Round Two: Malaysia Review

Greetings Internet,

Well, once again a little water on the track has unleashed a little bit of madness and confusion which at the end of 56 laps spewed out a rather unusual result which contradicts the run of form of the early season, now I know why the formbook was thrown out of the nearest window. Because it was thoroughly torn up and re-arranged and got a little soggy as the monsoon tropical storms washed away any trace of the hierarchy that was demonstrated in Australia. It was a race worth waking up at an unimpressive hour, especially with the adjustment the clocks went through as we emerged into the concept of summer time... which given the British climate will contain very limited 'summer'.

Today's race saw a vast array of circumstances ranging from being perfectly dry, to impossibly wet - normally it can be considered that the FIA throw the safety car too early in the rain with these modern cars, as we saw in Canada. But today the decision was a valid one, as there was an impassible puddle developing in the turn 13-14 area which could drown the cars never mind cause a problem for the grid. Yet they didn't match that level of timing in the area of the restart, where the inordinate amount of red and safety car running almost lasted long enough to invalidated the regulations involved in the process. All in all this event has lead to a rather skewed initial look to the bonus points championship, so lets see how the Malaysian GP unfolded and all the craziness took place.

The Race

Target practice Karthekeyan credit to F1fanatic.co.uk

After a morning wander in the fading fog, I was presented to a screen and a scene underneath a very turbulent sky, all the Saturday rumours of impending rain were slowly being converted into data and evidence. At the time of the opening lap there was the tiniest hint of rain and the track surface had entered that window where inters were a little too much and slicks weren't good enough. Opting to air on the side of caution the grid went for the intermediate tyres - with the exception of HRT who gambled on the rain clouds opening up with more vigour. 

Off the line Lewis didn't make a mess of it and left the grid in formation with the other McLaren of Jenson on the outside, despite coming close in turn one the two silver machines were away in grid order. The key mover off the start was Romain Grosjean who exactly replicated the 2011 start of Squadron Leader Heidfeld jumping from 6th - 3rd. A situation which didn't last long as Schumacher took the place back on the run to turn three before the frechman clipped the Mercedes and the pair spun to the inside miraculously avoiding being taken out by the oncoming field. 

The increasing rainfall caused more problems in the middle of turn seven when the two Williams cars came together as Senna crashed into the back of Maldonado and span of minus his front wing and dropped to the back. At the end of the lap One-Stop Perez stopped making the early jump onto the full wet tyres pre-empting the incoming storm as the rest of the field continued on the intermediates, something that was to catch Lotus driver Grosjean out as he span into the gravel as the rain got even heavier. So far this season Romain has completed a grand total of seven laps this season from two top five starts, very contrasting weekends.

A typical Malaysian GP, storm fully unloaded at this point and on by one all of the drivers took to the pits for the full wets as the track became flooded in places a rather large river was forming across the track in turns 12 and 13.A river which sent several drivers wide, the likes of Vettel, Maldonado and most spectacularly One-Stop Perez benefiting from the large run-off area on the exit. But the conditions were too wet to continue at racing speeds and the safety car was deployed, and the weather continued to get significantly worse as the SLS couldn't run fast enough to maintain any form of tyre temperature in the race cars behind and there was no solution but to throw the red flag and the waiting began...

There was a lot of waiting, along with a lot of rain - when something interesting came to the front, Torro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne had been driving in the monsoon on intermediate tyres without crashing. Considering the amount of rain that fell, Vergne has clearly gained some super-powers to keep it on the road. In this suspended zone there was interesting collection of gazebos appearing on the grid, turning the start grid into a series of very expensive street market scene. One car that didn't have a gazebo was the HRT of Karthekeyan who was 10th under the red flag having started on the wets. Surprisingly in the wet here we had a Malaysian rain stoppage - someone get Kimi an Ice Cream once more - so the best interval plan fell to Jenson who went for a very British cup of tea in the interval.

Almost an hour later, it was time for a restart, a McLaren one-two lead One-Stop Perez and Fernando Alonso, and after three laps under the safety car - which was clearly too much as the cars were all ready to dump the full wets at the end of the first green lap. The stops had cycled the two McLarens very close to each other but they both managed to end up behind Alonso and Perez - almost resulting in some in house contact in turn three. McLarens running close, in the wet, shadows of Canada were coming back - and contact there was in the slippery conditions. This time it was Button who had an incident, forgetting that an HRT car is not going to move at the same pace as everyone and Jenson ended up going into the back of Karthekeyan damaging his wing and dropping way down the field. 

The majority of the field had now pitted leaving Perez hunting down Alonso for the lead, and through virtue of staying out longer the Sauber took the lead as Hamilton had a slow stop through pit lane traffic. Yet the Ferrari quickly re-took the position through the exit of the horrific turn1/2 complex and edged into the distance. A little further back following a spin and damage on the first start, Bruno Senna was mounting a major charge - from running last to now competing in the points with Force India. In a day of black skies and monsoon storms sun was starting to beam through the clouds and in the heat the track was beginning to dry very quickly indeed and there was a merest idea of moving onto slicks. 

On a drying track the outside of turn five was oddly turning into a key overtaking spot, first exploited by Ricciardo claiming a position from a recovering Bruno Senna, the drying track is causing problems for Mercedes as their race pace was falling apart. Encountering high tyre degradation and falling into the cars behind - Rosberg becoming victim to a challenge from both Red Bulls and the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen.   Things also started to get quite strange, with different drivers performing anomalously - Button was slower after the collision on newer tyres, odd considering the conditions being reminiscent of his epic win in Canada. More oddities were brewing in Sauber as two extremes were emerging, Perez was going faster than his car should be while Kobayashi was perpetually sideways and plumetting down the order.

The teams were staring at the radar screens as fear of more rain was forecast so the drivers were trying to make their intermediates last as long as possible to wait until the threat had passed. As the intermediates were slowly turning into overheated slicks which would be useless if it did rain again anyway, the gap out front was closing - One-Stop Perez was catching Alonso - and very quickly. Here we had a mid-field car catching the most historic team on the grid - the gap shrunk dramatically to the point where the teams were all forced to move onto the slicks as the rain was too far away. Perez's speed fed more fuel to the fire burning the rumors of Massa being replaced, which was enhanced by Massa having a much worse day than his team-mate Felipe was running wide and being passed quite a lot as he fell well out of the points to where Button was having an equally bad time.

It was Ricciardo who went to the slicks first and started setting better times, the quicker teams were remaining more cautious but eventually they all had to pit. Strangely Sauber left Perez out for a lap longer than the Ferrari they were racing for the win which cost the Mexican five seconds to Alonso - but Perez went for the harder tyres a clever plan seemingly. Hamilton was given a rather interesting radio call - claiming he could catch Sergio - ha, there was no chance of that happening - they were losing ground to the Red Bulls behind them. And Perez was mounting another charge towards the Ferrari eroding the damage done by the pit strategy very quickly. 

Senna was still on a charge a little furher back as he scythed past the Torro Rossos and doing battle with Paul Di Resta's Force India, Maldonado in the second Williams was also having a strong race duelling with Hulkenberg for the final championship point. A battle which was to become rather futile as more problems were afoot further forward and Karthekeyan was in for more fun as Vettel cut across his wing creating a puncture problem for the Red Bull. Sebastien was shedding rubber all over the place, in America that would have been enough for a safety car, and dropped down the grid where Massa, Button and the Mercedes had slipped also. 

