the top 12.

With the top six cars now settled in their finishing positions - Vettel leading from Alonso and Webber rounding off the podium. Hamilton was 4th ahead of Massa and apparently Button still  existed even though no-one had seen him since passing Rosberg. The entertainment shifted back in the field where Buemi had acquired a following in the form of Di Resta, Kobayashi and Petrov, where the Russian was looking like the only one making an impression. And because they were all running in proximity to each other they could all run the DRS and just ended up following each other. Buemi edged away from the group and Kobayashi was bearing down on Di Resta with Petrov in very close attention.

While their battle raged on, further towards the front of the field - Rosberg had came out of his final pits to find the lesser known of Spaniards in the field again. Alguersuari once again found himself in front of Rosberg, and in an exact carbon copy of their last encounter - the German applied his superior DRS and once again went right round the outside of turn 17. And now the entire top 10 was settled to the finish, with Sutil and Squadron Leader Heidfeld playing rear gunner for the points.

Through the magic of strategy and One-stop Perez's special power of only stopping once managed to One-stop his was to 11th perilously close so one-stopping his way into the points. Behind him was Rubens Barrichello who had almost as much of a lonely race as the mythical Jenson Button. Following Rubens was Buemi who was now safely clear of the chasing trio where stability was to become undone - Petrov was no longer content with being at the back of that train and found a way past Kamui Kobayashi.

That ended the sort out of positions and the possibility of a Webber resurgence upon Alonso was thwarted by gearbox issues. So Vettel was able to cross the line safely and contently concluding a race of complete and utter domination in the face of engine mapping changes aimed to hinder Red Bull. Fernando finished second free from pressure from a slowing Webber. Hamilton, Massa and Button who still existed rounded off division one.

Bringing to a conclusion the most uneventful race of the season with the same outcome as so many other races this year illustrating the power of Red Bull and gulf of performance that the entire of division one has over the rest of the grid.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners


In a race which had all the excitement of drowning in acid somewhere in the tepid sea of mediocrity points have to be awarded and it is in races like this where you can score points simply by turning up because that's all some of the drivers did. Just by showing some effort or trying something a little different could be the ticket to bonus points.

10pts - Jaime Alguersuari, gets the top points for making the biggest gain from relegation in the first quali round to scoring points
8pts - One stop Perez, for almost making the famous one stop work again finishing just out the points
6pts - Fernando Alonso, for taking the fight to Red Bull he managed to get one of them and for being the only driver in division one to gain a position
5pts - Adrian Sutil, for breaking into the top five teams hold of the points with the Force India
4pts - Nico Rosberg, for two outside passes on Alguersuari to win division two
3pts - Sebastien Vettel, for just being dominating so I suppose that deserves some points
2pts - Vitaly Petrov, had a poor start but unlike most people, passed someone later in the race
1pt  - The Grid, for a 100% finishing rate for this race - a record for number of cars making the flag

The Also Official Penalties Championship


Because everyone was so boringly well behaved no-one was given penalties this weekend - even the collision between Schumacher and Petrov was waved off as a racing incident.

The No Less Official Dodgy Dealings Championship


Another consequence of an uneventful race weekend is that there was no-one to shout at, and no-one to chastise with the damming threat of penalty points. But this all boils down to the track - a layout which may be entertaining to drive in a simulation but in a race scenario it seems not to work out too well, Throughout it's short history has offered up a series of dull and lifeless races so this week I send one penalty point to Valencia.

Looking on to Britain


Ah so Formula One works it's way back to our green and not so pleasant lands to somewhere very different to the last three rounds. Gone are the tight wall lined chicanes and hairpins - replaced by the high speed curves and flowing bends. One of the truly great traditional race tracks - no where near as good as Spa or the Nordscheife but still pretty great. Well it was until that pointless new infield section, that aside it is going to be a whole new challenge and who will be disadvantaged the most be the removal of the blown exhaust system. Will Red Bull surrender their dominance - on a layout that should favour the high downforce capability of their car.

But there is a problem - considering the Silverstone layout has changed again this year moving the pit straight to after Club corner - I no longer have an up to date virtual version of the race track. So I apologise in advance for how the video is going to play out as I unless there is a new release in the next fortnight (fingers crossed on that one - any modders it would be appreciated) I will be running the 2010 version which is lacking a little and starts at the old start before Copse.

Europe: Pre-Race

Greetings Internet,

Sitting here watching the first of the GP2 support races of the weekend while opening up my computer looking back on the qualifying action of earlier on in the afternoon. So with the grid now set provisionally barring any engine/gearbox changes down the grid, all is in place for tomorrow's Grand Prix of Europe on the so called streets of Valencia.

If the GP2 race is anything to go by there will be some opening lap contact with a possibility of the safety car to clean up the debris. And Luca Fillipi just avoided becoming the most recent car to take to the skies in the same car and the same corner as Kral in 2010. But outside the opening phase, things will settle down with the odd battle further down the order.

Sourced from F1fanatic.co.uk

Qualifying


This weekend saw the return of One-stop Perez, the original - retaking the reins of his Sauber from his stunt double Perez 2.0 who was sent back to McLaren where he will take back his third driver role there. He was back up to speed in the practice sessions running up in the same times as team-mate and Bonus Points leader Kamui Kobayashi.

With such a large performance variant between the two available compounds the question was who could get through the first session on only the hard tyres and avoid burning up a set of the valuable soft tyres. With the the mid-field moving to the softs to avoid being that driver to join the bottom 6 in the first relegation zone.

The first two cars to take to the track were Renault Squadron Leader Heidfeld and Paul Di Resta who lost many practice laps after Hulkenberg crashed his car in FP1. Within minutes the majority of the field joined them circulating on track, including the main contenders who opted to make their opening runs on the prime tyres. Opening times were not that impressive - a long way from the pace set in the final morning practice session down in the mid 1:40's with the Red Bulls dropping into the low 1:39's.

Both Vettel and Webber decided that their times were safe from those on the option tyres, which proved true although Webber needed a run later in the session still on the primes to secure progression. The zone of interest was further back in the contest to avoid relegation from Q1, where Torro Rosso were in battle with Sauber to get into Q2. Both STR entries limited themselves to one run late in the session on the option tyre to conserve more sets for the race, Buemi managed to launch the car a long way up the grid to where the main teams were running. Things were not so successful for the other side of the garage Alguersuari encountered traffic on his effort and failed to progress.

Alguersuari was joined by the usual suspects in the form of the six cars from the newer teams with Lotus heading that group and Vitantonio Liuzzi once again moving his car ahead of the Marussia Virgin of Jerome D'Ambrosio.

