Round Six: Monaco Review

Greetings Internet,

We are half way through the two major events of the day at the end of the Monaco Grand Prix, which I can say that the teams got rather lucky which is a shame for all us folk sitting on our chairs in front of the television as they were all spared the rain by the falling of the chequered flag. As the podium celebrations were in flow the skies finally released the onslaught of moisture, which would have been a lot of fun had it descended in its entirety during the final few laps of the race instead of the minor intermittent drizzle we settled with. This time round Monaco did suffer from the perennial problem of cars not being able to overtake on the narrow street course. A problem that mainly affected the race of Button who found himself dealing with slower cars for the majority of the race - echoing back to the race where DC had forty laps trapped behind Enrique Bernoldi in an Arrows.

Today's race, encompassed many of the traditional elements of a Monte Carlo race, mainly in the fact there was a whole bunch of posh people turning up just to plug their own films and products - none of which is going to taking place here. Mainly because the blog doesn't really care too much for their secret agendas, this corner of the internet focusses a little more on the action on the other side of the barriers. Just because the event didn't have too much going on this time round in the central portion of the race - well by not much it could be classified as almost nothing. Does open up the bonus points opportunities for anyone who made the effort to make their way past another driver without losing wheels in the process. But by the end of the 78 laps we had our 6th different winner of the season which according to the guys on TV is a nice new shiny record.

The Race

Grosjean going the wrong way: F1Fanatic.co.uk

While I sit here watching the coverage of the Indy 500 - and at this point Conway has had his second airborne accident at the circuit, sliding along the wall on his side after contact with Will Power, with a loose wheel grazing Castroneves' car. Just in case you wanted to know what was going on. I would post a link to where the race is being streamed but by the time this post is sent out the race will have been completed and the stream would be finished. So on that not it might be best to turn things back round to the other big race of the day, and the cars filed onto a grid which every season looks to be getting tighter, but that is a result of seeing a series of ultra-wide modern circuits in the opening phase of the season before turning up to the rather more compact world of Monte Carlo.

Several thoughts were bouncing around the paddock as everyone was lining up in position, firstly rumours of a possible protest surrounding a hole in the floor of the Red Bull car placed on either side in front of the rear wheels. The hole diverts the air from under the car round the wheels and into the rear diffuser, therefore increasing downforce and airflow, however this comes with questionable legality from some teams. The second idea running it's way up and down the pit lane was the threat of some rain, the same rain that was proposed for the Saturday qualifying session but that failed to make an appearance.

The start of a Monaco race is one of the more exciting moments of the Formula One season, and as those famed lights start to illuminate it is enough to make you put down the race snacks and shift all the concentration onto the CRT screen in the corner. Well life in Blog HQ isn't exactly living in the technological future, especially with this machine running completely without any form of battery functionality - little trip to Amazon needed to fix that problematic situation methinks in the not too distant future. But all those superfluous thoughts are banished from anyone's mind when that final light illuminates on the timing gantry.

All five red lights extinguished and the cars were released and an equal start off the front row for both Nico and Webber left the Australian out front through Sainte Devote without threat from behind as Hamilton in third had a less then ideal launch and left a space. However space is not something the short down to turn one has a lot of, and a shortage of space requires a lot of patience to get through the corner. This leads to another problem, at the start of a race where this could easily be the only chance to overtake another driver patience does tend to get ignored rather easily. When patience gets ignored in such a small space then things tend to go a little wrong, and go wrong they did.

Alonso made a strong start and tried to get past Romain Grosjean before turn one, the Ferrari touched the Lotus and Romain was forced left. The normally isn't too much of a problem but on Grosjean's left was Micheal Oh Sch...umacher and an immovable steel barrier - you can see where this is going. Romain made wheel to wheel contact with the Mercedes which broke the suspension on the Lotus and sent it spinning across the track. Most cars managed to avoid the spinning car except Kobayshi who was thrown through the air after clipping the rear tyre on the Lotus almost landing on Button on the outside of the corner. But the mayhem wasn't quite done as Maldonado starting from the back drove into Pedro De La Rosa and One-Stop Perez made contact with the rear of Petrov's Caterham, meaning we lost 5 cars as a result of the first lap.

On a slightly different note Sato leads the indy 500, awesome

Ultimately the safety car had to be thrown to clear up the debris from the cars, and the restart seemed to almost catch Hamilton by surprise, as much as it did the commentators, but the race control message was displayed as the SLS reached the swimming pool. It also said DRS was enabled but that had to have been an error as it is disabled immediately after a restart. For this phase of the race the drivers went into more of a conservative mode - finding some of that patience that was going be very useful for the majority of the race. Especially for Jenson Button who had found himself behind the Caterham of Heikki after avoiding the launched FC Sauber in turn one. Webber lead the queue of cars from Rosberg and Hamilton, in a process of tyre conservation laps in the process of setting up a single stop strategy without pressing too hard to catch the cars in front as that would destroy the tyres. Of course there is the other matter that even when right behind the car in front passing between the walls is not really the easiest of tasks, even with the vagaries in tyres this season.

Interestingly it turned out that overtaking wasn't entirely impossible in this iteration of the Monaco GP, it may have been a lot more inactive than last seasons but it was a couple of iotas above inert as One-Stop Perez was mounting a recovery. Having to start from the back of the grid after binning it in Q1, had found himself behind Jean Eric Vergne's Torro Rosso on the run down into the chicane. Sergio lunged up the inside and the Frenchman was forced to cut the chicane and retained the position in the process. At this point the first call threatening rain came through to Raikkonen encouraging him to stay out as a train of cars was beginning to build behind him it was China all over again. Oh Sch...umacher was the first car trapped behind the Lotus and in turn was been hunted down by Hulkenberg in the Force India.

Back on an alternative note, Takuma now running third on pace behind the two Ganassi cars.

Having squeezed past Vernge, One-Stop Perez had found is next victim in the form of Charles Pic's Marussia. The chicane that eliminated Sergio from the qualifying session and the whole event in 2011 seemed to prove to be a little more productive this time round. Performing the exact same move on Pic down the inside into the chicane, Charles cut the corner to avoid contact kept the place but surrendered it into Tabac. Not having the same sort of success was Jenson Button languishing behind the Catherham and probably not being too pleased in the process as the pit stop sequence was setting into motion for those running on the softer of the two compounds present.

As Vettel was running the prime tyres cycled through into the lead and was running several really quick laps on clear track uncontested even with more threats of rain coming through the radios. When Sebastien finally came in for his stop he rejoined in front of Hamilton but behind Alonso who had also jumped Lewis. But things were a little more consistent in the realm of Jenson Button who was also running longer on his tyres, as when rejoined the race a shiny green Caterham sneak round the outside of the McLaren at the blend line. Which settled positions for a really long time.

So I'll turn to the Indy 500 - under caution with 12 to go and Sato is in 4th

While the yellow flies in Indy back to the plot and a replay shows Perez, trying to get to the pits while Raikkonen was trying to pass to the inside, luckily contact was narrowly averted but One-Stop was handed a drive-through for impeding the Lotus. With 20 laps remaining in the race the top six cars had began to run line astern Webber leading Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton. Towards the back of the train Oh Sch...umacher was rapidly catching the train lapping as second a lap faster as the leaders were holding themselves up in the long train that was building.

