Round 6: Monaco 2013 - Race

Greetings Internet,

Well played Monaco, well played indeed - there was a slight delay on that taking it's time to really kick off, but when it did it was a little mad there was some deja vu and some impromptu fortification of the racetrack to sum it up. We've gone all season without a safety car or any form of significant delay, but as soon as the grid roll up here with all those walls and barriers initially at the side of track (and occasionally in the middle of if) we've had three of them interrupting the event, and a red flag too - because some drivers wanted to build a wall around themselves in the middle of Tabac corner. In a demonstration of some of the quickest fort construction in history. Elsewhere Caterham are clearly missing Kovalainen, having to rely on the fire marshals to put things out instead of their resident Finnish fireman who took care of a similar situation in Singapore a while back.  When we saw the grid, there was the potential for things to turn into a large queue of angry frustrated drivers, and for the second half of the race was exactly that. It was a the ultimate melting pot for some impressive overtaking on a track where it is traditionally impossible - and some less than impressive...

There is one other element that has to be mentioned in the opening to this event is the looming cloud of a protest against Mercedes for a tyre test after Barcelona - something that fell under the radar because they were so slow in Spain that the extra three days were just assumed to being them just trying to finish the race. The problem being that testing is not allowed, but Pirelli have a clause allowing them to do some testing with a team, imposed by the continuous whines and complaints about them delaminating and suffering with the high degradation issues. But that issue is bound to run and run, as at this point Mercedes and Pirelli have to see the FIA stewards, so until that is taken care off - time to cover the race itself.

The Race

Before things got underway, there was some re-arranging at the back of the grid, Chilton in the Marussia had been moved to the back of the grid for a gearbox change - so there was Massa having not set a time in qualifying and gained a penalty for changing his gearbox and therefore should have been starting the race from France, and Chilton still found a way of being last...

At the actual start, everyone was rather well behaved, saving the violence for later on in the race, Rosberg was a little slow off the line but because of the lack of space between the armco prevented him losing a place. Positions were maintained throughout the field and with the exception of Van Der Garde who went across the apex of the corner at turn one, and rejoined in the side of Maldonado's car. Both cars survived, and Pastor only lost a little bit of the front wing. By the time everyone reached the Loews Hairpin Van Der Garde decided he wasn't finished with assaulting the Williams and drove over the back of Maldonado in the braking zone. Once again both cars survived, although the Caterham lost the entire front nose, and both cars had to pit for new wings at the end of the lap.

The nature of the Monaco street circuit meant that for a while everyone was locked into the positions they started in, because everyone was conserving tyres in this opening phase. Both Mercedes cars were being continuous radio calls adjusting their target lap time - four tenths here or five tenths there, dependant on the gap to the Red Bulls behind. Teams exerting control over their drivers and race position - except no-one informed McLaren of this process, because Button and Perez were at it once more, Jenson would try and make the pass and Sergio scampered across the chicanes and retained position. But the stewards phoned Perez, to reverse the position he maintained through cutting the corner. It seemed in the earliest leg that passing was impossible - however Di Resta doesn't play by those roles and discovered there some overtaking space on the outside of turn one. Firstly passing Felipe Massa and then the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez.

Felipe and Esteban had another point of commonality, when they both had to dodge a rapidly slowing Caterham of Charles Pic. A gearbox seizure had started a fire in the back of the car, forcing it to come to a stop in the pit entry road out of Rascasse, in these situations the team would normally look to Heikki who has a pattern of putting out fires on that car, but this time Pic had to allow the fire marshals to take over. There was a threat of the first safety car of the season with the smoke and extinguishant and a compromised pit entry, but a flotilla of marshals swooped in to move the car in time - only Di Resta pitted anticipating an early safety car and an alternate strategy.

....One another note the Indy 500 has now started - more potential bonus points for Sato.... and is under the first caution for Hilderbrand crashing out

Back at Monaco, things were a lot less energetic, sitting in position waiting for the first bout of stops, and interestingly both those on the soft and super soft compounds were pitting at around the same time, the likes of Massa, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo were pitting on similar laps to the Raikkonen, Webber and Alonso. The latter two failing to gain any advantage on the cars they were chasing through the pit stops, it didn't bode well for the rest of the race, if the single stop strategies refused to have any impact on track position. Something needed to happen to shake things up a little - if only someone had some practice of crashing into things this weekend to mix things up. While all heads turned to Grosjean who had bounced off most things already, the flags came out for a car off in turn one, and it was Massa. Once again the Brazillian forgot that there is a barrier before turn one... again, you'd have figured after smashing the car in the same wall on Saturday he'd rather not do it again. Turns out that was an incorrect assumption, as Felipe Massa nailed the exact same same part of the track and ended in the same place in the T1 barrier. The crash brought out the first safety car of the season, it had to happen at some point.

The interval caused problems for Hamilton as he was jumped by the two Red Bull cars as he pitted the Mercedes - just after the restart Lewis attempted to re-take the place in Rascasse from Webber but the Australian resisted the attack. It was at this stage in the race when a massive train of cars was beginning to form behind the Lewis/Webber battle - starting with Raikkonen and Alonso going back down to Bottas and the Marussias at the back of the pack; yet Rosberg and Vettel did not drive away - as that would destroy tyres. Hamilton was even told off on the radio for trying to pass Webber on the account that weaving and diving was bad for wear. So they all stayed in the queue - a little too close in the line as Button clips the back of Alonso's Ferrari in the Loews hairpin. While Jenson was discussing the potential damage to the front wing Perez in the other McLaren made a masterful dive down the inside of the nouvelle chicane to take the place. It turns out Sergio liked this idea, enough to make it is new favourite place, as he followed up that move with a dive at Alonso's Ferrari. Fernando had to cut the track to avoid contact, and maintained the place in the process - where he would be forced to concede the place, eventually but there was a slight interruption to proceedings

At the beginning of the race Pastor Maldonado had been assaulted by Van Der Garde and was out of position - he'd caught up to a battle between Chilton and Gutierrez, the Marussia cut across the track and Pastor cut to the outside thinking it was safe there. Well it wasn't Max moved over and hit the Williams which as a result got airborne into the Tabac barrier. Maldonado had enough of being attacked so built a fort out of the rubber fence wrapping the car in a personal wall blocking the entire track with wall. To negotiate Pastor's release from his fort a red flag was flown and the race was put on pause. It took just short of half an hour before Maldonado surrendered his citadel, but considering he was out of the race, he was safe from further attacks, and Chilton was handed a drive through penalty for his actions leading to Pastor going into hiding.

