Round 10 - Hungary 2015 - Race

Greetings Internet, 

Every year we come to the Hungarian GP and we reflect on it's reputation for dull, processional races - only the intervention rain has breathed life into the event. Today was a whole different kettle of Piranhas - it was magnificent, dynamic and it was everything that the naysayers were complaining that F1 wasn't. The dominance has finally been toppled, and today was another example that once things do start to go slightly awry for the Mercedes team, the wheels just fall off the wagon good judgement is replaced by desperation and inaccuracy. It was a race full of incident, penalties, surprises, more penalties, a safety car, and some more penalties - most of which were handed to Maldonado for another errant day. F1 has seen some really dull and tiresome events this season, but this was certainly not one of them and was easily the highlight of the year, and will take some beating.

On another and slightly unrelated note, there was no real qualifying report - because I was spending the day dressed as the Ice King/Simon Petrikov at a local convention. Which was an utterly surreal and entertaining day, mostly because the majority of the day involved struggling to see through the glasses and putting the nose back on. I took pictures and signed things - which is far more than I figured that costumer design deserved. So as a result, I was a little to busy and tired to put together a post having worked through the coverage I recorded. 

The Race

Everyone, including myself anticipated a default Mercedes 1-2 where the two silver cars vanished off into the distance and everyone else just fell into position behind them. But that wasn't quite going to happen - even the start didn't materialise quite the way it was supposed to go, because the first attempt at the start was aborted as Felipe Massa missed his grid slot. On the second time of asking the start went ahead as planned - and off the line it was Sebastian Vettel from third place making an initial jump to the front as both Mercedes struggled. Raikkonen followed Sebastian through into second place, and on top of that Rosberg was able to take third place from Hamilton. So an initial pole position was converted into 4th place at the end of the first corner. On the exit of turn one Ricciardo and Bottas had a minor coming together which bounced the Red Bull into the air - fortunately Daniel lived to be rammed again later in the race. Further round the lap, Hamilton tried to take third from his team-mate with a daft and overly optimistic move at the chicane. Lewis ended up on the outside and had to cut across the gravel - pole position new became 10th place after the opening lap... which had all the ingredients of an interesting afternoon.

A Mercedes 1-2 had been converted into a Ferrari 1-2 all expectations and preconceptions were firmly out of the window. To make matters more. surprising, both the Ferraris were pulling away from the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg in third - where had this pace come from, and can we have some more of that for the rest of the season to spice the championship up. Elsewhere the first of the day's many, many penalties started rolling in - this one was a 5-second pit penalty for Massa because of his start position error. But for now Massa was far more interested in the attentions of Lewis Hamilton - of all the cars Lewis could find himself trapped behind it was a Mercedes powered Williams with a competitive straight line speed. After a couple of laps struggling to make it past the Brazilian, Lewis went round the outside of Felipe in turn one - brushing wheels on the exit of the corner. Yet our attention was turned away from Hamilton's recovery drive to Daniil Kvyat's team radio as the Russian was complaining of a tyre vibration due to a flatspot. But because of the vibration Daniil sounded like a Dalek over the radio, alas Mr Death Stare didn't mention exterminating anyone and anything... which was a shame.

Having announced his allegiance to the Dalek empire, Kvyat was under pressure from his team to 'not hold up' Ricciardo, which in team order terms is a subtle reminder to get out of the way. Daniil Kvyat protested over the radio - about the decision but eventually he relented and allowed the Australian through on the straight before turn four. Hamilton on the other hand was continuing his recovery through the field - firstly making an easy DRS pass on the Force India of Sergio Perez. He then started to gain more positions as the pit stops started with Kvyat and Bottas among the early visitors to pit-lane. But it was this round of stops which saw another entry in the penalty book, this time it was Romain Grosjean who felt the force of the Stewards as he was penalised for an unsafe release as he was released into the path of Massa's Williams after Felipe was held in his pit-box for his 5-second penalty. 

In all this discussion about penalties, it does make you wonder when Pastor Maldonado's name was going to crop up in the proceedings. Naturally we didn't have to wait too long before the inevitable happened - it was down in turn one  where Pastor got involved in an altercation with Perez's Force India. Maldonado wanted to escort the Sergio off the edge of the track, but the Mexican refused to be bullied and instead got punted into a spin. How neither of the cars suffered any suspension damage was impressive - but the stewards' favourite visitor was handed a drive through penalty for his actions. Hamilton exited the pits in a similar fashion on the outside of Bottas in turn one - this time Lewis didn't make contact with a Williams, and didn't do anything erratic. But there would be plenty more time in the race for that sort of thing. Now he was running in clear air, the underlying pace of the Mercedes allowed him to make up for lost time, and recover some of the place he lost at the start of the race. Making another outside pass on Ricciardo in turn one to take 4th place. But Ferrari were still running first and second - it seemed as if Mercedes had nothing to fight them with. Even Rosberg who had an uninterrupted race couldn't close in on Raikkonen or Vettel, instead he was watching his advantage over Hamilton vaporise. 

That Ferrari lock-out started to show some signs of weakness - because Raikkonen reported a loss of power and a strange sound in the cockpit. The team reported that there was a developing issue with the MGU-K but it shouldn't prevent the car from running. But further back there was another car failure that proved to be a little more terminal. As Nico Hulkenberg was powering down the main straight, the front wing just dropped off the car and fell under the front wheels - exploding into a cloud of carbon fibre shrapnel. Shrapnel that Kvyat had to drive through as it decorated the pit-straight. Hulkenberg's car continued down the run-off area and into the tyre barrier at the bottom of the turn one run-off area having lost all front downforce and locking both wheels. Initially a

virtual safety car was deployed to handle the retrieval of Nico's car, but on noting the volume of debris on the straight a full safety car was deployed to help the clean-up operation. This was a good time for the teams to pull their cars in for a new set of tyres, setting up the second half of the race to be a brilliant showdown. Things had been quite fun thus far, but they were about to be taken up a notch.

On the restart Rosberg took second place from Raikkonen, whose power problems made him defenceless to the Mercedes. Further back Ricciardo pounced on Hamilton, as Lewis defended to the inside Daniel out-braked him on the outside and swept in front of the Briton. But Hamilton locked a front wheel and slid straight into the side of the Red Bull - damaging his front wing, and taking some of Ricciardo's sidepod off in the process. With a damaged car Hamilton struggled round the rest of the lap, letting Ricciardo through in turn two. By the time he reached turn three a queue began to form headed by Kvyat and Bottas - in turn four he ran out wide taking Daniil with him and the Russian got alongside Lewis while the pair were both driving in the run-off area. At the same time Bottas and Verstappen were staying on the track in an effort to take advantage of the situation. Bottas was edged wide as both Kvyat and Hamilton rejoined the circuit opening half an opportunity for Verstappen who tried to put the car up the inside of Valtteri's Williams making contact with his rear tyre. This punctured Bottas' left rear and trimmed yet more winglets were cast into the run-off area. This meant that both Williams were now in for a difficult race. Yet another stewards investigation was called to handle Hamilton's latest escapade, and they decided that he too deserved a drive through penalty which added to the fact he also had to pit for a new front wing. 

