Round Eight: Europe Review

Greetings Internet,

Well.... How on earth has that happened - everything that is logical and reasonable has folded into complete oblivion. At this present moment in time I am sitting here in front of this machine a fresh quantity of tea in the mug and event though the flag fell several moments ago none of it make sense. Here is the predicament, you see as it has been well documented Valencia has a received a well deserved reputation for being frankly dull and empty in terms of action and frankly pretty much anything. Even in the support races over the years this place has been in operation the standards have been nothing to write home about. Then there was today, when the formbook of this track, the reputation and records can now be all thrown out the window and into the monsoon that is presently pouring down outside Blog HQ. Before we all get carried away with ourselves it is time to be calm and objective as how the 57 laps here played out can be considered to be more of an anomaly than a look into things to come. Probably on account of Valencia not being on the calendar for too much longer.

Having managed to consume the majority of some remaining cookies from the race, and the fog of confusion surrounding how that came to fruition begins to lift, here in the HQ - but the finalisation of the race result is far from complete. As there are two current allegations.investigations being conducted involving competitors running in the a different places within the points, and here is the advantage of the more reliable structure of the bonus points system. Where things like this can take a while to sort out but the bonus points are instant and decisive - although at this point I have no real idea how to assign them today due to the immensity of the race with so much complexity and deserving performances. Notice how many words are being added here because trying to convert the lunacy that just elapsed into a series of cohesive paragraphs, the sound that came out of Ben Edwards at the end of the race just has to sum up difficult it was. Rather expecting that particular note to become popular on youtube for a while to come - so funny - but time has come to document the European GP of 2012.

A summary of the race: F1Fanatic.co.uk

The Race


Today was the scene of the first reverse outside broadcast for the Blog, I know, pushing all sorts of boundaries there although I do think that has exhausted all of the possible permutations but these things happen. At the start of the race it is safe to say that expectations were rather low for the upcoming laps, yes we had cars out of position, so there was some hope, but logic and reason (remember those) dictated that it should be a challenge to remain conscious throughout the event. The provision of sugary foods was in place to counter fatigue which was planned for the coming 90 minutes. We were one driver short on the grid once more as glock's intestinal infection prevented him from taking the start.

But the cars were in place and one by one the lights upon the gantry burst into illumination before reluctantly bringing one of the least anticipated sets of laps underway - and from the moment that the final photon of light escaped the start it was clear that we were not in for a traditional Valencia race. Immediately both of the Lotus cars made a charge towards the front, swamping towards Maldonado, Pastor defended against Kimi on the inside of the first corner However that was only one of the black cars taken car of, as Grosjean found the smallest of spaces to the inside of the Williams into the second corner and onto an early podium position. The grid was immensely tightly packed in the foolishly designed first chicane, but somehow there was no significant contact or any missing wings.

Out front Vettel was gone and not coming back as Hamilton was holding off the challenges of Grosjean's Lotus, in the middle of the pack there were cars in all sorts of positions, using every conceivable line as they crossed the bridge. The last time that formation was in effect someone ended up upside down, but once again no-one hit each other - saving the violence for later in the race. Things were not going so well a little further back where Webber hadn't made too much ground from his lower grid position pinned behind Riccardo, and a poor start for Button knocked him out of the points positions. While travelling in the opposite direction were the Ferraris more so in the hands of Fernando in front of the home crowd. In a demonstration of how important every position matters to the drivers Charles Pic and Narain had a little coming together shedding wing pieces in a spirited battle over last place. Back at the front of the grid-ish because Vettel was in a different country on pace, but the next car in line was under pressure from Romain and the Frenchman went all the way round the outside of the McLaren. Lewis tried to squeeze out the Lotus but the move was impossible to defend.

More Lotus action a little further back as Raikkonen was now right behind Maldonado's Williams, Kimi had more sense then to look round the outside of the Venezuelan in the first part of the corner - for reasons that will be covered later. But apparently there was some space between the Williams and the wall after Pastor ran a little wide in turn 12, and with some miraculous co-operation from Maldonado for once, Kimi took the place. Further back the pit window has opened and it was Button and more surprises as it was Perez joining the McLaren in attaining some new tyres so on lap 12, a magical one-stop wonder race was probably not on the table this time round. For some reason there was more overtaking in Valencia as Alonso dispatched the Force India of Hulkenberg and the other Ferrari of Massa having pitted overtook the Torro Rosso of Vergne.

The first sequence of pit stops were very interesting as it really mixed up the order quite a bit as some cars were running really long opening stints and had track position over drivers on fresher tyres by virtue of staying out.  In most races where this sort of development takes place, we end up with pockets of cars through the field and especially on a track like this at this stage of the race everyone is spaced out. Not this time because we had Michael Oh Sch...umacher who was collecting a whole load of friends, if there was an award for the longest train of cars behind one driver it would have to go to the German. It even outstripped the line of cars that Raikkonen found in China, not only was the train longer, it was a lot more animated as well. Because it contained drivers that needed to escape the train to avoid their race being compromised, including Alonso, and Webber, it was the Spaniard who was once more on a charge in the middle of the chaotic line of impending mayhem.

It was the type of gathering that could easily descend into destruction and therefore Fernando had even more reason to want to escape the building storm - and the forecast was looking destructive - Alonso made the first move on Webber. As it turns out there is room round the outside of turn two to make an overtaking manoeuvre - who'd have thought - which put him behind Senna and into third place in the Schumacher train. With the storm of drivers rumbling loud behind the Ferrari, streaming far into the distance beyond the top ten places, sweeping up the likes of Perez and Button into the impending chaos, Fernando made his move on Senna on the outside of what is rumoured to be turn 12. He had only one car left to break free from the train before it imploded but had to be a little more conventional this time and used the inside of the track for once, as Michael had been defending to top of the queue rather severely for a while. He picked a good time to leave the train as it got a little closer to disintegrating as Webber saw his chance to move up a spot on Senna into turn 7.

Both Senna and Schumacher were running out of tyres and backing up the pack even more, opening the door for Raikkonen who was also trapped in this train of cars, who dove down the inside of Senna. At this point the door was still a little ajar, and that's all Kobayashi needed to sense a pass, however Bruno didn't really agree and closed the gap as Kamui was in it. Which was the implosion we were expecting for several laps now but had somehow managed to avoid - the Sauber lost it's front wing and Senna executed a complete rotation with a rear puncture from the contact. Contact that was to earn the Williams driver a drive through penalty for causing a collision, not something the folk in the Sky commentary box understood  - but there are many things that seem to go missing there.

Life moved from the controlled chaos of the Schumacher train which was deflated by the collision which took two cars to the pit lane and by Michael himself taking to the pit lane, and back into madness a little further back. So who did we have to make a fool of themselves, well step forward Jean Eric Vergne who for some reason forgot how wide his car was and that there is a chance of other cars using the track... you are not alone out the Mr Vergne. As the Frenchman thought it would be a grand idea to nudge Heikki out of the way in the middle of the straight, a straight which is not becoming Kovalainen's favourite place as it was the same one that launched Webber in 2010. This time round the results were not to destructive but both cars suffered a puncture from the glancing contact, for some reason there was not action imposed on Jean-Eric well there will be point from me for that. Yet Vergne was not done yet on his rampage of madness and lunacy, sprinting back to the pit-lane with a failing rear tyre could be considered an act of moronic proportions as shards of carbon fibre and rubber were constantly thrown into the air all over the track. But there was the one interesting development as the crazed Frenchman did bring out the safety car before pulling into retirement.

The intervention ruined the massive lead that Vettel had over Grosjean and Hamilton but it was going to get a whole lot more interesting, and brought a spontaneous round of pit stops - something that never bodes too well for the McLaren team. Can't imagine the thoughts running through Lewis' head en route to his garage of mechanics given how well it has gone too often this season, and this time was no different, as it kicked off with a jack failure and the combo was finished by a sticking left front. Consequently Alonso ended up in third  and Hamilton dropped to 6th. We were poised to enter the second phase of the race for any of you folk still reading this long document by this stage - so brace yourselves as there is a lot more to come.