The laps were running out as was the advantage Alonso had over Perez, as the Sauber was sitting on the rear wing of the Ferrari - a pass looked inevitable along with the prospect of a mesmerising Sauber win. But the team gave One-Stop a call to tell him to be a little careful, emphasising the importance of scoring the points and not taking unnecessary risks to pass Fernado. The last car chasing the Ferrari down in the final laps ended up in the wall as he isn't the easiest of cars to pass, and Perez also made a mistake on some curbing but the run-off kept him in the game - but out of contention for the win. Which sealed the podium positions with Hamilton running by himself since Vettel fell away.

To think things were going to calm down to the end, well no... reflections of Australia were repeating themselves at the far end of the race in the Williams camp as an engine failure cut down another points run for Maldonado two laps from home this time. Then Red Bull decided to play a game of radio hokey kokey with Sebastien Vettel - telling to pit and retire the car - which was then followed by a call to stay out and complete the race, and then came a message commanding Sebastien to stop the car that an emergency situation had developed. Turns out some damage from the flailing tyre had effected the rear braking system - which could have caused a failure at any point, a problem which is never good. But Vettel finished the race anyway.

Back out front Fernando sneaked a victory in changing conditions from a vastly quicker One-Stop Perez who should have taken the maximum score. Hamilton rounded out the podium again from third with Webber fourth again, and a Ice Cream free Raikkonen taking 5th place. Senna managed to pass Di Resta for 6th in an almost Button-esque last place to points drive, Vergne and his infinite intermediates finished 8th ahead of the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg. Taking the final points position was Michael Schumacher after Maldonado was forced into retirement.

The Bonus Points Championship

Even in the early Sunday morning there is time for some bonus points, and in a race of so many different strong performances picking out the winners was going to be challenging but here goes.

25pts - One-Stop Perez - needs no justification, epic race performance

18pts - Bruno Senna  - last at the restart to claim the mid-field victory is quite an acheivement

15pts - Fernando Alonso - to wrestle a poor Ferrari car to victory and hold off Perez good job

12pts - Jean Eric Vergne - how he kept that car on the track on inters in the monsoon is insane

10pts - Narain Karthekeyan - in the worst car on the grid running 10th at the restart albeit on strategy, and proving the other drivers didn't recognise an HRT and kept running into his

8pts - Rain - Turned an often annoying track into a very impressive race today

6pts - Grosjean - It may have been another short race but a very impressive start

4pts - HRT - for making the grid and starting the cars on an interesting but clever tyre strategy

2pts - Jenson Button - It may not be shorts and Ice Cream but having tea in the red flag session is ingenious and here at blog HQ I approve of this choice.

1pt - Angela - bringing Ice Cream was a brilliant coincidence on a day reminiscent of Kimi's magnum moment in pit lane 2009 

The Penalties Points Championship

Even though the race was generally well behaved, the only disciplinary action was taken against team personnel although De La Rosa took the penalty for having crew on the grid at the restart time I think that handling the weather could have been a little better. Yes the call for the initial safety car and the red was right , it was too wet to continue but not so much on the restart. The rule is that teams must restart on the full wets as the idea of using the safety car means it is too wet for any other tyre, yet on the restart today cars were pitting at the end of the first lap for inters, demonstrating it was dry enough and coming close to invalidating the regulations. It's more health and safety racing - I know we want no-one to get hurt but there is such a thing as being over cautious. So therefore one penalty point for health and safety.

Driving standards penalties 

As mentioned before, there was only one penalty handed to HRT's Pedro De La Rosa on account of the team having not left the grid before the final warning when building up to the restart. As the drive through was not issued on account of anything Pedro did wrong it won't be included in the final table as that is reserved for drivers making fools of themselves on track.

Looking now to China

Strangely there is a three week break now before the season moves on to Shanghai, which in terms of track layout and style is very similar to Malaysia - to the point where the first half of the lap follows an almost identical format. Introducing yet another crazed opening sequence of corners designed in what can only be a spate of complete lunacy, but we have to get these things out of the way earlier on, at least the rest of the track is quite good-ish. 

The climate should be much more calm in China but rain has played a part regularly in recent years, at least the race has been able to keep running sadly preventing ice cream breaks for Kimi and tea for Jenson. It should be in this third race that we should be able to start building a brand new formbook for this season after the last one was thrown very far away. Additionally it was this point last season where the strategies and regulations really started to kick in and demonstrate how we expected things to run for the rest of the season. Where Red Bull were dominant but it was tyre strategy that conquered all handing the win to McLaren. So the next race in Shanghai the pattern of the season could be unveiled and it could be a pivotal point in this years championship. Until next time - this is farewell from me here at Blog HQ.

Round Two: Malaysia Pre-Race

Greetings Internet,

Another session completed now, and the formbook that was thrown out the window can probably now be retrieved as the relative performances are beginning to reflect the pace in Melbourne with a whole lot of silver machinery towards the front. As the colourful worlds of Red Bull and Ferrari are a little further back on where they would like to be especially in the rumour filled world of Felipe Massa. Which brings the now warmer residence of Lotus back into the frame for an outside shout of scoring highly in those FIA points, which for some reason are rated above the bonus points here.

One thing to point out is that Coulthard still reckons that the session was taking place in Kuala Lumpur for some reason, there are more places in Malaysia D.C., the fact that the event is set in Sepang should be a slight clue there. We had this problem last year as well, which is all very odd considering the track made it's début in 1999 and has been in the same place for each event... Schumacher has been multiple champion in that time, took some time off and came back the track still hasn't moved to KL in that time. I reckon it's the heat that's got to them, it's become so warm back in the Lotus hospitality suite, where they've managed to set fire to a fridge. While Webber has clearly been taking a leaf from Raikkonen's Malaysia cuisine manual and gone for the ices, looking like orange flavour - not what I'd have opted for but he is Australian afterall.

Culinary preferences aside there was a qualifying session taking place this morning, there was a victor, and some bonus points will be awarded, and this is how things played out, from the BBC highlights show as sky still have control this weekend. But I have managed to borrow a Sky powered TV for the live session in the morning so a rather early start and a hike, but for now here is qualifying..

Qualifying

Points leader One-Stop Perez credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk

After the practice sessions featuring cars sliding around all over the place, a lot of it coming out of the Force India garage and tyre degradation was turning out to be a major factor in terms of moderating performance. Elements that would come into play in the longer runs of the race tomorrow morning but not so much today as this session was all about single lap pace and outright speed in the short term. A hierarchy which wasn't going to be modified too much from events on the park streets of Melbourne.

The first session was started by the powersliding Force India of Paul Di Resta beating Charles Pic to the track and setting a fairly average but sensible opening time, a time which naturally didn't last too long, in the hands of stronger competition. It was Kimi Raikkonen powered by a fury of loosing his Ice Cream stash in the fridge fire, who took the lead position, knocking a whole second off the time set by the Scot. Further down the grid we actually saw an HRT moving round the track without being painfully slow, showing that once more that their season actually starts at round two. But still finishing behind Marussia and a week behind division leaders Caterham - at least they qualified, for the first time.

There was a bit of a battle brewing towards the front trying to claim initial supremacy - Hamilton took the Q1 pole position but was beaten by the Mercedes of Rosberg who was in turn beaten by the former all dominant German Bloke. Life was just as competitive on the edge of the relegation zone as Bruno Senna, and was duelling with the Torro Rosso's over who would be joining the division three in sitting out the next sessions. As the session developed it was Jean-Eric Vergne who ended up in the relegation spot, but at the oposite end of the timesheets Mark Webber made a late run to claim the top time 0.4s out front.