Moving into Q2, and in contrary to the usual form it was one of the Ferraris first to venture out of pit-lane occupied by Felippe Massa - holder of the fastest time in Q1 after having to use some soft tyres. This second session was aimed to filter down the field into the final 10 for the last shootout. As normal the same cars were running towards the top of the time sheets and the same cars were fighting over relegation.

But all things were not going to run quite to metronomic normality when Maldonado encountered technical difficulties with something in the fuel system grinding the car to a halt between turns 19 and 20 in the fast final sector. Trying to get the car to the pit lane the Williams refused to go any further and then couldn't be rolled away by the marshals - a red flag had to be thrown to move a removal vehicle onto the track to extract Maldonado. This intervention caught several drivers out who were on a lap on those valued soft tyres - those compromised included the Renault Squadron and Kobayashi

With seven minutes remaining the session restarted and the lead cars had no need to return to the track, but the battle to stay in the top ten was re-invigorated. With the Renault Squadron forced to make their move with their runs aborted under the red flag, and needed to set a time to move into the final session. Both Mercedes were able to progress without using up too many sets of tyres leaving only two remaining attainable places left for progression. To begin with Renault Squadron held both the final places, just like in Canada the top five teams locked out the top five rows, but that wasn't to last. Adrian Sutil in the Force India on his final lap was able to break the ranks at Renault Squadron placing his car behind Squadron Leader Heidfeld knocking Wingman Petrov out of the final shootout. Joining him in relegation were both Saubers and Williams cars along with Buemi and Di Resta.

Then there was Q3, where things do go a little downhill - where the vagaries of strategy have compromised the concept of qualifying more than a little. Splitting the final phase into two groups, the main pole challengers from the top three teams, and then there is everyone else with the Mercedes drivers straddling the void with one in each division. The first division of cars went out first and set their laps, Alonso was the first so set a time but was not fast enough to be in contention for pole. Fernando weathered the runs of Massa, Button and Webber hanging onto the top spot until Hamilton went a tenth faster, but was soon comprehensively beaten by Vettel who went sub 1:37.

The second division held station in the garage only the Mercedes cars left the garage but were slower than the other cars that had been before them. Now this is where the problem lies - both Sutil and Heidfeld decided they were not going to play at all in the session electing to save tyres rather than bother qualifying and by default ended up 9th and 10th.

As the session was running out the first division left on their second runs with only Webber managing to improve their position elevating himself ahead of Fernando's Ferrari and Hamilton making it an all Red Bull front row. After making a mistake in T17, aborted his run and Vettel knowing his time was not going to be beaten aborted his run too. Ending qualifying in not so much of an spectacular but more of a whimper with the contenders all filing politely into the pit lane instead of charging for pole.

So as with every other race this year Sebastien Vettel was on pole, but with Webber alongside and Shake n Bake Hamilton in 3rd on a return from some laps in Tony Stewart's NASCAR at Watkins Glen. Both Ferrari's split the McLarens shuffling Button down to the bottom of division one ahead of both Mercedes' and Squadron Leader Heidfeld with Sutil rounding off the top 10.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners


With qualifying becoming more and more of a non-event, more of a competition on who can save the most tyres while Vettel takes pole week in week out. But somewhere beneath the lack of enthusiasm many of the teams are displaying points can and will be awarded come hell, people will be getting points. So from the European GP qualifying here are the points winners.

• One-stop Perez - here's a welcome back point and for getting straight back on the pace
• Vitantonio Liuzzi - for out-qualifying a driver from another team in this case it was D'Ambrosio
• Adrian Sutil - for breaking the top five team lockout in the final top ten
• Jarno Trulli  - for being able to maintain position without any power steering
• Red Bull - to come up with a front row after engine mapping rules were aimed to slow them down

Vettel you get no points because you're always on pole and Q3 is becoming a formality.

The Also Official Penalties Championship


There were rumours in FP2 that Karthekeyan received a speeding fine in FP1 - but nothing has appeared on the FIA stewards communications so it cannot be proved.

The No Less Official Dodgy Dealings Championship


I don't often assign penalty points in the qualifying session because the principle is simple - fastest time wins and there isn't that much you can do to subvert that without gaining an FIA penalty but the standard of qualifying has declined. Focussing on tyres instead of performance, so as a mark of my displeasure those being a pain and using the strategy to abandon qualifying will get penalty points.

• Qualifying strategy  - gets a penalty point in itself for being the cause of the problems
• Squadron Leader Heidfeld - for not playing in Q3 at all
• Adrian Sutil - same as Nick penalty point for not bothering setting a time

Looking Ahead to tomorrow

Valencia has a history of being a rather boring and uneventful race, the curving straights being a misnomer in themselves discourage drivers from running too close to avoid incidents like we saw last year with cars sailing through the air. Even in the GP2 two cars were close to being launched making wing-to-wheel contact instead of wheel-to-wheel which kept them grounded. 

But with the dual DRS zones in effect this year things could be very different where we will see many more passing manoeuvres the 12 of last year. However looking at where the lines have been drawn on the circuit the length of the zones the overtaking could be rather too easy again as we saw in Turkey, that will however simple will add another dimension to the race and benefit the likes of McLaren and Mercedes with strong DRS systems.

Combine that with tyre degradation and the possibility of safety cars - though they'll be more likely on the opening lap if the orderly demeanour of the grid falls out of line and into the barrier. So overall the European GP is looking like an entertaining prospect and Red Bull should look behind them at the charging pack who won't be left behind. The mid-pack will be tightly contested and depending on the attrition rate could move into the points along with people on alternate strategy gained from not bothering with qualifying. 

So prep your sofa and race snacks for an afternoon of entertainment ready for the 2011 European GP from Valencia 

Round Eight: Europe Preview.

Greetings Internet

After recovering from the immense nature of last race weekend where we had a four hour race, and the 24 heures du mans with qualifying forced in during the night, moving publication of the pre-race to 4am. Along with my sense of logic and reasoning the F1 season has made it's way back into Europe at the rather uninspiring named European Grand Prix which only exists as an excuse to have two races in the same country. Previously held at the Nurburgring to milk as much money out of the Schumacher domination years the venue was shifted to Valencia when the fan base drifted to follow the Alonso reign.

So that's where the field is setting up camp at the moment, still under the illusion that they are competing in the splendour of a street circuit, when in fact this is just some spare tarmac in the harbour with some lines painted on it to mark out the layout. It bears none of the traditional hallmarks of a street environment, no cambered roads, no drains and sewer entrances to avoid, no slippery painted road markings. All it has is walls and chicanes - all Valencia (not the Ricardo Tormo testing track) is, is Montreal stretched out and with some extra corners thrown in. Replace all the grass with tarmac run-off areas and you get the picture.