On the restart Alonso was once more on the move looking at Grosjean in turn one, before being forced to the outside on the run down to the second turn. As we have found out earlier there is enough room to pass on the outside and once more Fernando made the move stick to become the lead car in the charge towards Vettel out front. Towards the middle of the pack things were to work out a little worse in the other side of the Ferrari garage as the on board footage saw a nose section come straight into the side of the Massa's car, resulting in another puncture this time for Felipe and a penalty for the offending nose section. Later identified as belonging to Kobayashi and was handed a penalty - but that development took a backseat when right at the front mechanical dramas gripped the internal workings of the German Blokes machine. Something breaking in a Red Bull is about as likely as giving big foot a high five on a unicycle, but it was happening and it was terminal. Another safety car was feared but the marshals were able to take away the car under double waved yellows.

The crowd erupted into a noise which would be the first sound that can be heard from space, apparently in space you can here the Spanish scream when Alonso took the lead, but Grosjean wasn't too far behind and was plotting on being the eighth different winner this season. Apparently the madness of Valencia wasn't done yet as mechanical issues also claimed the Lotus of Grosjean from second place making life a lot more easier for Alonso out front. Romain slowed gently looking for a gap in the fence, preferably one containing marshals to push the car off the track. There was a pact seeming forming just outside the points as Schumacher and Webber were on a personal charge taking pairing up to pass each car in their sights. Much to their surprise and certainly people here at Blog HQ the first car to be taken care of was in fact the Caterham of Petrov - precisely Vitaly was in the points albeit temporarily and only in tenth but still.

Webber and Schumacher marched on and teamed up when passing Button who was having another dire and uninvolved day, his pessimistic post qualifying predictions were appearing to be more accurate than he hoped for down in 9th. Petrov had been caught next by Ricciardo a meeting that didn't go to well, both cars tried to enter the same piece of track. Daniel became the second Torro Rosso driver to forget how wide a Caterham is and failed to allow enough room for Vitaly - contact was made and Ricciardo was close rolling and Petrov lost a wing. Back to the Webber, Schumacher mutual appreciation brigade and they ploughed past the two Force India drivers and the Sauber of One-Stop Perez.

Right out front Alonso had built a sufficient gap as Hamilton had Raikkonen to deal with, and in his defence of the position it benefited Fernando greatly both allowing to escape and holding Kimi at bay. But all that work managing the Lotus was damaging to Lewis' tyres which started to wear quite significantly to the point where he was powersliding off the bridge.  Raikkonen naturally gained a better run on the slowing McLaren but Hamilton defended to the inside of turn 12 halting the attack, well merely postponing the inevitable while the Williams of Maldonado was getting ever closer; as were the Michael & Mark team. Hamilton went into defensive mode as the car approached turn 17, but slid wide on the failing tyres opening a large enough space on the inside and Kimi was through into second.

Did that mean finally things were settled as there were only two laps left on the counter - well no - we hadn't exhausted the madness as best of buddies Hamilton and Maldonado were in close proximity, which never ends well. Last season in Monaco Hamilton binned the Williams on a late restart, but Hamilton was hitting pretty much everyone that day, going for a high score at the time. The rivalry was reignited in Belgium in qualifying when it was Pastor's turn to launch an attack ramming the McLaren - that would make this the tie breaking round. Maldonado threw the first strike moving to the outside as Hamilton countered the move with a standard inside defence. Pastor tried to hang on round the outside of the corner as Hamilton eased him further wide and onto the run-off area. This could be seen as a mistake as it were, as Maldonado doesn't take to well to being muscled out of an overtaking manoeuvre, it was the same event that sparked the shunting in Spa. At this particular corner, there was a lot of run-off space acres of it in fact, enough space to land a whole fleet of aircraft, but Pastor decided the best place to rejoin the track happened to be occupied by a McLaren. You can see where this is going, and soon so did Lewis as he was swiftly introduced to the barriers and out of the race. The Williams continued without a front wing and immediately fell victim to the Michael & Mark team.

Alonso ahead of all this crossed the line first and broke the streak of differing winners, and generating probably the biggest noise ever recorded in all of time, followed across the line several seconds later by another podium finish for Raikkonen. Normally this would be a happy occasion for a driver, but someone failed to tell Kimi that, sometimes one does wonder what actually goes on in that mind, only sometimes though - perhaps an ice cream would help. What Kimi was lacking in apparent happiness the rest of the grid made up for as the Michael & Mark team crossed the line next meaning that Schumacher had earned himself a podium for the first time since the comeback. The next team up was the Force India squadron to take a large haul of points in 5th and 6th - what should be noted is that Paul Di Resta completed the race on one stop. Be careful Mr Perez you seem to have some competition in that special ability, behind him Rosberg headed another dismal day for Button in 7th and 8th. A two stopping one-stop Perez finished 9th, and Maldonado minus his front wing finished 10th but has had the position stripped since the blog started meaning that Senna claims the final championship point.

Fernando took his time getting to the poduim post-race, I was hoping there would be some doughnuts on the run-off area, the FIA don't like it but it is worth so many bonus points - any racing drivers reading this and want bonus points... But decided to have a party with some marshals instead and wouldn't have left had the medical car was sent round to pick him up, and have him manually returned. A party was rather well deserved as he claims the lead of the world championship with those not so important FIA points.

The bonus points championship points winners

After that race deciding only ten drivers to assign bonus points to was rather difficult, and it was so much harder deciding which order those ten drivers were to be placed in but here they are.

25pts - Fernando Alonso - For being awesome, passing people inside, outside and everywhere else from 11th to the win
18pts - Sebastien Vettel - In an era of close racing being so dominant earns some points despite failing to finish in the end
 15pts - Team Michael & Mark - I would have separated the points here but both of them were inseparable so both drivers get the points
12pts - Romain Grosjean - Started the streak of passing in Valencia and could have taken the race without an alternator failure
10pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Performed some great moves and manage to pass Maldonado without making him mad and it wasn't for Hamilton might have had a shot at a win
8pts - Vitaly Petrov - For being in the points in a Caterham - enough said really
6pts - Valencia - Here are some points for not being appaling when we figured you would be
4pts - Paul Di Resta - For completing the race in a single stop when Perez couldn't
2pts - Ben Edwards - Simply for the note he made when Hamilton ended up in the wall - Hilarious.
1pt - Jean Eric Vergne - Despite being a pillock bringing out the safety car through his foolishness was a spark of genius for the quality of the race

The penalties championship


We did have a lot of time when everyone was well behaved, even for the opening phase of this race but it soon descended into mayhem and lunacy - but along with lunacy comes some penalties and we had some today.

• Kamui Kobayshi - five place grid drop - for hitting Massa
• Bruno Senna - Drive through penalty - hitting Kamui
• Narain Karthikeyan - Drive through penalty - speeding in pit lane
• Pastor Maldonado - 20s time penalty - for hitting Hamilton
• Jean Eric Vergne - 10 place grid drop + $25,000 fine - for hitting Heikki

Penalty points championship


Looking at the list of penalties this weekend this corner of the internet does seem a little redundant as all the things I was going to give points for have been penalised by the authorities so there is little more I can do. But they didn't a penalty to Ricciardo in his contact with Petrov as there should be on there and that is where I do come into play. So there is one penalty point there, but everyone else have been taken care of by the race stewards

Looking ahead to Britain


Ah, jolly good, the grid are pottering over here to little old England as we leave the surprisingly good Valencia behind perhaps for the last time as plans to alternate the race with Barcelona are in the pipeline. Neither track are particularly brilliant, even on today's showing we can't move Valencia up into a higher ranking on the back of a single chaotic event, but Barcelona is a nicer lap to drive in the pre-race video. The transition onto Silverstone is a remarkable difference replacing a modern sterilised facility with a traditional high-speed European circuit which brings with it the threat of English weather. If the climate outside blog HQ is anything to go by the event will be completed in canoes rather than racing cars. Should be interesting to see the footage from the local touring car races today down at Croft today if it rained as much there it will be hilarious.

It is always nice to welcome the British GP, which means there may be a few extra people lurking round the internet for that event so I will welcome you all too to this part of the world for that weekend and for any further races. Personally the new modifications made to Silverstone for the past two seasons have not been a favourite, the old layout was so much better to drive but it worked out worse off for racing. It is often the sacrifice we make too often in track design - something that played out today, an awful lap and design lead to what grudgingly can be called the best race of the season so far. So until next time this is farewell from the blog.