Time for restart number two, with positions redressed between Alonso and Perez - it was Raikkonen that had the mad Mexican to contend while there was another car that had desires on moving forward through the train and that was Adrian Sutil backed up behind Button in the train. Rosberg was able to make some ground at the start again, breaking away from Vettel while Webber and Hamilton resumed battle behind. Raikkonen had gone onto the softer tyres expecting to be faster towards the end of the race, but was slower at the start of this phase of the race giving Perez the incentive. At this point Massa should have watched the TV in the hospital waiting room, as Bianchi had the same problem he did, yet the Frenchman was able to steer the Marussia away from the barrier - hitting the tyres in the St Devote run-off instead. An incident covered with yellows rather than another safety car intervention.

Because Jenson had been passed into Nouvelle chicane Sutil needed to try something a little different, and it turns out, nobody had made a proper go things at the Loews Hairpin - so Button was not alert to the Force India sliding up the inside. Then it would seem a little odd for Fernando to be caught by exactly the same move in the same corner - Sutil was now up to 6th place behind the Perez/Raikkonen battle - a duel that was temporarily put on hold when Grosjean decided to have his fourth accident of the weekend. For once the crane operator at St Devote was not lifting a damaged lotus up and over the wall - instead Romain drove into the back of Danial Ricciardo's Torro Rosso before Nouvelle Chicane. Mounting the Australian's car in the braking zone and then launching it across the run-off area, leaving a lot of debris all over the place, and introducing safety car number three...

Another restart and another break away from Rosberg, despite all the mayhem he was making this look a little easy - Vettel and Webber were following in the remaining podium places ahead of Hamilton, this part of the race was secure, as for things further back... Raikkonen's car was leaking water due to overheating and this gave Perez an extra invitation to strike - virtually throwing the car Raikkonen under breaking in the Nouvelle chicane. Contact was avoided but both cars missed the corner, you'd have thought that a mad lunge might have made the Mexican recalculate the method of attack on the Lotus ahead... well in a word No... Sergio just threw the car harder into a smaller space, and got pinned between Raikkonen and the barrier. Kimi suffered a slow puncture and Perez took brake damage. The queue was closer than ever in because of the contact, so when Raikkonen slowed to pit, Jenson was able to sneak past Alonso in the extra bunching.

Kimi dropped down to 14th behind both Saubers, Bottas and Chilton - while Perez had to survive continuous attack from Sutil - the McLaren was warned of Adrian's penchant for passing at the hairpin and to pay attention to that corner. But that battle didn't last too long, as the brake problems developed into a complete failure forcing retirement by the final corner of the lap - there happened to be a long train of cars preventing him returning to pit-lane.

At this point things broke down a little, because the TV crews following the race seemed to give up and only follow the front line of cars, where the key battles had been neutralised with Perez out and Sutil pulling away from the train. Yet there was a major comeback charge taking place for Raikkonen with the cars ahead, Kimi had fresh tyres after changing due to the puncture and was several seconds a lap faster than those around him. Post race on board replays showed the Lotus passing Gutierrez in turn one, Bottas outside at the hairpin and then Hulkenberg round the outside of turn one, massively impressive sequence of moves at the end of the race. Rosberg completed an unchallenged resilient drive to take a win for the Mercedes team, Vettel and Webber completed the podium for Red Bull. The first safety car doomed Hamilton to 4th but still a lot better than his day in Spain. Adrian Sutil proved passing is possible to finish 5th, ahead of Button and Alonso. In 8th place was the remining Torro Rosso of Jean Eric Vergne who weathered a late attack from Paul Di Resta in the second Force India in the points. While that late final charge brought Raikkonen back into the points, continuing that long run of continuous points finishes approaching Schumacher's record.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Where do I even begin with that race, some random driving, circuit architecture and innovative and precise overtaking manoeuvres - so here are the points winners from that amazing race.

• 25pts - Adrian Sutil - For passing people properly and without contact, also best of the rest at the end of the race behind Red Bull and Mercedes.
• 18pts - Nico Rosberg - That was an imperious drive sustaining a lot of stops and strong restarts
• 15pts - Paul Di Resta - For opening the passing by going round the outside of St Devote
• 12pts - Sergio Perez - Two great passes on Button and Alonso, but was a little out of line when attacking Raikkonen
• 10pts - Kimi Raikkonen  - For a monumental comeback passing four cars in five laps at the end 
• 8pts - Max Chilton - May have caused a large shunt - but actually won the bottom division today
• 6pts - Pastor Maldonado - For fort design
• 4pts - Felipe Massa - For giving us our first safety car and making the race so much better
• 2pts - Jenson Button - Passed Sutil on the outside of turn three and passed Alonso late in the race
• 1pt - Tony Kanaan - For winning the Indy 500, even though it finished under yellow

The Penalties Series

When there is contact and questionable overtaking, there is plenty of room for penalties to be assigned, as follows:

• Max Chilton - Drive through penalty  - for forcing Maldonado to build a fort 
• Romain Grosjean  - 10 place grid penalty - for mounting Vergne and causing safety car three

The Penalty Points Series

Away from the official penalties and things here are the other penalty points awarded for Monaco

• TV crews - Missing any of the Raikkonen charge, and coverage of the support races was a weak this weekend
• Sergio Perez - To far on those towards the end 
• Dario Franchitti - For bringing out the yellow that ruined the end of the Indy 500

Looking ahead to Canada

Monaco may be the most popular of the races on the calendar, even people who don't pay attention to the series are aware of the race on the streets of the principality, but Canada has a firm place as a fan favourite. It has all the excitement of Monaco without any of the pomp and circumstance that surrounds the street race, it is a track which is surrounded by concrete walls and very little room for error, but with a wider range of opportunities for overtaking and wheel to wheel competition. Monaco may be famous for its fancy location and fancier population, but the Montreal circuit is just as exciting a prospect. Both tracks have seen multi-safety car races. In fact the present degradation goal of the tyres was put into place because of the unpredictability of the 2010 Canadian GP - so how will the current evolution of those tyres react on the track that inspired their very existence. 

Having two brilliant venues one after another doesn't occur all to often in the season, like Spa and Monza later on, and it helps a lot having one of those races go as well as it did today - the next fortnight  is going to be a wash with anticipation. So until then farewell from blog HQ.