Moving onto Q2, seven cars down - all seven of which are allowed on the grid this week, and it was One-Stop Perez the current bonus points leader who took to the track first, getting a little sideways under-breaking into turn four. Not to be out done Maldonado decided to experiment with the scenery, at least here there was no solid green concrete walls to hit this time. Told you that those decreasing radius corners were a force of evil, and they sent the Williams into the gravel, taking some damage to the barge-boards but the team fixed the car and Pastor got back out. 

Back at the sharp end, it was Ice Cream fuelled Raikkonen was putting his car back up front hopefully in an effort to win enough money for another fridge back at Lotus HQ. Just ahead of the two McLarens, as the two Mercedes cars were lurking outside the top ten so for a while Force India and Williams had a car in the top ten. Also in relegation was the struggling Ferrari of Felipe Massa, who was a long way of the pace of the rest of the grid - yet only four tenths behind Alonso indicating the weak pace of the team as a whole. Schumacher and Rosberg both managed move into the shoot-out, bringing Melbourne qualifying star Grosjean along with Perez too. That left Massa in relegation in 12th along with the Force India's, Ricciardo, Kobayashi and both Williams.

And then there was only ten, filtering out the top four teams to be McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Lotus this weekend and dominating the time sheets. Still seemingly without Ice Cream - Raikkonen took to the circuit first in the Lotus with Jenson next up. Kimi's opening lap was brilliant, sideways more often then not proving the little vacation in the world of Rallying has trained him well - and the final time wasn't too bad either. Sadly Ice Cream Raikkonen was defeated by Jenson by a couple of tenths, only for that time to be destroyed for a second race in succession by his team-mate Hamilton, finding more time than it seems possible. 

Behind them it was a lot closer with Mercedes competing with Red-Bull and Lotus and as they fought each other their times were closing in on those of the leading McLarens  - to the point where Schumacher placed his car on the front row, under two tenths off pole. A gap which Jenson managed to fill with his McLaren to claim a second consecutive front row lock-out, and Red Bull lined up behind Michael with Webber in front. However Vettel is playing a very interesting game starting the race on the harder compound tyre which is a shrewd plan indeed, benefiting from a gear-box change penalty applied to Ice Cream Raikkonen. Meaning that Grosjean will be the highest placed Lotus again, on an almost identical time to Rosberg's Mercedes ahead of Alonso in a struggling Ferrari and One-Stop Perez in 10th,

Bonus points winners

At the conclusion of the second qualifying session of the season, although that was a long time ago now, it is taking a little longer than normal for some reason, but without further delay here are the points for Malaysian Grand Prix Qualifying Session. 

10pts - Kimi Raikkonen - For winning Q2 and that was a very entertaining Q1 lap as well

6pts - Lewis Hamilton - For being strong again claiming pole on the first run of the shootout, but loses out for being a more boring than Kimi.

4pts - Michael Schumacher - For fully exploiting the pace of the Mercedes and returning to a former pace

3pts - Lotus GP - Managing to set fire to a fridge in the most humid climate of the season gets points

2pts - HRT - For managing to qualify inside the 107% rule albeit 1.7s behind the Marussia cars

1pts - Paul Di Resta - Albeit not in qualifying but the epic slide in turn five deserves a point.

Additionally everyone was rather well behaved so far this weekend, with the only penalty for technical difficulties in the Lotus camp for Kimi who needs a new gearbox. A similar problem hit Kobayashi earlier in the weekend but no penalty was applied, at that point in the event, but no driving based dubious dealings going on. So there is no need to roll out the other tables at this point in proceedings.

Looking to tomorrow

Another race out in the east means a other early morning start, and as I'm borrowing a feed for the live showing so likely be encountering the fog gripping the nation at the moment. It's a good thing there is an entertaining prospect waiting for us all at the morning hours of the day, the cars are closer on the timesheets than they were last week. We have four teams running really well towards the front, oddly enough not containing Ferrari at the moment who have fallen back on raw pace in comparison to Australia. In amongst the competition there is the alternate strategy that Sebastien Vettel is running with using the harder tyres for the opening stint. 

The mid-field oddly enough have spread out a little, as Torro Rosso have been filtered down the order a little along with Force India and Williams have been a little further back from the first division opening up a gulf we were seeing last year between the top team and everyone else. We also have a first in 2012 as HRT join the grid, but their speed is rather woeful in comparison to the other cars so could turn into an obstacle to the other drivers rather than anything else.

There is one other major element to consider in preparation to the race tomorrow and that is the Malaysian climate in Sepang - not KL DC - it's like deciding blog HQ is in Northumberland, which it isnt... But geography aside the weather can play a very interesting role in the events, and the monsoon nature of the area might be a problem for Lotus as Kimi no longer has a fridge for his red flag desert menu. If the race does stay green in the event of some rain then what can be an underwhelming track can produce an overwhelming race. So until next time this is farewell from blog HQ.

Round Two: Malaysia 2012 Preview

Greetings Internet,

Less than a week from the chequered flag falling on a manic final lap last time out in Australia here I am once more sitting in the corner that is blog HQ setting things into motion for another instalment of the unfolding season. Despite seeing those unnatural noses for a whole weekend of competition they are not getting any better, no wonder Maldonado wanted to introduce his to the camouflaged concrete barriers. Which had it not been the final lap of the race, then another safety car would have been called and dialled the mayhem up to eleven.

But now the world turns away from the realm of concrete lined streets and minimal run-off - unless of course it's the Indycar GP of St Petersberg running this weekend as well which is rather exciting with the new cars being used. Cars I was hoping to use for the blogmobile but due to the season starting later than the blog, and the effort it takes to produce a version for the simulator, there is no mod available at the moment. However back here in the world of the blog, we are heading to the climatically unstable and impossibly humid tropical world of Malaysia. Often plagued by monsoon rains, filled with Raikkonen ice cream breaks, and bordered by a tropical landscape containing a vast array of, interesting and potentially dangerous wildlife.

The Track

Circuit Graphic provided by the FIA

Sepang offers a completely different challenge compared to Albert Park - offering a range of medium and high speed corners something we were a little short of in Melbourne. The track was the first of the generation of Tilke circuits that have started to spring up across the calender ever since, and in most cases the track can be considered an illustration of the modern fusion of track design and the health and safety culture that has infected modern society. Deciding that the greatest drivers can't be trusted without a biblical amount of gravel run-off and endless expanses before reaching a barrier - so Maldonado won't be running into any disguised concrete walls this weekend.

It is a track of ranging extremes on so many different levels, there are the varied corner styles and speeds, but on top of that it has one very interesting property. It is a layout that contains different levels of intelligence , possibly illustrating a development stage in Tilke's design career. For example everything from turn three until the exit of turn eight, is very well composed, with corners that give the impression they can be taken a couple of miles an hour faster each time round. While additionally opening chances for drivers to gain the upper hand on each other in the process, and overtaking in turn four. That's not it's only redeeming features, the fast turn 12 and the wide turn 16 are also notable mentions across the 3.4 mile lap. The overall width of the track also increases the amount of possible racing lines and makes defending a position more challenging.

But it is far from being all rosy in Malaysia, there are several points on the lap where you step back from the screen a little and, wonder exactly when on in the design office there. The opening complex is a perfect example, everything about it is all wrong, just like that moment where the two ends of a scalextric track wont meet up so you build in a mad corner to match it up. The two hairpins are an exercise in lunacy baked in a fresh coat of insanity, it would be much better if they were removed completely and replaced with a corkscrew type corner to match the topography of the area. On top of this this a seasoning of crazed decreasing radius corners, which are the work of pure evil, I'm not going to discount the corner style completely but the implementations here are very wrong indeed...

