Round 17: Abu-Dhabi 2013 - Preview

Greetings Internet,

Well this is the first race since the championship was all wrapped up last week in India, and we come to another monolithic facility built in the middle of nowhere with huge piles of money funding the project. Back when the Yas Marina circuit first arrived it brought with it a strong novelty factor, big impressive buildings coated in LEDs and finished in very futuristic plastic. A race held as daylight fades into the darkness of night - all very grand, and very deceptive. As the years roll by that novelty factor starts to slowly fade away, and the actual circuit design becomes far more prevalent. Over those years the track has failed to deliver the immense spectacle that the gargantuan architecture overlooking the circuit suggests. But then 2012 was a brilliant race it had madness, safety cars and some hilarious Raikkonen team radio comments.

It was Kimi's radio again that caused some angst within the Lotus team dynamic in the final laps of the Indian GP. The official transcript has not been published from the race yet due to the short turn-around between from India to here, but there was several expletives passed back and forth. Perhaps this suggests there is a slight breakdown of communication within the Lotus team since Kimi is on the way out to Ferrari. It also comes at the end of a recent drop in form for the Finn which coincidently coincides with the decision to jump ship... yet to smooth things over Raikkonen has stated he really enjoyed his time at Lotus, I wonder how much ice cream based bribery that took..

The Track

This is yet another of those Tilke based venues featuring another excessively long straight, but all anyone remembers from the Abu Dhabi grand prix is how pretty the whole venue is, the buildings of the marina section are staggering. A hotel that crosses the circuit draped in a veil of light panels which change colour as the daylight fades - simply marvellous. But as a actual layout it leaves a lot to be desired hidden beneath all the light and shiny objects, simply because it has way too many corners, a lot of which are the same in the final sector of the lap. It is an example of a circuit where the requirement to provide a racing circuit comes in a very distant second to the visuals and trackside objects.

Despite all that the track does get off to decent start, turn one is simple and effective and can be taken with a bit of speed. Of course it does conceal the venue's most unique feature which is the underground pit lane exit - and somehow despite being introduced in 2009, hosting GT, V8 Supercar, GP2/3 and F1 in that time - no-one has crashed into the walls inside the tunnel...Back on the surface the turns 2-4 sequence is by far the highlight of the lap in terms of the layout before it funnels down into a needless chicane. In fact the reason this chicane exists is a direct result of a compromise for the trackside structures. There is very limited run-ff at the hairpin due to a massive grandstand - as this was a clean slate during construction the developers obviously voted to have this structure instead of a valid corner... oh well. On the exit lies the obligatory DRS straight which all new tracks have to have.

Several hundreds of metres later we find another corner, which happens to be another excessively sharp chicane. I understand the need to break the two straights up with something, and a chicane is probably the best solution - it just seems the designers have pinned themselves in a corner and had run out of options. At least here the run-off space goes underneath the stands which is nice feature. The chicane leads onto another long flat out blast - not quite a straight but with current downforce it may as well be. Now you'd think having played the chicane card several times already there would be something different at the end, and you'd be wrong - it's another chicane. Which reinforces the argument that there are too many corners none of which are smooth, it's all angles everywhere.

If that wasn't bad enough the rest of the lap is the pseudo street/marina section, which like the lap lulls you into a false sense of security by starting off with a sequence of gradually decreasing radii. But after that the road is forced out of it's way to account for another structural feature - the hotel. Yes it is massively impressive and looks splendid but the way it has been introduced into the layout hasn't helped at all. Then we come to the final pair of corners which are virtually identical to the ones that started the area section - just not as well executed - more repetition pah... No wonder Rosberg decided to complete the lap in the air last season rather than finish the lap... One of the problems with this race is that the circuit is bounded immediately by painted tarmac, so inevitably there is going to be a barrage of penalties for 'gaining an advantage' off the track...

The Form Guide

Well on the basis of recent race weekends we can assume that Vettel will be out front because it no longer matters about the nature of the track and the Red Bull can win on them all. So the battle now is for second place, both in the race and in the championships, Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes are still in contention for taking that place, and none of them really have a significant advantage in Abu Dhabi - last season it was Lotus who took the victory, because Vettel had a difficult race and Hamilton broke down again. There is also the potential for McLaren to get involved in this battle if their pace in India is any reflection, because the track is fairly similar being planned from the same drawing board in the same office.

It is also getting close in the middle of the pack, as Sauber, Toro Rosso and Force India are all arguing over the same position in the championship - presently Force India have that position but Sauber have a strong turn of pace having already passed Toro Rosso. All of this is not pleasant viewing for Williams who still, after 16 races, only have a single point - and that was a fluke in Hungary. Instability within the team with regards to Maldonado's funding and future are more damaging distractions as Williams hope to reverse one of their worst ever seasons in the few races have left.

At the bottom of the field there was more contact in India, Van Der Garde ran into the back of Chilton in exactly the same manner as in Japan claiming that Chilton failed to see the Caterham and moved across. That time it took Bianchi and Giedo out of the race, and in India only Van Der Garde was eliminated, either way there is definitely something going on back there and I don't think it is over.

I suppose Abu Dhabi is the ultimate example of modern F1, geared completely towards being a spectacle and a form of entertainment, and few venues look quite so spectacular as the Yas Marina track especially as the night falls over the track. It is a shame that the layout does not live up to that impossible standard - if the lap was like a European track underneath all those lights and splendour it would be amazing. But we shall have to make do.

Is F1 Broken? Part 2: The Solution

Greetings Internet

Yesterday, for those of you who read it was a little rant based insight into why there seems to be the popular opinion that the sport has travelled a long way in the wrong direction which has lead to certain problems and design methodologies becoming more evident. We looked at why the an ongoing battle between the FIA and the teams over tyres lead to a spate of failures and some immediate back-tracking which sculpted the way that the championship turned and was handed to a certain German Bloke. There was the issues regarding KERs and DRS which were brought into place as a work-around to underlying flaws in the design requirements and that lead directly into the problems with modern circuit design. Layouts that specifically pander to the ear of DRS, put together on the simple formula of hairpin-straight-hairpin/meaningless chicane - and if we were lucky some relevant corners were tagged on the end as a distraction. All these contributing factors have caused a rift between the sport and it's supporters - several of whom have given up... again because we have been going through a period of domination. As I stated before, the results we have seen haven't been directly symptomatic of the problems within F1, but because this domination is occurring we, the audience, become more aware of the little details that seem a little off, because there is little action distracting us from them.

Now of course it is easy to demand more races in a weekend, replacing qualifying with a separate race, introducing randomised reverse grids and that sort of business. Although those sorts of measures would be fun to see, it would be detrimental to the sport as it wouldn't necessarily reward driving skill, having a greater proportion of the results determined by luck rather than anything else. There would be a massive outcry if at the final race the championship was decided by the outcome of a reverse grid situation which is out of the drivers' hands. Reverse grids exist elsewhere, in GP2/3 and in some touring car series' but in F1 - as fun as it may be - it doesn't quite fit. Therefore this second instalment will look at the smaller changes that can be made if the FIA are listening... which could make potentially key differences. Of course there may be flaws in these plans and the internet may disagree, which is what it does most of the time anyway - but I'm getting on with it anyway.

Tyres

First of I recommend continuing with the tradition of using tyres, overall they are a useful component that should remain in use. But I think that the 2012 compound tyres should do well enough, because after all 2012 seemed like a reasonable enough season. However we should also keep the 2013 spec tyres (the ones that blew up) on the roster because they behaved slightly differently, now this seems like a lot of tyres to have around - which is expensive to produce...

So here's the plan, the team can pick any two different dry tyre compounds they want for any given weekend, provided the decision is made up to a fortnight - (or any other reasonable period of time) -  before the event starts, so only the right number of tyres are manufactured. Pirelli no longer get to decide which tyres go to each event, it is up to the individual teams based on their car. Compounds will be standardised as they are now so that no one team ends up with bespoke tyres. To prevent the teams from picking a qualifying and a race tyre, both compounds will still need to be used during the race, and each compound must be ran for at least 10% of the race distance  - e.g. 6 laps in India, to avoid lap 1 or 2 pitstops. Furthermore the idea of starting on the tyre last qualified on is binned, no more of that, the race is a separate event - but we'll come to qualifying procedures later. The same amount of tyre sets is to be provided per race, where the softer of the two selected compounds is designated as the 'option' tyre, and of course wet and intermediate tyres remain as standard.

KERs and DRS

To start with DRS... gone, we don't need that and forcing overtaking in one part of the track is silly, yes it was a nice novelty, but we've all out-grown it now and something better should be put in place. There was the idea of just opening up the system to continuous usage, whenever the driver felt comfortable - but that wouldn't help as both the chasing and the defending driver would have the device and nullify the advantage. Potentially some hideously complicated system based on proximity sensing would be helpful - such that the DRS wing is closed once the car is alongside the one it is attacking to that it doesn't build a complete pass. But something like that would never work and would constantly break, so out with it altogether.