Raikkonen was continuing to struggle with his Ferrari - being informed that the MGU-K had completely failed - but there was another cause for concern as he reported some front wing damage as he noticed some carbon fibre falling off the car. An external camera shot revealed that is was the camera pod from the side of the nosecone that had parted company rather than any element from his front wing. The Finn brought the car into the pit-lane for a full manual reset - switching off the car and restarting it via the external starter motor. Raikkonen rejoined the track but the issue wasn't resolved and Ferrari were forced to retire the car. Speaking of people having an unfortunate day - we have the curious case of Pastor Maldonado, he must have grown jealous of the number of other drivers picking up penalties so he decided to up his personal tally. First he was handed a second drive through penalty for speeding in the pit-lane, and at the same time he was under investigation for overtaking under the safety car. Also joining the list of penalised drivers was Max Verstappen - for speeding under the safety car and Daniil Kvyat for gaining an advantage by leaving the track. At this point in time I had to check whether I had received a time penalty, because everyone else was getting one. The upside of all this was that we now had two McLarens inside the points... 

Back at the front Vettel headed a trio of cars in with a shout of taking the victory including Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo. For a time it looked like Sebastian's lead was under threat as Rosberg had the quicker car, but for some reason Mercedes put the German onto the harder, slower compound. While Vettel and Ricciardo were on the soft tyres, and Ricciardo had a pace advantage over both cars. Daniel had disadvantage of a Renault engine and therefore couldn't get anywhere close enough in a straight line, even with the provision of

DRS. But we have seen that Ricciardo doesn't mind a late braking manoeuvre or two, and this one was taking that idea to the extreme. Ricciardo threw the car at the inside of Rosberg from an absurd distance - brakes locked and skating wide of the apex. Rosberg cut back to the inside and moved across to the outside of the track on the exit. But he wasn't completely clear of Ricciardo's nose, and clipped his front wing, causing a rear tyre puncture on Rosberg's car. Both drivers had to limp back to the pits for repairs, but Rosberg's inlap was considerably slower considering he only had three wheels in contact with the ground. Nico was only five laps away from entering the winter break with a championship lead - and now he was behind Hamilton on track and even further behind in the championship. Hamilton of course was scything past cars because he was on new, soft tyres and racing against slower cars on older rubber. 

This altercation left Vettel all by himself out in front, and promoted Daniil Kvyat up into second place, while Ricciardo's wing change dropped him down to third - while Rosberg was now down in 8th. So Sebastian took the win, a deserved one for Ferrari and a poignant one in a weekend that celebrated the life of Jules Bianchi - a driver tipped to be Vettel's future team-mate. Kvyat crossed the line in a momentous second place - ahead of Ricciardo who had a chaotic race with multiple collisions. Outside the podium was Max Verstappen, almost anonymously claiming 4th place - which is another magnificent achievement for the teenager - even with picking up a penalty along the way, but those were commonplace today. In 5th place was another remarkable result - Fernando Alonso taking home a large points haul for McLaren and by far their best finish of the season. Alonso crossed the line ahead of Hamilton who by his own admission had a bit of a crap day. In seventh place was Romain Grosjean, who for some reason ended up with the same number of licence penalty points as his team-mate who racked up more on-track penalties. So while the stewards picked up their game, the FIA were a long way behind today. The points were rounded off by Rosberg in 8th, Jenson Button completing a double points score in 9th and Marcus Ericsson picking up the last point. It is odd that despite making more errors and earning penalties - Lewis still finished ahead of Rosberg, and today was the first race in the new turbo-hybrid era in which a Mercedes hasn't finished on the podium...

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners - Qualifying
Because there wasn't a report following qualifying, there wasn't any points allocated, so to keep the championship fair, these points will be outlined today. Not that I can really remember too much about yesterday other than being painted blue and carrying a penguin. 

• 10pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Almost got the Red Bull ahead of both Ferraris and brought Red Bull back towards the front.
• 8pts - Mad Max Verstappen - The only Toro Rosso to make it into Q3
• 6pts - Lewis Hamilton - An utterly dominant pole position deserves some points
• 5pts - Bottas/Grosjean - Share some points for some brilliant sideways action, Grosjean in turn five and Bottas out of the final corner
• 4pts - Goku - Seems like an odd selection for some points - a fictional character - but I spent Saturday in the company of many fictional characters and Goku gets points for the company and the provision of tea
• 3pts - The Skyrim Elves - Two brilliant costumes - held together by the ultimate binding force of duct tape. 
• 2pts - Fernando Alonso - Dragged the McLaren out of the relegation zone and into Q2
• 1pt - Roberto Merhi - Comes back from a violent accident in formula renault 3.5 - which was pretty much all his own fault - to out-qualify Stevens

• 5pts - Sergio Perez - An additional brace of points is handed to Sergio Perez for his flip in FP1 - a graceful roll but didn't complete a full 360 degrees

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners - The Race

Moving swiftly on to the events of today, and where do I even begin - so many drivers doing wondrous things, and so many drivers doing daft and ridiculous things. Where do I even begin...