The Track

Source FIA Track Guide

Looking back at the immense degree of entertainment that was displayed across the Atlantic then the prospect for this weekend does look a little weaker and more mundane. The track is just a long concrete avenue of despair - where so much of the layout looks the same down at circuit level. Each lap is broken down into a repetition of straights which lead into tight heavy breaking corners which is often the recipe for mayhem but often fails to deliver. With of course the notable exception of Webber's rebellion against gravity and Josef Kraal's similar event in the morning.

So what does Valencia have to offer, besides a prospect for madness and devastation, well given the track conforms to the standard road course principles just with a wall round the outside. So in reality it will have to be treated similarly to the Hungaroring in the fact that it will be dusty from lack of use the rest of the year when it is just a port. It doesn't have the narrow, tight confines normally associated with circuits listed as street tracks so overtaking is possible so using the DRS and KERS that'll improve the running of this years event.

Safety cars are possible but not inevitable, there is adequate space for drivers to make mistakes and run off onto the spare tarmac where no lines have been drawn. All the key areas where collisions and damage are likely are more than covered with escape lanes and sufficient margins for error. But there is still room for significant incidents that require more involved involvement and obviously the flying Red Bull last year was a prime example.

But as I have been able to so since the Malaysian GP I can show you the readers in your singles figures the layout of the circuit in greater depth than a map from the FIA, and so I introduce the traditional track video. Brought to you on board the blogmobile first introduced in for the Spanish GP which was placed into reserve for when superseded by special editions in Monaco and Montreal.

Once again available in HD, not full 1080p HD but 720 is close enough not that it shows in the video as this computer hates the thought of playing the simulator in HD, and all videos would be down to single figures in FPS terms. With a lap speed running at 1:45.8 won't be making any inroads into the grid but ahead of the support package.

What to expect 


Well we've used up the quota of insanity for a considerable amount of time, over the past two races so this time I'm not expecting too much excitement this time round. The European GP should be more straight forward without red flags, multiple safety cars and torrential downpours. So the teams can prepare for this event in much the same way as many of the other races along the calender.

But that said, Valencia is an unique event will favour different teams that a flowing traditional circuit would and would hurt others. Having features similar in nature to Montreal it is reasonable to assume that Ferrari and McLaren will be strong placing more pressure on Red Bull who will be disadvantaged by the long fast straights where the Renault engine is a little down on power in comparison. However it is impossible to count them out of the show with Vettel unbeaten on Saturday and was close to winning on their weakest track in Canada only defeated by the slippery surface when Button took the incentive and stole the win.

Mercedes do seem so be pulling away from their closest rivals Renault who are dropping to the bottom of the top ten under threat from improving Williams and Torro Rosso. The mid pack will be as fraught as ever where mere tenths could mean the difference between making the final qualifying session and between battling over relegation in Q1. This does however open the door to Lotus and the other new teams to pounce if one of the established entries drops the ball.

KERS and DRS.


The nature of the track suits the overtaking aids rather well, both DRS and KERS will play a significant role in the outcome of the race and of course the qualifying sessions. With the movable rear wing being the most effective.

The FIA have implemented two DRS zones again for this weekend, ironically in the two straights where the two major accidents occurred last year so that in itself doesn't bode well. The first of the two zones will be in place after the Bridge and the second occurring after the chicane at the other end of the straight. But here is where the problem lies, because as in Montreal there will only be one detection point in turn eight just before the bridge.

In Canada that's wasn't too much of a problem, it the two zones were only separated by the small final chicane. This time there is a far greater amount of distance between the two phases of the zone in the form of four corners. The major problem this generates is this - if a driver is able to complete the overtaking manoeuvre within the first zone then he gets a free activation in the second one, with the recently passed driver  being unable to contest the position and re-pass being at a major disadvantage.

Because there are more significant straights then there are DRS activation areas, there will be some room to use the KERS to maximise the other passing opportunities. Another problem the track offers up in respect to overtaking and the KERS is that some areas are limted due to the curved breaking areas which mean the racing line covers a larger area of the track. Drivers will sweep from the inside to the outside to make the turn in point hampering efforts, but zones like turn 2 and 4 could be used as KERS passing places.

No matter how much KERS comes into play DRS will be far and away the most dominant device available to the drivers and will be very interesting in qualifying in the final sector with several fast corners. Having the flap open through those corners may become a judgement call and may result in some cars becoming rather close to those concrete walls.

We may not be expecting anything like the excitement and entertainment of Canada but with some rather stupidly placed DRS zones and a track which does offer the slight probability of carnage there is a chance we could be pleasantly surprised. In addition to the main game the support races will be back on the table this weekend and give them a wall lined layout and some overtaking options and you can almost guarantee destruction in those races. Lets hope that the Grand Prix can come close to anything we've seen over the past two races, if so it's going to be even more spectacular.

Round Seven: Canada Points Winners

Greetings Internet,

I am all to aware how disjointed this weekend has become considering the chequered flag was waved on Sunday and it is now Tuesday and things have yet to be completed - but then again sometimes it does take till Tuesday to calculate the points. Just this time I haven't announced them yet and that is why I am making this post  to unveil those drivers who will be awarded those all important bonus points from the event, and of course who gets penalty points.

Once again people of the internet - of the five people who actually read these things I offer my sincerest thanks for sticking with this over the weekend and the days that followed as things haven't been as smooth. The combination of Le Mans, a late GP start time and of course the sheer level of entertainment that race provided have knocked things out of line and normal service should be in place for the European GP in Valencia on that 'Street' circuit they have there.

The Official Bonus Point Championship points winners


Well where do I even begin giving points - in a weekend filled with so much entertainment gazed at under the murky haze of sleep deprivation and after 24hrs of one other closest Le Mans in years I was a little ill prepared for the magnitude of the GP. I even had to embarrassingly watch the highlights of the race to make yesterdays post due to the number of things going on and even they highlights didn't show everything that happened in the race missing out the clumsy marshal and the demise of both Force India cars. So as a result today's points allocation will - as with the quali points - be a little different, adding a degree of flexibility to the system, where as only 10 drivers/teams will get points to keep the championship fair only auxiliary entities will be extra.

10 points: Jenson Button: He won and isn't Vettel which is a nice change - on older slicks at the end too

8   points: Michael Schumacher: The old guy isn't done yet, a surprisingly strong result showing he is still very good in the changeable conditions, giving Rosberg a beating and almost making the podium

6   points: Mark Webber: Still on the podium after being binned to 14th, and for being the first man to have the balls to go onto the slick tyres when the margin for error was so small.
6   points: Canada - You mad country you, has to get points for that... but leaving the door open for the possibility for even better races this year....I can hope anyway. I challenged Canada in Monaco to beat that and they certainly did.