But it wasn't destined to last long for Micheal as he radioed in a mechanical problem and was beginning to lose power in the higher speed sections of the track. He immediately began to fall down the order initially to Jean Eric Vergne on the front straight and the two Force india drivers were closing fast. But the German was forced to retire.

Curses and more curses, Sato crashe out making a pass for the lead on the final lap of the Indy 500

Not too pleased at that, but I shall get back to the main programme of events here at blog HQ, the race was coming closer to its conclusion and finally that threat of rain was starting to materialise but only in the form of light drizzle. It brought the lap times down by a couple of seconds and with the clouds forming on the hills and the radar become more populated it was Vergne who took to the pit-lane for intermediate tyres. If the rain had intensified it would have paid off wonderfully but it didn't so he fell back massively. A little further down the grid Button was getting tired of looking at the back of a Caterham and had a look down the inside into the chicane. Heikki squeezed the McLaren close to the walls and maintained the position, Jenson was to have another go into the final part of the swimming pool but found the door closed once more. In avoidance of Heikki's car, Button span off into the run-off area and trundled round into retirement.

It wasn't the end of Kovalainen's fun for the day as although Button was missing from the queue the next car swooped into position in the form of One-Stop Perez, and Sergio hasn't been as considerate as Jenson had been when it comes to passing people. Sure enough the FC Sauber driver was going to have a go, however opting not to use the chicane this time but turn one instead. Diving to the outside of the Caterham lead to the pair bumping wheels in the braking zone, which sent Sergio down the escape lane - handing Heikki a temporary reprieve. Battle would be re-commence once the leading cars had made their way though under the influence of blue flags. While Ricciardo retires his car with an undiagnosed mechanical problem.

After having a period of light rain the track began to dry up again with only a couple of laps remaining, and Perez was reunited with the back of the Caterham which now was missing parts of its front wing, not entirely sure where those went missing but likely Sergio was involved. The FC Sauber driver capitalised on the reduced braking capability Heikk had at his disposal and used the chicane to pass the Finn who was forced to stop to change the nose but remained in a strong 13th position.

Positions out front remained consistent right to the end despite all the top runners being separated by mere tenths, but passing was a little out of the question. Rosberg pressed hard on the final lap of the race but was unable to defeat the Australian so Webber crossed the line to complete a Red Bull trilogy at Monaco heading a podium populated by Rosberg and Alonso who now leads the championship. Vettel finished fourth ahead of Hamilton and best friend Massa in sixth. Both Force India cars scored points with Di Resta 7th and Hulkenberg 8th while Raikkonen and Senna rounded out the points and the top ten.

And in other news Franchitti has begrudgingly won the Indy 500... buggerit

So we had another party on the Monaco Red Bull barge with reporters and the like all staying well away from the central pool, especially Eddie who probably is still recovering from the soaking last season. What was most notable was that while the crew from the BBC were in the middle of the barge, those people from SKY was trapped behind the barriers and were quarantined with the other photographers and reporters. Score one for the BBC and that is why the evil folk from sky are providing inferior service, massive shame we are shifting to SKY TV for the next race in Canada so no idea where the coverage here is coming from, but will cross that bridge when it comes to it in a fortnights time.

The bonus points championship points winners


Despite the race being for the most part rather dull, with a lot of processional running it may seem harder to assign points but the blog will not falter in the face of a challenge, well not in this instance, other times there may be a lot of faltering in this little corner of the internet.

25pts - Takuma Sato - Came so painfully close to winning the Indy 500 today, a bloody good job there shame for it to finish in the fence so here are some points
18pts - Heikki Kovalainen - For withstanding virtually an entire race under immense pressure and was only forced offline to surrender the position by Perez
15pts - One-Stop Perez - For actually passing people because no-one else seemed to bother today
12pts - Mark Webber - A strong drive and a good win from lights to flag
10pts - Felipe Massa - For scoring four times his entire season points haul on one race today
8ptes - Jenson Button - Wins points for being so immensely patient for most of the race at least  
6pts - Jean Eric Verge - A very brave call, if it had worked it would have been genius
4pts -  Paul Di Resta - Great avoidance of the flying FC Sauber on lap one and strong race
2pts - The BBC - For beating sky in the post race and spying on them in the process, well played BBC
1pt - Dario Franchitti - Suppose you should get a point for winning it and all, despite falling out with the blog in the process, just means no Christmas card this year

The penalties series


In a season where driving penalties have been a little scarce in comparison with technical penalties for changes of gearboxes and engines post qualifying but they have started to escalate and following the race we can add Sergio Perez to the list for the pit entry issue with Raikkonen.

The penalty points series

Now I was a little fatigued yesterday when the post was released and this section was missing, so there is some catching up to do really, starting with Sebastien Vettel - who is handed a penalty point for not running in Q3 yesterday.

Moving swiftly on to the race session and there is very little to complain about - except a certain race over in Indiana - on the basis that no-one really did anything but that situation would have been averted should the rain have turned up a little earlier and intervened a little more substantially. So I shall give a penalty point to the weather for this weekend as well.

Looking ahead to Canada

Last season we were treated to an outstanding Monaco GP and I might have challenged Canada to outdo it a little... and Montreal delivered what could be considered the greatest race of the entire season and at least a few years before that. So Canada would you mind beating that once more, please although it shouldn't be too complicated this time around.

In addition to the Monaco GP, Canada is one of the most exiting races of the season, as the track behaves much in the same way that a street circuit does, with the additional component of higher speeds and concrete walls instead of steel armco. On top of that it is possible to pass other drivers in Canada unlike in the event that just unfolded (no not that one, the less said there the better) which does add a further dimension. Without looking at the forecast for next race I doubt there will be same quantity of rain and madness we did see in 2011, but I can expect it to be one of the best events of the season.

In light of recent events think I shall wrap things up here now and weep into my tea at the most fantastic conclusion of this dual race weekend fading away with three corners to go... so sad, so until next time this is farewell from me here in Blog HQ.

Round Six: Monaco Pre-Race

Greetings Internet,

Today has been an interesting day, spent doing the incompressible concept of socialisation out there in the real world which is a big and scary place which generally doesn't agree with my presence but this time I was allowed out there. So that was appreciated there might have been bonus points in that but considering there are only 8 points places on offer this weekend the team may not end up on the table. It is because of those folk that  this report is going to be a little later in publication than normal, that said the majority of posts this season have been delayed for one reason or another - sky and rehearsals in the early races and other ventures for the recent ones. I know the views of this little corner of the internet are not exactly en-masse and the introduction of sky may be damaging that. Curse you SKY tv stealing my audience, even more reason to be displeased with you.