• 25pts - Daniel Ricciardo - After being assaulted by both Mercedes and Valtteri Bottas he still made the podium in an unfavoured car.
• 18pts - Daniil Kvyat - Gets points for his first ever podium and for sounding like a Dalek on the radio
• 15pts - Fernando Alonso - Normally 5th place in a McLaren would be a bad day, but in this season's car it is a miracle and a really good job
• 12pts - Mad Max Verstappen - Fourth place is his highest ever finish in his short career - but kept the car in one peice... mostly unlike others. 
• 10pts - Vettel/Raikkonen - A brilliant opening lap for both Ferrari drivers and it would have been a 1-2 finish had reliability claimed Raikkonen.
• 8pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Rocketed off the line and made the most progress of anyone on the opening lap
• 6pts - Jenson Button  - Completed a double points scoring finish for McLaren and their first this season.
• 4pts - Lewis Hamilton - Made an idiot of himself on several occasions but delivered strong recovery drives in both instances 
• 2pts - Pastor Maldonado - I shouldn't commend his day, but it was funny and I enjoyed the laugh
• 1pt - Marcus Ericsson - Salvaged a solitary point for Sauber in tenth place

• -1pt - Lewis Hamilton - Didn't have a good day today did you now - and started proceedings by instantly blaming Rosberg for his own mistake. 
• -1pt - FIA Penalty Points System - In a race where so many penalties were dished out, the penalty points system is proving to be inadequate and woefully executed. Grosjean got the same number of penalty points for an unsafe release, that Maldonado did for a spate of incidents.
• -1pt - Moiracon Judging Panel - Why no prizes for the Ice King, why - Gunther disapproves of your actions

Looking ahead to Spa

The summer break starts now, even though we soft of already had a summer break due to the cancellation of the German GP, but this one separates us from the majesty that is the Belgian GP. The recent Spa 24hr race was a run under incredibly changeable conditions, including what appeared to be a mini-monsoon. All descending on one of the few remaining fearsome and challenging venues left on the calendar - and it is that challenge that awaits the grid after the holiday period. Traditionally we wrap up proceedings from the Hungarian GP and look to Belgium to provide what Budapest failed to deliver, but this time the Hungarian GP was spectacular and didn't even need the intervention of the weather. So we can only ask Spa to try and deliver something even more spectacular, and even if it falls slightly short - it will still be a special race.

Round 10 - Hungary 2015 - Preview

Greetings Internet,

This weekend's Hungarian GP will conducted underneath an understandably sombre cloud. No matter what happens over the course of the coming days, nothing will be able to displace the feeling of unease that comes from burying a fellow racer earlier in the week. It is going to be a very surreal grand prix, and even though I'm just an viewer from the comfort of the sofa, it will be like no other GP weekend I've sat through. It is something that none of the current grid will have endured, since none of them were competing at the weekend following the infamous Imola GP of 1994 that claimed the lives of Senna and Ratzenberger. Max Verstappen wasn't even born - his entire life fits into the intervening period. Drivers, teams, and fans alike have all come forward to honour what Bianchi gave to the sport, even in the short time he was in it. F1 has confirmed that there will be a minute's silence before the start of the race on Sunday - as observed by Japan's SuperFormula and IndyCar last weekend. 

As deservingly domineering as the Bianchi story is, other news has surfaced in the three week break since the British GP. A time when we would have had the German GP - but that was cancelled due to financial difficulties. Sauber have announced that they will be retaining both their drivers for 2016, which in the current climate is quite an early announcement - especially since the team managed to hire three drivers for two seats at the start of this season. But this doesn't put an end to the driver speculation up and down the grid - the highest profile rumours surround Ferrari and what they plan to do with Raikkonen. Barring Bahrain, and some of Britain, the Finn has had a slightly off-colour season - much in the same way he did when paired against Alonso last year. A spanish publication has claimed that a deal between Ferrari and Bottas has been made to replace Kimi - a position that the Ferrari team revealed earlier in the week was earmarked for Jules Bianchi...

Budapest

In many respects it is fitting that we come to Hungary this weekend, as it generally provides a calm and methodical race. The layout doesn't lend itself to being high on the excitement scale, but is enjoyable to drive in video game format. From that perspective the Hungarian GP bears a resemblance to Magny Cours and Imola - where the layout far and away out strips the racing that takes place upon it, because it is narrow and flowing with only one usable racing line. But of course, if you introduce a little bit of precipitation and it becomes a whole different ball game, and brings the race completely to life. It was damp conditions that engineered Jenson Buttons' first victory - for Honda - I don't see Jenson's reunion with the Japanese manufacturer being quite so successful in 2015.

The track itself starts with a steep descent down to turn one - a corner which was extended in 2003 to form a tighter hairpin turn, to promote overtaking which was notably lacking under the previous configuration. The changes didn't necessarily have the desired consequences - but fear not all the world's problems can be solved with DRS... Turn two is a short straight away and is a gentle curving 180 degree corner which falls away on the exit. Placing the car coming out of turn two dictates the entry to the fast turn three at the bottom of the descent. The corner where Ericsson paid a visit to the barrier, releasing the safety car and completely changing the complexion of the race. A steep climb leads from the exit of turn three up to turn four - where the track curves right before left-hander at the top of the climb. A corner that saw Grosjean penalised for a magnificent pass on Felipe Massa in 2013 - a similar ruling to the one that cost Alex Rossi several places in the Silverstone GP2 sorint race.

At the top of the hill, a technical turn five is cambered nicely to guide the cars round towards the turn 6/7 chicane. A chicane which does seem out of place on the fast flowing circuit - as it is slow and cumbersome with mountainous curbs. But unlike the chicane at the Barcelona circuit - I can tolerate this one, probably because it has always been there so I've become accustomed to it. It does also add a different sort of challenge to the lap. After the chicane a series of sweeping high speed corners form the rest of the middle sector - these are the corners that the yearly visit to the Budapest circuit is remembered for. Cars dance from one side of the track to the other as they navigate the narrow ribbon of tarmac between the grass. It is nice to see a track that still has grass at the side of the road... at least most of the way round. The final part of the section has grown a tarmac expanse over the past couple of years however, where a lot of grass and gravel used to be.

The final part of the lap starts off with a sharpened righ hander - another element of the 2003 facelift aiming at adding more overtaking opportunities. The original corner was better, but the replacement isn't that bad - similar in profile to turn four at Sepang. The last two corners are a pair of mirrored 180 degree curves, the first of which is the opposite number to turn two - which ascends back to the height of the start/finish line. While the final turn was a rough reflection of turn one - before the first corner was modified. 

The Form Guide

Despite the three week break, I don't think too many teams have planned major upgrades to their cars - so the relative performances will remain reasonably similar to what we have seen all season. But the nature of the track may help mask some of the issues certain engine manufacturers have been facing in recent events. Mercedes will almost certainly dominate proceedings and - barring a repeat of Hamilton's qualifying engine fire, and the safety car compromising Rosberg's race - will be on for an easy 1-2. Ferrari and Williams will be nearest competition as they have been for most of the season - unless of course if it rains, because like Gremlins, the Williams car just isn't the same once it gets wet. Performance in the showers that made up the British summer indicated that the team have not conquered the issues that made their cars much weaker once the rain arrives.