Round Eight: Europe Pre-race

Greetings Internet,

The shiny lights of HD have a rather strange effect on the presentation of the track the drivers and by proxy us folk sitting on varied chairs and sofas across the nation, including the little corner that is Blog HQ. It almost looked good, and interesting to drive around in, but one can not be fooled by the extra pixels, even Webber has stated that the track is not exactly one of his favourites. It is not entirely difficult to perceive why, as the man stated all the corners are very samey and in contrast to the requirements of a current era racing car. Where the whole circuit is made out of foolish slow speed corners that are all pretty much the same, even the GP3 race was a little on the dull side - and those are normally manic. Yet the GP2 series event went through a phase of complete madness when a rear wing landed on the track and caused the first safety car, leading to a car being flipped on the restart and further safety car interventions. If tomorrow works out like that it might be considered miraculous - but recent races I think hands Valencia the accolade of highest ratio of upside down competitors.

But that is not what this corner of the internet is here for, as the other session of the morning needs taking care of, and that session was indeed rather interesting, throwing up some stranger results then we have been used to over the past couple of races. Yet by comparison there was some degree of commonality in the form as the very front of the grid does pay some resemblance to what we saw in Canada, likely as a result in the vague similarity between the style of track. Of course the layout in Montreal is a lot more engaging and fulfilling to compete on, even though the last effort did leave a lot to be desired. Today though Valencia did defy the expectations in producing a very close and competitive qualifying, where only two tenths covered 13 cars in Q2.

image credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk

Qualifying 


The day started with a plan to be awake to catch FP3 with about of playing worms before qualifying as was the normal plan when racing was on the BBC all season for the European events, but that plan didn't come to fruition as sleep lasted longer than expected and to top things off, one of the siblings here at blog HQ had borrowed the console so that I couldn't fire combustible bananas at invertebrates even if I was awake. But I did manage to escape the nocturnal theatre of lies that presents itself during sleep in time to catch the main session of the day so all was not lost on that count.  What was most interesting about the pre-race show was Massa and DC having no idea which corner was which on the track guide and having to wave down Michael on his scooter to figure out the turn numbers. Because all the corners look the same and numbers are assigned to things that are not really corners. A process which lead to a moment of complete genius from the resident mother here at Blog HQ. An individual who doesn't know too much about the world of motor-racing has devised a plan of greater intelligence than the entire track personnel and authorities. Brace yourselves for this... why don't we paint the turn numbers on the concrete walls around the Valencia lap - complete genius.

Back to the track and the beginning of Q1, and it was Daniel Ricciardo who was to set the first benchmark lap, while Maldonado and Marussia's only runner Pic took to the track. As Glock was suffering from an illness which prevented him from taking part, but hopes to be on the grid for tomorrows race. Because Timo was one of the lower teams there was still a single place available to capture one car from an established team. Teh Massa was the first of the leading cars to hit the front of the time sheets, while Alonso powerslided his car through one of the anonymous corners. Oh Sch..umacher had a smaller slide on the outside of the final corner but still managed to take the lead away from the Ferrari. The Brazilian made a second charge at retaking the top spot but Hamilton's McLaren was just that little bit faster as Alonso moved into third.

Down in the relegation zone, both the Red Bulls were yet to move into qualification positions, but Webber was in more of a difficult position as his DRS system had falied preventing him from using it on any lap. As a result his times were much slower and the Australian couldn't make it through into the next zone. As this stage it was assumed that Mark would be the only established driver to be booted out of the session, but as the time ebbed away and more teams moved onto the softer compound things were about to change. Force India were showing well up in the top ten, but it was the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen who broke out of relegation beating the Torro Rosso of Vergne who has spent more time in relegation than out of it this season.

We move on now to the insanely competitive realm of Q2, as a grid where 0.5s can often separate the top 15 cars all compete for 10 places in the final session and the Valencian version was probably the closest one this season. It was kicked off by Q1 champion and winner last time we visited Spain, Pastor Maldonado, followed by the local hero Alonso. The timesheets rapidly became very changeable as Di Resta took the lead only to be defeated by new orange juice fan Kamui Kobayashi, who in turn was usurped by Nico Rosberg. Within moments Hamilton and Raikkonen placed themselves right into the mix on very similar times towards the front of the records. Button added his name to the list and we ended up with the top seven all separated by 0.2s.

There was a short interval while the drivers pulled in an prepared for their second runs and life was going to be a lot closer for all involved. When the teams released the drivers the times were shifting faster than the continuous cycle of driver rumours involving Felipe's future. Beginning when Di Resta moved into second 0.015s off pole, and the under pressure Massa finished 0.08s outside the top 10 behind his team-mate. As the session closed in on the finale, the top drivers were all within a tenth of a second and 0.2 covered the top 14 cars making it more of a lottery than a matter of skill and pace. When the flag fell at the end of the session and the timing screens finally settled down Grosjean had gone fastest and both the Ferraris had been relegated both less than a hundredth away from making it through. A little further back Heikki was on form once more beating the second of the Torro Rosso's to claim 16th from Ricciardo.

That left only 10 drivers remaining, and rather ecclectic mix of Force India, Williams and Sauber joining the party when three spots opened up as Ferrari and Michael didn't make it. Maldonado who previously was considered to be a Monaco specialist now adopting more of a penchant for Spanish circuits opened the session pursued by the Lotus of Raikkonen. Kimi set the initial pace but was beaten by Rosberg as Pastor got it all squirly approaching the final corner and ended in the pit lane after running rather wide. McLaren claimed a one-two headed by Button of the four cars that took part in the opening run of the session.

It was time for the second runs and more cars took to the track and it was Grosjean who went fastest after getting all sideways in some section - no-one has painted those numbers on the walls yet so no idea where. But shortly after we had another temporary pole-sitter as Maldonado was up front, as more change seems likely from an unlikely source with Di Resta setting purple sectors but lost time in the last sector and fell to seventh. Teammate Hulkenburg however got himself up into fourth, so we had a Lotus, a Williams and a Force India up in the top five, an illustration of the competitiveness and closeness of this season, even on a track which can only have been designed by accident. While inebriated at that. But back to the action and it was time for Vettel to take to the track and when the first sector time came up on the screen all the rules of logic and reason disintegrated in an instant finding more time over the current fastest time than separated the majority of the grid in Q2. When the German Bloke crossed the line pole position couldn't have been more secured, as Hamilton and Maldonado completed the top three. Team Lotus lined up next, Romain ahead of Kimi, with Orange Juice fanatic Kobayashi beaten to sixth by Rosberg and Hulkenberg brought the first force India home in 8th. The back end of the top ten was an all British affair with Button leading from Di Resta.

The bonus points championship points winners.

The track may be about as entertaining as daytime television or any film that cites 'romance' as a selling point although that would be a little harsh. Those crimes against filmography should be banned from the surface of the planet and cast into the fires of the sun. Anyway firery vengeance aside there are some points that are to be awarded for today's action.

10pts - Heikki Kovalainen - not only escaped Q3 on pace without the other teams messing up but defeated the second Torro Rosso in Q2.
8pts - Paul Di Resta - No idea where that pace came from today, could have been in the top three, and for knowing the number of the corner that caught him out
6pts - Pastor Maldonado - Back in Spain and the Venezuelan is up at towards the front once more
5pts - Sebastien Vettel - Has to have some points for finding that much time in taking pole
4pts - Romain Grosjean - Showing strong form again, including finding a lot of time in Q2 when it was so close in that session
3pts - HRT - for getting both cars ahead of the Marussia team even though only Pic was running
2pts - Mother - for the plan to add painted numbers to the walls in Valencia, completely genius
1pt - Kamui Kobayashi - for another mad idea, to replace the champagne with his new favourite orange juice,

There are no other sections to be added this week as there are neither any penalty or penalties to be assigned after the first part of this weekend. But given the fact there are walls everywhere and if the GP2 event was anything to go by, the tables will see some action tomorrow morning.

Looking to tomorrow


Well I can't exactly promise too much for the events of the afternoon to come, Valencia isn't really known for being a realm of excitement - there was some in the support event but that is probably the exception rather than the rule this weekend. I can announce that it hasn't been so dull that I have entered a comatosed state even the surprise furniture reconfiguration here at Blog HQ didn't have that effect. So maybe, just maybe there is some hope in this race yet. The results from qualifying may help turn the tide on what is frankly normally a poor race. Because we have much faster cars a out of position on the grid - most significantly Webber down in 19th, behind the Caterhams, last time that happened at Valencia Mark went for a flying lesson.