But rant completed, time to dial things back to the session of the day, which did happen a really long time ago now, and once again the iPlayer came to the rescue as it so frequently has this season, and to try to recover time as it the race itself really isn't that far away now I should probably be a little more concise in this as they normally take a lot of words and a lot of hours to complete and there are not a lot of hours remaining today. The event was interesting and perilously close all the way throughout, where at one point in Q2 four cars within half a tenth of each other. Ultimately we ended up with a temporary polesitter deposed through a penalty. Additionally a second penalty for 10 place grid drop was handed to Pastor Malsonado for having another moment of lunacy in FP3 when it seemed a like a good idea to drive into the side of One-Stop Perez on the run into Portier before binning it in Casino Square later on in the session. So onto the rest of the session.

Qualifying

Image credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk

After booting up this machine which now has completely destroyed it's battery capacity formerly running at 9 minutes of running time before powering down - it now fails to operate completely beyond the range of the charging cable. If ever i needed even more of an excuse to remain captured in the little dark world that is blog HQ, being out there in the real world does make confines and the reality thereof a little more empty but that is a rant for another time and place because there is a green light on at the pit lane and the session was about to start. 

And this being Monaco everyone wanted to find some trackspace, as trying to manage 24 cars on the shortest track on the season with no room for cars to get out of the way, and the zone of contention is always down into the Rascase corner. Here drivers back off to find some room while drivers behind were piling into the section at the end of their flying laps. In this early phase the first driver to hit this problem was the Marussia of Timo Glock who at the end of his first lap of the session found a rather slow HRT (which is common for HRT's in general) but De La Rosa was running abnormally slow which doesn't make too much sense, there isn't exactly any cars on the track that an HRT is going to catch up to over the course of a lap. As a result Glock ended up 16s off the leading time posted by Alonso.

The session was about to go on a sabbatical for a while as an apparent steering failure introduced One-Stop Perez in the FC Sauber into the barriers on the exit of the first part of the swimming pool result in damaged front and rear suspension setting a rear tyre loose in the process. Something that happens here on the blog a lot during the videography process before the Thursday releases. But the accident that gives Sergio a 100% record of crashing out of Monaco qualifying sessions brought out the red flag for a few moments.

Because One-Stop Perez was knocked out of the session that sealed the results of the first part of qualifying as the remaining six places in relegation were going to be held by the six newer team cars, although division leader Heikki came within a tenth of escaping. Back at the front end of the grid some of the teams were turning to the softer compound tyres to move prevent relegation, considering Heikki was so close. Oddly enough that list of competitors contained the Red Bull of Vettel and Teh Massa who was having a decent day for once this season. At the very front Hulkenberg and Kobayashi were the front runners setting the fastest times on the softer tyres.

With the newer drivers and One-Stop Perez eliminated it was time to roll onto Q2, and it was the Force India of Paul Di Resta who left the lane first followed by the two Torro Rossos as getting to the front of the line is a significant advantage. Therefore Paul set the opening benchmark time but that didn't last too long as Vergne moved into the lead position, but Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes was racking up some significant pace moving half a second into the lead. 

But it was time for some more contact this time from Vergne who performed the same manoeuvre we have seen so many times here in Monaco in recent years, cumulating in the accident Perez had last season out of the tunnel. This time Vergne locked up and slid into the barrier removing the front wing and dragging the crippled aerodynamic device round the track at a much reduced speed. A speed which almost caught out Teh Massa who was hurtling through the swimming pool section when he encountered the slowing Torro Rosso who was on the same piece of track as the other car piloted by Riccardo. Felipe danced between the two cars before making the apex of the subsequent corner.

The session stayed green, and Rosberg was gaining friends out front as Webber and Hamilton appeared in close proximity while Monaco specialist Maldonado moved into the top five. Raikkonen and Button were struggling to find enough time to escape the relegation division while in a world of complete change and variance Teh Massa was making a charge at the top of the timeheets for this session, a contrast from his current form of being completely destroyed by Fernando, and his charge drove him right up to the front. While Button still couldn't make it into the top 10, even Vettel came close to also being ejected from the season throwing everything at the lap only secured him 8th position. Down at the very bottom of the top ten Raikkonen just managed to sneak through into the final session on his final effort. 

We only had ten drivers and ten minutes to decide the most important qualifying session of the season on a track which is so confined and almost impossible to make overtaking manoeuvres on, making track position for this session equally as important. And it was Nico who was the first to take to the streets from Hamilton and Maldonado, out of the three it was Pastor who set the benchmark time, but it was a very beatable time lingering at the top of the boards. Meaning it wasn't long before it was beaten, and it was Romain Grosjean who did the beating with a far superior time to the Venezuelan's lap. Yet that time also proved to be beatable by the Mercedes of Rosberg setting a faster time on the second consecutive lap on the softer tyres. Webber moved into third position and Hamilton slotted into fourth. 

The newer tyres fitted it was time to go for the final run of the session to finally decide who would be sitting on the front role of the grid for tomorrow's (or if this goes on for much longer today's) Monaco GP. It was Raikkonen who made the first improvement but only jumped as far as sixth and Teh Massa who had been going so well earlier on had clearly reached his peak in the last segment and languished down in 8th. Alonso exacted revenge to out qualify his team-mate as has been the predominant condition throughout their pairing in the Ferraris. However it was only by one place, and out front it was Mark Webber who took the top spot, which was rather a surprise considering how off pace the other Red Bull in the hands of Vettel has been all session. But that wasn't as surprising as the pace of the next car that came streaming across the line, piloted by the old geezer in the second Mercedes - the original German Bloke who kept winning things, on many occasions here in Monte Carlo. Indeed Micheal Oh Sch....umacher had planted the car on pole, however it's a false pole as he does have a lingering 5 place grid drop from his accident in Spain so won't be on the front row. Handing pole to Webber and elevating Nico to the front row. 

The Bonus Points Championship points winners

Here are the results of the blog HQ vote, and we are sticking to the normal points system and not incorporating this Eurovision thing into the selection process.

10pts - Mark Webber - for getting pole when Vettel has been so off the pace

8pts - Michael Oh Sch...umacher - not bad for an old bloke

6pts - Teh Massa - for being fastest in Q2 and for being a ninja dodging the Torro Rosso cars

5pts - Nico Rosberg - another good showing for the Mercedes driver 

4pts - Romain Grosjean - being the stongest of the Lotus team and quick all session

3pts - Fernando Alonso - for being the most sideways through the swimming pool

2pts - Daniel Ricciardo - for ruining Jake Humphrey's hair as he wandered through the paddock area

1pt  - The team and some bloke called james - There is your point you may have delayed this process massively but a good day nonetheless

The penalties championship

Following the events of morning practice, Maldonado was handed a 10 place grid drop penalty for being a little angry and ramming Perez in FP3.

