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 |
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.
- Schumcher (just to continue the combo)
- Hamilton
- Alonso
- Vettel
- Webber
- Rosberg
- Button
- Perez
- Raikkonen
- 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment