Round Seventeen: India Review

Greetings Internet,

After a night of pseudo partying proved once more I'm completely socially incapable and more of a black hole draining all the energy into a darkened abyss of despair - and to top it all of it turns out my attempt at costuming was a complete failure and completely unrecognisable. I shall have to also apologise to Lynyrd Skynyrd for converting their most famous tune regarding a southern US state - as I managed to convert such a well known song into a series of broken sounds and unrecognisable notes. At least the scenario was recovered by my musical partner at the time being exceptional to cover my failures.

But the inadequacies of the day before was no reflection upon the night, I just wasn't capable of enjoyment in the maximum extent - blame it on the madness or something - however this made waking up for the beginning of the race broadcast at 8:30 this morning a little more challenging. Alas this was something I could do right, even though I spend a while finding the remote to the digi-box, when things were all sorted out in the dim light of the early morning it was process the inaugural Grand Prix of India. A race where one man who had got absolutely everything right was a certain German bloke adding yet more points to his scoreboard and another record to the tally.

Behind him was a race of not too much action for the most part, more of a Korma than a Vindaloo event but sprinkled with a little dusting of controversy and rivalry to complete the dish. With a side serving of pompadoms because who doesn't like pompadoms.

The Race

credit to F1Fanatic for the image

With the second half of yesterday's bag of Bombay mix at the ready - I know pushing the boat out on race snacks - if I had kept the cookies then I would have eaten them as well but they were donated to the party thing. Along with a box of dates - sad I know but it's the closest I'll ever come to that sort of thing. So rations in position and the remote retrieved from it's hiding place - under the drawers for some reason - it was time to get things underway. For some reason both HRT cars had taken a penalty and started from the back row, no-one seemed to mention it or care about it all.

Prior to the start there is was a lot of chatter about a lack of a clean or dirty side of the grid - as the racing line moves from one edge of the track to the other where only occasional grid slots will be cleaned by the traffic. So consequently the start was fairly even, both Red Bulls getting of the line equally well, but it was Alonso who left the line a little faster. He was presented with a wall of Red Bull and looked to the outside opening the door for Button to take third.

It was all rather orderly further back - until you reached Rubens Barrichello who ran into the back of his team-mate and pushing Kamui off in the process. Kobayashi then span on the dust of the track and into the path of Timo Glock doing enough damage to put them both out of the race. Further round the lap into turn three it was the turn of local driver Narain Karthekeyan to unleash some contact setting his sight on Jarno Trulli spinning the Lotus into the infield giving him a puncture for his troubles. While back up with the front division Button was able to drive around Webber for second before turning into turn 4. That would be the last time we would see either of the top two again. Vanishing off into the distance.

Jenson made a brief appearance on the TV as Webber had a go on the exit of the DRS zone into turn four, but couldn't make the pass as Jenson eased him wide to keep the position. Following being rather grumpy and miserable in the qualifying program yesterday Hamilton was driving like someone had stolen his kitten - languishing down in 6th behind his all time best friend of the year - Felipe Massa who'd passed him off the start. His pace was down on the cars in front and was generally rather lethargic. 

After the exiting starter was brought to the Indian GP table - there was a long wait for the main course to be delivered. A lot of sitting around staring at the drinks wondering if the waiter had got lost and ended up Narnia instead, and given the lack of activity on the track Narnia sounded like the better option. Pit stops came and went and only Schumacher had shuffled himself up the field, but even that was earlier on in the event. 

Then the second course finally arrived - the portion size was rather small but was spiced rather nicely with a hint of controversy and a seasoning of salt crushed firmly into to some old wounds. Two of the greatest of friends - if that's that what you can call the raging fire of rivalry that exists between Massa and Hamilton - seemed once more to appear battling one another. The interchange kicked off when Massa got a little sideways in turn one erasing the gap between the two drivers, using the DRS to move into a possible overtaking position.

It was on the second lap when the McLaren was able to get alongside the Ferrari into turn three, forcing Massa to run a tighter line compromising his exit. Naturally Lewis capitalised on the slow exit speed drawing alongside into turn five - not really an overtaking area by any stretch of the imagination, it would only work if the other driver gave up. Considering this was not the Ferrari of Alonso who likes giving up as per Korea - and also the joyous friendship these two had conceding position wasn't on the agenda - inevitably the pattern of the season dictated that contact was made, damaging the front wing and spinning the Ferrari out. Now this is the interesting bit - here we have a racing incident with both parties equally displeased at each other not wanting to yield at all - but the stewards threw a drive through penalty at Massa. A ruling that boggles the mind (one EJ agreed with but he's insane) with all the decision making skills of a vegetable patch.

However within the lunacy of the whole situation the ultimate highlight was the reaction of Rowan Atkinson in the McLaren garage, which was immensely hilarious and was very Mr Bean-esque with the famous expressions painted upon his face. 

Attrition was starring to play a role in the race, seeing mechanical failures for both Maldonado and Sebastien Buemi - which in the modern era of F1 is rather unusual - then life for Felipe Massa was getting even worse when his front wing began to resonate as the speeds increased with the low fuel. The floppy nose had to be changed in case it disintegrated, but within laps of returning to the circuit he decided to get a little more intimate with the curbs once again. Giving them a fair clout with the front left suspension this time in the same chicane with the same result - broken suspension and retirement.

But that signalled the end of the main course of the race, and plunged the race into a second phase of inactivity, where more pit-stop phases were completed - teams slowly shifting onto the harder compound for the final phase. At the very front all by themselves Jenson has closed in on Vettel but the German bloke had enough pace to keep him at arms length. So with nothing better to do several drivers started to wave rather frantically from the cockpit - and who was the target of their rage - well it was the local man, Narain, who was doing a naff job of being lapped.

Instead of brining out a brilliant desert to round off the race, there was only a lukewarm coffee and a stale biscotti biscuit to round off the event, and that biscuit was delivered by the remaining Torro Rosso of Jaime El Incognito who was making progress. Moving towards the front of the division one pack passing Bruno Senna who was yet to stop and Adrian Sutil to claim 8th position. The battle for the final points scoring position was less of a battle and more of a procession as Sutil had dropped One-Stop Perez who held Wing Commander Petrov for Renault Squadron. Although formation flying duties in the past few races seem to be held by the Mercedes Luftwaffe who were again in position further up the road.

The cold coffee was drained down the throat of the race and it was the German bloke once more who left the party in front claiming another win and taking the record for the most laps lead in a single season. Behind him Two-Cakes-Up Button proved once more to be the only man to come close to challenging Vettel, while Alonso rounded out the podium. Webber having lost out in the pit stops had fallen down to fourth place a significant margin clear of the German air force, who in turn finished ahead of the even more miserable now Hamilton in 7th. Alguersuari finished 8th, claiming the top division 2 spot ahead of the home favourite Force India team represented by Sutil, One-stop Perez rounded out the points scoring positions from a poor qualifying performance.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners


In a race which for the most part was about as entertaining as a bowl of rice pudding there was the occasional sultana to make things a little interesting. Those sultanas may not deserve bonus points considering they were accident related but I'm sure points can be given out somewhere on the grid - or outside it all.

10pts - One-stop Perez - for dragging an under performing car from the very bottom of Q2 into the points
8pts - Rowan Atkinson - for the greatest trackside expression in the history of the universe
6pts - Heikki Kovalainen  - for being far and away the best of the newer cars - yes he only beat Rubens because of his wing change, but on pace decimating division three
5pts - Helen & Paul - for throwing a brilliant party - I apologies for being a poor guest but that was no reflection on the quality of the event well done
4pts - Holly - for countering my rather poor efforts in 'Sweet home Alabama' to make it sound like a song rather than the mess I turned it in to... think I'll stick to this side of a computer screen for now
3pts - Jenson Button - for still being the only car to really be able to challenge the pace of Vettel
2pts - Jaime El Incognito - for being the leader of the highly competitive division two
1pt - India - for putting together an impressive facility - just the opening year the wide overtaking zones were too dusty to use and hampered the racing.

The Also official Penalties Championship


After dishing out some penalties in first session of the race weekend, the stewards were back in play now for the final phase of the event, both before and during the race itself and these were handed out as follows.