Looking to Tomorrow

Well I could spend a long time here pointing out all manner of things for the race in what is now half a day's time, does almost negate the purpose of this document as it will only really be relevant in the time when most of the population will be sleeping but I tend indulge in futility more often than not so I'm still writing it now as it closes in on 11pm at night here. But there is only one thing that really needs to be mentioned in this little section at the bottom of this once more excessive document, and that is that this is the Monaco Grand Prix and therefore there are no predictions to be made. Because anything can and traditionally will happen, from collisions and extreme tyre wear to surprise performances and strategical brilliance all of which will be on display for the 78 laps of what could be the most entertaining race of the opening phase of season

until Canada rolls round of course

Round Six: Monaco 2012 - Preview

Greetings Internet,

There are those occasional races on the calendar that immediately jump out at you as points of interest and now we have two in a row coming up. As the season begins to settle into the European rhythm with updates and car development it might be a good idea to disrupt that process and throw in one of the most unpredictable races of an already mad season. That can only mean one thing, the arrival of the Monaco Grand Prix, where drivers have to negotiate their way between 2.1 miles of steel barriers and concrete walls with a little help from some rain this afternoon in second practice. A little quantity of moisture that made the run-off area on the outside of Mirabeau very popular as several cars paid it a visit and Kovalainen didn't come back from the escapade.

This race falls on one of the two most important racing weekends on the yearly calendar, there are universally recognised as three major race events in a year, the three ultimate races - The Le Mans 24hr, The Indy 500 and the Monaco GP. On Sunday two of those races take place making the coming days the pinnacle of global open wheel racing, almost worth buying in additional race-snacks for. Both races exist at opposite ends of the racing spectrum, the most high tech series in operation competing on the slowest course on it's calendar while on the other side of the Atlantic the Indycars will be covering 500 miles with lap speeds in excess of 220mph. Rather exciting really.

But this corner of the internet is aimed a little more toward the event that is cited on this continent in the small and exotic Mediterranean principality traditionally drowned in coastal sun and overly posh people - but the less said about them the better. Coverage as it always has been in Monte Carlo will be infiltrated by pseudo celebrities and people who want to be pseudo celebrities, who will be continually pointed out and stalked for no apparent reason. When the activity on the other side of the barriers is generally far more interesting, however that said should anyone actually relevant or important in the world of Blog HQ be around than I might let that slip, not so much as to enter the bonus points table however. So to turn things back onto the twisting ribbon of carnage inducing tarmac the field will be competing on over the 78 laps on Sunday afternoon.

The Track

Credit to the FIA for the trackmap

This one of the truly unique tracks on the calendar featuring corners that have remained in their exact position since the track was first brought into operation many many decades ago, pre-dating the official F1 championship by quite a way. Ever since cars have been running through the streets, long before health and safety turned up with it's armco barriers and tyre walls, which have been a welcome addition, to the point where there wasn't even a wall preventing cars falling off the harbour wall and into the sea before Tabac corner. But then in recent years the continuous progression of adding barriers was reversed and some were taken away, from the swimming pool and from the first corner in accordance with the re profiling of the pit lane and exit lane.

 For this season there have been more modifications to the track, this time on the exit of the tunnel down to Nouvelle Chicane which were evident when watching the practice session this afternoon - which takes place on Thursday only for this weekend on Monaco. What has taken place is that the stretch of road from the crest of the descent running all the way down to the exit of Tabac has been resurfaced to take out some of the bumps in the braking zone. Bumps that caused One-Stop Perez to crash into the inside wall and make secondary contact with the barriers in the chicane putting him out of the race and the subsequent event in Montreal. Additionally the barriers that Sergio made contact with has been moved a long way further back, taking out a tree in the process.

Everything else has remained as it has been for many years, because if it isn't broken there is no need on fixing anything, and while street races have sprung up across the calendar with Singapore and they still think Valencia counts as street event but that makes no sense. But the race there in Monaco still remains something special with corners recognised all through the world of motor-racing - except the folk who attempted the track from Top Gear who apparently didn't know the layout of the track which is fairly embarrassing on their part really.

But introducing the lap is something rather challenging to manage in a text box on the internet when there is something far more interesting that I can release unto the internet, in the form of the Thursday introductory video. This time we have gone a little further not just looking over the lap the cars will be covering this season but taking a mysterious journey through time and space - as a spontaneous I should have used a Delorean, well perhaps in a later edition that will come into play. But this is a 14 minute epic journey through the different phases of the Monaco GP.

What to Expect

This week I do have the benefit of seeing the first two practice sessions, well the first on only in highlight form and the second on in it's entirety, safe to say that productivity was defeated by the session, no contest really. But what I can say is that it didn't really help, it only served to demonstrate how competitive it is going to be as both Lotus and Ferrari have pulled themselves much closed to the front likely only due to the unique configuration and demands of the Monaco circuit. 

So up at the front end any of the top five teams could end up on pole on Saturday afternoon, and following that the number of candidates for the top step of the podium could even verge into double figures. Additionally as the track takes away the advantages some teams have placing it more into the hands of the drivers. Allowing drivers like Kubica and Sutil to run well in cars that were off the pace compared to the leading teams at the time, therefore the top five teams could very well expect some company from the mid-field, especially considering in Spain a Williams won the race, and another team is not out of the question this time with Sauber seeming to lead the midfield struggle.

There is also another consideration to introduce this weekend and that is the weather, narrow, steel lined streets with some water thrown into the mix is an astounding thought, there was some drizzle in the second practice and more of the wet stuff is predicted for qualifying. So in prospect we could end up with a disjointed grid for the race and when you add a disjointed grid to a manic race such as Monaco and frankly all hell could break loose and I rather hope it does because it will be fantastic. I have spend a lot of time this season complaining about tracks and corners, mostly those built by Tilke but - although some of the elements of the track are not ideal, loews hairpin for example they've become comfortable and traditional. So therefore it will probably take about 70years before anyone likes the Valencia track in a couple of races time.

Blog Predictions

I know I've spent the past few paragraphs mentioning how unpredictable this event is going to be and now I get to demonstrate how true that is when the order that is to be listed below will bear no resemblance to the order that will likely appear on Sunday.

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

Qualifying battle

• Red Bull - Vettel
• McLaren - Button
• Ferrari - Alonso
• Mercedes - Schumacher
• Lotus - Raikkonen
• Force India - Hulkenberg
• Sauber - Kobayashi
• Williams - Maldonado
• Torro Rosso - Vergne
• Caterham - Kovalainen
• Marussia - Glock
• HRT - De La Rosa

There we have it all the preparations have been taken care of, with the small matter of the fact that another session will be delayed because I will not be around for the broadcast and consequently I will be back at the computer later on in the evening. Blog HQ is not used to all this socialisation it is all too complicated and confusing not something I am truly not accustomed to. But with the rain threatened it will be very worth waiting for and until that post on Saturday evening is released this is farewell from blog HQ.

Round Five: Spain Review

Greetings Internet,

Another race in the season and the complete unpredictability of the season continues once more who'd have thought that the oddities we saw in the qualifying session would carry forward into the race today, and especially with the removal of Hamilton from the front of the grid due to the issue that was under investigation yesterday. The vast majority of the main teams were further down the final order than we would normally expect all in a race which did seem to fluctuate in much the same way the Chinese GP did, an interesting opening phase when the places were initially falling into place - followed by a period of inactivity during the middle of the session and ramping things up towards the end.