5   points: Vitaly Petrov: 5th is a strong result and he didn't crash in challenging conditions or hit anyone much, might have hit Kamui but cameras didn't pick it up
5   points: Le Mans 24hrs: Probably should get penalty points for messing up my blog timing but it was a fantastic experience even though it was from the sofa can't wait to the next one

4   points: Hispania Racing: For not being last, and on top of that being the best of the newer teams at the end of the race, for a team that were too slow in Australia that is amazing
4   points: Audi - For winning the greatest race in the world  with two cars completely destroyed

3   points: Rain - Even though Canada doesn't need water to make things interesting just look at the race it created and for making Le Mans more exciting in the final two hours

2:  points: Renault Squadron - For being the most entertaining during the long two hour interval we encountered

1:  point: The final point goes to One-stop Perez 2.0 who in his first race in the car for a while thrown in at the last minute, borrowed from McLaren finished one of the craziest races on the lead lap but outside the real points so he can have this one.


The Also Official Penalties Championship


In a race when madness is unleashed there will be penalties handed out for those being a little over optimistic or just generally making fools of themselves, and Canada was no exception. The queue outside the stewards office was longer then Alain Prost's nose with so many people under investigation for one thing or another. Despite only completing 7 laps Hamilton was involved in three investigations, and two for winner Button so here are how the penalties were dished out.

• Jenson Button - Drive Through: Speeding behind the safety car
• Paul Di Resta - Drive Through: Attacking Squadron Leader Heidfeld
• Jerome D'Ambrosio: Drive Through: Fitting Intermediate tyres before the restart 
• Adrian Sutil - Drive Through: Overtaking behind the safety car
• Narain Karthekeyan: 20s Post Race Time Penalty: Cutting the final chicane gaining a position and not giving it back 

Investigations involving Button v Hamilton, and Button v Alonso were deemed racing incidents
Investigations involving Hamilton v Webber, Petrov v Kobayashi,  and Sutil v Rosberg - no action taken

The No Less Official Dodgy Dealings Championship


The stewards can only do so much, only penalising people who have broken official regulations but for those moments which aren't illegal or punishable there's this table. To point out those drivers/teams/other people who are up to no good.

• Monsoon Rains - I like a wet race as much as the next guy but a biblical storm is a little too much sitting around for two hours isn't great, and of course the magnitude of the rain forces the SC so those on stupid tyres weren't punished.
• Heath and Safety - Twice the race was impacted by health and safety over-cautiousness firstly starting behind the safety car and then on the restart running around endlessly again behind the safety car until inters were needed, and then penalising a guy for switching. (2 PP) 
• Duel DRS - The two zone system opened up some flaws in it's setting - allowing drivers who passed in the first zone to use it again to pull away. And on the back straight it looked far too easy to make passes
• The tumbling marshal - Of course the marshals at a circuit are integral and exceptional individuals but this guy wasn't one of them being more of a hindrance then anything else. How Perez 2.0 missed him for laughing is a mystery
• Lewis Hamilton - For this permanent disposition where anything is not his fault, his immediate reaction is to blame someone else. Even claimed he was half way alongside Button - same claim he placed before hitting Massa in Monaco. 

So now I shall go and total up those scores but this weekend is going to close things up at the top of the table as the field try and close up on Kobayashi out front. In the penalties table McLaren are leading the way, and Hamilton stays out front in the dodgy dealings cup.

Round Seven: Canada Review

Greetings Internet,

Canada, Canada, Canada....what are we going to do with you. There is normally the concept of madness and unpredictability associated with your race, but you just had to go that little bit further didn't you. The destruction in Monaco wasn't enough was it, you just saw it as a challenge - a test even, an opportunity to do better than the street track. Well the challenge was well and truly accepted, and Canada I safely assure you that you passed with flying colours and delivered a race on such a magnitude I haven't seen since the complete insanity of Belgium 1998 which too did also involve that one vital liquid ingredient.

Those of you of an observant nature may have noticed that today is Monday and is not Sunday when the race actually occurred but there was a significant amount of sleep deprivation was starting to set in. As you may have noticed from the pre-race attempt of disjointed rambling I was up all night with the Le Mans race - not a person before you get any ideas. So by the time the epic spectacle was played on the television I was rather tired but the action aside from the 2hr break more than kept me awake...

So with out further delay and no longer under the influence of energy drinks and pretzels here is this events effort at documenting what is by far the greatest race in recent years. But a little warning this may go on for a while because there is no short way of listing all the things that went on for almost 4hrs of race conditions.

Credit to F1 Fanatic.co.uk

The Race - the first attempt

The screen dawned on a rather wet and rain soaked Montreal - puddles were scattered across the surface peppering the circuit, converting it into a mirror conveying the reflections of madness that was to follow. Several sighter laps were conducted by the pace car, and a mystical second SLS this one garnished in red paint rather than the traditional FIA silver took to the track. After some splashing around the decision was made to commence the Canadian grand prix under the safety car - a little overly cautious in my opinion... races have been a lot wetter and started normally before. 

So off they they went, trundling behind Maylander's SLS and visibility was challenging but far from impossible. The thick suffocating glove of Health and Safety kept the pace car circulating beyond the first lap paralysing the positions and wearing a dry line on the road. At the very back of the queue Alguersuari opted to start from the pit lane after pulling from the grid to re-configure the car for wet conditions which converted to the end of the pace car line as there was no grid start. 

But at the end of lap 4 the Safety Car returned to the pitlane releasing the cars out onto the considerably drier race track, and the Canadian Grand Prix was properly under way, under restart conditions. Alonso stalked Vettel into the final chicane but the German defended and held position. Both of the top two drifted slightly wide in turn one, behind them Hamilton carried on exactly where he left off in Monaco, with some contact giving Webber a bit of a push into a spin knocking the Australian back to 14th. Neither car sustained any damage and were easily able to continue albeit a few places further back.

Hamilton was fell back in behind his team-mate and Schumacher, but Michael was on the charge the wet conditions played exactly to his specialities and he moved ahead of Button setting his sights on the next Mercedes in line. Lewis also made his through and chased up the back of the so called "rainmeister" but his charge was short lived as he was forced a little wide at the hairpin by the German the next lap. This allowed Button back through as the Hamilton plodded through the puddles on the exit, before things were going to get a little more interesting. 