Round 6: Monaco 2013: Qualfying

Greetings Internet,

It has been an entertaining couple of days in Monaco so far, starting with a mad GP2 opening race which started off with a 13 car pile up at the first corner, causing a lengthy red flag delay. During that time a lot of those drivers involved ran back down to St Devote to ask for their cars back when they'd been craned over the barrier. It was most amusing. Now you would have thought that the top division of cars from the weekend would have been a little better behaved in a simple practice session, and for the most part they were... It all began when Massa seemed to get a little lost, and for some reason locked up and decided that resistance was futile and ploughed into the barrier before turn one. Managing to damage 75% of the corners on the car. A small break ensued to clean up, at the restart Sutil planted it into the wall in Masonet, and at the end of the session Grosjean took an unusual line through turn one which encompassed the outside barrier and removing a wheel - the third time in two consecutive sessions that Lotus had ended up in the armco...

Onto qualifying and there was one scenario that presents an appetising prospect for tomorrow, by placing a couple of cars at the front which are projected to slow down over the course of the race backing everyone up into each other. Because if there is anything that can cause entertainment on a track where overtaking is very, very difficult, is placing a lot of cars in close proximity - not that it helped this afternoons second GP2 race, but F1 is a different monster. It is monster that doesn't often respond well to moisture, and as Europe is encountering all manner of weird storms at the moment, there have been intermittent monsoons just outside blog HQ, it was only a matter of time before a few drops fell on the Mediterranean coastline. However it was only a couple of drops and a minor shower, so Monaco had got off lightly today only forcing a brief stint on the intermediate tyres. But if people were piling into the walls in the dry how were things going to unfold in the damp...

Qualifying 

The umbrellas went up at the people were milling around the pit lane half an hour before the first session was due to begin and a large cloud was forming over the top of the track, around Mirabeau and Portier - threatening a lot of rain. But it drizzled and showered a little and then gave up, it was minimal at best - yet of all the tracks that that need some water to make it more exciting, this is not one of them traditionally.

Because that cloud was hovering around the track there was a queue forming at the bottom of the pitlane because no-one wanted to be caught without a time when the rain actually started. A queue that didn't help Bianchi who suffered an engine failure on the climb up the hill stopping in Masonet, so 90s into qualifying and the back row was already confirmed with Massa's car two badly damaged to take part. In the damp conditions the times and the early running order looked a little odd, as Di Resta was up front once the Marussia was cleared away. Then Gutierrez popped the Sauber into the top three, and Pic in the Caterham was inside the top 10, the only sense of normality came forth when Alonso in the only Ferrari with wheels still attached went fastest.

Somehow in the sub-optimal conditions no-one had placed the car in the wall, but the two key run-off areas were getting plenty of usage, the yellow flag indicator was flickering all session, with the majority of the field either going off at St Devote or Mirabeau. Even Rosberg and street specialist Madonado spent some time off track. But in Q1 the attention is focussed on the relegation zone, which Massa and Bianchi already out there was little room for anyone else. Interestingly, no Caterhams were currently out of the session, but that was due to Lotus still fixing Grosjean's car - once the Frenchman returned to the track he went fastest... not bad on a damp track for the first time of the weekend. When the session came to an end, Di Resta tried to make it out of relegation but his tyres were finished, which means we had a Caterham through into Q2, belonging to Giedo Van Der Garde...full points for that.

Just in case the track had dried following the first session, the cloud opened up to replenish the deficit, to make things interesting again for Q2. In a odd turn of events in an ever changing season, as McLaren were at the top of the charts in the damp, soon joined by the Lotus team, Grosjean spending what seems like the longest stint of time without hitting anything. Mercedes though were coming and setting strong times - especially in Rosbergs side of the garage as the German took Q2 pole - and another interesting development that on the drying track Giedo Van Der Garde in that Caterham was running 6th, before slowly starting to slip back as times improved. Changeable track conditions and a driver dependant track can allow a driver to out pace the speed of their car. Something that was emerging at Williams as Bottas was in the top 10, and Maldonado topped Q1 - but fell to the back of the Q2 field.

With only five minutes of the session remaining the track was dry enough for slicks, who was going make the gamble for super-softs first - it was the Caterham of Vand Der Garde capitalising on the good form after Spain... before the wheel fell off. The problem was that in the dry, the Caterham does not have the pace to keep up with the rest of the grid, despite the first dry time putting him 6th. Hulkenberg made immediate strides to take 6th away from the Dutchman, while Vergne went 3rd... because all of the times were changing so rapidly Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton were all duelling to escape relegation. In the final seconds saw Hulkenberg fall from 6th into relegation and Grosjean went down with him. As for that Caterham - it ended up 15th ahead of Maldonado.

For the final 10 cars and the final session, there was no replenishing of the track moisture meaning it was a completely dry shoot-out for the pole position. Raikkonen opened the scoring with a relatively tentative lap, that was immediately obliterated by Hamilton in the Mercedes, who drove the lap as it if it was completely dry - without any damp patches offline. Then Red Bull went fastest, except it wasn't the German bloke this time, as Webber took the lead away from Hamilton... was on as Lewis then took that place back. The second of the Mercedes' joined the fray to steal provisional pole away his team-mate, only temporarily as Webber came back and out-paced the pair of them. Everyone staying out under the threat of that rain to come back,

Therefore there wasn't the traditional two runs with a gap in between them, this time it was continuous, with Vettel now taking pole from Webber and claiming a Red Bull 1-2. It was clear that the top four was to be decided between Mercedes and Red Bull - Kimi and Alonso arguing over who gets to be closest to the top two teams. In the colder conditions the two teams with the biggest tyre issues were leading single lap pace. All change at the front, as Hamilton overtakes both of the Blue cars to go first, claiming another pole for Mercedes, but all was not quite done yet, as there was second silver German car circulating really quickly. When Rosberg crossed the line, he had defeated his team-mate to lead the all Mercedes front row, Red Bull claimed the second row for themselves with a larger gap back to the rest of the field. Raikkonen is the best of the other cars, sharing the third row with Alonso ahead of the lead Mclaren of Sergio Perez. Sutil flies the leading flag for the mid-field teams, and the highest qualifier of those who've been in the fence. With the final row of Q3 headed by Jenson Button and finished by Jean-Eric Vergne.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

After Spain it's nice to have a session where genuine bonus points can be handed out, all it took were some difficult conditions and one of the most challenging layouts of the season, not like we're asking much or anything.