With those factors in mind, it might not be all bad - add in the changing temperatures and the tyre strategies and it might actually be interesting. Now that is a statement the blog didn't imagine itself typing on the post before a race around the port, Valencia being interesting. That's the thing with this season we frankly have no idea what can happen meaning even the dullest of occasions on paper can turn into something biblically awesome. So Spain I challenge thee to be more interesting than we expect to be, while we wait for that to materialise this is farewell from the blog until then.

Round Eight: Europe Preview 2012

Greetings Internet,

In the past two races we have been spoilt with huge amounts of anticipation as the series flowed onto the iconic venue of Monte Carlo and the traditionally spectacular Montreal. Yet in bother cases the racing seemed a little flatter compared to some of the other rounds this season, all suffering from a long drought of activity in the middle of a race. Where everyone just sits back into position, and waited for the tyres to come into effect, with strategy becoming more and more important as the races run down. As degradation sets in the racing only seems to pick up in the dying laps when the tyres begin to fall apart. This recent hump could be due a degree of equilibrium and stability setting into the performance niches the teams have carved, therefore the position a car lands on the grid is where it finishes. The only changes tend to take place either off the line or in the final quarter of the race with the tyres falling away, yet at the end of the day we still have had 7 winners from as many races. It is all rather, odd, being stagnant for a proportion of the race, but the final standings are immersed in unpredictability - certainly one of the weirdest seasons for a long while.

Between the last race and this there was another rather important event taking place last weekend in the microcosm that is motor-racing. This time separated from the Canadian GP, fortunately enough, in the form of the epic Le Mans 24 hrs -  a whole day of racing, one of the major highlights of the entire season. Note how the blog didn't do a review post following that, well considering the F1 updates go on for a fair while, a report on 24hrs of action would be visible from space and take several millennia to complete. So I opted to sit in my little chair in the corner that is Blog HQ, and covered in the race in a more passive role, involving energy drinks and race snacks. Normally not too challenging, as it is the fourth all night escapade for the race, but with a small outing on the Saturday evening eating way too much Indian food, and some odd mango flavoured liquid (actually rather recommended but will haunt you for a couple of days). Meaning that the following Sunday the blog was completely exhausted and took to napping for pretty much the entire day after the podium celebrations. But the race was rather good, yes we lost the intra-team competition at the front as Peugeot pulled out, and Toyota had problems. Including assaulting the Delta Wing and the other sailed through the air cracking driver Anthony Davidson's vertebrae in the process.

Yet, it can't be put off for too much longer, there is the small matter of the venue for this weekend's event, and we certainly can't enjoy the same level of anticipation this time around. The merest thought of the race has been known to put people to sleep, and actually seeing it could be considered dangerous, and a serious threat to sanity. Many people have tried and failed to see some excitement in the events that unfold on the streets of Valencia, even Mark Webber would rather go for a flight then drive around the dreary concrete abyss. At least they decided to paint the walls blue to make it look a little better... can't say it helped much really, you can't cover up these problems with some different paint but nevertheless time to move onto the matter of the track.

The Track.

Layout from the FIA

There is the picture of the offending lap, for some reason marked as a 'street' circuit on the season listings when in reality someone has planted some walls and painted on a few white lines onto a harbour, and called it a race track. To add to the issue, the lines are in most places far from straight, some of the pseudo straights on the lap must have been drawn by the worlds most ineffective ruler, either that or good old Mr Tilke might have been a little drunk when he thought this thing up.

But lets see what we have here, the track on the whole is a confused fusion of the concrete walls of Canada, and the street element of Singapore. Instead of  being the grand product those two locations would create, this resembles more of a failed genetic experiment that low budget B-Movies use. Does rather make you wonder how such a thing has ended up on the calendar for so long, and considering there was so much open space to carve the template onto around the harbour area that this was the layout they settled for. The vast majority of the lap is a sequence of drunken straights connected with either an uninspiring chicane or meaningless hairpins. Each making a small amount of sense on paper - fast sections terminating in slow corners are the traditional recipe for overtaking, but it really hasn't worked. Probably a consequence of the curved nature of the so called straights that limits the drafting effect and therefore the passing chances. Strangely enough it does work out better for the lower supporting formula, the likes of GP2 and GP3 have provided much better races than the main series. That being said of course there wasn't much competition in that respect.

I have spent a while complaining about the track, pretty much all of it was justified considering the place is rather dire and appalling but things are not all bad, mostly but not completely. The section of the lap that runs from the exit of turn 17 through to the final corner does redeem the circuit slightly, this sequence of corners means at least the lap ends on a little of a high note. If only the designers had learned from this final sector of the track and incorporated that into the rest of the circuit, it would be much improved. However if the process was copied then no-one would ever pass each other as it would be single file all the way round. A lot better to drive but the race might suffer a little more, and things are pretty bad to start off with.

Because entertainment is a little thin on the ground this week, the circuit video does take a little bit of a twist and a digression away from the norm. Where the blogmobile is sitting the race out as I have gone for bit of a fusion between the world of motorsport and that daft football thingy over in Eastern Europe, a sort of mix between Superleague Formula and the ill-fated A1GP, but with small Formula BMW cars. Each painted in the livery of one of the countries competing in the football thingy with a randomised grid and a single lap race for supremacy. The race did throw up some interesting positions but here is the official footage, for the first time in full 1080p HD, when it was only filmed for the most part in 800p HD instead but can't complain.

What to Expect

Well in the current season pretty much anything, different teams seem to show the upper hand at different tracks before falling back into the clutches of the mid-field the following weekend. An issue that has certainly befallen Lotus - from taking double podium finishes in Bahrain to struggling to reach Q3 in the past few events.While Ferrari have been travelling in the other direction, claiming a fluky win in the rain of Malaysia, but now competing on pace with the leading teams, no more so then in Canada last time, where a legitimate win was definitely possible. So where will the pace fall this weekend, well a rough estimation on current form might suggest that it would be McLaren and Ferrari on top, as the large amount of 'straights' could hurt the lower speeds that Red Bull can generate. This might also bring Mercedes back into the frame for a possible win, and Oh Sch...umacher could then be the 8th winner in as many races, because we are running out of contenders to extend the combo. One question in this is where Lotus will find themselves, either battling with the top teams or fending off the oncoming midfield.

Speaking of which, FC Sauber are beginning to emerge from the midfield as the strongest team, mostly on the basis of the superior tyre management the car offers. Which has been exploited so well be none other than points leader One-Stop Perez who has benefited massively from the special capability claiming a second podium in Canada. Behind them Force India and Williams have been losing ground, Williams fading since Maldonado's win back in Spain, and the Venezuelan has been very erratic in terms of performance and in temperament. It leaves Torro Rosso down at the back of the mid-field group, often becoming the victim of the relegation place at the end of Q1, usually in the hands of Vergne. 

Looking back towards the bottom of the grid, and if there is the only place where things are a little more predictable, as Caterham have no competition in their own personal division, a good distance from the cars behind. It is with the bottom two teams where the only competition exists within the bottom teams, as HRT and Marussia have started to share similar pace in recent events. To the point where it is no longer a certainty that the two Spanish entries will be lining the final row.

Blog Predictions

Time to demonstrate how little I know in reality of how things are going to work out over the course of the coming days.

1. Schumcher (just to continue the combo)
2. Hamilton
3. Alonso
4. Vettel
5. Webber 
6. Rosberg
7. Button
8. Perez
9. Raikkonen
10. Massa

Qualifying battle

• Red Bull - Vettel
• McLaren - Hamilton
• Ferrari - Alonso
• Mercedes - Schumacher
• Lotus - Grosjean
• Sauber - Perez
• Williams - Maldonado
• Force India - Di Resta
• Torro Rosso - Ricciardo
• Caterham - Kovalainen
• Marussia - Glock
• HRT - De La Rosa

So there you have it then, the principle components are now in place, for the weekend ahead, round the abomination that is the Valencia 'street' circuit which for this weekend at Blog HQ, will be in nice shiny HD as was the video I released. Not that it will help make the race any more interesting, that would take a spot of rain, because no-one has ran the track in the wet so it would be a new experience, and might be the only thing that would help. 

If ever there was a race where it was time to bring out the race snacks as a distraction from the the lack of on track activity this is it, so until then this is farewell from the blog. If I haven't made a post by the end of the weekend I might be in a coma from boredom - at least Hungary have been usurped as the most pants race of the season. The Hungarians at least have a track is fun to drive round.