That brings me to KERs, and frankly that can stay because it can be used anywhere, in attack or defence making it much more versatile than DRS. But as we are having a bit of an overhaul here there are a few changes - firstly we need more KERs power - which we are getting in 2014 - but the amount available per lap needs to be dependant on the lap. Having 6 seconds in Austria and Belgium seems imbalanced - but varying the KERs output may be technically more difficult than it appears, due to battery capacity and discharge rates. It would also be nice to change the way power is delivered from the KERs unit - presently it only works on acceleration out of slow corners, as it is to be a replacement for DRS as a universal device I would prefer KERs to be be useful at the beginning, middle and ends of straights. Of course time limits would prevent all three in the same lap.

Qualifying

There is very little that needs doing to modify qualifying as it is at the moment, the three sessions force more track activity then there used to be in the bygone days of a single 1hr session and then the subsequent failed format changes. But there is one slight change that would incentivise drivers to push for ultimate pace, especially in the final part of the session. What I've come up with is simple - points - not too many as to make it overly influential on the championship but something worth aiming for, and because there is free tyre selection on raceday there is no real strategic advantage to not going out. Of course cars would still save tyres on Saturday for Sunday but it should reduce the advantage. I suggest that points should be on offer for the top three after Q3 (3-2-1) - this has been passed around the internet before, and the prevailing argument is that no-one wants to see the championship won on a Saturday, but how much worse is that outcome than winning it three race in advance...

Overall Car Design

We are already in the midst of a significant regulation overhaul with a specific focus on engines for 2014, and I think - along with many other people - that the power of the current breed of F1 cars it has gone in the wrong direction. F1 needs more power with turbo - it may have been years before my time - but cars used to be able to output over 1,000 horsepower, which is a brilliant idea, the power needs to be greater than the achievable grip levels thus making the cars more difficult to control. It could easily be argued that such power is not sustainable in the current energy climate, which is a very valid point, which is why F1 needs to move onto Bio-ethanol as a fuel source, which increases the road-relevance of the series and asks the teams to develop ethanol technologies which can be reused.

Then there is the problem of aerodynamic disturbance, this is much harder to solve, because wings and aero efficiency make F1 what it is always has been and is intrinsic to the sport. Hopefully the extra power could overcome some of this but it will always exist - one solution is to increase the amount of ground-effect based downforce. Where the air is filtered underneath the car instead of flowing so much over the surface of the car - probably, it's something you'd have to ask Adrian Newey about. It used to be prevailent in the days when cars did have huge amounts of power... so maybe there is something to a possible resurgence.

Customer Cars

This debate has reared it's head again recently, and has also been condemned from various different view points - the main reason being it eliminates the point of being a constructor if you can just buy a pre-built car from a top team which is faster than building one yourself. This is a very valid point, if Marussia went and bought a pair of Red Bulls they'd get a free pass to beat the mid-field even if they can't afford to update and develop the chassis. Customer cars used to be a thing not too long ago - Toro Rosso used hand-me-down Red Bulls (before they were dominant) and Super Aguri used recycled Hondas and then beat the factory team (they would been given major bonus points at the time).

So does this mean that the idea should be thrown out completely, I think not - mainly because I'd love to see grids of 30 cars lining up at the start of the race. But it would take careful implementation to get working properly, such that a poor team with a customer car is behind constructor teams, and a better suited outfit could be further up the field. The balance would have to be found in exactly how much of a car can be sold to a smaller team. In my grand overhaul it would be the very basic package - not race ready - without engine or transmission systems. You get a chassis with generic suspension and no aero parts (wings, bargeboards, diffuser etc), all this needs to be developed by a team to warrant it being on the grid. The team would also not have access to factory upgrades or new parts from the constructor team. The only thing a customer team gets is a starting block - not a completed entry because F1 is not a spec series and it opens the door for new engineers and designers to join a customer team as an entry into the sport.

Track Design

Of course digging up these multi-billion pound circuits littered all over the world is not a feasible solution and re-designing them may not specifically help, but a removal of the obligatory massive straights into hairpins as a core design methodology would help. It ideally would reduce the amount of cloned tracks joining the season as it expands into new markets. But there are some modifications that can be done to existing tracks to enforce new behaviours within driving standards. The big change is to ensure that tarmac run-off areas are not merely separated by a white line at the edge of the track - something needs to be in the way to stop this 'running off track and gaining an advantage nonsense'. Bring in some grass, such that running off course will slow a car down, and in theory it should reduce the amount of incidents of drivers pushing each other off the side of the track. The tarmac needs to stay to allow cars to rejoin but it should cost them time and potentially positions for making a mistake, but in a reduced capacity.

Over time this may redress the almost complacent driving standards culture we have at the moment where they all believe they have immunity from their actions without fear of any consequences.


 Back to reality...

There are changes afoot for 2014, mostly with the power delivery format in terms of KERs and engine capacity, but the chances of ever seeing any of this come to fruition is minimal at best - never mind seeing if they would have some form of worthwhile impact. So we shall have to get used to what we have and the changes that coming. But it is worth knowing that there are a myriad of potential solutions that could help us realise that in reality F1 is not broken, merely lost it's way a little.

Is F1 Broken? - Part 1: The problem.

Greetings Internet,

Following the rumblings and complaints bouncing round the internet, and the severe track-side animosity it appears that there is a significant degree of displeasure about how this season in particular has turned out. When you look at what has taken place over the course of the 16 races it took to decide the title, there have been a systematic series of failures, miscommunication and controversies acting to undermine what has been achieved in that period of time. Some of these were set in motion several years ago and without proper maintenance have slowly degenerated to the point we've come to now, ideas and concepts that were brought about from the last time the world thought F1 was broken. The problem is that all the parties with a vested interest in the sport want completely different things, which means no-one can quite agree where things need to go. Even groups of fans from different generations want different things based on the sport as it was when they started following it. 2013 seems to have been a point where all this differences of opinion and 'improvements' seem to have collided and created a mess. To make matters worse there is so much finger pointing looking to explain what has gone wrong, looking for something to blame when there is no such 'magic' solution.

All this brought so much to light because one man in a blue car can go so much faster than everyone else - this is the fourth season where this German has dominated proceedings sometimes more overtly than others. It is not reasonable to question his abilities and the engineering quality of the car he has at his disposal - however it is far more logical to question the environment that has allowed this to happen. Is it because Red Bull are the only ones who have adapted to this new incarnation of F1, and the others are just producing race cars as they always have done. At lot of moaning revolves around funding and budgets, but Ferrari and Mercedes spend more than Red Bull to - the money situation is a major problem but that is a curse that is suppressing competition from the lower end of the grid. But you could spend months and years trying to analyse precisely why of all the teams Red Bull have been so effective since the last big regulation change - once they'd caught up with Brawn GP's 2009 advantage it has been game over. So in this particular rant it is the sporting direction F1 has taken since that change, and the reasons and rationale behind them that is up for discussion.

Tyres

Since Pirelli were asked to get involved with the sport it has been insult and counter insult passed back and forth since race one. The tyre manufacturer designed the compounds to the specification they were given by the powers that be, so all the whining about excessive degradation and tyre quality was not Pirelli's fault, and even the failures were a consequence of Pirelli not being allowed to test with a current spec car under current conditions. So any problems only materialised in race conditions. But let's roll back to why these tyres were commissioned in the first place: It was noted how unpredictable the 2010 Canadian GP was due to tyre degradation on an abrasive track - and therefore the FIA wanted that amount of high wear at every race. This in turn was fuelled by the idea that the on-track racing had stagnated.

Therefore in reality instead of the root causes of the problems preventing overtaking and overall entertainment the solution was to reduce tyre life such that a car would be considerably hobbled by poor pace it could be passed. There was another problem, F1 teams are filled with rather clever people, so any time lost through tyre wear - the engineers would pull back... and so you end up with another battle with one side trying to out do the other with Pirelli stuck in the middle without the tools or opportunities to test their product. This season saw that war come to a head - weaker tyres vs cars able to extract more from them ended in lots of failures. As a result a change was forced through on safety grounds, a change which massively changed the dynamic of the championship. Red Bull became much more powerful and their two main rivals at the time Ferrari, and Lotus dropped back to Mercedes pace - leaving Vettel out on his own to rack up the wins.

The consequences are far more extensive than that Force India and Marussia were severely hampered by the change - loss of position in the constructors championship can have major financial implications for these teams. It has also redefined how the racing takes place, restricting the amount of aggression and challenging driving that can take place without the threat of ruining the tyres. Rather than chasing the car in front, everyone is told to sit back and wait until the pit-stops or a DRS window when it is easy.