• HRT - both drivers started from the back row of the grid citing some form of penalty of a mysterious nature, stealing onion bhajis from Force India perhaps, something that needs figuring out
• Felipe Massa - drive through penalty - handed to Massa for a racing incident, perhaps after seeking the advice from a magic 8 ball instead of using actually intelligence.

The Still Official Dubious Dealings Championship

There are the official penalties that the FIA stewards hand out and then there are these penalty points to he handed out to those the officials miss out or have now authority over. Here are the penalty points winners from the Indian GP

• The Stewards: A fairly obvious penalty point for the one of the most mad decisions of the year, if not the most deranged 
• My vocal system: For generally being completely and utterly incompetent - there only to inject a little ounce of humiliation into life
• Columbo - For impersonating my costume, yes my effort was rather poor and lacked conviction and I probably deserved the lack of identification but still - I also blame Columbo

Looking on to Abu Dhabi

Heading off now to the penultimate round of the season which is a shame really, knowing the season is so close to completion, on the cusp of plunging us into the dark and murky waters of the off-season. A lonely world where cars are locked away in their secretive workshops and factories across the world, but mainly in the south. 

However before we fall into the abyss motor-racing forgot - we head off into the most futuristic track on the calendar, a world powered by LEDs and glowing colour changing buildings. Where the pit lane burrows under the racetrack and hotels tower across it, Abu Dhabi offers one of the more spectacular sights of the season in race that tears through the evening and dives into the twilight hours of the night. A track however that is not without its flaws, a product of the pseudo street track design plan - it's too busy in places with sequences of unnecessary corners, focussing too much on the spectacle and compromising the racing.

But it is a track built in the modern era and as a result fits perfectly into the DRS/KERs design plan with long straights leading into tight chicanes there to encourage contact and damage, which in turn will set the random penalty generator into motion if this race is anything to go by. So on paper, if this was actually on any form of paper, the race this year sounds rather exciting even though the championship is not on offer when the cars set wheel in the Emirates this time round.

We have a fortnight before next race, so until then this is farewell from this little corner of the internet.  

India - Pre-Race

Greetings Internet,

Given some rather tight time constraints today, this is going to be compiled under some pressure so those little things called spelling and grammar are now running out the door before they get murdered horrifically.

But back to the race weekend, the Indian GP circuit was unveiled to the world through the portal of television and the initial verdict seems rather good, the drivers and teams are enjoying it - an unusual challenge for a manufactured modern race circuit. However the interpretations from the internet have been a little deceptive some versions of the track showed some very impressive undulations which are not quite as dramatic in reality. The prospect of a corkscrew bend has faded sadly - I was really hoping for that, and as F1 doesn't have plans to visit Laguna Seca in the near or distant future the chance of having a corkscrew bend is minimal.

It does seem to be suffering the typical new track problems of low track grip with a lot of dust lying on the tarmac from the construction work and from lack of running to clear it up. There were even stray dogs in FP1 something we haven't seen since GP2 in Turkey some years back when Bruno Senna was racing in the series. One of the most unusual features of the this latest edition to the calendar is the rather odd corner entry sections, where the entry to the corners are significantly wider than the rest of the layout. The logic behind this idea seems to stem from a concept to improve overtaking by adding more space in the breaking zone for dives to the apex. Unfortunately as discussed in the commentary these passing zones, will be a lot duster then the racing line as the tarmac is still new and those lines won't be used until attempting overtaking manoeuvres.

But a new track in a new part of the world, watched under the influence of Bombay mix still produced the same result - with that German bloke out front.

Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk

Qualifying 


The green light fell on the first competitive session around the new Indian track, and track surface condition was a concern among the drivers, with Daniel Ricciardo's race engineer telling his driver to wait around for other cars to clear the dust. Something that the other teams tend to rely on the bottom teams for instead of the other way round, but Lotus were the first to take to the track while Wing Commander Petrov set the early lead time prior to the division one cars coming out to change the standings.

It was Ferrari who were the first to conquer the time-sheet with Alonso who wasn't giving up quite yet, while others were struggling with the dusty surface both Rubens and Massa running off in the not-quite-a-corkscrew corner which is rather flat instead. When Rubens rejoined he got a little in the way of his best friend Michael Schumacher who gave the obligatory angry wave as he sailed past.

The rest of the session went to plan for the big teams with the exception of Two-Cakes-Up Button who was struggling with car balance. Jenson had to switch to the softer tyres to escape the threat of the drop-gone in Q1, fighting past a Lotus and the remaining Virgin of D'Ambrosio after Glock retired with gearbox issues. With moments to go both Jenson and Michael who'd gained another vibration for the second consecutive weekend - I'm sure there's something Michael's not telling us - both managed to progress pushing Koybayashi in an off-pace Sauber into relegation with the newer teams.

Into Q2 now and once again the top division members were able to do their runs and lock their position in the next session, with Button curtailing his running to counter the extra set he used in Q1. With Vettel taking the top spot. However it was the battle for the other end of the top that was much closer - with Renault, Force India and Torro Rosso all fast enough to claim positions in the final session. Torro Rosso and Vitaly were the inital holders of the positions as Michael had slipped out of the qualifying position.

The places swapped within the bottom of the top 10 where Schumacher was unable to pull himself up behind this team-mate in the division 1.5 spot in 7th. Both Torro Rossos were performing consistently shuffling Petrov to the bottom of the pile in the shootout qualification zone, clinging on to the final spot for dear life. With mere seconds left on the timer all looked set for the last phase but Adrian Sutil driving for the local team Force India pipped the Russian and the Torro Rosso team into 8th place knocking the Renault Squadron car into relegation

Then there were only ten - or in reality 7 because once more the bottom three only performed out laps and set no time, so more penalty points coming their way.  It was Hamilton who left the pit lane first - still wearing his defeated demeanour after a penalty in the morning practice on Friday, but his opening time was beaten by both Ferraris headed by Alonso. But the drivers were doing two flying laps per run due the conservative tyres provided by Pirelli, and on the second run Vettel went to the front with Lewis in second Webber in third.

Moving onto the second phase of the session the initial runners were joined by Button and Rosberg who were only to perform one run to conserve tyres. However there no change at the top of the pile as Vettel widened the margin from the cars behind him, and the cars behind were headed by Hamilton - who will be demoted on the grid to 5th. Things were going less to plan for Massa in the Ferrari who clipped a curb a little too hard and damaged the front suspension rather badly before nosing it into the barrier. The resulting yellows prevented any cars further down improving their times, and only Button improved to 4th as he was passing the accident as it happened. But another session was defeated by the German bloke claiming a 16th pole for the team this year.

The official points championship points winners.


After not assigning points in Korea the Saturday scores are back on the schedule and here they are.

• HRT - for getting both cars ahead of the Virgin team for the first time this season
• Torro Rosso - for making a strong comeback at the end of year to improve constructors position
• Adrian Sutil - for a last minute charge into the final phase to jump to the top of division 2
• The Bun Shop - for still remembering who I am after not being there for long time
• Red Bull - for reclaiming the pole position and claiming a remarkable 16th one this season

The also official penalties championship

The FIA were in action earlier in the weekend dishing out penalties in first practice resulting in three place grid penalties - and a five place grid drop for Petrov from his accident in Korea but that was already documented last race. This time round the penalties were handed to One-stop Perez and of course another penalty for the run-away penalties championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

The still official dubious dealings championship

Three drivers are to gain penalty points after not coming out to play in the final session - handed to Jaime Alguersuari, Sebastien Buemi, and Adrian Sutil.

Looking to Tomorrow

Things are all set for the inaugural Indian GP and it going to be an interesting prospect albeit a rather early start at 8:30 once more, and after tonight's party who knows what I am going to remember of it all depending on how much cake is consumed through the night. But it is going to be something worth waking up for, on a track which is generating a lot of errors so far this weekend so throw 24 cars onto the same road all at the same time and madness could result. Then of course there are those widened breaking zones could provide some more intrigue.

With only 25 minutes left till my ride gets here this Angel is signing off finishing off the costume and - if budget allowed would be departing in a black classic Chevrolet Impala but some things don't go to plan. All in all things are going to be outstanding where this little blog pretends to be social. Until tomorrow - farewell.