Behind the top three, it gets more interesting. Because Hungary is not a particularly power driven circuit - Red Bull and Toro Rosso will be competing strongly with Lotus and Force India for the remaining points positions. They might even be close enough to take a point or two away from any Williams or Ferrari having a bad day. There is even the chance that McLaren might have a ticket to this mid-field party - because the drawbacks of the Honda engine might not be so obvious. All of this is bad for Sauber, who have scored points mostly on the strength of their Ferrari engine, reduce the importance of the engine and they struggle to compete with their immediate rivals.

At the back of the grid will be Manor, and the feelings and sentiments of this weekend will be strongest in this garage - Manor are here today because of the actions of Jules Bianchi. The points he scored in Monaco 2014 were vital to the team's survival - to think I was initially quite annoyed at the way Jules barged Kamui out of the way in that race, but that pass became so very important in keeping the cars on the grid. 

The Hungarian GP might not live up to some of the races that have come before it - and will likely fall short of the action of last years visit to Budapest, but no matter what happens, it is going to be difficult few days for all involved. Trackside or here on our sofas. 

Lessons learned from Japan 2014 - Bianchi's Legacy

Greetings Internet, 

Over the weekend the world woke to the sad news that Jules Bianchi had lost his fight to recover from the events of the 2014 Japanese GP, having spent the last nine months in a coma. It is disturbing that in this day and age, with the knowledge and technological resources the sport has at its disposal we are faced with the fact that we are reading a driver's obituary. I for one never envisaged having to write a post contemplating the darkest of outcomes, but we can't ignore the fact that the sport is inherently dangerous. It brings back memories of the 2013 running of the Le Mans 24hr race - the first time I had the misfortune of hearing the announcement of a driver fatality on live television, and experiencing the surreal numbness that comes with something so shocking. Allan Simonsen's death was all the more surprising as the accident seemed so much more innocuous - an impact that I'd seen many, many times before in several different types of car, one that had never resulted in the same consequences. Despite the naturally saddening news, Bianchi's death was less of a shock because the news of his condition had been filtering through the motorsport news channels for some weeks before hand. Reporting that there were no signs of improvement or recovery from the coma. Jules' death following the injuries sustained in Japan marks an end to 21 years without a driver fatality. A figure that will be bandied about in every news report covering the most recent tragedy. But we can't forget that several marshals have also been killed in the intervening period, most recently Mark Robinson was fatally injured when recovering Esteban Gutierrez's Sauber after the 2013 Canadian GP - another incident involving the use of recovery tractors. Any fatality is upsetting and is a stark reminder of our own fragility - but a tale of such potential and such achievement cut short is even more tragic.

In the immediate aftermath of that day in October the world was desperate for answers, explanations and a way of making sure it never happens again. The FIA conducted an enquiry into the incident and all of the safety procedures and precautions that surround the issues of car retrieval and the use of heavy lifting equipment. That report concluded that all the procedures were carried out as they are supposed as per the conventional standards. Yet it still went horrifically wrong, and the full magnitude of that came to its terminal conclusion on Friday evening. Through the benefit of hindsight, of course there were solutions that could have been used to prevent this - throwing a Safety car to remove Sutil's car sitting close to the top of that list.  In every event of this nature there is a justifiable need not just to explain how and why it took place, but to learn from the causes so that they can be mitigated and ultimately prevented. Wheel tethers were introduced after track worker fatalities in Monza and Melbourne when they were struck by wheels that had become detached from cars during an accident. HANS devices were made mandatory after a spate of injuries in NASCAR and ultimately after the death of Dale Earnhardt. Those changes proved instrumental in saving lives throughout motorsport as a whole - but the dangers cannot be completely erased and these systems are not infallible. Fighting accidents with ever improving technologies - while a valid tactic - results in a constant power struggle between engineers developing ever faster cars, and the circuit designers developing methods of stopping the cars with things go wrong. The struggle between performance and safety will continue until the end of time - the most recent example is the re-introduction of lower noses in F1. A lower nose reduces the risk of the nosecone intruding into the cockpit area - but is less aerodynamically efficient than a high nose. No technology will be foolproof and 100% safe - so another safety aspect is to look at the post-collision procedures and overall culture that the sport on a global level had slipped into over the past decade. 

In recent years a degree of complacency can be seen emerging, not just in F1 but worldwide - because the racing had been so safe for so long, drivers emerging through the junior series have been born into a world where they feel invincible. This season's FIA F3 championship is a perfect example - it is nothing short of a miracle that nobody has been injured in a series of enormous accidents in the category. GP2 and GP3 has been rife with questionable driving standards, competitors forcing each other off the track with the utmost disrespect for each other's safety. Fortunately by the time the fortunate minority of drivers make it up to F1, most of the alarming driving habits are watered down as F1 has a lower tolerance than some of the junior categories. Even in the light of what has happened to Bianchi - driving standards in the lower formulae haven't improved, and in the F3 Euroseries they have deteriorated. Admittedly, driving standards in the form of wheel-to-wheel racing played no part in the events that claimed Jules' life, and it has to be said that within the F1 paddock and on the racetrack Bianchi was impeccably respectful of those around him. But in terms of preventing another catastrophic event the younger generation doesn't seem to be fully aware of the dangers that surround them. Fortunately the stewards are starting to take a harder stance on dangerous driving - even to the point where they cancelled the third race at Monza before it ran to completion due to the number of collisions. It has been argued that the deterioration of driving standards in some categories is due to the FIA funnelling all comers into categories which award super-license points - thus meaning they receive less experience in other formula because the FIA doesn't value that experience. 

But this complacency doesn't stop with the drivers themselves - rule makers and race organisers have been just as guilty. The most glaring example is the Indycar governing body - after a horrifying accident in the 2011 Las Vegas season finale which claimed the life of Dan Wheldon; the drivers, teams and the organisers vowed never to race like they did on that day. Yet only a few races ago this season less than four years later - at Fontana 'pack racing' returned. Drivers and teams were angry that it had been allowed to happen, Tony Kanaan, who finished second said he feared for his safety during the race - which inevitably ended with a significant accident. Fortunately this time no-one was injured and Ryan Briscoe walked away from a scary flip. 

The ACO could also be said to be guilty not learning from past incidents, as mentioned earlier Alan Simonsen collided with an armco barrier and suffered fatal injuries as a result of improper barrier provisions - no tyre walls or compressible structures were present at Arnage corner. The steel fence itself couldn't flex to absorb the impact because of a line of trees pressed up against it. Arnage corner itself was corrected accordingly but those lessons were not carried around the remainder of the circuit - especially at the high speed porsche curves. A concrete barrier at the exit of the section remained unprotected, a high risk corner that has seen large accidents in the past, and in this year's race an Aston Martin GTE was edged wide when being lapped by Hulkenberg's LMP1 car and ended up hitting the concrete barrier head on. The driver Roald Goethe suffered cracked vertebrae in the collision - again due to improper barrier protection. I think that the world over - teams, drivers, circuit owners, series organisers and officials need to pay a little more attention to past events and be continually looking to improve.