The feld had a rather two by two look to it - with Ferraris ahead of the Mercedes and then the two McLarens  with Vettel heading the lot of them. But things were about to be reconfigured a little - Hamilton had caught his team-mate and wanted past, but those pesky people at McLaren don't believe in giving Lewis is own way so he had to actually pass the other Briton - so well done to them for that stance. So penalty-points leader Hamilton looked up the inside of Jenson in a manoeuvre that worked out as well as playing eye-spy in the dark. Sliding into the cloud of spray he found himself trying to find some space between the pit wall and Button's car - that space disappeared and Lewis got a lot more personal with the concrete. From the outside it looked a lot like Button creamed his team-mate into the fence - but even though that probably is a good plan - it was a case both drivers ending up on the racing line at the same time and was a racing incident. Lewis tried to drag the ailing car round one wheel at an angle which was rather ineffective but was called to pull off and parked it, but his positioning of the McLaren brought out the Safety car.

As the SLS was counting up more laps in the lead - Button came in to check for damage and fitted Intermediate tyres in the process as there was a considerable drying line available which would only improve under the safety car. A decision which made no sense at all considering reports from the pit wall suggested there was a significant weather system inbound and would bring with it a large amount of water rendering Buttons tyres useless. 

A few laps later green flag conditions were resumed in an usually civil format for a wet Canadian racetrack, and Vettel went away into the distance in an attempt to reclaim the number of laps lead from Bernd in the Safety car who was on 7 to Sebastien's 5. The laps began to wear down and more and more drivers were heading to pit lane to swap the wets for intermediate tyres after Button started running 3s per lap faster on his inters. They were all being daft - the weather system which all the teams new about was visible on the horizon and rain was slowly starting to fall but they went and changed them anyway. No amount of shouting at them, pointing at my twitter feed and calling them all morons worked, In the midst of the wild gesticulations at the television Button was issued with a penalty for speeding behind the safety car - assumingly after his stop when catching up to the field. 

After dealing with the penalty and his stupid tyres caught up to the back of the Renault Squadron who were as usual running in formation with Nick leading Petrov. The Squadron had already been caught and processed by a resurgent Webber had closed ranks to keep the Mclaren behind. Then the inevitable happened - that rain everyone forgot was coming turned up, and was angry at being ignored, as every single rain drop in the history of the universe descended on Montreal. The biblical onslaught of rain however was a little excessive - I like most folk reckon that a little bit of rain does make things interesting - but drowning the entire grid may be a little far. Then Health and Safety kicked in again, rather than letting them have ago in the monsoon to allow those on the wrong tyres to fall back because they were fools Charlie Whiting threw the Safety car out again. He may have saved those who put stupid tyres on but he can't stop me pointing at them shouting "why"!!

Five laps of toiling around behind the Safety car as the cataclysm of rain swept over the layout - a plethora of calls flooded from cars to teams complaining and winging about the conditions. Those fools who went for inters had to go back to the pit lane for wets under a hail of laughter and some more pointing. But then the yellow indicator at the top of the screen shifted to red as the race was declared suspended until the shower passed. At this point that was the right call because instead of it being a case of the usual daft batch of driver complaints that halted things it was a case of the cars not being mechanically able to operate in the volume of water that had descended on the circuit. 

The Really long bit in the middle where not much actually happened

Trapped under the red flag which the meteorological apocalypse had arrived, this may not have been the wettest race ever recorded but has to be in the top 10, Malaysia 08 was pretty bad and then Korea 2010 took forever to start. As is always the case when this much rain arrives, the drivers run off into the garage to hide from the weather and the camera staff start looking at the scenery, picking up the flourishing wildlife, including a Red-winged Blackbird which the Virgin Racing team's twitter page adopted. Marshals were working with brushes and sweeper trucks to move the water, but the rain just kept falling making their work futile. 

During this interval the Renault Squadron won the competition for being most amusing - complaining about the snacks that McLaren had provided to Button and the team on the grid inferring that the crumbs were a devious plan to lower grip on track. And then determining that the support vehicles wouldn't make the 107% rule. While Renault Squadron were having a laugh a fleet of Mercedes ( not the race team) drove around the track in a rather captain obvious mission to determine it was still too wet as the rain intensified when the heart of the storm passed over. 

The Race - The rest of the event after the long uneventful bit

After more than two hours of sitting around in the rain it finally stopped and it was time to get going again and an opportune time to have some more generic energy drink - and no I was no sponsoring the lead car on that matter, like my budget can do that. My best guess is that the FIA were competing with the ACO to see how long they could have a stoppage for - they managed suspend Le Mans for close to 2hrs for barrier repairs after an Audi accident so they had to compete. Yes they used the safety car for 2hrs but that's not possible in F1 so the red had to do.

...Whoa this getting on a bit - first started 5hrs ago now - but as on the stage faliure is not an option and here's the rest.

The cars got moving again behind the Safety Car and trundled around yet again for several consecutive laps - the track was increasingly drying out. The drying process was astonishingly quick considering the volume of water which landed on the circuit - but that dark ominous hand of Health and Safety brought itself into effect once more. The time under the safety car was spent far too long on the track to the point where D'Ambrosio headed to the pits under the yellow to put intermediates on, here was a track flooding in places and it was now ready for intermediates. This clearly showed it was out too long - F1 is starting to set a precedent where you're not allowed to race in the wet, god forbid it gets a little challenging from time to time, and even at the point of restart there were still complaints from the drivers. It's a process that happens through the field - they make stupid excessive complaints about the conditions just to influence race control to their personal whim. 

After 10 laps following the safety car which had now lead most of the laps run - the green flag finally re-appeared. The cars were released and a far few drivers took the restart straight into the pit lane to shed the now useless full wets including Schumacher who was about to mount a considerable charge. On the next lap a second train of drivers went for the better compound - including both Ferraris who had to queue in the pit lane which hurt Alonso dropping back to where Button ended up after his penalty before the red flag. 

It was this re-entry that counted against Fernando, because the exit of the pit lane being in turn 2 he had a faster apex speed and caught Button. Alonso went around the outside of Button into turn three but contact was made spinning the Ferrari to the outside becoming beached on a kerb and hitting the wall knocking him out of the race. The stricken car couldn't be recovered and as a result the safety car came out again time for Bernd to make some more laps after only two under green conditions, while Button recovered to the pit after sustaining a puncture in the collision. Vettel was gifted another opportunity to make a free unimpeded pit stop without losing time or position as the safety car was deployed. 

So the restart procedure started again with Vettel leading Kobayashi and Massa, but as the German backed up the field in the hairpin Sutil made some contact with the back of Nico Rosberg and had to pit for a new nose. But this phase of the race was all about Michael Schumacher who on the inters and a slippery track was making excellent progress. His first victim was Mark Webber who ran wide at the hairpin, while further up the road Paul Di Resta had a go at Renault Squadron leader Heidfeld but it was a clumsy attempt and Paul lost his wing in the process and earned a drive trough penalty for his efforts.  It was a stupid decision by the stewards considering Paul had already paid through damage and the need to replace the wing, no need for further intervention. 