Round Seventeen: India Preview

Greetings Internet,

Here we are again, with another race in prospect this time jetting off to parts anew -  into a land of curries, rather unusual films and a whole lot of cricket. So this will be a significant change of pace for the country that spends it's life watching a team of people bat a ball about and give England a thorough beating - not that is much of an achievement these days. Whatever cricket is anyway - it's not important as the action is of a very different sort, in the sense that there actually will be some action compared to this whole cricket nonsense, it's safe to say the blog can't do cricket, or any other sports for that matter.

But all that aside, the world of motor-racing is leaving a very dark couple of weekends behind, with the deaths of Indycar driver Dan Wheldon at the race at the Las Vegas motor speedway and MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli in Sepang. The blog sends its sincerest condolences to the families of two exceptional competitors.

Hopefully this weekend we can throw the chequered flag on a more positive note, exploring a new venue with a degree of undulation and corner variation, something of a nice surprise given the other recent modern racing circuits that have joined the season. If the proposed street track in New Jersey is anything to go by originality is a rather dead concept, so on the surface India does look rather promising combining several completely different elements. Alas I've no experience of the track considering I never heard back from the creator what appeared to be the most accurate version of the layout so the rest of this report will be guessing an speculation having not seen any on track action or driven the lap. But here is the map of the place anyway.

The Track

credit to the FIA for the track map

Right so what do we know about the Indian GP track, from my perspective sitting here I know quite a lot of nothing to be fair I only have this diagram for reference and a couple of CGI imagined videos on the internet including Red Bull's overly dramatised preview video. But I can apply logic and reasoning to the equation because I've seen several races - motor-racing is a nice replacement for having a life, because who wants one of those things anyway.

Looking at the lap it seems to fall into the same two categories that we saw in Korea, an opening section composed from long straight high speed sections linked with hairpins. The initial complex resembles a more refined version of the one in the cancelled Sakhir track in Bahrain, but what this layout has is some track undulation - something often sadly lacking from recent additions to the season. The road climbs up towards what is marked as turn three on the diagram - similar to the second corner at the A1-Ring in Austria. The back straight also undulates - dipping in the middle before rising into turn four (and yes this process isn't working out quite as well as when I had the video).

After this stage then the track heads off into the second phase of the lap where the undulation makes the layout rather interesting - apparently - based on the variety of different interpretations of the lap who really knows what's coming up in reality. I've seen versions where the 6/7 chicane resembles a watered down version of the infamous Laguna Seca corkscrew - I'd be pleased if it actually turns out that way in the real world. 

Overall it looks rather entertaining in theory - and eventually I'll have a go when a version gets released for my simulator or further down the line when I acquire F1 2011 for the PS3 and even then that version will be an interpretation based on guesswork and estimations. Normally this would be the point where I'd reveal the video I'd so caring put together over many hours sweating over a lukewarm keyboard... well perhaps not. But you get the picture but alas I have none considering there is no representative version of the layout available to me. So instead I have this, or rather I have found this on YouTube showing a CGI rendering of the track with a couple of Red Bulls running round it, it's not perfect and over-dramatised but it's all you've got.

What to expect

With no previous running to go on, or any real idea on how the track is going to flow and react to the cars on track I honestly have no idea how things are going to play out. That said however I doubt the hierarchy the grid will be completely shuffled up by the new track and HRT walk away on Sunday morning with a 1-2. The usual suspects will be towards the front, which of the division one cars the new layout and the completely clean sheet all round will benefit the most is a complete unknown. On paper having a similar design to the last venture in Korea - Red Bull and McLaren will be the class of the field - even more reason for Alonso to give up once more. 

Then back in the midfield it's anyone's guess - under normal circumstances this is an extremely close competition between the teams, but take them all to a new facility where they are all on an equal playing field with no previous data and information the battle will be so much more intense. With the amount of races and points running out the urgency to claim a higher rung on the championship table for the mid-grid teams increases, looking for more prize money and a better pit stall for the 2012 season. In this group of teams Renault Squadron, Force India, Torro Rosso and Sauber are all competing for to be the best of division two.

Further back on the final rows of the grid there is a little change for HRT, the Australian Daniel Ricciardo has been temporarily replaced by local driver Narain Karthekeyan who was originally in the race seat before Red Bull expanded their enterprise to five cars by buying half of the HRT squad. But whatever the changes the order at that end of the grid will remain the same Lotus will dominate the bottom trio as per normal and then Virgin Racing will be next up with HRT. Where there is a chance of some overlap.

DRS and KERs

 

This weekend sees the return of a dual DRS system - the first of the two zones is located on the front straight with the detection point set on the exit of the penultimate corner while being activated on the exit of the final corner. The second of the two zones is activated half way down the major back straight that links turn three and turn four. In qualifying conditions DRS will mainly come into effect in the first sector where there is only four corners and a decent quantity of straight bits between them. The rest of the the lap is composed of shorter distances between the corners and the track undulation could unsettle the car if the DRS is deployed.

Then there is the KERs system - which could come into play mainly off the exit of turn three - to cover the distance from the exit of the corner until the DRS can be activated half-way down. As we saw in Korea with Hamilton defending from Webber using the KERs to build a gap to counter the advantage that the DRS would provide. Additionally it can be used as an overtaking aid as well as a defensive mechanism - to catch a car in front before deploying the DRS to finish the pass.

Venturing into a different time zone paves the way for a whole new time to set the alarm for an Saturday morning with the activities kicking off at 8:30am - the beginning of a very long day. Considering something remarkable is on the horizon for the blog later on, the blog essentially being me will be heading off to a party, I know it's almost unheard of. But I will be in disguise, not that I'll be offering any clues here as to what this disguise will be. If there was a video a temporary blogmobile would have been a clue but it was not to be. It is one of the few times of the year the blog does socialisation but I shall not complain it should be a very enjoyable night.

So whatever the rest of you have planned - some may also be attending this event - this weekend the wait for the newest GP on the calendar is almost over and the Indian GP promises to be a rather interesting addition to the world of Formula one. Although I have no idea how much of the race I shall remember given a weekend of partying and wearing questionable outfits, so Sunday's contribution may be rather disjointed however this plays out - ready the Bombay mix race snacks for India's début race

Round Sixteen: South Korea Review

Greetings Internet,

When we left Japan we saw the conclusion of the driver's championship as that German Bloke put it completely out of reach from the chasing pack despite his only challenger winning the race. And now while the sun has well and truly set over Yeongam, many hours ago now another championship has been wrapped up and sealed off - Red Bull finalising the constructors championship and occupying 66.666*% of the podium in the process. Leaving the rest of the season to be run as a series of one-off all-for-glory events for the leaders while the mid field will be aiming to secure a better pit-stall and championship position for the 2012 season.

Behind them was a race where battles were fought on-track and in the pit lane.making rather strategic use of the DRS zone. The tyres weren't as diverse as it was threatened in the pre-race and across the qualifying program forecasting huge amounts of stops and monolithic amounts of tyre wear and degradation on the softer compound. But they held up as well as at any other race of the season running a traditional two-three stop strategy for many of the runners - it was even postulated that Lotus were trying a one-stop plan but it didn't play out.

The Race

Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk

Opening out with another outside broadcast this week with a difference, using the magic power of digital technology to bring the race from the early morning into the afternoon following a few laps of the circuit in question in the virtual domain.

The skies above Korea were dull and laden with moisture, hovering ominously, bearing down on the racetrack. Yet they only loitered keeping the precipitation trapped within the veils of vapour and cloud, only the occasional spot making it's way onto the camera lens around the diabolical turns 4-6. The teams and drivers set their vehicles ready for the first Korean GP to start and possibly finish in the dry.

At the start the first few rows got away in the order that they started and with such a short run down to the first corner there wasn't too much time to make any position changes, but the mid-field seemed all to arrive into T1 all at the same time. Luckily they all managed to avoid each other by fanning out, using the maximum width of the track - although somewhere in the melee a Torro-Rosso was forced to slow on the exit of T2 being dodged by Saubers and Williams in the process.

Down into turn three, the cars once more fanned out looking for an advantage into the hairpin and it was Massa who made the greatest move passing both Webber and Button into what was then third at the time. Jenson fought back round the outside in turn 4 while Alonso was now in competition with Webber. At the very front of the pack Hamilton failed to close the door on Vettel and the German went through into the lead - and that would be the last we'd see from him in a while. 