And now enough from me rambling on, it is time to unveil the video of the week, and the first time in the very short history of the blog, it is a track that has been videod before. So as per normal here in the confined space of blog HQ, once more into the breech we go and into the uncharted territory of formerly charted territory of something. With a little change over proceedings in Melbourne as I have found a partial WIP carset of the 2012 shapes, liveries and drivers - development never sleeps here at blog HQ, well not until later anyway.

What to expect


Remember the formbook we threw out the window in Australia, well we may as well leave it outside because all the things that took place down under probably won't bare too much relation to how it's going to unfold this time. Such is the difference between the two tracks, that is will play to the strengths of different teams and as this is the first high speed track of the season we shall find what those strengths are, and who has them. Yet as we did understand in Melbourne, there are some points of commonality and base performance we probably can look to for reference.


In a change from last season the divisions have shifted a little and have become blurred and this weekend will see further shuffling around. Out front McLaren and Red Bull seem to have got the winter development right and cam out strong last week claiming the top four places. Behind that we have Alonso in a class of his own unsurprisingly ahead of the division the rest of his team and his car are running in, accepting the limbo role that was formerly held by Mercedes. Speaking of the German outfit they could be looking to secure their position up with the top teams on a track governed more by aerodynamic performance rather than mechanical grip. The same can be said for Lotus who performed really well in Australia despite it seeming that their car is a little more fragile then the competitors - so they might want to be careful in the compression in the first lap. So the top five teams could bunch up a little closer this weekend

In the midfield we saw all sorts of close racing with most of them crossing the line all at the same time, surprisingly it seemed that Williams and Sauber were the strongest forces in this section of the grid. Becoming intertwined with the front divisions. Especially in the case of Maldonado before he was intertwined with the wall, and Perez's early performances, before the class was finally won by Kobayashi. Force India and Torro Rosso seem a little of the pace of the top two in class but the margin is so small there is no guarantee that they will fall behind.

Back in the lonely world of the bottom division progress seemed to be a little stagnant once more, two teams tied up with changing their names and identity and one trapped in the same yearly cycle. Caterham are expectedly the dominant leaders of the category with Kovalainen ahead of Petrov - but the Russian is running a lot close than Trulli had done. However reliability has let the team down so far with neither car finishing the race, handing a class victory to Marussia. Being the final row holders of the grid, both of the entries crossed the line - from a team that first turned up with a fuel tank too small, it does show improvement even if not in relative speed. Then there is HRT, failing to qualify again in Melbourne, Malaysia presents an opportunity to actually start a race in 2012 where we can see where they will settle.

One overwhelming factor that floats in the air surrounding this weekend if the tropical climate, rains that brought the race to a close in 2009 forcing Kimi into his shorts and into the frozen food cupboard. Opening the potential for the first rain effected event of the year, couple of damp practice sessions last time but things don't happen in moderation in Sepang.

The Blog Predictions


After a rather poor performance from the blog in the first race of the season this feature makes its return this weekend to see if it will get any better. So here is the effort at points scoring for Malaysia 2012

Top 10 finishers:

1. Vettel
2. Button
3. Webber 
4. Hamiton
5. Alonso
6. Schumacher
7. Raikkonen
8. Grosjean
9. Senna
10. Rosberg

Qualifying Battle

Red Bull - Vettel

McLaren - Hamilton

Ferrari - Alonso 

Mercedes - Rosberg

Lotus  - Raikkonen

Force India - Hulkenberg

Sauber - Kobayshi

Torro Rosso - Ricciardo

Williams - Maldonado

Caterham - Kovalainen (based on pre-penalty position)

Marussia - Glock

HRT - De La Rosa (based on Q1 time even if outside of the 107% time)

So the stage is now set for another thrilling encounter between the 22 (24 if HRT are any good) drivers under an uncertain sky, the track may have it's significant flaws but the action on it promises to be very entertaining. So until next time - this is farewell from me here at blog HQ.


  

Round One: Australia Review

Greetings Internet,

After returning home from an outside broadcast of a sort, spying on the coverage brought by the force of evil that is Sky Television - safe to say that BBC has been doing a better job over the past few years than what was on display today. They may have all these fancy graphics and seem to be throwing a lot of money at the event, with 90 minute pre-race shows and over an hour afterwards, but still failing to match the content offered by the former hosts of the entire season. But that's not what these posts are about - much - there was a race today and a rather good one at that showing several teams being very competitive and others falling behind their normal standards.

We saw an event not short of some contact and shedding of body panels all the way up to an epic final lap which probably saw more position changes than an entire season under the old pre-2009 regulations. There was also a slight intervention from an Albert Park favourite, the safety car making up for it's absence in last years race. And in the end the champion crossed the line to continue  where he left off in the race to claim the title last time. Of course for once it wasn't the German bloke out front, it was our bonus points reigning champion who claimed the chequered flag while all hell was breaking loose behind him, this is the Australian GP 2012...

The Race

The grid on lap one - from F1Fanatic.co.uk

There it was, all lined up for the first lap of the first race of the season, 308 metres separated Hamilton on pole from the first corner a new year of competition, and those five lights held the 22 cars that managed to qualify at bay. Five lights that were soon extinguished to unleash thousands of horsepower onto the parkland streets for 58laps of madness.

At the start the front row left virtually as a mirror image until Hamilton encountered a little bit of wheelspin gifting Button a free run into the first turn and into the lead, further behind Rosberg decided he didn't like his row of the grid too much and wanted to Michael on his row instead. Which left grosjean lagging off the line with gear selection problems. This was a little too civilised so it was time to unleash a little contact, step forward Mark Webber who ended up between Hulkenberg and Vergne and managed to hit both of them a little. If that wasn't enough, Senna ran wide and re-entered into and then over the front of Daniel Ricciardo. Oddly enough all of the cars that bounced off each other were able to still run afterwards, a couple fitted for checks and minor touches, except Hulkenberg who pulled off after the fast chicane.

Somewhere in all the mayhem one-stop Perez had come from the final row of the grid to be running up with his team-mate - sporting the harder of the two compounds, plotting one stop once more perhaps. Further towards the front of the grid Vettel was in the process of dealing with the two mercedes cars in front of him starting with Nico Rosberg. The battle of the Germans didn't last long as it turns out that the outside of turn nine is a place you can overtake, as Vettel sailed to the outside of the Mercedes and chased after the second one.

Next up to have a go a overtaking was Pastor Maldonado on a fellow GP2 champion Romain Grosjean  - the Williams went down the inside of the Lotus but missed out one important detail. The frenchmans car does occupy a physical space, one Pastor failed to observe and contact was made ending Grosjeans day. A weekend of very contrasting fortunes, second row to second retirement. Back with Vettel and the gap to Schumacher was eroding fast, the Mercedes cars were falling back - Rosberg now had Alonso and Webber for company. But something rather odd happened, Sebastien made an error, running wide in turn on almost surrendering his 4th position, it did nothing to stop the charge however and four laps later he was in position to charge again. This time it was Michael who ran wide - two multiple German world champions messing up turn one, the world has gone mad. However it was mechanical trouble for Schumacher and he limped back to the pits and into retirement.

The race entered a state of calm, which is more than can be said for my innards, thoroughly playing up this weekend life is not pretty in blog HQ at the moment but I shall continue onwards. With the events of the opening laps the top ten was filled by the remnants of division one as the rest has fallen away, with the exception of Maldonado. Sauber were running in formation with Raikkonen and Massa which is where the action picks up again. Felipe was having difficulties managing the tyres on an unstable Ferrari and was under pressure from Kobayashi and Raikkonen - Kamui found himself on the outside of the Brazillian into the entry to turn three. This opened a gap for Kimi who followed the pair through the corner and then passed Kamui on the outside of four, some panel banging later and the Finn gained the place.