Round Seven: Canada Review

Greetings Internet,

After a day of slightly belated jubilee activities up at the centre I made a stealthy exit to get back here in front of the television for the Canadian GP, in a day which started off with partial coverage of the BTCC from Oulton Park before some tennis truncated the show. But through the power of the internet, I shall cover the remaining events of the series, probably once I have finished here with the updates and the writing and things. There have been so many Canadian races filled with carnage, mayhem and continuous action - and this wasn't one of them. That is not to say it was a dull race by any means, it certainly did pick up towards the end when those pesky tyres played their part once more completely re-arranging the podium with 10 laps to go.

While the folk over in sky world are rounding down proceedings for the next hour or so I have returned to the internet to try and get the report completed before I run out of weekend and veer into Monday morning so on that note I shall get right to the start of it all.

credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk

The Race

Having been at the celebrations earlier on, where the it appears the blog hasn't won the raffle and has proven it knows nothing about the posh bunch of royal folk sitting in their posh building in the south, I wasn't present for the pre-race information. So was walking in blind to any issues or plans going forward into the 70 laps that were ahead of them, however given it was only sky reporting it probably wouldn't have mattered either way. Getting in the house at the Spain/Italy game was concluding and minutes before the start of the formation lap in Montreal.

As the lights did go out the grid left the starting positions almost in perfect grid order, very symmetrical in fact, at a track where contact into turn one is rather common - in 98 we had Wurtz rolling the Benneton before Pedro Diniz ended up on top of Panis on the restart. This time everyone was well behaved, slight touching of wheels between a Caterham and Vergne towards the back but nothing that was going to cause a problem for anyone. Webber and Rosberg ran two wide through the opening sequence inches apart from the exit of turn two all the way down to turn three. Mark had the car to the inside and was able to claim the position away from the Mercedes.

It then fell to Massa to challenge Rosberg, and it was clear the that the Ferarri had the superior pace looking down the inside several times during the opening two laps, before making a pass stick before the final chicane.  An incident that the commentary team seemed to think was DRS aided but at such an early srage in the race the system wasn't enabled so the overtake was a result of superior speed coming out of the turn nine hairpin. Vettel remained in the lead, as the German bloke often did in that all dominant season last year, and most of this race last season, ahead of Hamilton and Alonso. A little further back Button wasn't having the same degree of success as his last visit to the Canadian GP running down where he started just ahead of the two Saubers Kobayashi leading Perez in that inter-team battle.

Life was about to go a slightly downhill for Felipe Massa as he span the Ferrari on the exit of turn on, flat-spotting the tyres in an effort to keep the car out of the barrier, before rejoining between the Saubers outside the points positions. In response to the incident Teh Massa brought the car to pit road for an early stop making 1-stop strategy result in a very long second stint. Back down in turn one more problems as HRT driver Narain Karthikayen span across the run-off area with a suspected brake problem as he pulled over a few corners later into retirement. An identical problem seemed to be afflicting the fellow HRT of De La Rosa who entered pit lane with an epic amount of brake dust pouring from the wheels.

Time for the first of the main contesters to make their stops starting with Hamilton's McLaren followed a lap later by the Red Bull of Vettel who returned to the track having relinquished his lead to the British driver, but that too was to be short lived because Alonso stayed out for a couple of laps in clear air setting quicker times. Fernando completed his stop and emerged factionally ahead of Hamilton in the overall lead, but Lewis was able to pass the Ferrari in the DRS zone before the final chicane Slightly off the radar One-Stop Perez and Kimi Raikkonen were staying out and sneaking up the field to the edge of the top 5. Going in the opposite direction was Paul Di Resta in the Force India who before the round of stops was running in the top 5, before falling down to 12th.

We entered that moment in the middle of the race where not too much happened, the same period lasted for most of the race two weekends ago in Monaco but this week did contract a little, but sadly not be much there was thirty laps where it was time to get the snacks in. Whereas I tried to reload the live timing which insisted on being half a lap behind the real world Sergio and Kimi were still reluctant to stop - One-Stop running all the way to lap 44 before opting to go for some new rubber. A plan which may turn out to be productive later in the race.

Things were spurred back into action when Hamilton decided to pit again, pulling away from the theorised one-stop strategies which seemed to be the norm, except for Button who was onto his second at this point having a torrid day in 14th. As the McLaren entered the pit box, here's hoping for a decent problem free stop... well perhaps not dropping 1.6s through a slow rear tyre change. Prompting a table in the McLaren hospitality area getting a beating from who-ever that person is that is supposed to be Hamilton's woman. Which in turn prompted a remark from Crofty that it wasn't the first time 1.6s has cause problems there - temporarily silencing Brundle. Would this hand the race back to Fernando, but in order for that to work Alonso would have to come in within a couple of laps. However Alonso stayed out, and because Lewis was running faster on the newer tyres it passed the point where stopping would be a solution. Several radio messages went out to Hamilton informing him that the cars in front were going to stop - which didn't seem to be the plan.

With attrition failing to have a the effect on the race it traditionally does it was time for a retirement, and as luck would have it we got one, but luck wasn't the case for Oh Sch...umacher as his DRS flap had jammed open. In Canada that's not too bad as there are no high speed corners, it would be a severe issue if it had jammed in Spa or Suzuka but either way the car had to be retired as the wing couldn't be closed. He was shortly joined in retirement by Timo Glock's Marussia who after a spin down at the hairpin pulled his car out of the race. As for the cars still running there was action in the middle of the points positions as Massa was rapidly running out of tyres after having to make such an early stop and had gained the attentions in close proximity of Nico Rosberg who had Perez in tow. Nico looked to the outside in the final chicane but was forced across the run-off and gained a position in the process, Rosberg had to allow Massa back through but Sergio was right behind the par. The Sauber considered going three wide at a couple of instances on the front straight before going round the outside of the Mercedes in the first corner. Felipe decided to bail out of the battle at the end of the next lap diving to the pits to replace his worn tyres, because although power slides up near the wall of champions is cool, it isn't particularly fast

Back with the leaders and it was becoming evident that the top two were planning to run to the end which meant that Hamilton was going to have to pass them to re-take the victory. What was running in his favour was that both Vettel and Alonso were starting to suffer with tyre degradation after running close to 50 laps on the same set of tyres. Interesting, behind Hamilton Grosjean was running on a similar pace to Hamilton despite being on tyres that were only marginally fresher than the leaders, and One-Stop Perez was setting faster and faster laps from 5th. It wasn't long before Lewis had caught up behind Vettel's struggling car, as the pair entered the DRS zone, Sebastien didn't resist the inevitable and proceeded to pit as soon as he was passed.

Alonso could sense his time out front was numbered, as his tyres were degrading rapidly running up to 2s slower per lap than Hamilton and close to 4s slower than fastest man Perez, who was on unsuprisingly - one stop. In contrasting fortunes Ricciardo paid a visit to the grass between turns seven and eight going for a little spin but kept the car off the wall and kept going. The battle up front was now much closer with Fernando going a lot more defensive then Vettel did when threatened by the presence of the McLaren charging back to the front. No defence was going to stop the superior grip Lewis had and Hamilton drove round the outside in the final DRS zone, beginning Fernando's descent down the order. Grosjean was the next car in line, running three seconds per lap faster on tyres only two laps fresher, leading to another easy DRS based pass.

After his stop Vettel dropped down into 5th behind One-stop Perez, and began lapping on the same pace as the Sauber, even brushing the infamous wall in the final chicane, sparks dancing off the rim indicating it was close to another visit the wall for the German bloke. Right at the front Hamilton had a stable lead from Grosjean in second, the battle for third however was far from being so stable as Alonso now had the attentions of Sergio Perez in the Sauber in a flashback to Malaysia. On this instance it was the tyre saving Mexican who had the upper hand and it was in the DRS zone once more where the move took place where Fernando had nothing left to defend from one-stop Perez who was off into another podium position. Sebastien set the fastest lap behind Alonso and threw the car down the inside coming into the hairpin to drop Fernando down another position. The Ferrari came close to losing another position as Rosberg was the next car in line to challenge but there weren't enough laps left to take the place.

Out front Hamilton crossed the line to take his first race win of the season and extending the run of differing winners to seven races now, and reasonably exhausting the list of traditional contenders for victories. Grosjean and Perez completed the podium exhibiting impressive tyre conservation over the course of the race especially for Romain. Vettel finished fourth having started the race from the front, ending the recent run of pole-sitters claiming the victory, Alonso survived to take fifth from Rosberg ahead of Webber and Raikkonen. The points were rounded off by Kamui Kobayashi and Felipe Massa's Ferrari.