Mark managed to use the horrid section of corners to his advantage to go past both Massa and Button within the space of two corners to claim his turn in third while Jenson was eased out wide allowing Alonso through. This stabilised the positions for a while as more spots of rain fell on the camera lenses but not enough to signify anything more torrential, just enough for a slippery surface flag in the evil chicane complex. Further back in the opening couple of laps an HRT seemed to loose an front wing, there were no indications to figure out which one or who was hit by it.

By the end of the first ten laps the minute drizzle had tapered off, and light began to pierce the skies cascading unto the track below, glinting off the more shiny liveried vehicles when cresting the hill before turn 7. But the beginning of the pit stop window was approaching as the field had settled down into a rhythm, Vettel out front from Hamilton, Webber and. The others were starting to get rather trapped behind Massa
who was holding up his team-mate, Button and Rosberg was catching in the Mercedes.

In an effort to get out from behind a slow Massa, both Button and Rosberg took to the pits - exiting alongside each other. But Nico locked up and ran wide ceeding the position to Jenson - however that meant he crossed the DRS detection line first so Rosberg could activate it and re-take the position on the straight. It was only temporary as Jenson was able to re-take the position round the back of the circuit where the McLaren was stronger than the Mercedes. Despite their little battle both cars did jump the two Ferraris.

Stability was about to be breeched, yellow flags were out in the turn three hairpin, reports Schumacher had span and rejoined - the reports were true with the exception that he'd rejoined missing his rear wing and most of his rear wheel. There was also an entire front wing laying on the track, so who did it belong to - well it turned out Wing Commander Petrov decided he didn't like Schumacher anymore and wanted rid of him and coming within millimetres of taking Alonso out in the process. The pair have made contact before this year, such as in Istanbul but this time Vitaly was at fault being sidetracked by racing the Ferrari who'd just left the pits.

The Safety Car was called to allow the marshals to clear the scattered parts of Renault Squadron, and Mercedes wings littering the hairpin - maintain Korea's record of a 100% of races being interrupted by the SLS. Bunching the cars back up again ready for the restart, a restart Vettel handled with ease being able to build up the 1s gap to Hamilton before the DRS became active. The positions remained stable towards the front but the mid-field were getting rather involved with each other - Kobayashi was running three wide at one point with a Torro Rosso and Bruno Senna - resulting in a chipped front wing. Forcing the Sauber driver to drop back after using the most strategic use of DRS of the season on Maldonado some laps earlier.

However change was on the cards, Ferrari running in close formation behind Rosberg with Massa the lead attacking car - Felipe made several attempts of at Nico but the speed of the Mercedes in a straight line countered the DRS laden charge. But the constant pressure forced Rosberg into an error - severely locking his front wheel inducing a flat spot allowing both chasing red machines through.

Another battle was raging further up the field as Webber had caught up with Hamilton's McLaren and enjoyed a spectacular interchange of position. All kicking off in the evil 4-6 complex where Lewis ran wide in the first part of the series allowing Webber to throw it down the inside of the last of the three corners. Hamilton cut back to the inside of the Webber and ran two wide through-out the entire of the middle sector virtually but the position was finally handed back to Lewis several turns later.

This battle brought Button and Alonso closer but just tantalisingly out of reach, unable to access the DRS to chase down Webber in front. With five laps remaining Webber had another go at passing Hamilton this time into turn one after lapping the Lotus of Jarno Trulli. He claimed the position but Lewis was awarded the DRS activation, and mixed with the superior traction of the McLaren Webber was defenseless on the main straight  having to concede defeat to Lewis on this occasion, as the Red Bull was unable to find a way through for the remainder of the race.

Just behind them Alonso declared he'd given up with it all and couldn't catch Button ahead, but one man who hadn't given up was Jaime El Incognito who had appeared in the points right behind Rosberg and the two fastest cars in a straight line were in battle. Jaime's team-mate Buemi was also moving forward systematically passing the Force India Team finishing with Di Resta a few laps from home, but that was as far as he was going to get. Back with Alguersuari however he was able to conquer Rosberg using the DRS to overpower the Mercedes into turn three, as Nico seemed to be running out of fuel.

Back at the very front of the grid, Vettel sauntered across the line to claim his tenth victory of the season and firmly cementing his domination of 2011 by claiming fastest lap on the final lap, Hamilton was able to hold Webber off for third with Button in fourth. The man who gave up rounded out the top five while Massa finished a distant 6th, as Jaime was king of division 2 and defeated division the remaining 1.5 runner Rosberg into 7th while the German claimed 8th before pulling over on the lap back to the pits. As did Alonso - the man who gave up - with I'd suspect fuel issues also. The points positions were filled by Buemi in 9th and Paul Di Resta for Force India in 10th.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners


As now both the actual championships have been won and finished off this weekend everything going in Red Bull's direction for the year I've now become the holder of the only open competition of the series where so many drivers/teams/inanimate objects can still be crowned overall champion. Here are the winners from the Korean GP

10pts - Mark Webber - for making such brilliant use of a crap corner in the form of the 4-6 chicane, and for  a fantastic race with Lewis Hamilton and on top of all that for deciding that the official dignitaries on the podium needed soaking.
8pts - Jaime El Incognito  - for once more appearing in the points from seemingly nowhere to win division two and beating the division 1.5 car of Rosberg as well
6pts - Heikki Kovalainen  - for beating both Saubers  -yes Kamui had wing damage and Perez pitted on the last lap but for also being faster than the Renault ahead of Senna in a division three car.
5pts - Alonso, The man who gave up - for managing to avoid Schumacher on pit exit and then by a combinaition of luck and a tiny amount of skill avoided Petrov's nose by the smallest of margins.
4pts - Felipe Massa - for the manoeuvre on lap one to take both Webber and Button in one corner
3pts - Kamui Kobayashi - for the the most sneaky use of the DRS section, allowing Maldonado through only to regain the position in T3, rather than defending into 1 and losing it into 3.
2pts - Hamilton - for being able to race wheel to wheel without hitting anyone, that was mainly due to Webber but Lewis didn't hit anyone today
1pt -  Red Bull Racing - OK I guess winning the constructors championship deserves a point.

The Also Official Penalties Championship


After a weekend in Japan where the officials didn't need to disperse any form of penalty this weekend things were a little different.

• Pastor Maldonado - Drive Through Penalty - for going the wrong side of a bollard in the pit lane, which would appear to be the bollard on exit as I couldn't see any others. Has to have a bonus point also for most unusual penalty of the season 
• Wing Commander Petrov - Five Place Grid Drop - for assaulting the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher at the end of the DRS section after passing Alonso and oh so nearly taking the Ferrari with him

The Still official Dubious Dealings Championship

When the officials have no power to issue an official sanction this where this championship steps into the forefront to point those drivers/teams/ other assorted individuals or objects out and deliver penalty points.

• The Korean pit lane exit - resembling a section of circuit that could have been designed by a child with a crayon blindfolded. Certainly was an afterthought to the design of the layout a 'we'll just stick this bit on the end' approach, caught Rosberg out in practice and almost caused a collision between Schumacher and Alonso in the race.

Looking to forward to India

From the the former newest edition to the season to it's immediate successor now, introducing the Indian GP's first time on the calendar with another dual personality style layout quite simliar in theory to Korea. An opening section built from long straights and heavy breaking zones, and the second half of the lap in the form of a series of quick flowing corners judging by the layout - one I haven't driven on so have limited knowledge. But from what I have seen India has one thing Korea doesn't have and that is a significant amount of undulation, which makes it sound a lot more interesting.

A new addition to the season is always an exciting prospect, somewhere different and unusual in a new country to boot. It's a new track to learn not only for the drivers and teams but for me sitting here, a new batch of corners to understand and then see in action. A place where we have no idea who will come out on top especially considering how close the division one cars have been running recently, this race will be a voyage into the complete unknown for more reasons than one.

When it comes to making the posts for the weekend, there we or more accurately I encounter a problem in the fact that I don't have an Indian GP layout to film the video on. There is a developmental version released but it is rather inaccurate - with the pit-lane on the wrong side of the front straight. However there is hope, I scouted YouTube for independent productions of the track and found a rather nice one which I do hope to be able to use for the weekend coming up.