While all this was pottering around the Spanish circuit, I was pottering around a field in Corbridge where a whole bunch of rather expensive vehicles were collected for display to the general public with showings from Ferrari, Lamborghini and an interesting contingent of Corvettes. And there is nothing wrong with a field of angry American machinery extended when a possibly original GT40 turned up a strong addition to the line up, but I digress once more, at least this time it isn't a rant like normal, hooray for distractions and all. So as this is being written quite late on in the evening compared to when I'd normally like to get a start it might be an idea to get on with the show.

The Race

credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the image

Upon returning from the adventure out in the real world, something I'm not entirely used to - or calibrated for, but considering the other populous of the area were the sort of folk who spend most of the time around motor-vehicles are not entirely normal, so not too different. I waited for the iPlayer to accumulate the footage while avoiding any form of sports news something to do with some football going on and attracting the attention of other relatives. But once everything was in place it was time to catch up with another entertaining instalment in this oddly developing season.

The grid formed up with the Williams accepting the pole position after the Hamilton grid penalty, but it wasn't a position Maldonado would hold onto for very long as Alonso got a better jump off the front row. Running down the inside of the Venezuelan in high speed drag race on the inside of the race track before the local managed to take the place into the first corner. Mimicking his start from last season leading his home race, it was fairly even through the rest of the grid with One-Stop Perez passing Grosjean on the exit of turn two, only to be clipped by the frenchman puncturing the FC Sauber's rear tyre. Sergio hung onto the sliding car, and almost wiping out Hamilton and the two Caterhams on rejoining the circuit. Romain also suffered  some slight damage on the left side of the front wing during the contact. Also during the opening laps Charles Pic had a complete 360 spin on the exit of turn three, dodged by the HRTs behind.

We entered a state of equilibrium for a couple of laps as the drivers settled into positions, as all the drivers were in the DRS range of each other so therefore no one was able to get an advantage. As cars were becoming bottled up behind each other they began to use up their tyres faster than they had hoped for, Webber for example was in a queue involving Massa, and Button opted to make his stop early to prevent losing any more time in traffic, seeing the additional pace the newer tyres had gifted Mark, other teams followed suit. So we ended up with cars on different strategies everywhere, Webber and Button - early stoppers were down with the newer teams while Senna and Hamilton by virtue of not stopping at this stage had gained track position and were well inside the points.

With this amount of disparity in cars in different car speeds due to tyre degradation there were going to be problems, starting off with Rosberg making a safe pass down the inside of turn one in the DRS area. This left the door open for Grosjean immediately behind to try and make his way through as well, perhaps there wasn't enough space for the Lotus for fit but Romain widened the door. A little bit of contact later, leaving the Frenchman with matching chipped wing endplates this time using the Williams instead of the FC Sauber. But life was about to get a little more complicated for Bruno Senna as Michael Oh Sch...umacher was approaching the slowing Williams at a high rate of knots. Now Michael has had a habit of hitting cars from time to time, traditionally Lotus or FC Sauber coloured ones last season but clearly decided to add a Williams to the list of victims this time around. Arguably Senna did change direction in the braking zone but at the closing speed the Mercedes had it was another Oh Sh....umacher moment and clattered in to the car in front. In his displeasure he decided to launch his steering wheel detaching one of the paddle shift paddles in the process. Both cars duly retired.

Then the oddities continued a little further down as we saw Mark Webber accumulating a large train of cars behind him, populated by the Force India of Di Resta and the Torro Rosso running in formation as usual this season. Well with the dissolved the Renault Squadron the grid needed a team to adopt the regimental running order. But the Red Bull was beginning to steadily lose places to all the cars in this train of followers as Teh Massa and his best friend Hamilton also passed the Australian. Mark returned to the pits and the team proceeded to change the front nose-wing assembly, although there seemed to have no visible damage to the wing. Theories at the moment suggest that there is a curb somewhere in the final sector which is dislodging the whole nose structure and therefore compromising its effectiveness. On the other side of the Red Bull garage things were also encountering difficulties as Vettel was handed a drive through for speeding in yellows for Michaels crash, a replay showed him using the DRS in the area the flags were out. An identical penalty was also handed to Felipe Massa but no idea if this was due to the use of the DRS too.

It was time for more pitstops and Maldonado came in before Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, and while Alonso was on his in-lap he encountered some rather unco-operative traffic in the form of Charles Pic's Marussia car. So due to the delay we had a change for the lead, Pastor's Williams was now leading the double world champion of Alonso - but those were not bonus points championships so clearly not that important. It was all action in the area of the pit lane, as the race saw the third retirement from the race in the form of HRT's Narain Karthikeyan with an undiagnosed mechanical failure on the pit exit. A little further up the pit lane would we see a completed McLaren pit stop without something going a little wrong... er no Hamilton came in to get some new wheels. On his exit from the pit box, it was the left rear corner that strikes again, this time Lewis managed to hit one of the wheels that was removed from the car, as it was left a little to close - a little hop and a pause but no major delay or damage.

The driver penalties cut short what was going to be another enthralling encounter between Teh Massa and his best friend Hamilton, but Felipe had to pull off to serve his penalty, while another penalty was handed for Pic for his blocking of Alonso. However rather than serve it he pulled the Marussia into the garage and gave up - you can't escape a penalty that easy Mr Pic I have a penalty point for you instead. Elsewhere it was time for Kamui to open that little compartment of madness he had stashed away on the inside of his FC Sauber - as Button eased wide to take the normal line into the fairly straight forward turn five, Kobayashi saw a gap. He threw the car into the space, a little wheel to wheel brush and after the next car in the queue, Nico Rosberg, who in turn just launched one up the inside of Vettel into Campsa corner before the German took his penalty. Not to be outdone Vettel back on track found himself behind Button only to power all the way round the outside of the McLaren into the first corner. Then it was the turn of Hamilton to have a go at raising the overtaking bar a little and his targets were set on the two Torro Rossos who were, surprise surprise, in formation. Lewis went up the inside of Ricciardo out of turn three then darted between the blue cars to pass Vergne on the outside of turn four.

Back in the world of pit lane more issues surrounding the left rear corner of racing cars, this time for One-Stop Perez's garage, as there was a lot of activity on the wheel gun - Sergio's subsequent retirement can't be unrelated. The man famed for spending less time in the pit lane foiled by the very same location. Out on track the two leaders were catching Raikkonen who hadn't taken his final stop and was temporarily leading the race. This packed the two contenders together as they worked their way past the Lotus on worn tyres, Alonso made a couple attempts at taking the lead away from Pastor but the Venezuelan defended enough. But behind them Kimi had a plan, by pitting later his tyres would be in better condition in the dying laps while the two out front will be losing grip.

Speaking of fading tyres, both McLarens were running longer final stints - especially Hamilton aiming to cover 30 laps on the hard compound in a two stop recovery strategy which was working out rather well. But behind the pair of them was Vettel on newer tyres from a much later stop gaining quickly, Jenson was first on his agenda and the McLaren fell victim to a long range pass from that German Bloke into one of the more conventional locations into La Caixa. Tyres were also deciding the battle for the lead as the Ferrari seemed to drop off quicker than the Williams as Raikkonen was closing rapidly on Fernando in the process but laps were running thin. Rubber was getting thing for Hamilton too and it was the German Bloke who was hunting him down, but with the high tyre degradation there was nothing Lewis could do to halt the Red Bull charge and ultimately it was an easy pass round the outside of turn one.