It should be pointed out that I am not laying any of this complacency at Bianchi's door - Jules' actions were the actions of any other driver entering Dunlop corner. Actions that are fundamentally embedded in the mentality of any driver and team starting any race in the world. For example in a V8 supercar race at the end of the 2014 season, not long after the Japanese GP, on a street circuit in Sydney - drivers for the Red Bull Australia team were instructed to pick up the pace once a safety car was deployed. Thus illustrating that the interests of safety can be often overlooked in the interests of competition. I've seen several comments across the internet that say that a driver who is willing to slow significantly for yellow flags risks being replaced by one who will keep his/her foot down. The FIA report on Bianchi's accident pointed out that one of the major contributing factors was that Jules didn't slow enough for the flags - but none of the drivers did, it is their job to exploit every opportunity to gain time on the opposition. A yellow flag zone represents another opportunity to do so. However this culture is in place because the FIA and the stewards take a particularly ineffective stance on policing driver responses to yellow flag scenarios. Thus giving everyone an effective carte blanche to abuse the limits as they see fit. 

Since that race, the FIA and GPDA have been working on learning from what took place - and nine months on a couple of rule changes have been added to the standard race procedures. Would any of them prevented what happened in Suzuka, it is impossible to say - it can be hoped that they would, as that would mean the probability of such an event recurring is greatly reduced. Because of the issues surrounding handling yellow flags and trackside vehicle recovery, and the conflicting interests of the teams and the safety requirements one primary solution has been introduced. The introduction of a virtual safety car (VSC) the VSC acts as an intermediary stage between a low-risk local single yellow flag, and a full safety car intervention. The concept stems from endurance racing, where all competitors are required to slow to a pre-determined speed across the lap until the incident has been cleared. A VSC-style solution is used in endurance races such as the Dubai and Nurburgring 24hrs, because the number of entrants is so large collecting them in one queue is difficult - and in the case of the Nurburgring 24hrs because of the extreme length of the circuit. This approach is referred to as a 'Code 60' as drivers are mandated not to exceed 60km/h. In the Le Mans 24hrs a modification of the Code 60 is used in the form of 'Slow zones' - which essentially is a localised Code 60 or VSC only spanning the site of the accident. Theoretically this makes more sense - especially on a larger track - allowing racing around 90% of the lap, but enforcing a speed cut past the incident site.

But that causes problems during the 'deceleration zone' a section of the circuit prior to the designated slow zone for drivers to slow to the required speed. This is another area for drivers to dry and lose as little speed as possible - and during the race several drivers cited nearly being involved in accidents due to differing deceleration speeds. Confusion between the electronic system and the manned marshal posts in marking the start of these zones caused an a high speed accident involving an Audi prototype. 

Virtual safety cars take away the responsibility for slowing down from the drivers, because given the choice they will always drive as fast as possible. So through enforcing a speed limit, this choice is removed from the equation, and by applying the VSC condition to the whole lap alleviates any issues with gaining an advantage in the deceleration zone. This means that any cars can be collected, using recovery vehicles if necessary, while the rest of the field are travelling at a sensibly reduced pace. Because this is a new mechanism for temporarily neutralising a race, there are some issues with when and where to use the system. So far in 2015 the VSC has only been called into action twice - and one of those was for less than 30 seconds before it was upgraded to a full safety car. The only full deployment of the VSC was last race in Silverstone - to cover the removal of Carlos Sainz's Toro Rosso from the outside of Club corner. This served as a good example of when to use the VSC - removing a single vehicle which with little to no debris to recover or barriers to check. The same could be said for Ericsson's spin in Malaysia - but that was covered under a full safety car. Taking this into consideration, would a VSC been the appropriate call for Sutil's accident in Suzuka - I would say that it would certainly have helped. This would have slowed the race down and then looking at the race conditions it may have been upgrading to a full safety car. Which was only deployed after Bianchi's accident at the time. Using the VSC allows marshals to assess the situation under safer conditions and bring any required lifting equipment into position. 

I am glad that the FIA has made important changes to the regulations, to provide race control and the stewards with more options when it comes to handling on track incidents. But through time I hope that they gain confidence in selecting which option to use when a car does go off the circuit - it is no use having these mechanisms if they are ignored. Yet at the same time we don't wan't to fall into the same trap that blights American motorsport where the safety car is excessively overused, there is a balance to be struck here - and the VSC fits that. Of course that doesn't mean that the problem is solved and it is business as normal until the next tragedy - several other near misses across the spectrum of motorsport have highlighted highlighted other weaknesses which are currently being investigated. Issues surrounding closed cockpits and design of recovery vehicles are still causes for concern and remain under continuous review like all aspects of safety within the sport.

Nothing can be done to reverse the events of that race, but lessons can be learned to lower the risk of it happening again.

Round 9 - Great Britain 2015 - Race

Greetings Internet, 

If you were to look at the results of today's race, you'd think that we'd just endured another processional mess - ending with the same podium positions that we've seen in 66% of all the races in 2015. That result doesn't quite describe how those places fell into position, how a predictable result formed through unpredictability. In many respects it reminded me of the Austrian GP qualifying last time out, Hamilton made a mistake and looked set to lose pole position but inexplicably everything still worked out. Today was no different, everything was pointing towards a completely different result, but piece be piece those fortunes started to reverse. The fans trackside and here on the internet - especially those who happen to be part of the home crowd seem very pleased about today. Using this race a ammunition in the fight against the naysayers who claimed that F1 has descended into a dull, boring and stagnant sport. I can't really disagree with the statement, but the same underlying symptoms that fuel the negative diagnoses remain - and in many cases the nature of Silverstone exemplified them. Annoyingly those same defects that we have all been criticising the sport for, helped build intrigue through the opening half of the race. 

Today was also a day for intra-team difficulties - some teams will hoping to make a quick exit from the circuit. Given how close most of the factories are to the track - it won't be a long trip. Some teams will be rueing their decision making processes, while others will be ruing more mechanical challenges.Then there are others who will be see their arguments settled inside the stewards office, 

The Race

Before we even made it to the grid, the curse of poor reliability had claimed it's first victim, and this time it wasn't either a Renault or Honda powered car. Fred Nasr in the Sauber experienced gearbox difficulties - reporting that his car was stuck in 6th gear. The marshals were able to recover the car back to the pits, where the team discovered that the failure was terminal and therefore Fred would not be able to start the race. So we were down to 19 cars.