South Korea Pre-race

Greetings Internet,

It certainly appears the construction workers of Korea have vanished, barring the repositioning of the concrete barriers in the final corner absolutely nothing has changed. The grand plans of skyscrapers, apartments, hotels and a grand marina have failed to materialise. No sign of construction work whatsoever leaving the track as a thin section of tarmac surrounded on all sides by swampland out in the middle of nowhere. The entire resort district looks even more like the slot-car layout you'd build on the carpet, the line of black with an empty void in the infield and nothing on round the outside of the racetrack. Almost representing something from an old style video game where only the things at driver eye-level were rendered.

The race weekend also started exactly as it was left off last year with a significant degree of precipitation for first practice, seeing several cars spinning off and running wide - including Schumacher grazing the wall in the pit lane entry. Only be outdone by Rosberg in FP2 who attacked Jaime El Incognito who was exiting the pits as Nico attempted turn one. But amongst the rain, the mistakes and the contact change was afoot this weekend and that change came forth in qualifying where we actually have a grid without the German bloke or any of the blue machines on the front row at all. The baton being taken by someone else this weekend, but will that carry on to the race itself, who knows. But this is how today's session played out

Qualifying 

credit to F1Fanatic for the image

With the TV schedule showing the session kicking off at 5am, I looked at the clock as I headed to bed from a rather mad rehearsal where my evil took on several new levels of weirdness and menace, only to decide that 5am was not going to happen. So step forward the good old VCR machine, I know there are folks out there with all sorts of shiny new devices and gizmos, well none of those things live here. That said the VCR in my room no longer lives any more - it does seem to have died, under the crushing disease of obsolescence I assume. However all was not lost, I just watched the session on the same machine it was recorded on, an oddity as the rest of the folk here tend to complain about motorsport on the main TV. 

All that sort of thing sorted out, and the play button pressed we - or I - considering no-one else was around was greeted by a rather dull and cloudy Korea. with about as much atmosphere as the moon. The paddock was filled to bursting point with... what appeared to be air and not too much else - you have thought South Korea had suffered a Zombie Outbreak  and the population had all joined the ranks of the undead. Hardly surprising considering there is no civilisation for miles, set in the middle of nowhere in a rice field by the looks of it.

Q1 was officially underway, and who was to come out first, someone from the bottom three teams perhaps, as it happens it wasn't this time - nor was it a Torro Rosso who liked lining the pit lane exit in Monza. This time it was Bruno Senna for Renault Squadron who had visited the barrier in morning practice, venturing out to finish establishing a race setup to recover from time lost in the FP3. He was then joined by the Wing Commander to make it a Renault Squadron 1-2. 

Then things got a little weird, Red Bull  - the constructor champions elect - came out on the soft tyres in this the first session, the very tyres you'd like to save for the race in normal circumstances. On top of that they managed to go slower then the McLarens out front who were on the harder of the compounds available. Apparently it was a decision related to the harder tyre actually predicted to be better in race conditions due to degradation rates, whether that will actually be the case who knows.   

However the more important battle in Q1 was hovering around the relegation zone with the bottom three teams confirmed in the drop zone - Ricciardo out with mechanical issues to boot there was only the final spot open for relegation. So who was fighting over it, well it was a battle between Williams and Sauber, One-stop Perez went first and put himself out of harm's way, team-mate Kamui followed suit but not completely safe. Leaving the two Williams to fight it out, Rubens picked up tyre degradation on his final run forcing him to abandon it, opening the door for Maldonado who pounced on the chance to make it into Q2 at the expense of his team-mate.

More footage from behind the pit garages showed the deserted paddock once more, not even Eddie Jordan seemed to be bothered to make the race, so Jake, the only remaining inter-session presenter borrowed Karun Chandok from Lotus to make it look like there was someone on the television who knows what's going on in depth.

As the camera panned away from the wasteland the next session was about to start, seven cars lighter now, and it was Hamilton to set the early pace, also going straight for the softer tyres. It was a time that wasn't going to be beaten and eased him into Q3. The other division one runners followed suit, running the super-softs and confirming a place in the final shoot-out. Vettel made his run a little interesting by opening the DRS a little early in the final arc turn  having to correct a slide as the car wanted to introduce itself to the barrier. 

With division one finished their opening runs - the only ones for the drivers who were safe, Michael Schumacher was left to his own devices on the circuit. Likely as a result of having reported he had a vibration, best to leave Michael and his vibration alone for a while, considering this was the same car that also has a magic paddle we were told in Istanbul. None of those things could help the German out as he slipped down the timing board. 

As Schumacher was encountering difficulties there could be three places up for grabs in Q3, and five cars in with a realistic chance of fighting for them, belonging to Force India, Renault Squadron, and of course Michael wasn't out yet. It was Wing Commander Petrov who struck first taking the car to the front of division 2 into 8th place, and as the vibrating Mercedes stayed in the pits, both Force India's were able to scrape into the top 10 as the flag fell on another close fought session.

Then there was only ten remaining as both Saubers and Torro Rosso's were eliminated along with Maldonado, Senna and Schumacher. It was Rosberg who fled the pit lane first with the McLaren piloted by Hamilton close behind, and it was the Brit once more who claimed the top spot on the timesheets. The other six cars that were going perform a lap entered the circuit with Vettel at the back of the queue, but none of them could knock lewis off the top spot, although Vettel came within 0.03s of taking provisional pole. 

Only one run left to compete for the top of the grid, but this run was to be completed without Nico Rosberg who determined he wouldn't be able to improve and make an impression on the division one teams. It's was Webber who headed the queue this time from Hamilton, while Button and the Ferraris made up the second batch ahead of Vettel and Di Resta only on an installation lap. Mark abandoned the run having lost time, but Lewis managed to extend the pole position margin, placing it out of race for the chasing pack. Vettel and Button came closest at 0.2 and 0.3s apart respectfully but pole was taken by someone other than Sebastien or Webber - in the form of a resurgent Hamilton.

However despite taking pole, Lewis looked as if someone had taken away his happy pills - appearing rather miserable indeed. Clearly that's what taking pole position away from Red Bull does to you, now I'm used to being a miserable bugger but seriously someone give Hamilton some cake, Bruno Senna should have some left over from his birthday celebrations. Because cake is normally a good idea.

Looking to Tomorrow

With the weather forecast only predicting clouds we could see our first dry Korean GP, on the Yeongam track where the battle out front is closer than it has been for a considerable time, with Vettel having nothing to lose any-more considering it is all wrapped up on that front, and Hamilton on some form of return warpath. Whatever head space he's in right now could lead to some erratic driving in the race, something Hamilton is prone to in normal conditions usually involving Felipe Massa in the same way Schumacher is drawn to Saubers. 

Outside the lead battle Ferrari will want to take something away from this weekend, and to avoid being bottom of division one which is where they lie after qualifying. Then there is the competition for the final points where the entire midfield is in contention for, depending on how the race plays out.

So how will it play out, well no-one can really be sure, as already mentioned the first dry Korean race mixed with the DRS, KERs and the degrading tyres opens up so much opportunity for some madness and chaos. Add to that the rather lacking amount of trackside infrastructure there is a chance of a safety car deployment as crashed vehicles may be difficult to remove, especially on the 'resort' phase of the lap. The images from today did show a lack of track-side cranes and a total of a single low loader. But behind the scenes there could be more trucks waiting in the wings. 

It is another early 6am start for those with the strength of will to wake up for it - so pack the energy drinks and snacks to keep going while sunrise slowly gathers it's power. I however will be asleep at this point, I know it's laziness but I do have a rehearsal to go and need to be on top form for that, so through the power of recording technology, and advanced technology at that. Taking the outside broadcast to a new level of innovation over and above my old fashioned VCR at a more sensible time of waking with tea and whatnot. So prepare yourselves for a plunge into the unknown as South Korea builds itself for a rather odd race on a rather odd racetrack.

Round Sixteen: South Korea Preview

Greetings Internet,

Less than a week after the conclusion of the Japanese GP, here I am again writing words all over this little corner of the internet. As the season has reached it's next destination making the short journey across the sea from Japan to South Korea, the newest of the returning locations of the season and barring India the most recent addition to the calendar.

Last year it was a weekend of vast contrasts, the track still being finished off on the Friday prior to the practice sessions, followed by some dry running for qualifying. Then the race itself was drowned in a major downpour resulting in a race almost three hours long, opening in red flag conditions with safety car interventions in the rain. It was a pivotal race then, seeing the end of Webber's championship challenge as he crashed out, and also containing the last mechanical failure Red Bull have suffered. Korea was the only blot on an impeccible score-sheet since. But with the title all wrapped up, there is no need to worry about history repeating itself.