There were more tyre issues for the remaining Mercedes of Rosberg who still - 30 laps later had Kobayashi behind him, granted there were some pit stop interventions in that gap but the two cars ended up together by the end. But the FC Sauber had better tyre condition and pair that with Kamui and positions are not going to stay the same - Kobayashi had his first lunge into turn five again giving Nico a little bump on the way but Rosberg stayed in front. It was only a temporary reprieve as the FC Sauber spotted a gap from a long way back and almost instantly the white car filled it. All without locking a wheel while Nico struggled on the fading tyres finally falling victim to Vettel again in the fast turn nine corner.

Out front Pastor Maldonado claimed his first win in the Williams and their first win since Montoya in the 2004 Brazilian GP, comfortably clear of Alonso by the end who was less than comfortably clear of a rapidly closing Raikkonen. Grosjean claimed forth and another strong team finish for Lotus, Kobayashi finished fifth for FC Sauber and Vettel regrouped to 6th. Nico lead the worn tyre brigade ahead of Hamilton and Button while Hulkenburg took the final point on offer. Well that is except the bonus points of course..

Bonus points championship points winners
Well after such an interesting race, here are the winners from the event

25pts - Pastor Maldonado: Well rather self-explanatory really had a more than decent day
18pts - Lewis Hamilton: 24th - 8th with the grid this close - plenty of points on offer there
15pts - Sebastien Vettel: For the highest quantity of good passes, outside of turn one and inside of turn 9
12pts - Kamui Kobayashi: Also for strong overtaking in turn five and from a week behind in turn 10
10pts - Kimi Raikkonen: A very clever race, using the tyres almost to claim victory
8pts - Fernando Alonso: Totally decimated his team-mate, Teh Massa was last of the non-new teams and keeping an off pace Ferrari competitive
6pts - Lotus: For currently being the most coherently competitive team on race day
4pts  - Track Safety Crews: For handling the fire in the Williams garage
2pts - One-Stop Perez: For not spinning with a cut tyre on the outside of turn three, would have been more but for almost wiping out three cars on the return leg
1pt - David Couthard: For stealing a Force India tyre trolley to wheel an ailing Eddie Jordan around the paddock after he managed to fall over.

Penalty Series
We've had a while without drivers being handed official penalties but this time the stewards were a little more active dishing out these penalties.

• Felipe Massa: For speeding under yellows (drive through) 
• Sebastian Vettel: For speeding under yellows   (drive through)
• Charles Pic: For ignoring blue flags   (drive through)
• Michael Oh Sch....umacher: For hitting Senna (5P grid drop for Monaco)

Penalty Points Series
In a race where the Stewards have taken care of most of the indiscretions this over the course of the weekend there isn't much left for me to add to, but of course that doesn't mean they are all off the hook. Here are the penalty points additions following the Spanish GP.

• Charles Pic: Hiding in the garage away from a drive through penalty may work on track but not from me here at Blog HQ.
• KERs: Cited as being the source of the fire that damaged the Williams garage and injured crew members, likely on Senna's car during packing it up resulting from the damage caused by the impact from Oh Sch...umacher. That's my theory anyway of why that system failed catastrophically.

Looking ahead to Monaco

There are few events on the calendar where automatically jump out at you as being special, ones that traditionally ramp up the competition a couple of levels - dialling it all the way up to 11 and beyond. In that list you normally have the Candian GP, the Belgian GP and in recent years the Singaporean GP but there is one other name on that list which generally comes pretty near the top, and it is approaching next time out.

Here it comes, one of the most anticipated race weekends of the entire year, the close, compact and the completely insane race on the narrow steel lined barriers of Monte Carlo. From a venue used for testing and is used on a regular basis to a layout that only exists for this event before being turned back over to the locals to potter around on. With the way this season is playing out the Monaco GP promises to be the most astounding race of the year, it has been a while since the merest prospect of a race appearing as the next step on the  calendar will be met with such excitement. Even here in the normally apathetic realm of blog HQ the Monaco GP is a nice idea.  

So until next time this is farewell from me here at Blog HQ.

Round Five: Spain Pre-race

Greetings Internet

Well well well, that certainly was an interesting session a session that more flawed sleep was intending to remove from my day, but I put an end to that plan fairly successfully although it did cancel out the idea of catching FP3. Well I can't have everything, in fact if we were to look into the set of things I can have here at Blog HQ it would be a rather small set of things indeed bordering on an empty set but that is a rant for another day and another location that isn't this corner of the internet, there are other places for that. Anyway there was a qualifying event this afternoon - one advantage of having the coverage on the BBC in the European time zone is that I can start writing this a little earlier and it should be done before the end of the day, well things would be on schedule if I wasn't such a lazy person but because I am it is nearly 5pm now and I'm only a few lines through. 

And the three sessions did provide some strange results compared with, well I was going to bring the formbook back into things but that was rejected on many occasions this season as the grid have had a habit of making up the running order as they go along. Which frankly is a wonderful idea, from Saubers almost winning in Malaysia to double Lotus podiums in Bahrain leading to a very entertaining season in prospect and from the grid line up after what was presented to the world this afternoon is going to make tomorrow's race no different. While I shall be away for the day pottering around at some car thingy the iPlayer will be taking care of the coverage upon my return to therefore the posting will be even later than this one is going to turn out to be. So on that note I should better get on with today's update.

Qualifying

picture from F1Fanatic.co.uk

Once again tiredness was clouding the mind - in the face of irregular sleeping - there is nothing particularly grand about 3am that warrants waking up for so I have no idea why my internal clock system interrupted the sleep process at that point. Additionally destroying those illusions that tend to resonate through the mind during the fragments of sleep involved - all for the better really considering that dreams are only the empty vessels lies come in. And probably should be put out of their misery - anyway I digress once more definitely eaten way too much popcorn to write in nice coherent paragraphs.

So I shall move swiftly on to Q1 and ready for the first cars to hit the track, in theory anyway - the timer signified the start of the session and the green light illuminated at the end of pit lane but no-one seemed to notice. There was a whole empty track where times could be set unimpeded and without the threat of traffic in the session where the highest quantity of cars would be competing. But still no-one decided it was a good idea to have a go, but on a lighter note it does mean that I haven't had to write anything for the first five minutes because nothing happened at all. However after the prolonged wait when no-one wanted to play it was Scotland's Paul Di Resta who breeched the implied picket line and took to the track, and once that one car left the pit lane everyone else started to follow suit. Except Red Bull who decided the garage was much more comfortable and stayed there for a bit longer.