DRS and KERs

Both these little widgets came into being as a legacy of the last phase of domination that Schumacher orchestrated and the years immediately following it. In 2008 aerodynamic development had gone mad - each car was bedecked with winglets and huge amounts of aero management pieces. All these gizmos created severe aero disturbances behind the car, and because a following car was so dependant on the air not being disturbed no-one could follow closely without a major pace advantage. Initially KERs was brought in with a overhaul of the amount of aero-dynamics, all designed to lower disturbances and help cars pass each other. It was a solid idea, as it could be used anywhere on track to attack, defend, or gain lap time without guaranteeing a pass. The only significant KERs influenced race was Raikkonen passing Fisichella to win the Belgian GP using the device.

Because that wasn't enough passing - DRS joined the fray. The combination designed to avoid the phenomenon known as the 'Trulli train' because the Toyota out-qualified cars but was so much slower on race day it held up a train of cars. No-one could pass and it hampered racing. Again a solid idea, but... and it is a big but... DRS has been poorly implemented. It is creating false, overly easy passing where one car is completely defenceless to another. Furthermore restricted usage means we all know when and where a pass is coming, so instead of taking a driver by surprise it is the case that a battle will wait until the DRS zone arrives and gain a free place. In other instances it is completely useless, as demonstrated by the amount of cars that tried to pass a Sauber in Korea - varying from team to team, so the FIA have created a race enhancing device that enhances some people's races more than others. Just like the situation with the tyres, it is a solution that has been put in place because of fundamental issues in the way the cars behave and interact with one another in close proximity.

The Tracks

I'm all for F1 going to these new exotic locations the likes of Abu-Dhabi, India and Singapore - but the way that new tracks have been designed and created is depressing, too many generic similarities and trying to play towards the KERs and DRS gimmicks already in place. For example the majority of these new circuits: China, Bahrain, Korea, India etc. have huge DRS straights... effectively saying 'pass me here', where is the variety. This is not long after the Hockkenheimring was altered to eliminate it's massive straights. It is very easy to blame Mr Tilke who is responsible for designing these monstrosities but, even he is working to FIA guidelines which change as seasons go on - for example there was a phase of stupid stylised corners - for example the opening corners in Sepang and Shanghai, and then over-used hairpins and chicanes: Bahrain, Abu-Dhabi and Singapore. All of which might have looked reasonable on design table but in reality fail.

Aside from the layouts there is the matter of the run-off design, acres and acres of tarmac - the principle being that if a driver goes off, they get to come back on again and not damage the car, also as a safety measure vs gravel as the car won't dig in and roll over. Huge accidents have been caused by the gravel launching a car - Zonta in the Belgium qualifying '99 is the obvious example - but it turning everything into a car park the right solution. Well no frankly. There needs to be something at the edge of the track to ensure it is more advantageous to stay on track, a while line and some paint on the other side is not going to cut it. It too has had some additional consequences - recently leading with the spate of decisions against drivers gaining an advantage and passing off track. This should not be possible - going off in general should not be an advantageous act and should not result in gaining an advantage. It has also lead to drivers taking unnecessary risks because they know they can get away with it if anything happens. Putting proper boundaries in place prevents this and makes overtaking much more skilled than it currently is... if the cars allow it.

The Regulations

Both certain technical and sporting regulations have been introduced with the best interests but have produced the opposite, some of which have then been patched with the tyres and passing gizmos to hide the underlying damage. Firstly the relationship between qualifying and the race, the newer three part qualifying process is a major improvement over the Friday pre-qualifying that was tried out and the single lap sessions of the mid 2000's - but it needs work. Forcing drivers to start on the same tyres as they completed their fastest lap on is a little silly. It hasn't been as bad of late, but there have been many cases where it becomes advantageous not to take part in Q3 - and that is wrong.

On a tecnhical note, erasing innovation seems counter-productive and placing strict limits on what engineers can do doesn't help - I can appreciate the need to reduce costs and pin back the dominance of aerodynamics lest we end up in 2008 again, but stifling creativity is not ideal. Look at Renault for example, they ran with mass-dampers in the Alonso era, exhaust blown diffusers in 2011 both of which were subsequently banned. Then there was McLaren with the F-Duct - also banned, flexible wings - also banned. Agreed some things are pushing it too far, like launch and traction control devices, but we need some diversity such that all cars are different. Of course there is the problem that complete freedom benefits the richer teams more than the poorer ones - so there is a necessity to balance parity with technical innovation.

So... is F1 broken

I think broken is such a strong description - there are definitely some problems with the way things are working, and the minor fixes (DRS, KERs and those tyres) have reaped short term benefits but a more permanent solution for the direction of the sport - less so. 2013 may have been a year of domination, which is not a problem, just a sign of the engineering and technical prowess of Red Bull and the skill of Vettel forging a perfect storm of victories. The issues run deeper than that within the fabric of the sport and were present before this season - what the winning combination has done is remove the distractions concealing what needs to be fixed. The internet and TV pundits alike have been making suggestions for a while on different topics and different problems - in the next instalment of this rant, the blog reveals it's multi-faceted series of solutions to fixing the cracks.

Round 16: India 2013 - Review

Greetings Internet,

As a certain virtual rabbit said on many occasions - that's all folks. The inevitability of what's left of this charade of a championship has finally been put to death - for several races now we all knew this was coming, victory after unchallenged victory assassinated anyone else's hopes of being anywhere close. The doors have been firmly closed on both the drivers and constructors championships, both going exactly where they were headed. But unlike last years title, won through in a dramatic recovery drive in changing and challenging conditions, this was another generic display of crushing speed and dominance. The resources and ability Vettel has at the moment and the lack of competition has left us with three remaining races which have no real meaning, but life often works out like that, I suppose there are other battles to look at Sauber vs the mid-field, and Lotus,Ferrari and Mercedes fighting to see who is the best of the losers. In reality we've been in this position for several races now, and it is only until this weekend, our potentially final visit to India that the numbers lined up with the state of play. Here's to 2014, perhaps that'll be worth something

The Race

India unveiled this race to surprising large and very enthusiastic crowds, crowds which want to see F1 back in their country but once again money and financial legislation cripple and destroy actual aspirations and dreams of the people. All this vibrancy and colour has passed over for a bigger pay packet, suffering the problems of hosting a race at a point of the season in this modern era when Red Bull pick up the pace and wipe the floor with everyone else - a 100% pole and victory record sums up that trend - no wonder people can become disillusioned with the 'entertainment' or so the government sees it...

At the very beginning of the race so, so many hours ago now Vettel made another decent getaway and defended from both of the Mercedes and Massa. Webber dropped back off the line and took too much inside kerb at the first corner, this bounced him into Raikkonen and then back into Fernando - only Alonso took front wing damage. Right at the back, the place where the cameras don't go, Chilton reportedly hit Van Der Garde forcing the Caterham to retire to which Giedo branded Max 'an idiot'. Complain all he wants but Chilton has become good at getting involved in accidents where only the other driver retires - started with Maldonado's fort building exercises in Monaco. On the excessive back straight Massa passed both Mercedes cars to go second, while the other Ferrari of Alonso managed to hit Button in turn four knocking the McLaren down the field.

Here was me thinking that this was supposed to be a race, and on lap two as soon as things had started to settle down the pit window opened starting with Vettel and several others - such was the lack of faith in the softer compounds. Pirelli themselves recommended no more than 15 laps on the compound - a memo that clearly never made it to Lotus, but more on that later. The result of this was that cars were in all kinds of weird and wonderful positions Alonso was in 20th Vettel in 17th - and all we learned from this is that it takes more than 17 cars to keep Sebastien from the lead of the race... I recommend that he has to start last for the remaining three races, since it doesn't even matter any more. What this all meant was that Massa was leading the race, which in itself is an extreme rarity, from the two Mercedes'. It was only a few laps before they too pitted and we were greeted by the all too familiar sight of a Red Bull leading... even if it was Webber at the helm this time.

Due to everyone running to the pits to dump the softer tyres so early in the race Vettel had regrouped a lot of the position's he lost from his early stop - but it also promoted those who looked at Pirelli's warning and then chose to ignore it. Perez, Ricciardo, Grosjean and Sutil decided to stay out and were running 2nd-5th behind Webber. Vettel then easily took 5th from Sutil, and because the Lotus was the slowest thing in straight line Grosjean was completely defenceless when the Red Bull merely drove past in the DRS zone for another place. Vettel followed that up with another easy pass on Ricciardo, there is probably something written into his contract already to be subservient to his future team-mate, back onto the podium. Sebastian then closed immediately on Perez for second, to which McLaren just radioed the Mexican effectively to say 'don't bother fighting Vettel, it is utterly, utterly pointless and a waste of tyres'....

As for the other theoretical title contender the race was still going rather badly, Fernando found himself behind Gutierrez - once more demonstrating that the Sauber is impossibly fast on the really big straight. Fernando did make it past... once before being out dragged in the super-charged DRS zone. To add insult to injury, as Fernando wrestled his way past the Mexican on the exit of turn four - Esteban was handed a belated drive through penalty for a jump start... The other Sauber was having just as much fun with Bottas and Raikkonen on the fringes of the points - Hulkenberg was forced wide when passing Valtteri in turn four, and such is the climate of F1 at the minute had to get on the radio immediately to claim there was no advantage gained. In the process Raikkonen slipped past the Williams, while being in the process of completely disregarding Pirelli's limits set for the medium tyres.