A lot of the pre-race discussion was focussed on the relative starting potential of the two Mercedes cars after it was Rosberg's start in Austria that defeated Hamilton. So as we watching the front row when the lights went out, seeing the two Williams cars from the second row scythe past both Mercedes was a major surprise. Felipe Massa rocketed into the lead towing Bottas with him, sealing second place on the inside at Village before losing it again at the following corner. While all that was going on a spot of chaos was erupting with cars scattering in Village. Replays showed a chain reaction of events started by a lunge by Daniel Ricciardo down the inside of Romain Grosjean. Grosjean steered away from the Red Bull, overreacting to the surprise of the Red Bull suddenly appearing on the inside. But Grosjean's evasive manoeuvres only lead to him crashing into the side of Maldonado in the other Lotus. Of all the cars to run in to... both Lotus' cars were out of the race. They weren't the only team to have

double difficulties because Fernando Alonso had to react to avoid Grosjean's damaged car and span into the side of Jenson Button - more intra team contact. Jenson's engine instantly turned off after the contact, but Alonso could continue after a change for a new nose. As several cars were involved, the clear up operation required a safety car - fortunately the delay was no where near as lengthy as the barrier repair operation on the opening lap of last years British GP.

As the safety car pulled back into the pit lane Hamilton tried to take the lead back from Felipe Massa on the approach to Vale. He looked to the inside but cut to the outside for the braking zone, but left his braking a little too late and ran wide. This compromised his line through Club allowing Bottas to steal second place - we had a Williams 1-2, and Hamilton had to defend vigorously to keep Rosberg behind on the front straight. Further back Daniil Kvyat was enjoying a brilliant race with the Ferrari drivers, having passed Vettel before the safety car he was going wheel to wheel with Raikkonen through Woodcote. However Daniil was on the outside and thus Kimi held onto the place and the Russian driver had to slot in behind the Finn before Vettel reclaimed the position. Slightly under the radar was Nico Hulkenberg who had jumped both Ferrari's at the start and was now sitting in 5th place ahead of the Ferrari/Kvyat battle. We also lost Mad Max Verstappen who span off on the colder tyres after the safety car and ended up in the gravel on the exit of Farm - just nudging the barrier. The Toro Rosso driver couldn't get the car into reverse and had to retire from the event.

After the slightly chaotic opening laps, everyone calmed down a bit - settling into the race positions the top four cars vanished off into the distance. But they were fleeing from Hulkenberg and company in a pack - not one of the top four appeared to be able to pull away or attack those around them. I suppose this situation is precisely the sort of scene that people across the world are complaining about, the concept of DRS doesn't alleviate the fundamental difficulties that cars have following each other. Bottas seemed most displeased about the situation as the team told both him and Massa that they were not to race each other... another thing that people are complaining about. The influence of aerodynamic wake made racing with other cars damaging to the overall race strategy. Bottas wanted to be in front of Felipe because it did seem as if he was faster at this point, and was being held up by Massa. A confusing and contradictory set of messages between Valtteri and the team followed, after being told not to race, he was then informed that he could make a DRS pass. But Massa defended each time Bottas drew alongside at the end of the Hangar straight. Valtteri eventually declared that it was too late to make the pass on Felipe - probably indicating that the quicker phase of the tyres was over and the chance to build a gap had gone. Both Hamilton and Rosberg remained within two seconds of the leader, which lead to questions as to whether things would have turned out differently if Bottas has been released to try and escape while Massa held up the two Mercedes cars. 

Because we had more than one car at the front of the race, the TV director was glued to the quartet of competitors - only cutting away to see Sebastian Vettel re-passing Sergio Perez. But there was no real hint of a positional change amongst the top runners - even with the pace advantage the Mercedes drivers have neither Lewis or Nico looked as if they were going to make any form of overtaking move on the Williams pair. Instead they all held station until the round of pitstops, of which Hamilton had the first shot at in an effort to get out of the queue of cars. This stop proved to be crucial for the outcome of the race, on the following lap Massa and Rosberg pitted, but Felipe had a slow stop to clear something from his rear wing and gifted Hamilton the lead. Rosberg almost took second, running two wide down the pit lane but had to drop in behind the Williams. When Bottas came in for his stop he rejoined between Massa and Rosberg in third place. By this point Hamilton had been able to release the actual pace of the Mercedes and set fastest lap and drove away into the distance.

But just as it seemed that the race had settled down and the tension at the front

had eased slightly, a new threat emerged - the threat of rain. Now we've heard that claim before, many times before and failed to see it materialise. Dark clouds were building behind Luffield and opposite the pit straight. At the first sight of the incoming weather, it seemed as if Renault engines were allergic to the thought of rain. Daniel Ricciardo returned his Red Bull to the pitlane and into retirement, while Carlos Sainz pulled the Toro Rosso over on the exit of Club corner with an electrical fault. Because of where the Spaniard had parked the car we were treated to our first full virtual safety car of the season - I had hoped for a full safety car only because it would stretch the race closer to the rain window. But the virtual safety car did present a good opportunity to make a mid-race toastie.

What followed was a tense series of laps as the teams stared at the radars and at the skies - but all the technology and experience on the pitwall didn't seem to help the teams. Because all the radio communications indicated that the rain would be approaching from Stowe and Club - but the TV pictures clearly showed that two patches of rain were approaching outside of Luffield. After the race Toto Wolf himself said that the location of the rain surprised him... even though it was clearly on the TV where it was coming from. Unlike the majority of rain threats we have been presented with in the past season or so, this one actually delivered, gently at first. On board footage saw cars struggling to stay on the track through Luffield and Woodcote Vettel. Of all the teams least impressed to see a damp track were Williams - last season showed that their car doesn't like the wet. The 2015 iteration turned out to be no different - even in the light drizzle Bottas came under immediate pressure from Rosberg, Nico ran wide at Woodcote on the wettest part of the track but still passed Valtteri out of Copse. At this point only a small section of the map was damp, and therefore it wasn't wet enough for intermediates. Some drivers didn't think so however, gambling on the rain getting heavier in an attempt to steal an advantage. Raikkonen was one of those drivers, a risky move for a car in the middle of the points places.