Another queue of cars was forming behind Nico Rosberg in the only remaining Mercedes, with the primary attacker being local driver Mark Webber, the Red Bull had difficulty catching the superior speed of the Mercedes even in the DRS sections. But Mark forced himself alongside the German on the run down to the quick turn 11, Nico broke a little too late, kept the position but had to use the escape lane on the inside of turn 12. With worn rear tyres he had to surrender the position in the pit lane unleashing a very quick Webber. A barrage of fast laps later and he had done enough to jump ahead of the Mercedes and try and close the gap to the leasing cars ahead.

Then things were about to get interesting, Vitaly Petrov must have gotten a little bored with racing down at the bottom of the grid, as he pulled his Caterham over on the pit straight and buggered off. To clear the machine the safety car was launched, and closed the field right up, and under the new rules shift all the lapped cars out of the way. And I don't care what you think Brundle it is a good idea, although it does need to be implemented smoother. The timing of the safety car helped Vettel jump ahead of Lewis Hamilton into second while Webber lined up 4th ahead of Alonso and Maldonado. The break was also good for one-stop Perez who had conveniently only stopped once and the rest would have helped his tyre life.

The Race - Part II


As the safety car pulled in, reigning bonus points champion headed reigning FIA champion - I think this shows which series is the best somehow. Button had a strong restart and cemented the position, the only pass on the restart belonged to Kobayashi. The Sauber driver repayed Kimi Raikkonen as he passed the Finn on the outside of turn three, the outside of corners was getting a lot of use today. Kovalainen in the remaining Caterham also passed two cars, yet this was before the SC line and was issued a grid penalty in Malaysia for the privilege.

This was the phase of the race where things started to go a little mental, starting off with Felipe Massa, the Brazillian was having an appalling day in a car which was failing to work in his case anyway. Fernado had managed for force his Ferrari to reach the top five at this point while Felipe was battling for 14th place... Massa was duelling with Ricciardo in turn three and cut a rear tyre in the process - Senna was passing the wounded Ferrari on the outside of the next corner. Due to the damaged tyre Felipe drifted into the side of the Williams, with shards of carbon fibre showering the track resulting in a front puncture for Senna. Both cars retired from the race as a result of the damage, putting Massa and Senna's races out of their respective misery as neither have been having a nice day. The next driver to visit the gravel was Jean-Eric Vergne but he only made a passing visit before rejoining.

With laps winding down the field was clumping into little groupings - the top four of both McLarens and Red Bulls who were unable to attack each other. Alonso and his fading tyres, was gaining a lot of attention from the remaining Williams of Maldonado who was having a good day, for once. Then there was roughly everyone else -  a train behind Rosberg was forming with the Saubers, Kimi, both Torro Rossos and Paul Di Resta. All running fairly close together with conflicting tyre strategies including one-stop Perez on tyres older than the queen. What all this needed was a catalyst, some event to bring all these machines into immediate proximity to allow battle to really take hold.

On the final lap we had that catalyst provided by Pastor Maldonado, in his attacks on Fernando Alonso - pushing a little too hard to close on the weakening Ferrari he got a little too much curb on the exit of turn 6 and got a little sideways. Maldonado corrected the slide and introduced the Williams a little too personally to the inside wall. The impact was fairly severe launching the front of the car and spinning it across the track, had it not been the last lap it would have been a safety car scale accident.

Assumingly off camera this bunched up the Rosberg train and unleashed an epic final set of corners, the pictures picked up the train with Kobayashi leading the train out of the turn 9 chicane after a little contact. The contact punctured Rosbergs tyre allowing Perez and the rest of the train through, Raikkonen pounced on Perez in the penultimate corner while Ricciardo passed Vergne as Di Resta plotted and waited. As the crowd entered the front straight Kamui claimed the mid-field victory ahead of Raikkonen. Behind that Di Resta gained a run on the battling cars ahead passing Vergne on the straight and almost taking Ricciardo too as one-Stop Perez held the pair of them off for 8th position.

Beyond this brilliant lunacy - resembling one of the V8 Supercar races that followed the series this weekend - Button claimed a dominant victory ahead of Vettel, Hamilton, Webber and Alonso leaving a gap to the mid-field war won by Kobayashi.

The Bonus Points Results


An impressive start to the season, with action at both ends of the race - oddly both involving Williams cars - but as light has now completely faded here at Blog HQ it is time to open out the scoring for the first race of the season.

25pts - One-stop Perez - scores his second Australian GP points victory through using the trusty one-stop strategy even running second at one point from last place, just lost ground in the final fight
18pts - Jenson Button - The reigning champion strikes again claiming another race win in Australia in the dry
15pts - Kamui Kobayashi - Winner of the mid-field fight and for that move on the outside of Raikkonen
12pts - Pastor Maldonado - For keeping pace with Alonso all race very strong, but not as strong as the melbourne barriers - see painting them green made them invisible.
10pts - Fernando Alonso - For dragging a woeful Ferrari into the top five while Mass struggled just to drive the car without hitting things
8pts - Raikkonen - From 16th to 7th is good day for the Finn on his return to the sport good job
6pts - Sebastien Vettel - Awesome move on Rosberg, and keeping McLaren very honest today
4pts - Paul Di Resta - For a great final lap - going from 13th to a points paying position in one sector
2pts - Nico Rosberg - Fully uneventful race but gets points for the brilliant start
1pt - Marussia - For being the only newer team to finish the race when Caterham failed and HRT were too slow to start.

Driving Penalties Table


There was only one single infringement was performed by the traditional leader of the third division of the grid, Heikki Kovalainen who passed those two cars before the safety car line on the restart before he had to retire the Caterham with a loose steering arm. As a result he was handed a five place grid penalty in preparation for Malaysia.

The Penalties Points Championship


I would like to issue a penalty point to my internal organs for being horrifically uncooperative this weekend making life here in blog HQ not the most enjoyable of places to visit at the moment. Can't imagine what has destabilised my innards but I really rather it hadn't - there seems no rational excuse so hopefully a penalty point would sort the system out.

There is also a second penalty point going to Sky TV, not for their coverage today because the rant on that one has been played out over the end of the last season, but because they have also stolen the GP2 season too which is very displeasing because those races are brilliant.

Looking to Malaysia

After the compact parklands of Melbourne the series turns to something completely different, gone are the close camouflaged walls - replaced by acres of health and safety gravel as we enter the first of the seasons irritating Tilke-dromes. A track which offers a mix of fast challenging corners, and idiotic corners which can only have been designed drunk, and narcotics can only explain the turn one/two sequence. But what it is a permanent track where the cars will be able to stretch their aerodynamic legs in managing the faster layout.

This shall sort out the running order a little more definitively than the results here in Australia - Red Bull might be much closer in qualifying pace and perhaps Ferrari won't be so awful. We may also gain a better reflection on the pace of the Lotus in the hands of Kimi Raikkonen and that of Mercedes who encountered problems this weekend.

There is only a week before the Malaysian GP kicks off - now without GP2 since sky took that too, but that   means things have to move quickly here at an ill blog HQ as video filming has to commence tomorrow as well as calculating the totals for the points series, and figuring out how many points the blog has scored this weekend. So until next time this is farewell from the blog...

Round One: Australia - Pre-race

Greetings Internet,

And there you have it, the first qualifying session of the season and my my did we have some interesting results and a little change of the guard out front, only a little change of course. Despite being trapped with the BBC highlights this weekend the coverage was not too bad, only a couple of minutes shaved off each of the qualifying stages. The overall show may have been cut down by quite a bit being over an hour shorter than it used to be. But it does mean I can catch the start of the Sebring 12hrs the beginning of the WEC series, racing is all unveiling this weekend, and already in the opening 15 minutes there to today's qualifying session.