At half distance Webber pitted and Vettel took over the lead making the remainder completely irrelevant, if it wasn't already - Mark switched to the softer tyre - 'in case there was a safety car', which seems like a ludicrous statement. A safety car in India is about as likely as Marussia winning the constructors championship. This mid-race stint only lasted four laps, which is strange considering that Grosjean managed to complete 14 laps on the same compound with a heavier car at the start of the race. Have Red Bull completely given up bothering with Webber's car since all the championships were sealed with their favourite driver anyway. That theory gained even more momentum when only a few laps later Red Bull phoned him up to say that 6th gear had stopped working properly, within half a lap of that message being played to the world Webber pulled the car over into retirement. It turns out the alternator had failed, one of famous Renault failures conveniently happen on Webber's car this season.

The folks in the Pirelli booth were getting displeased with both Force India and Lotus who were completely disregarding their tyre limits - Sutil was now passing 40 laps on the same set and Raikkonen and Grosjean were planning to run to the end. This would amount to 52 laps on Raikkonen's car and 46 for Romain, a long way from the recommended 35. However the massive stint was starting to hurt Sutil's pace and through the power of DRS Rosberg was able to simply draft his was past on the main straight, and which point Adrian decided it was time for some new tyres. None of this mattered to Mr Vettel who's lead once more could only be measured with a calendar and several devices from NASA.

Instead we look further back where Sutil having rejoined had gained a train of cars for company, at the end of which was Alonso looking to score at least one point from today's race. But there was the Toro Rosso of Ricciardo in the way before Fernando could challenge for points, and there is probably a special clause in the Australian's contract not to let the Ferrari by. The same amount of defiance could not be said for Raikkonen who's tyres were ruined as his stint closed in on 44 laps - because Rosberg closed the gap very quickly and breezed past the Lotus. Grosjean was the next to pass Raikkonen - as the other Lotus did not have a speed advantage Kimi was able to defend, banging wheels in turn four. But the people at Lotus instructed very forcefully that Raikkonen should get out of the way, because Massa was pressuring Grosjean. Kimi yielded, not without telling his team not to shout, in the final corner allowing Felipe through in the process.

Kimi's sharp drop in pace as the tyres close on 50 laps of a stint, brought Hamilton and Perez up to the back of the Lotus. As Lewis effortlessly drove past the ailing Finn, Perez proceeded to drive round the outside of the both of them down the back straight to take 5th place. The equal highest place for a McLaren in 2013... sums up their year frankly.

But in the end it was another win for Vettel, and a fourth consecutive championship... which he celebrated with some doughnuts on the pit straight in front of the fans. A nice gesture for a country on the brink of losing their place on the schedule... and because it was such a joyous occasion for the team and Sebastian that he wanted to share with the audience... he was fined 25,000 euros... sometimes I despair. Out of the other cars, Rosberg was second, and somehow Grosjean - from 17th on the grid and on a Perez-esque one stop strategy ended up on the podium... to which Pirelli were disappointed. Here we have an event where a team pushed the components beyond the limits and performed brilliantly to which Pirelli complained...fools. Massa scored the only points Ferrari were getting today in 4th, ahead of Perez and Hamilton. A late stop pushed Raikkonen down to 7th ahead of Di Resta and Sutil  - a double score for Force India on pseudo home turf. Ricciardo held off Alonso to take the final point.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Well today was not the greatest race in the world, the DRS made passes too easy, and Vettel could have stopped off for a curry and still won the race, and the title. But there is one championship still going, and that is the bonus points championship and here are the winners from today:

• 25pts - Sebastian Vettel - Suppose winning a 4th championship and dominating a race deserves some recognition - and for doing for doughnuts
• 18pts - Romain Grosjean - 17th to the podium on a single stop, in a race where drivers were pitting on lap two due to poor tyre life, and for annoying pirelli.
• 15pts - Sergio Perez - Equalling McLaren's best finish when they've realistically given up on this season's car
• 12pts - Felipe Massa - Picking up the baton when Fernando had  a poor race, for a team who are firing him in three races time...
• 10pts - Adrian Sutil/Kimi Raikkonen - For taking the tyres well beyond the expected lifetime
• 8pts - Nico Rosberg - Proving that Hamilton doesn't have the pace advantage the whole universe seems to think
• 6pts -  Max Chilton - Managed to beat Bianchi despite booting out Van Der Garde at the start
• 4pts - Fernando Alonso - For being able to pass a Sauber... it doesn't happen often
• 2pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Should have had some points before retiring, so here's a couple
• 1pt - India - Farewell for now

The Penalties Championship

Despite three investigations that took place over the course of the race - all involving Saubers - only one resulted in a penalty and that was for Gutierrez's jump start... and that 25,000 EUR fine for Vettel

The Penalty Points Championship

In what was a fairly uneventful and very inevitable race, there are a couple things that need settling through the arbitrary medium of bonus points...

• Pirelli - Stop whining, someone does a good job with the materials and you complain they pushed too hard, I thought that was the very ideas upon this sport was based, pushing boundaries and all.
• The Stewards - Fining someone for celebrating a 4th championship with some doughnuts, I know there are rules but surely some sense of reasoning and actual common sense must exist. Well apparently not...
• Romain Grosjean - For complaining needlessly when passing Gutierrez, it seems drivers are more likely to lobby the FIA to move a driver out of the way than try and pass them conventionally.

Looking ahead to Abu Dhabi

So the championship is over and done with now, but we still have races to go starting in Abu Dhabi - where it doesn't matter what happens (because Vettel might win anyway) hopefully this might mean everyone just goes mental and a crazed nothing-to-lose race takes place. Somehow I doubt it. As to the venue itself it is another representation of the Tilke domination of circuit design where the only goal was to cram as many corners into the smallest space available a lot of which are completely unnecessary. These corners were only crushed together to make way for the ridiculous excesses of the oil money fuelled wealth of Abu Dhabi, demonstrated by the extreme architecture and facilities by the side of the track - a long way from the pit lane huts and tents from the days of old. 

There may be nothing to look forward to at the front of the championship, but the next three races still need to happen and perhaps they can produce some of the action and racing we want. After all there is nothing else to do here on the bleak and empty sofas of the nation. Until next time farewell from blog HQ

Round 16: India 2013 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet

Well as a qualifying sessions go that was very much routine, but for those folks sitting on the pit wall it was a very strategic event because of those tyres again, because there is a massive difference between the two compounds in terms of lap time. But today's session means that the last minute protest against the race for the whole tax issue of India not recognising F1 as a sport and classing it as an entertainment event instead. On the basis of today I'm not sure anyone who isn't Vettel will be seeing any entertainment in what has taken place in the early hours of the morning - once more unleashing another helping of domination breaking the lap record in the process...

As for India itself - it seems... less fun than I remembered than it was - it's just tarmac everywhere off the track and for some bemusing reason it seemed the drivers had carte blanche to drive all over on the exit. It was getting silly, the exit of the long bowl turn had become completely ignored and the exit of the second chicane was almost moved into the Bangladesh it was so wide. One thing that I did notice was that those wider braking zones into the key hairpins looks really weird from the aerial footage - because the white lines marking the edge of the track are not parallel, and the radius of the corner is well off-centre, something that'll those with OCD mental. The sort of thing you'd notice when the timesheets are a foregone conclusion.

Qualifying

Q1 - The session was started by Gutierrez in the Sauber setting a base lap time, meanwhile Vettel was just wandering about the paddock - and probably still came close to taking the lead in the process. Instead it was Rosberg that managed to out-pace the Sauber in the earliest phases of the session. Everyone was setting the opening times on the medium tyre rather then resorting to the softer alternative. For a brief moment of time Sergio Perez put a McLaren at the front of the field, something that hadn't happened all season, but is was only for a brief moment as Gutierrez found some more speed and went fastest ahead of the Mexican.

It was time for the softer tyres and the main protagonists to stop loitering around in their garages and actually attempt to complete a lap - although Vettel didn't see the need to use the better compound... Because after Alonso went fastest Vettel came within 0.009s of the Ferrari on tyres which are a second slower. At this point everyone else may as well have gone home. So the attention falls on the lower section of the grid, to the relegation zone, naturally the slower teams took the bottom four places but there were some interesting names close to going out. Massa was the first to find himself in the bottom six, but easily escaped as did Hamilton and then Bottas. This pushed Grosjean out of Q1, because the team wanted to complete the session only using the medium tyres... something that in reality only Vettel can get away with. While all this was going on, Jenson Button finished Q1 with the fastest time, so McLaren get something to be almost pleased about this year.