Race control activated the DRS system which was disabled in the race due to the wet conditions - but deemed it dry enough to switch the system on. As the track dried out the relative pace of the cars changed dramatically - the Sauber of Kobayashi in second lost pace and as a result lost places to the cars behind, while Schumacher and Webber were going the other way towards the front. Both making their way past Renault Squadron. Schumacher caught up to the Massa/Kobayashi battle for second and managed to pass both of them in one corner after Kamui ran wide and held Massa up in the process opening a gap for Michael. In the sort out Kamui was shuffled down to 4th while Massa moved into 3rd with Schumacher on a charge headed after leader Vettel. Belying his advanced years the German was finally having a race resemblant of the former speed he was capable of. 

A dry line appeared on the track, miraculously so considering how wet things got before - and Webber was the first one to make the move onto slick tyres when only a thin margin of error was present - stray off the dry groove and the wall was waiting. Button was a lap later to make the change and within laps the rest followed but the overall order remained intact as everyone needed to move onto the slicks because the dry track would destroy the inters. But this caused a different problem - running online was fine but stray off it and the slicks would meet the wet and traction would evaporate. The first victim to this phenomena was Massa who had to venture offline to lap one of the HRT cars - once the tyres hit the wet surface he span into the wall under the bridge before turn 8. The collision only damaged the nose but forced a stop for a replacement and cost the Massa several positions. 

Next up to suffer from the contrast in conditions was Heidfeld as he closed up on Kobayashi once switching onto the slicks didn't have the pace of the Renault Squadron car. Trying to keep ahead he ran a little wide in turn two and just got onto the wet area of the track, this slowed his apex speed so Nick caught up faster than expected and ended up knocking his wing against the Sauber. As the Squadron Leader left exited the corner the damaged wing detached went under the car and exploded into a shower of shredded carbon. Skating on the remains jammed under the chassis Nick slid off down the escape road bouncing the wall in the process leaving behind field of debris and shattered wing. Because of the all the mess the Safety car was out for the fourth time not including the start of the race so Bernd was in for his fifth stint. 

Under this fourth intervention marshals made the most appalling effort at removing the debris I've seen on the television, several individuals entered the track haphazardly kicking at the shards and chunks as is the normal procedure. But there was this one guy who ran onto the track and fell over, his collegues left the track as One-stop Perez 2.0 approached, but this guy got up turned to leave and then fell over again. Luckily Perez 2.0 was able to recognise what was going on and had to slow to laugh at him anyway but was able to avoid running him over without any trouble. It was more the difficulty the marshal had moving that was most embarrassing - maybe some beverages were consumed in the red flag interval. 

Comedy staff aside it was time for another restart - with Vettel ahead of Schumacher in an all German shootout for the win. Webber was third and somehow Button had gone from 21st on the previous restart to 4th. Aided by going to slicks early and several cars in front crashing, receiving penalties or just making passes Button had become cleverly placed, and by running an alternative setup in qualifying was in prime position to make progress. 

The remaining 10 laps saw Vettel make an escape when Michael found that without some water on the line Schumacher no longer had an advantage and was down to the limit of the car so consequently backed into Webber and Button. The power of the DRS system easily allowed the Red Bull of Webber to glide past the limping Mercedes but once he reached the chicane the extra speed carried him past the breaking point and across the chicane. As a result he had to hand the position back to Michael but it wouldn't be a permanent change. On the next lap Webber charged again but Schumacher anticipated the challenge and defended, Webber got wide coming out of the final chicane and eased off to avoid ending the race in the wall of champions - this opened the door for Button who was up to 3rd and still really pacey. 

Target locked firmly onto the back of Michael's car Button launched his own attack on the same back straight Webber had made his attempts. The McLaren DRS system seemed far more effective making the pass effortless which ever way Schumacher went to defend the speed of the Button was going to take him past well before the corner - next stop Vettel. With five laps remaining a win was tantalisingly close.

The laps faded away as Button gained time on Vettel, although the German picked up his pace to slow the assault. Behind them Webber finally managed to relegate Schumacher off the podium, the Mercedes just wasn't able to keep pace with the Red Bull on the virtually dry track making the pass inevitable. Even further back life was falling apart in the force India garage in the final laps both Di Resta and Sutil managed to clip walls around the circuit off camera ending both their races. Additionally Rosberg had made contact with Kobayashi damaging his wing which parted company towards the end, and in turn one Maldonado managed to spin and couldn't get restarted for unknown reasons Pastor himself just said "I spun in the wet" but no idea if he hit something. 

Then there was the final lap - and if you are still managing to read this, well done it has gone on for a major amount of time it is now 11pm and this has taken literally all day so bonus points will be in a separate post and totalled later. 

Button was now in sight of the leading Red Bull - flirting with the edge of the DRS window. Vettel was pushing hard to keep him more than a second behind prevent the activation of the system but as they crossed the line with one to go the gap was 0.9s. Button threw the car into turn one and gained a tenth or two but still too far back to have a lunge into the upcoming chicane. That wasn't the important section of the lap - it was the run out of the hairpin Vettel needed to be concerned about that's where DRS would take effect, that's where he would be vulnerable. The things went a little pear-shaped for the Red Bull driver - carrying too much speed into turn four, not a huge amount maybe just one or two miles an hour too much but it was enough. His right rear glanced the treacherous slippery wet outside line - the car shifted into oversteer and slid out onto the tarmac run-off area catching the slide expertly but the lead was handed over to Button who could not be caught.

The McLaren crossed the line to complete an epically entertaining race with crashes, biblical amounts of rain, disoriented marshals and enough stewards enquiries to last the FIA for weeks. Button had started the race hitting some competitors on of them his team-mate - that Hamilton guy who had to sit in the garage while the greatest race of the season maybe even the decade unfolded. Red Bull rounded off the podium with Schumacher in fourth. Somewhere an incident involving Petrov and Kobayashi had occurred which moved the Russian in front while Kamui finished two wide with a recovering Massa who made the pass using DRS across the line. The moment in itself summed up the intensity of the race - this post may not be able convey that but it was immensity of the race.

My excitement may have been compounded by the sleep deprivation of Le Mans and the sheer magnitude of that event had sunk in but it was a race full of shouting at the television at moments of stupidity, daft marshals, incidents of friendly fire at McLaren, contact, a raft of overtaking manoeuvres and of course that final lap. The points will be written up tomorrow because this has taken ages, I am going to need more practice at these crazy races so dear F1... more of that please... thanks  

 

Canada: Pre-race

Greetings Internet

Right now it's the middle of the morning and this report is going to be rather interesting as I am now slowly feeling the effects of fatigue as I continue the long night stint up with the Le Mans race. So there will very likely be typos and all sorts of spelling errors as at some point I will be writing by hitting my fatigued face off the keyboard, as all the letters blur into one mass of grey and white while the eyes begin to sting with the TV just showing intense lights from the cars in the dark.