• 10pts - Giedo Van Der Garde - First escapes Q1 beating Gutierrez and Di Resta, but then beats Maldonado the specialist in Q2, very well done.
• 8pts - Romain Grosjean - To crash three times, but on his first lap back in the car with 50s of Q1 left and go fastest in the damp, that's impressive
• 6pts - Adrian Sutil -  Lead midfield car, and lead damaged car from FP3 not bad really
• 5pts - Jean Eric Vergne - Great lap at the end of Q2, and a strong overall qualifying position
• 4pts - Nico Rosberg - Pole at Monaco gets points
• 3pts - Charles Pic - Also managed to out-qualify a mid-field car of Gutierrez
• 2pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Leads the battle of the tyre conserving teams
• 1pt - Felipe Massa - For having a most confusing accident this morning

Looking to Tomorrow 

The next 24hrs is the biggest day on the motor-racing calender, both the Monaco GP and the epic Indy 500 on the same day is a mesmerising prospect, both events are iconic races based on unpredictability, spectacle and grandeur. In Monaco we have the pair of Mercedes out front, in fact the two teams who have been the most vocal on tyres are in the top four places, while those on faster race pace strategies queue up behind. Fortunately those that are behind are lead be Raikkonen and Alonso - two of the most skilful and precise drivers on the grid, so lowers the chance of a random lunge and the resulting accident. But others will join that queue and cascading events can develop all to quickly, a single car hitting the wall in GP2 triggered a 13 car pile-up on lap one, so things can descend into lunacy in an instant.

However outside the first corner the racing has been well behaved with very little contact, or passing, or anything - so that is the other potential option. Where the lead cars slow down and form an endless and inactive train of drivers not being able to do anything with the car in front. Hopefully it will not come to that, but Monaco has seen both possibilities take place over recent seasons, but this time there is Massa. Starting from the pit lane in what is one of the fastest cars on race pace on the grid trying to make it through this train of slowing cars, we've seen the likes of Schumacher and Alonso have the same problem and go well - so all we can do is wait and let the anticipation grow tantalisingly overnight. Until tomorrow this is farewell from me here at blog HQ

Round 6: Monaco 2013 - Preview

Greetings Internet,

That time of the season has arrived, one of the highest anticipated weekends in all of motor-racing has arrived, not only do we have the immensity of the Monaco GP, but there is also the Indy 500, two of the greatest events of the year, all in the same couple of days. If blog HQ was capable of being excessively excited then it would certainly be happening right about now. This race on the narrow barrier lined streets embodies everything that is both right and wrong about Formula One. On the one hand it is the ultimate example of skill, concentration and precision to thread a 700HP car between the steel fences, while at the same time trying to extract maximum speed and maintain position. But while at the same time Monaco is the epitome of grotesque exuberance, a street track can be a challenging venue without all the superficiality and soul destroying opulence the residents jump on the bandwagon to flaunt in front of the world. Australia for example has a myriad of street races, a lot of them on arguably more raceable layouts, promoting some fantastic events, none of them weighed down by the attention grabbing artificial excuses for humanity lazing on their yachts in the harbour or loitering on balconies...

Aside from that rant, there has been only one other complaint that has been taking over the news in the sport is tyres... after Spain there have been lots of polarised opinions. It all seems like a kneejerk reaction to be demanding changes to the compounds - the construction perhaps to prevent delaminations - but to the overall tyre performance I think not. The thing is, if they were hardened as Red Bull are insisting than the hierarchy of performance will be being defined by politics and Pirelli and the FIA bending to the whim of whoever shouts loudest. That is not how things should be, tyres are tyres, yes they may not meet with the ideals of various teams, but that is a function of how your car is designed, look at Lotus and Ferrari - are they having problems on the same compounds... nope. Even Mercedes, the owners of the car that ruins its tyres the most have stated that it is up to them to find a cure, not lobby until the rules are changed in their favour and compromise everyone else. In the end the moral of the story is that Red Bull can stop whining and man up, and fix their car instead of throwing a tantrum because they haven't won everything. Besides we've only had 5 races, two of which featured high degradation, two have been rain affected weekends so people can shut up and get on with things.

The Track

Despite all of the irritations about the setting of this race, and all the cursed people that crawl out of the woodwork once a camera arrives in the vicinity, Monaco is a very special event. One of the few races that inspires excitement long before the season even starts - it is a landmark event presenting a very unique challenge - even among other street circuits around the world, only Pau in France bears any similarity. Who'd have thought some winding roads on the Mediterranean coastline would be an ideal place for a race, yet somehow, with all the improbably awkward corners and clumsy chicanes it still works. Maybe because we've been used to this race for so long now, it Monaco parachuted onto the calendar without the tradition it represents, would we be so tolerant - hell yes. Each bump and turn has character and has virtually gained fame in it's own right, the amount of cars that have fired into the wall out of the tunnel due to the bump there is only one example.

The lap starts at St Devote, a corner that has been opened up with the removal of the inside barrier several years ago to re-profile the pit exit, not that has made too much difference because everyone ends up in the fence on the outside. It was Grosjean in FP2 being the first victim of the armco in this very corner earlier today, after Sutil came very close to beating him to the task in FP1. After this is the climb up the hill past a raft of hideously overpriced shops and cafes, through Massonet at the top of the hill. Looping back and feeding immediately into Casino Square - where another mountainous bump sits on the exit and has been there since the dawn of time it seems causing Chilton to execute a powerslide this afternoon.

At the far side of the track it gets even more compact and technical, starting with Mirabeau a hairpin that redirects the cars back into the slowest corner in the entire year - so tight a special steering rack has to be installed for this race to handle it. Anywhere else in the world the Loews Hairpin would be rejected for being mad or stupid but here it works, like the Melko Hairpin at Macau which is so narrow it is permanently under yellow flag conditions. Yet it is in this sequence Schumacher and Wurtz duelled side by side in 98 - which ultimately resulted in the Austrian exiting the tunnel with no front wheels - turns out Schumacher does not like being passed.

The tunnel is an iconic feature on a track which is basically a string of iconic features strung together seamlessly, it has seen many drivers visiting the outside wall after getting on the marbles offline - including Massa in a Ferrari, in that season where he and Hamilton were not friends; and Alonso in he Renault trying to lap Ralf Schumacher in the tunnel. The bump on the exit of the tunnel has been removed which saw Rosberg and more significantly Perez crash out in 2011, leaving a smoother descent into the Nouvelle Chicane - which isn't so new any more. It does remain one of the few remote chances for overtaking on this narrow layout.

Sector three is highlighted by its first two corners, Tabac and the first part of the swimming pool which are quite quick considering this is the slowest track of the year, both of which have seen significant shunts over recent seasons. Petrov bringing out the Red Flag in 2011, Fisichella being upside down in 2005 and Rosberg demolishing a Williams in 2008 - also Grosjean climbing the barrier in a GP2 support race. Illustrating that madness is never too far away when the walls are so close.