This year there is a lower chance of rain for the race, so it will be interesting how the track performs in a dry race conditions, and on top of that there is the development of the external buildings that were shown on the original track plans and how will their presence effect the running of the race in accumulating debris and dust from the construction work, falling onto the track surface.

The Track

Credit to the FIA for the track map

So as to the stretch of tarmac where upon this newest episode in the season will be played out, built rather in the opposite way round. Traditionally a track is built within the confines of a city or in open cleared land, but in this case the track has been built and then the resort is being constructed around it. With plans for hotels and a marina surrounding the odd turn 17 area. When the track first graced our screens last year the surroundings were rather bland and empty missing the other structures - resembling more of a construction side on the other side of the concrete barriers.

But what about the layout, the actual series of corners the drivers will be faced with - well it is presented in two distinct phases. One half of the lap is situated within the prospective resort complex while the other half just serves to bring the cars back round to the start of the resort section. The corner layout also matches this dual-personality while the opening phase is defined mainly by the monolithically long back straight, which bisects the resort zone. Starting and ending with hairpins, so rather lacking imagination in that respect. 

Sadly the second section also starts off with a hairpin, in fact a whole complex of tight annoying corners, it looks as if it has been designed on the basis of having spare sections of scalextric track in the bottom of the box. There is a special place in hell for complexes like this, the virtual representation I've worked with may have given it an injustice but it's really is awful. 

After it however, it does get a lot better with a series of actually entertaining corners brought abruptly to a halt in turn as the track starts to edge back towards the resort. The final couple of corners are actually rather good, again it is something different in the form of a walled arc around the soon to be marina whenever that will come into form who knows, especially given how close they came to missing the race last time construction speed tends to be rather unpredictable in this project.  

Instead of rambling on any more about the layout and it's corners here is the obligatory video where I drive around the lap a lot slower than the real thing trying not to crash into things and complete the lap without making a complete fool of myself. Well there is the joy of editing to cancel out most of the foolishness, the little spins and mistakes, but they can't make my lap time any faster. So here is the lap, which is faster than the best race lap of 2010, although that was in a monsoon.

What to expect

This is a track of two halves, two very different halves which will benefit different teams and car configurations, the latter section will play to Red Bull, but as recent results have shown McLaren and Ferrari are much closer. Most likely as a result of Red Bull easing off on the developmental accelerator with the title in the bag already, which could see the other division one teams be able to compete on the same level as Red Bull and even be in with a chance of breaking their stranglehold on qualifying.

Further back in division 1.5 Mercedes will have an advantage in straight line speed terms on the main straight and combined with their tendency to make rather impressive starts could interrupt the races in the top division. Behind them in division two, which does seem to have been joined by the Renault Squadron there will be immense competition. Where any of the teams involved could be in for the final two points positions, or more if others further up mess up. The main contenders will be Sauber, Force India and of course favourites in the group Renault Squadron.

Statistically this race has seen a high average in terms of the amount of Safety Car interventions per race, but of course that was a rather anomalous race with the rain and collisions. However due to the enclosed nature of the resort based section of the lap there is a limited amount of space to extract crashed vehicles. At the time the internal track infrastructure was compromised due to the development of the other structures so service roads and possibly trackside cranes were not in place. This year those facilities could be in place so the areas of the track which would require the introduction of a safety car to clear will be condensed. 

DRS and KERs

Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the DRS map

Oddly there will only be a single DRS zone this weekend, on a track where multiple zones could be implemented - with three acceptable straights to mark for DRS activation. But only one of these has been selected and naturally that choice has been donated to the 1km back straight. However the oddities continue, as already noted the track does offer several places to implement the DRS including one of the longest straights of the season and then the FIA introduce one of the smallest DRS zones of the year. On paper it sounds like madness, failing to use all of the space available. But given that the start position is in the middle of the main straight a smaller zone would avoid overtaking being too easy, as it was in Turkey and Canada.

In terms of qualfying pace the DRS will be very useful but will impact the gear ratios needed for the event as the speed difference of using DRS in qualifying on such a long straight and then running without it in the race. Of course the system will also be available on the other straights in qualifying so there is a large amount of lap time to be gained from maximising the system.

And then there is the KERs system, which does seem to be having a smaller impact as the season goes on, playing a smaller part as an overtaking tool - prominently being used as a defensive mechanism or as an opportunistic passing solution. It's main purpose now seems to be in qualifying where not using the additional power does result in a lap time deficit, so it is still very important in that respect. Especially in the realm of the midfield where the difference between making Q3 and being relegated in Q1 could be a matter of tenths, the tenths earned from using KERs. And here in Korea there are a fair few slower corners to power out of and straights to use the KERs boost on to utilise that power.

With another early start for this weekend's action it is time once more to operate the video player because I rather like sleep and being in my bed... even if I'm the only one in there, ah ranting on the internet is a solitary life. Although there are many other factors influencing that social status... my internal loathing aside this will be a rather interesting event. With last year being a wash out, this will almost be a clean sheet in terms of race conditions and the DRS and KERs will add another dimension that wasn't on the schedule last time around

So for those with the strength of mind to pry yourselves from bed at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning congratulations and you can award yourselves a bonus point for the success. Because you'll be the first to see the new developments that have taken place since the last visit to the Korean International Circuit, to see which buildings have sprung up if any. Either way it's a good time to warm up the toastie maker for those needing a much earlier breakfast for the first sessions.

Round Fifteen: Japan Review

Greetings Internet,

Well my initial plan of getting up at the middle of dawn to catch the live race rather fell apart at the seams when I first forced open my eyes to see that it was 7:15, a long way off the 6am actual start point for which the alarm was set. Although I'm starting to think there may have been some minor flaw in that plan, never the less I caught the race on the good old iPlayer before being rather frightened at my appearance on the politics show and heading out for the only form of social interaction. Not accounting for the world of theatrical wonder I attend also.

But the frivolities of the day aside there was a race taking place although it does seem so long ago now probably because it was a long time ago. There was the inevitable conclusion of the championship but you didn't really need to see the race to expect that to happen. The German Bloke was going to come away from Japan with the single point he needed and some extras just to sweeten the deal. However there was a small amount of change sailing in the Japanese winds because neither of the first two cars that crossed the line were blue or contained the German. Which in a season of complete and utter dominance the bottom step of the podium could be seen as a very conservative way of bringing the title back once more.

That obviously wasn't the only story of the race and here is how the 53 laps of Suzuka played out.

The Race

Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the image

I had to skip most of the pre-race information in order to make sure I left the house in time so I can't truly say I'm clued up on the stories floating around the grid. But everything seemed quiet as grid preparations mounted in the bright sunshine that coated the circuit.

At the start button made the strong early jump, but Vettel pulled across forcing the McLaren onto the grass as Jenson had to get out of the throttle to avoid an accident. This handed the opportunity to Lewis who used the extra momentum to steal second position from his team-mate. In a complete contrasting fortunes the local man Kamui Kobayashi had a poor start losing places to both Force Indias and the Renault Squadron. Losing more spots avoiding Senna as he ran wide out of turn two.

The opening laps were unusually clean and damage free - a long way shy of the madness we've seen in earlier events and all the drivers had settled into their positions - with the exception of Rosberg who was making up for a technical problem in qualifying. I'm not to sure whether it was the sleep deprivation still pickling my brain cells but not much seemed to happen in the first ten laps.

Change however was on the horizon, Hamilton dropped back in to the clutches of Button in 3rd while Vettel remained out front but not too far compared to normal. Lewis picked up a slide on the way into Spoon corner to concede the position falling further back towards Alonso in 4th as a result of a rear puncture. Luckily it wasn't to far ouside the pit window so the overall damage done to the race was limited. Only having three corners to contend with before returning home.

On the next lap the pit window had opened with the first volunteer for new rubber being the leader Sebastien Vettel, handing the lead to Jenson. Once all the opening stops had cycled through the positions had returned and reset with Vettel leading Button, Alonso, Hamilton, Massa and Webber. Division one had once again separated themselves from the rest of the grid - with Schumacher just in tow behind them several seconds back. Teams further down the grid were running longer on tyres, Williams and Perez were still on their opening set of tyres to compensate for a grid position.