The bonus points championship points winners

This was a race of three distinct phases, the opening one where the pit stops and strategies were decided, the middle where not much took place, and an entertaining conclusion when the tyres began to wear away. But no matter how a race plays out it is these points which are important and these are the winners, even though it is hard to give out enough points to lot of average performances.

25pts - Romain Grosjean - While Alonso fell backwards on tyres of a similar age, Romain went forward into 2nd, and was catching Hamilton
18pts - One-Stop Perez - Another perfect demonstration of tyre management gaining 12 positions to claim another podium finish
15pts - Lewis Hamilton - Took a bit of a risk coming in when the others stayed out and it proved to be the right decision or Grosjean would have won the race
12pts - Felipe Massa - For being entertaining, battling with Rosberg, and powersliding close to the wall
10pts - STC - Have to have some points for their performances at the celebration event, got points this time last year too,
8pts -  Pastor Maldonado - Gained the most positions over the course of the race 1 more than Perez
6pts -  Fernando Alonso - Damage limitation mission at the end on the ruined tyres
4pts -  Jenson Button - Here are some consolation points from a fairly dire day
2pts - Vitaly Petrov - For turning the fastest lap out of the bottom three teams during the race
1pt - David Croft - For the Hamilton joke, brilliant

The penalties championship


We went through a long time at the beginning of the season where no-one was getting penalties and Heikki's presence on the board was getting rather lonely but in recent events we have added to that list, and following today's race we have one more entry to the championship. That entry goes to Jean-Eric Vergne who received a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

And here is the is the most interesting part I have no penalty points to hand out from this race because everyone was too well behaved, should almost give them all a penalty point for being too civilised but that would be going against the concept of this championship. Handing people penalty points for not doing anything that would result in penalty points does border on madness.

Looking onto Valencia 


Suppose it had to happen eventually, after the two vastly anticipated races of Monaco and Canada the tone does get lowered when it comes to  the European GP back in Spain, on the track loosely defined as a street track. Where in essence some people have drawn some lines on the harbour and moved some walls around, without barely seeing any actual streets, only a fleeting visit to harbour access channels. But go there we must and because in some sense it could be perceived that the past two races have fallen a little short of their hype hope is passed onto the marina of Valencia. Perhaps because there is no hype for the disappointing coastal lap, at least not here in Blog HQ, we might see the balance swap the other way and end up with an epic race... well that might be asking too much.

What is more exciting in the coming week is the running of the monumental race that is the Le Mans 24hrs, completing the trio of high profile races that people outside the world of motor-racing might have heard of. Which does mean a long night for the blog up all night for the fourth time, luckily not coinciding with the Candian GP like it did last season, resulting in some very fatigued reporting and giving points to bob the cat at 2am on Saturday morning. The Le Mans race commands the same level of anticipation that both the last two GP's have, but over the course of 24hrs it probably will deliver, so until next time this is farewell from me here at blog HQ.

Round Seven: Canada Pre-race

Greetings Internet

As the effects of the microbial attack allegedly blamed on the inhabitants of Bird Island have begun to wear off after causing much affliction of the throat region, makes it convenient that this is written down not vocalised as it would have sounded awful. The later session times due to the time zone differences between Canada and the corner of blog HQ, is a lot more comfortable for us viewers in the UK, well if it hadn't coincided with some event elsewhere. But it does have the impact of making the reports a little later especially if we ended up with the four hour epic we had last season. Luckily the powers that be have scheduled the Le Mans 24hr race on a different weekend to the Canadian GP, making life here a little easier. On top of that the junior show isn't this weekend either so I'm not writing this at 2am as I was last year

As the world has it's focus on a bunch of folk kicking an edgeless safety cube around a field over in Eastern Europe but here in Blog HQ the attention is directed in the other direction across the Atlantic ocean in Montreal. Where the qualifying session for the Canadian GP has just come to it's conclusion so I turned straight to this corner of the internet to commence the writing process, although by the time this is actually released the session will have been over for a longer time. A while has already elapsed so time to move on with things.

Qualifying 

Image credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk

Because this is a SKY weekend I turned to the internet, for today's coverage and into a world of inconsistency, with picture quality varying wildly between sharp clarity and a complete foggy mess where all the times looked fuzzy and indecipherable. Then there was the eternal enemy of online video streaming - buffering - but the blog is made of sterner stuff and will resist all the perils of the internet, and the background noise of Holland failing to beat Denmark at the time. Whenever I am forced to deal with the SKY coverage the disparity between the quality they try and perpetrate and what the BBC can manage, which is their cue to give up with it all and hand it back where it belongs. Don't get the same degree of buffering and quality deviations on the streaming iPlayer, but that is a rant that can go on for quite a long time and involve throwing  sharp objects

So swiftly on to the opening of Q1, which saw several drivers taking to the track at the beginning of the session - all looking to get a time set down before a perceivable likely red flag, like we had in Monaco last time. Given the proximity of the walls here and the fact that the barriers have already been visited this weekend including the first victim of the wall of champions in Friday practice as Bruno Senna lost it in the final chicane. Back with qualifying and it was Rosberg who was first to take to the track ahead of a flurry activity - Nico having lost all the practice time with a detached fuel connector in the morning session.

Inevitably it was the Mercedes that set the fastest time, while a little further behind Kamui was taking an alternative route through turns one and two, redecorating the pit lane exit with turf and mud, a route which saw Vergne hit the wall in FP3. Rosbergs time at the top was usurped by Hamilton who has been quick in the McLaren in the first practice sessions on Friday. Massa was reinventing turn one by missing most of it out cutting across the tarmac run-off space, one of the few parts of the track which is not guarded by an ominous wall. It was time for another lead change this time it was passed to Fernando Alonso in a much improved Ferrari this weekend now in possession of genuine pace to attack for pole.

Fernando's time held for a while, resisting challenges from Hamilton who slotted into second, that was until a surprising charge from Force India's Nico Hulkenberg who put the car at the top of the timesheets. Another pole favourite, Vettel was still in the garage and hadn't set a time by this point, however the German bloke probably wasn't too bothered as everything was well under control in the Red Bull garage. A little closer to the edge of control was One-Stop Perez using absolutely all of the road in the final chicane, placing a tyre mark on the wall of champions, as close as you want to get in that corner without losing wheels. All change at the front when Schumacher took the lead, before Vettel came out and claimed the lead for himself, while down in the relegation zone the newer teams had Vergne once more for company - and that was how the session was to finish.

Next up we moved on to Q2, which proved to be exceedingly close - as if Mr Kipling had made it himself, the top 13cars were separated by 0.7s but for the purposes of this narrative it might be an idea to start proceedings at the beginning. Also as it is half time between Germany and Portugal the comprehensibility of the next couple of paragraphs might improve, only slightly since the team allocation for the in house Blog HQ who-gets-the-chocolate-bar at the end of the tournament competition, and it can be assumed the blog has no hope... However I digress once more and back to the session, Ricciardo in the remaining Torro Rosso who was the first to take to the track to set a benchmark time of 1:15.9 a time which was quickly beaten by the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg. The lead changed quickly into the hands of Jenson Button before both of the Red Bull drivers locked out the provisional front row.

In the fight for the final places in the top ten the action was frantic, with every car that crossed the line the timesheet tumbled and rearranged itself shaving thousandths off the benchmark time to avoid relegation. The battle centred around the Sauber pairing, and the Lotus cars, with Teh Massa, Button, and Force India involved as well. The gap between the cars was minuscule, for example Felipe running 12th found a tenth of a second and gained four places in the process, dumping the Saubers out into relegation and placing Jenson one the edge of the knockout zone.

As the session drew closer to its conclusion Alonso took the overall lead while Grosjean and Di Resta managed to move into the top ten at the expense of Raikkonen and Hulkenberg. Everything seemed all set and done, and for the most part it was, except for one final moment, as Maldonado tried to pull himself out of relegation, but carried too much speed into final chicane and that generally only ends one way... Introducing the wall of champions once more, the Williams brushed the wall bending the rear suspension. Pastor managed to avoid a second more destructive impact with a swift spin in the other direction, but he was relegated with a damaged car, the second Williams to hit the wall over the course of the weekend.