Paul's first flying lap was severely compromised by encountering a Marrusia coming into the final chicane complex with Timo Glock at the wheel - this harmed his lap time but there was enough of the session left to set a better time. Leaving Alonso a free run at the first position which he suitably claimed in front of the home crowd. The Spaniards reign lasted only a couple of minutes before Hamilton defeated his time while One-stop Perez found himself in second, running for FC Sauber due to their connections with the Chelsea football team. Whatever football is. At this point Red Bull still didn't want to play - opting to avoid using the harder tyres by saving them for the race - leaving their runs on the softer tyres to the end of the section of qualifying.

All the teams had to switch to the softer tyres, due to the time difference between the two compounds, effectively rendering the laps on the harder tyre useless. As the time was running out the usual suspect were trapped in the drop zone, along with the two Red Bull cars who just left the pit lane for a single run. Suddenly the timing board started to shuffle wildly as the mid-field cars were swapping places consistently and somewhere in the melee Pastor Maldonado for Williams found himself fastest ahead of Raikkonen while his team-mate was lingering down in the drop zone having lost a place to Vergne. On his final lap, Senna was only 0.085s outside making it through at the end of the second sector, but in trying to find the last tenth he used to much curb in turn 12 and span into the gravel cementing his relegation at the end of Q1.

Seven cars lighter we entered the second session, and the same pattern of events that took place in the first session was appearing again, as no-one wanted to leave the garage, one wonders what they are feeding them in there because it must be very compelling to stay in there. Several minutes passed and it was a similar story as Force India were the first ones to take to the track followed by FC Sauber. Their opening laps were soon defeated by Nico Rosberg's Mercedes using more than the normally recommended amount of curbing in the final chicane getting quite a lot air under the car. Soon after that Hamilton moved his car to the front considerably ahead of everyone else - so far he returned to the garage and got out the McLaren. This session it was the Lotus team who were leaving it close to the end hiding in the pitlane.

With only two minutes left on the timer, timing was madness - every car that crossed the line submitted a time that was good enough to make it into the top ten shuffling the positions constantly. The gap from 3rd fastest down to 12th was covered by a matter of tenths, Massa and Vettel were running on the exact same time - a change of a tenth of a second would gain several positions. A problem that caught Webber out, who was sitting in the pit lane, where most of the cars have been all day - thinking he was safe and slipped down to 12th. While Massa on what would appear on the surface a reasonable time, left him at the very back of the pack in 17th. Another driver that was swept out of the top 10 and into the relegation zone was the 2011 bonus points world champion Jenson Button who was complaining mostly about understeer, which as shown in the track video does become a problem on several corners. Back at the front end and it was the Venezuelan Maldonado who took the fastest time having been beaten in Q1 by Hamilton reaching the top spot in the second session. 

Then we only had ten remaining drivers, well it would have been 10 but Kamui Kobayashi in the FC Sauber car encountered technical difficulties at the end of the Q2 session, pulling off on the exit of turn three, so he couldn't start this final session. However Vettel could and he was waiting at the end of the pit lane before the lights turned green, when we have had two sessions with drivers not wanting to leave the garages now we had on wanting to start before the green. But the German left the pit lane did an out lap and returned to the pit lane. Next up on track was the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton who actually completed a lap the only driver to do so and obviously took the top step, Oh Sch....umacher took to the track but pulled straight into the garage after an outlap.

It got all quiet on track after Hamilton's time when no-one wanted to really do anything - here we were in the fastest session of the entire day and no-one wanted to play - I could sense penalty points being handed out left right and centre at this rate for not competing. But Nico Rosberg left the lane and headed to the track, with the time sheet being so populated at the time he claimed a virtually guaranteed second place. Finally with only enough time for one more run in the session some drivers actually decided to have a go - headed by a very strong effort by Fernando Alonso to go fastest with a quick time. the two Lotus drivers filed in behind the Ferrari in second and third. More were on flying laps and there seemed to be some more speed in that Williams in the hands of Pastor Maldonado as he took the lead away from the local driver probably not a good sign for Pastor. The last Williams driver who scored a pole position was rapidly replaced, oddly enough by the Venezuelan, but that problem wasn't to come to fruition as his time was beaten too. This time by Lewis Hamilton who scored another pole position by a more than comfortable margin considering how close it was in Q2.

So we end up with Hamilton on pole - for now - because he pulled over on the return to the pit lane due to lack of fuel, stopping the car before it ran out to leave enough for the FIA to sample to check for irregularities in scrutineering. So well await any decision on that for now, until then, he leads from Maldonado, Alonso and Grosjean with Raikkonen in 5th. Perez and Rosberg were the last of the drivers in the top ten to set a time, while Oh Sch...umacher and Vettel opted not to take a lap and therefore earn penalty points. 

Bonus points championship

Speaking of points it is time to release the bonus points winners from this qualifying session 

10pts - Pastor Maldonado: Almost (and still might) claimed pole position in a mid-field car and for a pay driver is a sizeable achievement

8pts - Vitaly Petrov - Has to have points for out-qualifying Heikki in the Caterham because that doesn't happen very often 

6pts - Lewis Hamilton - For claiming pole and being the only one to actually take part in the early phase of final qualifying

5pts - Fernando Alonso - Making third in a car which isn't on the pace 14 places ahead of Teh Massa 

4pts -  Charles Pic  - for out-qualifying his experienced team-mate Timo Glock 

3pts -  Paul Di Resta - for encouraging the drivers to actually take part in the session at the beginning 

2pts - Lotus GP - Points for consistency having both drivers no farther than two tenths apart in all sessions

1pt -  Nico Rosberg - Gets a point for the highest jump across the chicane curbs 

Penalty Points Championship

While an incident in final practice in the morning involving Oh Sch....umacher and Hamilton only resulted in a reprimand and nothing imposed during qualifying we move straight onto the penalty points series where there are some points to be distributed as follows.

• Sebastien Vettel - for not bothering in Q3
• Michael Oh Sch....umacher - also for not entering Q3

Looking to Tomorrow 

The grid is looking as enthralling as ever and with the cars in the order they are on the run down to the first corner it should be an exciting race, which is nice considering that Barcelona doesn't often throw up the most interesting of races often ending up rather processional. So hopefully this time will be very different as we have cars out of position in terms of Button, Webber and Teh Massa all the way down in 17th. That combined with the vast difference in the speed yielded by the two tyre compounds offers all the ingredients for a very good race, 

But the coverage here at Blog HQ is going to be delayed due to other events going on this weekend, eventually one of these events will go uninterrupted and possibly the first chance of that will be at the following race a fortnight away from here. So until the post is released tomorrow or Monday this is farewell from everyone here - well it shall only ever be just me - at Blog HQ.        

Round Five: Spain 2012 Preview

Greetings Internet,

During the three weeks the series was on break life has been rather busy here in the realm of Blog HQ, mainly through the final days of preparation for the latest of the theatrical escapades that I tend to distract myself with (of which attendance was rather dismally low). It is so much more fun being someone who isn't me for a change and it is always an improvement on the faulty base product. However on the opposite side of the performance weekend the sudden descent in the dark miserable world of reality is never particularly pleasant, never particularly like having to back to my regular non-Uberwaldean Vampiric self, but it has to be done. On more cheery note I've also managed to gain access to the beta release of Duolingo - an interactive instructional service where you learn various languages for free, which is nice - apparently I am a level six German. At which level you are awarded leiderhausen and other Germanic paraphernalia is a little unclear at the moment.