Q2 - Everyone was on the same page for the second session and it was soft tyres all round - and the Ferraris set the initial times mere fractions of a second apart. Then a new team assumed the position of the front row - as Mercedes went first and second with Rosberg setting the new pace. Continuing a strange resurgence in pace Button and his McLaren split the two Mercedes to go second... But there was a slight problem Red Bull decided it was time for the soft tyres -which is always a bad sign for the rest of the grid. To which Webber set a time faster than last years pole time - which Vettel systematically knocked a further half a second off that time to take a very commanding lead.

So because the top of the timings was settled once again the remainder of the session was more interested in the goings on towards the bottom of the top ten - where Sauber, Force India and Toro Rosso were trying not to be relegated. At the moment Force India were through into the top ten with Di Resta - albeit very temporarily - because Nico Hulkenberg jumpted up to 6th dropping the Force India out. So there was a group Force India's and Toro Rossos sitting just outside the qualification time while both McLarens made it through.

Q3 - The final session brought back the question of strategy because whichever tyres were used to set the fastest lap the driver had to then start the race on. So the question became, do you suffer a little in qualifying with a slower tyre but have the benefit of a longer opening stint in the race. It seemed nobody really knew what to do - so the teams split the strategies, put one car on the softs and one on the mediums and see what happens. Ferrari sent Alonso out on the medium tyre and he set a respectable time on the compound. But then there was Vettel... who's idea was it go give him the fastest tyre.... as a result the German bloke found a ridiculous 1.7s smashing the lap record and to take another utterly dominant pole position...

Despite the fact that the session was still going it was very much over for the pole, Webber defeated the other softer tyre runners while using the medium... Red Bull were completely on form. But there was enough of a gap in between the two cars for someone to drop Webber down a couple of places. Raikkonen tried first but could only manage 3rd, between Webber and Alonso. Massa was only able to repeat the acheivement - it seemed the Red Bulls were untouchable. Then there was the Mercedes' both equipped with the soft tyres for their second runs - Hamilton managed to make it onto the front row, still weeks of time behind Vettel. Not to be outdone - Rosberg replaced Hamilton as the lead Mercedes on the front row. Further back Hulkenberg put his Sauber once more in front of Alonso... to which I assume he is most pleased. While McLaren rounded out the top ten, but starting on the better race tyres...

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Today's session may not have been particularly exciting or particularly unpredictable, and there was certainly no competition for the pole position... again. But points need to be awarded as follows:

• 10pts - Jenson Button - A McLaren wins a session - Q1 might be inconsequenctial to the big teams but a win is a win nonetheless
• 8pts - Mark Webber - 4th on a tyre which is supposed to be a second slower
• 6pts - Sebastien Vettel - A new lap record, held pole by 1.7s for a while... utter dominance..again
• 5pts - Felipe Massa - Out-qualifies Alonso again... even if it was on the soft tyres
• 4pts - Esteban Gutierrez - For the biggest wheelie over the turn 6 chicane kerbing.
• 3pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Back in the top ten again, ahead of Alonso
• 2pts - Valtteri Bottas - Making it out of Q1 when Maldonado failed
• 1pt - Nico Rosberg - Again disproving the idea that Hamilton is faster

The Penalties Championship

Only one event required penalising so far, and that goes to Williams, fined 60,000 euros once more for failing to attach a wheel to Pastor Maldonado's car - the wheel nut fell off the car and miraculously the actual wheel stayed on. But a second successive infringement saw yet another penalty 

Looking to Tomorrow

The Indian GP over the past couple of occasions has not been filled with excitement or a feast of action and dynamism - considering a certain German bloke has a 100% pole to victory record on the sub-continent. This weekend does not look likely to be any different - the Red Bull is unnaturally quick and will not be defeated. Therefore the championship will be won tomorrow and that will be that. But there are other things to look out for - Grosjean for example - an excitable and occasionally erratic Frenchman has a lot of work to do tomorrow, and a lot of cars to pass to make it into the points. There are Saubers, McLarens and Force Indias in the middle of the field fighting over constructors points standings. This will be a fierce battle for Romain to try and pass through - which may prove problematic as the Lotus was one of the slowest cars in a straight line on the speed traps. 

Here's hoping that in what might be the final visit to India we give this vibrant nation something that is worth putting down in the tax books as entertainment.

Round 16: India 2013 - Preview

Greetings Internet

Ah India, a county full or vibrancy, colour and cultural immersion - so much so that even the track is a wash with different paints and patterns - if you are going to have acres of run-off may as well spruce it up a bit. Therefore it is such a shame that this nation and this venue looks set to vanish from the calendar, there is even a court intervention to decide whether the race on Sunday is cancelled - but with such short notice I can see that motion disappearing rapidly into a series or arguments behind the scenes as the racing goes ahead, some complaint to do with taxation or other financial and legal stuff. In reality I see this 'case' like others have said on the internet to be merely a nuisance and nothing more will come of it, so I wouldn't create other plans for Sunday quite yet.

Conflicts between the organisers and the local population have prevented this event being so much more than it has shown in it's brief time on the calendar. A brilliant idea poorly executed. Just to add insult to injury, in all likeliness this will be the final race of the season where the championship is not mathematically decided - all Vettel needs to do is turn up in effectiveness, because in order to keep the battle alive Fernando need to take 16 points off Sebastian this race. The probability of that happening is slim to none at best, the last time Alonso forged such a points gap in a race was 2012, when the cars were more equal. This year, not a hope in hell. It just means that the interest focusses elsewhere while Vettel is off winning everything, a Sauber resurgence makes the mid-field fun and Lotus vs Ferrari vs Mercedes for second in the constructors is going to be a titanic battle.

In other, surprising news Toro Rosso have announced that Ricciardo's replacement will be Daniil Kvyat from Russia - which has spawned a plethora of conspiracy theories of Russian backing and various money vs ability arguments. The general opinion was that Felix Da Costa would get the drive, on account of being the next Red Bull development driver in the highest feeder series FR3.5. But that's not what Red Bull are looking for - not just the next chap in line, but someone to emulate Vettel's pace - it is very early days on Kvyat but at the back end of the season he has been rather fast, turning up in different championships and winning races... something Vettel would do. I remember a FR3.5 race weekend in Italy where Vettel competed as a guest driver and demolished the field first time out. Kvyat is not quite at that standard but could be a very interesting prospect. The concern is that the transition may be too early GP3 to F1... but Bottas and Gutierrez made the same jump as did Raikkonen (sort of FR2.0 to F1) and we all know how that worked out...

The Track

Over recent years anything that arrives on the calendar with the Tilke 'seal of approval' receives a battering of insults from us folk sitting on our sofas... a lot of the time justifiably - Abu Dhabi has a lot to answer for as well as Korea and Bahrain. But this one is much better, it arrived in 2011 with a more innovative take on the layout, not just the surrounding superficial architecture. Introducing widening apexes for overtaking, elevation changes, interesting corners - and for the first time in one of these new era tracks there was a flow to the layout. Yes it was artificially created and there is that unnecessarily long straight in the first sector, but you can never have another Suzuka or Spa so on balance it's not too bad for a Tilke era venue.

The first sector of the lap starts with a sequence or corners that bear a resemblance to a mirrored version of Istanbul's turn one - another of the rare Tilke successes which also fell off the calendar... The exit is a steep uphill curved climb to a hairpin at the crest - a hill that seemed rather tall until Austin placed a mountain at the end of the main straight... but that's Texas for you. Out of the hairpin comes the main gripe about the new era layouts - built solely to accommodate DRS and KERs. The problem is that these gadgets may not be with us forever, so the track only becomes valid for a narrow window of time. Look at Indianapolis it rode a wave of popularity and vanished, while Suzuka, Silverstone and Interlagos continue.

Once all the obligatory DRS compliant straights and hairpins are done. The track has the freedom to do what it wants and the first thing it wants to be is a double apexed medium speed corner that turns into a chicane. Looking at the additional roads for alternate layouts it looks silly, but in reality it works out alright similar to Imola's Aqua-minerale, just without the elevation change there. Following this the layout sweeps through another chicane with Massa's favourite kerbs - another example he is able to have the same accident twice in one weekend. The piece-de-resistance of the middle sector is the gigantic bowl corner thing, which just tightens enough on the exit - not to much to be annoying (take not Sepang) but to make the corner interesting. One of the consistent themes with the Indian circuit is there are subtleties to the layout which aren't often noticed but make it stand out from the other Tilke laps.

Because 1.5 quick chicanes wasn't enough the bowl turn is followed by another one, with more Ferrari smashing kerbs, but slightly tighter than the first kicks off the final sector heading towards turn 15. This seems like an ordinary medium speed corner but the road completely falls away on the exit plunging the cars into a steep descent towards the final corner, making the car go a little light on the exit and increasing the chance of some oversteer and a visit to the inside barrier. After all that entertainment it is a shame to come to the final corner to find that there is a generic hairpin stuck on the end of the lap - but it is there allegedly to promote overtaking into turn one.  Although it is entirely possible we will see more passes into the final corner itself and then use the DRS to increase the advantage for a safer run into the next lap.