Before this document kicks off, you remember that formbook, might be a decent time to find the nearest open window and throw it away  because it only bears a passing reference to the actual goings on at the track. Looking at the timing presented by the session, the prospect for the event in the early hours of tomorrow morning does look very promising indeed. Lots of cars running on a similar pace meaning the gaps we had between divisions - especially division one and two - has been significantly reduced and there is also a major overlap in the classes. Division three however.... less so.

Qualifying

Image from F1Fanatic.co.uk - An HRT at it's fastest

After several practice sessions bothered by the weather qualifying opened up to the traditional excessive sun that bakes Australia something which is rather lacking here in blog HQ - mainly because it is indoors here, but the outside has been on the brink of rain for a while now. But back to the track action and it was the renamed Marussia team who were first out with both drivers Glock and Pic setting early times. Naturally it didn't take too long before those drivers saw their grid numbers fall as more and more cars took to the circuit. It was Williams who went next to hold the top position in the hands of returning Venezuelan Maldonado.

Then came the turn of Sauber showing some unnatural speed, as Kobayshi went fastest and stayed there after the initial efforts from the division one cars, maintaining a fraction of a tenth over Jenson Button's McLaren and the Red Bull cars. But even that fluctuated as the division one cars moved ahead, sweeping the Lotus team along for the ride with Grosjean and Raikkonen skirting the fringes of the top 10. and Mercedes fighting much further towards the front. 

Down towards the drop zone HRT were being rather slow, not as slow as they were in the Australian GP last season but still doing quite badly - never managing to get within 107% across the entire weekend, and won't be on the grid tomorrow. Division three remained the Heikki Kovalainen show as it had been all of 2011 and probably will be again, but this zone was joined by Felipe Massa in one of the very ill handling Ferraris. Felipe was forced to move onto the softer tyres to escape relegation placing Kimi in the danger zone. The Finn ran wide on his final effort dooming his return to the world of Formula one, while out front a brace of mid-field cars on soft tyres charged up the front - giving Kamui the lead once more ahead of Vergne and Perez.

Q2 started almost according to the 2011 hierarchy as both Red Bull drivers headed the pack with Vettel leading the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso with the McLarens yet to set a time. Then the session installed itself with a minor interval period when a car was positioned backwards in the turn one gravel trap, a victim of using some grass on turn in. And the owner of this stricken race machine, none other than the Spaniard Alonso demonstrating how difficult the new Ferrari is to drive. A red flag was thrown to clear the car and Alonso would take no further part in the session. But the power in Q2 shifted to Mercedes as the session restarted as both silver machines went to the front headed by Rosberg, followed closely by the two McLaren cars.

One of the surprises of the session other than Sauber in Q1, was the pace of Romain Grosjean reaching 5th in the second session, if that is the pace of Lotus Kimi is going to brilliant to watch tomorrow. Red Bull was droppped to 6th and 8th - but things were still going fairly bad in Ferrari HQ as Massa was stuck in relegation. What was even more embarrassing for Felipe is that he ended up several places behind his team-mate who span out of the session early on. Sauber opted for only a single run, hoping to use the pace they had in Q1, but gearbox issues kept Perez in the garage while Kamui only managed 13th. 

So we ended up with a Q1 without any Ferrari entrants, I can't remember the last time that happened in the current format. But it did open the door for Maldonado and Hulkenberg to visit the shootout along with Daniel Ricciardo occupying the space I expected Raikkonen to be taking up. Rosberg was the first to take to the track in the final session to set the initial benchmark time including a fairly epic save two corners from the end of the lap. But his time was quickly destroyed by Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren a time which no-one would be able to beat - no-one even came within .7s in the first set of runs. 

When round two rolled round more of the cars joined the track except Ricciardo - the official winner of the first penalty point of the season. Button came closest to beating his team-mate and claimed the remaining spot on the front row, impressively followed by the Lotus of Grosjean and Schumacher in 4th. The formerly all dominant Red Bull team line up 5th and 6th Webber ahead of the German bloke, who were in turn followed by another german bloke in the form of Nico Rosberg. While Maldonado and Hulkenberg rounded off the drivers who took part in Q1.

Time to award bonus points

Yes that time has arrived, after a winter away from the points schedule, here they are again and this time, this year the points system gets a little bit of an upgrade in both sessions borrowing the F1 points system from the old days. So here are the winners from the Australian GP qualifying session.

10pts - Romain Grosjean - On his first race weekend back making the top three in a car from the previous division two, very impressive.

6pts - Lewis Hamilton - That lap certainly deserves points - so here is 6

4pts - Pastor Maldonado - From being a pay driver in a weaker team to reach the top 10 well done

3pts - Kamui Kobayashi - For his performances in Q1 on both tyre compounds

2pts - McLaren - for proving that not having a stupid shaped nose is the best solution

1pt - Mercedes - Deserve a point for this clever wing device thing which clearly is helping matters

And the penalty points

Continuing from a standard I adopted last season where drivers who don't take part in the final part of qualifying on the basis of being boring just to save tyres get penalty points. So on that basis one penalty point will be served to Australian Daniel Ricciardo from Torro Rosso.

The penalties Series

After last year the table for this did get rather complex with all sorts of penalties being taken into consideration this time I will only look into driving standards penalties rather than technical infringements such as engine and gearbox changes. Therefore Perez's penalty for changing his gearbox will not be totalled up.

Looking to Tomorrow 

Well, well, well, it all looks very exciting indeed, with a grid that doesn't conform to the norms of the past year, there are cars out of position pretty much all up and down the starting line up. Where there is this level of mismatched placings there is plenty of room for mayhem especially on the limited space available there at Melbourne, and mayhem causes safety cars and as they say over in America - cautions breed cautions - so it could be a very action packed day. Throw into that fast cars coming from the back, the likes of Kimi Raikkonen, Massa and Alonso a lot further back then they would prefer and those two DRS zones...

The Australian GP is set up wonderfully for a day of excitement, where I get so spy on the method which Sky TV approaches the coverage as I borrow a TV for the event, may as well enjoy the opening event in it's entirety. So after along winter, the drought of motor-racing is over, as the world, and the microcosm of blog HQ welcome in F1 2012 from Melbourne Australia - prepare the race snacks, this is going to be epic...

Round 1: Australia 2012 Preview

Greetings Internet,

The wait is finally over, as we burst out of the off-season and into a new and exciting year of motor-racing, a year that has already delivered so much. The opening rounds of the V8 Supercar season in Adelaide - the former host of this race - were immense, yes that Whincup bloke won another event but he did do it rather well. Take note Vettel, that's how you balence dominence with entertaining racing, not that panel rubbing and contact is quite so tolerable in the Red Bull - wheels might be lost and apparenly race cars need wheels to function. Unless of course you're Lowndes where running without a tyre just results in spectacular drifting, followed by an unscheduled pit stop to replace the missing article.

So will the F1 people be quite so entertaining down there in Australia, well we can always hope so - although it will generally only be seen by the folk on Sky. Having said that I may have secured a location for Sunday to catch a full re-run of the event, meaning hopefully the blog won't be trapped with the highlights packages that BBC has been left with this season. Which based on the ones they posted for the Indian GP last year, were more than a little abstract, but this time they are called extended highlights so who knows how extended they are going to be. Time will only tell as qualifying on Saturday will be beamed to blog HQ through the BBC, but there will be no spying on the first practice session of the season unfortunately.