What to expect

Bluntly anything and everything - followed by madness, unpredictability and chaos - all of these things are the recipe for one of the greatest races of the season, and after not too much happened in Spain this could be very exciting and entertaining. Also because practice is on Thursday in Monaco we already have an insight into the running order and potential relative pace a little earlier and from that information it looks very promising.

Mercedes are quick, and look like they could be strong contender for the pole or even for another front row lock out, with Rosberg being the faster of the pairing so far. Yet Ferrari and Lotus are doing well at the sharp end of the timings, and on top of that they have more consistent race pace - especially judging by the times Raikkonen set in FP2, after Grosjean knocked a wheel off in turn one. But where are Red Bull and McLaren, and the answer is no-where in immediate contention  - both are in the top ten but off in terms of pace in comparison to the Mercedes' out front. This places them at risk of losing places to the mid-field teams once more lead by Force India, and interestingly the street specialist Pastor Maldonado. The middle of the pack becomes so much more important in the lead battle here in Monaco because if they run long and get out of position they could get in the way as passing is such a challenge.

With the top two divisions in a state of fusion on the streets, the lower end of the field could benefit from any madness going on ahead - especially if the entire grid is trapped behind a Mercedes freight train. Long queues of cars, on a narrow difficult track is the recipe for the 'Perfect Storm' which leads to collisions and safety cars, we haven't had one in 2013 so far - Monaco has a tendency to break that streak. Something that can play directly into the hands of Caterham and Marussia, where they could steal a point from the jaws of insanity, and Monaco is the very breeding ground for the right kind of madness for a brilliant Sunday afternoon. So until the weekend, this is farewell from blog HQ.

Round 5: Spain 2013 - Review

Greetings Internet,

It is times like this when we seriously question whether it was worth postponing this race by that odd three week interval between this race and the weekend out in the middle the desert. Spain has not necessarily inspired the aspirations of the supporters  - except those who turned up to circuit today, they arrived full of hope and excitement and left potentially even happier. But back here on the sofa of neutrality and impartiality at Blog HQ's first outside broadcast of the season, which in a surreal turn of events lead to placing trains across the eastern seaboard of America. Considering the race weekend actually started with me solving crimes in front of an audience (I know the idea of an audience is rather mythical round these parts), and actually getting lines in their right place for once. Anyway back to today, and the amount of deviations this post has taken already kind of sums up how intense this race turned out to be, a demonstration of strategy and tyre conservation instead of any continuous action. Yet in contrast to previous races, well for anyone who wasn't driving a Mercedes, the tyres didn't have quite the same overpowering impact on relative position. Because instead of it being a temperature issue like in Bahrain, it was due to the excessive loading in long corners around the track.

Today's race will not go down in the annuls as some instantly memorable classic full of close lap after lap battling, the fact that for the final phase of the race all the top runners had at least 10s between each other. No amount of artificial DRS and self destructing tyres can sort that sort of thing out. In a sense this is the impact of running on a track which has seen thousands of testing miles in pre-season, therefore everyone knew how to get their cars to the line in the shortest time possible, involving the very minimal amount of resistance to overtaking along the way.

The Race...

In theory, this race had all the potential hallmarks of defying the theory of the Spanish GP being a little lacklustre in entertainment terms, because the cars at the front were on course for a very challenging day. This should lead to a lot of congestion and, where there is congestion there is unpredictability - a similar thing took place in Abu Dhabi when a large train of cars accumulated we ended up with a safety car intervention and some broken cars. Catalunya does not have the same intrinsic characteristics of the Yas Marina. So that set of circumstances would be more than unlikely...

Once the lights went out at the start of the race the initial getaway seemed even, yet it was those people who have Ferraris making a better start of things, a long with Vettel who passed Hamilton in turn one - it wouldn't be the first car to go past lewis today. As the field came up through the opening sequence, Alonso appeared to be the only person who saw the GP2 race on Saturday and went round the outside of turn three, passing both Raikkonen and Hamilton. Other than this, everyone was well behaved - Bianchi damaged a nose towards the back but no-one is saying how or against who at this point in time.   Speaking of having a dire start to the race, Jenson was starting his day rather badly dropping down to 17th, only two cars behind him that did not belong to the bottom teams...

Further forward Massa was marching to the front, passing Perez on the main straight - before DRS was put into place. This was helped by the fact that Rosberg in the lead was not getting away from anyone, and in fact was starting to build the inevitable train from the get go - Vettel and Alonso were trapped, along with Hamilton and Raikkonen as the top five broke away. But in the opening phase of the race Hamilton started to drop back, haemorrhaging speed and was unable to defend from an attack from Raikkonen into turn 10. Massa was next up to pass the struggling Mercedes and it was turn 10 again - except Felipe went round the outside of the corner... it was the beginning of a very, very challenging day for Lewis.

At lap seven the pit stops began initiated by Mark Webber in the Red Bull, back here (or there as it was an outside broadcast) it was expected that the Mercedes would be in first given their history of tyre consumption. But in the Red Bull camp it is traditionally Webber who is harder on his tyres and this season is punishing for it. It was in the pits during this round of stops where things stopped making a lot of sense - Maldonado seemed to forget precisely where is, almost pitting in the wrong garage to start off with and managing to speed in the lane in the process. Force India were having more difficulties in pitting cars, spending ages on Sutil's car, dropping him well back down the grid. To complete the trifecta of pit lane issues, Romain Grosjean appeared with a very misaligned rear wheel after a suspension failure. Which for once was not due to him hitting anyone or anything...

During the round of stops a rather interesting development had arisen - Esteban Gutierrez was in the lead of the race, by staying out, and Alonso had managed to get his Ferrari in between Rosberg and Vettel, making an attempt at the lead through turn three but it didn't work out. However this was merely delaying the inevitable because a couple of laps later the entire of Barcelona erupted into a cauldron of noise when Fernando drove around the outside of Rosberg on the main straight. This opened the floodgates as both Vettel and Massa went by - it being the second Mercedes Felipe has passed round the outside of turn 10. At this point the race entered one of the many periods of inactivity where everyone seemed happy to stay where they were. Even Gutierrez got out of the way, pitting before Alonso and the field caught up with the Sauber out front. Life was so average that even Van Der Garde's rear wheel departed company from the chassis, fleeing on the exit of turn 11. The Caterham was dragged round to the garage, because four wheels is too mainstream, but the damage to the floor was too severe to continue in the race for the division three leader.