But the rain didn't come, in fact it eased off - which was bad news for Raikkonen, Ericsson and the Manor drivers. A second shower was on the way but by the time it got here the intermediates would be ruined. While they struggled it was good news for Rosberg who caught and then scythed past Massa for second place. The German continued to demolish Hamilton's lead, taking seconds off per lap. It wasn't long before the two Mercedes cars were running in close proximity - in the partially damp conditions we were on course for a titanic battle. But just as Rosberg got close to his teammate's rear wing, Lewis ducked into the pits for what seemed like a confusing stop - the second shower was brushing the track it surely it was too early for intermediate tyres. Intermediates were exactly what Lewis put on the car, and as he exited the pit lane the clouds opened and the rain fell. The timing of the stop turned out to be exactly right - which turned out to be a bit of a problem for Rosberg, who stayed out on the slick tyres and that hope of a win vanished. Vettel also pitted on the same lap and gained the same advantage - promoting him past Hulkenberg and both Williams into the final podium place. 


This second shower was also bad news for those drivers who pitted for intermediate tyres during the first short shower - because they were now faced with a wet track and ruined tyres. Exemplified by Will Stevens sliding off into barrier on the exit of Brooklands knocking off the front wing, Will recovered to the pits but fell into last place behind his Mehri. Ericsson in the Sauber was also having a bad day - he pitted to put slicks on after the first shower and now had to pit again due to this second shower. Marcus' issues resulted in good news for

McLaren as it promoted Alonso into the final championship points position - which would be his first point of the season... which in itself is a terrible indication of how things have gone for McLaren. As much as the rain had mixed up the running order, it had a rather unfortunate side effect of breaking up the remaining battles - Williams were now nowhere near Mercedes or Vettel. Raikkonen had dropped back and was a pitstop clear of Perez, which he used to put on a new set of intermediates after the first set had seen better days. This was exacerbated slightly by the lack of cars still running, only 13 of the 20 starters were on track, reliability and the opening lap crash had thinned the field somewhat. Only one hint of a battle remained as Daniil Kvyat was catching the struggling Williams of Valtteri Bottas, but despite the pace advantage the Red Bull had, there just weren't enough laps left in the race to make a move.

Therefore in the end it was another win for Lewis Hamilton, and another 1-2 for Mercedes. Followed home by Vettel in the Ferrari - which is the 6th time in the nine races that these drivers have lined up in that order. So in all the unpredictability and rainfall the same outcome still materialised. Off the podium were the two Williams cars, any early concerns about strategy quickly washed away as they floundered when the rain arrived - staying out too long on slicks and generally lacking wet weather pace. Daniil Kyvat retained his streak of being the lead Renault powered driver, and the only Red Bull branded car to get to the end of the race finishing in 6th. Hulkenberg crossed the line in 7th place in the B-spec Force India heading a double points finish for the team as Perez finished 9th. Between the Force Indias was the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, thwarted by switching to intermediates too early. The final world championship belonged to Fernando Alonso, and his first point of the season. 

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Today's race was one of changing conditions and changing fortunes - potentially of missed opportunities for some people.

• 25pts - Felipe Massa - An astounding start, and lead the race comfortably up until the first round of stops
• 18pts - Valtteri Bottas - Left the door open for Hamilton to retake 2nd, but repaid the favour on the restart 
• 15pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Another driver with a marvellous start, passing both Ferraris before turning into Abbey Corner.
• 12pts - Daniil Kvyat - The only Renault driver to finish the race and almost rounded up Bottas before the end of the race
• 10pts - Lewis Hamilton - A magnificent pit call from Lewis won this race, one lap longer and he would have been overtaken by Rosberg 
• 8pts - Fernando Alonso - Fernando scores his first point for his second stint at McLaren cementing his 18th place in the championship.
• 6pts - Sebastian Vettel - Virtually anonymous for most of the race, but a smart pit stop in the second shower gifted him a podium place
• 4pts - Nico Rosberg - A series of brilliant laps erased Hamilton's lead scything past both Williams when the conditions got a little tricky
• 2pts - Sergio Perez - Another points scoring race for the Mexican and a double points finish for the team
• 1pt - Roberto Merhi - Kept the car on the track with the damaged intermediate tyres while the other Manor car bounced off the barrier.

Looking Forward to Germany - Hungary

With the cancellation of the German GP, we skip ahead to the Hungarian GP which extreme opposite of the high speed expanses of Silverstone. The Budapest circuit is often accused of being the most boring event of the season, because of the narrow, twisting configuration. This makes the the track a challenge to drive but an even bigger challenge to overtake on - but in recent years some of the better races of the season have happened at the Hungarian GP. Last season's race was brilliant, mostly down to the injection of a bit of precipitation to spice things up. Combined with placing Hamilton at the back of the grid after he had a car fire in qualifying. Mercedes reliability has been a lot stronger this season so a repeat of that eventuality is unlikely, but who knows another surprise may be on the cards.

  

Round 9 - Great Britain 2015 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet,

You might have noticed that there was no preview post on Thursday or on Friday as some of them have been this season - but my evenings were taken up by other commitments. But I have returned - sorry about that - to continue proceedings, picking up the coverage following today's qualifying session. A qualifying session that followed on from a series of even more discussions within the chaotic mess that is the Strategy group. After the calls for refuelling and customer car teams - the next mad idea is to add a second F1 race to each weekend's schedule. Now on the surface that seems like a marvellous idea - simply because it just means there is more racing going on, and more is usually better. This new race would be a qualifying sprint race, as used in some rounds of the Australian V8 supercar championship. The finishing order of the qualifying race then sets the grid for the main race on a Sunday afternoon. Some other suggestions were to put the development and third drivers in this second race and make it a separate event - the highest placed drivers gaining an entry onto the grid for the GP proper. As I said earlier, more racing is always a good thing, but should we really consider diluting what is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport with sub-races. Both options risk increasing costs which need to be curtailed, and the preparation of a third (or even fourth) race car for the a test-driver race will not be cheap. Manor, Sauber and probably Force India struggle to keep two cars running - so in the end only the big teams would have the resources to compete.

Back to qualifying then, and the yearly visit to this little island looked to be on target for producing a slightly mixed up grid. Upredicatable winds were catching people out in practice and rearranging the running order. Williams seemed be struggling more than anticipated, and Toro Rosso were much closer to the front. The high speed nature of Silverstone however was making life quite comfortable for the Mercedes team - building a comfortable gap to Ferrari. It was also making things difficult for McLaren, Alonso came close to missing qualifying due to a coolant leak... one day things might get better.