The Form Guide

Well although this is only a third (and final) visit to the Indian GP, a certain German bloke has retained a 100% winning record here and given the current run of form it would be difficult to assume that is going to change this weekend. Therefore the battle again becomes for second place between Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes, a battle which could be very close indeed, while Webber may end up in no-mans land between the two and could end up anywhere from 2nd down to the end of the train. Based on the previous races you'd have to imagine that Grosjean and Lotus are set to do well, especially as it is expected to be a rather warm race and the folks down at Lotus like a warm GP.

Sauber are now the team to beat in the mid-field engulfing McLaren as car updates and the new tyres have significantly improved their pace recently, so much so that even Gutierrez can score points. The timing of the is resurgence will not go down well with the local crowd, if there is one, because falling in the opposite direction is their home favourite Force India. The effective home team-ish may well see themselves duelling with Williams for the bottom of the mid-field staring at the back of the Toro Rossos and miles away from Sauber and McLaren.

Down at the back of the field you would assume that Caterham would have the measure of Marussia, but somehow in Japan both of the green cars were beaten by Max Chilton - perhaps Max has realised that there is a chance he may be replaced in 2014 and his money might not quite be enough. Because there could easily be folk out there with more money and more speed - perhaps the additional pressure might help, or Japan might have been a fluke, who knows.

This very well be our final visit to India if the track can't find a space on the 2015 calendar after it's year out, and if that frivolous attempt to cancel the race wins through we'll have the first championship won in court for tax reasons... India is a wonderful addition to the season bringing cultural diversity to the championship but over the past couple of seasons tracks under threat have produced brilliant farewell events. Take Valencia for example, removed from the calendar for financial reasons and for being a horrible circuit, put on a fantastic race in 2012, Korea this season also under threat from being in 2014 also put forward a much improved spectacle. Based on that record India should be excellent and it certainly deserves to be.

Round 15: Japan 2013 - Review

Greetings Internet,

And that is that, the Japanese GP is over for another year, just like the conclusion of the Monaco or Belgian GP's there is that sense that the remainder of the season will be worse for it knowing that we no longer have these events to look forward to. In reality there is only Interlagos now at the very end of the season at a venue the holds a similar level of anticipation, between now and then we have a wash of those Tilke tracks in India and Abu-Dhabi. Austin after that is slightly different but still falls a long way short of the alluring nature of the Suzuka track. It is ever more the shame when a race opens in the manner this one did with such hope and such an opportunity, only to reveal that the balance of power is skewed so strongly towards a certain team that reversing an initial deficit becomes almost effortless.

The outcome of today's result only confirms the fact that the driver's championship is a complete formality and is merely a matter of time before all the questioning to Horner, Alonso, and Vettel comes to an end, because it will be over. The whole universe knows how unlikely and borderline impossible it would be for anyone other than the German bloke to take that inevitable title - so why on earth are the protagonists been interrogated so constantly. But then again the media inevitable have time for making fools of themselves - conveniently forgetting that the grid does contain several other drivers with their own agendas and battles to fight out where the outcome is far from decided. For example there seems to be something brewing between Bianchi and Van Der Garde as this the second race in a row where things are going on on the opening lap at the very back of the grid. Today's race won't go down in the annuls of history but this was the first time in a while where we had the vague illusion of a different result at the front of the field... even if it was only a false hope...

The Race

We had a front row that had all the characteristics of a very entertaining battle given the intra-team politics between the two in this farewell season for Webber. But as the lights went out neither of the Red Bull's got away terribly well and the second row jumped ahead of the first - Grosjean steamed down the outside to take the lead of the race. Hamilton aimed between Vettel, Webber and Romain and there was not quite enough room for all four cars and there was the merest of contacts between Vettel and Lewis. One atom of carbon brushed the rear tyre on Hamilton's Mercedes and caused an instant puncture - the flailing tyre damaged the floor and brakes of the car forcing an early retirement. At the very back of the field slightly out of camera shot Van Der Garde seemed to drive into the back of Jules Bianchi firing both off into the gravel at turn one.

It seemed for a while that Grosjean was pulling away from the two Red Bulls - but a series of radio messages sent to both Webber and Vettel in second and third informed the pair to drop back two seconds from the car in front. Lulling us all into a false sense of security as they saved tyres rather than trying to fight for position - knowing full well that they could charge and get Grosjean whenever they felt like it. Therefore we had to look a little further back for the rest of the action to take place, where Rosberg had gained the attentions of the Ferrari team lead by Massa. Nico initially had a slight lead over the red cars but ran wide through the first turn opening up a bigger gap to the top three cars. A devious encoded message was sent to Massa involving strategy which conventionally is an instruction for Massa to move himself out of the way... But the positions remained the same.

Time for the opening round of pit stops and Vettel decided to stay out for a few more laps even though it seemed a little odd at the time because his pace was slower than that of Webbers and Grosjean's because they were on newer tyres. Further back Mercedes' day was slowly getting worse and worse as the team tried to release Nico's car into the side of Perez's McLaren earning Rosberg a drive-though penalty. Moving in the opposite direction through the field was Hulkenberg in the Sauber, jumping ahead of the two Ferraris and assuming the lead of the battle for everyone else as the top three were very much gone by this point. This was further exacerbated by the fact there was Daniel Ricciardo out of position still on track, the Toro Rosso was running 4th by virtue of starting on the harder tyres and running longer in the race. Creating a large void between the top three and everyone else, because Ricciardo's tyres were close to the end of their lifespan.

The Ricciardo train started to get very intense - firstly Hulkeberg caught the back of the Toro Rosso, and Nico was then joined by the two Ferraris who in turn were caught by Gutierrez, who was followed by Raikkonen and Button. Nico didn't have the top speed to out-drag the Toro Rosso in a straight line in the DRS zone down the main straight so he tried something a little different. Daniel defended the inside line on the run towards Spoon corner but was slower down the back straight allowing Hulkenberg to pass the Australian on the inside of 130R. Felipe defended Alonso into the final chicane, but that compromised his exit and ultimately surrendered the position. Within a lap Massa came under attack from Gutierrez - as Esteban used Sauber's favourite overtaking spot at Kobayashi corner trying to force the Ferrari off the course on the exit. But Massa held his ground and resisted the attack from the Mexican to retain the position. It did open the door for Raikkonen who thought it was a good idea to pass the Sauber round the outside of 130R - not bad.

More pit-stops and Ricciardo finally relinquished the struggle of holding off a bunch of faster cars to get some new tyres. But there were troubles for McLaren and Ferrari - the rear wheels on both McLaren pit-stops were considerably slower than they needed to be and dropped both Button and Perez down the field. Massa on the other had was adjudged to have exceeded the pit lane speed and was the next one to be handed a drive through penalty. To complete the trio of penalties we turned to Daniel Ricciardo who was duelling with Adrian Sutil after his stop, Sutil defended into 130R as Ricciardo went round the outside - so far outside that he ran off the track. The problem was that Sutil pitted so he couldn't redress the position and thus was handed a drive through penalty.

Out front Vettel was still in the lead after once again running longer than Grosjean while higher tyre wear on the part of Mark Webber forced him onto an alternate strategy. Away from the top three Nico Hulkeberg's pre-race banana had clearly worked as he found himself once more ahead Alonso, the last time Fernando had such difficulty passing what is supposed to be a slower car it was the Renault of Vitaly Petrov in Abu-Dhabi in 2010. The German once more had two world champions lurking in his mirrors, as Alonso was followed by Raikkonen in the second Lotus. Nico was able to resit the attacks from the Spaniard. The same could not be said for Grosjean who suddenly found himself with Vettel approaching at quite a speed - it was this moment that pretty much summed up the dominance of the Red Bull car. Within the space of a few corners with the benefit of a new set of tyres saved from the day before the German Bloke erased several seconds of deficit and merely swept past the Lotus on the main straight. And with that the race was Vettel's... again. Webber lead the race at the time but had another stop to make yet.

Webber's stop placed him behind Grosjean, but also on much fresher tyres and was able to close in very quickly on the Frenchman, but he didn't have quite the same advantage that the German bloke did. Speaking of Germans - Hulkenberg had survived the Ferrari onslaught for some time now but, the Sauber didn't have the same advantages here and Fernando found a gap down the inside of the main straight to take the place. Raikkonen replaced the shape of the Ferrari in Nico's mirrors, however Raikkonen could not use straight line speed to pass the Sauber and therefore tried something a little different something a little unexpected - round the outside of the final chicane. The same move didn't work out too well for Rosberg and Perez as the McLaren edged across and brushed wing to wheel with the Mercedes puncturing the McLaren's rear tyre. Another example that these pirelli tyres are very vulnerable to wing contact.