Lewis Hamilton was having a really bad day, being passed by all kinds of people, in the space of two laps he'd been passed on track by four cars - and that included a pit-stop, the final straw coming when Pastor Maldonado made it through in turn 10. Which lead to one of the many unhappy radio messages that were send back to Mercedes, complaining that he couldn't go any slower to conserve tyres and did not enjoy being passed by a Williams, especially considering their current car speed. Overall there were a lot of displeased messages, from a lot of drivers - not too happy with being forced towards a four stop strategy. As for Hamilton, being outside the points and being on the verge of being a lap down from second on the grid was definately not in the plans for the day.

Out of nowhere, a wild battle appeared - we'd almost forgotten what one looked like - and it was Raikkonen on Vettel for second place. Kimi spent several laps behind the Red Bull being considerably quicker in the corners but had enough on traction to make ground and escape in the DRS zone - most of the time. Raikkonen made a first attempt outside of turn 10 but was forced wide. Kimi doesn't really do being beaten in a battle and made a late dive down into the first corner after the DRS wasn't strong enough. In free air the Lotus made significant ground towards Massa ahead. The most entertaining part of this battle was that Jules Bianchi, having just been lapped was running faster lap times than Vettel and was effectively held up by the Red Bull on the track. Because that battle was completed we needed some more action, and the track wasn't proving that we look back at the pit lane where Nico Hulkenberg was released into the back of Jean-Eric Vergne's Torro Rosso - which Nico was handed a 10 second stop and go penalty dropping adding him to the small number of cars behind Hamilton. That list was added to mere laps later when Vergne suffered a complete tyre delamination on the exit of turn three, identical to the one Di Resta suffered in FP2, and eventually sending the Frenchman into retirement.

With the main contenders a considerable distance apart, even changes in strategy was not going to impact anyone inside the top five, Alonso was on a different planet in the lead from Raikkonen and Massa. Red Bull were fourth and fifth. Seemingly the only two cars on the grid that were close to another were the Mercedes team, and surprisingly neither of them were doing the attacking... Interestingly both were under attack from Force India cars - Rosberg had Di Resta for company and Hamilton was under pressure from Sutil whose race was compromised by the poor first stop. The odd thing about both these battles is that the Force India's were unable to make any impression on the cars in front of them - despite having the benefit of DRS and KERs. While nothing was happening there, Button was able to see Perez in his mirrors at the bottom end of the points positions - on reflection of Bahrain - a precautionary message was sent out reminding them to be gentle this time and not smash the cars up too much. So in response they didn't, in fact they didn't do anything, why was no body doing anything... and retained position, probably not out of intention however.

And that was roughly about it - even the late battle for the final point between Ricciardo and Gutierrez came to nothing. Alonso was able to cruise home to take a popular home win for Ferrari, winning both of the last two race in the country, though the last one was in Valencia. Raikkonen completed another podium position and closed up the gap to the championship lead. Massa picked up his podium of the season, making it a double podium for Ferrari. Vettel and Webber scored more solid constructors points for Red Bull in 4th and 5th, somehow in the realm of massive tyre degradation Nico Rosberg did better than the same predicament in Bahrain and came home in 6th, marginally ahead of Di Resta. The two McLarens spent the last few laps without knocking panels off each other and finished intact, with Button leading Perez. At the bottom of the points Ricciardo held onto 10th place because like so many other battles in the final phase of the race, Gutierrez could not make any impression and steal the first rookie point of 2013.... Speaking of points..

The Bonus Points Championship points winners

This bonus points championship was originally constructed to award points for those drivers who do something exciting and other assorted arbitrary reasons... something that might not be an accurate definition for today. But it is in races like this where gains in the championship can be made for the most mediocre differences between competitors.

• 25pts - Jules Bianchi - For being legitimately faster than the current champion in on of the fastest cars and being held up in the process
• 18pts - Felipe Massa - From 9th to a podium, that deserves points - and two outside passes on Mercedes' in turn 10.
• 15pts - Nico Rosberg - Managed to stay in the point, and having his driving style for saving tyres passed onto his dwindling team-mate.
• 12pts - Esteban Gutrierrez - Almost managed to score the first point for a rookie in 2013, and he actually lead the race for several laps in the opening stint.
• 10pts - Fernando Alonso - A double outside pass on the opening lap and some dominate speed throughout the race.
• 8pts - Paul Di Resta - Another strong albeit under the radar performance in the Force India
• 6pts - Jenson Button - For a decent comeback from 17th on the first lap to score some points
• 4pts - John and Mary - For hosting another successful outside broadcast, and food, sugary food.
• 2pts - Jean-Eric Vergne - For not planting it in the wall when the tyre delaminated
• 1pt - Lewis Hamilton - Gets a sympathy point for a dire race

The Penalties Championship

It's hard to think that after such as rather uneventful race there would be anything to hand out penalties for, only Bianchi is reported to have hit anything and the only yellow flag was for Grosjean hobbling off track with the suspension failure. But penalties there were, all for pit lane issues...

• Nico Hulkenberg - 10s Stop and Go - For hitting Vergne in the pit lane
• Pastor Maldonado - Drive through penalty - For speeding in the pit lane
• Caterham - 10,000 EUR fine - For not putting Van Der Garde's wheel on properly in the pit lane

Looking Ahead to Monaco

Well if a Spanish GP doesn't create that level of anticipation then the Monaco GP certainly does, always conveying something special and instantly converts people sitting on their sofas into children gain. Though at blog HQ there is not too much of a conversion to make. This race represents everything that is good and bad about the sport, it has the tradition of being involved in the championship for decades. It doesn't have those over-protective tarmac run-off areas and acres of space to run wide and rejoin having gained an advantage in the process. In Monaco there are lots of metal barriers and absolutely no space for errors or forgiveness, a missed apex by a little too much and the walls are waiting to take off wheels and wings in return. It takes away the artificiality of the DRS because it is virtually useless and makes overtaking a long lost skill again, requiring ingenuity and intelligence rather than waiting for when the FIA decide a certain straight is the passing area. 

Of course on the other side of things Monaco represents the gross exuberance of the sport, where all the posh hangers on turn up just to get on tv and jump on the bandwagon - in sickening quantities. People bring their excessive yachts and mock the rest of us underfunded peasants in their perspective with their wealth and privilege. There is often that most corrupted of statements that it is the venue of the beautiful people - well frankly they can get sodded, using their obscene budget and connections to distort the balance of power and presence at the track. All the pretentious morons should be thrown into the harbour so we can have a race without them trying to hijack the airtime for their own selfish intentions. But that is a rant for another weekend in a fortnight's time. Until then is it farewell from Blog HQ.