This lead us to the final session, with the ten remaining contenders featuring the top five teams with the exception of Raikkonen's spot being occupied by Paul Di Resta's Force India. It was that very car that caused initial concern here in Blog HQ as the theoretical penalty point marker of doom wavered over his name, as the Scot performed a couple of sector times before returning to the pits. A sign traditionally that a driver doesn't intend to complete a flying lap in the session. Once more it was Nico Rosberg who wanted to set the initial time at the start of the final phase of qualifying, what was more interesting is that Massa was the next driver to assume the top position when Alonso had failed to beat the Mercedes.

In contrast to other qualifying events this season the lap time seemed to be coming on the second or third lap on the tyres once they have reached a degree of thermal equilibrium - a state which can negate the difference between the two compounds. But in this final session all the cars were running the softer compound just to make sure they had the greatest chance of taking the pole position, and that place moved into Hamilton's hands after he found a quarter of a tenth over Felipe.  Lewis celebrations, if there were any, were to be short lived as his time was to be obliterated by almost half a second, the same margin that separated the entire top ten in Q2. So who was the latest victor, and conveniently as Germany have just scored against Portugal it was indeed that German bloke who was now sitting provisionally on pole.

Time for the second runs to see if Vettel could hold onto first place, Sebastien managed to extend his lead by another two tenths with his second lap to put the victory out of reach, Hamilton tried to beat the German bloke but only managed second place. Despite earlier doubts Di Resta came back out to complete a timed run, finishing in 8th ahead of Oh Sch....umacher and Button who was sitting in pit lane. The pole seemed settled but purple sectors started to show on the timing screen belonging to Fernando Alonso's Ferrari but the challenge failed in the final sector dropping down into third position. Webber and Rosberg lined up fourth and fifth ahead of Massa and Grosjean. Di Resta held position ahead of Oh Sch...umacher and Button rounded out the top ten

The bonus points championship points winners


From an unusually well mannered qualifying session in Canada without a predicted red flag which has affected two of the practice sessions but that meant the times were so much closer without an interruption to break up proceedings. So here are the points winners from today's qualifying session.

10pts - Red Bull - After a week of protests against holes in the floor and and then having further issues in their front axles the team still produce a car that can achieve a comfortable pole
8pts - Nico Rosberg - For being at the front of every session at some point despite not having any running in final practice.
6pts - Paul Di Resta - For being the only driver outside the top five teams to make it into Q3
5pts - One-Stop Perez - For putting rubber on the wall of champions
4pts - Pedro De La Rosa - For beating both of the Marussias in the generally accepted slowest car on the grid
3pts - Caterham - For getting both cars ahead of Vergne, would have been more points if Vergne's time wasn't so off the pace
2pts - Ferrari - For finally making their car competitive and able to challenge in the hands of both drivers
1pt - Bird Island - It may have been several days ago but it has to get a bonus point


The penalties championship


Only one pseudo penalty was handed out today to Raikkonen and that was in the form of a 2,500 euro fine for his very late pit entry at the end of FP3, where Kimi over-ran the chicane and then decided to give up and cut across the corner to enter the lane. There may have been other fines this season but no-one seems to have told me about them, not being in the loop and all ah Blog HQ is a very secluded place.

The penalty points championship


Considering everyone was so oddly well behaved throughout the session it seemed like we were going to get away without the waving the angry finger of penalty points at anyone. But we were not so lucky, as the attention turned to the people running the SKY broadcast who we all widely accept to be inferior to the BBC - although the Croft and Davidson practice coverage is a loss to BBC, but can't have everything. There was almost a penalty point for Jacques Villeneuve the guest pundit this weekend, for complaining about most things, but because the crazy bald Canadian had a point the points fell elsewhere. Directed to Johnny Herbert who dismissed the Sauber performance as poor and disappointing, when they only missed the top ten by 0.008s. In any book that is rather close and only half a second off fastest, not poor Mr Herbert.

Looking to Tomorrow

As it has been recalled over the postings for this weekend, last season's Canadian GP was a fantastic race in changing conditions with monsoons, safety cars, crashes, and Jenson coming from the back of the grid to win the race on the final lap. This time around the weather looks a lot more stable and drier but that doesn't mean the race is scheduled to be any less entertaining. Ror example in 2007 in the era of cars where passing was close to impossible, we had four safety cars including a monumental accident for Robert Kubica and an epic pass by the legend that is Takuma Sato on Fernando Alonso. That was a moment that had the blog been in existence all those years ago that would have received full bonus points.

So tomorrow's race is an brilliant event in prospect, one where anything can happen and there are at least ten cars that could cross the line first, in 70 laps of what can be assumed to be a race of attrition. Those walls will probably claim a couple of cars over the course of the race, and  cause the introduction of the safety car in the process, which is almost guaranteed to make an appearance. Trying to predict a winner from the possible madness that could unfold would be rather difficult but this is a track that has been unsuccessful for Red Bull and strong for Hamilton. But behind them Ferrari are quick  this time and depending on how crazy things can get, other drivers further back could strike. Winning from the back a la Button last time because there won't be the rain and the changeable conditions, but the implausible is certainly a possibility, so until then this is farewell from me here at Blog HQ.



   

Round Seven: Canada Preview 2012

Greetings Internet,

The inter-race break has been an interesting one this time around, with ventures to far away places, to an extent. As mentioned in the last post the blog has claimed it's first online victory, although it was a little of a fluke really as everyone else retired making it a little easier, but I was in the lead at time so a little bit of a redeeming factor. On top of that the blog went on an adventure into the middle of the north sea, aboard a little vessel between the Farne Islands which included a landing on Inner Farne. A small rock populated by thousands of birds, of varying degrees of aggression, top of the list were the Arctic Terns who rather liked diving and bouncing at the tourists. On the surface that might seem like a bad idea, but as long as you are fitted with a hat then you gain immunity from the assaults and it suddenly becomes awesome. One of the little feathery critters is pictured below posing for the mug shot.

One bird charging the angry

But time to pull myself away from another tangent, one of the features of a wandering mind, and bring this post back to the actual subject which this corner of the internet was founded all those posts ago. The season returns this weekend for the second of the anticipated races of the season, we've had the overly posh world of Monte Carlo, populated by all manner of 'famous' people milling around trying to steal camera time. Now we have an event that mixes the unforgiving nature of the streets of Monaco and stirs in the ability for overtaking and a jolly good race. Something we were rather deprived of last time out, as the rain held off until just after the flag at the end. 

It is rain that the Canadians grew awfully familiar with last year, where the race was converted into a four hour epic with monsoons and safety cars. Concluding with a truly awesome win for Jenson Button, a win which started his run towards claiming the inaugural bonus points championship, so this weekend could prove pivotal in the outcome of this years season. The playing field for this next step in the competition is the truly fantastic Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, I know I do spend a long time on here ranting about how awful some corners are - generally if Tilke has been involved, but I do rather like Montreal. It is a lap that generally produces some brilliant racing as well as being great fun to drive in the simulator.

The Track

Gone are the steel barriers that lined Monaco have been replaced with concrete instead, and is only a little further away from the side of the track than we saw last time, with a little bit of greenery thrown in, on some of the corners. Montreal is a track which hasn't succumbed too much to the convention of replacing everything with tarmac run-off areas - probably on the basis that there isn't too much that can be replaced with the walls being in the way and all. Especially considering on the other side of the walls lies a lot of water, in the form a large river in which the track is situated on an island. A rather cool feature if I do say so myself.

The actual layout is governed by chicanes, remember back in Spain when I mocked the final chicane there for generally being appalling... Well Barcelona take a good look over here especially at the turn 3-4 sequence, that is how a chicane should be done, it isn't pointlessly slow and marked with moronic tall curbs. Instead it is a little quicker, with a welcoming concrete wall on the exit, none of that health and safety nonsense going on there. In fact all of the chicanes here are bounded by the solid walls, each of them has attracted a variety of contact and shedding wheels in the process. 

And no wall has attracted more guests than the one that lies in wait on the exit of the final chicane, dubbed the infamous 'Wall of Champions' has claimed the cars of many race winners and world champions. As of yet it is to claim a bonus points champion, but considering there has only been one of those so far the probabilities are a little lower. In the past two seasons the wall lies at the end of the first DRS zone - and oddly enough no-one hit it then, although some did come rather close. Deciding to make contact elsewhere instead, the current grid are rather resourceful like that. 