The battle for second was getting closer, but Webber despite the fresher and softer tyres was having great difficulty defeating Grosjean - until the pair came across a large collection of lapped cars. Williams, Toro Rosso and Perez were in a large battle for 12th place as Grosjean came to put them a lap down. Maldonado and Perez were the first in the queue to give way, but Romain got a little caught up behind Bottas in the final chicane this allowed Webber to be close enough for the DRS to work and through he went. So we now had a Red Bull 1-2 and nothing was going to get in the way of that when both cars are working properly. Mark had more pace than Vettel but no where enough laps to make up the distance and had to settle for second place behind the German, while Romain claimed another podium position in third. Several seconds behind all this was the rest of the field lead by Alonso in 4th. His position means that we'll have another week of meaningless interrogations about the championship. Raikkonen finished 5th for Lotus ahead of Hulkenberg doing well again for Sauber. Due to a lot of people getting penalties and punctures ahead Gutierrez found himself in the points for the first time, and the first rookie to score in 2013. Rosberg recovered from his penalty to finish the race in 8th place.

At this point it was largely assumed that the race was over and the positions settled, but not at the very end of the points - Massa and Button were side by side in the final chicane, Massa forced Button across the curb with a little contact along the way. Jenson was able to out-drag the Ferrari to the line and re-take the position by a fraction of a nose, even though the final timings suggest the gap was over 8 seconds. Even outside the points there were some last minute lunges - as Maldonado threw it down the inside of Bottas forcing the Finn across the grass - all this for 14th place...

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Here are the winners following the Japanese GP

• 25pts - Romain Grosjean - So close to beating those all powerful Red Bulls and leading off the line from the second row
• 18pts - Esteban Gutierrez - First points for a rookie this season, that took a while
• 15pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Another strong race, surviving the pressure from Alonso for so long
• 12pts - Webber/Vettel - Once again unstoppable but without fighting each other. 
• 10pts - Sergio Perez - Quick reactions in the pit-lane to avoid Rosberg... only to hit him later
• 8pts - Kimi Raikkonen - round the outside at the chicane, and of 130R one per Sauber.
• 6pts - Daniel Ricciardo - six points for collecting a six car train before pitting
• 4pts - Jenson Button/Felipe Massa - So very close crossing the line after fighting in the chicane
• 2pts - Maldonado - Because being 16th is clearly very important
• 1pt - Paul Di Resta - Well done for not crashing into anything today

The Penalties Championship

From today here are the penalties issued

• Nico Rosberg - Drive through penalty for trying to crash into Perez in the pits
• Felipe Massa - For going too fast in the pits
• Daniel Ricciardo - For passing Di Resta off the track

Looking to India

From one country where the layout and tradition of the track draws the anticipation, to one where the immense vibrancy of culture becomes more dominating than the events on the track. With this being potentially the final race in India as the track goes on a sabbatical next season with a potential return the year after. In a way this is a bit of a shame firstly because India is such an emerging market with a huge population to introduce the sport to and such a gloriously intoxicating backdrop to set a race against. Secondly because of all the Tilke tracks that have invaded the championship in recent years, the Buddh International circuit is one of the better ones even though those opening straights are a tad excessive again. But the problem is the vast disconnection between the businesses and wealth responsible for bringing the race to fruition, and the fans and national population who would like to attend the race. High ticket prices and a low income setting are not a sustainable model and combined with Bernie's race fee demands have forced if off the calendar in the face of higher bidders. 

So here's hoping - like Korea - when the future of the race is in doubt, we end up with a brilliant race. So until then this is farewell from blog HQ.

Round 15: Japan 2013 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet,

Today has been an interesting day in Japan where once more fire seems to have been the order of the day - fortunately for the people at Red Bull it wasn't the Australian's car that was being torched for the third weekend in a row... well at least this far. Also we saw something virtually unheard of, something so rare and unusual I almost dropped my toastie... technical difficulties on a Red Bull that wasn't driven by Webber... not that it curtailed the pace or opened up the potential for a more competitive championship but it's the best we can hope for this season. At the other end of the field we had another surprise in a session which for the first ever time I can remember we've had a drive through penalty issued in a qualifying event... On the surface that seems mental, but when you examine the actual logic behind the decision it actually makes sense, because adding a grid penalty would be definition of futility - just like Pic and Bianchi's grid penalties from Korea. The grid itself will look a little different to the order from qualifying as Sutil also has a penalty - but a technical one for a gearbox change - so it won't appear in the championship standings. Rosberg was also reprimanded in practice, and Hulkenberg drew a fine for Sauber... this does only leave one more German left to encounter difficulties and there is only the most important session of the weekend for Vettel to find these difficulties tomorrow.

Qualifying 

It was a windy afternoon in Japan, none of this wind came with any rain once again - I'm starting to think that outside of this little island and the storms presently going on in India, rain is merely a fictional concept. But the wind resulted in increased grip through the first sector which is one the higher downforce dependant sectors of the lap. Not that we need anything that gives the German Bloke any more speed...

Q1 - The session opened with Esteban Gutierrez taking to the track for Sauber and for a while Gutierrez pottered around all by himself - which meant by default he was on an initial pole position. Button took that place off the Mexican and this is the first time in a long time McLaren have lead anything. Meanwhile Esteban returned to the garage and his Sauber promptly caught fire in the garage - it was only brief fire but enough to set their program back a bit. The main contenders felt fairly safe towards the front of the timesheets without needing to use the softer tyres to secure a place in Q2... that was until Bottas went out on a set of the softer tyres and put the car in the top 6. So here was a car that is conventionally well off the pace running faster than the likes of Massa, Raikkonen and Rosberg just because of the tyre compound. As a result fewer drivers felt quite so safe - only the top five felt completely secure. Everyone else came in to fit the softer tyres.

It seemed like a simple final series of runs just to confirm who would be joining the bottom two teams in relegation... But plans never quite go to plan, just as everyone was about to start those final runs there was a minor problem with the Toro Rosso of Jean Eric Vergne. It was more fire, JEV's rear brakes had locked causing them to ignite, so we had another burning Red Bull based car - but Vergne was able to find some marshals who extinguished the fires easily. However a red flag was flown to cover the clean up operation forcing those on track to abandon their efforts. This left enough time for a single lap at the very end of the session - a train of cars lined up in the pit-lane waiting for the green light lead by Rosberg. At the restart it was a competition to find some clean air to complete a lap - Raikkonen passed Gutierrez round the outside of the dunlop curve to gain track position while others backed up at the chicane.

Positions changed rapidly, as each car crossed the line it made ground, drivers moving from the relegation zone up into the top three - Massa being one of the last cars to complete a lap jumped from 17th to 3rd. In the end it was Adrian Sutil who fell the wrong side of the line and joined Vergne in relegation. But the surprise of the session was that Chilton beat the all of the bottom division drivers before their penalties had been applied from Korea, and the first time Marussia had beaten Caterham in a long time.

Q2 - The second part of qualifying was a lot more orderly, started by Di Resta who remarkable had not been complaining or blaming anyone this far, setting the first time of the session. But it was the Lotus team who took that position away Raikkonen heading Grosjean by mere hundredths of a second - the sort of team consistency reminiscent of the Renault Squadron days. We also learned this weekend that Grosjean does Judo... so after he's driven into you on track he could then beat you up afterwards. The sharp end of the grid started to look very interesting as Alonso joined the battle with a very similar time, and then Jenson Button in the McLaren put his car into the mix as well. For a brief moment of time it seemed like there might be some form of legitimate battle for the top spots on the grid.

There is one small problem with that equation, and that there was no Red Bull, because Vettel and Webber had only just started their laps - and as the German Bloke crossed the line all hope of competition vanished as Sebastian was over half a second ahead of everyone else. Webber a little later was two tenths slower but still in a comfortable second place. As the session continued, that gap to the Red Bulls started to come down, Grosjean came within three tenths of the lead but Vettel remained undefeated. But at the end of the session the battle to avoid relegation got very tight - Perez and Di Resta were 0.003s seconds apart, the same distance Perez was ahead of Button in Korea. But neither of them made it through as Massa and Hulkenberg sneaked through to secure promotion.

Q1 - It was rather odd to see Sebastian Vettel take to the track first in the final session of the day - but that surprise was added to when there as a radio call to say his KERs had failed, something that only ever seems to affect Webber's car. But of the first four cars that set times Vettel was still the fastest which is disturbingly ominous... until Webber crossed the line to knock several tenths off his team-mate to take a provisional pole position. Alonso and Button completed the opening runs in third and fourth position.

After a small interlude for a change of tyres it was Raikkonen who started the second runs off in the Lotus gradually followed by the rest of the field where Hamilton and Webber would be the last two cars to cross the line. But the immediate attention was on Vettel and as his initial sector times were good enough for pole, however the lack of KERs slowed the German in the final sector down the straight towards 130R and he couldn't beat Webber. Just to add insult to injury Webber went even faster... even if it was by 0.06s, Hamilton beat Grosjean to third place - and Felipe Massa was considerably faster than Alonso to line up 5th. Rosberg finished 6th ahead of another impressive drive from Hulkenberg. Fernando eventually ended up 8th ahead of Raikkonen and Button completing the top ten.