The Track

Pulling myself away from another building rant about Sky TV, lets re-focus on the patch of tarmac the drivers will be doing battle on this weekend, and also doing battle in the scenery too if anything history of this event has told us. On the belief that the unusually incident free 2011 event was more of an anomaly than anything else, normally we have cars bouncing off walls, bouncing off each other, and in the case of Ralf Schumachers 2002 start - sailing through the air. The close proximity of the walls only serves to encourage people to drive into them, and the Australians being an odd bunch have painted them all green. Camoflaging the concrete barriers, just to temps drivers even closer perhaps - certainly makes the support action entertaining.

Track graphic from the FIA event information

Albert Park is a combination track - part temporary street track running through the park, and part permanent racing facility, a similar process to that applied to Adelaide it's predecessor and the Singapore GP well see later in the year. Being set in a park the track is partially shaded by trees, which discard their leaves on the track suface, and also lengthening the shadows as the race draws to a close on Sunday. Australia just building up the perils for the event to introduce a little spark into the event - a far cry from the health and safety modern Tilke tracks where you need to hail a taxi to reach the barrier.

One consequence of being mainly a street track event is the nature of the corners, limted by the infrastructure of the park, are a little simlar in nature. A problem that effects the likes of Singapore or Abu-Dhabi, however here the impact of repeated corner styles doesn't detract from the flow of the track. The advantage of not using city streets but park access roads where the topology isn't composed of endless sequences of 90 degree corners. Managing to to find a balence between slower and faster corners, some vastly enjoyable and some a little more irritating - yes turn 15 I'm talking about you.

But this is a new season and I've already unveiled the 2012 blogmobile in previous posts but now it is time to take it on it's official capacity around the melbourne circuit in the first of the track videos for this year. Still managing to produce the films in 720p HD - or so youtube claims, yet the actual content is filmed at a slightly lower resolution. My graphics processor would cry at the thought of running the simulator in HD, it can barely manage to cope with filming some of the F1 sequences in DX9. So without further ado and rambling on, this probably is the interval of the opening race post of a brand new season, here is the 2012 track video for the Ausralian GP, complete with soundtrack...

And welcome back after a that little break of visual pseudo-entertaiment - one of these days I shall get the video system working properly, but that might require a new much more powerful purpose built system. Based on the budget here at Blog HQ such things are many many years down the road if this blog even still exists then.

What to Expect

It is anyone's guess really, a fleet of new cars - all hiding their true pace in the preseason testing sessions - so no-one really knows who will come out on top this weekend. Even if we had some representitive data, the unique nature of this race, with the walls and leaves and other Australian paraphenalia means that the formbook probably can stay in the cupboard for this one.

But we can asume some constants, primarily the grid divisions as pointed out in the last post, the top three teams will more than likely be the ones battling for the pole - with the figre of Kimi Raikkonen for Lotus an outside chance of joining that party. Which roughly gives us seven cars in the top division with chances of scoring major points (real ones that is, bonus points are different) and even threatening the front row. After so much dominance from Red Bull I'm all for them having some form of competition out there.

In the middle of the pack, it is difficult to pick a winner from that group, Force India and Sauber look strong but Williams and Torro Rosso also had promising testing times. I know those times can pretty much be discarded, as they are about as reliable as HRT's development program. But no-one was hopelessly off the pace so expacting this little group to be very entertaining.

Then there is division three, where the newer teams live -  a division which has been completely dominated by Heikki since it's inception. This time the Finn has a new team-mate in the form of Wingman Petrov since being removed from the team formerly known as Renault-Squadron now Lotus GP. Given Kovalainen's experience with the car, I expect the early races to fall into his favour as Vitaly catches up, but the pairing could help Caterham escape division three. As for Marussia well pretty sure they are staying down here at the back losing more ground to Catherham and the rest of the grid.

There are two omissions from this list, firstly Mercedes GP, who from the information floating arounf twitter, have been very clever indeed - incorporating a sort of F-duct inside the rear-wing endplates that activates when DRS is opened. The air is then sent under the car to the front wing effectively creating a front DRS system as well - well played Mercedes, well played indeed. Meaning their staus as being the only runner in division 1.5 could be promoted to division one too.

That leaves HRT, more twitter updates have stated that De La Rosa's car isn't ready yet, which is never a good sign - saying it is being built at the moment and are waiting on parts which haven't been delivered. Flashbacks to 2011 are cropping up where the team were woefully slow on account of not doing any testing before hand, and failed to qualify for the race. History is repeating itself as HRT have declared that they will be using the event as a glorified testing session... will they make the grid.

In terms of the race, the FIA have introduced a double DRS zone in Australia, but with a single detection point in the same place as 2011. The second zone comes into effect on the exit of turn two before turn three which is a decent overtaking point on the track. The main question that comes up here is WHY!. This methodology is a little foolish because if a driver makes a pass in the first zone he can use the system again and vanish off into the distance, culling a posible ongoing battle.

Blog predictions 


After a season of given those people on the actual track the hallowed bonus points, I thought it was time for some internal points awarding in the form of a rough series of predictions mainly just for a laugh

Top 10 finishers:

1. Vettel
2. Button
3. Alonso
4. Hamilton
5. Raikkonen
6. Massa
7. Webber
8. Rosberg
9. Kobayashi
10. Di Resta

Qualifying Battles

1. Red Bull - Vettel
2. McLaren - Button
3. Ferrari - Alonso
4. Mercedes - Rosberg
5. Lotus - Raikkonen
6. Force India - Hulkenberg
7. Torro Rosso - Ricciardo
8. Sauber - Kobayashi
9. Williams - Senna
10. Caterham - Kovalainen
11. Marussia - Glock
12. HRT - (if they qualify) De La Rosa

This brings to a close the opening post from the season, and during the course of writing this out, it has been confirmed that Sunday I will be borrowing a Sky powered TV to see how the enemy manage to handle the coverage. A long way off what the BBC have been offering over the past years, but before then there is Saturday's qualifying to enjoy first. So until the next time this is farewell from the blog HQ.

The Blog Introduces F1 2012

Greetings Internet,

It is me once more, been quite a lot of activity on this little corner of the internet over the past few days, all in preparation for the coming nine months of motor-racing. From Australia in a very short weeks time all the way to Brazil in November at the end of the year where the new Bonus Points Champion will be revealed. Jenson Button, enters the season as the worlds first and only reigning Blog Bonus Points Champion - although the accolade may be one of great immensity - Jenson didn't seem to respond to being tweeted of his success. Then again neither did Lewis or Michael when informed of their not as impressive titles, seems none of the folk of the real world actually pay attention to what goes on here. Ah well me and my little audience shall plow on regardless of what the world thinks. But here's hoping that this year will be different, that our champion will be crowned whether they like it or not...

Anyway this is time welcome the new season here on the blog, and what better way to declare the proceedings open than a nice new video all filmed in the visually very impressive DX9, although it works perfectly fine when running the simulation; recording it does have FPS issues. So when it comes to running the lap guides in the coming races - may have to turn down the visuals in order to ensure I don't end up in the barriers and actually complete a lap.

So what are we expecting here at blog HQ, well not too much can be gleamed from the pre-season testing because all the teams will be concealing their true pace from the competition. From the results it would appear Williams and Sauber will be competing for the title alongside division one. Additionally it would appear that the returning Raikkonen is going to be impossibly fast - after turning up to the first testing session and topping the time sheets. Taking that into consideration we have to take a more general look at things, accepting that the testing data exists but choosing to disregard most of them - somehow I doubt if there is going to be only 1.3s separating Raikkonen in front and that Vettel would be the car in last place. On balance I think those numbers can be cast aside.