But plow on I shall - I will not be defeated by this wall of sleepiness, armed with race snacks and three cans of energy drink left to power my way through the black abyss of night's velvety curtain. Somewhere in my hazy vision a qualifying session did take place through the delayed virtue of the magical portal that is the iPlayer. So even though I was out lending a hand behind the scenes at the greatest theatrical group on the surface of the planet - well the junior division of said group - I saw what happened. Can I remember any of it however is a different matter.

Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the image

Qualifying 


While the safety car was out at Le Mans when another Audi reduced itself to it's component parts annihilating the barrier in the process fortunately driver was unscathed barring a minor cut from the impact - there was the opportunity to check up on the F1 phase of the weekend.

The green fuzzy looking blob at the end of the pit lane shaped blur activated for the start of Q1 - and a few moments of refocussing later things took a little more shape. It became clear that the first shapes coming down the pit-lane were the two Virgin racing cars, and with my fuzzy vision One-stop Perez started looking a lot like a rather older Spaniard. My vision was not deceiving me and One-stop had been replaced by Pedro De La Rosa who was fired by the team last year - as Sergio was still feeling a little sick from the accident in Monaco despite being cleared to race.

McLaren entered the session with a high downforce setting preparing for a possible wet race tomorrow - or later on today as it now is. Life out front were fairly simple with Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren even with the alternate setup not having a problem setting a fast enough time to make it through. The fight to avoid relegation was between Sauber and Torro Rosso with Lotus not too far behind waiting to pounce if one of the others messed things up. One-Stop Perez version 2 brushed the wall releasing a massive spark of wheel rim on concrete but the car remained unaffected, while managing to find enough speed to save his session. Team-mate Kobayashi joined Perez 2.0 by jumping the Sauber into 14th, and as a result Alguesuari was bumped out of the session. At the end of the session Trulli made out-qualified Heikki for the first time this year so slight change of order at that end of the spectum.

With the default 6 cars and Jaimie removed - and D'Ambrosio outside the 107% so up to the stewards to determine if he will start - it was onto the next session and even less of that sank in during my sleepless state. At the top of the time sheets the Red Bull drivers were trading fastest lap before Vettel claimed final domination of the charts setting a new lap record in the process. This didn't sit too well with a red fuzzy mass which timing assured me was Massa's Ferrari - who found some more pace and plonked the blob at the top of the blurred list of numbers.

Bugger - just dropped my earphone in my tea - so now have an earful of cold tea and I'm peering towards the bag of race snack, pretzels time methinks.

...Anyway where was I, ah yes. Di Resta was the closest to piercing the blockade that is the top 10 in his orangey looking splodge but fell short of the cut off point by four tenths. The Renault Squadron were in rear gunner mode in 9th and 10th Vitaly ahead of Nick, and no-one was gaining entry into the final section of qualifying. Naturally Kamui wasn't intent on giving up on the session and threw everything the Sauber could give at it - running off at turn 9, and finishing with a fantastic drift in near the wall of champions. This confined everyone outside the top 5 teams into the darkened depths of relegation with Williams, Sauber and Force India knocked out with the remaining STR of Buemi.

Things rolled seamlessly into Q3, but by this point an albino elephant could have stormed into the room and I wouldn't have noticed - and based on what the siblings have done to this room the aftermath wouldn't be too dissimilar either. Ann the television is still a wash with yellow and while blinding lights - the commentators have disassembled an alarm and thrown it over the balcony, so lack of energy drinks there. But back to the qualifying thingy - unlike previous races all of the main contenders went to the track at the same time. Now either by this point every one had become a sleep induced blurry mass or they were taking to the circuit to avoid being caught out by a red flag which had been frequent in practice.

As per the form book Vettel was the man to beat setting a staggering time of a 1:13.014 a new lap record and proved to be an unbeatable benchmark. McLaren were struggling the wet wing setting crippling their speed and hurting their times, but gambling on a wet race later today. Or at the rate this post is being written the race has probably finished three weeks ago and my tea has gotten really cold. With McLaren out of the picture in this session Ferrari took the fight to the Red Bull team - Alonso coming within two tenths of Vettel and Massa 0.18 behind him. Webber was without KERS again in his Red Bull - and somewhere in the garage  Adrian Newey will be beating KERS system and shouting a lot - was demoted to fourth.

...And now there is an Ant on my screen where on earth has that come from....but anyway.

Renault Squadron held station as rear gunners for the top ten but inverted their flying formation shifting Heidfeld to the top of the queue....Where's that ant gone? Mercedes were mixing with the slowed McLarens with Rosberg and Hamilton - who seems less grumpy this weekend after realising what a moron he was in Monaco - were the victors of their more experienced team-mates. But no-one was going to usurp Vettel who went onto take yet another pole position - but he's not getting a bonus point for that far too repetitive...


The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners 


Even though I have the sleep deprived mental capacity of a shed at the moment and there is a chance I may end up giving a bonus point to the nearest cat this part of the evening/morning or whenever it is now. It's dark and the tele is just a bunch of lights whizzing around in the dark where a Lotus has gone missing in the night somewhere possibly kidnapped by elves who knows. But mythical Lotus stealing armies aside now onto the points allocations

• Jarno Trulli - For finally beating Heikki in qualifying 
• Felippe Massa - For being much closer to Alonso then usual
• One-Stop Perez 2.0 - For being thrown into the car at the last moment and only being .3 behind Kamui
• Kobayashi - For a fantastic slide in the final chicane, in my tired state that was worth noticing 
• Bob the cat: For being the closest cat
• Audi Racing team: For making strong cars that have suffered huge accidents at Le Mans today
• Shoestring Theare Company: For being epic over the night - 10 bonus points

I know I've given more than the usual five but it's a special weekend and after all it's my championship and I control the rules - oh the power I have - cue evil laugh.

The race thing later on 

Well with the threat of rain on the cards things could get very interesting indeed and we could see the first wet race of the season. McLaren could have played things right and could be in good shape for the race on a track where overtaking is possible even when DRS is turned off in the wet. In any weather state Red Bull will be strong and very hard to beat because of the inherent high downforce of the vehicle will set them up well in the rain. 

And the safety car is out at Le Mans again - #13 in the wall - but nowhere near as much damage as the Audi crashes. 