Tyre degradation was hitting Red Bull harder then normal this weekend as both cars we in for their second stops by lap 20. In order to cover the advantage of newer tyres Button and Alonso had to pit, this worked out rather well for Button as he ended up with the lead - something on balance is a nice change from the form of the past few races where the same blue car has been out front for a rather significant proportion of the laps. But there was a degree of conservatism in the Red Bull strategy knowing there was only one point needed to claim the title.

Elsewhere Japanese GP tradition was re-occurring from last year, starting off with wheels having a difficulty stayin on race cars, in 2010 Kubica and Rosberg both lost wheels and this year burden was handed to Sebastien Buemi whose front wheel parted company. Parking the three wheeled car up on the entrance to the essess after it wasn't fitted properly following his pit stop. Then Kobayashi corner came into use once more as the man himself passed the remaining Torro Rosso on the exit, a move One-stop Perez then managed to repeat a couple laps later.

Battle resumed further up the field when increasing angry rivals Hamilton and Massa found themselves on the same piece of racetrack once again, and once again Hamilton doesn't really recognise the size or shape of the McLaren her is driving. Not really understanding the space it occupied as he drifted wider into the side of Felipe's car on the entrance to the Casio Triangle. Dislodging Massa's endplate casting it into the middle of the breaking zone. Now it lay there waiting on the tarmac for several laps, the red carbon fibre glinting in the sunlight. No-one wanted to run out an collect it, being on the exit of 130R I don't blame them -the only solution was to call out the safety car - and so it was done. There was also an amount of debris in turn 7 where Webber clipped the back of Schumacher knocking a little of his wing off too.

Button controlled the restart well if not a little too slowly before running away only into the nearby distance. The entire of division one was running at regular intervals fairly close to each other for several laps. Before tyres again began to fade becoming a problem for Red Bull once more as Vettel pitted first once more this time to switch to the harder compound. Aiming to run to the end of the race, which forced the hand of the other teams in contention in the form of McLaren and Ferrari to match the plan. However switching to the newer tyres sooner didn't help him close on Jenson out front in fact he dropped further away opening a window for Alonso to drop into after his stop, demoting the German bloke down to third.

Further back however Mark Webber was adding a new corner to the collection of places he has passed cars at this year, overtaking Paul Di Resta on the inside of 130R the fastest corner of the track. A feat that was only beaten by the move Adrian Sutil managed on Kobayashi in the same corner from a much tighter turn in line.

In the overall standings however the positions were sealed for the remainder of the race, Button claiming another victory - leading the table in drivers who aren't in a Red Bull who can win races and doing a very solid job. Fernando Alonso finished second proving that Ferrari were are remaining strong and can't be counted out during the race. Vettel finished 3rd picking up more than enough points to claim the title and more silverware to the team garage.Webber finished 4th after both Red Bull drivers were given the call to ease of and conserve their places until the end. Hamilton recovered to 5th after repassing Massa without contact this time, Schumacher also jumped Felipe to claim 6th and the Ferrari driver taking 7th. Division two was won by One-Stop Perez once again using tyre conservation to score points from 17th. While  Wing Commander Petrov and Rosberg rounded out the points paying positions.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners


With the main championship all done and wrapped up with several races still to be run in Asia and South America the attention turns now to the more important bonus points championship and here are the winners from the Japanese GP.

10pts - One-Stop Perez - for going from the back of the division one grid after techincal dramas in qualifying to win the group at the end of the race using his patented one-stop less than everyone else strategy
8pts - Nico Rosberg - 23rd to 10th deserves some recognition making a lot of the passes towards the end of the race
6pts - Jenson Button - For a strong victory and strong performance across the weekend, beating Vettel on pace resigning them to their conservative strategy
5pts - Adrian Sutil - For making a more risky pass then Webber on a car that defended the position into 130R corner
4pts - Mark Webber - For adding another pass in a high speed corner to his repetoire
3pts - Fernando Alonso - For being rather unimpressive but managing significant speed to catch and pass the Gernan bloke in the pit-stop phase
2pts - Kamui Kobayashi - For making a pass in what I've named as his own corner which was rather nice
1pt -  All you can eat Buffets - For matching the concept of food with a challenge to, which pushes my innards to their limits too

The Also Official Penalties Championship

There were investigations against both Vettel and Hamilton but no action was taken against either driver, also an incident where One-Stop Perez and Rosberg ended up two wide in the pit lane was left without a sanction being handed out. So overall there were no official penalties, which does make altering that table a lot easier

The Dubious Dealings Championship

While the officials were a little lapse on the handing out of penalties I of course will be a little less lenient and will deal the following penalty points.

• Lewis Hamilton - For having absolutely no idea what size his car is - the third time in the past four races he has made contact with another car simply by wandering into them or clipping them in the rear wheel. Two of those events have been with Massa who is rather annoyed, haven't heard his comments on today but wouldn't be too pleased.
• Empire Cinemas - The blog doesn't not appreciate being held up by 30 minutes when no-one presses play on the film reel knocking everything out of sequence.

Looking ahead to Korea

Returning back to the track that only just made it's début last year, screwing down the final pieces as the teams were rolling into the paddock. This time we should see a more complete facility with more of the surrounding structures completed, the preview images and plans that were produced before it's inception showed a whole resort and marina to be constructed. This year will see how much of that plan has been built  to form the resort that is to surround the circuit. 

It should also be a much drier race than last year when the race lasted for around four hours due to rain delays and safety cars for the collisions. As a layout it isn't too inspiring, created in a sort of track design by numbers approach, throw in some long straights into overtaking hairpins and then finish the rest of with a series of corners in an attempt to throw some variation into the mix. However in Korea that attempt didn't work too well - the final corner is a little innovative but the rest is a bit dull, perhaps in dry conditions this time around next week we can see what racing it can produce with the new DRS and KERs systems to apply on the long straights. 

Alas live twitter coverage may be missing from that event as it was from this one as a result of time differences and the fact I'll be watching a tape delayed version of the sessions so won't be exactly live myself .Thank you all and until next time, farewell..

Something Extra - Bathurst 1000

Greetings Internet,

Me again, I know so soon after my last entry and here I am with another contribution to the internet. This of course was aimed at a release for Friday but the video took longer than expected and then the upload to the world of youtube took until 2:30am so I didn't feel like composing something at that time of night and still be in control of the concept of language and grammar. Although saying that the Canada pre-race was written in the small hours of the morning while watching Le Mans after an evening performance.

But this time I am appearing before you with a small track insight into the other great race that will be happening this weekend, kicking off in just over a few hours time in Australia but I shall be asleep at the time, resting before the start of the Japanese GP. I am of course cryptically alluding to the Bathurst 1000 an endurance race in the Australian V8 Supercar series which produces some of the greatest racing in the world of motor racing - this time racing for 1000km round the magnificent Mt Panorama circuit.

The Track

Image from Wikipedia

Mt Panorama is one of the ultimate contrasts in motor-racing featuring two huge straights taking cars to and from the epic mountain section which in itself comes in two phases. Opening with two tighter corners at Quarry and The Cutting, the sector opens into a series of high speed walled corners completed with cars which on the downforce scales are a million miles away from the F1 cars on the rest of the blog.

In the second half of the mountain section comes a series of corners with extreme undulation as the track begins to descend back down the mountain. Once more twisting between high concrete walls which conceal a significant drop on the other side. The layout mixes the fastest phases of the entire V8 Supercar season which opens the window for frighteningly large accidents. Last year Fabien Coulthard suffered a tyre faliure at the end of the Conrod Straight - the fastest point in the lap and ended up rolling the car into oblivion in the gravel. Fortunately he was able to walk away from the ruins of his Holden.

The race also highlights the peak in the national rivalry that exists in Australia between Holden (Australian version of Vauxhall) and Ford as the only two competing manufacturers. A competitiveness which extends deeply into the oceans of fans who attend the mountain where fan groups share a devout loyalty to their manufacturer and this is derby day. Well every race is derby day but this is the highlight of their season and Australian motorsport as a whole marking it as a prominent international event. 

Being an endurance race the regular team drivers have to pair up with an co-driver to work the differing stints across the 7hr event. Normally the second driver in a car is drawn from the V8 support series or other national series. But drivers from across the world have been asked to compete in the great race, drivers from the BTCC, WTCC and even Champcar have taken part to add more depth to the grid for an exciting event. The length of the race also means the weather has more of a chance to intervene and because of the enclosed nature of the mountain phase of the circuit a damp circuit makes the walls seem a lot closer and makes it all the easier to visit them.