So it is time to unveil the traditional accompanying track video which has gone through a couple of changes this time round, as it features the winning car from the race last weekend, and also it is the first track video to take place in the wet. Enacting a sort of digital 'rain dance' to attract a proportion of the entertainment we saw last time - perhaps we can do without the monsoons and the red flag periods but a little rain would make the whole thing more exceptional than Canada normally presents. Without further delay and more rambling on which tends to be the normal.

What to expect

Last season I recall challenging Canada to out perform the Monaco grand prix that preceded it and it certainly worked out rather well, unleashing the most engrossing event of the year, or several years before that too. So this season I shall repeat that challenge: Canada do your worst. 

Aside from that little moment, and with or without weather the prospect of the Canadian GP promises to be just as unpredictable in any circumstance. Just as it was in Monaco except this time there is a much smaller chance of cars being trapped behind one another, so Jenson will be able to escape the back of the Caterham. So we might see the top teams with their cars placing and finishing towards the top of qualifying and then the race. Meaning the battle for pole will be intensely contested with Red Bull, McLaren, Lotus, and possibly Ferrari will all be within fractions of a second towards the front. 

Down in the midfield, it is anyones guess what is going to happen there, and it is also likely the teams will permeate into the front division as Sauber and Williams have shown strong form already this season. Mix that form with the probability of mayhem there is a change of adding a seventh different winner to the list from outside the main contenders. Given the slower nature of the track and a greater reliance on mechanical grip it means it opens the door for Force India to challenge for the front of the division, demonstrating their ability in Monaco and more so at last season's Singapore GP. As for Torro Rosso however they could be towards the bottom of the division vulnerable to a special drive by either Heikki or Vitaly for Caterham.

Right at the back of the grid the positions are pretty much set already, as Caterham as ever will be the head of the trio of newer teams, a country mile ahead of the other teams in the division. Behind them it is a little closer in terms of the competition of who gets to be last, well Narain will probably be last but between the rest of them are on compatible form. Normally we'd see Glock line up behind the Caterhams with Pic and De La Rosa on similar pace fighting for the penultimate grid slot.

Blog predictions

That time of the post has rolled round again, and after I managed to score a grand total of nothing for the race section of the predictions it might be nice to make some points this weekend.

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

Qualifying Battle

• Red Bull - Webber
• McLaren - Hamilton
• Ferrari - Alonso
• Mercedes - Schumacher
• Lotus - Raikkonen
• Sauber - Perez
• Williams - Maldonado
• Force India - Di Resta
• Torro Rosso - Ricciardo
• Caterham - Kovalainen
• Marussia - Glock
• HRT - De La Rosa

Well there you are then, I've posted a picture of a real-life angry bird before it bombed my head, rambled on about the whole adventure for a while. Before delving into the main target of the rants in this corner of the internet, with the map and the default unveiling of the dodgy attempt at videography, which means that everything has been put in place. Helpful considering that I seem to have acquired some form of virus of the cold variety, the people here have been intent on blaming the birds on the island - words like bird flu have been cast through the air. Personally I wouldn't blame them they are far too cool to conduct such acts, but at this rate I can see this degenerating into the terminal condition that is known as MAN FLU. A condition so dangerous it deserves the capitals it is written in. 

Hopefully the content of the weekend will form a distraction from the evil microbes causing merry hell with my innards curse them and all. The Canadian GP is another one of the races that always stands out on the calendar, and this year it probably won't be covered in the fog of fatigue we saw last season as the race doesn't clash with the epic Le Mans 24hrs. As the endurance event will be held next weekend instead ready for the all nighter in front of the television with a vast array of snacks definitely a highlight. So I until Saturday evening this is farewell from this corner of the internet and Blog HQ. 

The blog's 100th post

Greetings Internet,

It may be a very unfavourable hour of the morning at the moment but given events in the past hour it might be time to complete this post - although it may end up being tomorrow by the time I actually finish this thing making all the references to time in this post so far completely irrelevant but never mind.

Since the inception of this corner of the internet first created in 2010 around mid-season but first saw activity on the run up to the start of the 2011 season helped a little by the cancellation of the Bahrain GP of that year, life here in the dark corner that is blog HQ has seen many highs and lows. Mainly depending on the cushion I happen to be sitting on to make up for the massive lack of height that seems to be a problem in my microcosm. I have seen reader levels and view counts rise and fall dramatically never reaching particularly grand heights, just like me I suppose, but it has functioned. Gaining the attention of people across the planet - although I'm not entirely sure what has happened to the people from Singapore, hello there the blog does miss you. But there has been an increase in readers in Japan and that does make the blog very happy indeed, which is good to see. I does make you wonder if the figures on the stats page are simply automated web spiders and crawlers pottering about and just happening upon this part of the world.

However as is the norm here, I seem to have digressed into the realm of audience figures but in reality without the audience however many of you are actual people then this minor project would be completely pointless. Most of the things I end up doing fall into futility but this seems to have avoided that fate and in a way I have the people out there on the internet to thank for that, I would offer bonus points to those who have been here since the very inception in Australia in 2011, mainly for compensation for putting up with the nonsense I keep babbling on about. However that would become rather challenging to check, validate and then distribute the points - so you can have moral bonus points instead, which aren't really exchangeable to regular bonus points and apparently ASDA don't recognise them as currency. Which was a shame because I did feel like a chocolate bar for keeping this place running for so long without making a complete hash of it, even though recent posts have been off schedule and lacking a certain finesse they should have been presented with.

Me Vs the Internet once more

Now I think it is time to move onto another interesting development in the blog's history, over recent months the blog has taken to competing against the internet in an online racing league using the same simulator that the videos have been filmed with. Normally with rather disappointing results, as the videos have shown I really am no good at this racing lark and have a tendency to crash into things and lose wheels. When competing on the internet, I tend to use somewhat easier cars to drive than the blogmobile although there is a series open to use the DP01 from last season, so less wheels are shed in the process. I have been competing in the BMW E21 series for a couple of races and seemed to finish consistently on the outside of the top 10 from qualifying a lot further back and progressing through attrition.

This time there was a single one off event posted on the league site for off-road buggies in conjunction with a BAHA event happening in the US where the site is based, running on a long 10 mile off road track in a similar setting. Two classes were competing in the event, for two different chassis and engine combinations and the entry list did seem a little thin as only 11 drivers had signed up and five in my class. But when the server was loaded only seven cars seemed to have actually arrived and only three of those were in my class, so even if I crashed and exploded on the opening lap, the blog would claim a podium finish, which was nice.

The grid 

After qualifying the blog lined up third on the grid and second in class which in the whole history of the blog and in the years before racing under the flag of the blog is the highest ever qualifying position (with the small exception of the initiation race drivers used to need to complete before competing) has ever attained. The race was scheduled to run to a distance of one hour requiring a pit stop in the middle for fuel and tyres for the open half a lap the blog did have a bit of a bother and fall down to last but by the end of the first lap through accidents in the mountain and a really steep impossible hill section ended up leading the class. I couldn't really believe it either rather

The treacherous mountain pass

From this point the blog lead the race for the next half an hour with 30s back the next car in class which was piloted by a much faster driver who set pole 10s faster than any lap the blog had managed. But with that much of a lead I thought it would be a good idea to stay out for an additional lap from the pit strategy decided pre-race, on the idea that changing the tyres later would make the car faster at the end when others would be slower. But on a lap that is 10 miles long, on worn tyres is not the grandest of plans, suffice to say I lost a massive amount of time and was caught by the car behind. What made matters worse was that the chasing car had already mad his stop and therefore was 30s ahead in real-time, but there was the small matter of the impossible hill...

The class leaders vs the impossible hill

On really worn tyres at this point the hill became all too challenging and the car refused to climb it, a similar problem befell the other cars in the class and we all spent a long time taking runs up to escape the gully. Some considerable time later and allowing the overall leader to escape beyond all reach the off-road blogmobile was able to leave the trap ahead of the other cars and regain the lead of the class. 

From that point is was clear sailing to the finish as looking at the final results the other cars that were trapped were disqualified by the game's internal regulations, likely for travelling too far the wrong way down the track to get a big enough run to clear the mountain. So albeit a little be default which is not the ideal way of doing things, the blog claimed it's first ever win in competition with the internet. A historic moment and the perfect use for this the one hundredth post from blog HQ, so while I now prepare for the upcoming Canadian GP I shall bid thee farewell from me here at a now victorious blog HQ.