The Bonus Points Championship points winners

From this morning's session here are the winners:

• 10pts - Max Chilton - For not being useless and beating the all lower teams drivers on pace 
• 8pts - Mark Webber - For beating Vettel, it's about time that happened
• 6pts - Felip Massa - For beating Alonso by several positions  
• 5pts - Romain Grosjean - Almost third again, and for judo skills on DC on the track walk
• 4pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Back in the top ten for Sauber
• 3pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Passing Gutierrez on the outside of dunlop into the first degner corner
• 2pts - Valtteri Bottas - For setting off the move onto softer tyres in Q1 
• 1pt - The stewards - For making a reasonable decision for once.

The Penalties Championship

Even if this is only qualifying there have been some infractions penalised thus far:

• Williams - 60,000 EUR fine for not fixing Maldonado's wheel in FP1 as it fell off and needed collecting by the marshals
• Sauber - 20,000 EUR fine for not informing Hulkenberg over the position of cars around him in FP3 
• Charles Pic - Drive through penalty to be taken within the first five laps of the race - because a grid penalty at the bottom of the grid would have been pointless.

Looking to Tomorrow

The Japanese GP is always one of the season's highlights on one of the greatest tracks the championship visits where anything can happen, because the proliferation of gravel traps and close proxomity of the barriers attracts the possibility of a safety car. The grid has several cars out of position - Raikkonen and Alonso towards the bottom of the top ten, and Sutil dropped places for technical reasons towards the back of the grid. But there is one prominent point of interest for the race tomorrow and that is the dynamic between Vettel and Webber in that fight for the lead will be brilliant, the two have not been the best of friends this year or many of the previous years. But this is the first race when the positions have been reversed since Malaysia and that sparked all manner of fallout - so if ever there was a time and place for revenge this is it. Webber has been a fan of the traditional circuits and hopefully there might be a new face on the top step of the podium in Japan.

Round 15: Japan 2013 - Preview

Greetings Internet,

Well this post comes to the internet a day later than formerly advertised, just another thing to add to the list of things that have been forgotten over the past week or so. We enter now the closing stages of the season, a season which started off so competitively in the first few races, when different people were allowed to win races and it was possible for the rest of the field to see the lead car. Those days may be long gone as changes in tyre compound and development pace has unleashed some recent domination by a certain German bloke... something tells me we've been down this road before... Nevertheless we move on race by race observing the growing battles a country mile from the top positions. For example none of the rookie drivers have scored a point this season - admittedly most of them do drive for the two slowest teams which would need several miracles at once to get near the points. But two of them do not - Bottas is at effectively the third slowest team on the grid, where if it wasn't for Rosberg retiring in Hungary Williams would have no points at all. Then there is Gutierrez, the only one who looks like scoring a point, because Sauber have capitalised on the tyre changes that punished Force India and Marussia. Presently Hulkenberg has scored all 31 of Saubers points - single handedly chasing down Toro Rosso and Force India - so the car has enough pace to find the first rookie point of 2013

There are only a few races left for these battles to sort themselves out - most importantly the challenge for the ultimate prize of being the 2013 bonus point champion. An accolade which to this day none of the former winners have bothered to acknowledge. Which is a factor of two things - A)  the number of tweets the drivers receive at the end of a season anyway, and B) this is a tiny part of the internet with no form of influence or importance and therefore is of little consequence.  But that is another rant for another day, for now there is a race weekend to sort out... which probably will end in the same result, unless of course rain gets involved... And what do you know - talk of more storms has been mentioned. As this is now the fifth race in succession with this 'threat' a dry race is more than guaranteed again, probably even scheduled for the hottest days of the week to coincide with race time. FP1 and FP2 have already been completely drenched in solar radiation, but even still - it is Suzuka.

The Track

Probably one of the top two venues on the calendar is Suzuka, why on earth they thought it was a good idea to head off to Fuji for a couple of races is anyone's guess... I somehow suspect monetary persuasion was involved. Before we head off to the likes of India, Abu-Dhabi and Austin it's nice to visit a track which holds onto the traditional values of racing - good old fashioned gravel traps are the order of the day here for the most part. Some areas have been replaced with tarmac - but just the corners with the fastest entry speeds (turn 1, Spoon and 130R). Even in those areas the tarmac doesn't run from the edge of the track outwards, because there is a line of astroturf and grass first. This is a brilliant solution to the problems of drivers running wide - firstly the lack of grip in the first five metres or so of run-off dissuades drivers from using it to gain an advantage. While the remainder of the space allows folk to comeback after a high speed spin without rolling the car into oblivion.

The layout itself has everything you'd want from a circuit, high speed corners, flowing undulating sections, overtaking opportunities and the risk of putting it into the barriers, like several have done so far this weekend in practice. Sector one is a firm drivers favourite, featuring one of the only decreasing radius corners that works follows by an ever tightening sequence of s-bends before reaching the long and narrow dunlop corner at the top of the hill. On the way back down are two of Blog HQ's favourite corners -  the two Degners. The first part is very quick on entry with no room for error, because as soon as you go off the track turns away from you in degner 2 and the next stop is the fence.

After the crossover point the track reaches the slowest corner - named here as Kobayashi Corner for the spate of overtaking manoeuvres in 2011 and some more in 2012. Sadly Kamui is not on the grid this season but the corner name will remain until someone else can out-do that performance. Coming out of Kobayashi Corner is a long gentle and also rather narrow corner towards spoon - one of the only other decreasing radius corners that works. Spoon leads onto the back straight before 130R, the fastest corner on the track where memorably Jerome D'Ambrosio crashed on the lap to the grid... The lap finishes with the Casio Triangle Chicane - one of the primary overtaking places on the lap... despite being seemingly clumsy, the chicane works. Perhaps because it's been there for ever and we've all gotten used to it. Or maybe its because it's Suzuka and it doesn't spoil the track. It's all downhill from here... until Interlagos.

The Form Guide

Well because of my lack of punctuality this weekend, I've seen the FP1 and 2 results so the expectations are for once supported by some form of evidence rather than meaningless guesses, but early practice can't really be an indicator of true performance. However there is one assumption that can be made even without staring at the timing screens and videos from the early hours of the morning and that is there will be a German Bloke somewhere near the front. This time he may not be alone - Suzuka is a very traditional circuit and Webber quite likes this sort of event so that intra-team divide on the score sheet might not be as wide as it has been in previous races. Also Mercedes look strong again - not quite strong enough to beat Red Bull, but enough to stay ahead of Ferrari, Lotus and McLaren. It doesn't look quite so rosy for Ferrari, Alonso was sideways more often than not in FP2 - spinning the car between the degners - the championship challenge has been slowly worn away from the Spaniard and this is the first weekend all hope can be extinguished. So that would explain the extra urgency but the car doesn't have the pace to stop Vettel from winning... no-one's car really does.

Like it has been in the past two races Sauber are the class of the mid-field, challenging McLaren for top ten placings. McLaren had already escaped the threat from Force India as their pace dropped off, only to find Hulkenberg leading a charge in a revitalised team with masses more performance than they had at the beginning of the season. Toro Rosso are the closest challengers mainly with Ricciardo as Vergne has fallen back a little after Red Bull ignored him for Webber's seat... but he does need to be careful... any further back and he could get fired. Toro Rosso does like firing talented drivers, Buemi, Alquersuari and Bourdais come to mind there. Force India and Williams continue to struggle, Maldonado found himself driving around with three wheels in FP1 - which the team received a 60,000 EUR fine. Racing is on higher alert for parts leaving vehicles on track after the cameraman was hit by Webber's wheel and a dozen Indycar fans were injured by debris in Houston.

At the back half of the competitors needn't bother turning up frankly, both Pic and Bianchi have 10-place penalties on the grid, which given the fact that they'll be on the back two rows is utterly pointless. But the penalties were given for receiving three reprimands and those are the rules, those two were probably asked to stay behind in Korea and start the race from there. That leaves Van Der Garde to win the lower division and Chilton gets the honour of not starting on the final row of the grid, which doesn't happen too often, the chap will probably end up with altitude sickness for starting that high up.

Overall this is one of the races unlike Korea that does come with a certain amount of anticipation and a reputation for being great fun, a challenging circuit with little room for error is a perfect recipe for an entertaining event. But unfortunately this weekend will be conducted under somewhat of a sombre note after the news that Marussia test driver Maria De Vilotta was found dead in her hotel in Seville this morning. After losing an eye in testing Maria was famously publicising how she was lucky to be alive and had a new bright outlook after surviving that incident. So this is disturbing news and Blog HQ offers condolences to her family.