Now a more realistic look a the plausible outcomes in Australia only a week away, firstly it can be presumed the division structure that formed in 2011 will once more dominate the hierarchy of the grid this time around. Divisions that will probably go as follows:

Division 1: 

At the very front of the grid we can expect to find the usual suspects, with Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren being the ultimate competitors - the order of those teams could be anyone's guess, yet it is a safe guess that Red Bull will be pretty difficult to beat. While both the their main rivals will be looking to make a much stronger start to the season than they made in 2012.

Yet they may not be alone in the first division, a small matter of a rather speedy Finn in a car which does seem to have some decent speed can't be completely ignored, indeed the testing results are about as water-tight as the titanic... after it sank but there may be a small hint of truth in them. Lotus could make the same start that former Renault Squadron made this time last year with a clever exhaust system. Now those technologies have been abandoned they may not get swamped by the grid this season.

Then there is the team in perpetual no-mans land, not quite division one, but ahead of division two, of course this is Mercedes locked in racing limbo. Will this year be any different, for the Germans - testing puts them ahead of Red Bull - so I can assume that those results are nonsense at this point in time.

Division 2:


With the possibility of Lotus moving into the next division upwards this group of the grid could be a little thinned out this time round, but will that make it a little less competitive - will it hell. With Sauber and Williams performing 'well' in testing the cars could perceivably even closer than they were before placing all eight cars on a very similar pace which bodes well for some very exciting racing. Unleashing that degree of competition onto the parkland track in Melbourne sounds immensely entertaining.

Yet looking at the teams in this category I can imagine that Force India would be the ones at the top of the tree by thousandths of a second and probably quite close to Mercedes and their division 1.5 position. It is anyone's guess of who will be their closest competitor as Torro Rosso, Sauber, and Williams could easily rise to the surface and it will be enthralling seeing that battle develop.

Division 3:


Out of the three teams running down here in the final division there is likely to only be one victor - in the form of Caterham Racing, based on their complete dominance of the division over the previous years. Combined with the progress both HRT and Marussia have made during the winter, it is a patten likely to continue. Neither of the latter teams have taken part in current pre-season testing sessions on account of failing to pass the crash tests.

Similar to the process HRT encountered last year, running their testing in actual practice sessions in Australia even with the extra delay brought on by the cancellation of Bahrain. However we have been assured that the preparations have been much smoother this time - and the car does look more developed. Not what we can say for Marussia however - binning the CFD approach after certain flaws like not having a fuel tank big enough to finish a race creeped in to the car, look less accomplished. As the pre season update posts showed the MVR 01 appears a little too basic. Perhaps HRT may enjoy a new life one row off the back this season, but only time will tell.

The Blog in 2012


As you, the people of the internet, will no doubt be aware of, the evil folks at Sky have acquired coverage of the season, leaving the BBC with only half the races, replacing the missing events with 'Highlights'. Based on the highlights I was forced to endure for the Indian GP I can only hope things are more comprehensive this time. The schedule does say two hours is the allotted time for the highlights show so perhaps a little more promising, additionally the channel do seem to be covering qualifying highlights as well, which is a relief as this means I can continue to deliver points on the Saturdays.

It probably bodes well for you lot, however few of you there are out there who read these things, as it may mean that these posts could be shorter with less material to go on, yet for the more traditionally timetabled races in the afternoon, there may be an alternative solution to bring into play.

The bonus points will be delivered as normal, except this time using the current F1 Scoring system, placing a greater importance on the race, and to allow more teams and drivers and other objects to make it onto the table. In 2011 over 60 entities scored points and we hope to improve that this time around. Also in terms of the qualifying scoring that will be scored on a decreasing points scale using the old points system where the top 6 drivers scored points from the good old days.

Now things are all ready, filming is already being mentally plotted for the Australia video, it may be stolen by the folk in the sky building but it doesn't stop the anticipation - even though I may have to highlight that too, so until next time farewell from me here at blog HQ.

Pre-season updates, and a new Blogmobile

Greetings Internet,

The green lights in Melbourne lie less than a fortnight away - even though the race has been stolen from the BBC by the evil folk down at Sky HQ, gave their building a little shouting at in town the other day too. But here in the less well equipped blog HQ we have to play with the cards that have been dealt, the blog may not have been given a promising hand, but defeat is not really an option. I shall curtail my rant for now, and bring proceedings back to a realm of sanity and calm.

The season is almost upon us now, and all the pre-season plans are beginning to fall into place, both out there in the testing sessions in Spain, and here on this little corner of the internet. It seems both Marussia and HRT have encountered issues when attempting to pass the compulsory crash testing requirements, something that must instil so much hope and comfort in their drivers. Having said that, it does mean the teams have a design that the blog can reveal to the world, so without further ado, the final two cars to make up F1 2012:

Firstly the Marussia MR01, and looking at it and the other shots sprouting up across the internet, and it does look painfully basic. One front facing image makes the machine look a little like something from a lower formula. However points are regained by having a normal, conventional sloping nose, no odd tumorous forehead design here. Wonder if the CFD design process decided foreheads were appalling, this normality almost makes up for the weird striped livery the team seem to have gone with this season... why Marussia why...

Finally the contender from HRT, and contrary to popular belief the Spanish team can put together a car which is different than it's predecessor. The F112 is a step on the F111, and with a different, yet decent livery - even without sponsorship once more. Even the likes of HRT have added this step in the nose leaving only McLaren and Marussia with traditional designs. The F112 does look as basic as the MR01, but time will tell in the battle for the final row of the grid. At least this time HRT will be in Melbourne a little more prepared than in 2011.

All this talk of new cars bring me onto the next order of business in this the pre-season update.  After half a season of strong service from the last of the blogmobiles - the 2007 Champcar DP01- there comes a time when sadly things must move on. A new year full of all sorts of... interesting designs from the field, demands that the blog follows suit, to keep up with the pace of a rapidly changing and developing sporting environment.

So the quest began for a new blogmobile to bring in the new season, scouring the annuls of mods available for the simulation software operated here at blog HQ, of course there has to be a set of criteria that need to be validated before a new car hits the virtual track. Mainly it has to be roughly representative of the purpose of it all here, and naturally I have to have access to the mod templates so that the livery can be mapped to the model. Additionally it would be preferable to have a machine from a team not currently competing in the championship for impartiality of course, hence why all the previous versions have been from the States. But now time for a little change and the year's first video reveals the new blogmobile...

An undeniably fine machine, extracted from the annuls of Formula one, it did slighly shock things here realising that this car is now seven years old - seven years since Minardi have been missing from the sport quite sad really. But despite being older than the DP01 by two years, the PS05 is technically a long way removed from the standards set in the champcar series, and should be a step forward for blogmobiles, and bringing back an iconic team.But before I end up reminiscing any more time to cut to some photos:

This time being able to film and visualise the car in DX9, something almost unthinkable when it comes to this rather under-powered computer that fuels blog HQ. Safe to say the results are shiny, everything is shiny - even the top gear runway is shiny.

The new livery is unsurprisingly yellow, but I like painting things yellow - when I get round to it at some point my room is going to go very yellow indeed, but painting in the real world is more complex then making these liveries. My efforts at set design will easily attest to that

This wavy design that has been draped over the bodywork was inspired by the DPR team from GP2 who ran their Asia series cars in yellow and black with these waves and I quite liked it so borrowed it a little.

 All painted up and ready for it's first official session in Melbourne when filming on the track begins next week - so things are in place on the site as well, with a new table for those incoming bonus points and a brand new page listing the blokes who get to play with the actual race cars, in actual Australia rather than sitting in a corner of a room in Northern England, but we can't have everything.

So until next time, this is farewell from blog HQ.