Round 5: Spain 2013 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet,

So we waited, waited so long over the three week interval before this weekend - eager to see what monumental gains the teams would have made. The potential for a complete restructuring of the grid, teams that spent those four fly away races off the pace hoping for a comeback, and to resurrect their season's prospects... But what did we end up with when the cars actually took to track this afternoon - very little change at all - the generic running order remained the same up and down the field, even down to the projected disparity between race and qualifying pace is expected to identical to how it was in all that time ago out in the desert in Bahrain. However if the race turns out to be similar to that then we are in for a bit of a treat tomorrow afternoon, because it was quite entertaining. If the GP2 race is to go by things are going to be rather fun, with cars sailing through the air and generally biffing each other about - less so in GP3 though which was a little bland...

Today we saw a similar story at the front of the grid to the one we've had for a couple of races now, and in some respects that will make the race tomorrow more interesting, because in race trim I can foresee some cars getting in the way of the field. Speaking of cars being in the way, everyone seemed to have a little difficulty re-adjusting to a traditional style European circuit and there were some issues on track with blocking during today's session - one of which falling to everyone's favourite rookie and another from a supposedly more experienced pilot. So while they were penalised, Ferrari, Red Bull, and Lotus were the favourites coming into the start of qualifying based on practice times, but at the end there was to be an addition to that list...

Qualifying

Three weeks later, and as we opened up the first qualifying session of the 2013 European season and it was like we never left, because the teams had arrived without any form of intensity and desire to go straight out on track. I hoped that perhaps people might want to head out show off the updates and new pieces but apparently not, probably because they we're not really that effective. Eventually it was the two Saubers that ventured out followed by the Torro Rosso's - but their times were eclipsed when Lotus came out with Raikkonen. For a while Kimi was out front by a safe margin on the harder tyres, but it was Ferrari took possession of the Q1- but only just, by 0.08s. Yet as the session drew towards the conclusion - Hamilton pulled a lap out of nowhere to finish the first session out front.

Down in the all important world of relegation in Q1 it was the usual suspects arguing over the back rows of the grid, and since the updates both Marussia and Caterham were on identical pace, which put an end to the Bianchi dominance. Pic lead the group for a while, and Jules was actually last - albeit temporarily. At the end of the session it was the surprisingly strong effort from Gierdo Van Der Garde who beat Bianchi took pole of the lower division. Continuing their poor form were Williams as both cars ended up in relegation just failing to beat Gutierrez's Sauber.

Off into Q2, and Sauber were out once more on track first, and Hulkenberg set the early pace from Gutierrez who was now under investigation for blocking Raikkonen in Q1, and it is convenient how often some patterns emerge, as it was the Finn who demolished the times to go fastest again. All off the major contenders started to populate the top end of the timings, while Sauber still had both cars in the promotion places. This meant that the relegation zone was rather intensely populated, including both struggling McLarens and the Force Indias who had been very competitive before our extended break. Then we had our second substantial blocking issue of the day as Webber got caught up behind Felipe Massa in the middle of the final sector - and the Ferrari was slowing on the inside apex and decided the racing line was the place to be.

With a limited amount of time remaining those cars presently languishing in the relegation zone needed to make progress and this started with Force India - both Sutil and Di Resta were able to break into the top 10 - Paul doing the better job. Because positions were changing quite a lot this jump was far from secure as the Torro Rosso's broke into the top ten therefore bumping Hamilton out into relegation - but Lewis wasn't going to stay there too much longer. The Mercedes driver unleashed an immense time to knock 0.6s off the top time - and thus one of the Torro Rosso's was returned to relegation, the second one was removed when Perez got a slow McLaren out of relegation. Things were not as successful on the other side of the garage as Button could only manage 14th and is slowly running about parts of the car to complain about and use as an excuse.

Only ten cars left into Q3, all drivers coming from the top teams with the exception of the Force India of Di Resta replacing a second McLaren. Five of those drivers opted to go out for two runs and left the garage in the early part of the session - Ferrari, Lotus and Rosberg setting the opening times. On the practice times and perceived form - Ferrari were listed at the favourites from Lotus, but here in the real world perceptions don't matter too much because Nico Rosberg went fastest of the five early runners. Alonso and Massa 0.001s apart were 2nd and 3rd ahead of Lotus heading into the mid session interval for new tyres and a little break.

As the second runs began Vettel and Raikkonen were the first two to leave the pits, with only ten cars on track it is odd that everyone wanted to be on the same piece of road as the remainder left the pits together. Both Kimi and Vettel produced sector times quicker than Nico, but by the time the final time came round the advantage had vanished and Rosberg stayed first - and even managed to eke out a little more time on the rest of the field. No-one could match the time the Mercedes had in qualifying trim, but we have two Mercedes' around and Hamilton also had a lot of pace but couldn't beat his team-mate only managing 2nd place, and a Mercedes front row lockout. Vettel and Raikkonen occupy the next row, the Ferrari's who were favourites only find themselves on row three, before Massa's penalty is applied. Another all Renault row with Grosjean and Webber 7th and 8th ahead of Perez and Di Resta rounding out the top 10.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Well, well, well after three weeks of not too much going on this opening session was a little sedated, perhaps waiting for tomorrow to go a little mental, yet there were some good performances worth noting with some important bonus points..

• 10pts - Nico Rosberg - After Hamilton was quick through qualifying to find the pace right when it really mattered in Q3.
• 8pts - Giedo Van Der Garde - After being brought in as a pay driver to be winning the entire lower division today earns points
• 6pts - Sergio Perez - Very strong lap in Q2 to drag a poor McLaren into the top ten for Q3
• 5pts - Paul Di Resta - The only mid-field car in the top ten and staying ahead of the supposedly faster Sutil.
• 4pts - Lewis Hamilton - There is a lot of qualifying pace in that Mercedes 
• 3pts - Tom Dillman - For having the most eventful race in GP2 and still almost made the podium
• 2pts - Felipe Massa  - For being 0.001s away from Fernando on home turf on the first Q3 run
• 1pt - Eddie Jordan  - For simply being mental

The Penalties Championship

Two penalties were added to the scoreboard today, both for impeding other cars on track in the first two phases of qualifying:

• Esteban Gutierrez - For blocking Raikkonen in the final chicane
• Felipe Massa - For Blocking Webber in turn 12

Looking to Tomorrow

The Spanish GP has not been a hive of activity in recent years - or the majority of years, due in part to the flowing nature of the track preventing cars running close enough to each other, and that as a testing facility the fastest cars are naturally at the front. As a result almost every race here has been won fron the front row, and things have been a little sedated throughout the races, however this time things are a little different. Indeed we have the fastest cars on the front row, but that is only in affect on single lap pace, as we saw in Bahrain. Mercedes will likely fade due to excessive tyre wear making them very vulnerable to everyone else behind them - Ferrari and Lotus have the stronger race pace so over the actual race distance a front row winner is unlikely. Additionally with the front two cars falling back there will inevitably be some congestion along the way, and congestion leads to unpredictability. It cost  Markus Ericsson a victory in GP2 with a crash at the chicane. 