Q1

As the opening part of qualifying got underway it was mentioned that the stewards were taking a zero-tolerance policy on drivers running wide and off the track at Copse, although Antony Davidson seemed to be a bit confused and called it turn nine. Like Monaco, these corners have names. Any lap completed with an excursion at Copse would result in a deleted lap time - as we saw in the 2014 iteration of the Austrian GP. The first driver to fall foul of this new regulation was Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India - but it wasn't too long before he set a new lap time and made up for the one that was deleted. Mad Max Verstappen was having an even more wayward time of things as he span the Toro Rosso in Farm corner. He also ran wide at Copse and earned himself a deleted lap time. 

Obeying the track limits was even more difficult due to a cross wind blowing across Copse and the Maggots/Becketts section of the lap - even Sebastian Vettel had one of his times deleted due to some misuse of the track limits. In terms of lap time - it was a comfortable Mercedes 1-2 with Bottas in third, reversing the Williams fortunes from the practice sessions. These three cars were comfortably through into Q2 without needing to switch onto the softer of the two available compounds. Although it is estimated that the race on Sunday will be a one-stop event, so retaining lots of tyre sets becomes less of a priority. With only a few minutes remaining on the clock, the relegation zone had some interesting residents. Romain Grosjean and Mad Max Verstappen were holding station on the back row, neither setting a valid time - Grosjean hadn't left the pits and Max lost his initial lap time. Maldonado was also in danger after he had a time deleted - but his last valid lap kept him out relegation.

For the final efforts it was time for the medium tyre for those looking to stay in qualifying. This wasn't good news for McLaren who were clear of relegation due to running the option tyre earlier. Once the opposition started using the faster tyre they tumbled down into relegation. As Grosjean appeared and escaped relegation, Alonso was dropped in - Verstappen then demoted Button. A legal lap time for Maldonado demoted Fred Nasr out of Q1. In the remaining laps none of the relegated drivers could escape their fate and dropped out of qualifying.

Q2

You'd think people would have learned from the previous session about the perils of misusing the run-off area on the exit of Copse corner, but throughout Q2 drivers were still having lap times deleted. One team who were consistently keeping within the lines was Williams, and as Q2 got underway Bottas set the early pace ahead of Massa in the other team car, while Mercedes were building up to their qualifying laps. Both Rosberg and Hamilton were taking gentle outlaps as these were to be the tyres they were intending to start the race on. So when Lewis locked up his inside front in Farm, the race set started to look a little more second hand than intended. So while Lewis abandoned his lap, Nico took over the role of taking the fight to Williams and claimed the top spot. Eventually Hamilton put a lap together, only to fall three tenths short of the time set by his German teammate.

At the opposite end of the standings, there were some interesting names in the relegation zone, including both Ferrari's - Raikkonen was down there as he became another driver to have a lap time deleted. Pastor Maldonado also lost his lap time due to another violation at Copse - his second excursion of qualifying. But based on his current pace, it was unlikely that he'd be in Q3 to go for a hat-trick of illegal lap times. Mad Max Verstappen was also continuing to struggle, his team radio was full of complaints about the car, and a chronic lack of traction. So as Williams had moved forward after practice, Toro Rosso had fallen in the opposite direction. Sainz was clinging onto the final top ten place, but Verstappen's struggles kept him inside the relegation zone. This meant that Red Bull were actually able to compete ahead of their junior team. 

Raikkonen was able to recover from his deleted lap time to escape relegation, but only just as he moved into 8th place. While the rest of the occupants of the relegation zone seemed to be fairly rooted after Vettel left and joined the rest of the drivers inside the top ten. Both of the Lotus' drivers, and the wayward Toro Rosso were not going to be making into the top ten. They were joined in relegation by Ericsson and Sergio Perez.

Q3

With Hamilton struggling to defeat his team-mate in the previous session - the battle for pole position took on an interesting dimension, one that failed to materialise properly in Austria as both drivers span off. All of the remaining competitors took to the track for the opening set of runs - and for a brief period of time Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull set the pace. For that split second Christian Horner wasn't cross at Renault and neither was the Red Bull overlord - Dietrich. However it was over rather quickly as the lead passed from Ricciardo to Raikkonen and then to Bottas as the Finns locked out the front row. The final ingredient was the appearance of the Mercedes team - who followed crossed the line to make the front row all theirs. Rosberg was one tenth slower than Hamilton who claimed a provisional home pole position. 

Therefore things were set up nicely for a final lap shoot out, but once again we were left disappointed - which stating to become a patten this season. Neither Rosberg or Hamilton improved - leaving a rather stagnant and non-existent fight for pole. It seemed as if nobody was making any form of improvement, that is except for Felipe Massa who wrestled third place from his team-mate moving Williams slightly further away from Ferrari. Ricciardo was on target to overtake Kvyat but he had his lap time deleted.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Qualifying may not have been the most enthralling of sessions but somewhere in the middle of all that there are some bonus points to be handed out.

• 10pts - Felipe Massa - The only driver to make any form of meaningful progress in the final session taking third place
• 8pts - Will Stevens - The Manor driver fought back against a resurgence of form from Roberto Mehri 
• 6pts - Carlos Sainz Jnr - Scores points for the most dramatic slide through the final corner on his last qualifying lap in Q3
• 5pts - Kimi Raikkonen - After being under criticism the past few races, Kimi comes back and out-qualifies Vettel
• 4pts - Daniil Kvyat - Once again the man with the death stare is the lead Red Bull driver and today the lead Renault powered driver
• 3pts - Lewis Hamilton - A home pole position certainly deserves some points 
• 2pts - Nico Rosberg - Almost caused the a second British Qualifying upset but fell a tenth short
• 1pt - Nico Hulkenberg - The Force India driver continues the run of form getting the B-spec car into the top ten

• -1pt - Anthony Davidson - It's called Copse corner not just turn nine
• -1pt - Silverstone Track Limits - Just put some grass out there, is that too much to ask for. Make the curbs smaller and put in some grass, therefore folk couldn't gain time by running wide. Yes it runs the risk of more Raikkonen-esque collisions - but drivers will learn, they are paid millions of pounds, they can deal with a little grass.

Looking to Tomorrow

While the media proclaim the British GP to be a wondrous event, with incredible racing that will live long in everyone's memories - the reality is ever so slightly less enticing. While Silverstone is one of the classic mainstays of the championship - even despite the strange modification that the layout suffered in 2010 - it doesn't always produce the most enthralling of races. Certainly not the worst either, generally better than the likes of Spain or Hungary. Traditionally we would need a slightly mixed up grid to make things especially interesting - that's what kept things interesting in Canada. But we don't have the luxury of a fun grid, because despite the track limits issues, everyone roughly lined up where they expect to be. So it can be expected that barring any significant reliability issues the final result should look quite similar to the grid order. But we can hope for something different, something exciting to break away from that convention,