Now in the tradition of my other pre-event posts there is also a video and like with Le Mans and the Nurburgring 24h races I have driven a car round the lap - partially because it's a whole lot of fun to have a go and to add something to this post. Now due to time constraints with two fantastic events running this weekend requiring two videos this one has no annotation just the visual and it was run on the first timed lap without practice or car setup so the time isn't that great. But that aside here is a lap in a current 2011 V8 Supercar of Mt Panorama

This will be the only post on the weekend as I won't really see the race until a few days from now as a result of other commitments - I know weird isn't it, me doing something else other than sitting here typing these things out and watching motor-racing. That would be an ideal life, but who really has them any more, so simulated driving around shall have to do

Japan Pre-race

Greetings Internet,

Here we are at the completion of another qualifying session, although this contribution is taking place somewhat later then normal, a combination of an earlier then normal start time - being in Japan and all and being preoccupied with other people invading my little house. The blog forbids siblings for having birthdays on race weekends - they get far too excitable making screeching noises when I'm trying to watch the recorded session. And on top of that something seems to have gone rather wrong with my video player so had to be in the same room as an overly excitable child...

Anyway amongst the high pitched noises I did manage to see some form of qualifying session - couldn't hear great deal of it - either that or Eddie Jordan had forgot to learn the words and became a mime artist. Which somehow I rather doubt. It also appeared that the German Bloke once again decided that he didn't want to share the pole position with any one outside the team. While everyone else decided to have a bit of a meeting in the Casino Triangle instead of completing their final runs.

But to cover how this came to pass how the rest faired here is how qualifying played out.

Credit to F1Fanatic for the image

Qualifying 

After having a morning argument with the video recorder only to find it refused to power up - curses and what not so there was a need to find an alternate video player to watch the event. Several moments later after realising all the spare fuses were locked away, I retreated to the main room - sadly the epicentre of the irritating child based celebrations.

All that sorted out it was time so settle down - with tea in place and a working video player in operation - I know obsolete technology and all but it works... most of the time; and that's good enough for me. Then the time of Q1 had arrived and the green light was met with a green car piloted by Jarno Trulli who duly opened the time charts being the first car on track.

But within moments the rest of the grid opened their accounts considerably quicker than Jarno's benchmark time. Division one claiming their place at the top Alonso at the very front ahead of Button and Vettel, Hamilton was initially off the pace, running wide in Spoon corner using the tarmac run-off as a get of jail free zone where the indigenous gravel would have ended his session. But after this early slump he found the missing pace jumping up ahead of Button.

Things were going rather less well in the Mercedes garage, while Nico Rosberg was experiencing technical gremlins in the hydraulic system - but nothing to the gremlin that was still groaning about birthdays and other nonsense in my living room. Nico's problems were enough to put him out of Q1 and remove all the risk for the other drivers as the last places were all booked up with the newer teams. This didn't stop some drivers running a couple of security laps to confirm progression on the softer tyres. Kamui Kobayashi local legend who's 2010 race has sold 1000 more tickets in Kobayashi corner, took full advantage of the softs and topped the timesheet for the end of Q1.

Roll on Q2, and it was nice to see a car leaving the pit lane at the beginning of the session - and for this segment it was the turn of Force India to lead the group. But once more the division one field headed out onto the track to shuffle for the lead positions. Vettel went fastest early on, remaining a 100th of a second ahead of Button only to be defeated by Hamilton.With three places left on in Q3 there a major battle was brewing to claim them - Force India, Renault Squadron and Kobayashi were all competing for the remaining places.

One-Stop Perez was taken out of the competition when hydraulic gremlins ended his session as well, but his team-mate forced himself into 8th. All this with no time left on the clock, Sutil's lap moved him into 9th and Wing-commander Petrov claiming the final spot. But things were not quite finished sorting themselves out quite yet, it was Renault Squadron who made the improvements, both team cars moving ahead of Kamui into 8th and 9th dropping the local hero into 10th but still into the next session with the division one competitors.

Only the final session remained and it was the remaining Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi who was waiting at the end of the pit lane to kick the session off - but he was only there for an installation lap on the hard tyres before returning to the pit lane. It was the top teams who were on track to set competitive times. However I had no idea who was setting what time - partially on the account of annoying children drowning out the sound of the television. But that would have been ok, I'd just look at the on-screen graphics - but no they had gone down, what I do know is that Hamilton went fastest ahead of Button and Vettel.

The teams were reluctant to do too many laps due to the high tyre degradation and to save tyres for the race ahead. So they saved it all for a final effort at the end of the session, but timing that run didn't work out too well for Hamilton who's outlap was too slow. As a result he was caught by both Michael Schumacher and Webber who both had to pass him into the final chicane. Out of the three Webber was the only one to find another lap, taking away Hamilton's chance for pole position.

This left Vettel and Button to be unchallenged as pole would be decided between themselves. It was the German bloke again - the one that only needs one point who was first to set a time - and a rather quick one at that. Button tried to respond, to take the pole position away from Vettel, but fell 0.009 seconds short. But this does mean the front row is made up of the FIA points leader and the bonus points leader, making it an interesting run to turn one. The rest of the top ten was populated by Hamilton, then the two Ferraris lead by a still rather angry Massa, from Webber - the last car to set a proper time. Out of the cars that didn't really bother Kobayashi heads Schumacher and the Renault Squadron, Senna out-qualifying Wing Commander Petrov.

The official Bonus Points Championship points winners

Upon one of the greatest layouts of the season within one of the more entertaining countries here are the points winners from Japanese GP qualifying 2011.

• Kamui Kobayshi - for being fastest in Q1, and for making Q3, and on top of that for the epic save he performed in FP2 on Friday
• Mark Webber - for being the only one to get through Hamilton's slow down moment to complete a final run despite losing a fair amount time in the process
• Felipe Massa - for out qualifying Alonso and for ranting about Hamilton with being blanketed behind PR formalities and niceties.
• Renault Squadron - for making a comeback after the humiliating performance in Singapore to get both cars in the top ten positions
• McLaren - for being on the same pace as the Red Bulls this weekend, beating them in practice and came close to being the first non-Red Bull on pole

The Still official dubious dealings championship

The tyre degradation issue in Suzuka meant some teams opted not to do a complete lap in qualifying which although being a tyre saving plot earns a penalty point for not taking part in the session. This weekend saw four drivers in Q3 not bothering - although Schumacher's lap was affected by Hamilton so I'll let him off as he was going to complete a time. The other three however... get penalty points 

• Kobayashi - despite a strong session not playing in Q3 earns a penalty point
• Wing Commander Petrov - also for not playing in Q3 
• Bruno Senna - also for not playing in Q3 

Looking to Tomorrow

And is a very early morning it is too, commencing at 6a.m, which I shall likely have to wake for as well... but it will be worth setting the alarm for. It will be a race that within all realms of probability will see the crowning of that German Bloke as the double world champion scoring that final point to place it mathematically out of reach of the only remaining contender - Two-Cakes-Up Button. However that amount of dominance may not be on the cards when dawn arises tomorrow morning, McLaren have been very close to Red Bull so far this weekend and that should continue in the race.

There is interest further back down the grid as well, with the likes of Rosberg and One-Stop Perez further down the grid then their car pace suggests they should be and with plenty of new tyres at their disposal. Rosberg in particular should be exciting coming from the back row of the grid towards the points scoring positions. The greatest instability lies once more in the mid-field where drivers from Renault Squadron all the way back to the newer teams are on a very similar pace making strategy the ruler of the final points positions.

Weather predictions show that it looks dry for the race, taking one unpredictable variable out of the mix, but there is still a chance of a safety car because of the limited run-off in some areas and the size of the accidents that can happen on the layout - Kamui narrowly avoided one on Friday practice but Rubens and Senna had accidents that would have brought out the safety car. The other thing to look out for is of course Kamui Kobayashi who was a whole new level of awesome last year and could be just as entertaining this time around.

The blog update may be running a little later than normal this weekend as a result of other events in my ever popular schedule... well my years worth of socialisation is raining down in these two days but that aside set the alarms or video equipment in preparation for the 2011 Japanese GP.