We also have dual DRS zones, the second of which may not be too successful as it relies on cars staying close through Campsa and in the era of high downforce this is unlikely - but on the main straight there is plenty of space for overtaking. Add the unpredicable tyres to that list and the 2013 Spanish GP could be a considerable improvement on it's predecessor, unless of course you are Maldonado... because it is a tale of opposites in that part of the pitlane. So until tomorrow this is farewell from Blog HQ

Round 5: Spain 2013 - Preview

Greetings Internet,

It has been a while hasn't it - at the end of another one of these oddly placed three week hiatus' the second of which we have faced this season - it does seem like the calender has been hashed together in some drunken state leaving plenty of space to recover from a metaphorical racing hangover. Fortunately in this recent void of inactivity, there has been plenty of alternate series to provide more than enough entertainment with BTCC and the V8 Supercars being at the top that particular list. Back in the world of Formula One things have been a little on the quiet side - everyone keeping their developmental plans to themselves before the start of the very important European season. This is the part of the season where the raft of upgrades start to make their appearance, updates that exist to correct early season performance droughts. A problem that both Williams and McLaren will be looking forward to, because the first four races have not been a flood of points and success in those particular garages.

But there is another more disappointing development here a Blog HQ - because the FIA are up to something, a devious plan that verges dangerously close to theft of my theoretical intellectual property - that is of course if anything round here counts as being intellectual. Because they are considering introducing a penalty points system - handing them out for certain infractions over the course of a race weekend.... something that I have been running at HQ for the past three seasons. Some of the offences which incur points include: Causing a collision - 2pts, Ignoring a blue flag - 2pts,   corner cutting - 1pt, and 3pts for a dangerous collision (or a Grosjean penalty) Upon reaching 12 penalty points a driver will be enforced with a single race ban. Anyway these systems are merely a theory, seven of the team principles have agreed to the procedure, and we shall see where this concept leads.

The Track

All other matters aside this is the run up to the Spanish GP, the traditional starting point for the European season, ever since we stopped going to Imola all those years ago - because this is a perennial testing facility Barcelona is well known among teams and drivers alike. Which as a result means everyone will have a setup tuned to the track and supported by the new parts and pieces brought along for good measure. As a result this will be one of the races of the season, where speed and results will be dominated by car speed rather than driver ability, a reality which will is reinforced by the nature and topology of the Barcelona Circuit. It's position on the calendar was planned in being alternated with the harbour with some lines on it we call the Valencia Street circuit, but that seems to have been completely neglected and thus we might be spared from it for a long time.

Before the addition of that painful final chicane was added, the Spanish circuit was a flowing epitome of European circuit design, where the corners exist for the sake of being corners rather than some contorted ideal swept off a designer's desk. The opening sequence is among the best we've seen at the point in the season (but in reality it is only competing with Australia - the others are poor) - an ascending chicane that continually tempts driver to carry that little bit too much speed through the apex. Trying not to compromise the line on the approach to the full speed flat turn three. Across the remainder of the opening sector the corners, just seem to appear roughly where you expect them to be, in the right place. Where the camber of the track follows the apexes and holds the car in place.

One of the highlights of the lap is the blind apex at the top of the hill through Campsa, a corner that has seen several cars fire off into the scenery - most memorably in recent years Heikki Kovalainen ending up under the tyre barrier after a tyre failure of his own at turn in. This turn sets up drivers before one of the primary overtaking zones at La Caixa - a corner that has occasionally been named as 'Curva Dry Sac'... which frankly sounds painful and like an unfortunate symptom. It is here where one of the dual DRS zones on the track, the other being on the main straight, it that is really the only other place to put it on the layout. The final sector of the lap has been a little compromised by the addition of the chicane which removed the high speed double apexed finale to the lap, with the dream of making cars closer when travelling down the main straight... the curse of track manipulation was not spared in Barcelona.

What to Expect

Team performance will dominate proceedings in most cases, so it is likely that teams will have cars in close proximity to each other especially by the end of qualifying on Saturday. A phenomena which is likely to be more prominent in the better designed cars, where the influence of the engineers and mechanics is more powerful than the extra edge a driver can bring to the table. So Red Bull are likely to be running both cars towards the front - perhaps even looking at a front row lockout, behind them there is the likelihood of Ferrari and Lotus being not too far behind. Where this places McLaren and Mercedes in the grand scheme of things is completely unknown - especially considering the updates everyone is bringing could rearrange that order comprehensively. For example Caterham gained over half a second from updates in Bahrain - granted they have a lot more time to find - but if they can make those gains who knows what is possible with a much larger budget.

But in the middle of the park there are some other gains to be made, especially for Williams and Torro Rosso who aside from China have been trading places in the relegation zone in the majority of the qualifying sessions so far. Aiming to catch up with the division leaders Sauber and more importantly Force India who came so close to taking the first podium since Fisichella in Spa 2009 last race all those weeks ago. The thing is that it is a moving goal post - finding a couple of tenths may close the gap down a little, but the team in front is trying to do precisely the same thing and will move further away at the same time. In a sense the entire grid will end up progressing forward and the status quo will remain unless someone can make a larger jump.

At the back of the grid there is less competition since HRT went missing, leaving us with only two teams in the picture, both Marussia and Caterham have made improvements - which got Pic in front of Bianchi last race. Both of the green cars will have the updates this weekend allowing Van Der Garde to attack his opposite number - Max Chilton. However I doubt Marussia will turn up to the start of the fast paced development race without a couple of upgrades of their own, and handing some extra speed to Bianchi should make the bottom end of the mid-field very scared indeed.

This race contains more intrigue than merely a series of laps on a Sunday afternoon, the process of sculpting the order for the rest of the season starts at this point in the year, this is the point where updates and developments define the hierarchy. The pre-season and opening races are a precursor to the European season, setting the base line for the events to follow, even as the concept of a series based on the home continent is dissolving in favour of a much wider ranging championship, this phase of the year remains incredibly important. So until Saturday this is farewell from me here at Blog HQ.