Anyway. Canada does encourage safety cars and carnage so as like in Monaco some strong strategy mixed with catching the yellows at the right time can allow a Mid feild car up into the FIA assigned points or even more importantly Bonus points. Whether I'll be awake enough to understand any of it is a different matter I have saved enough energy drinks to see the race and make readable notes but whether it will help is a whole new kettle of piranhas. So I'm looking forward to what is only a few hours away which could easily be a race to surpass what was an amazing event in Monaco.

Round Seven: Canada Preview

Greetings Internet,

The season returns this weekend for it's only trip over to North America, setting up at the circuit which inspired the compound for this years tyres, designed to replicate what the weather beaten Canadian tarmac induces across the rest of the season. Which does open the question of how will these new tyres perform on the cheese grater surface in Montreal.

Amidst the higher degradation Canada does have the tendency to throw some extra madness into the mix, on a circuit tightly packed on an island on the St Lawrence Seaway space is not a attainable commodity. So the track is not too dissimilar to the 'street' track in Valencia which will be the next event. The walls surround the circuit and make safety car interventions just as likely as they were in Monaco - though I wouldn't be expecting a red flag this time, but I didn't expect one then either.

But then there is something else rather epic race going on this weekend - a race so epic it almost overshadows one of the greatest races on the F1 calender. A race which eats up my sleep for the weekend cutting out the need to visit my bed from Saturday morning until Sunday night - spending the night in between sitting on my chair watching the awesome Le Mans 24hrs. Or at least 18hrs of it as I do have some stage responsibilities which naturally takes priority, so as a result both the post race and qualifying entries may be delayed through fatigue and the aforementioned responsibilities. 

Here is a little video of the Le Mans lap filmed in the Blogmobile - the time is rather slow because the filming lowered the FPS down to single figures so couldn't get the maximum out of the car and there was some traffic in Tetre Rouge. An off at Mulsanne corner and track inaccuracies means that any time isn't that comparable  - the fastest AI car is 7s slower than the actual track although in different cars. But issues aside here is a lap of the Circuit de la Sarthe which will be pounded around for an entire 24hrs, the onboard shot shows the limited amount of visibility inside a closed cockpit LMP1 machine such as this years 908 or Kronos Racing entry.

The Track

Sourced from FIA.com

Despite the Canadian GP often being one of the best races of the year generating Monaco spec madness on a circuit that encourages racing and easily allows overtaking into several of the corners on the lap. There will be several supporers who will criticise the layout for the number of chicanes and the stop-start nature of the lap, that it doesn't flow like Spa or Silverstone. But it's a lap that I enjoy, running the car up to the walls in the chicanes and of course the high chance of madness the track offers

Over recent years this leg, Canada has offered up some spectacular races filled with pit lane collisions, disintegrating tarmac, monumental accidents and of course the ominous threat of "The Wall Of Champions" lurking on the exit of the final chicane which has caught out so many drivers. And will likely strike again this weekend especially with the large concrete mounds that seem to be springing up in corners all over the world which will fire off anyone trying to cut some extra inches off the corner.

But instead of just rambling on about corners and walls, here is the now compulsory video, which is more effective in showing the layout of the circuit and showing how close the walls are. This week as with in Monaco I will be running an alternate Blogmobile to recognise the other big race of the weekend and a LMP1 Epsilon Euskadi car will be used instead so the times won't be comparable with the F1 grid. So I won't be making the 107% rule and will be beaten by Team Blue Peter.

Working at 15 seconds slower of where expect the cars to be running this weekend (the original Blogmobile produced a 1:22, so maybe making the bottom of the grid there) the LMP1 class machine isn't too designed for the more restricted confines of Montreal.

What to expect 

Well I said it last time in Monaco and it turned out exactly right - madness did ensue with safety cars and red flags and this time is no different anything can and probably will happen in Canada. That level of unpredicability remains extremely high this weekend on a track which punishes tyres and brakes - whilst often falling apart and attracting carnage.

Form should be very similar to Monaco as the track favours the same properties in a car, focussing a lot on mechanical grip rather then aerodynamic although not to quite the same proportions as on the streets. So this should again make the gap between Red Bull and the chasing teams of McLaren and Ferrari who mounted a very strong challenge last time but were thwarted by the red flag. Vettel of course will be looking to continue the complete domination he has started this season only being beaten by poor tyres in China. Well on the way to taking major control over that regular championship thing which of course isn't as important as the official bonus points championship.

This is another event where mid-field runners will be hoping to benefit of the inevitable mayhem and with the help of some clever strategy score some decent 'real' points and perhaps some all important bonus points. The likes of Sauber and Force India used that plan to great effect in Monaco and given the higher chances for overtaking in Montreal some ambitious drivers could make the difference. It's a track where the pilot can overcome the peformance of the car - as it is more talent limited then car limited so there could well be some unusual names in the top 10. Teams like the Renault Squadron and Mercedes will need to look over their shoulders towards Willams, Sauber and Torro Rosso because it is going to be really close.

It will be intersting to see which teams count themselves safe on the harder tyres in Q1 when Lotus have been making significant gains and could threaten to knock out any overconfident contenders looking to save tyres. But on a track to do what is now being called a Webber - Montreal would be a good pick because passing is possible and madness is almost certain.

KERs and DRS


KERs will be very useful this weekend given the long back straight after L'Epingle hairpin and before the final chicane - a good exit can open up into a strong challenge for a position. But in addition to the main straight KERs could be used to effect an opportunistic pass into several of the corners on the lap including turns 1, 3, and 8 where with a good run and a degree of bravery and co-operation in equal dosage an overtake is possible. Everything will then be compounded by the unpredictable tyre condition and threat of safety cars which place all sorts of cars out of position so KERs opportunism could become a crucial weapon.

Now when we come to DRS things become rather interesting, for the first time this season there will be two separate DRS zones on the lap. The first of which will be on the long back straight starting on the exit of the hairpin - DRS will then be reactivated after the final chicane for use on the front straight. This new system only has a singe detection zone which counts for both active zones, giving the driver behind two chances at completing the pass.

What is not clear at this point is that if a pass is made at the chicane will the passed driver be allowed to activate it, or does the lead driver having gained a position get a free activation on the main straight. Adding an additional zone in immediate succession does create more permutations and complexity but could make things very interesting considering the length of the back straight and the proximity of the walls, after all we don't want to replicate Webber's accident at Valencia with less run off.

Canada is one of the most anticipated races of the year and is often filled with intrigue, mayhem and excitement. Combined with a later UK start time it makes it one of the great events of the year and paired with the outstanding Le Mans race Sunday is going to be brilliant. I won't be in the house for qualifying so the report on that will be a little delayed and will be written during the night under a veil of tiredness. I'll be typing away in the dark after catching up with the session on the iplayer after my final night of backstage duties. But however you watch this weekend one thing is for certain - it is going to be mega.