But questionable accents and Germans aside there is a more entertaining matter of another race this weekend and the event comes on the back of an in-season testing session out in Mugello last weekend. A rare occasion considering that in-season testing has been off the schedule for a few years now in the aim of bringing down the costs of running an F1 team. What is more interesting is the setting of the testing session, using Mugello is a little suspicious as it is one of the venues Ferrari once used for testing when it testing was a free reign affair, it all seems rather hinky to me. With an Ex-Ferrari FIA president as well, it won't be long before the conspiracy theories start floating around - if only they fly here in Blog HQ because it isn't exactly the most social of environments. From track to another and moving swiftly on to another popular testing venue where the race is taking place and the Circuit de Calalunya for the Spanish GP.

The Track

Track map from the FIA

We've encountered a run of those new fangled modern circuits with the acres of concrete run-off and barriers set miles away from the edge of the track. Where corners are designed and plotted on the drawing board with way too much focus being placed on the structures outside the track limits - all these fancy buildings and pit complexes instead of actually building the important bit -  the racing surface. However once the series has ventured back once more into Europe that all starts to change, as the tracks here are older, relics from a time when it was more important to build a track that challenges the driver and hopefully leads to some quality racing. Although outside the past two seasons that final variable has often failed to surface.

Since I started using the simulator instead of generic console versions on older systems, tracks like these have become more fun to drive since I have more feedback from the car during the course of a lap. Barcelona has been the scene of many processional races in recent years on the grounds that it is a serial testing facility during the winter months and therefore all the teams and drivers know the track completely so gaining an advantage becomes so much harder. Additionally as a testing facility it has a greater tendency to separate out the relative speeds of the cars and which leaded to larger inter-team field spread and a less than enthralling race.

Before the latest modification to the track in 2007 it has been a reasonably high speed circuit, with some impressive corners, the highlight of which is the Campsa corner at turn nine, situated at the crest of a hill on the lap where the turn in point is unsighted on approach. Another notable corner sequence is the initial turn 1-2 chicane which always makes you think there is more speed that you can carry through it until the point you go a little too far and venture into the concrete run-off area which has engulfed the former gravel trap there. It leads into a long highspeed turn three which runs through 180 degrees without being irritating or tiresome, the same can be said for Repsol corner at turn 4, a technique which seems completely lost on the designers of these newer tracks.

But it is hard to ignore that there has been modifications to the track in the final sector, formerly two fast downhill corners exiting onto the front straight but there is now a rather unsightly chicane planted between the two bends. Originally in place to encourage some more overtaking in turn one, to counter the aerodynamic effect of cars following each other by slowing them down. Did it work and improve the racing, well frankly no, it only served to make the track worse. Now I am partial to a nice chicane, but this is not a nice chicane it is not even a tolerable chicane it can only be categorised as appalling, and is up there with turn one at Oscersleben as one of the worst updates to a track in the modern era. 

Now here comes the more animated section of todays contribution to the internet, when I unleash that video I spent the early days of the week putting together even the adventure to the pub didn't cut down productivity at blog HQ. Only shuffled it into the earlier hours of the morning when no-one is using the internet so it didn't matter how much bandwidth I consume with the uploading process. However, this is where I get my excuses in early, as the venture to the pub did rather cloud the mind, the reason why I'm generally not allowed enjoyment. But after I had to leave my failing socialisation, bidding my farewells and all, I did return to the internet and this was the result.

 What to expect

I would love to have all the answers right to that question and had the season come straight to Spain after packing up in Bahrain I might have some of them, even in the extremely competitive season that is unfolding in front of us at the moment. But there are some confounding factors surrounding the proceedings running up to this event firstly in the form of the fact this is the first event of the European season, the event where teams generally make a significant developmental change to the cars. This process is then exacerbated by the fact that there was this additional testing session on Mugello where teams will have experimented with all sorts of changes, we know Ferrari have been working on new bodywork designs on their car over in Italy. 

But I shall not be put off by these factors, and there are some general assumptions we can make. The main one is that the top division is beginning to form again as it did this season, but this time it is a more populous division. Encompassing the top five teams - the division one from last year now joined by Lotus and Mercedes to form a very close pack. Four of which have claimed victories this season and the fifth came rather close in Bahrain in the hands of Kimi Raikkonen. Which order these five teams will line up is anyone's guess but it is more than likely they will be ahead of the mid-field group.

Speaking of which if the first group of cars was difficult to predict then this lot is even worse considering it is entirely possible that the top of this division could merge with the bottom of the previous one adding another variable into the mix. Previous events have shown that Sauber and Williams have been at the top of the rankings but Force India have been very close behind and steadily improving. This leaves Torro Rosso who after a stronger showing in Australia have been left behind a little since, especially Verge who has been a repeat visitor to the first relegation zone at the end of Q1 often a long way off the back of Ricciardo.

Then we have the bottom three, where here we can make some more assured decisions on who is going to place where, as the order has been pretty much set in stone since the teams entered the sport in 2010. Caterham are clearly the class of the third division, and slowly trying to scratch their way out and up into the mid-field leaving HRT and Marussia to hold up the back rows. Despite the additional testing the teams have had in the run up to this race I doubt that either HRT or Marussia will be able to escape the bottom rows or catch the faster Caterham cars.

Blog Predictions 

Ah yes this section has rolled round once more, the part of the post that demonstrates that the quantity of things that I've written down so far make no impact on the actual result of the event and I demonstrate how little I actually know.

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

Qualifying battle

• Red Bull - Vettel
• McLaren - Hamilton
• Ferrari - Alonso
• Lotus - Raikkonen
• Mercedes - Rosberg
• Sauber - Perez
• Williams - Senna
• Force India - Hulkenberg
• Torro Rosso - Ricciardo
• Caterham - Kovalainen
• Marussia - Glock
• HRT - De La Rosa

So there we have it, I've ticked all the boxes that need to be ticked and amazingly I've reached the end before I've run out of hours in the day, which was the case during video upload on Wednesday. But there was the nice distraction of being outside, a rare thing for the solitary residents of blog HQ, generally with good reason. That aside and now fallen into the annuls of my limited history there is a matter of another event to take care of this weekend, an event which will actually appear on the BBC away from the awful folk at sky. But there is a little problem with the timing this time around, as I won;t actually be in front of a television for the race on Sunday, having being sent out to a motor show in Hexham instead, which invokes the problem of not being able to be in two places at once. Suppose that is where the iPlayer will come in handy once more, instead of having to drop coverage for rehearsals or sky interventions this time it is other things.

On that note the final report could end up being as delayed as it has been for the rest of the season, hopefully by the race after this things will be back onto some form of normal schedule, but looking a little beyond that seeing that sky have the rights to the Canadian race. That really is going to mess up the schedule here at blog HQ as the BBC attempt will be delayed hideously and there may be a knock on effect on post timings. But that is a long way from now so will return focus to this weekend and on that note until next post this is farewell from now.